Splitting up the DD and Starting Sen tomorrow!

Hi peeps! Man man, so much has happened...

Mojo, Madness and Mankind

Sorry for the long silence, but I needed to make a huge effort getting back my mojo after the disappointment that is Project E (more on that later). Getting back into the swing of comic making, rendering frame by frame and basically getting back into the stories and characters takes a lot of concentration and mind-bending. I was well out of it, I'm surprised that I managed to pull off the DD part 1 when I did. I guess I can understand what Hollywood actors go through to get into their roles, but I have to do it with several characters at once, and do the cinematography, and CG technical stuff, and make sure the story gets told properly... ugh... 

What also doesn't entirely help is some of the shit going down around the world, like the horrible Orlando shootings, the most shameful political games that ensued, and then Brexit, which in itself is interesting to witness, but the racism that it seems to have unleashed.... fucking shameful. The artwork above is my contribution to all that (called: Extremism is the Enemy of Mankind).

Anyway... now for some fun stuff.

Splitting up the DD

So anyway, DD part 2 is over 50% now but I am seriously thinking of splitting it up into more parts, because otherwise it might be too long, and I think its time that I put a comic out there a.s.a.p. I just need to make sure it doesn't disrupt the flow of the story too much. I'll wait for the current render batch to complete and then I'll see how I can split this part up.


For those who follow me on Deviant Art, you'll know about the endless Pool Party series which started over a month ago as a tool to help me get back into render mode. This definitely helped, and has resulted in some crazy and fun renders. 

It also resulted in ideas for future comics, one of them being that Lali and some of her friends will go to Burning Man! Whoohoo!!! The comic will be called 'Girls on Fire!'

Resuming Sen's comic!

So once the Pool Party is done (probably tonight) then I'll get started on Sen's first comic! I have been looking forward to that SO MUCH!!! ARGH! Much has already been done, but now I need to convert a bunch of stuff to the new Erogirl base figure (mesh4.5), including garments and poses. Most of the sets are complete and I also started animating parts of it a while back. I'm excited with this series because its entirely different from what I normally do. I'm very curious what you guys will think of it...!

Modeling in Max!

I also tried my hand at modelling other stuff than human figures, namely a nice bullpup rifle especially designed for Lali. I introduced this design on Deviant Art and it sparked some interesting conversations. The design attempts to integrate the secondary weapon (pistol) into the primary weapon (rifle) so that you can maintain lethal fire at a target while reloading the primary weapon. It also has a flip up periscope optic system that minimizes the distance between the barrel and the optics, and also allows the shooter to zoom into a target. It also has a servo to stabilize the rifle's aim, entirely ambidextrous, fast interchangeable barrels and can accept most 7.65mm mags. I wonder if the design would ever prove useful for law-enforcement! More info here.

CGbytes Projects

I also helped design several new clothing and prop sets for CGbytes along with Sixus1. Two of these sets are based on my comic worlds of Sen and Siren 7. They are called 'Triplonia' and 'Dark Void', respectively. Sixus did a pretty cool job on them, definitely check them out on CGbytes if you think it looks cool.

Exploration Pod

But for the real deal I've also started my own modeling projects for Siren 7, which are WAY more detailed. For example Rose's Exploration Pod (see below) has no textures yet but all her shapes and seams are entirely 3D. It has an interior and is constructed with panels that can get dislodged when damaged. It currently has the poly count of a V4 but there's still much more to come, greebles, doors, furniture, a cockpit, landing gear, and it needs refining here and there. Here's more information.

Pauline Advanced!

As some of you might remember, I made a small bunch of morphs as a demonstration (pr protest) back when Pauline first came out. To my surprise there was quite some interest in it. I didn't have time to release those morphs but I sent them off to my colleague ShvrDavid who completely pimped Pauline. The package is now called 'Pauline Advanced', it includes my morphs, and is available on Content Paradise.

These are the old renders but I'll update with some new ones a.s.a.p with my morphs:

Art of Darkness RIP :(

Now for some less happy news, Art of Darkness is closing down, the website where Lali was brought up on. For various reasons the manager was unable to maintain the website any longer and it is now getting converted into a museum, more-or-less. As a thank you to the manager that has selflessly kept the place going for several years we hosted a funeral in the last forum open there and Lali gave a funny and emotional speech! In response to the demise of AoD, gentleman Nyghtfall opened up Visions of Darkness to keep the spirit going. Be sure to check it out! Thank you Nyght!

Project E

This paragraph has been moved to here. I don't want to bother my comic fans with this stuff.

SEX!!

Yep, rendering has resumed on the DD pt 2. I was already quite far but now its properly back on track. 

Sex, naughty sex, and even more Lali debauchery...!

Sorry, I did miss this...

:D

What is Ero doing now?

