#maybe I'll update when I'm done colouring idk

[m4lexxx67]

Trying to draw Lettie Lutz from The Greatest Showman for a deck of multifandom tarot cards. Usually I hate drawing curls but she's worth it ^^

[teammelodies]

Quick update on the UTY Astrea Mod situation

Anyone who's seen that post will know i had an issue where Astrea (the OC i'm replacing clover with) looked like this:

Which is not what i wanted.

I did temporarily fix it by just copying the water sprite code over to the snowdin code and replacing the water sprites with the snowdin ones, but that wouldn't be a permanent solution.

So, I had a peak at the shader code, and I was correct about it being a shader issue.

Before I explain, I'd like to thank @freemonngo and @youtube-fucker for confirming my suspicions about shaders being the issue. Of course, I didn't see what either of them said about it until I woke up earlier today (I'm in Australia, time zones suck)

⬆️⬆️⬆️So this basically sums up what I figured out⬆️⬆️⬆️ As I said, I had a peak at the shader code, how it works is it basically takes the base sprite and it does a bunch of math to figure out the corresponding colour on the palette sprite (spr_final_palette) and changes it to that colour. A thing about the shaders is it uses GLSL which means I could possibly translate that into Godot (my game engine of choice, which also uses GLSL for shaders) for future projects if I wanted, which is super cool (but also GLSL is something i'm not the most familiar with so it might also be tricky) So then I thought to myself "huh, maybe there's a palette sprite in the files" and there was! (that would've been about when @freemonngo had offered assistance (thanks again btw!)) And being me, I decided to fiddle with the sprite. At first i tried a gradient across the whole thing to see if that'd work.

Not the best method, (I did end up finding the skin colour with that tho) Then i tried something similar to what @youtube-fucker said in the tags, (except i didnt use 9-10 colours, i used my usual palette in 2x6 areas across the entire thing... but it made it alot easier) so Astrea went from purple and yellow to this:

From there i screenshot and colour picked the colours until Astrea was looking good!

So now i can say that i've got the palettes done! yay! (Of course, adjustments shall be made whenever necessary once i playtest those areas, and i'll possibly need to fiddle with it some more when testing geno)

You could also consider this post a mini-guide for anyone else who has this issue too?? idk Now i just gotta look at the code and figure out how to get Astrea all chatty. Hopefully without breaking anything! If I can't figure it out i'll have to stick with her as a silent protagonist.

[chipped-chimera]

Okay since I'm actually awake now, (proper) HAIR UPDATE! ❤️🖤❤️

I wanted to add this onto my post from last night but tumblr hates reblog photosets. Anyways I was very aware that posting my V in the darkest corner of an apartment with black hair wasn't really ... showing anything - but it was very much her vibe and that's been the point of this entire project, buckling down and learning Blender from nothing, reverse-engineering mods and systems I was only NEW to about a month or so ago so I could figure out how to bring 'back' her hair, but like ... even more how I wished it was.

And it's finally done (well ... structurally).

More development rambles beloooow ~

I'm not releasing this (yet) as I'd now put myself in 'polish' phase, where I'll be tweaking some physics and other stuff like the vertex painting which influences the shine - brighter hair colours look a bit too blown out at the moment, and I'm not sure if this is because it's too shiny or because of my custom normals (may have to tone them down a bit, idk). You can see what I mean below -

Shadows are also behaving oddly at certain angles, and I wasn't sure if it was a harsh lighting situation but upon changing the lighting up ... no. Something weird is going on. So that'll need troubleshooting (for lighter colours at least). Also some textures just are acting weird on certain parts when I don't think they should look that way so yeah ... more ... troubleshooting ahead. :V

I'm also going to look into if there's something I can do for the 'efficiency' of this mesh because I noticed some pretty severe frame slowdowns taking close up shots - though only sometimes?? Not sure what that was about at all. I'm assuming it's my gpu being pushed harder as I get closer to the hair, but upon changing the hair in the character creator to another and then back it just went away again? So no idea what the hell was going on there. It felt a bit almost like a memory leak, but I didn't do a check to see what my system was doing so I'll have another look if it happens again.

Possible (hypothetical) causes:

Could be texture size, these hair cards have 2k textures apart from the alpha (4k) which is double vanilla textures so that is also a possibility as a fix (though I'd be loathe to do it).

