#LOW/CHROMA

[an-established-butt-dent]

I'm a bald Solas lover I swear!!!!

—> Process video under the cut because of flash warning.

[vesrimm]

i wanted to remake more refs for artfight but i think this killed all of my motivation

[radicallyzigzag]

i cant do this anymore.

i cant do this anymore... lucifers two poopoo head.... i cant go on.../💔

[starfallcollective]

Weeee we finally have a blog now!! So hiii a little introduction from me! (≧◡≦)

I'm Chroma! I use Kyuu/Zher pronouns and like fem/neu terms! I am also the same age as body ww

I'm also a splitroject of Miku and Motoko Kusanagi but on to my interests! I love horror (espec body horror) and tech themed things, (RPG horror holds a special place in my heart) and I also really enjoy breakcore!! I've been listening to alot of sewerslvt and really enjoying her music

I split off very recently and may be taking over from Ette as host but we shall have to see (￣▽￣)

Would love to meet some new people on here aswell!

[itsiitsu]

Man of justice

---

I tried studying colors in a low chroma style.

Still fascinated by splash art, been looking at Arknights’ art for inspiration.

[echo-coyote]

Messing around with a Modern AU/Human Ahsoka design!

After watching the Star Wars Nebulas Dissent movies, Ahsoka wanted to join a lightsaber chroma-blade dueling club as soon as possible! With her experiences in Kendo and other martial arts, she very quickly became one of the top duelists at Sky Guy’s Chroma-Blade Academy.

But after a tragic accident, she left the academy and never looked back.

She now travels cross-country in her T-6 Camper, stopping at a small town every year for a few months to take summer courses at Chopper-Base Community College

Had lots of fun with this one! Dabbled a bit into low-poly 3D modeling for the camper.

[utilitycaster]

relevant to this point by @pawthorn but I think lower-level D&D combat is often sold short for being boring, when I actually think it often is much better for Actual Play, particularly unedited AP shows. I've been thinking about this again since starting Nein Again and definitely agree seeing the first combat of EXU Divergence.

Dithering over potential actions pumps the brakes on the action of combat, so when your options are essentially dash, dodge, or make one attack and when your only bonus action is "try to get other people to rush the soldiers" that keeps the game running since the choice is pretty easy. Similarly, I think high level combat can suffer from feeling dragged out or low stakes. Brennan once said that most combat is over in four rounds, so for something to feel like a real threat, dropping one person a round in a six-person party is not unreasonable.

Here's the thing: HP scales, but even when upcast, Cure Wounds doesn't keep up. In L1 or L2 (or L0, as in Divergence) combat, you might have 10 HP and go down with two very normal hits; but your L1 cleric can bring you back to full with one good roll; and you also can probably reliably deal 5 damage on average when you hit. It feels realistic, balanced, and deadly all at once. To achieve a similar threat at L14, you'll need a creature that can reliably do 50 or so damage. At some point, at higher levels, between the variety of options and the sheer stacks of numbers, a lot of the threat goes out. Obviously there's ways to address this! I am reminded again of the 16 HP dragon which I mentioned in a different post recently; combat as a puzzle or with ticking clocks and environmental factors can give it weight at those high levels (as the post says, re: 4e D&D dragons, "their claws and teeth didn’t do damage, they did numbers"). The L14 fight at the end of EXU Calamity manages this given the need for Laerryn to alter the course of the leywright; a lot of late-game Nein combat still feels very real given the party's martial cohesion and the meatgrinder that was Aeor; the personal and environmental elements do a ton for the making the Chroma Conclave dragon fights feel special. But there is something special about the EXU Divergence crew, where the fact that a stiletto is armor-piercing, or a single crit on a death save, or access to your first spell, or an item that, while formidable, does an amount of damage a high level character would scoff at, can turn the tide entirely.

[rationalnerd62]

As someone who has spent a year and half watching C1/C2/C3, is now finally caught up, and as a result is finally allowing myself to look at fandom reactions to episodes... Boy, critical role discourse is weird.

People will spend days arguing about who's evil and who isn't, which decisions made sense and which ones did not, whether the plot point is solid or not, what's the consequences of that fake action in that fake world, who's a psychopath and who isn't, which group is better than the other, etc etc etc.

Meanwhile I'm there enjoying every single episode of that show. For ten years, this group of friends has met every week to roll some dice. They've created characters that made them laugh, and cry, and smile, and frown, and shout, in excitement, fury, terror and joy. Through them, they've lived adventures, drama, tension, trauma, in a sandbox world they'll never put a foot in. They've created wonders in Exandria, then destroyed them just to see what would happen (shout out to Emon and the Chroma Conclave arc 🎉).

Their world had mystical artifacts, so they created lost civilisations to justify both their existence and rarity. It had Gods, so they gave them backstories and myths, to make this world feel real. They understood that history in itself is flawed, so the knowledge of the past is changing. Each campaign, they went on bigger questions, bigger challenges. From very early on, Campaign 3 has been questioning the status quo between Gods and Mortals, and what we know of the deities has evolved as a result. Why should I care, really, whether Bell's Hells are right or not to challenge the Gods. It's obviously a storyline that Matt and the rest of the cast were curious to explore, so they're doing it. Maybe it'll work out great, maybe it won't, they don't know, and that's fine. After all, what is the point of a sandbox world if you cannot push a few red buttons.

