#been really wanting to learn 3D sculpting and animation anyway

[hamable]

“Don’t trust anything you think about your life after 9pm” I chant almost religiously as I consider buying a desktop and learning how to do VFX in Unreal Engine bc I’m spiraling about my current college/career prospects

[roboromantic]

ough I really oughta just pay for an Actual blender course instead of trying to teach myself via youtube tutorials and messing around bc holy adhd, batman

[twotangledsisters]

My First Week Learning 3D

Do I ever stop picking up random skills and hobbies? Nope. It's my horde. As a dragon I must collect them forever and ever.

Last Friday I decided to learn Blender! Here's how that went:

First I did CG Fast Track's Begginer Tutorial.

There I build a minecraft scene:

Then joyfully tore it down :D

Then in the next parts of the tutorial I made a sword!

And some quick animations with said sword:

After that I needed to just, make sure I had some control over the movements, habit of changing into the right modes, habit of applying stuff, so I did 3DGreenHorns Smooth living room tutorial.

Which may or may not now have me obsessed with the idea of tiny isometric rooms...

I then did Polygon Runway's Spaceship Loop tutorial so I could practice animation.

I learnt soooo much with this one! Like... key framing in blender is AMAZING! I love it! I am obsessed with the idea of animating in this program!

After that I decided to learn to do characters... I tired to make a little Cassandra using Eve Sculpt's character modeling tutorial... But I just got really confused (my fault 100% the tutorial was really good!) and eventually gave up.

But here's some nightmare imagery for you!

This had me feeling a bit sad so I decided to do a quick and easy tutorial, and cause I loved Polygon Runway's first tutorial, I went with their little coffee shop tutorial.

This was so fun to do! It was quick, easy, and I learnt about lighting! :D

After this I allowed myself to indulge in a quick personal project and made a lantern:

Not much to say about this, it's a lantern xD don't ask about the sky, I'm learning, okay!

Then I indulged in yet another personal project as I wanted to test out physics and it's almost October soo....

Little ghost!!

I technically tried to animate it but umm.... my computer does not have that sorta power XD

Finally, having picked up my moral I knew I had to learn character modeling so I chose Keelan Jon's character modeling tutorial and this time I pulled it off!

I love how cute this little character is!

There are a few glaring mistakes but.... shush.

I learnt sooo much from this tutorial! It was sooo much fun! And I'm definitely feeling like character modeling isn't too far out of my reach now.

So yeah, that was my first week with Blender. I actually wanted to do a final personal project yesterday to complete the week, but my ex came over and I didn't get the chance. But despite the week being cut short I'd say it was still a very successful first dive into a new program!

I have a few projects planned, but I'm also aware to really get the hang of a program like blender doing a bunch of tutorials is super important, especially just getting used to the keyboard shortcuts, navigation, etc..

Anyway, that's where I've been this week xD

Also, I kinda lied... I said first week with blender but I actually downloaded blender back in February and did one singular tutorials before quitting....

Blender Guru's Donut Tutorial amazing tutorial but... I might suggest starting with something a little less comprehensive xD

[silasopossum]

just got the notification that my base is officially in transit to the USA, so im gonna discuss my plans for him rq :]

so basically, all my fursonas have historically been feline (once i got over my horse art phase. i was never really connected to my horse sona anyways). i WOULD have gotten a feline headbase, but the problem with that is very few makers specifically sell a BOBCAT base, it's usually a canadian lynx or domestic cat or lion or something. cool, but i love focusing on small details in species differences so it would bug me forever if i put my bobcat fursona on a canadian lynx base. the other issue is that if i DID make a fursuit for my bobcat sona, i would 100% want a realistic base, since her cartoony design changes so often. plenty of makers sell realistic 3d printed or resin bases, however i am NOT confident in my ability to transfer a realistic design onto a base myself (especially since most realism fursuits involve airbrushing. i dont think i could do that well in an ideal environment, much less my 115 square foot bedroom which is my only workspace). i just dont feel i would be able to do her justice... and i wouldnt really want a toony styled head for my actual fursona.

and making a base myself isn't an option because 1. i cant even sculpt clay symmetrically, it'd drive me crazy if i tried it and 2. aforementioned tiny apartment problems. im not dealing with foam going everywhere... OR learning how to 3d model and print or resin pour or whatever else people use to make fursuits.

so i was looking through makers just for funsies and then i found the opossum base by ligris cybernetics / ligrisprints. and idk why but every ounce of my impulsive body decided "YES. OPOSSUM FURSUIT. NOW." ive never even had an opossum fursona before so i have no idea why i was suddenly so sure about it. but i was! so i decided to just make a new character specifically for this project.

i decided on the name silas (at the URL implies) and i designed a quick character on the fly, based entirely off of photos of real opossums instead of already having an idea. this was interesting for me, since i didnt realize how common the white spots on opossum ears are? i always thought they were only black, but most photos i found showed a little bit of pink/white so i added it to the design

(quick sketch, drawn over the sale image on ligris cybernetics' website. i also loosely based this off of the stylization of my one other opossum character's design. the black bits under the eyes are going to be eyelashes, cut out of felt. the grey will PROBABLY be fur markings, but i might change that to black felt too)

opossums are also fairly easy to design, since they are typically recognizable with only two fur colors (white and grey), and their faces are usually mostly white. it'll be easier for me if i only have to buy two fur colors.

another thing i'm planning on is having handpaws- this will be easy since opossums always have naked fingers... so i'm planning on just buying a pair of fingerless gloves and adding fur to the glove part and leaving my fingers out. will be much easier to wear too

one thing im unsure of is how to fur a moving jaw... ill need to look up some tutorials for this. because i think if i dont add at least a little fur around the hinge, the mouth will look way too wide...

another small issue is that this maker tells tpu ears for basically any species EXCEPT opossums. so my plan is to buy some fosshape plastic and make ears out of that? ill also add minky fur OR felt to them to add the color patterns. i havent decided between the two yet, but i think painting the ears would look strange? even if it's technically more accurate for the real animal.