Double rigs. I noticed last night when in my rigging phase with UUH4V that reducing it from three meshes and rigs to TWO meshes and two rigs significantly improved framerate lag (I mean it was minor but noticeable enough) in the character creation screen, so it could hypothetically be something to do with calculations of running two rigs at the same time. If that is the case, I could probably just rig this to the Alt hair rig. Currently I'm using Alt's for the back and left side of the hair, whereas the fringe at the front and the curl over the shoulder is rigged to Old Rogue. I'll probably still keep using UUH4V just … one rig only.

Last in the list? Hair cards. There are a lot. Maybe too many. They're also of a higher poly than last time. That said I've looked at other mods with heavier polycounts than mine (what gave me the courage to push further in the first place after my very low poly attempt 1.0) that caused more obvious frame slowdown in just the character creator alone. I feel there is still a minor slowdown currently but it's on the edge of noticeable (like, 30fps vs 60fps). As it goes though, this is still pretty insanely efficient (thank YOU Hair Tools for Blender).

BONUS: Mods. Other mods. The thing I use to hook in a DLL for pose control. Could always be that?

So uh, guess that's what I'll be working on. I don't know how much time I should be spending on getting this 'frame efficient' considering anyone using this would be primarily be for screenshots, and given the specs I'm currently running (AMD Ryzen 5 CPU and an RTX 2060) are being re-classed as the 'bare minimum' with Phantom Liberty coming out, and I am planning on upgrades to my PC anyway.

We'll see? (Though in my heart of hearts, I have have had potato PCs for years and I want to support the lowest specs I possibly can). I dunno let me know what you think about that one as a possible mod user (and someone who actually reads these, wow).

Anyways all that matters is jesus christ I finally did this. I taught myself hair. From scratch.

Promised tutorial ... soon. After I maybe do nothing for a few days lol.

[crayonurchin]

Urchin quest has had pre-drawn pages for years now, during lockdown I whacked out like 5 or 6 chapters and have just been maintaining an upload schedule. But I'm nearly done with chapter 8, and I have nothing done for chapters 9-10

Sometimes I forget I made this comic partially to practice my art, so with chapter 9, I'm saying goodbye to consistency for a bit in favour of just, trying new stuff out. I'm getting better with backgrounds, now I want to try some more experimental colouring and shading.

Not sure when I'll have updates, I'm doing other stuff in my life like finishing the new book and trying to find an agent and getting convention stuff done- PLUS I want to make another comic to sell at said conventions, maybe even candles?

IDK, I want to keep drawing urchin quest though, for all I've had creative block lately that comic is calling my name.

[samanthamulder]

hi!

i would be curious how you did the masking for these gifs, you know how an object reaches through the confines of the gif

i've done 3D gifs before but never like this and i was wondering if you have the time or would be willing to explain how it's done?

thank you :)

hey :)

and of course I am willing!! probably a no brainer but I use adobe photoshop to make all my gifs - and I have the latest version (bc my clown ass pays for a subscription so I always have access to new updates when they come out!)

I don't know how much explaining you need here (and apologies if I'm explaining something you already knew) but just to be safe I'll do the basics of how I make these and then specifically how I did the ones in the example you linked :)

first I load all my frames into photoshop (obviously lol)

then I let it do its magic by selecting the first frame and clicking 'remove background' >:)

again, I have the latest version of the program and older versions might not have this function, but this is how I do it!

it should then look something like this:

a layer mask has now been applied to the frame - this way you can go in with a brush and make adjustments if needed!

repeat this step for all the frames in your gif! and then proceed as you normally would - you could leave the background blank (although idk why you would haha) or...idk, just spitballing here, make scully be in the louvre maybe:

what I did in the gifset you linked is a bit different; I made another version of the gif, without cutting any of the background, and layered that below:

this probably goes without saying, but make sure to line them up right so you don't accidentally end up with something like this

(what I do is, I set the top gif's opacity to 50% and zoom in real close and then align them)

and then you can add a layer mask to the bottom gif and erase any part that you want! you can add another background or leave it blank, whatever you want :) here are some examples:

(for this last one just imagine the yellow bits are other gifs in a grid sort of layout like your linked example, I assume you know how to do this?)

and that's it! :)

I mentioned this already but it's important to note that this doesn't work on every scene. it helps if the background is out of focus and when there is clear contrast between the person and their surroundings. in this example, it honestly does not work super well; you can see that there are bits of scully's hair that are kind of floating around where they really shouldn't. but usually, by colouring smartly and maybe going in with a brush to erase some bits that look truly out of place, you can make it work.