Comics! My happy place. I just finished up prepping the new version of the girls and transferring all their V4 outfits to the new rig. I'll be continuing the Disco Dragon part 2 with this new girl this coming monday. I wonder if you'll be able to see in the comic where the new figure gets used hehehe. Straight after that it will be Sen's comic and prof brown. It looks like they'll all get rendered in PP2014 since the new figure doesn't work in P11 yet, but that's ok. All my comix up until now have managed so far 


Regarding project E... I've spent almost most of the time since November 2015 working on Project E mesh5. I was kind of hoping to have her released by now (and earning me some duku), but Poser has been putting up more of a fight than I expected (modeling in 3DSMax was the easiest part!!). She's definitely getting there but the project has become too unpredictable to be currently profitable... I've been relying on my savings, my comics and lali's bits for funding this adventure, but those are slowly depleting. So I'm focusing on comics for now, which is 1) a more financially secure investment 2) less corrosive to my sanity (and I use that last term very loosely haha). 

Good news for PE fans is that Mesh5's development is still active, albeit in slow motion, and also indirectly. For my comics I've converted my old mesh4 to the new mesh5 rig and topo (keeping the old mesh though), including mannequins. I just tested a mesh4.5 outfit on mesh5, it works. I soon also want to start having mesh5 played with by some talented and knowledgeable boys n girls, see what they think of her up until now. Good news is also that the forces that be know about the problems and are working hard to make things work.

Just to make sure: one might think how it is possible that I've managed to slap together a very elaborate version of PE for my comics in a very short time, while the official version is taking so long to make. Basic answer: my requirements are less strict, and I don't need 'vendor support'. Mesh5 needs to be a near perfect, versatile, robust and fool-proof product, capable of withstanding the typical forum "stress-tests" any Poser figure will go through, with everything designed to accommodate for at least 80% of people's wishes, especially since we've all seen what DAZ provides with their Genesis platform (even though its more an illusion than people realize). Mesh4.5 just caters for me and it is not symmetrical, has 110,000 polys, bending errors are JCM'ed away, and half of the morphs already existed in mesh4. Mesh4.5 would simply get trashed within 5 minutes of release, despite that she's probably the best Poser figure in existence. Also, I don't have to consider vendor support and decide on JCMs, FBMs and other things beforehand, I can change anything on the fly if I want. Mesh4 went through 4 sets of JCMs in 2015 alone. That would also kill off support for a figure very fast. 

Should I drop all the requirements and just release her as she is? No fucking way. There is no reason why Poser users need to settle for crap figures just because we're used to being served crap... but then we're also very good at killing off our own figures aren't we?

Anyway, first comics!

Variations?

Hey guys! Naturally I've been getting loads of comments / questions / messages and emails. Sorry if I don't get to reply to all of them, I hope the information page of project.e is informative enough. if not then leave a question either here or under the specs page for other folks to see.

More spine!

I just succeeded in adding two more bones to her torso without affecting the polygroups of the mesh. This means that she has the same as V4 on the outside (hip-abdomen-chest) but two extra bones on the inside (hip-abdomen-spine1-spine2-chest). This might help vendors convert their V4 content to PE a bit easier, they can use the old PMD file, basically. Plus, her back is now really nice and bendy!

No variation?

One of the common concerns is that e.mesh5 looks identical in all the promo images. Yep that's because she's still in the rigging phase. To those that don't know the procedure, allow me to explain:

There is a certain workflow involved when developing something in 3D (CG), especially something like e.mesh5. This can vary from one modeler to the next, but its generally like this:

1. Obviously you start with developing the mesh, her base shape.
2. Then you set up her UV maps (that dictates the way textures wrap around said mesh).
3. Then you can start installing bones...
4. ...and telling them how to move the mesh (rigging)
5. Once she moves nicely, then come the bells and whistles:
• Morphs / shapes (faces, expressions, body types and shapes)
• Dynamic morphs or body controls (like squeezing flesh, raising arms)
• texture variations

And I'm now hopefully nearing the end of the rigging phase. So as you can see I haven't been anywhere near the "bells and whistles" phase.

Bells n Whistles!

Don't worry, they be coming! If there's one thing I've learned from DAZ and all their bloody fucking newsletters and promotions is how to deliver a product: LOADZ OF OPTIONS! And if any of you have Lali's Bits you know I am very capable of that, in fact maybe even too much.

Don't worry about that too however, I do intend to modularize everything so that you can select and buy whatever is relevant for you, in theme packs, personal bundles... You can also be lazy and just buy entire bundles! I don't have a problem with that lol! Here you can see me sharing some of my ideas on RDNA.

So yeah, don't worry. I spent an entire week last year downloading loads of pictures of pinups of pretty girls, fashion models, naked models... not just those skinny anorexic types but also some normal ladies with healthy pudge on their bones, different ethnicities, and I've been looking at them every night om my tablet since then... as men do... ahem. So I've got a fair idea of what I'd like to offer. Of course it would be silly of me not to offer aging morphs, cougars, MILF (ahem). I'll also try do some elves and orcs and lord knows what other fantasy characters. 

Anyway, I hope I won't stumble into any more crazy bugs. One thing that puts my mind at ease is that I have a bunch of guys from RDNA helping me out with rigging and scaling and a lot more. If you're reading this, love you guys! Hi five!

cheers for now!