And of course, not every plot point or decision is going to be resilient to scrutiny. It's an improvised ttrpg game, with 100+ episodes per campaign, and we're almost at 500h in length for C3. Yesterday, in my ttrpg, I forgot who my new vice purveyor was, after I overindulged a few months ago (... It's a Blade in the Dark thing). Last week, I invented a drag persona for my character because I was trying to find a distraction and I panicked. Ttrpg are soooo random, mate. Even with professional players like the Critical Role folks, it stays a ttrpg. Things get forgotten. Some things get developed and others don't get the time to. Discussions happen, and sometimes they happen again six months later because maybe characters have changed or maybe not. It's not a scripted TV show, where things can be planned in advance and you know the characters will stick to the script. Inconsistencies will happen, and that's fine.

(Contrary to my ttrpg though, the CR folks are absolutely mind-blowing improv actors and watching them every week stays absolutely thrilling to me. Some of the things you all have apparently fought a long time about are some of my favorite moments, in any of the campaigns. See swordgate, a masterpiece of dramatic improv and bonkers choices. Those players are *not here* to stay safe, they want to feel the highest highs and the lowest lows and I am there for it 🥺.)

[kerosene-in-a-blender]

I've been thinking about the fact that Campaign 3 is clearly ending after the defeat of Ludinus and whatever the Hells decide re: Predathos, and how that's clear because so much time has been dedicated to The Moon Plot and the only things the Hells might possibly have left to do afterwards are best described as a series of relatively low stakes errands. A thought which in turn lead me to thinking about the Taryon Darrington Arc from Campaign 1 and how it really consisted of... a series of relatively low stakes errands after an arc (The Chroma Conclave) that took up an incredible amount of the campaign's runtime. But I think the Taryon Darrington Arc, while solid but not great, does work better than a hypothetical equivalent arc would for Campaign 3, and the reasons I think this are twofold.

First of all, the Taryon Darrington Arc is well served by the fact that Campaign 1 was significantly more episodic than Campaign 3 has been. Campaign 1 had several easily delineated plot arcs over the course of it, and that structure allowed the Taryon Darrington arc to more naturally fit into the flow of the campaign than a similar arc would for Campaign 3, which has been dedicated to the Moon Plot from the start. The Taryon Darrington Arc in Campaign 1 is a solid but not standout plot arc in a campaign that has several, whereas in Campaign 3 such an arc would at best be a weird disconnected coda on a campaign that has had a defined arc throughout.

Secondly, while the Taryon Darrington Arc was defined by a series of largely disconnected errands, it did still have an emotional throughline. As it begins immediately after the Bard's Lament and introduces a new member to the rather insular Vox Machina, the Taryon Darrington Arc asks how Vox Machina will cope with having saved the world but lost part of their own family in the process, and how they will manage to integrate a new member while mourning the loss of another (in spite of having successfully raised that member from the dead). The loss of Scanlan and the introduction of Taryon shook up Vox Machina's group dynamics and it is that shake up that the stakes of the arc are built around. They're still lower than the stakes of the preceding Chroma Conclave Arc and the subsequent Vecna Arc, but they do exist. Meanwhile I'm not confident that a similar arc with Bells Hells would have such emotional stakes holding it together.

The Hells are notably the least bonded group out of the main campaign adventuring parties and people have come and gone from them since Dorian's initial departure in Episode 14, so it seems far less likely to me that they're be able to carry an entire arc on reorienting themselves after any possible losses in the Ludinus/Predathos fight, especially considering how little impact FCG's death and the subsequent introduction of Braius ultimately had on them. Given the stakes of the matter at hand, a theoretical Bells Hells post-climax arc could also focus on reorienting themselves in a vastly changed world, but the Hells have been so non-politically minded throughout the campaign that I don't know if those emotional stakes could carry them either. I could be wrong, but I don't see where Bells Hells could develop as solid an emotional throughline arcoss an errands arc as Vox Machina managed in the Taryon Darrington Arc. They're just the wrong party, and Campaign 3 the wrong campaign, to support such an arc the way Vox Machina and Campaign 1 did.

[ckret2]

I was re-reading your theraprism (I think that's how you spell it) chapters, and suddenly "St. Chroma" by Tyler, the creator started playing lmao, and I as like "Wait... this low-key kinda reminds me of when Bill destroyed his dimension..." Not THAT much. Maybe if it was a bit darker, but it made me giggle, so I thought why not share hehe :)

chapterS plural? i think i only wrote one chapter set in the Theraprism, which chapters were u reading

I can see it. St. Chroma sounds like... immediately pre-Euclidean Massacre song. When he still thinks that [the thing he's about to do] is gonna go well and everyone will love him and worship him and realize he was right about everything all along. "Can you feel that fire?" oh bill honey no

[snailpebbles]

in the waning moon

gustave x fem!reader - pt. 1 pt. 2

summary: joining expedition 33 was the right decision - you could watch over Maelle and help form history. Learning more about her illusive brother was merely a potential plus you choose to ignore.

wc: 2k

tags: slowburn (?), they're in love and kinda know it, unrequited love, coworkers (lmao) to lovers, angst angst angst FLUFF, brief graphic description of injuries, SPOILERSSSS FOR ACT 1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

𐔌 ﹒ ⋆ ꩜ ⋆ 𓂃 ₊ ⊹𐔌 ﹒ ⋆ ꩜ ⋆ 𓂃 ₊ ⊹𐔌 ﹒ ⋆ ꩜ ⋆

“Why is it built like that-” you continue, but Lune quickly grabs your arm to keep you from investigating further. The mime just stands there staring blankly into the distance, its large gloved hands feeling vaguely ominous. Gustave creeps closer, sword materializing in his hand.

