#basic animation( motion of objects

[h1biscusgal]

The hypnagogic state : how to reach it.

The hypnagogic state is a state where we naturally go into before sleeping, a sweet spot moment before sleeping and still being awake, a state where it is so powerful to be able to shift, get in the void, or basically do anything.

Now it requires NOTHING, it only requires one small thing that might sound tricky.

Staying awake long enough for it to come by on it's own, and actually on average it takes 10-5 mins from each person to enter it aware.

The steps:

Lay flat on your back (not needed, but many results come from laying on the back)

Do. Not. Care, just go with what you usually do to fall asleep, but one thing? You're not falling asleep, you're watching your body fall asleep, that sweet spot where your body is about to fall asleep? That's hypnagogia

Actually don't move, it may give your mind signs you're still not sleeping, now just lay there and try not to sleep while focusing on the blackness behind your eyelids.

You will start seeing flashing images or swirly things or even just flashing lights and imagery, this is the hypnagogia and you managed to reach it in just 10 mins of pretending to be asleep (acc it takes me 4)

Bam, that's the sweet spot, now affirm slowly for the void, or just sense your surroundings for shifting or maybe you can try your shifting method here! This state cannot argue back, you'll be immediately shifting in no time, and slipping in the void is so easy from it.

So really the whole steps is just "lay down, don't move, watch your eyelids, color seen? Hypnagogia reached, method or void procedure done, bam."

I managed to find a post on Reddit on how to keep your body awake, you can try 2 or 3 of them to keep yourself entertained, FULL CREDITS TO THE ONE WHO POSTED IT ON REDDIT (calaie_iscoolio):

"1. Looking in the darkness behind your eyelids

Basically what it says, when you close your eyes, just focus on the darkness until hypnagogic imagery begins to happen i.e. colors, shapes, literally anything that will show. When images begin to show up, do not interact or acknowledge what you are seeing, you can look at it, but don't try to control it and just let the images flow until you feel that the state is induced enough to where it won't disappear because you are "too" awake/aware.

2. "Forearm Up" Method

Another technique that basically helps with people who tend to fall asleep to quickly, basically lay down on your back like usual, lift your hand up in the air where your elbow is resting on your mattress, keep it there and as it slowly falls down that's where you'll begin to fall asleep, it'll drop and basically awake you back up.

I had also seen a shifter mention that they prefer to lay on their stomach and lifting their foot up in the air and basically do the same thing. This technique basically just wakes you back up.

3. Thomas Edison Method

Very similar to the "Forearm Up" Method, basically what Edison had done was he had held a steel ball in his hand, and when he began to fall asleep, the ball will drop and alert Edison awake, another technique to help with people to struggle to stay awake.

4. Imagine Constant Motion

Basically imagining something whether that be an animal or an object constantly moving like a horse galloping, a dogs tail wagging side to side, etc. (Pretty simple, for people who find it much easier to visualize).

5. Tire your body through out the day

During the day, you could do any tasks that would just tire your body out that leads up to your attempt to induce the state, it'll make it much easier for you to get into the state and induce it since your body is already tired enough to relax.

6. Repeating "hypnagogia"

This will mean you have you just repeat the words "hypnagogia" to yourself till you get tired enough and then hypnagogic imagery will eventually appear.

7. Counting

Basically just like regular shifting methods, you could focus on counting up to how much you want to until you begin to get the hypnagogic hallucinations, to keep yourself from falling asleep you could give yourself simple math questions just so it's enough to focus to answer it.

8. Imagining Randomness

Imagine literally anything that isn't related at all, i.e. horse, roof, apple, pen, desk, etc. Visualize and filter through random objects or animals that have no correlation and that will induce the hypnagogic imagery, randomness is key.

9. Focus on breathing

Similar to any shifting method, basically focusing on your breaths is another technique to induce the state. Literally just anything to keep your awareness occupied rather than letting your mind just shut down to go to sleep.

10. Sounds

Listening to anything in your environment, whether that be things happening outside, if it's raining listen to the rain, or if you've got headphones on listen to the music and focus that, keep your focus on the music so you don't fall asleep.

11. "Playing" a song in your head

Not necessarily listening to the song, but imagining the song playing in your head, whether that be your favorite song, if you know how it sounds like, imagine it playing and once you've entered the state, it will naturally play and you'll end up actually hearing the song.

12. Heartbeat

Basically just focus on your heartbeat. Listen to the amount of beats.

These are all the various of techniques you could use, you don't have to stick to one and can basicaally try them out, see which one you feel like works for you and go from there. A tip is also you could pick like 4 or 5 out of these 12 and just filter through the techniques if you can't just stick to one since you get uninterested quickly. (I get bored easily, do I normally do 8, 9, 7 and 4 just so I don't lose interest.)"

Good luck y'all!

[makingspiritualityreal]

Qualities of the Nakshatras - How do you do what you do?

While the traditional Vedic classification of the qualities of the Nakshatras can be found in many common sources, few of them describe in detail, how that classification is applied in real life. I myself struggled and took my time pondering, analysing and discussing these qualities and their practical application, in order to be able to understand and then explain the reality of those particular Nakshatra traits.

For those who never heard of Nakshatra qualities, these are described as Chara, Sthira, Mrdu, Ugra, Tikshna, Kshipra and Mishra.

It is important to realise, that these descriptions show not just what activities will a given Nakshatra undertake, but how it operates, and if you look at your Moon Nakshatra, you will see that its quality will reflect your basic nature of being. However, that doesn't mean that all Nakshatras from the same group have the same jobs/interests/always do the same thing. It's more about how people "take up space" energetically, the style in which they bring about change.

Chara Nakshatra - "Moveable" - Shravana, Dhanishta, Shatabhisha, Punarvasu and Swati.

The word I would associate with those Nakshatras, more than simply moveable, is "dynamic". You can see it best perhaps in Dhanishta, that is notorious for its amazing natural sense of rhythm and association with dancing and being in the public eye. However, even Shatabhisha, that moves in the shadows, has a certain rhythm to it, coupled with restlessness. The energy here is breezy and flowing, and you can see it in those natives, even if they just sit and talk, that they are decidedly and constantly animated.

Sthira Nakshatra - "Fixed" - Rohini, Uttaraphalguni, Uttarashadha and Uttarabhadrapada.

The energy here is of a person in position of authority sitting on a throne and establishing something durable. I associate this Nakshatra group with authority, because there is something passively steady and indomitable about them. Their authority is a given, they are in their place and they don't feel the need to go out of their way to prove it, instead they build upon who they are. This is why this Nakshatra group in traditional Vedic sources is associated with making firm, long term decisions, as these people lay foundations for things that all the other Nakshatras build upon. Their position of authority comes from the fact, that decision making and authority often goes hand in hand. While the moveable Nakshatras make waves in motion, fixed Nakshatras can change the fate of the entire collective from their steady position with one decision.

Mrdu Nakshatra - "Tender" - Chitra, Anuradha, Mrigashira and Revati.

These Nakshatras relate to feelings and creations that are fleeting yet eternal at the same time. There is a certain contradiction here, as these natives may appear outwardly defensive, but that defensiveness is born out of necessity in a harsh world and hides deep sensitivity, and if you talk to them more, you will see their softer side, their attachment to beauty and harmony, and their fear of losing that serenity. Traditional Vedic sources point out their connection to subtlety of music, delicate, precious newly purchased things or clothing. More than the objects themselves, it's about the thrill of happiness such experiences give you. And even if they last not more than a moment, the reality of these Nakshatras is their sensitivity of creation and perception, their ability to see, that beauty and intricate delicacy can be found anywhere, and while you can never fundamentally shield it from all harm, it will always pop up in the world somewhere else, just like a flower, even if picked, will regrow next spring.

Ugra Nakshatra - "Violent" - Bharani, Magha, Purvaphalguni, Purvashadha, and Purvabhadrapada. 

