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Hi!
That was a nasty disease! Finally, today I feel good! I started rendering on Tuesday. But the work went on very slowly. I did not feel well, and I had a terrible headache.
And I was mad at my hardware. For the first year of this project, each update contained about 200 images. The time between the releases took about 2-3 months. It was ok for the RPG. But not enough for Renpy. So a bit more than a year ago, I invested about 1000 EUR in additional GPU. Also, I spent a lot of time creating tons of poses, lighting, material and other presets in DAZ, Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. It allowed me to raise the number of renders to at least 400 for each update. The next one will even consist of about 550. I find this ok.
However, this did not solve two serious problems. 1st - the time between the updates. I want to keep it for no more than six weeks firmly. I plan each update based on the script for the next in-game week, experience and the available daily time I think I have. In theory, it almost always looks good. But then I face the first issue. I receive unexpected real-life tasks that take away my time. A few years ago, I decided to do things that I can not change so easy now. Life is life. I must look at the changeable things.
4/6 of the development time takes rendering. And actually! Not rendering per se, but opening, saving, and compiling files in Photoshop. I have counted that rendering the whole scene takes about 2 hours. But if I divide it into separate images, render-time is no more than 30 minutes for all of them together. So my choice is obvious. Also, at least 1/3 of the pictures contain so much geometry that my hardware can not render them as one image.
But this has a sad downside. To create a scene, I need about 1-10 minutes. Then I save the file. It takes about a minute. Then I save it again with index "i". A minute again. I delete all of the characters, and I leave only the environment - one minute for that. Then save. The next step is opening the initial file. Depending on its complexity, it takes 2-6 minutes. Then save with index "ii" (+1 minute). Delete props and environment, leave 1-2 human characters and save. About a minute as well. And open the initial file again (2-6 minutes). Then depending on how many people should be in the picture, I repeat these steps until I have all of them or move on with the next scene. It can end with five subfiles. The more complex the scene is, the more time I need to open the file and the more subfiles I must create.
So instead of spending 2-11 minutes for one image, I need additional 5-40 minutes to open/save/repeat. It drives me crazy! Because I could cut off all of the extra time by changing my two GPUs to one serious piece of hardware. Which I planned this spring. But times are as they are. It also would solve my 2nd issue with development.
I aim for 20-25 images per day. If nothing unexpected happens, I can accomplish that by working 11-14 hours a day. You can imagine that after some 8 hours, my productivity is way down, and the work becomes slower with each image. So sometimes I work for 16 hours. Sometimes I am so exhausted the next day that I can barely do 15 pictures. My oldest son is 20. So I am not exactly very young anymore, though, young enough to serve successfully. But after 2,5 years with the game, I feel my health is declining.
Sorry for the moment of weakness. I am doing my best to make updates more often. The next one I will release in the second part of May. So about a month. I need to render five more events.
This was Nemiegs whinhing! Then I look at what is going on in Ukraine... My life is good. I just need to be patient. Someday I will change my GPUs and will have more time for myself with more regular updates of the game! Until that - big thanks for your patience!
Stay safe and enjoy your weekend!
Thank you for your support!
Regards,
Nemiegs.