“I work with buffoons..” Lune mutters once more before forming a ball of ice, you not far behind with two guns materialized. The damn thing still doesn’t move and by this point, you’re more than on edge. There isn’t even any wind and the smooth, almost porcelain, texture of its skin makes a slight creaking sound. All three of you glance at each other and nod. With both guns raised, you fire off two shots of chroma at the mime, porcelain not even cracking.

When a huge fucking hammer comes out to build a wall and Gustave stares with his mouth slightly agape, you know this little fight will be mildly entertaining. If you don’t die miserably that is. Lune rushes forward, high in the air as shards of ice go flying at the thing. Barely a crack.

“The wall. Convenient.” Gustave tuts, rushing forward with a quick slash that results in small golden cracks decorating the porcelain of an unblinking mime. You feel it before it actually moves, the air shifting as your training kicks in and your eyes follow to Lune.

“Watch out!” You call in a panic as the mime whips out an even larger hammer, not hesitating to smash it down on your friend. She barely dodges in time, especially at the third swing, and the damn mime doesn’t flinch as Gustave shoots at it. It simply hides behind that invisible wall again, unfazed. Lune sways on her spot, shaking her head as if to rid it of dust. You’re by her side quickly with your nerves on high alert, Gustave fending off the mimes hammer as you check up on her. There’s blood on her collar and her shoulder where the hammer landed, definitely knocking something out of socket. 

“Lune, Lune you need to drink this.” You urge, running out of time as Gustave is hit by the mimes hands. Lune blinks at the healing tint and, with uncoordinated movements, tries to drink it. The moment it’s out of your hands you’re attacking, flipping through the air and firing at the thing while evading that fucking hammer. Luck doesn’t last forever though and by the time Gustave has managed to sort his own swimming head, your ankle is caught by a large hand. 

The golden cracks are blinding this close up even as you hit the ground, ankle practically screaming at you when you stand on it to not be crushed to death by that comically large weapon. Someone yells for you to parry - truly you’re unsure who - and you barely stumble back from the mimes range. Lune’s familiar hands catch you by your armpits and hauls you back, a warm light overtaking you as the screaming dims to a low throb. Meanwhile, Gustave must be taking out his pent up anger with slash after slash - going as far as to call lightning from the sky to fuel his attack. In that moment you forget that you almost died, distracted by the smooth blur that is the brunet. 

Maybe you did hit your head?

“-Up! Get up!” Oh, right. Fighting. Mime with a hammer. Not cool. You’re back on your mostly steady feet, right next to Gustave. He looks worse for wear - sweat dripping down his forehead, blood and dirt staining his clothes and skin. Lune isn’t faring much better even as she throws balls of fire at the mime, golden cracks growing ever larger with each burn it receives. He looks over at you, concern painted on his face, and with the way you feel something spark, you know enough to snuff it before something goes wrong. Distractions end in death and death is something you can no longer afford. Not with Maelle gone and Lumiere resting on all of your shoulders. With a blink and a roll of your shoulders, you lunge. 

𐔌 ﹒ ⋆ ꩜ ⋆ 𓂃 ₊ ⊹𐔌 ﹒ ⋆ ꩜ ⋆ 𓂃 ₊ ⊹𐔌 ﹒ ⋆ ꩜ ⋆

“...We are never listening to you ever again.” Lune huffs, sitting on the grass while Gustave collects the Lumina. You’re splayed out on your back, trying to catch your breath and unclench your fingers after firing your guns so often. A weak laugh leaves you and you nod in agreement, internally cursing your past self. Really, it did seem like a good idea to come this way earlier, but now as you watch Lune set her shoulder and Gustave bandage his head, all you feel is a deepening guilt.

“Well.” Gustave thinks for a second, sitting down by your feet with a grunt. “Nevermind, I can’t defend you.” He sighs in fake sympathy, patting your ankle. A sharp twinge goes through it and hiss in pain, instantly regretting not hiding the reaction when Gustave sits up straight and mutters multiple apologies. He cradles your ankle like it's something special, your pants in tatters around it and blood a matted mess in your leg hair. You wince when he brushes a finger along the inside of your ankle and he glances at you, then Lune. 

“Is it broken?” You ask, trying to not resign yourself to your fate this early. Lune sits down beside him and takes your ankle as you sit up, Gustaves hand on your back assisting the action. The first look at your ankle has nausea swirling in your gut; what the fuck man. 

There’s a deep gash down the outside of your leg, foot twisted at an awkward ankle that throbs whenever you wiggle a toe per Lune’s request. She stays quiet for a second too long. Based on the fact that this is how it looks after Lune’s healing, you don’t have a good feeling. 

“Somehow, no. Maybe your bones are malleable.” She mutters and you shiver, mildly disgusted. 

“Was the descriptor necessary?”

“Yes.”

