Arma Bullshittery - Update #3 (Patreon)

Good afternoon everyone. I hope you're having a lovely week.

On the health front here, I'm afraid things have been a bit frustrating. My doctor told me that I had a throat infection, which triggered a "hyper overstimulation" of my existing asthma. But the medicine I was given to bring it under control didn't seem to do anything. Leading me to suspect a chest infection.

Whatever it turned out to be, the recovery has been slow.

Not enough to stop work. But enough to damage overall efficiency. I'm very much hoping it goes away soon, as my ears are still popping and my sinuses are clogged firm.

Interestingly though, it has enforced some better editing practises. Which I'll explain in a moment. But I'm a little further behind than I'd like.

In summary:

Week 1 - Creation of the "master" project file. With all Arma 3 footage stored in one place and with proper file names. Rather than the haphazard manner from before.

Week 2 - Cutting together a timeline for part 10. Also known as "phase 1" cutting. Assembling the clips in an order that seems amusing. The initial draft.

Week 3 - (this week) Phase 2 refinement cutting. And starting of the keyframing & animation work.

So I've been able to properly assemble Random Arma bullshittery part 10. Here's a shot of the timeline.

It currently consists of about 37 segments. With a runtime of about 18 minutes and 33 seconds. I'm feeling pretty confident with the flow of it.

That confidence comes from an unexpected benefit of falling ill. It's prevented me from quickly jumping into the keyframing work too early. Which required a level of concentration and focus that my body couldn't muster.

As a result, I've actually been able to complete the initial cutting and a secondary phase 2 of cutting which which usually gets squashed into the quality assurance work as refinement. And I think it looks really good.

Additionally, there's another specific pressure for this bullshittery that explains its unusual length.

The next set of Arma bullshitteries will no doubt be "Prairie Fire".  The Vietnam expansion pack that proved to be extremely popular. And there was quite a large amount of footage for that.

And whilst it's currently unsorted, I strongly suspect there are numerous Vietnam-specific Arma bullshitteries in the near future. If you would like them.

As a result, anything "normal" Arma that doesn't make this cut could potentially not reappear for a very long time. Which has motivated me to either 'use it or lose it'. It either makes this cut, or potentially doesn't get shown for ages.

Therefore I'm trying to be selective about what I pick for the cut. But there's quite a lot here that would be really nice to use. Good moments of banter between the group.

So what I need to do now is begin the keyframing work. Setting up template After Effects compositions and then working all 37 scenes through the usual process. A process that's likely going to take 4-5 weeks or so.

Will let you know how it goes :)

Urghhh my sinuses....