azmaybe9

Patreon and Content Direction Changes

1. Content

After careful analysis of what the audience wants based on the past few months of heavy experimentation, it's time to go back to my roots.  
Abandon all the extra ambition in my Videos/Renders that's led to cool action scenes and cool ideas.
As nice as they are, it's for the wrong audience and not re-watchable.  

Go all the way back to Horny Epic Growth scenarios like Pool Remix, DDLC, Diane, and Neko Vid.  
Not action epic growth. Huge distinction.  
Put all that ambition into my slowly worked on series, Reus Vanguard, instead.
(Btw, if you notice rendering and lighting improvements, that's me working on Reus behind the scenes and bringing it to my work here)

The render sets also NEED an NSFW version. Miriam's NSFW body is a completely separate model and I've been busy trying to learn Brighid vfx with Fluid ninja. So I'm gonna have to remix the set with new poses for a very spicy NSFW version.

2. Render Set Polls

This was definitely asked for and I feel it makes sense. Because when i'm working on a video for a month, there's not much engagement for you on your end.
So the Patreon setup will go like this:

Month 1:
. Video poll
. Render set made
. Video started in background

Month 2:
. Render poll
. Video made at least to soundless

3. Polls

. High Tier now counts 4 votes each.

. I tried looking into tracking each tier from the downloaded results for a poll so that I don't have to upload 3 at once, but nope. Patreon doesn't give that info. So might get messy in the future with a poll each month.

Bi-MM Poll: Mid Tier (March/23)

A showdown is here!

Shantae has been on these polls since the beginning, but if she STILL doesn't win then i'll do a render set with her later and give her a break.
Priscilla here is ready to kill though!

Your vote here will count TWICE!

This poll lasts a week.  
1st place gets a short video.  
Last place will be removed from the selection.

Bi-MM Poll: Low Tier (March/23)

A showdown is here!

Shantae has been on these polls since the beginning, but if she STILL doesn't win then i'll do a render set with her later and give her a break.
Priscilla here is ready to kill though!

This poll lasts a week.
1st place gets a short video.
Last place will be removed from the selection.

Brighid UE5 WiP Super Jank Edition

You ever finally get everything imported into UE5 only for the floor to disappear?

Just POP, gone. Didn't want to exist anymore.

Oh boi is it always a battle to get vids done and this one seems like it'll be a big one!

Brighid Blender WiP

I wanted to get this out there because there's so much that has been done and still to do. I'm trying my best, but finishing up moving from an old house to the new one has been pulling me away a lot.

And I didn't want an end of the month "Oh, just one last thing at the last second."

I've been exporting the animation to UE5 and been fixing up lighting. I've still got work to do on character physics on those buggy moments, but it's all looking solid.

And then there' still destruction. *Sigh, man February is such a short month, damn.

Selvaria VR 360

Please tell me of any issues or ideas you have for this. I'm thankful to get VR rendering again!

I went with 360 VR this time because I definitely could try it with High Resolution tiled rendering.

Mega: https://mega.nz/file/KCAWXJjC
Key: u2B3SwXwHDzGsM66fzKnzVLL2j8IOz5V0acdEkZgDfE

(Unreal Fixed it!) Selvaria VR Delay

UPDATE: THEY FIXED THE CRASH! I KNEW that update was around the corner!

So I finished it, right?
Got all the camerawork in order, still gonna make someone sick, but what can you do.

I set the High Resolution render into tiles thing in the movie render queue so I can export VR in the same high quality and settings as Jack-O.

Crash. Crash. Crash.

It turns out that UE5.1 has broken the exact thing I GREATLY need to render 4K VR. So this is now stuck until Epic release an update.

And since I now just complained about it, I definitely think an update is around the corner. It's happened consistently where they release a big update the next day after I complain about something.

