February Progress Update (Patreon)

This month has been all visual: started by tinkering with animations and spent the rest rendering.  I managed to get a decent animation in with two pacing variants and four angles for both, so eight video files in total.  I've got another, more complex, animation being worked via commission, with another two prepped for when the first is done.  On the static side, I'm up to 555 images.  I expect I'm around twenty percent through the total number of renders for the chapter, so there will probably be closer to 2750/2800 than the initial 2250 estimate for renders in Chapter Two.  It's a lot, but I tend to have more than a few expression variants, and those really don't add anything significant in the way of time.  The most time-consuming bit is setting up the scene: posing, lighting, etc.  I'd like to get around a quarter of the way through the renders for the chapter before I post the first preview, so that'll probably be next week (first week of March).  I figure I'll do four previews for the chapter: at 25, 50, 75, and "100" percent of the renders.  I put 100 in quotes since there'll still be some renders added/changed during the testing and polish phase.

If you're just here for the numbers, feel free to ignore the rest of the post, it'll be more detailed on development.

On the visual side, I'm getting more experience working with lighting and the various mods/tools available in the studio, so Chapter Two should look better and more consistent than Chapter One.  I've tinkered a little with the shader settings for the girls' hair, faces, and bodies.  The hairs will be a little more detailed as a result, although that probably won't be noticeable in most cases.  The faces and bodies should be a little less "bumpy", so they'll look a little smoother/cleaner.  They're pretty small changes overall and will probably only be noticeable on close-ups.  Like I mentioned above, I'll likely be putting out the first preview next week, so I'll include some images that show all that off, maybe even have one with two models in it, one with the new settings and one with the old, to show the difference.  If you're on a wallpaper tier, then you've already seen the changes in effect in the February ones.

On the code side, I'd like to find a way to incorporate expression changes in the animations that reflect the dialogue.  I expect this would be easiest, and most hard-drive-space-consuming, to achieve with separate videos for the expressions that are closely synced up frame-wise with the "new" animation started at the same time that the "old" one left off.  I haven't seen any indication yet that Ren'Py provides functions to achieve that bit with the time, so I'll be looking into that some more today and maybe into tomorrow if I wind up having to go through the source code.  Hopefully, it won't be quite that complex.  I'll see what it looks like as-is before I get too deep into it.  It's something I'd also like to have for the "Scrying" mechanic as well, though.  The first taste of Scrying will be coming in Chapter Two as basically a view-change during "quality time", and I'd like for the view changes to be consistent in terms of where in the animation they happen.  If that whole deal winds up being more complicated than I'd like, I'll table it until the end of the work for the next release and tinker with it some more then if I feel comfortable taking the time.

Thanks for the support and stay safe!