November was a month of a lot of development. I did a lot and I want to show you.
I can't always show you the process behind the scenes because it can be boring. However, while I worked on Rouge I had the opportunity to rebuild, optimize, and recover the rest of my workflow. I know I wasn’t very present here but I'm glad I had the time to get my hands on some pervasive issues (for me and reported in our community):
Headmod Reference System: Implementing a system that allows me to work more efficiently and consistently with references when animating
Proper Innerwear: Creating/Porting innerwear that works properly around naughty bits and that is not so tight
Stable Breast Pieces: Developing stable breast-area pieces that look good, are fixed, but still allow customization
Recover: The rest of my lost workflow
Headmod Reference System
This is old for me. One of the most time-consuming parts of headmod development (in my case) is acquiring and using references that I like. References can vary, they don't always reflect what I want, and they're difficult to project onto a 3D model. Front references are what help the most but since KK has 80ish face expressions, it is impossible to find 80ish references that match the intentions of the original KK developers.I spent months developing a technically simple system that I could use to create basic but useful AI references that I could view and use while modelling. The reason it it turned to be a months-long project is because I had to understand:
Whatever egao, ikari, keno, etc. meant in japanese/kanji
Understand/decipher what the creators intended by - for instance - using seemingly redundant expressions like egao (笑顔-smile), uresi (嬉しい-smile), bisyou (微笑-smile) and doya (ドヤ顔-smile)
Translate that into english, and create and test prompts that would be compatible with my model
Building the reference system in Blender was the easiest part. But when I had it, I used it for Rouge and - for me - the difference was huge because I could spend my energy into creating lively/interesting expressions instead of fighting the references.
I'm not endorsing AI for other purposes, but I recognize it's a very useful tool for references when used properly.
I still use classic references and I still have to create my own expressions and work with the limitations I have, but this is a huge help and I feel the quality re
flects it.
Proper Innerwear
One of the most broken shits ever. I don't want to get in-depth with the technical details, but there is a lot that breaks in this particular porting process. Essentially there are too many vertices around the naughty bits and there is no way of porting successfully new bone distributions. Also, flying pants. You need to have flying pants. I don't know why, but if you don't have them; hell.
This took me a long time to figure out but I needed it. Not only to make innerwear that works around naughty bits - but to make innerwear that is not so tightly fitted because that compromises the compatibility with other tight clothes. Which is something I needed in order to solve the next issue.
Stable Breast Pieces
See that? That's is the result of using all what I know into a single piece. It is the most complex mod I've ever done and it is FULLY customizable. I'll talk to you more in the Update of Rouge, but essentially what I wanted to do is:
Have the heart plate keep it's shape
Allow for visible anatomy, squeeze and cleavage
And be able to change the breasts and the heart plate to adapt to those changes
It's all possible now. I combined a sleuth of techniques for this to happen:
You can move, rotate, resize and deform the chest plate because it works with independent inserted bones.
This allows you to change the breasts (directly or in the pushup section) independently to fit it to your will
And the squeeze and shape is predetermined by a smart work on the normals ;3
It was hell to make : D
Recover
Not much to say, I couldn't use past models to help me do Rouge. Now I have a platform to stand on again. I feel way better, way happier and way more productive.
Forecast
It is a lot of work that I can't always show you but I think it's worth you know what I do while I'm quiet. It doesn't look like the most exciting thing ever, but it's essential and I hope you can appreciate the effort I put into solving these issues.
The next things is coming. I've been also working on the recent winners, I just needed to show you this first and I'll be showing you what's to come before we get to Christmas because that's usually a low-activity season and I'm hurrying to get stuff done before we get there ;3I'll see you soon with more cool stuff. I hope you had a nice Turkey Day and have an awesome Cyber-Monday!