“Fantastic.” You sigh and basically use Gustaves hand as the back of a chair; you don’t question why exactly he’s still holding you up. With an elbow tossed over your eyes to block out the glaring Sun and Gustave gathering bandages with his free hand, Lune assesses how to fix your predicament. After a tense minute she gestures for a bandage, warm light once again engulfing your leg. 

“Okay, any actual damage is fixed now, but you still need support.” Lune explains as you nod, still refusing to look at the wound again. Gustave stays silent, only glancing between you and your ankle with a borderline constipated expression that, if not for the circumstances, would have both you and Maelle giggling. 

“Gustave, I need you to hold her steady while I wrap this.” Lune instructs. 

“Sure, yeah.” He hesitates for a moment before moving to be just behind you, legs on either side of you and hands keeping you from jerking back anywhere like you did earlier. One hand rests on your shoulder - so respectful - while the other holds your left leg down. In any other situation you might’ve protested…but it’s Gustave. Maelle’s Gustave. Sophie’s Gustave. 

Guilt sinks further into your soul but you don’t make so much as a peep. Fuck, you're so selfish.

Lune carefully wraps your ankle and foot, providing as much support as she can. It’s a good thing that he’s holding you down because apparently, you’re quite ticklish. 

“We should make camp, right?” Gustave helps you stand, his hold on you lingering as if you’d fall over. It’s over before you blink. 

“Mmmh, yeah. The Sun is about to set and this area seems secure enough.” Lune agrees, rolling her aching shoulder with a grunt. You come to her side, just behind her, and carefully massage the recently healed spot. She sighs in relief and nods, accepting the silent thanks for fixing you up. 

The three of you settle down after making a fire and spreading your rations out, eating quietly. The moon doesn’t shine as brightly as it could and the air is a little too thick to relax fully, your ankle aching as the last of Lunes spell wears off. Gustave had patched himself up awhile ago, mainly having hit his head; that’s at least what he said when you and Lune fussed over him. 

A quiet clinking catches your attention so you lift your head, only to spot something that makes you burst out laughing. 

“What? Do they look that bad?” Gustave grins at you and Lune’s laughing forms, round sunglasses propped on his nose. The tense shifts and ebbs, backing off as the fire crackles. Lune, still giggling, rolls her eyes at his antics and throws a clump of earth at him that she conjured. He gasps in offense and clutches his heart, grin widening as his dramatics successfully make you laugh harder. 

“They look wonderful, Gustave. Very…” Lune trails off, thinking. “Nope, I can’t even think of something good enough to describe whatever this choice is.” She smiles cheekily, shaking her head as the last of the tension fades. 

“You wound me, Lune. Truly.” He sighs, glasses knocking crooked as he fakes a hairflip. You scoot closer on the log, moving before your mind can catch up.

“You look fine, Gustave. Maybe handsome if I squint and blind myself.” You tease as he laughs, giving up on the act. His laugh stutters when you reach up, two fingers stilling his jaw while the other hand corrects the glasses on his nose with a gentle but accidental caress to his temple. For a second - just a second - you think you hear his breath catch, but then Lune hums curiously and it’s over. 

You scoot away to your original spot, finishing up the roll you had previously been picking at.

𐔌 ﹒ ⋆ ꩜ ⋆ 𓂃 ₊ ⊹𐔌 ﹒ ⋆ ꩜ ⋆ 𓂃 ₊ ⊹𐔌 ﹒ ⋆ ꩜ ⋆

It’s late into the night, all of you tucked away in your respective bedrolls when you hear it. A quiet sort of sniffle. Silently, you crawl out of your bed and take a peek at your friends. In the dim light of the dying fire you spot Gustaves shoulders shaking. You quietly call his name and he freezes, one last sniffle echoing in the night. No words leave you as you walk to the ledge facing the paintress, and you don’t glance over when he joins you a minute later. The redness of his eyes and tear tracks still lining his face aren’t acknowledged, nor are the few still slipping down. 

“Your ankle is okay, yes?” He whispers after a long stretch of nothing but the wind in the leaves. 

“Lune did good.” You confirm, but he still seems rattled. With a quiet grunt you pull your leg up so he can see; after a few seconds of an analyzing stare, he double checks your bandages and subtly, the rest of you. You do the same, cataloging every mark and dirt track staining his skin. Your eyes don’t meet for a good bit, too drawn in by any splash of fading red.

“We’re all okay.” You know it isn’t limited to your trio; you know who ‘we’ really is. That’s why you nod in agreement with the same unfaltering belief. 

Nothing happens when his pinkie brushes yours, and nothing happens when the rest of his fingers lay with yours either. For just a minute you allow yourself to daydream as you did in Lumiere, remembering late nights and too early mornings. For just a minute he lets himself breathe, remembering shared glances of approval and amusement during training. For just a minute, both of you shed the weight of Lumiere and the petals still falling around you. 

His fingers are worn and rough, similar to yours with differently formed calluses. His hand is warm where yours is cold and they don’t intertwine; something says it isn’t time. Not yet.

The voice sounds like Sophie. 

His Sophie.

Without a sound you stand, and Gustave? He lets you go with the same name echoing in his mind; that voice haunting him with nothing but love to keep it rooted in.

Your bedroll is still warm when you lay down, a reminder of how chaste whatever that was, was. His bedroll is still damp with tears for the women he loves and doesn’t dry for a long time. 

