If the formatting sucks, sorry, just a copy / paste -
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Chapter 4 - Dev Log #12
Hello,
4k Res of all previews is attached.
Remember when I said the render count was
1700 and I needed around
100 more renders for the normal timeline?
That was a good one.
I'm now done with the normal timeline and we're above 2000 renders. By my new estimation, the update will finish with 2400+ renders.
I remember when I started doing half Chapters in order to release smaller updates...
Seriously... What am I doing? (Also keep in mind I've made over 700 still renders for WiAB, too.)
Today, I'm going to talk about quite a few things...
1. Adult Games and their drawbacks.
2. TheAmber Room (Animation Software)
3. The Holy Grail (HD-Sculpting)
4. More Previews
1. Adult Games and their drawbacks.
As most of you know... Sex is something evil and was made up by Satan... At least that's how society views it.
I personally don't share these views... Surprise... But sadly many companies do.
I'm not developing a mere Lewd Game. I want to go a step further and provide a High-Quality Story with lewd elements.
Behind the scenes, I'm contacting a lot of websites and labels to gain access to high-quality music...
But pretty much all of them end the same way:
I'm so extremely limited by what I can use as music that it actually depresses me. There are alternatives but I'm far away from a support level that would make them possible. (Hire people to make OST songs for the games, etc.)
Even the music I'm currently using costs 99$-200$ for each license... This seems reasonable and doable but it adds up fast and compared to many other devs, I'm still a small fish. (SG currently has 25+ Licensed Songs)
I need to find a way to gain access to high-quality music without depleting the limited funds I have until my support allows me to get to the next level. (And I don't use CC-Free stuff as 99% of it isn't good at all.)
I will keep contacting websites for custom licenses, etc. but it's not looking good. The major sites all declined.
2. TheAmber Room (Animation Software)
Soo... As most of you know, I like animations.
I do a lot of them. And I do long ones.
And other people/artists are always surprised when I tell them that I'm just using Daz and not some external program.
For those of you that don't know... There's a reason most games don't have long animations. Animating in Daz is the definition of pain.
I obviously looked at external programs to get my animations to the next level but I just didn't find the right one.
I tried Cascadeur, IClone7, etc.
They all suck ass in their own way and don't give me what I need... But then I found MotionBuilder.
For some reason I always missed it... I did download the trial and did some tests...
It was wonderful... I felt like a little kid on Christmas eve... UNTIL
I didn't find a monthly alternative... but it would most likely be priced even higher. (This would be 170$/month)
This software is exactly what I've been looking for but that's more than half my entire support. (Pre-Taxes)
I would be able to pay 170$/ month for it... But paying more than 2000$ at once. That's above the current support.
I'm currently still using the 30 Day Trial and will try to learn and animate as much as I can but afterward, I'll have to save up extra for this.
I just hate how everything has become subscription-based... But I can't go without it.
It offers too much value for a serial animater like me. There probably won't be any more hardware updates this year, considering all the costs for music and software. Lol.
But all this price-negativity shouldn't distract us from the important point... I found an external animation software that perfectly fits my needs. This is incredible.
This is a Game-changing discovery.
And not the only one.
3. The Holy Grail (HD-Sculpting)
The second discovery...
I use Zbrush for sculpting work. When I first discovered Zbrush two years ago, it changed everything.
There was always just one big issue.
You can't sculpt in High Res if you're not a Daz3D PA.
A PA is a person who creates assets, etc. for Daz3D. They gain access to this ability.
You might not understand a word but let me show you something that will help you understand.
This is low res:
You can see how big all those rectangle thingies are. When sculpting, you'll be moving the edges of these rectangles.
There's no way to work precisely.
This is High Res:
Two different worlds.
For the past two years, I've been trying to find a way to sculpt High Res... My tests and tears brought me close, but still so far away...
Until a little bear gave me the last ingredient...
I can sculpt in High Res now... And oh boy is it a difference.
I completely suck at it btw. as I only have experience with Low Res... But give me some time and I'll sculpt you some boobs out of this world.
There are drawbacks...
- I can't use it in animations.
- Sculpting takes a lot longer.
- My hand cramps every time.
I will only be doing it occasionally, it's not suitable for doing that with a lot of moving renders.
(A good example: Bella grabbing her own boobs.)
I also did a very simple sculpt yesterday... And you'll see more of these simple sculpts as practice makes perfect.
(You might not even recognize them until pointed out)
The boobs are being squished a little out of the bra. (You can see it at the edges.)
This paired with MotionBuilder... In a few months, we'll be reaching a new level of quality.
4. Previews
Let's get some visual stimulation.
I had to go a little back to find previews I could show.
Imagine how Nami's butt would've looked if I had known about HD sculpting and was actually good at it.
Nadia doing Nadia things.
One of us! One of us!
I always feel like I forgot something...
Anyways... The normal timeline is done... Now the rest of the Tabletop session
And as soon as this is done... I'll need to finish two cinematics. They're not that bad. One is 40sec and the other is around 1:30min.
Then I'll be testing the boy for two days and release the Beta.
And WiAB Ch2 might also release not that long after the Final release of Ch4.
See you in the next Dev Log and thanks a lot to all the supporters who give me and the game the ability to grow and expand.
I'll see you in the next Dev Log.
- Ocean