The main theme of these Nakshatras is conquest, and while of course not all of these natives are interested in traditional warfare, these are the kind of people that occupy 100% of any space they are in and like to set the rules with their presence. Their naturally fierce presence can make them incredibly successful with the demands of the modern world, but even a housewife with Ugra Nakshatra is a force to be reckoned with. The conquest here can have multiple meanings, and gains a decidedly creative, romantic and sexual nature in Venusian Purva Phalguni and Purva Ashadha, to conquer one's object of desire. However, the energy here is really about internally conquering one's own weaknesses and wrestling with the animalistic, expansive desirous aspect of human nature.

Tikshna Nakshatra - "Sharp" - Moola, Jyeshta, Ardra and Ashlesha.

The real task of these Nakshatras is putting other people back in their place. While the fixed Nakshatras have a natural, calm authority coming from status, and violent Nakshatras can be intimidating, sharp Nakshatras automatically gain respect with their presence, because they are so ready to regulate people who are out of line. Their "sharpness" is required for that energy to be effective against others, especially since some Nakshatras like Ugra will not back down easily. However, unlike Ugra, these Nakshatras correct and regulate rather than express desire for outwards conquest, relying more on handling things, that are already out there, making these natives excellent in managerial positions. You can think of it in the context of Ardra being a passionate activist and critic of established social systems.

Kshipra Nakshatra - "Swift" -  Ashwini, Pushya and Hasta.

These Nakshatras operate in short but intense bursts of energy. Hasta is a good example, as it embodies the traditional business transaction - money and goods exchange hands, the deed is done, the seller moves on to the next one. Same with Pushya and spiritual teaching, delivering quick but valuable lessons and moving on to another student/activity/rest. The focus here is on efficiency and maximising good energy through limited and realistic potential.

Mishra Nakshatra - "Mixed" - Krittika and Vishakha.

An interesting aspect of these Nakshatras comes from how Vedic astrologers link them both to laying out furniture, electronics and fire rituals. You would think these two activities have nothing in common, but they are actually the key to the ceremonial nature of these Nakshatras. In modern households, few houses have a fireplace, but fire pits in the middle of the main living space used to be traditional in old houses, to keep them warm and for religious purposes. In the 21st century, a grand television set is god, and coupled with a comfortable couch it is what sets the scene in a home. And this is what these Nakshatras do, energetically, set the scene both for worship and to be worshipped, establishing a relationship between the viewer and the viewed. For that reason, there is a sense of fiery dramatism in these Nakshatras, ready to both worship and be worshipped at any given time.

[nereidprinc3ss]

hii! could i request something w spence where he asks uni reader to move in with him and r is kinda nervous about it please🙏🙏 love all of ur fics, and thanksss 🫶🫶🫶

yass this is super cute!!!! thank you for the request, hope i did it justice

warnings/tags: fluff!! a teensy bit suggestive at the end if u squint... i cant help myself. i'm an animal

requests are open! sfw and nsfw welcome

(a/n: this is probably an awkward spot to put this but I didn't wanna make a whole other post: THANK YOU GUYS FOR ALL THE LOVE AND SUPPORT!!! i have gained over 100 followers since i last posted and have over 1k notes on both of my recent works thats literally bonkers insane crazy town ACTUALLY. i love hearing your thoughts and reactions to my work even if its just a silly little comment. so yeah. thanks and so much love to u ALL)

“So basically, I’m not allowed in the dorm except to sleep because she always has her boyfriend over, and I told her that’s literally insane—I’m paying thousands of dollars to be there just like her. If she wanted privacy she should have gotten a single. She can’t just lock me out of our shared bedroom all the time! I live there!” 

You’re stabbing violently at your food by the time you finish your verbal tirade. 

“Okay, maybe put the knife down before you hurt yourself,” Spencer suggests, readying a hand to take the implement away from you if necessary. The knife clatters against your plate as you drop it. 

“She’s driving me fucking crazy,” you mumble, rubbing your eyes until you see fireworks. “And the housing department said I don’t have grounds to transfer rooms, so I’m stuck with her for the rest of the year.” 

There’s no reply from your boyfriend, and a pang of guilt in your chest makes you look up at him again. His expression, as so often is the case, is inscrutable. 

“I’m sorry for ranting. I’m really happy to see you and I don’t mean to ruin dinner, I just—” 

“You could stay with me,” he interrupts. 

You blink. 

“Like... when she locks me out?” 

Spencer laughs self-consciously. 

“No, like... permanently.” 

For a moment you just gape at him like an idiot, trying to comprehend his offer. 

He wants you to move in... with him. Permanently. He wants to live with you. 

You realize you’ve been staring at him for far too long, and you lean back, inhaling deeply as the world launches into motion again. 

“That’s... a big step, Spence,” you breathe. His eyes scan you head to toe, and you realize he’s most definitely analyzing your body language. 

“You don’t have to say yes. It was just an offer,” he shrugs, standing up and clearing the plates from the table.  

“Wait,” you call, following him to the kitchen. “Are you upset now because I leaned away from you when you asked?” 

He turns from the counter, looking at you blankly. 

“Of course not. That would be ridiculous.” 

Oh, he totally is. 

You tentatively step forward, gently lacing your fingers through his—but unable to meet his eyes.  

“It’s not that I don’t want to,” you begin gingerly, “but I’m... I’m not done with school. We always said I would move in once I graduated.” 

“That’s an arbitrary limitation we set for ourselves. There are plenty of ways to get you from here to campus every day.” 

“But you’re not even here sometimes. I would just be alone.” 

“You would have the whole apartment to yourself. You would have my bed. You wouldn’t have to share a shower with an entire floor of college students anymore. And ultimately, we would get to spend a lot more time together.” 

You try to speak but find your throat is tight. Spending more time together is exactly what you’re afraid of. 

“What’s your real objection here?” he asks quietly, running his thumb back and forth over the underside of your wrist. You swallow, watching the motion of his hand.  

“I’m afraid, that if we move in together... you’ll stop liking me.” The words come out paper thin, barely audible. 

And he laughs. Your teary eyes dart up, surprised by the reaction—slightly hurt, even. 

“I’m sorry, sweetheart, I’m not laughing at you,” Spencer says, sobering up when he sees your baleful expression. “I just can’t believe you think I’d stop liking you.” He wipes away the tears beading on your eyelashes delicately. “I’m in love with you. Neurologically that is pretty hard to undo.” 

You study his face, looking for any sign of hesitation or dishonesty. All you find is pure fondness in the curve of his lips; utter devotion in the soft set of his eyes. 

“You promise you won’t start hating me as soon as I move in?” 

“I promise.” 

You lean against his chest, craning your neck to look up at him. 

“I can be pretty annoying.” 

“I think I can handle it.” 

“I take really long showers.”  

He kisses you softly. “Me too. I’m sure we can figure out a way to conserve water.” 

Despite your reservations you smile against his lips. 

“Okay?” he asks. 

“Okay.” 

[paluding]

The Sims 2: 20th anniversary - Gigantic Baby Costume Updated

This thing is cursed, you say? How dare you.

Since I learned how to add face morphs to meshes, I thought to myself “what better way to celebrate this anniversary than updating this classic, this piece of Sims 2 history, this iconic masterpiece by bootsbrisket?” Of course all credits go to them!

Download here: SFS / GD

Please read all the details under the cut if you want to download this!

Here’s all the changes for my version of this costume, which basically makes it so it’s actually, in fact, a real giant baby, not a costume anymore lol:

-I split this into two pieces: the body, found in fullbody outfits, and the head, found in the custom hairs section. This makes it so you’ll see the baby head on the pie menu, instead of the Sim’s head that’s wearing it underneath.

-Both pieces are available for all categories, unisex and ages range from young adult to elder.

-Added all face morphs using the original toddler face as a reference.

