Black Desk, Sen, and helping out a brother

Hey guys! Sorry for being quiet. But quiet means a good thing because that means I am busy, which I am. Since I got hold of my new rigs I've re-designed my workflow a bit and I'm doing a whole bunch of things at the same time. Its fun work but over here its the height of the hot season and I'm sweating like a horse! Heat slows me down!






 COMIXX!!

On the side of comics I have designed and setup several locations for future comics, in particular the 3rd Lali Lite: Disco Dragon, the next 'Black Desk' comic and the first 'Adventures of Sen'. I have a lot to think about, namely in what format I wanna carry on. As some of you will remember my recent comic Lali Lite 2: Impulse had a rather unique format and it got a lot of positive feedback, however, I still feel very warmly for the old-fashioned comic book style. I might do comic book for the 'Black Desk' series and Cinematic for the Lites and Adventures of Sen. The reason for that is that I've had a few people suggest that I actually start printing comics, so it might be worth thinking ahead. And since the Lites are more for 3DX (which is a highly specialized type of entertainment), I think the cinematic approach is better because I doubt that will ever get printed out. I still need to think about it though.

 

Speaking of 'Black Desk' comics, I've decided to step up the pace. Its been almost 2 years since the last 'Black Desk' story and a lot of people are very curious now! So I'm gonna stoop Lali into action a.s.a.p and the Disco Dragon will be the last Lite for some time... although I'm kindof hoping that my new rigs will speed things up a bit, and maybe allow me to make more comics than I usually make per year. 



'The Adventures of Sen' series, which have yet to be kicked off, will be quite a big experiment. For now you guys have known me to be more of comedy-adventure but this will probably get quite rough, and a little less comedy. Exactly how rough it will get depends on how well I can deal with having it on my conscious haha. I've learned a LOT about erotica these last few years and I cannot say I am entirely comfortable with some of the things I've come across, but at the same time I slowly familiarizing myself with its meaning, and how to play around with it. I just hope I can get away with it. The same actually applies to Lali's more serious adventures. We'll see, we'll see...






















Project E

The other thing I'm doing is off course Project E. Since the blessed update of the software I have a green light to carry on developing. I'm very excited because PE will now be fucking awesome! But to do that I really need to get into the mind-set of coding, morphs, programming, and thinking 5 years into the future and 10 steps ahead of what I want and what other people want. Quite daunting to say the least. This week I should get started again!


Then there's our man Metatechnocrat, fellow digital artist and big fan of 3DX, who is in trouble and needs our help. Meta unfortunately narrowly escaped death in 2012, he's now stuck in a wheelchair and basically to make a long story short, he is doomed to get shipped off to a nursing home in a month's time. That would mean the end of his digital arts career. I post this on my blog because the man is so strongly positive, full of energy, smart and deserves a chance... and he reminds me of me. I had cancer when I was a baby (I've only told a few people this), and I know that if people hadn't done what they did to make me survive, there would be no Lali today! So if you have a few bucks to spare, or if you know someone that can help, or even a facebook page where you can spread some news, please do! You can find him here:

http://www.gofundme.com/Parartistneedshome

his work you can find here

cheers peeps!

Light at the end of a tunnel!

Whoohoo. Project E might be back on track sooner that I expected! Remember those 'software bugs' I've been mentioning earlier? well they seem to be solved, and fucking quick too!! I'm just waiting on the finals on them and then I can see where I can go from there. I'm well excited!!

So just a quick future projection on Project E:

1. Mesh - done
2. Rig - done
3. UV mapping - done
4. JCMs - can now be done properly
5. texturing
6. making essential morphs
7. trying out in comic
8. placing PE original head
9. texture conversion software*
10. preparing for the store*

Those last two items are vital for the development of PE. Without an ability to convert your V4 textures, PE will be left stranded like most other figures. Preparing for the store is also a BIG fucking hurdle because I wanna make sure I don't piss off any legal entities, I don't wanna mention any names like DAZ for example... lol.

So now about this texture converter. I have experience in C#, and I've got a schematic for setting up the geometry calculations. I can set up a class schema. But I'd rather do something else than program and debug it. Are there any clever buggers out there that wanna make some cash? Full experience with C# preferred, good knowledge of UV mapping and OBJ files essential. If you're into python, that's fine, but you need to be flipping brilliant at it. Email me.

