Just wanted to drop this really quick, this is a smaller piece I'm working on, as my work in Houdini continues.
Originally, I was pretty optimistic about my Houdini results, and if I had chosen a simpler outfit, it would be done by now.I have iterated the mesh a few times, improved the dynamics, and I'm just cracking away at minor issues like cloth jitter and some weird bugs.I'm really close, but each iteration takes a while to finish baking, so in the mean time, alongside working on additional parts for the Pear animation, I've begun working on this smaller piece inspired by this post on Twitter.
I really wish I could find the source for this, but I can't seem to find it.I really like the angle and lighting though, so this is the basis for my next little piece.I'm a bit worried it's AI generated, and that's why I can't find the artist, but regardless I'm going through with it.
I've made some small updates to Caroline's shaders too, I feel like they look a bit less plasticky, and show less of the environment in the skin, which never looked quite right to be, but my changes have allowed me to get a bit creative with the roughness of the skin, as it doesn't reflect the entire scene.
I'm debating whether I'm gonna give her clothing, but I think it would be a nice extra layer, and I can use the setup I've already got in Houdini.Plus I can use tearing in a bit more of a static environment rather than a dynamic one like in animation.
This is still pretty early in progress, but I wanted to share this, and an additional pose I'm experimenting with!
As for the Pear Animation, when the simulations look good, I have a setup to convert it to a usable mesh for the animation, and it should be pretty smooth sailing from there.The tearing is pretty much tuned to a way that I like, and it looks wonderful.I even fixed some issues I was having with the button dynamics.After the changes to the button stitching, I had problems getting them to pop one by one like the old setup, and after some experimentation, I finally got it working properly.
The changes I've made had made the simulations less jittery, and much more stable so I'm pretty close on that front.
I've also started working on additional background characters for the short, as it'll at least feature a catalyst and a setting, a cursed pear smoothie in a little cafe.Cafe is pretty close to being finished, motion capture has been taken for the barista and potentially other patrons.The Barista has a cute little overall getup, but I removed the rigged overalls so I can just simulate it in Marvelous Designer, which is much more of a simple task, since I'm not tearing it, and she's not expanding.Nothing too crazy, still haven't had much time to adjust the lighting in the cafe, and some additional changes to make it seem a bit more real.
I'd love to hear what you think, and I'll have more updates on this, and the Pear project as developments continue!