thedude3dx
patreon
It's the last 2019 animation update! And it's good news!
🕑 Added 2019-12-23 22:07:04 +0000 UTCSo, this was the surprise that I had hoped I would have ready for you in November. So we're finally here. I really wanted to get this one out of the way ahead of christmas, and thankfully it's now done. The thumbnail image for this post you're looking at is... a working character rig!
Indeed, with the help of one of my friends at Affect3D, there is now a completely functional animation rig for Mari in Maya. What does that mean? It means I can start animating! Yes, really! We're actually ready to go :D I don't have just the rig. I also have the skin shaders, the environment, the outfits, everything! So that's what's coming up in 2020.
However, since this is such a big moment, and we're at the years end, I also want to spend some time looking back on this long process. If you're interested in more details than what I wrote above, here's what I spent 2019 doing, and why it took so long:
A quick recap:
I wanna do this one right, so let's start with a recap of my attempts to transition into animation. Since it was Girlfriends 4 Ever that inspired me to get started as a 3DX artist, obviously animation has been my goal since day one. Unfortunately, as I developed as an artist, I also discovered a few things about myself. For one, I turned out to be really good at rendering, and since I'm a very visual person, it's a part of 3D that I was very drawn to. Lighting, shaders, outfit design and fabric tweaking, all these things that tie into what a final image looks like.
To be a 3D artist can really mean anything. It's why the list of credits on any movie or game is so long. You don't hire people to be "3D artists". You hire them to be renderers, to be animators, to be special effects designers, to be modelers, etc. It's a very diverse field and really as someone with the plan to animate, what I was setting myself up for was becoming a jack-of-all-trades. I had to learn at least the basics of each discipline. And I thought I would.
Turns out, I found it incredibly difficult. I want to be clear about this one: it wasn't -just- time constraints. Yes, they were a large part of it. Unfortunately, it was also a huge lack of natural interest in all things not to do with rendering. How is it possible that I can sit myself down for three, four weeks on end of set design, character posing, and churning out entire image sets and turning them into comics in photoshop, but I can't motivate myself to do a few hours of uninterrupted work in a grey techy interface?
Personal preferences and interests. I can't deny that. So when I realised that this was the case, I also realised I needed to get some help.
What we achieved in 2019:
Leaving 2018, all I had was a weirdly ineffective G3F rig, sorta kinda. It wasn't even finished. Then I noticed that a new script had come out, conveniently for me, that exported G8 to Maya instead of G3. If you're not familiar, these are the base character models that I use to design my girls. The G8 script exported a far more complete, far more animateable version of Mari than the G3 script did. In fact I designed G8 Mari specifically to be exported, and began to phase out use my G3 Mari. If any of you noticed minute differences in her appearances throughout the last year compared to earlier, that is why.
Of course, even a fully functional G8 Mari was still only a G8 Mari without a dick. So then I had to figure out how to create a dick that was part of the model. Not a separate prop, but fully integrated. And this required that I spend time developing new skills that I not only had limited time for (since I had to run Patreon as well as keep releasing on A3D), but also wasn't incredibly interested in.
I had to accept that 3D work is a team effort, and so I reached out to people far more experienced in creating this kinda stuff. After already having spoken to Puppetmaster a lot throughout 2018, I now involved another friend from A3D who created the mesh for the new dick for me. Someone else who's a known quantity in the erotic 3D assets field rigged the whole thing and attached it to G8 Mari. In fact, it can be attached it to anyone. Meaning I can start exporting any G8 girl I want!
In the meanwhile, between meeting deadlines for Patreon and A3D, I worked in Maya to configure Mari's skin. I'm using a completely different render engine there, but since this is once again visual work I had a great time doing this. To remind you guys, this is what I ended up making:
Which brings us to now.
2020 and what's next:
I'm not going to promise the world just yet. It would be silly if I did. What I can promise is that now all the boring stuff is behind me, I'm going to spend January and February on creating a simple animation that involves only Mari. With this, I want to lay the groundwork for my debut animation, which I hope to release as soon as possible. It's something that I think I can now justify putting more time into, because where before I had to keep laying the groundwork between set production, this time I can treat time spent on this as contributing toward an actual product.
Honestly, I've always believed that slow and steady wins the race. People have been aching for me to animate for years now, but it simply wasn't gonna happen until I felt like it was the next natural progression in my 3D career. I didn't want to rush through it. I think now that I have a very defined style, have achieved the maximum of what's possible with renders, and have finally gotten all my ducks in a row animation wise, animation is the next logical step.
