ritualcasting
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August Update - Monthly Round Up
🕑 Added 2020-08-01 08:00:04 +0000 UTCHey folks, hope you're all doing well. I've gotta admit that July has been a tough month running around putting out various fires and despite getting off to a fast start on Alara she ended up taking longer thanks to issues with printers and resin and a bunch of other non-related stuff that took up days of my time. With these issues taken care of I'm hoping I'll be able to stream more this month.
Important Update About Patreon and their Legal Problems
*I am not a lawyer or American so American Law isn't something I know about*
For those that are unaware, Patreon is in some legal trouble due to banning a creator for their political stances - I don't know the whole story or have a clue who the creator actually is and, to be honest, it doesn't matter. The creator's followers decided to sue Patreon, which has led to them having to pay up front arbitration fees which is going to cost them a lot of money. It could well lead to them going bust which will leave a lot of us creators up a certain creek without a paddle (at least us small time guys).
I don't like putting my eggs all in one basket and a couple of months ago after first hearing of their money troubles I started a Subscribe Star page. I know a lot of you prefer having your subscriptions all in one place, and I can definitely sympathise as keeping two platforms up to date isn't going to be fun. I will primarily still be using Patreon but I will be updating Subscribe Star each time I update here and keep Subscribe Star active for when/if Patreon collapses (I'd rather it not). I will also be looking into other methods such as distribution and subscriptions via my website or paypal or other means too. I'd love to hear your suggestions if you have any.
The Subscribe Star link is below
https://subscribestar.adult/ritual-casting
July Content - Now Expired
Maya was an incredibly fun sculpt, the different body type, the interaction of flesh with other elements and the big diorama pieces made her a very interesting piece to work on. Now that it's August she will be available on my store at www.ritualcasting.com with the usual 30% off discount afforded to Patrons of all levels. July content links are now invalid. August content links will be available August 3rd.
Poll Winner: Mortaya, Death's First Lady
Damn you folks liked Mortaya. Mortaya has won with an absolute landslide victory. She will be sculpted throughout August and released in September. Since you seemed to enjoy Mortaya so much, perhaps you'll enjoy the new entry too. No doubt I will be streaming progress so follow me at twitch.tv/ritualcasting or keep an eye on the Work In Progress posts on Patreon and the social medias.
Model of the Month: Alara, The Ritual
Finally, Alara has been sculpted. Having no model of my logo can now stop being a joke. She has been a troublesome sculpt overall largely thanks to the cloth sims being difficult and having to account for the interaction of a demon hand, but I got there in the end. The Ritual features Alara Vess, a sorceress on a quest to possess powers from the Abyss. Breaking the Veil, she extracts the power she needs, but can she complete the ritual before she is pulled into the realm of those who hunger for the flesh and souls of mortals?
Full list of features below:
- 1:10 scale model of Alara conducting The Ritual along with:
• 6 head options - With/without hair, open/closed eyes, and an altered hair shape to hide the frill attachment point if you don't want to use the frill.
• Magnet Wells - 4x2mm round magnet wells added to all parts of the model capable of supporting them - I had to use smaller ones in this one due to the smaller contact points.
• SFW and NSFW - As usual SFW and NSFW versions are included along with combined, multipart, and pre-supported files for every single piece.
A note about the combined versions: Over the last few months I have began adding more options to my models and as a result I can no longer create combined versions for every permutation of the model. The logistics, management and storage of several dozen combinations is impractical and unfeasible for me to continue supporting. As a result the combined versions from this point on will be the "canon" version (in SFW and NSFW) as depicted in the original concept art.
- 1:10 scale bust versions with the same options as above with additional simple and special stand options.
- Demon Skull Pendant Charm - Originally I sculpted this demon skull to be a pendant, just drill a small hole and add an eyelet and add it to a chain or leather necklace.
- Texture swatch featuring the most prominent textures across the models to allow you to practice before committing to the model.
I would normally include photos of my 3D print but since my printers have been having issues and my resin supplier currently being out of resin I haven't quite got the print finished yet. I've fixed a lot of the problems I've been having but deciding on a replacement resin to use has been time consuming. I have a lot of her printed but still printing some parts. Hopefully some photos will follow soon.
The Trove Update: Larry 300 Patron Goal
I never thought I'd ever hit 300 patrons, so thank you all so much for getting me here. As of today I am now entirely self employed and sculpting has now become my day job, allowing me to use my spare time to work on other cool projects that are different from what I produce here as well as take on some commission work to get my name out there some more.
Thank you all so much. Since we hit this goal Larry will be available in The Trove from August 3rd. He was a fun little project from a year or so ago trying out some stylised work. I think he works in spaceport logistics or something. He will be available as combined, multi-art and pre-supported STL files.
Usual Content - Content Distribution Options
Usual content will also be available on August 3rd (or earlier depending on the billing completion). Renders, poll sketches and Work In Progress Shots will be available on the file shares.
Thank you everyone, I hope you're doing well and staying safe. We're getting closer to the end of 2020!
Comments
here's hoping at least
TheBeardedGoblin
I wouldn't worry about the Patreon legal issues. If you want to spread your investment to other baskets, because you're right, all your eggs in one basket is begging to get punished at some point. The majority of people commenting on the arbitration are just re-hashing stuff they read online, and the majority of that is written by people who aren't legal experts. They don't owe millions, they're not going "out of business". They'll be fine.
MMF have the capacity to totally own the Patreon model making market if they wanted to. Right now if you're a seller they charge a flat $25 per month as well as 10% cut of each sale which is prohibitive for smaller creators like myself. For AG and TF they'd barely notice it I imagine but I have a feeling us small time creators will have to follow wherever the larger ones go as that's where the market will shift as a whole. Not to mention their file management is awful, being unable to upload zip files or organise sub folders I'd end up with around 60 STL files floating around loose with very similar names. It'd be a nightmare to manage and a nightmare for users to navigate. I have been looking at Podia - they do file hosting included as well as membership subscriptions and a proper archive of previous versions users qualify for and with only a single monthly charge of $70 which would mean I'd keep more of my money overall. There are a lot of other platforms popping up though, even Indiegogo has a subscription service now so hopefully some competition will create better platforms overall.
Cristovao
I have seen it mentioned in a couple of places that my mini factory also has a subscription service. I have never used it myself, but I wonder if it is an option? With many people already offering their models there, such as AG and TF, I guess they may end up consolidating their public interaction into one website