i also got some fur color swatches a few weeks ago. getting swatches from fursuitsupplies, i tried out baby pink monster, silver lux fox, super short white, silver beaver, and silver lux shag. i like the color of the silver lux fox best, but the texture of the lux shag seems better for an opossum character, so i'm unsure. the beaver feels nice but is too short for what i want the longer bits of fur to be. the super short is nice, but i will still probably get the fur all in one length and just shave it. the monster fur feels gross to touch so i'm definitely not using that. i already know what minky fabric is like so i didn't bother getting samples for that (but i probably will order samples when i decide concretely on what fur to get once the base comes in, just to be sure of the color before i spend money on it).

i'm thinking of covering the nose of the base with pink minky OR pink felt, but i'm not sure if that would work with the base, so i'll decide that once i actually get my hands on it. otherwise, i will be painting it. i also think i'm gonna make a tongue with minky fabric

tail will also be a thing. since opossum tails are prehensile, i want to make it posable... i thought about using plastic ball joints / doll spines, but i know from my longfurby adventures that those are kind of heavy, so i think i will use wire instead.

not gonna bother with a bodysuit, those sound hellish to walk around in. i'm just gonna wear long sleeves and long pants

another thing i an excited / nervous about is adding hair... i want silas to have hair. SPECIFICALLY revenge era gerard way hair

and i know a lot of fursuit makers create hair by putting together pulled-out yarn OR brushing out fur both ways... but i don't like how that looks. since if were meant to believe that a plush in the case of a fursuit tail is flesh, and fur is their actual skin/fur... then it's just like... amorphous globosus... or a gigantic skin tag / tumor... TO ME... many fursuits make this look amazing don't get me wrong but i just couldnt get it out of my head if it was on my own suit. so i decided that i'm going to try and weft the hair, like in this tutorial? https://www.tiktok.com/@chaoticreations/video/7334668616350092577 (sorry for tiktok link, i know this creator uploads to youtube but i couldn't find the short) and this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vo4FCmT1DP8 i'm thinking that depending on how i'm able to fur the head, i might be able to make a kind of wig thing that magnets on? i don't want to add the hair directly onto the head in case it looks like shit and i get tired of it, so i want it easily removable. might use velcro instead... also want it really long in the back.

i also got the eye mesh pre-installed on the head by the maker. which will be easy for me if i like it... however i DID request slit pupils and i'm second guessing that decision right now. i'm also unsure if i shouldve made them green instead of grey... but i guess i'll see it once it arrives :]

i also was JUST barely in the sizing for a "small" size head according to this maker, but just to be safe i ordered a "medium" size head instead. if it's to big (which it probably will be), i'm going to add foam inside, which will probably make it more comfortable anyways. iirc you can also use foam to hide the hinges in moving jaws? so i can just use the foam for that too. not sure yet.

and i already have sandpaper and stuff for sanding down the 3d print. just gotta wait for it to arrive... probably a month since it's gonna go from poland to the usa... if it gets lost in shipping i WILL cry (since mail people love to just not deliver to my apartment complex. because apartments are haaaaaaaard to deliver to (even though all the doors are easily accessible from the street with no key necessary)...)

[hareefaree]

The Dressmaker Project Process Journal - 3.01.23

Hii! A month since the last update, pretty ok! A lot has happened since I started! Last week I ended up catching covid (please mask up y’all) and ended up being at home for 10 days as I quarantined and recovered. (I ended up missing an animation festival I was really looking forward too as well ;-;)

BUT! Lots of progress has been made in terms of puppets and I plan on starting my final animation this week!

Last I updated, I had finished 3 puppet armatures and was in the process of adding detail to them, flesh and skin made of tape. After a really productive early crit, I’ve now narrowed down to TWO puppets, rewritten the script, and I learned how to make facial replacements with 3D prints.

My initial plan was to sculpt all my replacements by hand. I first sculpted a base face with the features I wanted out of sculpey, then plastered over that in a thin layer with modeling foam. Once that dried, I peeled it off and cut it into two interlocking pieces. At this point, I wasn’t sure how to register them to the skull so I was vaguely considering magnets. I made little inserts as well to register the mouth and the temples!

My friend Sofia (@/chimi_chu on insta) taught me how to digitally scan and print items in our school’s Digital Fabrication lab. I digitally scanned it in, printed my faces on a prusa printer, and to my happiness they came out beautifully!

I was struggling to register these to the face. Earlier I’d made a skull out of sculpey wrapped around foil, baking in the plastic beads that would serve as the moving eyes of my puppet. The 3D print ended up not fitting that, so I broke off the original head and formed another one out of sculpey and then pressed in the 3D prints to create an imprint in the clay. I found that this made a really lovely, snug fit that would lock the two pieces to the face quite securely. I baked it and was a little worried about the sculpey chipping off, so I painted on a thin layer of epoxy resin.

While I was sick with covid (well, closer to the recovery period. I spend the first 3 days of it flat on my back asleep) I sanded down the faces and began painting the lip syncs and some of the eyebrows. It was a struggle to do with brain fog, though.

Still a lot more to do ;-;

Now that I’m back on campus and with access to a studio, I’ve added the hair using modeling foam, wire, and steel stick to anchor the wire in. the braid. I sculpted the modeling foam to overlap the top of the skull slightly to make the seam a little cleaner and the hairline seem more natural. It makes the top skull fit a little better as well! The braid needed to be flexible, so I made balls of polyethylene foam and then covered the hair in masking tape before painting it black. It’s currently drying :)

I also added the tie downs to the feet! I tried sitting the puppet up and realized even with the foil ball inside the head, the puppet remains top heavy. The tie downs will hopefully alleviate any tumbles my girl makes.

Anyway, that’s where I’m at! I’m hoping to animate one of the montage sequences this weekend, shots that’ll be under a downshooter and likely won’t require to much puppetry, if at all. We’ll see how it goes!

