Poll Reminder, Progress Report, 14/04 - 23

Hello everyone, prefacing this with a poll reminder as less than half of patrons have voted and more than half the time has passed on the on-going animation schedule poll:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/animation-poll-81027413

6 days remains to get your voices heard! Then, yours truly will have to make some kind of decision on the results. I've been taking your feedback on board in the comments and in direct messages, but we'll see how the results end up before I announce anything more concrete.

Pertaining to this week's progress, it's mainly been me educating myself in the use of the Cycles engine, modification of some new models to fit our content style here, as well as getting a grasp on particle hair and its workings - something crucial when it comes to using models with only those hair options, such as Lara Croft. The new Jaina model above is a really, really nice model that I hope to showcase soon enough as well. Owing to feedback I've made sure that she can handle orc, troll, tauren, demon or whatever other logs between her breasts, which made her end up as one of the bustier models in the gallery. I've also secured an orc lady model which I find quite lovely, though I am still waiting for further word of my custom one which will have significantly more features to it, as well as some custom clothes. I commissioned it about 4 years ago in the hopes of getting a Warcraft comic of sorts started, so it's been a long time coming.

Ivy's project is seeing some additions to it, where I've been poking away at the script since I've found that it lacks that bit of "extra" that I desire for project work - even pseudo-projects like twitter celebration pieces. I'll hopefully have something to show for it soon here, when I figure out how to add to the ordeal whilst still keeping it balanced enough. The core scenery is at least sorted, and it's easier to build around that rather than restructure the whole thing, so it shouldn't be too big of a pain.

Now that the Alley Crew loop was sorted, it's time for the Ashley piece to show up for next Monday. We'll see how much time the weekend affords me, though chances are I'll just keep animating the piece I started on before, if anything to save myself the pains of posing something entirely new since Blender crashes immediately upon any small relocation of the model rig what so ever, necessitating the moving of scenery and everything else around the model in question instead. Model quirks and issues like these are seldom aired by creators, but hopefully lends some understanding as to why we can be averse to working with some models over others.

Work continues, so as always, thank you so much for your continued support and for all of your kind words. The warmth of spring is finally starting to arrive here, though we'll need a few more degrees before the trees begin to bud and flowers pocket the sides of roads - at least it's hoodie weather, and I can finally forsake my darn winter clothes. Hope you're doing well out there, all things considered.

Take care of yourselves, and each other!
/DH