Timeline? ETA? fuck no. These things take time friends, a full figure is no joke. I've never done something like this before, and remembering Lali's Bits, there's always something unforseen to delay the development. So, like I always say, and I maintain: my first priority is comics, but obviously I'll need PE for there comics, just as much as, or perhaps even more than you. So that should guarantee some sense of urgency on my behalf hehe... I'm on your side bothers and sisters!!! :D but be patient! 

Heat, dust, beer and new machines

After coming back from the mega-dusty festival I ended up with some stupid fucking flu type coughing disease job thing... no not Ebola. Besides the usual 4-day hangovers, all my friends ended up with some stomach bug and my GF got malaria. Typical harvest for a festival in Africa lol. We're all getting better gradually.

So anyway, back in Eroland, loads to do. I need to get that WM update for the bits out. Its been tested and it works. Still need to wrap it up and send it off to Rotica. But I've managed to import and setup my new machines. Man they're a game-changer! Now with all the new RAM and the graphics cards I need to redo my render settings and see what I can squeeze out of them. Its not necessarily that my renders will improve, but hopefully I can work faster now.


BTW have I ever shown you my wall of scribbles? Check the wall on the left in this picture. That's where everything happens. That couch is where I sit and chill and design shit (and where my GF plays her XBox). Then it goes on the wall, and then I work it out on those 500 screens there (which have been reduced to three thanks to the KVM switch!). 

 Anyway, back to work (and replying to my inbox)!!!Oh and btw Lali's getting new hair, not different, but better than her current Kuzaburo adaptation.

Update Oct 2014

Just a quick update. I just returned from a 4-day festival.

The Bits Update has been tested and will made available soon. Sorry for the delay. 

Project E is still on, but postponed until some software bugs have been resolved. I won't go into details but these bugs are of such a nature that they impede the development of PE. Proceeding despite these bugs would just make PE a cumbersome MASSIVE figure that will eat my (and your) computer's memory, then I might as well continue using V4. I prefer PE to be done properly and efficiently, and not weighted down with work-arounds.

The Arcas Afterparty series will be continued as soon as I have my new PC's with me. I'm about to go collect them from cargo! Whoohoo! And btw, the Arcas Afterparty pics are not just doodles or wasting time. Besides having great fun making them, I am actually actively testing and experimenting with things like background figures, populated scenes, volumetrics and other things in preparation for the Disco Dragon. Hopefully with my new rigs things will speed up and improve.

September Update. Bits POSER Update!

Hey guys,

FYI, there's a Lali's Bits POSER update in testing now. It should include the following:

• a figure to transfer hip joint zones to make Lali's Bits work for V4WM
• a newly UV'ed genital prop
• New textures and materials for this prop (no glowing pussies this time)
• updated Injection, should fix the following errors:
• squeezed nipples
• jaw not opening with mouth
• by default, Sexy chick Preset off (it was confusing too many people)
• by default Pussy Preset C on

Project E is temporarily postponed due to 'software trouble' (and the info page has been updated). It is getting sorted out now. In the meanwhile I'm back to comics.

And an apology for replying very slowly to emails. No excuse other than: busy, scatterbrained, and some of them ending up in the spambox!

If you have a pirated copy of the Bits, please don't email me, it depresses me. I am overloaded as it is, paying customers get right of way (and the only way)... I draw a line somewhere.

Update Comic & P.E.

Just a small proof of life from me. 

I'm very busy rigging a hybrid version of Project E to temporarily work with in my comics. It is almost fully functional. Even though it has its own head, I'm using V4's head for now until I've sorted out a few other details concerning morphs and textures. Only then can I even think about prepping her for the store. Despite the fact that rigging this girl is tremendously fucking hard (because of differing file format politics and anal-retentiveness of different corporate philosophies; and hopelessly tedious, incomplete and malfunctioning software) I am slowly, SLOWLY, becoming very pleased with the result. 

That's it for now! Here are some pics from the Disco Dragon set.