[beatriceportinari]

8 + 17 for the art ask game if you're still doing them!

Hell yeah I am let's go

8. what's the most fun and the least fun parts about your process

So this varies a bit depending on the medium I'm doing. Pretty much every part is fun to me if I'm doing mixed media because it's the most self indulgent. Every step is perfectly tailored to my tastes down to me doing the line art by directly carving into the wax pastels so I don't get bored with pencils and blank paper lol. I think everything's fun to me with origami as well, I love preparing the different papers but of course the folding itself is extremely pleasant too. I think the only part I don't really care for is taking photos? Which I don't exactly need to do but I want to show my stuff and keep it. So this is the part I view in a more utilitarian way like oh if I want people to see this I guess I have to take photos. Definitely the part that takes me the shortest though so I don't mind that much.

It's different with blender because I'm still learning so there are parts I'm absolutely shit at (figuring out nodes lol) but I kind of enjoy the process anyway because I'm at the beginning of the learning curve and so I discover smth new every time. Who cares if idk what a gamma node does I'm having fun I'm coloring a little object. For the same reason it'd be hard to decide what the most fun part of doing 3d stuff is hmmm... I might have to pick the sculpting it's what feels the most playful. Probably the most tactile lol. I don't do a lot of full on sculpting renders because modelling and then refine things while sculpting is what I learned and what's easier with my little computer but I want to do more! I like the idea of texture painting but either I haven't discovered everything or the possibilities inside of blender aren't v good yet lol. I know some people paint their own texture with another program for this part but I like that you can paint directly on your object in blender.

17. what do you love getting compliments about

Everything LOL. Since it's what I have the most fun with I like when people notice the little details, a specific texture I used a lot of materials for, a part of an animal I'm folding etc. I also like being surprised though! A lot of the time people will notice stuff I haven't even thought about, or a piece makes them think of smth else that I haven't seen, I think that's neat too.

I think the only thing that bothers me is if people start to treat it like it's a chore lol. This didn't happen here so I'm not vaguing anyone but when people start to talk about how hard and difficult and time consuming smth must have been with what looks like pity I'm a bit annoyed because this is genuinely fun to me! It's one thing to remark on the time smth must have taken me because I do like long term project but sometime I worry whether the other person is enjoying their own art if they're telling me how brave and patient I must have been to get to the end of some project. Like hey this wasn't a load of laundry I had been putting off doing I actually like this!!

So other than that whatever you notice will please me, especially if it's about the details or you're thinking about the process behind it. Wait actually I love to hear people's perception of an overall piece too because that's the thing I focus on the least and when you're like "in it" it's hard to step out and get a general view. I just like to hear about my own stuff lol.

[kirishwima]

sooo, for the cute prompts can I request some domestic life scenarios with the RFA? Have a great day/night ♡

YES, this is exacty what i meant when i asked for cute prompts hehe ^o^ I’ll also add Saeran bc well, i haven’t written anything for him before and he deserves love too!!

YOOSUNG:

* There’s two scenarios for this sweet bean; living with him as students, and living together after graduating.

* As students, his scedhule is a bit hectic-he leaves early for classes, comes back dead tired in the afternoon, and honestly he wants nothing more than to just throw himself over MC and rest his head on their chest, taking in their warmth to recharge from the days’ fatigue.

* He loves to be pampered and cared for-if MC offers to rub his back, or help him study/make him some tea or snacks while studying, he’ll be so happy! 

*He also loves to care for them though, and as a roommate, although often messy, he’s really caring-he’s usually the one cooking most of the meals, and loves to make MC’s favorites (the smile on their face when they eat something he’s cooked makes him twice as happy really), and will absoloutely cuddle them to sleep at night (aka at 3am when he’s done playing LOLOL, and is this kis a FURNACE WHY IS HE SO WARM)

* He loves to go grocery shopping together! He’ll absoloutely try and put MC in the shopping cart and run down the aisles with them until a security guard scolds them for it lmao

* When living together after graduation, he might mellow down a little-the initial jitters are gone, and he’s more comfortable around MC, especially if they move out and get a flat together-this is now their space, one they worked on and decorated together.

* Will absoloutely bring foster animals home, and even if they make a mess he cares for them so much MC finds it absoloutely endearing. Seeing him chase a bunny around begging it to stop pooping is quite freaking funny though and they do film him doing so and send it to the RFA chatroom lmao

* Honestly. Just an absoloutely sweet boyfriend, he’s just so grateful to have a person he loves to come home to everyday

JAEHEE:

* She’s the one that suggested moving in together, and though excited, she’s a little apprehensive at first

* She’s so used to having her own space and is really rigid about cleanliness even with her busy scedhule, so she’s afraid how she’ll react if e.g MC is a very messy person

* However she eventually learns to compromise, and so does MC-Their house is always clean, even if its’ a little messy at times. Jaehee learns to relax a little, and is just happy to have MC to come home to everyday

* Since they co-own the cafe, they take turns manning the shop and running house chores. She does however love whenever they’re able to go shopping for supplies for the coffee shop together.

* At home she’s always brewing new roasts of coffee or trying out new recipes of cakes and muffins-she loves baking with MC, finding it so adorable whenever they end up with flour on their nose, blushing a furious red if MC tries to feet them bites of the dessert themself. 

* She’s not a cuddler, but loves to hold MC’s hand in hers when going to bed-nowdays she actually finds it impossible to fall asleep without the feel of MCs hand in hers

* She’s almost always the first one up in the mornings, and always brings MC a cup of coffee in bed to wake them up, along with a quick kiss

* They have movie nights once a week, and take turns choosing the film-it’s usually Zen’s musicals whenever it’s Jaehee’s turn, but MC doesn’t mind-not when Jaehee cuddles up with them, resting her back on MCs’ chest as they watch, constantly turning around to MC with wide bright eyes to comment on specific scenes.

