Episode 9 Progress - 7/13/19 (Patreon)

Hello friends.  Here is my progress this week:

Dirt and dust was a lot, lot harder than I expected it to be.  And there was SO SO much of it.  I really overlooked how involved I would have to get with it.   I also went through the whole thing and corrected all the little mistakes I made with water, fire, and added a bunch of little effects that I'd previously glossed over.  I ran into so many problems this week, and so many long rendering times.  At one point, a character completely disappeared and I had to so somehow recover him back into the scene.  This week was a huge pain.  But through it all, I finished all the dynamics.  All animation and effects for the episode is complete.

In my previous post, I stated that I had learned everything I needed to know in order to complete the episode.  Turns out I was wrong.  I don't think I'll ever completely know everything I need, especially when things don't turn out how they're supposed to.  I am always, always learning at every step of the way, and I am very thankful for that.

So now, we're on to the home stretch: Lighting and rendering.  Lighting itself is going to be tricky because of how big these files are getting, and I'm honestly not sure how I'm going to render this all out.  There is so much here in terms of dynamics like fire and dust as well as volumetric shaders.  Quite frankly, the thought of rendering everything scares me, as rendering even a single frame takes an absurd amount of time, especially shots with the dust.  I'm contemplating switching over to Blender 2.8 for rendering, but converting everything into a 2.8 project might come with a lot of hiccups as well.  But, as I always do, I must think on my feet and see how things shake out.

This project has really consumed my life for the past few weeks especially.  One thing is for sure:  I have certainly upped the ante from the last episode.  I think people are really going to appreciate all the little details that went into it.  I know you will.  Thanks for all your support!

-Shipp