𐔌 ﹒ ⋆ ꩜ ⋆ 𓂃 ₊ ⊹𐔌 ﹒ ⋆ ꩜ ⋆ 𓂃 ₊ ⊹𐔌 ﹒ ⋆ ꩜ ⋆

I wrote this while listening to such fairytale-esque music, sorry. anyways part 3 will be out at uhm some point, and I have no clue what I'm doing !

[deepdreamnights]

Vidu and the Quest to Make More Toons

So, a ways back I talked about Minmax, but I've been trying out basically all the video generators looking for the tools I need, and low and behold this week I find out I've been accepted into the Vidu Artists program now, wherein I get credits and access to access their cooler features in in exchange for... talking about the tech and how I use it.

Well twist my arm. I shall endeavor to be objective and informative despite free stuff (a challenge my spirit needs practice withstanding if anyone else wishes to test me)

So let's talk Vidu.

(outside of being converted to gif, no animations in this post have been cut or edited)

Also, everyone say hi to Maureen the Lizard Queen, every hero needs an evil queen that really wants in his pteruges, and she's that for TyrannoMax.

Vidu's got a bit more oomph under the hood than MinMax (no shade to MinMax, they're brand new and very promising) and it's way too early to be picking winners when it comes to video.

Anyhow, basic features that are nice include the options to upload start and end frames, options for a 4 or 8 second duration (more about that later), and a cleanup/upscale. Credits line up more or less with seconds. 4 credits for a 4 second clip, 8 for an 8 second, and again at upscale. It's straightforward in a way a lot of services aren't.

Apetomic Pyle, done on the fast settings. (not to shabby still, and it gave him monkey legs which a lot of systems balk at)

If you're on the $30/mo tier, you can choose to do a double-cost "quality" over "speed" option. Thankfully, the artist program gets me access. Since there's not yet a seed option it's hard to do a direct comparison, but the quality is going to be a must if you're doing anything that looks like cel. Much cleaner, much smoother.

(4 and 8 second quality gens)

One of the nicest features is the character reference feature. Basically it's like Midjourney's --cref, but with a very strict adherence to character details.

The above images used reference shots of Maureen and Dr. Underfang, and it got the stripes on Underfang's tie right in basically every gen. That's a ridiculous level of character model adherence and, for my purposes, all but essential.

It did misinterpret Maureen's undertail coloration for a sort of fin or drape, but the shot I used was oddly cropped, and sometimes stuff like that happens with gen AI. Given my measuring stick for errors is the era of animation I'm emulating, whatever does slip through is only going to make it more authentic.

There is a limitation in that character-reference and text-only prompts default to 16:9 presently with no options to adjust, but some room to pan is always handy and most people are going to be outputting for phone and not outdated CRT televisions, so, it's understandable it'd be a lower priority feature for the devs.

Walk cycles! By Saint Eniac it's a miracle!

On the left we have one prompted with TyrannoMax's control art, and on the right we have one using that art as the starting frame (4 and 8 seconds, respectively).

Way More details under the fold.

Vidu likes a hefty prompt.

A lot of detail and evocative language helps, and older prompting tricks like mojo-jojoing important concepts are back. For the Max walk cycles above I used:

1986 vintage cel-shaded cartoon character walk cycle. The orange dinosaur-anthro wearing blue gladiator armor walks toward screen right, the camera tracks him, holding him in center-frame. He completes a full, brisk walk cycles from the side view. He walks boldly, back straight, head high, heroic. His tail sways behind him as he moves. The whole clip has the look and feel of vintage 1986 action adventure cel-animated cartoons. The animation quality is high, with flawless motion and anatomy. animated by Tokyo Movie Shinsha, studio Ghibli, don bluth. BluRay remaster. flat chroma-key green screen background

The potential for use with my Filmation-inspired technique is readily apparent. Both versions are on-model as much as any two shots in a 1980s action-figure shilling cartoon would be, some minor blurring to clean up in post but nothing serious. It should be pretty easy to extract the needed frames for looping and compositing.

Some Extra Points

There are the usual issues with hands, though more often than not it corrects my four-fingered anthros to having a human five-fingered hand. Buzby Spurlock animation was known for those kinds of inconsistencies, though. So an opening credits video is much less far off than it was at the last post.

It's also generally impressive how well it does with my dinosaur characters. Non-humanoid dinosaurs are difficult for most image generators, much less anthrosaurs in a vintage aesthetic. Vidu has yet to override the character art to give Underfang or Max the Jurassic Park style t-rex jaw, which is something both MJ and Dall-E 3 have trouble with.

Human characters like Kitty Concolor here, much more stable.

As always, clips are curated. I didn't choose my absolute best ones (gotta have something for the videos), and I'm working on a fun series of jank reels across all the generators.

[fruityyamenrunner]

good plaid shirt, medium frequency with higher frequency overtones, clear cheque pattern, harmonious high chroma scottish colours

bad plaid shirt because of the vertical and horizontal mismatch, trying to wear two shirts at once.

bad plaid shirt bc fft is too simple but fair in other respects

bad plaid shirt. colour scheme not even vaguely Scottish, pattern is too low frequency

[tinydefector]

Hi can you write smut with Rodimus x gn bot reader but make reader come off as feminine (i know you said that you not good with writing female reader), thanks if you do

Painted Sunset

Rodimus x Cybertronian Reader

Word count: 2k

Warnings: smut, paint play, blowjobs, sex, valveplug.