* Seeing her smile every day is honestly such a blessing who wouldn’t want to live with her aaaaa

ZEN:

* This boy LOVES living with his SO, loves it!!!

* He is however extremely busy....and often comes home late....

* He’s happy MC is so understanding, but he’s furstrated with himself for not spending more time together even though they live under the same roof

* After deciding to live together, he’ll be willing to move out of his half-basement and into a place they choose together-that house holds many memories for him, yes, both good and bad, but he’s ready to say goodbye to that part of his life to start a new chapter fresh with his beloved.

* He’ll have so much fun going furniture shopping-absoloutely he’ll drag MC down with him on every bed to ‘test how comfortable it is’ 

* MC that’s a lie he’s absoloutely just trying to make sure how durable its springs are RUN-

* Ahem. Anyway yeah creating a place for the two of them to call home is an amazing experience, and he’s very lenient with compromises-he wants MC to be as comfortable as possible in their shared space, especially when he’s often home late leaving MC alone.

* On his free days he absoloutely makes up for his absence, becoming the absoloute boyfriend material-will wake up early and make MC breakfast in bed, waking them up with the sweetest kiss and the smell of freshly baked pancakes, will spend the day pretty much lounging like a big fluffy housecat-he’s s such an active and sporty person, yes, but he’s human too, and we’re lazy by nature lol

* He loves to rest his head on MC’s lap, feel them running their hands through his hair as they watch something on TV. The feel of their hands on him bring him ultimate bliss.

* Honestly just absoloute husband material, if only he had a little more free time lmao

JUMIN:

* He’s also a really busy man, but has the blessing of being able to more or less make his own scedhule, considering his position, so he’s sure to never miss dinner time with MC-it’s his own little ritual with them

* He loves to lay in bed with MC in his arms, stroking their hair as they tell each other about their day. He can’t go to bed otherwise.

* If he’s abroad, he’ll skype MC every night and fall asleep with each other on camera, and he’ll make it up to them a thousand times over once he’s back home

* He loves to bring little gifts and surprises for MC when he comes home-from a bouquet of their favorite flowers, to something he saw that reminded him of them

* On days off, he’ll want to do something creative with them-Jumin’s always up for finding new hobbies and learning new things, so he’s eager to share this joy with MC

* ((his current obsession is sculpting-he’s absolotutely working on making a reailstic life-like sculpture of Elizabeth the 3d to place on their home’s entrance))

* Often he’ll cook with MC, trying out new recipes together, ones they picked up from their travels around the world-he’s not afraid of trying new things, and same goes to flavours. He especially enjoys meditarranean cooking, and will search for the best products to cook with.

* Loves to wake up first simply to watch MC as they sleep-their peaceful expression brings the biggest of smiles on his lips MC wake up you’re missing the purest sight in the whole world

* Such a loving husband, perfect bean, 10/10

SEVEN:

* When all’s said and done, when both he and his brother are safe and he can finally breathe, he’ll absoloutely refuse to live together with MC in the fort he’s lived in for so long. It’s such a dark and gloomy place, he doesn’t want MC, his bright wonderful MC to live in such a constricting place.

* He’s really a family-oriented person-he’ll want a proper home for him and MC and Saeran to live in, one where their lives can actually finally feel normal.

* LOVES looking for a home with MC, viewing different properties and getting a feel of what suits them and what not-when the real estates agent tells them of homes with rooms perfect to eventually become nurseries, he can’t hide his gleeful smile, how he squeezes MC’s hand at the thought of having a home, a family, children-all he never thought he could have.

* Adjusting to a normal, everyday life is hard at first-he’s so unaccustomed to the most basic of things (like a freaking normal sleep scedhule) but with help he’ll get used to them

* Eventually he can’t fall asleep without feeling MC besides him-if he wakes up and finds the bed empty he panics, thinking of all the worst scenarios. 

* Sometimes he’ll even get up at night to check that Saeran is alright, the fears of his past hard to completely leave behind.

* Learning to cook with MC and Saeran is a challenge he enjoys-it’s almost like a little cooking class, with MC hovering over the twins trying to make sure neither of them chops off a finger cutting onions or set the kitchen on fire by accident.

* If they have a backyard he’ll love tending to it-he doesn’t know much, but Saeran teaches him, and he has so much fun planting different flowers and watching them grow.

* Going to the supermarket with him is like taking a baby to the amusement park. He’s constantly finding candies and weird foods and stuff and tries to discreetly throw them into the shopping cart-it’s almost impossible to tell him no when he finds something he really wants and makes that cute ol’ puppy face as he clings to it ((that ‘it’ is most often Dr. Pepper and a heckton of junk foods))

* It takes a little getting used to, sure, but at the end of the day, living everyday with Seven is nothing short of an experience, and well, a way to make life fun.

V/JIHYUN:

* Honestly....he’s so caring and loves to have someone to care for and greet each morning every day with, but he’s been hurt so bad by such a person, that he’s really apprehensive at first.

* It took a long time for him to finally ask MC to move in with him-and even then he’s scared, scared of what they’ll see of him, scared of the power they hold over him-it’s like inviting a vampire into your home, a threat and pleasure all at once, and an offer impossible to take back once it’s been given.

* He’s so scared to love and give himself, worried there’s not much left of him to give-it’ll take a lot of patience and reassurance to allow him to open up again, to find who he really is and show his true feelings.

* When he does open up however-oh man. He loves so much and so strongly, and after starting to live with him, it’s impossible to think of how life was before him. It’s so natural, existing in the same space with him, it was as if there was nothing before him, no life to speak of.

* He loves to care for MC in the smallest of ways-from planting their favorte flowers on the windowsill, to softly humming songs to them when they can’t fall asleep, his hands wrapped around them, their head nestled in the crook of his neck as he rubs soothing circles on their hand.

* V’s a giver by his nature-to love means to give, and with MC he learns that to love is more than that-it’s to share. So he learns to share, to give and be given in return.