PS: e.mesh5's eyes have retinas, and they give her red eyes if you shine a flash on them! lol!

Light at the end of the tunnel!

Hey fans, peeps, colleagues, boys n girls...

It looks like I'm at a stage with my figure project.e that I can start making plans to wrap this project up. I've had to make a lot of compromises due to an unacceptable lack of options in my platform of choice, something that should've been updated years ago, ahem, but I think I've settled for something that will please some of you. I know it will be very useful to me with my comic work, so it will most likely be of use to at least a few of you out there.















Before I say anything else, to my comic fans, sorry for the delay. Many reasons sparked this sudden push to develop project.e, from Poser coming with yet another meaningless figure, to new renderers, to unhappy poser users, to being broke... but definitely also as I was posing the naughty scenes for the DDpt2 I was forced to fix some small problems that popped up with my current figure I'm using (mesh4) in my comics. So yeah I'm desperate myself for a very good moving, bending, living breathing 3D figure. Mesh 4 is very good, but she has been frankensteined together to work around the bugs Poser kept throwing at me. So she has issues, and I wanna be able to work my comics from now on without such issues.



Now don't worry I won't halt rendering until this version (mesh5) is complete, and now that some of the biggest issues are more-or-less resolved, I'll hopefully be a bit more relaxed and have more energy to speed up my comic production. One thing's for sure, I'm looking forward to this figure finally been done. Its been bugging me for years, literally, and I really hope this inspires SM & Poser to really up their game.

Ok back to p.e. I updated her info page and added a page with more details about the figure and what she's capable of, for your information.

That's it for now! Peace!

Mad start to a new year!

Well, I've had an exciting start to the new year... I think...

So merely a week ago I was preparing to announce the indefinite postponement of PE because I ran into yet another brick wall when it came to Poser... or two or three. I'll spare you the details. Basically one of them was some typical computer calculation issue, and the other is that Poser's rigging system is too old-fashioned and they need to improve that a.s.a.p...



Luckily I've managed to find some workarounds in the meanwhile, some folks that are very willing to help, so I don't have to slit my wrists yet! Poser is definitely also listening in on what I'm doing, they are very supportive despite their own problems, so that can only be a good thing. 

Don't give up on Poser just yet!






Despite these bugs I have improved the bending of the knees slightly. The picture above is from yesterday but that one's even outdated. She's now also got 'sitting handles' that simulate the compression of the glutes and the thighs when sitting on a chair. Her buttocks have their own handles, as well as her belly, etc. 

I started off with her having a waist and an abdomen but today I reverted back to just an abdomen just for the sake of easy transfer of my V4 content. To be honest she bends even better now for some reason haha.  This might change in future, in fact I want to see if I can keep her one abdomen bodypart, but fool Poser into accepting two more spine bones like ghost bones (without associating them with a polygroup). We'll see if that is possible. I know ghost bones are easy, but not when they're in between two actual bodyparts (*update: it seems possible. Now I hope it can also be transferred).




But there's still much to do, and I also have the Disco Dragon to finish. I have to say this month was slow because of some personal issues. My girlfriend is leaving for good back to the UK this Thursday and that's taking up a bit of my time. After that I can blast away at 3D again. If all is well I might also move to the UK and get my own flat there. The country I'm currently living in is slowly going down the toilet, and the estate I'm living in is constantly getting harassed by infrastructural, familial and criminal activities... long story! All in all its hampering my work with comics. So this year will most likely be the year I'm actually going to be moving. Canada is still a very real possibility too.











Enough chit chat. Here are more images of Project E.mesh5. The girl in the images should be made available too, once PE comes out.

 

Project E.mesh5. So far, so good...

I don't think I've ever modeled anything THIS symmetrical before! Omg!

Just a small update. Under careful guidance of an experienced vendor I've now managed to get a really solid mesh going. We have made sure that the UV islands give a very uniform resolution throughout the mesh. The head (and other parts) is of course the exception. Very liberal UV maps for all the details.

Resolution is on Parr with V4 but all the polygons have been moved to the right place by using a unique method of modeling. Therefore the body movement, and the sculpting thereof, should be more natural now. All quads obviously. Integrated mouth, upper throat, dental and genital anatomy included.

Much to do still, but this mesh was the most vital step. Now I know some of you like to go off on a tangent about all sorts of details but this is just the mesh. The rigging and morphs have yet to come. So please, hold your horses about wrinkles and rare bodytypes, that is for later ;)

I am really excited about this. I've learned a lot in the last year, and making this mesh was flipping easy because I knew exactly what I wanted. I am however still a bit nervous. I keep on promising cool stuff but get thwarted by some stupid bug or something. Never the less I am determined to get this girl on the road a.s.a.p. because PE has been in the planning way too long. I need to focus on with my comics!

Despite that, in the meanwhile, I'm also busy rendering the DDpt2. Don't worry that is still going. Things are getting fun!

Cheers for now!