Rodimus masterlist

__________________

they try not to twitch under the tickle of the airbrush. Rodimus had a rather steady hand when it came to painting, they had requested his help with a new paint and colour scheme. So here they stood letting him paint their armour. "Roddy, how's my face?” they ask, optics shut as the speedster continues painting.

Rodimus chuckled lightly at their squirming, deftly adjusting his grip upon plating to provide better access to the area's he's painting.

 His touch remained steady, "Nearly done, sweetspark," he soothed, tilting their helm just to better catch ambient light glancing off the fresh coat. An appreciative whistle broke from his vocoder. "Lookin' scorching hot already! Might have to call Drift in for a second opinion, thinking he'll stall seeing you all colourful?" Rodimus grinned, mischief twinkling  in his optics as his field intertwined with theirs. 

 "Quite the masterpiece if I do say so myself!" He beamed, stepping back proudly. "Now go show off for Drift. betcha 20 shanix he'll blow a gasket out over the new chroma!" He teases, Rodimus himself has to back away so he doesn't ruin the new paint job. 

"Primus, and having the two of you drooling over the new paint, have enough trouble getting you to keep your servos to yourself normally" they laugh softly while looking over the new colours that shimmer off their arms, Having to stop themselves from touching It while it dries.

Rodimus grins, though pride swelled seeing their obvious delight in his craft. He sidled closer once more, field blossoming bright mischief as he trailed digit teasingly along gleaming metal. "Can you blame us for admiring fine art?" he purred, pede nudging playfully between theirs. His chuckle rumbled low and flirtatious, blue optics twinkling naughty promises sure to ruffle plating freshly painted. 

"Besides, with you all bright and flashy, how's a mech gonna keep his servos to himself?" Rodimus hums. "Fine art am I now Roddy, you better keep your servos to yourself or you'll be fixing my finish" they hum teasingly, not touching him but close enough that he can feel the venting breath from them. They are testing him to see if he would break so easily to touch them.

Rodimus' field flared in hungry heat at their coy challenge, He cycled an unsteady ventilation, optics darkening with smouldering intent tracking each shift as they lean back quickly. Rodimus holds back a noise knowing full well how thinned his self-control grew facing such sweet torment.

"Minx," Rodimus purred low in vocalizer roughened by pulsing want. Slowly, deliberately, he lifted his servo as if to caress freshly-painted plating. only to splay broad palm mere inches shy of contact. His strutting smirk lost smugness, "Is this a game you're fit to win, sweetspark?" he rasped, charge pooling heavy between arrays drawn tight against swelling spike. 

If they pushed him further, he would shatter, and Primus help them both in the ravages sure to follow. "And I seem to be winning it already, why do you think I got you to paint me a test Hot rod" they hum while taking a step back waiting to see if he would try to follow, a smirk lingers on their lips, their hips sway slightly as they walk backwards. optics shimmer in mischief. 

Rodimus groaned pathetically as their teasing pedework drew them further from his desperate reach. His optics smouldered like twin supernovas, magnetic field crackling with ragged charge and wanton need. 

Cursed him for the idiot he was - playing into the seducer's hands like the hapless himbo fate made him. ”now thats just evil and you know it” he calls out. They had it out for him, So he did the only thing a fool in love could - thrust out his bottom lip in a playful pout, revving the engine to match the sway of those tempting hipplates calling his very name. 

"Awww, c'mon!" Rodimus whines putting on his best attempt at the sad cat face. "No fair leavin' a mech hangin' after workin' so hard on your paint! At least let me admire the masterpiece up close." He took a step forward, servos outstretched in plea for their frame to be in his servos. 

"And let you have a chance and mess up the stunning work, not a chance lover boy, doubt you could make it look this good if you mess it up" they tease, the light shimmering off the fresh paint. "Roddy don't..." they laugh getting ready to bolt from him if he tried to grab them. 

With a playful growl, he lunged, only to yelp in surprise as his thundering pedefalls met empty air. Whipping around, he spied them laughing form already dancing out of reach. 

"No fair outlier abilities!!" he wailed in protest, revving his engine eagerly despite the cruel tease now dangling just out of reach. 

With a cheeky grin, Rodimus gave chase"C'mere, you shiny rascal!" he hollered, field pulsing playful challenge. "Lemme love on that sexy paint...promise I'll be gentle...maybe...." Laughter follows as the two bots end up on the floor, paint smudging against both Rodimus and the floor as he pulls them into a kiss. Soft purred noises leave them as their servos run along his plating. "Roddy you're gonna ruin my paint if you haven't already" they whine loudly.

 Rodimus tumbled with them both end-over-end in a playful tumble as they kiss each other, hands caressing each other, tugging and pulling, plating clattering musically against the floor. 

"Mmm, worth it!" Rodimus crooned gleefully, His throbbing array stirred anew at the intimacy, swollen against their trembling panel. 

“your a nucence you know that” they shoot back, smeering paint across his chassis. It  only stoked Rodimus' raging desires higher. His field pulsed scorching heat, charge pooling heavy and thick between his grinding panels. 