-Replaced the bones assignments on the body, this time using the toddler diaper outfit as a reference. Now they’ll look smoother.

-The body outfit replaces the original cc by bootsbrisket, so delete the original one if you have it. The head is a new piece of cc hair. You’ll probably find the head at the top of your custom unnatural hairs catalog, and the body buried (no pun intended) all the way at the bottom of the outfits catalog, right before the maxis clothing, due to how old the original one is.

If you want to see this thing in motion, here’s this video capture I took of them rapping while testing 🔥

Known issues:

-Due to how the Blender plugin works for the Sims 2, I haven’t been able to avoid making the head look bright in CAS. This is a sorta common issue that’s easily fixable using Milkshape3D, but again, I could only use Blender for the head mesh. Luckily, there’s Lazyduchess Overly Bright CAS fix, which I totally recommend you use to avoid this minor annoyance.

-While the eyes are fully animated and open and close as they should, the direction they look at won’t be animated. Haven’t figured out a way to implement that into a custom mesh yet.

-When the baby head opens their mouth, the nose’s Sim underneath might clip a little bit inside the mouth. Not very noticeable, but if you want to avoid this, you can make the Sim with an invisible skin like this one by MDP.

-This is something the original mesh had too: due to the size of the giant baby, there might be some clipping with itself in certain animations. Nothing too bad though I think.

And last but not least, some small tips to set up this Giant Baby character:

When the Sim wearing this goes to the shower, they’ll change into their naked adult bodies, which might look pretty creepy. Fortunately, there’s a way to make this outfit showerproof: the Never Nude trait and mod by Hexagonal Bypiramid! Change all the Sim’s outfits to the baby body, most importantly their swimwear, and place the Never Nude trait on their inventory.

Same goes for job outfits. If you want this Giant Baby to follow their dreams and pursue their professional career, they might change into something else when they go to work. For this I recommend the Job Outfit Stopinator by episims. Same as the other one, install the mod and place the object in the Sim’s inventory to prevent them from changing into job outfits.

And voila! You now have a fully functional Giant Baby Sim!

Want more screenshots of this majestic baby? Here ya go:

… Why am I taking this weird thing so seriously, you ask? Well, why wouldn’t I? I may be a little too perfectionist, even for stuff like this 🤓

Anyway, happy birthday Sims 2! 20 years and still going like a champ 🎉

God I love this game.

If you find any issues, please let me know! I have absolute Splatoon brainrot right now playing the Grand Festival 😬

[astra-ravana]

The Basic Principles Of Spellcasting

Law of Similarity

These first two principles are from James Frazer's The Golden Bough and are fundamental to all of magick. Frazer describes this law as "like produces like" . This law says that manipulation of an image or likeness yields manipulation of the thing itself. Here's some examples of the Law of Similarity:

• Stabbing a human-shaped figure with nails or pins to cause pain to the person

• Drawing the practitioner holding their love interest by a leash in a "love leash" spell

• Writing a spell in a circle around someone's name to encircle or restrain them

• Putting a love spell that aims to make the target "burn with love" into a candle flame or oil lamp

• Walking upon a written spell to have the target "underfoot" and under your control

Similarity isn't restricted by literal similarity, it extends to metaphorical similarity as well. Idioms and puns were widely used in Egyptian myth and magick.

Law of Contagion

Frazer puts this one quite well: things which have once been in contact with eachother continue to act on eachother. One can extend this law to say that magickal energy can be transferred or shared between objects by contact and that transferal is strongest if they are in contact or extremely close. Examples include:

• Using the hair of a target in a spell or curse

• Writing a spell to a deity on the hide of a corresponding animal

• Burying a separation spell at the home of a couple to affect them

Hair is super useful (and sometimes required) for any spell targeted at someone. Some even keep or trade hair as collateral.

Note:If you need to perform substitutions in a spell, use the Law of Similarity and Law of Contagion for selecting the substitution, (ie: use red wine mixed with an animal's hair instead of blood from that animal).

Law of Durability

This law is basically covered by the Law of Similarity, but, because it's so important for picking components, it is being included separately. Magick done with more durable components will yield a longer lasting effect. For example, a spoken spell will be weaker than a spell written on parchment. The written spell will be weaker than a spell carved into wood or stone. This applies to enchanting as well; more durable items will stay enchanted longer.

Law of Layering

The Law of Layering must be applied carefully as it is about complementary layers, not throwing a bunch of stuff at a wall. The principle is the more layers that are used in magick, the stronger the magick will be. More layers build more power. Some ways to add layers are:

• Having a pre-spell ritual like bathing and meditating

• Cast spells in a designated space for casting with items designated for magick

• Make motions that mirror the words you're saying

• Add components to your spell via the Law of Similarity, the Law of Contagion, or objects along your correspondence.

• Perform the spell with a group as opposed to solo

• Reinforce a spell by doing it for multiple days, weeks, months, etc. (as in 'once per')

Law of Likeliness

One could compare magick to stacking a deck; you're manipulating chance to get circumstances to fall in your favor. This means two things. The first is magick cannot make the impossible happen. Magick is unlikely to cause things to levitate, or conjure fire from nowhere, or anything that isn't possible in our plane of existence. The second is, if an outcome is less likely, stronger magick is required to achieve it. Some decks are just easier to stack.

Law of Agency

No magick, short of possession, can fully rob a human of their free will. For example, if you cast a love spell on a target who's sexuality doesn't align with yours, it will have little to no effect. If a person is resistant to a certain energy in their day-to-day life, they will similarly be resistant to that same energy when sent via magick.

[avatardarksrealm]

Dark NightShade’s Guide to Hypnagogia

Introduction: hello ^^. I’ve decided to make this guide on the hypnagogic state. Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions as to what topics I should cover next ^^.

What is hypnagogia?: It is the transitional state between being awake, and falling asleep. The opposite of the hypnagogic state is hynopompia, which is the stage that happens when you are waking up from sleep. In both states you are able to take advantage of to manifest easier, shift or respawn in as well. You can induce the hypnagogic state at anytime. You may use this state to also enter other states, such as lucid dreaming, void state, god state, etc.

What would one experience during the hypnagogic/hypnopomic state?

During both states, you can experience strong visual and auditory hallucinations (along with other types of hallucinations). You may hallucinate someone calling your name, music, voices, people, etc. You may feel lightness, your body jerking, and sometimes sleep paralysis.

Methods to induce the hypnagogic state:

Meditation

-Meditate and relax deeply while you watch colors slowly forming behind your eyelids. Don’t force or manipulate anything. Don’t force any thoughts or hallucinations-just let everything flow.

Inducing images method

1. Lay in a position you are not comfortable in. This is so that your body “asks” you for the usual sleep position. Therefore you will feel discomfort and impulses to change positions, making you stay in the hypnagogic state for longer time.

2. Use any deep relaxation techniques to relax, deepen your breath, and letting go of all physical tensions.

3. Create random imagery. The more random it is, the better. Make them appear slowly, with ease. Make intrusive thoughts (if any) part of the process.

4. Return to step threw if the intrusive thoughts appear. Be gentle with yourself.

5. Follow whatever images come up next, generate a new one, and go with the flow.

Hyper-tiredness

With this method, you basically ro strenuous exercise or tire your body before going to bed, to induce the state easier. You can also combine this with the “forearm up” method, which you lay on your back and place your arm 90 degrees up. As you faol asleep, your arm will drop down and awaken you. As something extra, you can also hold something not too heavy nor light in your hand. Like a small ball, for example.

Imagining objects or animals

Ones that can be easily visualized, doing a constant motion. Like a horse galloping, or a puppy wagging its tail.

Phosphene

Softly observe the phosphene that floats around your eyelids when theyre closed. It can slowly turn into images.

Song method

You play a song in your head until the hypnagogic state takes over and the auditory hallucinations occur. You will realize that you are in the state when the song naturally plays in your mind, and/or your mind distorts the song, or makes up a random song that is completely different from the original one.