Miriam's Crushlevania! (SFW Complete)

MEGA Download: https://mega.nz/file/jXBSUCSS
MEGA Key: F1eAUIFSPwaeawn-AmWnExXJGV11jF94woPgbOVo-Ak

SFW Complete Update: Clocktower lighting scenes fixed up! End sequence added!
Now if only I didn't move the castle pieces outside of the sequencer for when I go back and make the nsfw version. Man, i'm still an idiot sometimes. But for now enjoy Miriam's Crushlevania!
Edit: I did not plan this out to be 46 pictures.

Midnight Update: I guess making the previous post gave me a bit more energy to finish up half of the clock tower scenes! (Naturally only now realized there's no purple lighting from the clock on Miriam until the last shot. I should sleep)

Update: Honestly not a great day for me for irl reasons screwing my focus but I still wanted to get a few important things done.
I've added a few pics with the stairwell scene after lighting it and compressed all the images by 25% in Affinity Photo so instead of being like 18mb per image, they're now around 1.6mb.
Because of the film grain, it's like zero quality drop. I've looked incredibly close for too much compression on this or that and honestly can't find anything different! Hopefully Patreon acts better with these!

Currently want to get what's currently done flowing into Patreon as I work on finishing the 2nd half!

NSFW Version still coming once SFW version is done.

(Sound) Selvaria and The Desert Ambush

I am SO thankful for Beladdy working on sound for this while I was sick and for Monstrassa coming in later for voice acting.
REALLY thankful!
SUPREMELY thankful!
The Absolute Humbliest of thankfulness!

I still gotta do the VR version. I'm thinking of having it be from the perspective of a brand new tank, but idk. Maybe just teleporting around? It's a logistics thing.

MEGA: https://mega.nz/file/nLRAFbia
Key: groP1fO_FOs03lyTV-6H8_mCPrTE6Kz0hDPMmLEfi7g

Miriam Render Set tease!

Despite the Bi-Monthly Mega Poll results, I wanted to NAIL Miriam from Bloodstained with a render sequence that's gonna be out of the castle!

Also expect the stream logo to change to this as I work on her photos.

As for Brighid's video, her environment is currently being built! (Apparently Gormott is complex and built on a giant tree)

Brighid Lighting/Polish 2

4/12/23: Brighid Lighting/Polish 2

Finish the fight? 

. Environment lighting

. Extended ending clouds and lighting

. Fix vfx not showing up in render

4/11/23: Brighid Lighting/Polish

Alright, animation and fixes done in the background. Today shall be lighting and making every scene look as good as it can!

4/4/23: More Extended Brighid Ending

You know. I didn't want to be on this project for this long but this ending is worth it.
It's already 1 extra minute of content too!
I did hit a wall with vfx though. With FluidNinja LIVE, because of the way it works and tiling in rendering, I can't use it for high quality VR or non-pc crashing renders that go above what my pc can do.
But the OG Fluidninja creates material animations. I might take that method because its already worked in VR multiple times as smoke in the background.

3/31/23: Animating extended Brighid ending

I've been working on this in the background as a top off to the main animation. It's because of the switch to more sexy stuff rather than the fighting that makes it a perfect time to demonstrate what the new direction will go for.

3/24/23: Final Fixes 2: Destruction of Finality

Hand clippings, destruction, lighting, etc.

3/23/23: Some final fixes and destruction before extended ending

Pyra's wings clipping about and that tower collapsing a bit. I worry the tower being parented to Brighid's hand is gonna cause issues, but we shall see.

3/22/23: First Stream Back since Car Crash

I'm gonna be chugging along slow, but it's still progress.
I think with the new focus the patreon will go, there will be a further ending to make the larger scale of Brighid more satisfying.

2/22/23: Near end of animation

Maybe I can finish it tonight? Or get real close!

2/21/23: LONG Stream today

How else to get so much done in 7 or so days?

2/17/23: Brighid Anim. without the music player fix detour

Yes, I spent AWHILE fixing it. I'm a person of following procedures each day and when something i'm used to drastically changes, it messes up my focus greatly.

2/16/23: Brighid Animationing

Been working more on the complex stuff all day while I continue pushing forward at night. My ass kinda hates me.

