colortwist
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colortwist.plan - 28/12/19
🕑 Added 2019-12-28 09:50:27 +0000 UTCSo I'm kinda back, though I suspect my presence will be a bit spotty until January 5th or so.
I figured I might as well toss up a general plan here so everyone knows what to expect for the next little while.
Long story short, I'm finally migrating away from Apple. It's been fun for the past 19 years, but now I'd like to get off Mr. Bones' Wild Ride. This has been a major source of contention in my life since I've been stuck on decade old hardware coupled with decade old software, and those two things combined have been holding me back in some fairly significant ways. Earlier this month I started on a new PC build, and while it's not quite done yet, I'm hoping it will be online by the end of January.
Following that, I will begin the long and arduous journey of migrating away from CINEMA 4D and towards some other tools more better suited for character animation and design. As with Apple, I've been sticking with MAXON for close to 20 years now. However, while C4D excels at certain tasks, it has begun to fall behind in many others. Unfortunately MAXON doesn't seem very interested in changing this, so for the sake of my own sanity and the quality of my artwork, I must adapt and move on.
So where does that leave my Patreon?
Well, I'm certainly not going anywhere. I am still very much determined (read: borderline obsessed) with trying to become the premier source for inflation and expansion related content. I still believe there's a huge vacuum out there for regular high quality content releases, and I want to try and fill that void as best I can. Likewise, I want to do this in such a way that there should be no question as to what my image packs will invariably contain. If my name is on it, it's going to feature one or more characters getting bigger somehow and dealing with the shifting dynamics of their expanding situation.
Anyways, enough rambling.
While I'm busy dealing with everything else, here's what I'm going to be working on in the meantime (likely using my old system, since it still works and I don't want to temporarily abandon this account):
1) Grooming tweaks for Jessica's hair
This is mostly done, in so far as I think it's "good enough" for now. I am by no means satisfied with the final result, but it's the best I can do in C4D at the moment without completely losing my mind. I have a solution for rigging up the ponytail, and while it's not the most accurate thing in the world, I doubt anyone is going to notice the slightly-less-than-ideal deformation for the time being (so long as the ponytail is capable of pointing downwards with gravity at all times).
2) Remodelling Jessica's glasses
Originally I'd pictured her character wearing half-frame square glasses instead of the current full frame ones (which kinda take away from her face a bit too much). These need to be remodelled, which is no big deal- just haven't found the time to take care of that yet.
3) Redo Vanessa's "OC" sheet renders
I want to redo Vanessa's release pictures as a single 1x3 mini-comic panel (likely at 3840x1600 resolution), incorporating some of the changes to her eyes/hair/swimsuit in the process. The poses will likely also be tweaked a bit to try and highlight some of the more "uplifting" aspects of her character. Likewise, I want to take another quick look at her OC bio to make sure everything aligns with Jessica (and/or future characters) before finalizing it again.
4) Jessica OC sheet render
I also want to do a similar render for Jessica, mostly so that I've got something I can attach her introduction to. These two things will likely be done at the same time since they're both part of the same sub-project.
5) "Float with Friends" image sequence
After the OC stuff is done, I want to work on another 20-30 panel image sequence featuring both Vanessa and Jessica getting inflated and floating away together. More specifically, I want to explore the dynamics between those two characters- so expect lots of groping, inflation, and inevitable buoyancy (likely with one character going first and the other following soon after). Unfortunately I don't think there's any way to solve the swimsuit clothing dynamics problem in C4D, so this will likely be done in the same style as Sequin Floatoshoot where the models are already pre-inflated but just land up getting bigger (with the assistance of some "mysterious liquid" though). As with Sequin Floatoshoot, I will be offering this pack for free to all current Patreons when it is finished.
6) Single image renders
After FwF is done, I'll likely be switching back to single image renders for a while (featuring one or more characters) so that I can spend some time performing whatever R&D I need to get the clothing dynamics sorted out in another program. Once that's done I'll likely transition back to doing image sequences, albeit hopefully on a more regular schedule that doesn't involve literal months between releases.
Comments
Yup. I'm looking at switching to Houdini Indie and Maya Indie. I'll probably be starting with Houdini first (since I'm likely going to need it anyways to pull off some of the stuff I want to do in the future), and if that can't handle everything then I'll look at adding Maya to the mix as well.
Dan
When I think of character design and animation/rigging, I think Maya. Is Maya a possibility for you, or is there a free/cheap alternative that would suit your needs?