I hope this was at all helpful omg :') definitely don't hesitate to ask if you have more questions about this! <3

[bookshelfdreams]

I have come bearing another update on the Black Pete Breeches project! Which is to say, I have assembled most of the materials. ngl i have reached a point where I just want to be done and I haven't even started the actual sewing yet. So, I'm just gonna show off all the stuff I have so far.

For lining, I got this gorgeous lightweight dark-blue linen.

It's almost a shame to waste it on lining, I love the colour so much and the fabric is so pretty.

All the buttons I got! Pirate buttons with little skulls on them! The others are from my favourite local yarn&fabric store and they are possibly the prettiest buttons I have ever seen.

I Do Not Care if they are period-appropriate and neither does the show care about such things.

Then I also made a little band to procrastinate on starting sewing use for knee bands and maybe for decoration of the fall front flap.

Yes, I am aware that tablet weaving is several centuries out of fashion by this point. It's my project and I'm gonna be as extra and historically inaccurate with it as I damn well please.

I wasnt too sure about the pattern at first, but it's grown on me. Fits the buttons well enough, I think. (Edit: I forgot to link it, but I put the pattern on twistedthreads here if anyone wants it, it's really simple)

And the main event! Stripey fabric!

Well, "fabric". I put these through the laundry maybe 3 times? in the hopes they'd even out a bit & I guess I'll just have to content myself with the state they are in now. It is what it is.

I tried to take a full-length picture so y'all can zoom in and examine all the mistakes I made XD

Actually doesn't look too bad from afar. Everyone who sees me wearing this will just have to keep a respectful distance of 2-3m.

idk when the next update will happen, if ever, but hopefully won't be too long. I want to be done with it some time this century.

(ids in alt text)

[pebblysand]

Hi Jo! Can you answer 9&33? :)

I was also qurious if Andromeda chose Black Tonks or Tonks Black and what would be Hermione’s reasoning :D

Congrats on the word count, I’m excited and can’t wait to read it! And I am also jealous of your progress, my thesis is…. in a rut 😅

helloooo! 👋

9. Thoughts on cliffhangers

hmm. very interesting question. i was trying to think of castles chapters that ended in a true cliffhanger there and honestly, i can't think of any. which is probably an answer in and of itself.

i think the closest i come to a cliffhanger in castles is probably the end of chapter 5 (when Giulia dies), but that's not even really a cliffhanger. a cliffhanger there would have been ending it with her getting hit by a curse and you not knowing whether she died or not, which isn't what i did. i announced she died at the end of chap 5 then told you guys how she died in chap 6, so even that's turning it on its head a bit.

i think cliffhangers are fine, as long as it's not every chapter/they are not overdone. i think when you rely on them too much, it pisses people off. plus, if you're going to have a cliffhanger at the end of a chapter in ff, you really need to be the kind of person who commits to an update schedule (so that people know when to come back) which i'm not. i think if you want a cliffhanger to land well, it really needs to be done with intelligence and not super frequently. i think @ala-baguette does them incredibly well, for example. a lot of writers (and, sadly, TV execs) seem to think it's guarantee that people will come back to see the next episode/season/series, etc. but i don't think it is.

i think what you need for the end of every chapter/arc is a) a resolution of some kind and b) something for the reader to wonder about so that they come back for more. making it work is about the dosing of those two. you can have the apparent resolution of one conflict, and then dramatically a character unexpectedly gets shot (i'm looking at you, the good wife), and that works - but only if you do it once. if you do it again and again, you lose your shock value. similarly, if you're writing a romance for example, you can have a very sweet scene where A and B decide to move in together, and that might be enough for your reader to come back to see how that turns out. and, it's not a Big Dramatic Cliffhanger in and of itself. but then if all of your chapters end with low stakes lovely conversation, maybe the reader will get bored after a while. so, i think as always, it's very much about having variety.

.

33. Give your writing a compliment.

i'm european (and i know you are too). we don't give ourselves compliments. we self-deprecatingly make jokes or find reasons to evidence the fact that we don't deserve them when we receive one 🤣.

no, jokes aside, idk. i think i'll say what people have said to me which is that i seem to be able to make them feel things.