Oh fuck, Microsoft just completely changed the Groove music player

2/15/23: Brighid Actual Animating
I was sick all weekend, it sucked! I did get more blocking done on the 2nd half of this so i'm confident on animating form the beginning now!
Btw, how do I not be scared playing Resident Evil 2 Remake? There's something about its atmosphere that really hits like Dead Space 2 did. Which means it's gotta be worth pushing through.

2/10/23: Brighid2Block

Continuing to block out the Brighid animation. Surprisingly lots done so far.

2/8/23: Brighid Animating

After some painful rigging offstream, i'm ready to go for animating!

2/6/23: Brighid Environment Polishing

Polishing up Brighid's environment. It's easily the hardest area to have a gts vid ever!

1/27/23: Miriam part 2

Great progress from last time. Halfway done already.

1/26/23: Internet is back!

Worked in the background all this time on the environments so here we go! Working on posing now and importing enemies!

1/18/23: Dude, getting sick at the beginning of this month wasn't the plan! But now it's time to get back on that train! Who is the next big render sequence? We shall find out now!

But I WAS also working on our Reus Vanguard character reveal while sick: https://twitter.com/Stratoluxurious/status/1615058605140758528

Update on Selvaria, I just recently got in Voice Acting from Monstrassa and sound effects from Beladdy.
So now I must get to that and a VR version.

2023 January Bi-MMP Finale!

Good news! I'm mostly recovered from being sick!

And the winner is another badass woman in firey boot-heels! Brighid!

With how much fire effects are involved, I should continue studying Fluidninja vfx asap!

Tier 2 January B-MM Poll 2023!

EDIT: This is what I get for doing this while i'm sick. Slot 2 is Brighid from Xenoblade Chronicles 2! (Can't fix the poll name once it starts)


The first Bi-Monthly Mega Poll of the year is here!

I decided to carry over Miriam from last year 1 last time because she's just too cool with the whole castle element.

Your vote here will count TWICE!

This poll lasts a week.  
1st place gets a short video.  
All unchosen characters move on to next month.  
Last place will be removed from the selection.

Tier 1 January B-MM Poll 2023!

The first Bi-Monthly Mega Poll of the year is here!

I decided to carry over Miriam from last year 1 last time because she's just too cool with the whole castle element.

This poll lasts a week.
1st place gets a short video.
All unchosen characters move on to next month.
Last place will be removed from the selection.

Patreon Mega Monthly Poll Changes

After comparing the difference between Jack-O's slightly too short video to be satisfying vs. Selvaria's slightly over-ambitious yet satisfying video made with more time, I would like to obtain a balance between them. (Leaning towards Selvaria, of course)

On top of that, I love the big render sequence with Ann that's super satisfying with more than 1-3 pictures. (like... 21)

So moving forward we're gonna have a Bi-Monthly Mega Poll.
BIG render sequence on poll month, BIG video the next month.

It gives me more time to work on both aspects and other stuff in the background.
Because some stuff, no matter how fast I try to be, is just time consuming. (Like learning how to rig tank treads and fixing hundreds of city materials for export)

Another update is that there may be reoccurring characters in the polls!
Which means we may finally find "Where Part 2!?" Is!

Finished Selvaria Vid UE5 Soundless!

Update: I finished it! Vid has been sent off to Beladdy for Sound and VA should be available in January.

Speed is quicker than the previous version because the old one I slowed down to 70% in post. And then looking at it again after the new re-renders, man I guess it was a bit too slow to me now. It's like listening to a song that you thought was quicker and then it wasn't.

Also, VFX are VILE to work with! They show you 1 thing all the time in the viewport and then don't render that way the next time. I need to learn to clean up whatever makes them so procedural so I can get the exact same thing I want every time. I've broken entire cloud blueprints for this reason so i'm sure I can do it again! (Also need to make vfx look cinematic with simulations. The game fx smoke doesn't quite do it. *Sigh, this is where Fluid Ninja would come in, but i've made steps learning it)

Quite a few things to still work on still, but this is pretty damn close to it! 

