Updates! Computers, Tiers, and Content! (Patreon)

Computer Stuff!

Woo! It's nice to be up and running again and full tilt. I've finished building (or rebuilding) my main render engine with the new parts. Since I know there are a few gear-heads like me, here are the base specs:

CPU - AMD R9 7950x
MOBO: Asrock x670e  Taichi Carrara
GPU - Zotac Gaming Nvidia RTX 3090
PSU - EVGA Supernova 1300
RAM - 64 GB G.Skill Trident Z 6000MHz - 2x32GB
Storage - Currently 2Tb M.2 NVME Samsung 970 (This changes a lot though)
Windows 11

I also have a second computer that is used for building scenes to render, and for rendering less intense scenes. I'll be updating it as well sometime next year. ANYWAY...

Tiers

I've done a much needed update to the tiers! These will go into place next month, so please make sure your review your tiers before New Years Eve and adjust appropriately! My page is going to be a little more straight forward I think, I've cleaned up some of the language and inaccuracies, to push toward a more animation-focused approach as has been common lately, but with some room for the occasional content and other content. I'll also be posting a monthly update at the end of each month that is publicly accessible on what I *hope* to publish each month. It is not a guarantee, just keeping everyone informed on what I hope to publish accomplish each month, so people can make informed decisions on whether or not they want to support for the upcoming month.

Important!

I do, however, want to make it very clear that by supporting this page, you are supporting my work as an artist and a creator, not purchasing goods or services. I will always do my best to let you know if I'm not going to meet my publishing goals, but I cannot give you a refund for forgetting to cancel, or if you don't feel you've gotten everything you expected. Please only support with the expectation that you're only getting what is already published. I really would rather not take your money if you're not sure, this is why I have a Gumroad page as well. If you do have any questions, thoughts, please message me on Patreon! I try to answer all messages from supporters, even if it takes me some time...unless you just ask me 'when is 'insert project name' coming out. The answer is almost always 'I'm not sure".  I don't usually know when something is ready until a few days before I decide to start editing, and then it just depends on how much time I can dedicate to editing. The monthly content update is best attempt to be more transparent with you all.

Content

I'm rendering what I'm calling 'Sizey Vignettes" for this month, a series of loosely connected clips of the characters from 'Fed Up", mainly the boyfriend-girlfriend couple, being cutesy - that is to say, the shrunken dude scrambling around his girlfriend's feet, face, and food as she knowingly or unknowingly goes about her business. It's only expected to be about two minutes long but I've also tried to really push the boundaries on my renders. Without going into details, instead of letting each frame of the animated scene render for 30 seconds to a maximum of five minutes, then denoising to get rid of the grainy looking image, I've just been letting each frame render the entire time, until it's actually done rendering, no denoising. I mentioned this last time, but after a week or so of this process, I personally can see a noticeable difference, especially in specular highlights. Subtle things like reflections and highlights from water and textured skin looks much more detailed. I can't wait to show you the differences! I'm hoping to give another preview before Christmas, and drop this right before New Years Eve!

As for next month, people have been asking about an update to Serial Experiments...so that's the plan! We left the protagonists in a precarious situation. They'd just been threatened with a  seemingly endless trip through Makenzie's belly after having been teleported out of Traci and company's stomachs. Natalie arrived just in time, unaware of the tiny people in the food, and the two girls were debating on who would be dining on the chicken wrap that our protagonists were trapped in. During the debate, one of our heroes, Ethan, escapes, and finds himself in a conundrum. Should he run to safety, or try to get his friends free, knowing they would likely be eaten by one of the giant women above moments later?

I did a poll to see what should happen, and you all overwhelmingly voted for Ethan to return to save his friends, only to be eaten by a clueless Natalie. I have some plans for how to bring this story to a satisfying, climactic end. On the animation side of things, I'll be spending some time learning more animation in iClone, since I think jumping in and creating content in that software was a little too fast, so I'm taking it a little more at pace.

So...I think that's it! If you read all of this...give yourself a cookie! Byeeee

-UE