* He’s not a great cook, and more often than not something ends up burnt when he attempts to make meals, but he makes the most delicious hot chocolate in the whole world, and in the summer, he loves brewing all kinds of different lemonades, sitting out on the balcony with MC on particularly hot days.

* He’s not one that likes to stay home much-his soul is adventeruous, and he always feel a nagging feeling, the need to go out there and explore, see all there is to see-only now he wants MC beside him, wants to experience all there is with them.

* That doesn’t mean that he hates staying at home though-spending late lazy nights with MC, both in their pyjamas as they curl up on the couch-he’ll often smoke during those nights, be it his pipe or cigarettes, leaning closer to the window as they talk with MC about everything and anything. There’s something vulnerable about the night, and they’re the only person he wants to feel this vulnerability with, the only one he’s not afraid they’ll hurt him with it.

* Eventually he’d like to have a family, if MC also wants to-and even if not, he’d like to at least move into a house with them rather than an apartment, no matter how big or small it is-he’d just like a space with a yard they can plant a garden in, take care of it together. He’ll absoloutely grow fruit trees and herbs, bringing in the fresh produce daily to use for recipes with MC.

* He’s such a big softie and perfect husband material just-give this mint unconditional love p l e a s e

SAERAN/UNKNOWN:

* It also takes a l o t to get Saeran to agree to living together with MC. It’s not that he doesn’t want to-he does, more than anything, to be able to wake up everyday to his beloved’s smile, he’s just...scared. He’s not certain how he’d handle himself in certain situations, and living together with someone means they get to see every part of you, the good and the bad, and he’s afraid of how MC will react to the bad.

* They’ll have to remind him that they have seen the bad and the good, and they’re still here, and always will be. Only when he’s truly reassured of that will he agree, and even then he’ll be really shy and closed off at first.

* A place with a garden would be ideal, or somewhere with a view to a forest or away from the bustle of the city-he likes solace, and laying beneath a tree is the perfect remedy for his stress.

* Eventually he opens up, gets more comfortable around MC, starts to show his true self. The Saeran who’s happy, who is curious about the world, who constantly wants to explore and learn.

* He’ll love taking up a hobby like gardening with MC, will spend entire evenings with them on the couch and a book of botanology open on their laps as they sit with their shoulders touching, pointing to different plants and deciding on what they’d like to grow or not.

* He’ll visit Saeyoung frequently because well, he has to (aka he wants to but refuses to say it)), and will often inivte him back to their place, secretly laughing at his brothers’ jokes, enjoying how comfortably he and MC interact, seeing these two people-his family, in the same space he shares.

* It’s scary, to have a normal life after so long-but it’s what he craved the most, and now that he has it, he’ll never let go of it.

i had so much fun writing these aaa~

-send me mystic messeneger headcanons/prompts for characters to react to!-

[term2itmedia]

Progression of M.A.R.S - Weeks 15-20 + Extra Research

M.A.R.S was a very interesting term. There might be another post after this, but for now I’ll give you the full process of what I did so far this term (using screenshots from previous posts).

Note, this may contain extracts from my previous posts because I either forgot the process or couldn’t word it any differently.

Cinema 4D - Captain’s Chair

For our first project, we were taught how to make a Captain’s Chair similar to the one in Star Trek, which if you don’t know, looks like this:

Because of the immense effort I have to take in order to re-create every detail on this chair, I chose to go simple by using basic shapes and sizes.

For this, I started out with a flat cylindrical base. Then, I added a cone in the middle of it to give it that base-y feel. A few more shapes are used within the cone to give the chair a spinning mechanic, which involved me making cubes, cylinders and spheres (I have no screenshots of the underside so imagine it for now). Finally, to give it a seat, I just used cubes and resized them accordingly. Now THAT is a lot of cubes in one model. If I did it practically with clay or super-sculpie instead of digitally, I would have done the same, only with a tougher base.

Then I had to transform the shapes into polygons to have a bigger base, tilted walls and sloped surfaces. This was done by making the object editable, selecting the Polygons selection tool and dragging the faces accordingly. This was tough to figure out at first, but now I think I’ve got the hang of it.

Mudbox - Alien-like Creature

Then we took to Autodesk Mudbox to make an alien. This required us to download a full human figure and adjust it with tools to level out spots, lumps and deformed body parts.

We then had to take THAT to Cinema 4D and make a little animation with the character rig (which also had to be downloaded and applied).

In the animation I made, the figure puts it’s arms into an “L” shape, shakes it’s head, and then kicks the viewer. Afterward, it thinks about what it did and then puts it’s hand on it’s head in shock that it hurt someone.

Nobody was actually hurt in the process, don’t worry.

This was VERY hard to do as the export process was absolutely horrendous and I can’t even begin to tell you how to do it properly because of how problematic it can be.

What I did first was selecting UVs and maps. Then I had to select the options I needed for my character to look good. I enabled paint map saving as well as two other essentials, and added filenames to the bottom of all but the paint map save.

After a lot of trial and error, that was done.

Unity - Gaming Time!

After all that stuff was done, it was time to move into Unity, a games engine! Personally, this was my favourite part of the entire project as I like to game/make games.

First I had to make Terrain by using GameObject > Terrain, and then scale up certain parts of it using Brush tools to lift it up. The textures on it come from Google Images, which have then been imported into Unity to be used there. The cubes, however, are stone cubes (also stock images). They are added by simply clicking on GameObject > 3D Object > Cube. After that, we had to import a Unity package that comes WITH Unity when you install it, which creates a character. A move-able character that you can control.

Then I chose to add a lot of floating cubes and make a parkour-like game as it was very basic and the gravity in-game can be altered to make it look like they’re on another planet. Some of those cubes move up and down continuously by code, which is what you see in the image above.

For the code, we originally used Adobe Dreamweaver as that was what we had in our selection of coding programs. We then switched to Visual Studio 2018 as that is apparently easier to handle your code with (sometimes it gets on your nerve with the auto-completion mechanic).