"Sorry sweetspark - b-but you started it!" Rodimus’ servos caressed feverishly, mapping every sweet line bared only for his intimate study. Oh, how he craved making a proper mess of them. They eagerly kiss him, cupping the back of his helm, digits toying with his Audial fins. Smearing their colours across his Orange and yellow finish. "Worth having to re-paint me and probably yourself" they call out as they press against him, one leg hooking over his hip plating. 

Rodimus moaned helplessly into the ravishing kiss, fields entwining in dazzling feedback loops of molten sensory bliss. Their teasing touches along his audials sent a crackling charge racing down his spinal strut. 

"W-worth it, worth every second of it!" Rodimus coos face pressing into their neck cabling as he nips at it eagerly. His spike pressurised eagerly against his panels, a strangled gasp leaves him. thrust against their welcome form, grinding paint transferring. "J-just gotta touch you, sweetspark!" he gazed down at them eagerly.

"By Solus, make a mess o' me..." Rodimus caressed fresh smudges as if anointing sacred sacrament. "Your own fault pretty bot, making a mess of my paint" they call out leaning back onto the floor. Their optics shimmer and flicker up at him as they lay under him. "Better make it up to me Rodimus" they tease in a flirty tone, interface panel snapping open. 

"Ohh, I'll make it up to you sweetspark - promise!" Rodimus groans against their intake, grinding stained plating with delirious hunger. paint blend together so perfectly and across his own finish. Rodimus lapped ravishing kisses down their trembling frame, tracing each new colour transfer with loving glossa. His thumb teasingly rubbed circles over a still-damp seal, coaxing fresh transfluid to well eager tip.

"Gonna frag you so good," Rodimus crooned in a lovesick vow against the sensitive wires. “ then I'll paint you all over again..." whines leave them as his servos tease the seams of their interface panel. rocking into the touch as his digits tease them open, the their spike pressurises, valve leaking transfluid eagerly in response to his touches. 

His field pulsed adoring heat, optics tracking each delicious bead of fluid beading swollen node and aching valve-lips framed in smeared smears of your mingled hues. 

"Frag, lookit you..." Rodimus rasped, glossa flickering rapturously over straining spike head. His broad thumbs massaged deliciously at damp outer layer of their valve nodes, wringing muffled whimpers from their vocalizer. "Purrin' for me so sweet, so messy..." 

His own dripping spike twitched desperately, valve clenching emptily Rodimus seized swollen spikes in an eager fist, grinding his glossa desperate against their quivering node. They arch up as his mouth wraps around the spike, his Digits delving into their valve. 

desperate and sinful moans, liquid fire shot through Rodimus' circuits. His greedy mouth descended upon a straining spike like a man starved, engines roaring ravenous worship of divine steel filling his intake. His digits worked their slick valve with practised care, scissoring deliciously. 

"P-Primus, sweetspark - y-you taste incredible!" Rodimus praised raggedly around thick mouthful, He feasted like a glutton, valve fluids frothing his chin as his pacing picked up speed, Their valve eagerly clenches his digits, legs spreading wider, their paint was truly ruined at this point, smeared colours mingle on both of them and the floor. 

Rodimus moaned brokenly as their valve gripped his digits tight, the first ripples of overload shivering their eager frame. The sight of their spread thighs and ruined paint have him nearly losing control. Rodimus withdrew fingers from their quivering valve lips, surging upwards to seize swollen node between his lips. His straining spike throbbed desperately, tip already weeping transfluid. 

"Sweetspark-" Rodimus gasped in fervent prayer, optics wide and drinking Thierry ecstasy wracked face as if fuel. He moves quick gripping their hips, he aligned his pulsing spike, slowly sliding into their welcoming Valve. Once the two settle against the floor Rodimus set a punishing pace, 

Two became one beneath their riot of colours. Paint smeared frames in joining, Loud moans leave their lips as his hips meet theirs, the loud slamming of metal echoes in the room, paint smears on both of them. They pull Rodimus into another kiss. Meeting each of his thrust eagerly. "Fuck don't stop roddy don't stop" they moan, face pulling back before pressing into his shoulder plating. Legs wrapping around his hips. 

Rodimus lost himself in the madness gripping them both - their moans, tight embrace is his heaven, Rodimus pounded into them with passion, circuits alight at each slick plunge into their core, metal, silicone and carbon fibre parting in friction-scorched splendour to welcome him ever deeper. 

"Frag, your gorgeous," Rodimus praised raggedly, vents roaring out ecstasy. One final thrust, has Rodimus rutting desperately into them, their digits cling to his back struts keeping him as close as possible as overload takes them both. 

In the aftermath's bliss, Rodimus kissed them softly, both panting out deep ventilations.   Paint-smeared hands caressed away tremors, fields cradling together. They laugh as they lay on the floor under him. Pressing soft kisses to his face. "You messed my paint up" they chuckle while smearing more of it across Rodimus' face. Rodimus' faceplates scrunched adorably beneath their playful servos, nuzzling into them with soft kisses and a rumbling purr. His optics shone brighter as he gazes down at thier radiant smile, spark swelling fit to burst.  