Worked a BUNCH off-hours to try to get this out in a meaningful time before Christmas.
So Happy Holidays!

Selvaria Blender vid

I wanted to give a good updated Blender version for you guys because I think I remember there only being the blocked out version.

We've come a long way!

Finished (More Naked pics): Ann's Photoshoot Malfunction

Finished (More Naked Pics): Ok, I know i'm supposed to be done with this by now but I needed to try this out! So the method I used to hide the clothes as a model each actually allows some more naked pics to happen! There might be a small issue here or there and not all the shots worked out, (My favorite top down one had a broken butt) but I got em'!

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OK Finished!: Ann's breasts color corrected to be the same color as her skin since the fading transparency material setup was not working at all.

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NOT Finished:
Of course I spot Ann's nipple being ridiculously bright compared to the rest AFTER I POST.

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Finished Update: This project continued to fight like hell to the end.

Raytracing treats the material switches (clothes) as if it's still there. Affecting the shadows causing glitchy looks. I had to re-export each outfit change and swap whole models to avoid this. Surprisingly the swapping part was much easier in sequencer to hide/unhide a set of clothing instead of each material piece.

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Dude, this project fought like hell to not get made.

A city import with 362 materials that needed to be adjusted in one night!? Raytracing causing invisible things to STILL cast shadows!? Static lighting build not working anymore!?

There's stuff to fix still, but I need to get this WiP out for you guys.

6 hours yet all the Unreal Engine work was like... the last hour of work. Man.

The Queen All Parts WiP

OMG I thought I posted this last month or so!

But here's the current state of Makoto vid all the way through.

Gonna have to delay the short vid.

Dear supporters,

Despite an awesome first month of my new production schedule, this year and especially this month have been giving me trouble.

Not because I can't handle it, but because my father, my cat, AND our other cat, AND a long time family friend have all passed away in what feels like every other month of this year and its been piling on insane mental stress since my mom and I put a lot of emotional investment into them... Due to this, I found it hard to focus on work, and once I did find the time and quickly evaporating energy to do that, I was moving from my old house to my Dad's place that we got from him due to his untimely death. (Which has its own mess with lawyers and estate stuff)

Once I was there, it took time to set things up, I had no internet due to massive confusion with Spectrum, all "smart-house" functions like heating locked to my dad's phone that we couldn't get into, lots of other tech things my family needed me to solve, and it was very hard for me to work on the Selvaria video as a result, so next month, sadly, no Monthly Mega Poll, as I need extra time to finish the Selvaria video. I AM set up now, but It's just gonna take that missing time. (God, I didn't even mention now needing a compression glove on my mouse hand and a new ergonomic mouse due to heavily straining my hand. Feeling quite a bit better though)

To finish this month off with new content though, I want to make a damn good render sequence with Ann Takamaki.

I hope you all understand, see you next month! Look forward to the Selvaria video, it's going to be great, despite the delay!

Selvaria Rough Blocking WiP

Damn, I love blocking that allows me and you guys to see the project as a whole much sooner than usual!

I admit that Thanksgiving (And even worse irl problems occurring earlier in the month) is gonna screw up the timing on this releasing at least soundless by the end of this month, but hopefully I can get some good renders done while I get this WiP to you guys.

Selvaria Blender p2

12/20/22: Blender finish part 2
Going pretty damn well if I can get this done tonight!

12/19/22: Finishing Selvaria Blender stuff
Once the extra Blender stuff is done, then it's mostly effects and camera stuff in UE5!

12/13/22: 2Export 2Unreal
Well tank treads are an absolute bitch in Blender. So i'm picking up where I dropped off yesterday on exporting tanks to Unreal. The idea now is to take the track I animated and apply them in UE5 to each tank then animate using Unreal's sequencer.