Updates / gossip / shoutouts August 2014

3DX Gossip May 2014

Hey peeps. Just a small lowdown from me, but this time a little different. I just wanna give a shoutout to some of my buddies in CGe/3DX! Below is more info about me and PE. But first...


New edition of the 2nd Lite available!!

If all is well, all the customers that bought Lali Lite 2 - Impulse should've gotten an email from Rotica about the new edition. I spent a day taking out some of the little errors and poke-throughs, and now the improved version of the lite is available to add to your collection!

Anyway, in other news...






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Render beast Epoch just released another of his dossiers, The Medjai Mistake, and this time its with our favourite archeologist / explorer Clara Ravens. His dossiers are more-or-less straight forward erotic moments compared to his more complexly structured comics. I checked it out and besides being spoiled by Epoch's typical high quality renders, Clara Ravens seems to me to be a bit more lively in this episode with some funny little moments throughout this dossier. I really liked this one! 

For those of you that don't know, Epoch is also the mastermind behind the Dynamic Comic Viewer (DCV), an innovative piece of software that adds to the whole comic experience.


HZR recently released a picture series / comic called 'The Crafty Maid'. Its a simple and delightful little story about a maid getting naughty, with some funny moments. HZR likes experimenting with poses and positions and he's getting better at it with every release. This guy's renders are probably some of the best out there, with the amount of painstaking effort he puts into the materials and lighting in his scenes, on parr with guys like Render8, Epoch and Blackadder. While his work might be clean and straight forward, the quality of his scenes should keep you captivated.





Gazukull, one of the most innovative artists in 3DX, is apparently busy with an interactive 3DX game. I was allowed to see some screenshots and it looks promising. Besides that he already has several items in the Renderotica and Affect3D stores. His comics are fun, delightful and a lot more story based than most other works out there, which I like. He's also known for his humoristic pirate comics called Dead Tide. He also made a game where you can play strip poker with one of his busty characters. Check him out.





Milady and good friend KristinF, master of erotic Vue, released her 6th 'Diary of a Party Girl', and I definitely recommend it. Like with previous episodes, this one takes you through detailed and semi-autobiographical erotic situations with her unique 'painter-portrait' style. However, the quality of her work has improved dramatically, with more detail, better posing and also more focus on a longer stories. For those of you that don't know her, she's been around the 3DX scene well over a decade, tirelessly supporting the community, and recently started making comics. Without sounding over-the-top, she's incredibly versatile, eager, and she's one of the most productive artists in the world, making several high quality renders per day almost. Also, she's open for commissions and trust me, this girl delivers.


Last I heard, Miro, the man behind the monumental Girlfriends4Ever animation package is busy with the DLCs for it. He runs the show over at Affect3D and is not one to sit still. With great curiosity I look forward to what this dude will come up with next.

Big bro Darkseed is working his butt off setting up either post-modern, or medieval fantasy style comics starring his busty take-no-prisoners heroine Rogue. For the most part, he stepped away from erotica and is bravely pursuing down the road of classical comics. His shit looks promising because his plentiful characters are the most well-conceived 3D figures I've seen in 3D figure art, somewhere between heavy metal, fantasy and Marvel characters. I really look forward to see them in a story. His current project already spans a few pages, and the scenes look flippin nice. 

My home-slice and Lali's biggest fan Apocalypse (or as Lali calls him: Appleclips) is also working his butt of training himself in the art of 3DX, and man that dude is on an insane learning curve. His talent is original and funny stories, with good dialog. Keep an eye on this fella, because he'll put all our asses to shame in the near future. Check his blog out (and tell him to start using Poser!!)




Websites

While I'm at it, I just wanna do a little shoutout to a website that is less known in 3DX. If Renderotica and Affect3D are world-famous discotheques, Art of Darkness (AoD) would be the little fun pub down the road to go to afterwards. AoD is a lesser known website / forum with a small dedicated community that regularly post fun, experimental and daring 3DX. I mostly hang out on the main image gallery. The site is sometimes quiet, but sometimes explodes to life with humoristic render challenges that last for months. The philosophy behind AoD is "to create an environment where adult art can be enjoyed with as few restrictions as possible". Although its not my thing, for those that are into it, they have an 'xtreme' section where you can find plenty of examples of the darker side of 3DX art (be warned, not for the faint-hearted). Despite that, a lot of the art there is actually fairly gentle and fun, with an entire thread dedicated to 'Clothed and Sexy' images that started back in 2012!