"Worth it," Rodimus sighed blissfully, tracing gentle digits over newly combined hues dappling their gleaming plating. Lowering his helm to theirs, Rodimus vented a contented sigh, field pulsing waves of warmth and affection. "Love seein' wear your colours, sweetspark."  His thumb stroked their smiling cheek, drinking deep the intimacy and aftermath's lingering glow suffusing very wiring. Rodimus stole one final, lingering kiss. "Love you," he whispered, spark overflowing. "Till all paint fades and stars go dark." He hums against their lips. “getting sappy on me Rodimus?” They chuckle softly, cradling his faceplate. “hmm, guess I am” he purrs out softly. 

They lay there together, not caring that their paint was drying on him. “be my conjunx Endura?” he whispers softly running his servos against their face plating. “ your the only one I want, only you” he rumbles out. 

[copperbadge]

Radio Free Monday

Good morning everyone, and welcome to Radio Free Monday!

Ways to Give:

Anon linked to a fundraiser for Davy, a fellow employee at Old Tucson amusement park, who was recently struck by a car while on his bike; he was already low-resourced, and was living in a homeless shelter with his wife and son at the time of the accident. One of the other staff at the park has started a gofundme to help support the family during his long recovery and hopefully get them a stable place to stay; you can read more and support the fundraiser here.

chibifukurou linked to a fundraiser for a fandom friend, Chroma, to get her back home so she can get help with health issues and housing. She's been stranded out of state with severe Long Covid, without access to a support network or adequate care; they're trying to get funds together to get her transportation and a month at an extended-stay hotel while she gets her feet under her. You can read more and support the fundraiser here.

Help For Free:

songspinner9 is running a Donor's Choose fundraiser for Teacher Appreciation Week, to get funds to stock her library with books that represent her students' communities and for art supplies to help her middle-school students express themselves in creative language arts and history projects. You can read more and vote for the fundraiser here!

News to Know:

soc_puppet linked to summerofthe69, an annual smut fest that is returning for 2024! You can vote here on what this year's themes should be; you need to have a Dreamwidth account to vote, but anyone is welcome to promote their favorites in the comments to the post.

Recurring Needs:

loversdoom is a college student from the Philippines, studying away from her family, and her parents are unexpectedly unable to support her education; she is dealing with a number of expenses and is now looking at costly medical procedures as well. You can read more and reblog here or give to the fundraiser here.

onedollopofsourcream is raising funds to help with food, transportation, medication for their family, and other expenses after a string of financial issues; you can read more, reblog, and find giving information here.

rilee16 is raising funds to get out of an abusive home situation where their roommate has been aggressive and stealing from them; with irregular work hours and a tax debt due on top of chronic illness issues, they also need funds to repair their phone, which is dying, and cover utility bills. You can read more, reblog, and find giving information here.

And this has been Radio Free Monday! Thank you for your time. You can post items for my attention at the Radio Free Monday submissions form. If you're new to fundraising, you may want to check out my guide to fundraising here.

[thomaszloi]

I'm reuploading one guide on making VHS effect more authentic I guess( I'm not gonna pretend I'm a specialist it's just when I was searching and studying it I noticed some people just apply channel effects or noises and overall pictures look like they're too fresh to be old looking) So first we need to understand how VHS works( I found this through videos on vhs and how nintendo 64 ported resident evil 2) VHS holders needed to save and hold a lot of information using metals that can't handle high resolution. In order to compress images VHS divides them into 2 groups: Tone(Black and White relation) and Chroma(color apply without tone channel type). These two channels are compressed to 1:16 of original resolution then changed into same size as original(by crop) but with less resolution. 1) Create new file in photoshop. Call it whatever you want just 'canvas1' can suffies. Sizes are: 640 px width 374(or any you want just in relation to classic 4:3 or 16:9) height AND printing resolution to 72 ppi. Create 3 other files with same application(canvas2 and canvas3 and canvas4) 2) In canvas2 we add screenshot(I used one I made in Hollow knight) now we're going to extract tone by using ctrl+U and change saturation to 0. Now we need to change image size and divide your width into 2 ( if we divide 640 into 2 we get 320 pixels width) height needs to stay the same so turn off button with proportional changes. After we compressed this file we call it 'tone' and save as jpg image. Now we need to add tone to canvas1 and transform it's width according to file size(don't change image size) this is layer1 now. 3) In canvas 3 we have same original screenshot but we need to apply different color profile in edit window(LAB colors) LAB colors consists of channels Light(this is our tone) and a b(these two makes chroma). We now need to open channel window and turn off Light(L) channel and we can see now e have pretty colors. I didn't find how to extract color from this profile so I made new screenshot of this file and add to canvas4(transformed it according to file size). 4)We can close canvas2 and canvas3. In canvas4 we need to change image size. We need to divide 640 into 16 we get = 40 pixels. Width are 40 pixels, height doesn't need to change. We can see now that this image looks squeeshed and that's right. This file we call 'chroma' and save as jpg. Then we need to add this image into canvas1 and transform it according to gile size without changing image size. This is layer2 now. 5)Change layer2 application from normal to color. If you want you can change oppacity to 65-75 %. Now we basically have broken vhs/low fidelity effect.(if you want you can add horro effect by changing layer mode to any instead of color)

BONUS ROUND: You can add some stuff through layer effect by copying finished image and turning off green and blue channel in it. Move this layer slightly to the left. Made another copy of og vhs image we had and turn off red and green move it slightly to the right. If you want to add logo made same thing with channels as we did previously and blur it a little.