djthed
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Thinking Rarity Test Render + Model Release Update
🕑 Added 2019-11-04 11:50:30 +0000 UTCI have been really busy with these models lately. Something I don't bring up a whole lot is how much time it takes for me to transfer changes and improvements to all of my other models. Every change I make to the base model, it needs to get shared with all of the models. And that can get tricky, especially between different races of pony. Currently, only Rarity and Fluttershy are fully synced with the most recent changes. And one is a unicorn, the other a pegasus, which certainly isnt the only factor, but it is a factor as to why it can be a bit complicated to transfer changes between models, since their base models, as similar as they are, aren't the same.
I have to make sure when transferring rig and driver changes between races that none of their race specific rigging breaks and all works as before. And there's also character specific modifications made to the base model (not the mane or tail). Most of that is related to eye shape, and eyelash layout. The actual mesh topology for the face between all of the models are the same, it's just how the eyelids are shaped that tends to differ, while keeping the same topology. But just like the race specific features, I also have to make sure the character specific rigging (including mane and tail), carries over and doesn't break, which can easily happen if I don't check everything, and ESPECIALLY if there are a lot of things to update like there was in this case (completely new eye rig setup, tons of tweaks to face lattice rigging, brows, corrective shape key drivers for eyelashes to prevent clipping more consistently, more refined arm twist deformation and refined arm topology to remove tris, and also general polish made to facial shape keys in general.
Anywho, as some of you may have already known, I recently reached my $300/month goal on Patreon. The rewards that were set for that goal said that I would release my models early to the general public in a beta stage. I will be spending this month working on preparing my models for a public release, and I will hopefully get them out there before the start of December if my Patreon Goal is still being met at the start of December. It's pretty unlikely that all of my pony models will make it by that date. I'm doing some heavy reworks for Rainbow Dash's mane and tail (and I plan to do the same for Applejack's top mane section, and possibly Coloratura's top mane section too), and Pear Butter is a low priority at the moment. But I do want to get all of my other models out there, as they are mostly ready to go, with the exception of Pinkie, who still needs to be synced with the recent changes. So that would be:
-Pinkie Pie (Earth, standard eye shape with extra curved lashes)
-Fluttershy (Pegasus, with unique Fluttershy eye shape and lashes)
-Rarity (Unicorn, with unique Rarity eye shape and lashes)
Rainbow Dash (Pegasus, with standard eye shape and straight lashes) will be soon after that, and possibly Coloratura (Earth, with standard eye shape and unique lush eyelashes + unique non-black brow color) and Applejack (Earth, with standard eye shape and curved lashes) not long after. I'm not sure when I'll look into what Pear Butter (Earth, with standard eye shape and curved lashes) needs to be synced, so I can't promise anything for her. Making a Unicorn Twilight (Unicorn, with non-standard eye shape and extra curved lashes) base is next on my list after all this, so once I have time for that, you can expect that to release not long after.
I'm not sure if I'll be able to make a whole documentation about how to use these models before do a beta release for them, but that's also part of the plan whether or not it's before or after the release. The documentation will likely include a Google Doc going over some of the quirks with the rig (Snout Camera Tracker, bone and controller organization in Bone Layers, all of the types of toggle switches, controller explanations for shared and race/character specific rigs), and I might also do an introduction video on YouTube on getting started with the models.
The models will be released for use in Blender 2.8 and above. They were never made with the intention to be used outside of Blender, so if your goal is to port these models and rigs to a different 3D engine of any kind, you will run into many, many issues, and I won't be able to help you. On top of that, these models were optimized for use in Blender Cycles, not Blender Eevee. They can work for Blender Eevee, but I have yet to do much material tuning for that shader engine specifically, and official updates from me for that will have to wait for a later time.
If you want to stay up to date with the beta release status, follow me on twitter @_DJTHED as that's the place where I post more miscellaneous stuff, which will now include updates on my release progress:
twitter.com/_DJTHED
Comments
R.G.
I just want to thank you for actually spending time on working towards making public releases of your models.