REM eye movement imitation

Note: this is recommend it to do it as you are going to bed, and not in th4 REM cycle itself.

You basically imitate the REM-like state by slowly moving your eyes left and right while observing your field vision.

SSILD method

-you can use the SSILD technique by focusing softly on what you see, hear and feel a few times. This will induce strong hypnagogic hallucinations, especially if done during the REM cycle.

Sigil for the hypnagogic state:

It is already energy charged. You can simply stare at it for as long as you want.

[fatherofthefallen]

Initially, it's very quiet. Breaking and entering is a basic task expected of a man like him. The issue is once he's inside. Isaac isn't home. He doesn't expect him to be. Jessie forgets that the man doesn't live alone

It doesn't help that he's already covered in blood that isn't his. It mixes with the fresh wound, an infection waiting to happen. As soon as he's snuck into a bathroom, the subtlety is out the window. Panting, trying the mirror for a medicine cabinet, trying to find something to stop the bleeding and the pain. Bathroom tissue crumbled and tossed to the ground, soaked with red. A towel taken in desperate bid to clean himself off.

Objects clatter. He curses. He bumps into things. His hands shake and he drops what he's holding.

He's not subtle at all.

Esther had been downstairs in the kitchen preparing dinner for later. Isaac had left a while ago to "clear his mind," which she knew full well meant “I’m about to go buy more cigarettes and find some godforsaken alley to chain-smoke in peace.” He’d gone without his cassock, clear evidence he wasn’t planning to be spotted by anyone remotely church related. Typical.

She wasn’t in her habit- it was far too warm in the house and usually Isaac was the only one around anyway. Still, she wore her veil though it barely covered her long brunette hair. She didn’t even know why she bothered. Habit, she supposed. No pun intended. The radio was playing something old and soft in the background and she was half-swaying along with it, wooden spoon in hand, comfortably focused on the motions of cooking.

Then came the crash.

It jolted her so badly she nearly dropped the bowl she was holding, thank God for her iron grip. Instantly alert, she set the bowl down, shut off the radio, and made her way to the bottom of the stairs.

A gun sat near the front door. It was Isaac’s idea, naturally. Not for her protection, no, his. Selfish bastard. She thought about grabbing it, but hesitated. It could just be some poor, scared animal that had managed to get in. Still, just to be sure, she grabbed the wooden crucifix hanging by the door. It was heavy, solid, and practically a blunt weapon in the right hands. And hers were most certainly the right hands.

She moved cautiously up the stairs. Her first instinct was that this was Isaac, playing dumb again and trying to mess with her. He had a tendency toward that kind of idiocy, much to her never ending irritation. But as she reached the landing, she heard something rummaging in the bathroom.

Not an animal. Not Isaac. Something else.

The door was shut. Had she shut it earlier? Had it? Either way, she crouched slightly and leaned toward the keyhole, peering through. Just in case…

Not Isaac.

What she saw was a man in a…red dress? No- Not a dress…robes. RED ROBES. And clearly not in his right mind. She heard the muffled, frantic sounds coming from within, the pacing, the muttering, the scuffle of someone moving erratically.

Esther inhaled slowly and took a step back. Her grip tightened on the crucifix.

Maybe he wasn’t dangerous…Maybe.

But she wasn’t about to take chances.

- @jonahskeep -

[rederiswrites]

Alright, I've got to get the gripes out. Doesn't mean you have to read it. If you love the game you probably shouldn't. This is for people who are really disappointed or angry about...things and would like to feel like they're not alone.

This is not about the absolute value of Veilguard. I enjoyed the game and I am, if anything, enjoying it more on the second playthrough. Like all the other installations, inevitably it is its own thing. Some franchises are just logical continuations of their previous installments, but Dragon Age has never been like that and I sure wouldn't expect it after this long since the last installment.

[Edited to add that I reblog locked it but 100% encourage sharing your feelings in the replies or even my dms. It's fine to talk about it! I want to talk about it!]

That said, my biggest gripes about Veilguard:

The sanitizing of the Crows

Come on now. I even defended you, Bioware! Before the game, I said, nahhhh they won't make the Crows Good Guys just because of Lucanis! Lucanis was tortured too! Well, they didn't do that, I guess. They did it as part of a much larger pattern of ironing out the moral grey areas the franchise was formerly known for.

The Crows are Patriots! Well, they are. And also, though you wouldn't know it, slavers and torturers and murderers of children. You'd be forgiven for not realizing that, considering the creation of the feel good House for orphans who really wanna be contract killers. But it is pretty foundational lore and all. There is the like, one previous Crow character, whom they wrote as going on a righteous mission to kill Crows, because of the whole them being bad thing.

What was being raised by the head of the Crows like, Lucanis? Torture? Hahaha funny oh you mean literally. Literally your grandmother tortured and starved you and never gave you the slightest choice in your life and you've accepted that because you accept the logic that it was necessary. But again. That's based on my knowledge of material outside this game.

Any previous game would have reveled in that! Do you ally yourself with these people, this objectively bad organization full of people who don't see themselves as bad at all? Because they are very good at killing, and that's what you need! But this game just makes them good guys. No moral dilemma needed. Nope, we like black and white now.

And speaking of which,

The dehumanization of the Antaam

Ew. Ew ew ew.

Gimme a minute and I'll come up with something better to say but seriously? Ew.

They neither look nor sound like any of the other qunari characters. They sound like animals, literally. Exactly once does one make the slightest attempt to do anything but attack you--and then he attacks you anyway. Not a single one deserts. I guess the lesson here is that apparently qunari really do become mindless beasts without the structure and discipline of the Qun??? Ew. No thank you.

I know, you gotta have faceless mooks. In Inquisition we fought rebel mages for absolutely no good reason but that they attacked us. In da2 thugs literally fell from the sky. But the absolutely comprehensive way in which the Antaam never spoke for themselves, as actual people... Wow.

Imagine. Imagine if we could have actually negotiated an agreement with a group of them, for that final battle. Would that have been so impossible? To fight mages?! Imagine if we'd had a former Antaam companion. Imagine if he'd been mulling over what the Arishok, Sten, the OG proof that qunari are NOT animals outside the Qun, said before the Antaam rebelled.

Mythal: basically a nice mother goddess!

What. What. What.

In this, the culmination of her sins, the finale of Solas' millennia of taking the blame for shit she set in motion, Mythal is... Flat as hell. Millennia of her scheming. Surviving. Using and abusing her children, arguably using and abusing Solas, seducing and manipulating and whatever it takes to nudge things her way. And now she's just... Kinda imperious I guess? And Morrigan just has her memories and nothing is bad about that ever. Huh.

The thing is, I was never against Mythal, in all her complex nastiness. We didn't know what her game was! I just wanted to know! What made it all worth it? What was the plan?

Well I guess the plan was--nothing? Don't worry about it. I guess.

Side note, the design work on the Mythal fragment was some Computer Animation Is My Passion, early 2000's Barbie straight to VHS looking shit. Profoundly disappointing. Did you even try.

Tell, don't show

Is the strange new voice in the blight coming from over there really horrifying? Or did you just say it was roughly fifteen times, but then actually it was just a big blob of Blight that you had to shoot extra times? Is the Butcher cruel? Or did Teia and Viago just tell us he was cruel with absolutely no detail whatsoever? Is Minrathous really blighted if you choose to save Treviso? Or are there just more beggars and some rubble and literally one blighted character? And so on, and so forth.

Remember that popular post not long ago, about how one of the great joys of Dragon Age was the sifting through unreliable narrators? Piecing together Avvar epic poetry and fragments of ancient elvhen runes and Andrastian canticles to try to guess what actually happened. The unique and unusual (in fiction) joy of the historiography of it all? We got to actively engage with the discovery. We got to piece together that Solas was the Dread Wolf, bit by difficult to find bit.