.

regarding this: I was also curious if Andromeda chose Black Tonks or Tonks Black and what would be Hermione’s reasoning :D

honestly, idk. i don't think it matters. you can decide whichever way you like lol. i think that scene was more a reflection on the silly considerations that need to go into political campaigning, and how alienating being perceived by Other People can be, which is very much a theme in castles. at the same time, it's this strangely deeply personal thing of whether she should put her dead husband's name first, whom she loved, or that of the family she hated, and who were kind of the cause of her husband's death. and, the silliness of it is: it doesn't matter, not really. it wouldn't make a difference, in the grand scheme of things. it's like when political analysts go on about the colour of a person's tie, or the tint in the image of the background of a campaign poster. does it matter? it's a hard call to make because any sane person would say it doesn't, that it's what you say/who you are that matters, but then when you look at analytics and opinion polling and you realise that... it kind of does. that political marketing is a real thing.

and, for andromeda, she's being told it matters and so it starts mattering in her head, and then she can't decide. and, the interesting thing is, as well: they're making her into someone she's not because she doesn't go by both names. so, now, because it is foreign to her, it feels like there's a reasoning to be had, an intellectual argument to be made about either options, but there isn't. and, i think harry, being someone who a) isn't really intellectual and b) is on the outside, can recognise it doesn't matter, in a way that i think neither hermione nor andromeda can.

i think hermione would try to gather as much data as possible to choose one or the other. i think andromeda would spend endless hours wondering which one matters more: the first or the last? and which one she wants to matter more.

.

and, thank you that's soooo sweet! hang in there for your thesis! it's tough!! good luck!

[marebear-and-her-digidiary]

April 2024 Goals Update

Updating Mid-May but it's okay!! Still got my reflections in and I get to share some of my life here!

2024 Goals

Home:

Paint craft room closet doors-not until spring

New tank for the Lizard of Oz- ✅

Personal:

Grow out my hair, no dying or cutting it- Last haircut Feb 2024, my hair is so awkward but I'm sticking strong to grow it out! Lots of short layers and awkward bits but soon enough I'll be back to my waist length hair! Maybe by the end of 2025 if I keep strong! I can't wait until I can put it up!!

Study 30 minutes a day about spirituality- Yeah! Might remove this because I don't know how to update this!

Go to two workshops- not yet, honestly, I've been learning more skills on my own and also been socialising more!

Go to the observatory- Summer!

Fitness:

30 minutes to one hour of exercise per day, 5-6 times a week- no

Aim for 10k steps a day- no

Learn to rollerskate- YEAH!! I'm learning!!!!! Slowly but surely v walking my way around, I can't get my v glide down yet tho! We'll see how far I get by the end of the summer!!

Explore two new hiking trails-warmer seasons

Hobbies:

Sewing- on hold, sewing machine is out of commission, still not working with new parts, gotta tinker

Sew one spring/summer dress, bell sleeve 60s swing style dress-not yet, this might not happen and that's okay!!

Use up fabric stash with various projects or one big patchwork project-not yet, honestly fabric stash isn't too bad! I ended up organising it and downsizing to just one storage bin! I do have lots of pieces for patchwork projects.

One embroidery project-✅DONE, Mom's Embroidery #2

Reading

Read 12 books in total-Started The Hobbit! Having a good time so far!, haven't read much more but I have it in my purse when I go out and I've been able to pluck away at it!

Read 3 Classic Novels-not yet

Read one old forgotten favourite-not yet

Movies and TV

Re-watch The Lord of the Rings trilogy- 1/3

Watch the Hobbit movie series-0/3

Watch the new season of Rising of the Shield Hero-not yet

Watch the new season of Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear- not yet

Spice and Wolf- not yet

Re-watch The Big Bang Theory- not yet

Watch the new season of Young Sheldon- Caught up with airing!! Also adding in The Conners to this too! These have been my shows hehe

Re-watch Toradora!- ✅

Re-watch Bones-season one! Haven't watched more

Gundam series watch- Hubby has decided to watch it all with me 😭😭😭 I'll rewatch the shows I have already and we'll watch everything slowly but surely together! We're starting with the GBF/GBD timeline because it's pretty easy to digest and it's quite sweet! It's finally more complex in GBF:Try but still very easy watching! We're about halfway through the present day timeline and watching Gundam Build Fighters Battalogue.

Crafting:

Nature walk journaling (foraging, birdwatching, stargazing, etc)- have the journal, have not started lmao

Fire starter perlers- ✅ Torchic & Cyndaquil

Crochet plush hammock- ✅

Complete one model kit or 3d puzzle- FIVE DONE!!! ✅ Orange Haropla + Chinagguy + Beargguy III + MG Wing Zero EW Ver.Ka + HG Rx-78-2 Revive

Video Games:

Persona 3 Reloaded- Started!!! We got the physical copy of the game!