If you want to know, the game is written in C#. If you know Java, you can use that too. I currently know most of C#, so I chose to use that. If you’re curious, I know a little bit of C++ and Java. Anyway, moving on.

There were a lot of changes I chose to make with the game to both make it work properly and be good. This included having a lot of problems with code, movement and placement, and since this was a game that I played a lot, it was very easy to get distracted.

RESEARCH TIME

Kerbal Space Program

Kerbal Space Program is a game made in the Unity engine that appears to be a game where you have to stock up resources and upgrade your vehicle to fly it into space. While in space, you can visit other planets (and even land on them to explore!). Personally, I have never played this game. It does look interesting though because it requires strategy and good thinking in order to complete it, so I might consider getting it.

Escape From Tarkov

Escape From Tarkov is another game made in the Unity engine that appears to be a game similar to Half-Life 2 (which is a game I have played), which requires you to run around with weapons and kill off people who try and capture you or leave you for dead. Just like Kerbal Space Program, you can modify your accessories/weapons to make them look better or insanely overpowered.

Hearthstone

Hearthstone is yet another game made in the Unity engine that appears to be a trading card game similar to Yu-Gi-Oh (which is another game that I have played). The objective of the game appears to be to wipe out your opponent’s main card to win (which has a set amount of hitpoints, which is the amount of hits it can take before it gets wiped out).

BACK TO UNITY

The final part of this project involved me having to make a timer, a menu and give the planet a sense of darkness. The first thing I added was a timer, and a fail counter.

During the development of levels 3 and 4, I came across a cheat, where you can just jump up the very end of the landscape and skip levels 1 and 2, going straight to level 3. However, that is now impossible to do without hacking the game.

I have written a check in the game’s code to check if the player is far enough to the side, near the edge of the terrain. If they are, and they haven’t completed level 2 yet, they will be stopped in their tracks, and “YOU! SHALL NOT!! CHEAT!!!” will pop up in the interface.

I put the text there for humorous purposes, as it calls out the cheater directly. I might change this text however, or just remove it entirely, seeing as it isn’t really needed. The text is also, you guessed it, a reference to “You shall not pass” from Lord of the Rings (I haven’t seen the movie but I know of the memes associated with it).

Another feature I have added in is Fog. Fog is directly implemented into Unity, so I just have to check a box within the “skybox” that says “Fog”, and this is the result. I’ve added it because it adds a dark feeling to the world and also makes invisible objects visible again (cubes that blend with terrain behind them, making them very difficult to see).

I have built the menu outside of the map, VERY far away, so that even if fog wasn’t enabled, nobody would be able to see it from the planet map.

The menu was made with triggers, or invisible objects that make the game do things when the player interacts with them. Say for example, if you want to walk into a cube and get teleported to another map, you can set it to do that via triggers and… ahem, code.

If you cannot understand this, don’t worry. First of all, the game checks to see if the player is colliding with a mesh (which is what the trigger is made of, mainly). It will then check the TAG of that object, whether it’d be Mode 1, Mode 2, Void or whatever.

If one of the tags matches it’s respective tag in the list of statements, then it will either teleport the player or make the game do things, such as increasing the fall counter by 1 or setting the level count to 3.

Now the game is fully built and is ready to play on Windows, Mac and Linux.

What was your initial plan with this? What did you focus on and WHY?

I chose to focus on game design as that is my main comfort zone within the three, plus it is the easiest for me to get the hang of. Plus, I have about 8 years experience in game design (although 7 of them were spent in the Scratch engine, then I moved to Game Maker and Unity).

I chose to do it because I couldn’t see myself making a standout sculpt or very wacky spaceship with interior design. Maybe I could’ve done one of the other two I had more time.

What is your story?

The story is that the first people who went to the moon for the first time in 1969 found a mysterious object on the way back to Earth. This was thought to be a planet, so they sent somebody else there (who is you, the player). They are now trapped on the planet with no way out but to get to the top of the cliffs and hope.

Inspiration?

Apart from the moon landing and my game design experience, none.

Review?

I... have just explained that in the rest of the post beforehand. I went over all three aspects.

Final Evaluation?

Personally, I think my game turned out very good. The only thing I would do to improve it is learn more of Unity to add more fonts and even a glitch-like effect with night vision, along with maybe a few more levels or even some enemies that try and stop you from progressing. However, I couldn’t do so due to the fact I had to test it over and over again for about four hours, which didn’t really allow me to stick to my original plan, which was to have a boss-like level in the game where the platforms get destroyed as soon as you step on them, making it a very difficult Level 5. In all seriousness, this was a very fun project for me as I enjoyed every single step of it. I have learned a lot about the digital industry and 3D game design. The only hard steps I had was near the end when I compiled the game and found out my interface had to be re-aligned, along with a menu issue, which instead of using a proper buttoned menu I used hotkeys instead (cheating). Again, if I had more time, I would’ve made a proper menu, made the boss level and even more elements. But now we’re here at the end, with a game that is good enough... and difficult as well, for everyone else. Because I have experience in C# coding, that part wasn’t hard at all. All I had to learn was the proper elements of Unity as there are a LOT of code tidbits that Unity adds to make things easier.

Final Research about Cinema 4D - 5 Examples of what was made in it

1 - This picture was made in Cinema4D using lighting, shapes and fog. From the looks of it, it looks like the car in front of the driver is going to pull out of the fuel station, or is just going to sit there forever. I like it because it looks so realistic, which is very tedious in 3D software.

2 - Another realistic picture, but this time with a building in the middle of a forest. This looks like it wasn’t even made in Cinema4D at all, and that is why I like it.

3 - A semi-realistic picture of a giant vehicle puffing out red smoke before (what looks like it will be) driving off, crushing about 400 people. This reminds me of Cars 2 for some reason. Deserted village, car-... oh wait, the car is a TOASTER? Well then... Anyway, I like this picture without reason. I just like it.