The fridge horror of it all could be really incredible. Making us work it out for ourselves meant that we experienced it much more intimately. It was an incredible storytelling tool.

Yeah I guess we just watch movies about it now. Just plug in the DVD Wolf statuette and now we know. And the codexes are reduced to flavor text and puzzle clues.

And last but definitely most,

Flat writing

Look man I know that's subjective as shit but it was. A lot of it was. You either agree or you don't, but for me, it was never more obvious than in the moments of contrast, when it was up to standard. The conversation with the Butcher. Every minute with Solas. Spite.

Contrast the Butcher (intense! Passionate! Creepy fucken pale face Harkonnen vibes! Deranged but genuine love for Treviso!) with the Dragon King (I don't even know what to put here. You don't even have to fight him! He just...blusters, and then there's a dragon, and then Taash shoves him and he falls over.)

It's just...I could probably forgive a lot of the stuff that went before if it was just more compellingly written.

Even here I absolutely will not be getting into character complaints. Those are too personal, and frankly I think people should keep them to private conversations. They have too much potential to hurt people for too little gain.

Sigh. I'm done now. I will try to focus on the good and the creative because I think that contributes a great deal more to everything and everyone. But for now, let me contemplate what could have been.

[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.

[nephilimbrute]

please try make a actual tutorial 💔 I am a starving orphan Victorian boy with a hat and coal smudged onto my face

Oookaaayyyy fiiiine. i'll just make a text post explaining it

So what You're gonna need is alight motion (what i use) and some drawing app that has transparency and layers. anyways

you need to draw everything on a separate layer. everything that'll move will have to be its own png, i recommend doing a small test first so you don't get overwhelmed by the details

if you wanna do any facial movements like i did in my last anim (eyes, brows, lip sync whatever) you'll need to split them all apart. i have a love hate relationship with doing lip sync, it's so tedious because you'll probably end up with 50 layers for a few seconds

^DO NOT! tween any moving parts BEFORE doing this!!!! you have to do the face stuff first, Then parent it!!!

but what's parenting?, you may ask . Oh well it'll be your saviour. it basically groups any parts and makes them move together without actually merging the layers, letting you move them individually (should be in top right corner when you select a layer)

you'll also need! pivot points! you can adjust these by tapping the transform button twice. these are the points from where your object will rotate and stuff from

example: if i want to connect the head to the neck, i'll Parent it to the layer that says body or neck, then put the Pivot Point at the base of the head

ok onto graphs. there's a loooott of ways you can do this, but in most of my animations it's just a very simple bounce graph(?). you do this by adding a keyframe to the start, going to the end and adding another keyframe, then you make your desired transformations. click on the graphs icon (should be on the left) and look for the wavy one 〰️ <- like that. adjust it however you want + you've got a simple bouncing Thing

note i'm bad at explaining and you're probably better off looking for a video tutorial that has pictures and such

it's completely normal for your gallery to be left looking like this after an animation. 😁

[userghouls]

ANIMATED TEXT TUTORIAL: ★★✩✩✩ Difficulty: Beginner/Intermediate

This is a step by step tutorial on how I did the text for my Pink Venom swinging text.

We are going to be making this text:

Before I start, you WILL need Adobe After Effects, but I will show you step by step how to achieve this.

Tutorial below the cut!

✔ Step One: Composition Open After Effects and create a new project, then a new composition making sure the composition matches your gif settings. (ex: 540 x 540, 2 seconds, 30 fps)

✔ Step Two: Creating Our Text Add a new text layer. It should be the same as Photoshop, you can just select the text tool and write what you want. Customize the text to say what you want and change the font and size to your liking.

We should have something like this:

✔ Step Three: Adding Our Animation There should be a box that says "Effects & Presets", in that box you can search for effects. Search for "Explosion". It will be under Text > Miscellaneous.

Select the first one and you can either drag it on top of your text layer or just double click it with your text layer selected. Sliding the time, we should have something that looks like this:

✔ Step Four: Adjusting the Animation With your text layer still selected, press "U" on your keyboard. This will open our key frames for the animation.

It's a lot to look at but don't worry, we will only be focused on Amount and Opacity, and I will make this as easy as possible for you. On the Opacity setting, click on the little time clock. This will remove the keyframes. Make sure your opacity is set to 100%.

Next we are going to adjust the amount so that it explodes INWARD instead of OUTWARD. Find a good spot where the letters are out and add a new keyframe the same way you would on Photoshop.

Now swap the two keyframes so the explosion animation is reversed. Next we are going to remove the scale keyframes. Click on the second stop watch for the second amount parameter, and make sure that one is set to zero.

We should be left with only ONE thing that is keyframed. And the keyframes should look like an hourglass.

You can stop now and leave it or we can make it a little smoother and more fun looking.

✔ Step Five: Editing the Graph & Adding Motion Blur To add a motion blur to our text, we just need to select the three little circle stack on our text layer. Also double check that the same symbol is highlighted blue up top.

Now we have motion blur. Next we are going to adjust the graph. To open the graph select the little graph icon and then select our keyframed buy clicking on the amount parameter.

Now our graph should look like this:

Select one of the dots and two little arms should pop up and we can drag those around to adjust the graph (the speed of our animation). Adjust to your liking, but to make it look like the text in the tutorial, my graph looks like this:

With my graph, the animation looks like this:

Now all the hard work is done!

✔ Step Six: Exporting Now to export our video so it can be turned into a gif: Go to File > Export > Add to Render Queue

We should be at a menu like this:

Click on the part that is blue next to "Output Module" and another box should pop up. For format: change to "Quicktime" For Video Output > Channels: select "RBG + Alpha" (this will ensure our background is transparent)

Select "OK" and then under "Output to" select where you want the video to save.

Now all you have to do is Render.

Once that finishes, YOU'RE ALL DONE!

Import video to frames as you usually would in Photoshop, just don't change the frame delay.

Treat it like a normal text layer/smart object.

As usual, you can play around with all the animation settings to get the look you want, this is just the basics for the main animation.

It looks like a lot but the difficulty is minor once you get the hang of the steps.

Any questions you have during the process just DM me! ★

[morkaischosen]

you gotta explain the rachel squid thing. i mean, i get it on some level but i'd go with the rachel bear or rachel crocodile covers

Gladly!

It's not just the squid, is the first thing- really it's about the Squid Book. But it's the squid on the cover, and that stands in for all of this.

In Animorphs book 27, The Exposed, the crew acquire the form of a beached whale in order to get deep enough to acquire the giant squid form they'll need to survive the crushing depths of the sea and reach their objective. It's a Rachel POV book and I'm a Rachel girlie, so of course I was ready to do some deep dives (so to speak). So was Morgan, whom I was reading along with - this was a few years back, picking the series up as an adult after the half-dozen of them that I read (and reread) as a kid made such a strong impression on me.

The thing that really stuck out to me in the Squid Book was the way it seemed to be using its descriptions of the whale and the squid to echo something about Rachel.

My instincts were sure. Calm. Confident. I had no fear. No questions. I asked for nothing. I explained nothing.

The whale is bigger than all the anxieties she tries to be faster than or strong enough to endure; bigger than the fear of failure.

The whale did not fear what was going to happen. It hunted to eat every day. Someone would win the battle, someone would lose. The whale had accepted this fact since birth. I had not. Losing was not something I wanted to think about. This was not a situation where I could simply demorph if the whale was hurt. To demorph was to die.

That's something we see in a lot of Rachel's morph choices - in her own body she's all grace and elegance, a gymnast and a model, but rather than the liquid danger of Jake's tiger morph she chooses the size and power of a grizzly or an elephant; animals that are big and tough enough that they don't have to care about opposition for longer than it takes to push past it.

The squid was smaller, much lighter, basically weaker. But it had agility. And it had arms. I had a mouth. Imagine a fight between a gymnast, small but with full use of arms and legs, and a three-hundred-pound linebacker who can only use his mouth.

