Hello everyone!
Excuse the delay, a lot fell around the 1st this month so didn't quite have the time to sit down and write this out till now.
I'm currently setting up to tackle the next occupant in the high yield section, as mentioned that will be DVA, it's a chance to sprinkle in a little more lore about how things work for the people who're within the clutches of Orogenix.
I'm pretty much just waiting for voice work to make a start on that one which I'm expecting in about a week, I wanted the best for this production so we're combining the vocal talents of Ms Lamp and Ms Pixie Willow.
It is always a delight to receive and work with such passionate performances from such refined actresses!
Speaking of refinement, since this is 'try 2' of a scene, I do like to review and consider what worked about the previous setup, and how we might improve things. I've been reading all your feedback in comments and sometimes DM's, and I find myself thinking along a lot of the same lines.
First off, lets tackle the anatomy question, as is now obvious to those who have viewed Sombra Camera 2, I decided to, after the results of the poll and everything, pretty much completely ignore the results in favour of my intended outcome, which will be the standard of what I consider 'futanari', at least within the context of my universe.
Which is to say, if they're a bull they have balls and cock, if they're a breedee they have a vagina, and never the twain shall meet (in general, never say never to some one-off situation which might catch my eye)
I made this decision for several reasons but chief among which was the mechanics, you only have so much internal space around there, and visually it would appear very cluttered to have so much going on in that space, call it artists intuition.
The other thing I wanted to raise with you all was one of angles.
So this is the first time I decided to split and do a quick angle change as a revision to a scene after the fact, normally, assuming I'd have a lot more time, I'd probably have chosen a series of different shots as part of the primary production.
Choosing to go with a single angle simplified and also complicated some aspects, on the one hand: Don't have to worry about multiple lighting sets, don't have to worry about multiple sets of angles (it takes several hours to decide on a final shot composition) and primarily, at the time I was completing Sombra Camera 1, it means I could avoid a section of animation entirely.
On the other other hand, It meant the face was in view the entire time, which meant I had to take -some- shortcuts on this front to have kept a reasonable production lifecycle.
Some people mentioned something was a little 'off' about the face, and that was I feel, probably because I didn't spend as much time as I might normally have on polish.
Even though it was just the upper face, facial animation is always extremely time intensive, despite me taking a couple weeks polishing it up, it was still 12 straight minutes of facial animation which is the longest continuous shot I've done. I had facial mocap set up on the model and this did help a little, but it had rough edges that came through.
Ultimately I stuck to the single angle in the end because I was, at that stage, still waiting for the parts to be rigged, and could skip the anal animation section, which for those of you who've seen angle 2, can confirm was not exactly trivial.
Interesting factoid about this setup was the original tail animation I did looked utterly ridiculous when viewed from behind, but great from the front, but if you take the final animation of the shot 2, viewed from the first camera, it's way too subtle!
The original angle 1 tail animation, it's obvious, distinct.
But you can see how exaggerated it is with the actual required motion.
After revising all this animation so it looks good from here:
Makes it way too subtle from the original angle!
This then leads on to possibly other issues, had I done a camera cut around there, I'd have to either have 2 sets of animation for the tail and switch between it ,which can also cause it's own issues, Or you find a motion that's not quite enough for -either- shot.
Reminds me of some of the behind the scenes shots from pixar, animation and 3D is fascinating this way.
All of this is to say that, sticking to a single angle VS making several camera cuts has its advantages and disadvantages.
So I find myself looking at a second opportunity to do this scene and I find myself asking how I might approach it.
So I'd like your thoughts, please cast your vote in the poll, would you prefer a traditional mix of camera angles going into all of the individual details, or do you prefer the overall view of the scene?
Do you want your eyes to be able to wander around the scene, or do you want me to direct them?
Some shot crop examples.
I of course, reserve the right to ignore the result, I really just want a key in on those who might find the inclusion of certain interactions (mainly ass and pseudo prostate play) a definite turn off.
This is long enough already so I'm just going to rapid fire through a few things I've picked up and intend on addressing in this production:
Some asked about showing the tools being used - This scene will show DVA being 'engaged' by the machine, allowing us an opportunity to show what's going on inside her.
Some mentioned the mask was a good opportunity for dialogue - This scene will have an exchange of dialogue.
Some mentioned the angles obscured some detail, additional cuts will help with this.
Personally, whereas the physics were a monumental step forward for me (seriously I can't stress quite how good Houdini is over literally every other simulation software I've used) but It was still only a few days spent with a piece of software which has so much to offer, I really want to play with some additional effects, having some of that stringy goey precum hanging around would be awesome.
It's an exciting scene I'm looking forward to getting started on, and I'm hoping an opportunity for a second bash at it will yield some interesting results.
That's all for now, let me know your thoughts below! I'm gonna wait for this voice work, which is perfect because a Factorio expansion came out and I can't stop playing it.
Bye for now!