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A much needed update for "PUMPING IRON"...
18 years ago
General
Hello all! Itoril and I decided that an update was much-needed and long overdue. First, let me start off with thanking everyone once again for their patience and support!
Things are progressing slowly at this point; however, the development is still looking promising as we overcome each new ‘hurdle’ we stumble across. The project, overall, isn’t progressing slowly, but rather some of the ‘snags’ we’ve encountered have, at times, grinded our progress to a near-halt. Nevertheless, we’ve continued to push onward, and the gains have been nothing short of pleasantly rewarding. We’re very close to getting our first model previews out for your viewing pleasure, but since we don’t want to make empty promises, I can only say it should be -if all goes well- very soon. Keep your eyes peeled!
Currently, I’m working on more model sheets, which are expected to be seen in our planned sequel (getting a little ahead of ourselves, aren’t we?), while itoril continues to work tirelessly with this hair/fur modeling dilemma we’ve ran into. Anyways, I don’t have much more to say, so I’ll hand it over to the technical mastermind, itoril!
-S.G.
Hi again, everyone.
Out of the frying pan, into the fire. That's what it feels like at the moment. I think we both hoped that we'd be able to get some kind of visual stimulus released by now. However, Bridgett is an iron temptress and she gave me a lot of grief. Since I last addressed you all, we've finished the texture map. I've also created the morph targets which will be combined with a few floating bones to enable facial animation. We both remarked on how much humanity Bridgett gained now that I could control her face and set it to a more natural state. She's grown with leaps and bounds.
Rigging is under control, while not fully hammered out I've fitted the skeletal structure, making allowances for the wonderful bits that make a character a furry - expressive ears and tail. I'm partway through assigning the bones to certain parts of the mesh. I prefer to do it vertex by vertex - there's an automatic system to produce an immediate rig, but it bends and buckles horribly. If you want to do something right, you have to do it yourself.
I struggled terribly with the hair and fur modifier. However, there is a workable solution. One big problem was a lack of memory, this is going to be remedied with compositing, blending two separate layers together. There used to be lighting issues, but they were obliterated once I increased the number of passes - it makes the fur look soft and inviting. It also seems quite difficult to style the hair when there are so many guides available. Since Bridgett's body is furry, I must contend with guide lines scattering about in every direction. So all that's left is actually styling the hair and fur to make sure it looks right.
Anyway, thanks for your patience, everyone. We're both really excited to show you the progress we've made, and we plan on finally having a visual update, so stay tuned.
-Itoril
Things are progressing slowly at this point; however, the development is still looking promising as we overcome each new ‘hurdle’ we stumble across. The project, overall, isn’t progressing slowly, but rather some of the ‘snags’ we’ve encountered have, at times, grinded our progress to a near-halt. Nevertheless, we’ve continued to push onward, and the gains have been nothing short of pleasantly rewarding. We’re very close to getting our first model previews out for your viewing pleasure, but since we don’t want to make empty promises, I can only say it should be -if all goes well- very soon. Keep your eyes peeled!
Currently, I’m working on more model sheets, which are expected to be seen in our planned sequel (getting a little ahead of ourselves, aren’t we?), while itoril continues to work tirelessly with this hair/fur modeling dilemma we’ve ran into. Anyways, I don’t have much more to say, so I’ll hand it over to the technical mastermind, itoril!
-S.G.
Hi again, everyone.
Out of the frying pan, into the fire. That's what it feels like at the moment. I think we both hoped that we'd be able to get some kind of visual stimulus released by now. However, Bridgett is an iron temptress and she gave me a lot of grief. Since I last addressed you all, we've finished the texture map. I've also created the morph targets which will be combined with a few floating bones to enable facial animation. We both remarked on how much humanity Bridgett gained now that I could control her face and set it to a more natural state. She's grown with leaps and bounds.
Rigging is under control, while not fully hammered out I've fitted the skeletal structure, making allowances for the wonderful bits that make a character a furry - expressive ears and tail. I'm partway through assigning the bones to certain parts of the mesh. I prefer to do it vertex by vertex - there's an automatic system to produce an immediate rig, but it bends and buckles horribly. If you want to do something right, you have to do it yourself.
I struggled terribly with the hair and fur modifier. However, there is a workable solution. One big problem was a lack of memory, this is going to be remedied with compositing, blending two separate layers together. There used to be lighting issues, but they were obliterated once I increased the number of passes - it makes the fur look soft and inviting. It also seems quite difficult to style the hair when there are so many guides available. Since Bridgett's body is furry, I must contend with guide lines scattering about in every direction. So all that's left is actually styling the hair and fur to make sure it looks right.
Anyway, thanks for your patience, everyone. We're both really excited to show you the progress we've made, and we plan on finally having a visual update, so stay tuned.
-Itoril
Thanks for the update. * offers more support and patience *