Gymnast, huh?

Someone was turned away from me. Another giant squid, floating, arms extended like some vile flower. I saw the mantle. My meat. I drew in water and expelled it like a jet blowing exhaust. I jetted forward! I drew my long arms up from the depths, coiling them and extending them toward my prey, moving them in what felt to the human part of me like slow motion. The other squid was unaware! Cassie? Was it Cassie? Who cared? Cassie would feed my hunger just as well as -

Rachel almost loses herself in that gymnast's violent urges, but manages to come back to herself when Cassie speaks.

Everything here comes back to Rachel's urges. There's a moment after Cassie's morphed Rachel in the crocodile book where she talks about Rachel being hardwired for recklessness; here we see the magnificent calm of being something too big to be reckless set against the swift gymnastic violence of something that kills without thinking.

And when Rachel takes that vast imperturbable shape and takes the battle to this animal mirror of her most violent self, she loses. She has to retreat or be lost, but Tobias - here despite his terror of the water, because he wants to be with her - has her back, beats the squid, and saves the mission.

The whole thing reads as metaphor for the battle between who Rachel wants to be - so self-assured that the anxieties she opens the book with roll off her - and who she's afraid she is, and it became my chosen shorthand for that internal struggle.

As the series goes on, Rachel loses herself to motion and violence, and it destroys her.

That's why, after I finished reading the series, this was the last message I sent to Morgan right before I went to bed:

That's why he gave me a print of the Squid Book cover; and that's why it's hanging on my wall.

[blackjackkent]

Owlbear Vignettes

At first, Buddy sticks very close to Hector in camp. Hector was the one who fed him first. Hector is kind, with a soft voice. Hector gives him scritches between the ears and murmurs blessings Buddy doesn't understand. Hector is not Mother, but Hector is safe.

The others take some getting used to.

-----

Karlach is not expecting it, the first night Buddy tries to sleep in the tent with them. She's half-asleep and at first only dimly aware of claws jabbing through her clothes, which meld unpleasantly with a dream of stinging sparks in the Hells. Her eyes flicker open - and then she jumps as she comes face to face with an owlbear beak. Buddy has nestled himself between her and Hector, curled into a floofed-up ball.

"Aw, hells. Hec--" she says sleepily.

"Mmph?" Hector answers. "Wha-- ack!" There's a sudden sputtering noise as he rolls over into a faceful of feathers.

"That."

She hears Hector laugh softly in the darkness. "Buddy, you can't sleep there." He nudges at the cub's flank; Buddy makes a soft noise of objection. "Come on, Bud."

Buddy gives a chirping whine but allows himself to be displaced so Hector can snuggle in against Karlach again. The cub considers the situation for a moment, then flops deliberately on Hector's other side, staring at Karlach the whole time as if daring her to say anything about it.

"I think I have competition," she tells Hector with a grin.

"You're way prettier than he is, don't worry," Hector mumbles into her shoulder.

-----

Gale makes a picture of a woman, but she has no smell. Buddy doesn't like that. It seems wrong.

Wyll emerges from his tent to the sound of Waterdhavian-accented oration at full volume.

"That is the goddess of magic, Buddy. That is Mystra herself!" Gale is lecturing the little beast, poking a finger into Buddy's face. "You cannot simply swipe a claw through her as if she were a mouse you'd caught unawares. That is a disrespect of the highest order and I would have thought you smart enough to know better."

Buddy listens attentively, his head cocked over to one side, occasionally chirping whenever Gale pauses for breath.

"I understand that you are an owlbear and therefore not privy to the mysteries of the Weave," the mage goes on. "But that does not exempt you from a certain level of basic decency towards the divine. I will thank you to remember this in future and improve your decorum."

Wyll grins, folding his arms as he watches this little display unfold. "Do you want to try it again with an animal speaking potion?"

Gale sighs. "No, no, never mind. He's just a beast after all, he can't really be expected to understand."

"I don't know," Wyll says mildly. "Perhaps he has the right of it. A protective instinct, if you will, given the target does want you to blow yourself up. I think he's not the only one in camp who would give her a swipe if they could."

"I'll thank you to keep your disrespect to yourself as well," Gale says dryly. His fingers flick through the air, conjuring a new, glowing image of his goddess.

Buddy swats a paw through her again at once.

-----

The githyanki is sharp like Mother's claws. She snaps when Buddy comes close, sniffs disdainfully when he scarfs down some of the camp supplies. He steers clear and watches her from a distance.

He understands how this works. She is one of the alphas. She must be brought a gift before she will accept him in the flock.

One night, Hector watches with bemusement as the cub, his whole expression screwed up with deep owlbear concentration, drags a large dead rabbit through the camp.

Catching Hector's gaze, he drops the rabbit and chirps softly, wandering in a slow circle around his prize. His feathers fluff up in a deliberate attempt to make himself look bigger, as if to steel himself for a great challenge. Then he grabs the rabbit again by the head, and in a single smooth motion, drags it into the tent where Lae'zel is currently sleeping.

There is a brief moment of silence, followed by a yell that echoes through the whole camp. Buddy, still poofed out in all directions, comes sailing through the tent flap, tumbling end over end and hitting the ground some distance away. The dead rabbit follows closely thereafter.

The next morning, Lae'zel acts as if nothing happens, but Hector does note with some surprise that she gives Buddy an absent pat on the head every time she walks past him. Later, she offers him a torn off scrap of the hunk of jerky she grabs for her evening meal.

"You're not holding his midnight visit against him, then?" Hector asks her.

"On the contrary," she says gravely. "The creature offered tribute to me as its jhe'stil, and showed bravery in doing so. It has earned the respect due a beast of combat."

"But you threw him out of the tent!"

She looks at him unblinkingly. "Yes."

Hector considers trying to understand this, and then decides not to bother.

-----

Shadowheart rarely comes close at first to either Buddy or Scratch. She is wary of them as beasts of the forest. Scratch says she is afraid of wolves. Buddy is NOT a wolf - but he is almost as big as one, so he thinks maybe it makes sense.

She often looks at him like she would like to pet him, though. A few times, she does drift near, and lays her hand gently between his ears on the soft feathers at the nape of his neck. And he sees a little smile tug at her lips - but then there is a flash of magic around her hand, and she winces or cries out in pain and draws away.

Many weeks on, deep in the Shadowlands, there is a great commotion one night - an explosion of light and crashing and roaring in the distance. Buddy watches with great interest, and some concern, as Hector returns to the camp with Karlach and Wyll, all of them covered in blood and slime. Shadowheart, equally battered, follows behind them at a distance, her eyes hollow and her face even paler than usual.

Buddy finds her in her tent later, staring at the wall in the darkness. He sits in the tent flap and chirps questioningly.

"No. Go away," she mutters. "I can't--"

She falls silent. He chirps again, scoots a little closer to her.

"It hurt so much..." she whispers. "All this time, all that pain... for a lie..."

She gives a sudden hoarse, humorless laugh. "There was never any wolf. D'you know that? There was never any wolf at all."

He gives a soft, whickering sort of noise and nudges his head cautiously against her hand. There is no flash of magic, no cry of pain. He does it again. Her fingers fist suddenly into his feathers, pulling him towards her.

He squawks, alarmed, then relaxes as she presses her face into the soft down of his back and sobs.

-----

Late one night, Astarion tracks a deer through the woods. They're difficulty prey, jumpy and skittish, but his steps are light, an almost inaudible tread. And they have quite a lot of blood in them. The hunger gnaws at his stomach and his red eyes gleam in the moonlight.

Just a little closer...

His boot knocks against an ill-placed stone, barely a rustle of sound but enough. The deer lifts its head and gives a keening cry, and bolts.