12/12/22: Selvaria Exporting to Unreal
Today I'm exporting the animation to Unreal but also learning how to solve rotating the tank tracks. I think I figured out following an object along a path with array modifiers in Blender and just need to re-set up the tank treads for that after testing if it will even work right when exporting to UE5.

12/9/22: More Sel animating
Goal today is to finish off animating the main movement.

12/6/22: Back to Selvaria Animating
Yo, I sprained my right hand but this new ergonomic mouse makes it 100% still usable for work, let's goooo!
But also this time, I want to finish the short video earlier in the month then focus on maybe Makoto or something afterwards.

11/30/22: Finishing Ann Render Sequence
I know I didn't stream yesterday, but I got so much done that now it's mostly getting the poses rendered into UE5! But we can totally blame Need for Speed Unbound coming out for yesterday.

11/28/22: Ann Render Sequence Start
Sometimes you gotta stop thinking about how long something might take and planning it all out and just go forward one step at a time. Because going somewhere slowly is faster than going nowhere, but thinking about the whole trip.

11/22/22: Finally my internet returns and I can get going further on the Selvaria project. Lots mapped out in my head!

Jack-O VR

Download Below! I still use DEO VR for testing and the settings are flat 180 longitudinal. (Monoscopic 180 degrees)

The Jack-O VR version that took a LONG time to wrestle down ry part of the process could actually work.

Also screw Adobe Premiere forgetting how image sequences import. And youtube for forcing youtube shorts on ANY video below 1 minute. Breaking VR functions.

The amount of re-renders for so many different reasons- ughhhh. But hey, Unreal Engine's Movie Render Queue is fucking amazing so that's a great find for VR renders in the future!

I went with 180 degree monocular VR this time because I was really struggling to stop my pc from crashing while rendering. The new style i've been developing is not VR friendly nor performance friendly, but again the recent find above may allow me to get around the driver crash issues.

MEGA: https://mega.nz/file/WXgyEJAD

KEY: aBkgGPzbjbxJPOjHvPQ41hqD4vmgADfYrVajaoWsqpg

Jack-O's Playful Day

Getting back in the groove, but will get to the VR expanded range version tomorrow.

Signs floating and clipping removed.

Eyes being... off... fixed.

Patron names added.

Object lighting fixed here and there.

November 22 Monthly Mega poll Finale!

Selvaria has won November's Mega Monthly Poll!  

I love all these characters too much to change them out for next time. So maybe only Selvaria's spot will change in December.

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As to why this poll finish was late coming out, I lost yet another family pet I don't even know how many days ago. The days really blurred together as the many losses of this year and last really took their toll. But after our newer cat picked up the important habits we loved our senior for (Came out of her shell hiding away and watched TV with my mom and me tonight. Grand Tour is really healing) our hope has been restored. We were shambling zombies before this. all days, honestly.

Tier 2 November MM Poll 2022!

The second Monthly Mega Poll is here!

Your vote here will count TWICE!

This poll lasts a week.  
1st place gets a short video.  
All unchosen characters move on to next month.  
Last place will be removed from the selection.

Tier 1 November MM Poll 2022!

The second Monthly Mega Poll is here!

This poll lasts a week.
1st place gets a short video.
All unchosen characters move on to next month.
Last place will be removed from the selection.

Jack-O Blender Peeker

Sorry this took awhile longer. I was solving some mysterious performance tanking thing in Blender that sent the preview to 7fps. Turns out it was some objects that were in front of the lollipop landing spot? I have no idea, but I found it.

Jack-O Soundless WiP

GAH! I didn't expect the floating banners! I'll get them on full release!

It's been a terrible year and an ever worse month, but i'm proud that I got this project at least this far for October!

(NSFW) Sae Nijima Renders

This time I decided to do 3 damn renders because Sae doesn't have enough gts content when I was looking for ideas!

Stream was 6 1/2 hours with a lot of unexpected touch-ups and curve balls from left field, but we in there!

Sae came in contact with something before going to her court case. Maybe it was that curious doctor she passed on the way.
Who knows how this growth virus may spread, but it's damn quick!