UPDATE: Took Longer in the Restroom than I Planned… – September 29, 2022
(As posted on our Patreon Page... with images behind paywall there)
Hello everyone, I hope that this finds you all well… it has been an interesting couple of weeks here, so let me get down to things right away…
From my last update, till late last week, I had been working steadily on the “
End Credits” scene between Karma and Kichijoten, because of the size and scope of the scene, those renders were (and still are currently) taking 3 hours to render out… but I am nearly finished with them.
Late last week, on Friday, I received word from
Sierra3, that the 460lbs of beef that I ordered was ready for pick up, so I took the Terrain in to be serviced to be ready for the long haul down (3 ½ down, 3 ½ back) to mid-Ohio from here in Michigan… while waiting for the Terrain to get new brakes, rotors, oil, lube and filter, I decided to take a break from the long renders and seek out some items that I would need for “
Wicked Choices: Bed Chambers” to put together one of the many locations that you will be able to visit in that game.
Sidenote for all of you: While each game will have unique locations particular to each game story, many of the locations, maps and layouts will
ALL be the same in “
Wicked Choices: Bed Chambers”, “
Wicked Choices: Agents of Karma” and the remaining “
Wicked Choices: Book Two” and “
Wicked Choices: Book Three”, since all of the stuff takes place in the same City! Again, there will be some areas that are only available depending on the story you are playing, but many places like the mall, stores/shops, college, subway, bus depot, park (which I was working on), beach and similar places will be available in all of the remaining games!
As mentioned above, my task on Friday was building the park that you as players, playing the game, will be able to visit as the characters that you play in each game… but no matter how much I looked around, I couldn’t find a suitable and quite particular place I wanted for the park.
A Park Restroom building… so, I expanded my search to Turbosquid and found one there that matched my needs and desires…
...the problem is, it was built for 3D Studio Max, not for Daz Studio and, honestly, I misunderstood the function of Daz Studio’s Bridge to 3D Studio Max.
It only exported from Daz Studio to 3D Studio Max, it DOES NOT import from 3D Studio Max into Daz Studio.
So, scrambling around, I downloaded a trial version of 3D Studio Max and began the process of exporting each individual object from the building scene that I bought on Turbosquid importing the .3DS format into Poser (to keep the original Material settings and names), exporting it as an .OBJ format and importing that file into Daz Studio and began rebuilding and altering the location to my needs for the game.
Before any of you ask: “
Why didn’t you just export the whole thing as an .FBX file into Daz Studio?” Or “
Why didn’t you export the WHOLE place as one .3DS or .OBJ file?”
Believe me, I tried… the .FBX file was
FUBARED and unable to use and if it had been done as a complete .3DS or .OBJ file, doors wouldn’t open, pieces of the walls couldn’t be turned on or off to get the software’s cameras into the place or lighting done correctly… so, it had to be done, one piece at a time… and, as I said, reassembled to my specifications for the game’s story… as the original model wasn’t made to have ‘gloryholes’ in it.
*wink*
From the Main Rendered Image used at the start of this update, you can see it is a bit different in texturing from the original and, as mentioned, now includes ‘gloryholes’ (which you can see being used behind the paywall, for obvious reasons) and a back door, service tunnel, where those looking to be ‘serviced’ by restroom users can offer their ‘packages’ to those servicing.
But all of that converting took till this Thursday to finish reassembling, texturing and lighting (which, again you can see the results behind the paywall) and rendering for all of you to see.
Part of the reason it took so long is because
ALL DAY SATURDAY was spent driving down to Sierra3’s place to get the 460lbs of beef (at $3.50 a pound, versus the $4.99 or higher if bought in the grocery store)… and I needed Sunday off, because my back and body is not really in the best of condition to spend 6 hours driving and also loading and unloading 460lbs of beef… but it is done and in the freezer.
Another sidenote: Thanks,
Sierra3 for helping to get that beef for me and storing it till I could come and get it this Saturday and was really
GREAT to get to see you in person and visit with you for a bit!!
Also, this week has been pretty hectic, and a lot of time has been spent on the phone here, debating if my mom was going to come up from Florida and stay here (which she chose not to do) to get away from Hurricane Ian.
Right now, she and my brother (and his family) who both live in Port Orange are safe… my brother house has some flooding in it, as the retention pond behind their house overfilled with the water being dumped on them as the hurricane passed south of them through Orlando and my mom… at the time of writing this, hasn’t had any flooding in her house yet, but both are without power and cell coverage in the area is spotty at best.
Till I have a better idea of what is transpiring there from the both of them, I am continuing to work on the game as planned to get this thing done and, in your hands… but, if either my mom, or my brother (and his family) need to come up here due to damages in Florida… I might have to find a way to work on this stuff without them knowing (particularly my mother who
CERTAINLY wouldn’t understand… nor being as religious as she is, would likely give me an earful and want to pray for my soul to keep me from going to Hell).
So, I am going to operate as normal and try to get “
Wicked Choices Extra: Michelle & Claire – A Day at the Pond” finished as planned. If things change, I will certainly let you know or have
Epadder or
Sierra3 let all of you know, but I think… for now… I am safe to complete this.
Which I better get back to doing.
Take care everyone, particularly if any of you are in Florida, the Carolinas or in the path of this monster hurricane. Our thoughts and prayers are with you, and we pray for your safety and wellbeing.
We’ll talk again soon,
~Jack