"Oh-- damn it," he mutters, straightening out of his crouched position. His fingers flex with undirected frustration and he leans heavily against a nearby tree. "Damn, damn, damn." What a feast that would have been... the local squirrel population has been decent, but deer is something else entirely. One of his favorites, second only to the kobolds and, of course, the one pure draught he got from Hector's throat...

His thoughts are interrupted by the sound of an animal squealing in abject pain, a ripping, tearing noise of wet meat - and then a soft chirp. He looks down, puzzled.

Buddy is sitting looking up at him with bright, wide eyes. His beak is coated in blood, and he bounces in an excited circle around Astarion's feet before guiding him through the foliage nearby. The deer sits sprawled on the mossy ground, its head bent at an odd angle.

"Huh." Astarion raises his eyebrows, examining the gory tableau. His stomach growls audibly at the glinting shine of wet blood at the deer's throat. "Not badly done. I didn't think I was in the market for a hunting partner, but perhaps we should work together more often."

Buddy wiggles all over with excitement and butts his head against Astarion's leg.

"Yes, yes, you're very cute. Now stay out of the way and let me drain this thing before you start looking tasty as well."

-------

"No!" Minsc bellows, looking down at the cub imperiously. "You will stand aside, beast; though your talons be very sharp and your beak to match, Minsc will bear each scratch before you shall lay one claw upon Boo!"

Buddy cowers back, his eyes very wide and all his feathers standing up, as the berserker towers over him. Boo sits atop Minsc's head and squeaks angrily down at the cub from his perch.

"Minsc!" Jaheira steps in between them, raising one hand before Minsc can speak again. "Calm yourself. I heard you all the way across the camp. What is the matter?"

"Minsc woke to find the little feather-beast eyeing Boo with the hungriest of eyes," Minsc says fiercely. "Does he think Boo a little snack to be feasted upon?!"

"No doubt," Jaheira says calmly, struggling not to smile; Minsc is obviously incensed, and yet there is something comical in seeing him stare down the little round ball of feathers with such ferocity. "For he is a beast of nature; why should he know otherwise?"

"Well, he shall not have him!"

"Peace." Jaheira crouches next to the owlbear, murmurs a spell under her breath; green light flares around her body. "Do you hear me, cub?" she murmurs.

Buddy goes very still; his feathers flatten out and he stares at her with wide eyes. "You... speak?" he whispers.

"With all the wisdom that nature gave me." She smiles, reaches out to scratch him under the chin. "You must leave the hamster alone. For he is Minsc's to protect, as you are Hector's."

The cub chirrups skeptically. "Rat. Tasty," he points out.

"There is no shortage of rats in the city," Jaheira says dryly. "We shall find you other meat. But you must promise to leave Boo in safety."

Buddy makes a soft grumbling noise. "All right. Promise," he mumbles.

Jaheira looks up at Minsc, her eyes glinting with amusement. "The bargain is made," she says soberly.

"Ah." Minsc brightens up at once and grins. "Good. Minsc did not want to kick such a little, cute butt, if there was any helping it."

Buddy trots along at Jaheira's side as she walks away; his sharp little eyes peer up at her excitedly. "You speak. New Mother?" he asks hopefully.

"Gods. No," Jaheira sputters. "I am no more your mother than I am Minsc's Wychlaran; where does everyone get these ideas?"

Buddy's ears turn down. "Just hoped."

She pauses, then smiles faintly. "I may not be your mother, cub, but I think you have a whole camp full of family. As creatures of the wilderness go, you have it made."

-----

Withers examines the cub closely as it creeps around the edge of the camp, watching him from the shadows. "I offer no threat to thee, little beast," the skeleton intones gravely. "Thou hast no need of secrecy."

Buddy chirps. Emerging from the shadows, he sits at Withers' feet, looking up at him.

Withers' expression does not shift. "Indeed," he murmurs. "A creature without mooring. Untethered and yet bound. A matter of luck... or of fate."

Buddy tips his head slowly to one side.

"Thou art a pillar, upon which is built the lever which shall move the world." The faintest hint of a smile twists the skeleton's lips. "And yet thou knowest it not. This is as it should be. By such truths does all remain in balance."

[alyss-erulisse]

Millennium Ring from YuGiOh

A Realistic Render

Before I created the Millennium Necklace, I created this realistic version of the Millennium Ring.

The ring is positioned on a basic male model from the Sims 4 using soft body and rigid body simulations and rendered in Blender Cycles.

I redesigned the ring with material construction in mind, soldering joints and using rivets and screw eye pins.

In Ancient Egypt, gold was alloyed with silver and copper in a combination known as electrum. This means the item is likely to tarnish over time.

I created a texture brush to paint tarnished material in the crevasses not easily accessed by polishing implements.

For the rope, I chose a reference of 5mm macrame twisted cotton and developed a procedural texture.

My goal was to create a unit of rope which I could seamlessly duplicate around the neck.

I started by modeling each strand of rope, which was a great exercise in Blender Geometry Nodes, but the twisting of the strands caused a problem with seamless duplication which I could only solve by simplifying the geometry.

Eventually, I developed a seamless procedural texture for this simplified, repeatable geometry.

Tying knots is much easier in real life than it is in Blender where objects can move through each other.

This is a nice level of detail for a close up image, but at a distance, how much of our attention is really going to be on the rope?

By baking the texture and normals to even simpler geometry, I sped up the movement simulations.

I used Rigid Body Physics to produce the secondary motion of the pointers on the ring. Compound Parent was useful in keeping the pointers from clipping through and flying off the ring during quick motions.

This project was much more challenging to animate because of the way the item is suspended from a knotted rope.

I used Soft Body Physics to produce the primary motion of the rope and ring.

As I transform the world of my fanfiction into one that is more original, I end up redesigning ideas from the YuGiOh universe.

The violet gemstone set within the iris of the Eye of Anubis is a flourish of my own. Crystals play an important role in the magic system of my story where the Millennium Items were forged as instruments to wield the magic of a crystal that was so dangerous it was split into fragments.

See more of my work: Check out my archive.

Join me on my journey: Follow me on tumblr.

Keep me creating: Support me on KoFi.

[destinygoldenstar]

The Gaslight District Is Very Well Made (Is It My Thing Though?)

I gotta be honest with y'all, I wasn't as excited for The Gaslight District as everyone else was.

I had no BEEF with it, per say, I just never really had it catch my eye outside of it being produced by Glitch. I didn't follow any of the ads they put for it aside from the trailer. I went into this completely blind, knowing nobody's names or whatever exposition was placed in the ads, because I would rather have it be said IN THE SHOW. (Which they did)

I also have had other stuff going on at the time. But while I wait very patiently for Episode 5 of Digital Circus, I'm glad that a new show is getting its chance in the spotlight.

Immediately I think I should mention that this show is very obviously NOT a kids show. (I mean, NONE of the Glitch Shows are, but still) There's so much GORE and VIOLENCE and MILD SWEARS, there's a close up shot of a male character's exposed tits. Etc.

It kinda brought me back to Murder Drones in terms of wild gore and violence. But that show could get away with a lot of it because they were robots. These guys are FLESH.

I love it. But also, just wanted to point this out before any of my kid followers decide to watch this. (But also, what are you doing here if you are a kid? You're not supposed to have a Tumblr Account in the first place.)

I will say right now, I think writing this show off just because it's gorey and violent is... dumb. Just like how writing off Hazbin Hotel just because they cuss more than a sailor is dumb. It's fine to say it's not your thing, but that does NOT mean it is a flaw.

So, is The Gaslight District Pilot Good?

Yes.

But I'm not hooked personally.

I hope I get hooked in an Episode 2 though.

This is gonna all come down to Objective vs Subjective taste. Which is VERY different.

Objective is when you can put all your bias feelings aside and look at the quality of something for the quality it brings to the table.

Subjective is when it's solely based on your personal tastes and you judge it by what you like and don't like.