So that's what's coming for 2020. And I'm very happy that I got to share this with you guys just before christmas :)
Comments
Duncan Ashley
Looking forward to seeing the cast in full-motion this year!
Vibratos M Blaster
Amazing stuff - thanks for the behind the scenes info on progress. Love it that you're going with the "slow & steady wins the race" approach. Definitely shows your dedication to the quality associated with your brand. Much success in the new year!
ZanyFoxLlama
Thanks for all your hard work. Have a good Christmas and New Year.
ZanyFoxLlama
It's been a great year for all your sets and pics. Animation to look forward to as well.
Zdoria
WOW! It's almost 2020 already?! This year has FLOWN by! Seems like just yesterday I was reading your post about what was coming in 2019. It's been a busy year for you and a really GREAT year for us. The bios and interviews. KMM. Ascension. The mini sets. Four year anniversary. A Special Lady starting. Tatianna and Kayla joining the mile high club. And my favorite, meeting Taylor! MMMM, Taylor! Great news about the animation! Looking forward to seeing your first one! I know nothing about what it takes to do that other than what you tell us here. Just know that we're all here to support you while you begin this animation journey. We all know how hard you push yourself, but don't feel rushed to get it done. Take your time and make sure it meets your own high expectations. You can't learn it all at once. 😊 Like Darius, I've been a huge fan of your work since I first saw Sin Sisters. That's when Kayla became my favorite (though Taylor is now a very close 2nd!). Really looking forward to what's coming in 2020! It's been absolutely amazing being a Patron, and like you, I'm in this for the long haul. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Zdoria
100% agree with all of what Darius says here!
Name
Awesome work & Merry Christmas!
Bob Fink
Congratulations and I look forward to 202 and your new endeavors in 3D.
Aura
That's definitely a great time to debut animation. From the months I've supported your work, I've seen the intense care you put into all your renders and I respect the immaculate attention to detail that you put to everything, from the environments, to the girls themselves, and especially the expressions, God, I love when emotions are conveyed through facial expressions. That quest for perfection might be what drove you to hold off on animating until you're fully accepting of your own skills but if you're confident about it, then I'm all for it. I've been a follower of your work since the sin sister days with Kayla and Tatiana and the Kayla and Breanna sets (man, that was a while ago) and I've looked forward to everything you've done so far. Keep it up and I hope you continue to strive for even further excellence!
TheDude3DX
Yeah I'm absolutely in this for the long haul :) That's why I was never that concerned about the when of animation. My main driving force here in just getting it over with was that I know it's something that people are really asking for, but I see myself doing this for... well, probably as long as the market allows me haha. If people keep supporting me I keep making this. My first set released in July 2015. So next year summer will be my fifth anniversary. How's that for a goalpost for a debut anim? I like that idea.
TheDude3DX
Thank you :D I always love reading this haha. It keeps me going!
TheDude3DX
A lot. So this is actually where I give so much credit to Miro. I think he spent upwards of two years, closer to three, producing just G4E. And he did it all by himself. Now, I've spoken a lot about this with him and even he dreads the idea of going back and doing it the way he did. Because he didn't use Maya to animate that, he did it all in Poser. These days he works in Maya and that's how he convinced me to get started in there as well. To basically skip over all the steps he went through to make G4E, and get right into the software he's using for Bloodlust instead. And while he's totally right on that, I didn't understand myself as an artist well enough yet to know what I would end up enjoying about 3D work, and what I wouldn't. So I just stepped into the whole thing with an "ok! let's do this" attitude, only to find myself far more swamped with deadlines that I needed to meet to pay the bills, and a weird frustration at my inability to just... do things in Maya when I did have the time. Why wasn't I sitting down for it? Why wasn't I just soldiering through it? Why instead did I keep going back to Daz to render set after set? Because that's where my heart lies. I just love the visual side of it too much. And I think you can see that in my evolution as an artist over the years. So all things considered, I will now not take as much time to make my first animation as Miro took creating G4E. That's because I'm going to make something a lot less complex, and indeed because Maya is top of the line animating software.
Aura
This is an amazing development. I'm so stoked to see all the progress you've made over the years and am excited at the latent potential that has yet to be unearthed. May you continue to grow even more in your skills and techniques with help from some of the best 3dx artist in the business!
Deyan Mladenov
Very informative post. Do you have any idea how many people and time it takes to create a whole mini movie like G4ever?
Congratulations! Can't wait to see what you do next! Thank you for your tireless work to improve the viewer experience! Your work is truly one of a kind!
