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Yo,
The log is a little late because my sleep schedule is so weird that Wednesday didn't really exist for me... It's... complicated.
1. Blender's Workout plan.
My mind's constantly racing between different software and possible ideas.
During cardio I often think about the games and thingies I could try out.
For example I observe the motion of the treadmill and wonder how hard it would be to replicate in Blender... And then let Zara run on it... How would I handle the air resistance? The friction of her shoes on the rubber...
Then, I had a day where I was reading in bed and the sun was shinning into my room... When the light hits just right, I often observe it and wonder... Why can't I replicate it like this? Do the light bounces work so differently from Iray (Daz) or Blender (Cycles)?
Is the key "indirect" lighting?
...I had to get up and do some testing.
First, I checked how Blender calculates the light bounces... In Blender you can change how often the light bounces around a scene. I created a little room with a window in it and did my tests by having light shine in and see how it illuminates the room at what values...
Then I ported the room to Daz and did the same—and Daz handled it much worse. In Daz, you often have the issue that the light from outside doesn't illuminate the room at all. You need artificial lighting. And there lays the challenge of good renders. It's hard to get right.
The way the light bounces around the room in Daz seems much worse than in Blender. In Blender, I could illuminate the room with a light value of 4833 lumens.
In Daz, I needed over 65000 lumens to replicate the size of the mesh light. It looked much worse in Daz. I documented the process and will go into more detail in the Blender log.
I opened Blender again, opened Miru, who was waiting for me to do some boob physics tests and started lighting her with a singular, indirect light.
View attachment 3956145
This was in a very big room, and the light was positioned on the opposite side, facing the wall.
The HDRI (World) was turned off, and the scene had no lighting besides that one mesh light (and, technically, her headphones).
This gives me a lot of ideas on how to light scenes in the future... But I will also do some more tests soon in Daz... While writing this, I got an idea that I have to try out.
Ennnnoooough... Before I start writing an entire Blender log... Let me get to the end of the Blender part.
Yesterday, however, I came up with a new way to improve my Blender/Marvelous Designer skills.
Usually, I do what I always do: follow my instincts and learn as I go. This worked out for Daz, but Blender combined with Marvelous has so many areas to cover that I needed a better system.
So, I created a workout plan for Blender. It's built exactly like a gym workout plan, with a few additions.
Instead of a Chest/Shoulder day, you have an Animation/Constraint day.
I came up with a few ideas to make it more fun... Geometry Chaos & (Star)Light) are just some of the little events I created that will help me understand everything better.
Or the "Hyptertrophy" 3x10 Blender workout.
For each set (1x10) you create one new render with Girl X, and then make 10 different versions out of it. I change the lighting, the camera angle and so on...
I have come up with 11 challenging events to make it more fun... And I will go into them with the first Blender log... Which will be a fucking Titan of a log.
There's also some good news about Marvelous Designer, but I will include all of this in the Blender Log.
2. Who wore it better - Winner: Elsa
Elsa dominated the last Who Wore It Better poll, so I have created six renders and two extra variations of her in and out of the outfit.
View attachment 3956149
You can find the rest of the renders HERE
3. Season 2 - Chapter 1
I've added an additional big scene to the update. It was supposed to be in S2-CH2, but I thought it would do pretty well in Chapter 1.
The past weeks have been highly productive, with the occasional hiccup from having a circadian rhythm that would leave scientists speechless.
One new element that's going to be introduced in Season 2 are "dynamic outfits".
Sometimes, earlier choices determine what a character wears to a particular event.
In this preview example, we have Mila.
Variation 1
View attachment 3956146
Variation 2
View attachment 3956143
If there's outfit variation, you can almost always expect two additional character scenes, too.
I think you can imagine what direction both scenes could go... Especially outfit 2.
I have some pretty awesome potential previews, but as promised, I'm limiting myself with what I show now.
So, this little Zara & MC image has to do.
View attachment 3956140
Chapter 1 will be very generous to Zara fans.
As the number of renders grows, my "fear" of the postwork increases exponentially, and I will have to start thinking about all the coding I must do.
I will have to code the new UIs, the phone, the galleries, etc...
But until then, I'll still have a lot of rendering to do.
I'll see you in two weeks. Ocean
