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Feb
05
2024

February ProgBlog #1: that feeling when

you could have done so much more if everything had actually gone according to plan.

I'm resigned to using my tablet as a tablet partly because I didn't want to pack it away again and redownload the Wacom drivers and reset my desk setup for the Wacom and mostly because I just want to use the shiny new thing. The most it's done is the occasional mapping whenever I get obsessed over around to it.

On my scheduled project day I remembered that I had exported the config on my MacBook Air to help ease the transition, so I fired up the driver ui and imported it. Exactly nothing happened as far as I can tell, I don't know if I would have noticed any error messages had I started the driver ui from console but I was so annoyed by a failure of something that I think is absolute basics (which may not actually be that basic, I don't know how to do drivers) that I didn't bother looking into it and just set it up again.

Jul
04
2022

July ProgBlog #1

After last progblog I decided to break from doing the Avian model and work on the Dragonkin one for a bit. First level of panic was that the proportions were really different.

That calmed down very quickly when I remembered…I only need the wings and everything in that area was proportional enough.

Dragonkin alignment

I technically do need the tail but I could just pull that one out if the existing one wasn't in the right spot and given the different topology of both models it may end up in a slightly different spot anyway

Jun
20
2022

June ProgBlog #1: There was a gap

In that gap was a slightly unexpected new puppy (which I wrote a bit about in the homeschool miscellany) and covid (not worth the ridiculously excessive fuss and the frantic stripping of as much freedom as possible in that space of time that was made of it, wouldn't recommend the headache though). And then there was me figuring it wasn't worth the blog because there hadn't been much prog and trying to manage that and consistently failing as other things kept happening (not least of which comp season started).

After a lot of stuffing around, I eventually worked out there was something either wrong with the file or with the particle system that was making my curve guides not work.  A bit more experimentation later I found that recreating the particle system worked, and that NURBs paths no longer seemed to work but Beziers did.

Sep
20
2020

September ProgBlog #3: retopo home stretch 2 the sequel

In the spirit of failing to do more in the same amount of time, I ended up having to clean out the art cupboard (a job I've been studiously avoiding for the last 5 years, I also bought a cube shelf for it that fits a bit more perfectly than I thought it would) and will over the next week or so probably have to sort out the rest of the crap that I've been putting off and should have probably done during covid except that I took the opportunity to go hard on this thing instead.

On the bright side the art cupboard looks organised now and I can't even share photos because trying to get photos off my phone is apparently incredibly difficult for linux.

Sep
12
2020

September ProgBlog #2: retopo home stretch

The last week has been more about trying to fit more stuff in, so work hours keep getting cut more and more and more (because apparently I shouldn't be cutting sleep for some reason).

And then on Friday my problem shoulder exploded (either pinched a nerve or it decided to become a frozen shoulder, I will find out which presently I guess) because I had the audacity to...stretch (literally all I did was stretch upwards).  By evening I was popping painkillers (I don't take painkillers because I have an irrational aversion to them) so I could run kids to places they needed to be, yesterday it was less bad and today it's less bad again but still there and still occasionally annoying.

Sep
05
2020

September ProgBlog #1: playing with retopo addons

Those twisty horns from hell are so-called because they gave me a hard time when I was sculpting, a hard time the first time I was retopologising and a hard time this time round too but I got there eventually.

retopo in retopoflow in Blender 2.8

I started off using speedretopo.

Aug
02
2020

August ProgBlog #1: and then one thing led to another and...

WARNING: if you're an ultraprude there's a nude character in here but only the breasts are somewhat detailed, while you can see the crotch area due to lack of clothes there isn't even implied genitalia.

So there I was, just smoothing out Red's feet and toes and fixing toenails that needed fixing

Blender 2.8 sculpting feet

Nov
29
2019

November ProgBlog #5: and we're back

What is this 5 weeks shenanigans.

So pretty much trying to pick up where I was before I jumped back to do more retopo.  That texture baking tool in 3dC is a lifesaver when you're inept like me x_x The skin texture is now reasonable enough for in your face shots:

Zara's procedural skin texture

And an in your face Eevee render as close as the clipping distance would let me get (I'm not even sure I have many if any extreme closeups like this):

Nov
15
2019

November ProgBlog #3: dense

That's what the head is at the moment and I'm not even done.

redoing retopo in 3dC coz I wasn't happy with the other one

Jun
11
2018

June ProgBlog #2

I was actually intending to do this on Friday, but I was also setting up some new backup drives (my original drive was appropriated) and needed to copy the old backup from my computer (where it's currently taking up a HELL of a lot of space!) and I found out the hard way that I can't use 3d Coat and have big copy operations going at the same time because it makes my computer run out of memory.

los of memory usage

Above is ram and swap usage with 3dC open.  Think it might have something to do with the 16k uv map I'm using.  I have 32Gb of ram.  I should probably get more.