In this case, this is one of those cases where it's very different for me.

I can acknowledge when a show is OBJECTIVELY really good and really well made. Even if SUBJECTIVELY, I am personally not the biggest fan.

But if you are its biggest fan, I can definitely see that.

I'm sorry, but I am pretty solidly a Digital Circus fangirl. NOT because it's popular, mind you. It's just the Glitch show that has hooked me the most. BUT that does not mean I look down on Murder Drones or this show in any way. I quite like Murder Drones and I do want to find time to talk about it in the future.

I have nothing but respect in my blood going into this.

ALSO, THIS IS BASED OFF OF A FIRST VIEWING. THERE IS DEFINATELY SOME THINGS I MISSED.

Let's get the obvious out of the way, the animation is really beautiful.

What a shock. Glitch's team is talented.

I really dig this show's artstyle as something that looks totally different from the computer animation we're used to from Glitch's shows.

I said this with the trailer, but this reminds me of Telltale's The Walking Dead & The Wolf Among Us, if it was updated to have a Spiderverse/TMNT Mutant Mayhem flare in its action.

What I DIDN'T expect in this animation is its stop-motion movement? More on this later. But it really does feel like a stop motion animation watching this.

I also LOVE the designs for the characters. Again, that bread man is really cool of an idea. I especially love how it just basically EMBRACES its style. These are fleshy undead freaks, so of course they're going to have torn off skin. And knives casually stuck on their heads.

Melancholy, or Mel, looks the most normal of the group, and she quickly stands out.

Which was definitely intentional because she isn't like the rest of them.

I also really like Mel in this. At the first half of the episode, I was kinda worried she'd just be an Uzi knock off. Overly edgy, wanting to shake up the status quo to cope with her family issues and insecurities.

But no. She's not.

For one, Uzi is far more satirical as a character, whereas Mel is completely straight. Both are valid.

Also, Mel isn't trying to shake up any status quo of her society. She WANTS to fit in. She wants to be a part of this world and her adopted family's business, despite her body limitations.

I LOVE this little blink and you'll miss it detail of a paper on her plot board asking "Where Do I Come From?"

That, along with a couple other stuff, really demonstrates her insecurities about being a human in an undead world unable to fit in. Despite her wanting to fit in, she also can't help but be curious about her origins and even self conscious about it.

I love it cause it's very subtle characterization that elevates the complexity of the character. But also I really hope this is explored later in this show and expanded upon.

Though part of me also thinks this show is setting her up to be a mom.

Also, her voice actress KILLED IT.

So did everyone else. This voice acting is top notch.

I also appreciate the characterization of Ken. I have mixed feelings on Ken, I admit, mostly because I was questioning while watching it if he even cares about her at all. He's also a DAMN HYPOCRITE.

"Never leave my side!" *Leaves her side and tells her to wait in a room alone* Then becomes furious that she went upstairs alone despite him leaving her alone.

But I also appreciate how subtle of characterization he has because most of his care for Mel is shown through his ACTIONS, not his words. His words very harsh and condescending and kinda comes across as bullying sometimes. But also why wouldn't that be? He's a thug. And she's vulnerable.

He's also just flat out racist. Despite raising somebody of that race.

Yeah the first episode doesn't really explain this, but I feel like they will later in the show.

I can see people really liking this show.

So let's get into MY personal gripes with it.

The action doesn't work too well for me.

I know I praised the animation, but that's in spite of the facts that it's sometimes... choppy? And it's quite jarring sometimes.

Murder Drones and Digital Circus had animation that was smooth as butter.

So I don't know if it's just an artstyle choice or what, but it was distracting to me.

There's also WAY too many camera angles in this. It makes it really hard to follow the action and understand what's going on.

It kinda hurt my eyes sometimes from how many cuts and cuts and cuts they did. I had a hard time following along visually. Murder Drones is also action heavy, but I could follow that show's action just fine.

I DO NOT want to say this is a 'style over substance' show, because it DOES have substance. That's not what I'm saying at all.

This is also one of the most serious of Glitch's shows. Not a bad thing. It's just, I THINK it's supposed to have humor, but none of the jokes were landing for me.

If the comedy is the gore, I didn't pick up on it too much, because my reaction was 'oh, well that happened.'

There was only ONE time I laughed in the whole thing.

"And NOW I'm missing a dishwasher a busboy and two waitresses!"

Other than that, I was mostly straight faced throughout. The jokes weren't working for me.

I just watched the premiere, and I can't recall any other joke in my head.

I also am just not too hooked by the cliffhanger in this episode. Mostly cause of how causal of a cliffhanger it was compared to the other Glitch Shows.

I know that's petty. But like, the other shows Pilots had DEVASTATING character moments for our leads that made us feel for them and their situation. We want to watch more because we want them to succeed.

Uzi was betrayed by her father and is now caught in the outcast train of the Murder Drones to the point where she banishes herself from her society.

Pomni is forever trapped in the world she's tried so hard all episode to escape from.

The entire episode, I was expecting Mel's scheme to go wrong.

I like my expectations being subverted, but also, it kinda leaves the episode on a far more positive note. With the cliffhanger seeming last second. A little quirky "WUH OH, I TRIPPED ON THE CLIFFSIDE, WHAT DO WE DO NOW??"

Their mission is successful. They get exactly what they came for.

Yeah Mel gets severely wounded and hurt, but she's HAPPY. And then the next scene, she's fine. No lasting impact on those injuries. Nothing? Okay. (I guess she's nervous because of her dad's racist speech before the ceremony, but she's still going along with destroying the egg)

The prophecy stuff is fine though. I'm not as bugged about the trope as everyone else. Mel is the special chosen one. Cool. Fine.

Also, I just don’t really have many questions after the cliffhanger. Aside from “Where did Mel come from?” Which is purely a plot thing. This cliffhanger is purely a plot progression. Whereas the other two shows left me with a lot more intrigue as to what was going on with several characters and its world. I wanted to see more. Know more about how these worlds worked. Here it’s just kinda… eh? They’re undead. They hate mortals. There’s a bird in the egg. Got it.

I'm still gonna watch the show because it IS really well made and I want to support Indie Animation. BUT I'm absolutely not losing sleep over this show.

Again, it's just personal taste above all else. I have nothing but respect for Part Time Seagull for making the show they want.

And if this becomes someone else's new obsession, I am so happy for them.

For now I give the Pilot a 7/10. It's a nice watch and I would want to watch it again, even if it might be a bit in the future.

Also to all my peeps who want to spam Glitch’s socials asking where Digital Circus is on every ad Gaslight District related, DON’T DO THAT. LET THIS SHOW EXIST IN PEACE. THERE IS NO HARM BEING DONE HERE WHATSOEVER. ITS ANNOYING AND UNCALLED FOR. GASLIGHT DISTRICT DID NOTHING WRONG.

[shoppncart]

4/4/2025 - Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie

This was a super enjoyable movie. The overall story and writing are alright, pretty standard fare for what I would expect out of a TMNT movie (given my limited knowledge of the franchise, anyways), but where it really shines is the art. Goddamn, does this movie look really good at times. I dig the style a ton, and the animation is super fluid and carries a lot of energy, even more than the show did during its action sequences. Special mention of course goes to the movie's climax, which has an extreme amount of fast-paced camera motion and sense of impact throughout. It's really impressive what they were able to get out of a TV-Netflix budget, as well as what I believe was a rushed or strained production? Either way, really cool to see all around.

Also I feel like I should mention how I had the idea for a personal project where a majorly populated urban city got invaded by weird alien gunk that infected and grew on stuff, with weird veiny textures and random eyes and teeth strewn about. The alien crap could even take control of inanimate or living objects and culminated in a huge portal opening above the tallest tower which was absolutely covered in the junk. And this movie totally beat me to all that!! I can't say I'm really upset though, it is cool to see what was basically my entire visual idea communicated in an actual production.