Hieronymous, the big man behind Art of Darkness just started a new website called Snuffbox, a website dedicated to very dark 3DX. Snuffbox is updated regularly with content. Apart from Articles and Blogs on various topics there are currently around 60 comicbooks, 20 games (written in Unity, AGS, and 001), 20 movies, and various one-off images up on the site. However, it's worth pointing out that it's very dark very niche subject matter, and won't be to most people's tastes. 

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Erogenesis news

Project E

This is definitely still on! Like you guys might have seen on DA, I recently redid the base mesh. I need to redo the arms and shins and part of the abdomen, but for the rest I think its a go. I learned a lot along the way. I hope PE will feature in the Disco Dragon. I'm going to keep a little more quiet about it, but trust me, this is getting done!









Lali Lite: Disco Dragon 

The comic is in full swing as well. I already made the entire disco location and just need to furnish the VIP section ;) It is quite a massive set, with an outside street & parking, two dancefloors, three bars, a VIP section, three hallways and a toilet block. It is a mish-mash of my own models and third party vendor stuff. It will star a LOAD of characters, also some you never seen before, but only a portion of them will take part in the fun. All I will tell you about the story is that it will be very VERY naughty!

 

New girls!

Some of you might have noticed my girls multiplying like bunnies. Some were intentional, others were accidental. Above, with the beer, is Roxanna. Below is Annabelle, the redhead and below that is Mariska. All three are bartenders at the Disco Dragon.

Tutorials

I do have a big tutorial in the oven but its continually being postponed because of my other priorities. But it is coming some time hopefully soon! It will be about Posing, expressions, character building, scene setup, lighting, materials, Poser basics, etc...







Lali's Bits Blues

I've seen a one or two people complaining about Lali's Bits here and there on the internet, that it has "TOO MANY DIALS" and impossible to work with etc. Thankfully most folks seem to be enjoying it. But if you're having trouble, or if your worried about buying it, what i can say is, like the manual and the product description warn you, yes it can be complex if you need it to be. Like I recently told someone on dA, Lali's Bits is like a real woman: 

the more you demand from her, the more dials you'll have to tweak. 

You must remember that you're simulating a live woman, made of flesh and fat that warps and bulges this way and that, especially around her private parts, and even more so when you wanna insert huge things in both her holes! That's going to take some patient work. Also, if you use FBMs that warp the genital area shape away from the original V4 shape, yeah things might get very complex. I usually just make a copy of the FBM with the morph editor and just 'restore' the hip area, like I did with GND.



So, if you're having trouble, please be patient, the Bits can sort it out for you, but the crazier your wishes, the more tweaking you'll need to do. Many artists seem to be happily playing around with it, so unless your demands are really crazy, you should be able to as well. Remember, this is a tool made by an artist, for artists. Please enjoy it!

Will Project E be as complex? Again, it depends on what you want. The regular body movements and stuff will be like any other V4, but yeah, between her legs will still be true to a lady. I need to make a massive disclaimer saying: warning, behaves like real woman: LOTS of dials, LOTS of options... anything is possible. Off course, if you don't need it, you won't need to inject all those options.


Just a reminder for new Bits customers: 

1. if the pussy glows, like with older Poser systems, go to the advanced material editor and remove the link to the alternate diffuse and connect to the main diffuse.
2. if you have strange nipples, for some reason one of the areola fixes was defaulted to 0.5. So set that to 0.
3. if the jaw doesn't open with the mouth, you can program the jaw to move along yourself using dependencies. Next to the dial of 'open mouth' there's a little arrow, there you can edit dependencies. You press start and it will record what you do. Don't move anything else, just the lowerjaw. Make sure the gadgets sees you set the lowerjaw at 0 Xrotation with he dial at 0, and then at 30 Xrotation with the dial at 1. Then press stop! Don't forget to press stop!!!!!!!
4. for the rest, read the manual! There's a lot you'll miss otherwise!