Another comparison shot (Patreon)

Here's another little picture comparison to help explain what the hell I'm doing with my time. :)

To start with, I should say that this image actually isn't planned for anything specific in the game right now, it's a test image. I wanted to see how that outfit would work out and I thought Ai would be the best choice for it. There is a scene that I think it would go well in.

Anyway, on to the point of the post. You see, when I make pictures one of the biggest hassles is that it takes usually 1-2 hour(s) to render an image, which is when the software takes the elements that I've posed and compiles an actual picture out of them. When I eventually upgrade my system I hope that time will come down a bit, but it'll still take a while I'm sure.

Naturally, I can see an approximation of the image before I render it, but it's only really helpful for poses. The lighting can be so different that you just can't tell what results you're going to get until you start a render. I usually start and abort renders a bunch of times before settling on one. To explain, here's a screenshot of what this image looks like on my screen before rendering:

And this is taken from a good picture that I've already spent time posing. If I were taking it from a picture that wasn't ready yet then you might see a much more stark comparison. Plenty of times the picture looks great in the approximation, but then when I render it I'll find the whole thing is ruined by shadows/lighting or things just look weird. Therefore the process of making a picture takes a lot of trial and error, and of course a lot of time.