August 2024
This month’s blog entry is a bit on the small side, as I have been tackling 3D printable stuff mostly (we don’t cover that stuff here, as updates happen on Patreon for 3D printables!)
Let’s deal with the other 3D model stuff first…
Facial Rig Tests
I have done some facial tests before with the Jinimaru mesh updates, using the model as a V-Tuber avatar, but I had yet to perform any manual animation tests on the model’s face. My previous animation tests were all Mixamo ones, and they have no face data to use, so in my tests I just made the eyes move or blink to stop the model looking souless.
I recorded a video of myself reading some dialogue from Wrath of the Lancer and then attempted to animate the character to match. You can see the spring bones that control the hair “bounce” at the start of the animation; this is because I didn’t pre-render the simulation for gravity before doing the animation. It is just a test, after all.
Overall, it felt like a successful test. I could probably have saved more time had I created shape keys for each “lip state” (A-E-I-O-U). I plan on doing more tests like this over the next few months.
Bringing Bah’kaa to Life
In Heart of the Feles, the character Bah’kaa is vaguely described. At the time I wrote the book, I didn’t have a clear vision of how the character was meant to look; it was obvious in my dreams that they bore a likeness to the Corrupted Ones, however, they were not exactly the same.
Bah’kaa received some quills down their back to make them slightly different, and fortunately, I wrote this trait down in the book, because not long after my birthday I had a dream with the clearest vision I’ve ever had of them!
This image is something I quickly sketched up in Photoshop of Bah’kaa with the twin moons Liapo and Titanae behind them. I refined the sketch later in Procreate and made a nice ominous painting of them! You can see it as a print on Redbubble.
I also decided to create a stylized version of Bah’kaa, again which you can find on Redbubble.
I wasn’t done with these sketches either; I created a 3D model of Bah’kaa! I’d need to make one eventually, so figured I’d get it done whilst the design was still exciting and fresh in my head. You can see them standing between a true Corrupted One and an Ich’bah; it makes it easier to see the soot hedgehog traits Kah’kaa kept when they turned Corrupt!
Of course, I also had to animate the model; it’s a staple for me now to test my rigs. I had a go at a run cycle, which helps showcase the bouncy quills which make use of spring bones too. I forgot to speed the animation up, so it’s in slow-mo.
The Final Book Covers
I‘ve been through so many book cover designs, that it’s probably tiresome for even you readers by this point.
The previous covers will remain as they are for the e-books, but both the Hardbacks and paperbacks will now utilise these brand-new covers. I also ensured Origins had a matching cover, regardless of it being the prequel.
One quality I brought back from the original “Beta” Covers is the little picture on the spine of the book. However, I chose to change that picture for each volume to better represent what the story is about. There seems to have been an offset issue at the printers with the 3rd volume, so I may have the change it if this happens again.
Gone is the grungy text and overly complex artwork, even if I did like it. Instead, I have gone for a cleaner and more simplistic style, akin to the classic cover style era from the Final Fantasy games. Whilst Specimen G-13 is over, the world of Edris and its characters will return, so I may hold onto this cover style for the foreseeable future; Subject 218, however, will retain its own cover style.
It’s taken me a long time to get this series written, but equally challenging to craft a cover that does it justice. I hope you enjoy the new covers. Remember, you can grab the books from your country’s Amazon store, but some other bookstores sell them too!
The Cosmic Cat Almanac
The Beginners Guide to Jinimaru has been retired. Being one of the oldest entries in the Jinimaru Project, it had vastly outdated information and was written in an academic style which isn’t enjoyable for most people to read.
Rather than scrapping the idea completely, I am rewriting it in a far more casual style similar to the Edris Compendium, though I will not be writing it as a character. The book will also have updated information, and improved artwork, and will be in a far more manageable print size.
Unlike the Beginners Guide, however, the new book will contain some slight spoilers for Heart of the Feles and Wrath of the Lancer, though these are found in the later chapters of the new book, and I will write a warning before that portion of the book comes up for those who may want to read Specimen G-13 after finishing the Cosmic Cat Almanac (WIP title).
That’s all there is for this update. I’m going to finish up 3D printables for the year when September wraps up, and practice animations, so don’t expect a blog entry for next month. October I hope to dedicate to the Cosmic Cat Almanac to get that published before December, but there’s a lot of artwork I have to do for that; hopefully the new Jinimaru model I made will help me with all that!