4 - A realistic picture of a sink with some utilities beside it. This was done with transparent shapes to give the water it’s reflective effect, hence the mirror (which is probably just a plain copy of the scenery from this side). Again, I like it because it is a realistic picture, plus the detail.

5 - Another realistic picture that doesn’t look like it was made with Cinema4D at all. It looks like an abandoned fuel station with what looks like a giant ball near it. Do I have to say I like it? Well yes, because of the detail it has to make it realistic.

These five images are directly pulled from the Cinema4D website, the gallery: https://www.maxon.net/en-gb/gallery/

Phew, that was a lot of research and reflection. Again, there may be another post after this, but if not, then I’ll see you in my FINAL MAJOR PROJECT!

[kintallo]

I agree with this. I have a degree in studio art, but it doesn’t really do much for me. I tried getting a degree in chemical engineering because it’s a STEM field, which means jobs, but I’m lousy at chemistry and math, and I found working in labs to be very dull. I’m now learning how to solder, and not only do I have a knack for it, but I also enjoy it. There’s also many job opportunities for a soldering technician in my area, and it pays more than flipping burgers or working retail. And there’s benefits. Soldering technicians are in short supply. Trade skill workers in general are in short supply.

I had to ask myself, “What am I good at? What am I bad at?” I know I’m good with my hands; put something in my hands and I can make things out of it. I can cook, bake, brew, sculpt, paint, draw, and so on. I’m terrible with people and have found my jobs at retail very stressful and miserable for me. I’m also only working part-time and have no benefits. I learned about trade skills and went to learn one, and I’m happy with my progress. It really is a shame that people put so much emphasis on college and degrees. I didn’t realize trade skills were a thing until very recently. I knew they existed, I just never really thought about them.

If you really want to follow your passions and go to college, I seriously recommend talking to a counselor. I told him the same thing, that I love working with my hands but I’m introverted, that I would like to do art, but I want a degree that will bring me work. He suggested graphics technology. I’ll be learning graphic design, web page design, videography, 2D and 3D animation, and a few other things. 

And I still have soldering to back me up if things don’t work well. Seriously, don’t completely write off the idea of pursuing a job as a blue collar worker. They may not be too glamorous, but the training is much shorter and cheaper, and you can make money faster than going to college, and there’s also avoiding that pesky college debt. You might find you really like it to boot, especially if you’re a handy kind of person.

Getting a job as a soldering technician should easily let me be able to pay for my own college so I can pursue my passion, which is art. It’ll be wonderful to not rely on financial aid and my family, and be able to take my classes at my own pace.

Don’t throw away your passions, just be smart in regards to them. If your passion happens to be in an area full of opportunity, you’re in a very good position! Not many people are that fortunate.

Anyway, I’ve been seeing a lot of posts about people struggling with finding work and hoping this may help at least one person.

[eurotraveltales-blog]

Day 12: Lucerne

Update from last night, since this happened after I made the post: there is what we assume is a hostel cat!! Makes up for the lack of WiFi and power. Saw the cat on our way back from the lounge to our rooms to go to bed last night. It was just dozing away on the rug next to the cow statue in the lobby of the hostel. He/she was soooo sweet and let us pet it even though we woke it up accidentally. Back to today - long post ahead, we did a LOT with our full day in Lucerne.

Woke up at 9:00 for the hostel's free breakfast, since their breakfast ends at 9:30 instead of 10:00, which is when all the other hostels' breakfasts have ended. They had a pretty generous spread of food, and I sampled almost all of it. They even had vegetable soup and rice, so I had a very healthy helping of those. I also had a bowl of their homemade muesli (a Swiss-German food), which is a really good combination of food that I had never thought of before. It's strawberry yogurt, oatmeal, and chunks of fruit (blueberries and strawberries, in this case). Deeeelicious. I also had a bowl of regular yogurt, two orange slices, an apple slice, a glass of orange juice, two slices of ham, and part of a slice of swiss cheese. It was a thick slice of cheese, not the thin ones we usually have in the US. Apriet finished the rest of my cheese, since I wasn't a huge fan. Apriet had toast with salami and cheese, toast with butter, orange juice, rice, and yogurt. I definitely ate enough to be able to skip lunch, which we pretty much did unless you count chocolate as lunch, but I'll get to that. After breakfast, we tried to get WiFi so we could look up which bus stop to get off at in order to go to the Glacier Garden. However, the WiFi seemed to be out, even in the lobby where it normally works, so we decided to just go and figure it out. We got off the bus and made a short walk to the Lion Monument, which is a sculpture of a dying lion who has an extremely distressed look on its face. It was sculpted in 1820 by Lukas Ahorn to commemorate the Swiss Guards massacred in the 1792 French Revolution. Mark Twain said it was the most moving piece of rock in history, or something like that. You'll see it in the pictures. We both wanted to go pet it and comfort it, but it sits on a cliff that is located on the far side of a pond, so nobody could get to it. In addition to its terribly sad expression, the lion also reminded me of all the other animals in the world that are dying or have died at the hands of humans, be it from poaching or hunting, and that just added on a whole other level of sadness. ...Anyway, we wanted to get access to the glacier garden, because once we had a ticket, we would be able to explore the natural monument, the glacier museum, geoworld lucerne, the Amrein house, the observation tower, and Alhambra mirror maze. Tickets were 15 francs per adult, and the first time we went to the window to try and purchase a ticket, the lady thought we wanted to go to the 3D panorama of Lucerne for some reason, so she told us to go to another window that was a minute away. We thought she was saying that's where all the stuff we wanted to do was, so we tried to find it. We never did find it, but in our attempt to get back to that window, we went up a ton of stairs that led to a path through a quiet and pristine Lucerne neighborhood. We went on a pretty long stroll, but we eventually looped back around to the glacier garden, and actually purchased the tickets this time.