Persona 5 Tactica- dropped

Metaphor: Re Fantazio Fall 2024

Visions of Mana 2024

EC: Hundred Heroes April 23, 2024

Finish FF7R:Intergrade

SMT:3, started but then dropped for P3R

Highlights:

Celebrated nine years with my husband!!!

Wonderful week off with my hubby for our anniversary, so glad we got to spend time together. I painted him a portrait of one of his favourite video game characters from his childhood and he loved it.

I've since painted another 5 wooden squares for the craft room.

Since I'm updating this in May, idk when I started all of them so I'll list em!

Rena from Star Ocean 2

Clara from Princess Jellyfish

Rx-78-2 Helmet

Pink Haro

Pink digivice with a Bandai load screen

Toradora abstract painting with the series colours! Currently WIP but will be done very soon

Started a local Gunpla/Plamo group to make new friends with this hobby I've fallen in love with over the past few years! I need to build a backlog dang!!!

Still holding strong on no vaping, 27th marked one month without! Been having such strong cravings for cigarettes at times though but still okay!!

Continuing to downsize and reorganise furniture, ended up having echo with one set up I had so I moved things back LOL

Got Twitch scheduled for a dental cleaning and went for his check up! My boy is healthy and his teeth will be cleaned professionally soon!

Feeling more of a bond with Coach ;-; love my munchkin!

Not many more highlights I'd like to share! It was a lovely April.

[justanotherstardrop]

Of course! Y'all are welcome! And okay! I feel weird asking questions, but if I have any I'll try to ask them.. And that's okay! I don't mind questions!

Umm I can't choose just one color.. but I really like purple, blue and yellow. My favorite season would have to be spring or fall.. I really like when the flowers bloom and plants grow, but I also like seeing the multicolored leaves!

I'm glad too! If it makes you guys feel better, then I'm glad for it!

You guys are welcome! I'll do some luck magic? Idk haha but here's a clover anyway 🍀 I haven't done magic spells irl (parents haha) but I think it'd be cool to! And ooh that sounds amazing! It's so cool some of you guys do magic! Thanks for the vibes too! Sending more good vibes to you guys too!

Of course! And thank you guys for the support! Y'all are pretty amazing. It is pretty hard to think you're not faking.. but you guys are valid and I don't think y'all are faking.

I honestly get that. Omg. Sometimes I get intrusive thoughts where they tell me that it'd be cool to have some limbs amputated. But it's okay if you guys don't want to talk about it! Don't worry. If you're not comfortable with it it's okay.

That's true. Some emotions are just so complex and strange that they're basically impossible to name. So far it's been pretty useful though!

Yeah, that's okay! I don't mind! I do it too. I either don't know how to respond or figure it just needs no further explanation. I forget a lot too. I try to respond to everything, but sometimes you just can't and that's okay!

Yeah haha, you guys are right. They're very scary. I don't like talking about hospitals a lot either. If y'all don't want to talk about anything though, don't feel pressured to say anything about it. It's okay to not want to talk about things! We will totally understand if you feel uncomfortable or just not in the mood. I hope you guys don't have to go back too.. I'm wishing for the best!

Ohh thanks for the daisy? I think that's what that is.. but here's some more flowers! 🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷 (Sometimes we grow tulips in the backyard and they're really pretty)

Right now I'm feeling.. enthusiastic I think? It's not a bad emotion. Was feeling a bit hazy earlier, but I'm doing better now. And I'm sorry.. I hope you guys feel even a little better soon 🥺

It's nice having conversations with you guys too! -🌺

^^ okay well you can ask if youd like.

yeah we love so many colours

thank you we'd like you to do a spell for us ^-^ we need to get back into practicing often again

thank you for the support. you arent faking either with your ilnesses.

hm.. yeah its not like that but maybe others's experiences? its a long term feeling or need for such not just intrusive thoughts sometimes. but were not sure. it is concerning though. we can talk about it. the alters who deal with it are okay talking about it more

yeah complex emotions and stuff going on. just like the post i need DSM6 cause im going through shit that cant be explained in the words we have no lmao

yeah it was a wild ride hopefully we dont go back hhh that we just rather die tbh...

yes we think it was a diast. thank you fof thr tulips.

were glad youre doing better! were.. big yikes rn! well probably make a update tommrow.. or mutiple wdk

it was nice talking to you again anon. how are you doing now? - Blurry