First up is the natural monument, a preserved area where glaciers stood during the Ice Age. The monument was uncovered by chance in 1872 when Josef Wilhelm Amrein-Troller was doing building work on a wine cellar at the site. The glacial polish, glacial potholes, and boulders found at the site prove that Switzerland was covered by glaciers during the Ice Age. Some of the potholes were gigantic, almost cave-like, and they are caused by the erosion of sand and gravel at the bottom of a glacier when the glacier's melt water seeps into the glacier through fissures. Under high pressure, the water at the bottom of the glacier forms vortices that erode the rock. Pretty wicked, no? I had fun exploring all the exhibits in the museum, reading almost everything I could. I followed along with the guide we were given when we purchased tickets, because the exhibits are numbered and you can go through and read all about the subject matter both on the guide and on the exhibit itself. Museums are so much fun. Today I learned that woolly mammoths have six sets of teeth! And because they spend so much of their life eating and chewing their food, they wear their teeth down very quickly. When one set of teeth gets worn down too much, another set moves up to take its place. And when a mammoth runs out of teeth, it can no longer eat, so it starves to death. That's why mammoths typically don't live to be more than 60 years old. Isn't that fascinating? There was also a lot of sciencey stuff in the museum about ice, snow, water, glaciers, and crystals. Pretty rad stuff. The Amrein House was where the Amrein-Troller family lived, and it was full of Renaissance furniture and Swiss historical motifs. It was built in 1874, and it was very cool to get a sneak peak into how people lived in Switzerland during the 19th century. All the furniture was super fancy, and they even had a display of models of typical old Swiss houses. They also had a room full of the different types of rocks and minerals that can be found in the Swiss Alps. After the Amrein house came the observation tower. The path up to the observation tower was as enjoyable as the tower itself. They labeled all the different types of plants you could see on the way up to the tower, and I absolutely loved it. They also had a model of a glacial mill that illustrated an old theory of how potholes are formed. There was a diorama of an old mountain hut, and an arched stone tunnel. At the top of the observation tower was a glorious view over the city of Lucerne. My favorite thing about Lucerne is that you pretty much have a solid view of the Alps from wherever you are. You can even see them in the distance towering over everything when you're standing on the city streets! It's pretty wild. After the tower, we came to the mirror maze. It was suuuuper trippy. At first I kept almost running into the mirrors because it's very hard to tell when the mirrors are reflecting back space that it looks like you can occupy. Psych. After I got the hang of it, it wasn't too hard to find my way to the exit. At the end, there's a room with four mirror-related interactive exhibits. One was just two pieces of taut string, reflected by two mirrors at a 90 degree angle, creating a triangle. When you pulled one of the mirrors closer together, narrowing the angle, the shape made from the reflection of the strings would change to a square, then a hexagon, then an octagon, and so forth. Whew, that was a lot. Apriet was hungry after leaving the Glacier Garden, and when in Switzerland... where else did we go but a Swiss chocolatier? Their truffles were super fancy, and they also had numerous other types of chocolate for sale. I considered getting a set of 5 swiss chocolate bars (3 milk chocoolate, 1 with hazelnuts, and 1 with raisins) for 8.40 francs, but it was a lot of chocolate, and I figured it would melt in the heat anyway, so I just opted for some truffles that I could finish the same day. Apriet got a single hazelnut truffle, and then we shared another bag of 8 truffles for $13.39. I had three and Apriet had five. They were all delicious, of course. You can't go wrong with Swiss chocolate, let me tell ya. All of mine were dark chocolate with different types of ganache inside. My mouth is still watering. After the chocolate store, we went to a castle tower lookout area. It was a series of nine connected towers, but only three of the towers are open to the public. It was free to go in, so we climbed the very steep stairs up to the top of the first tower to soak in more views of the city. We then walked across a rampart that was halfway up the tower in order to get to the clock tower. It was super cool to see the pendulum swinging back and forth, and the machinery that moved the hands of the clock as we climbed the tower. At the top we saw the bell, but we didn't get to see it ring since we weren't there on the hour. We made our way to the third tower and descended the stairs to the bottom. We walked along a gravel road surrounded by wildflowers, with the rooftops of Lucerne to our right, and a castle wall to our left. It felt very European. After that, we just sat on a bench by the river and watched the pigeons for a good 15 minutes. I never tire of watching birds. Their feathers are so beautiful, and the way they move turn their heads all jerkily is pretty entertaining. I also think it's fascinating that they have a top and a bottom eyelid, so watching them blink is also entertaining. We decided to go to the lake after that short break, so we made our way to a covered bridge - different than the one we crossed yesterday. This one had a souvenir store, and we bought some souvenirs. Apriet says she spent too much, but we're only going to be in Switzerland once, right? We wanted to get at least one thing from each country we visited, but we’ve already messed up because neither of us got anything from France. Oh well, we had a puppy. When we got to the lake, we decided to see how much the paddle boats cost. We agreed that if it was 20 francs or less, we would get one, since that would really only be 10 francs per person. It turned out to be 25 because it was a weekend, but we did it anyway for a half hour. Folks, we were paddle boating on Lake Lucerne among the swans, with the city all around us and the Alps in the distance. Literally couldn't have been any more peaceful or serene. We made it back in time to not get charged extra. When we paid for the boat, we had to make a 20 franc deposit, and it scared us into not returning the boat late, because there was a chance they'd just keep the deposit if we returned late. After getting off the lake, we found a restaurant in the train station that had take out, since it had been a long day and we wanted to get back to the hostel. The restaurant was self-serve - you just grab a take-out box and fill it with anything you want, then you weigh it and pay. They had all kinds of food from all over the world - pasta, eggs, seaweed salad, kimchi, quinoa salad, lentil salad, curry, carrots, bread, peas, cheesecake, mousse, you name it. We each got a box for 10 francs each, then took the bus back to the hostel where we ate our food. Tomorrow we leave Lucerne for Munich, Germany!

Good times were had by all today. :)