[Dev Diary] My Render Process

Hello, hello!

I hope all is well with you. The past 2 weeks have been really interesting and efficient for me, and I'd like to keep the update short and sweet so that I can follow up with another share that I find interesting and that everyone might wanna know.

1. Progress:

I am happy to report that the city sequence and lingerie store sequence have been completed. This was a fun sequence to do - it's not as challenging as the basketball one, but way more interesting with the camera angle and a few filling techniques. For example, I had to watch a few tutorials and blogs on how to few a blank space since there was part of the scene where it's just...uh, walls. Decided to throw a hanger and some clothes on there, and changed the camera angle as well. I will use this opportunity to say that there are lots of semi-cameos in the lingerie store sequence, so keep an eye out when you get to this part.

Now for the tasks in the 2 two weeks, I'm hoping to get the music store sequence done to move onto final 3 scenes (which are expected to be shorter than all sequences that I have been working on). The music store sequence will be a bit challenging with the posing department, specifically the arms and fingers, but we will see.

I should also type this before I forgot. I've been looking to add some bugs/typos report in-game, so it saves time for everyone who sees a typo or a clipping issue or anything of the likes; it will be just three clicks at most to submit a report, instead of having to write messages to the report channel in our Discord.

2. What's that interesting share you mentioned?

Alright, fun stuff! I will start off by saying, if you know me, I know that I pride on the graphics department because I think that I can do well on that. I haven't stopped looking for ways to make renders to look better - let it be the minor details and techniques in HS2 or other tools.

The first tool I was introduced to was Photoshop (shoutout to Aeon). At that point, I didn't really understand much about color theory, but Photoshop did help me achieve a lot of effects I was looking for, for example motion blur. Of course, once I studied color theory, Photoshop was even better than I thought too. Here's an example. This is a raw render from HS2, no adjustment, no anything:

Now if we use Photoshop? Here are some color adjustments and then the motion blur for the background. You can see the color is now a bit brighter, less green-ish, and warmer to reflect the sunlight.

Now this is the amazing stuff that I want to share. I suppose that everyone has heard about AI art and all that. Well, I did just that, and here's the result. The hair, snow, and the white inner shirt are the things that are altered.

I don't know about you but I think that's an improvement. At least the snow is way more natural and not a flat white surface anymore. The hair is realistic but surrealistic enough to blend in with the art style. Now of course, AI is not perfect. For example, the shirt buttons are screwed - now this is where I say "do not rely on AI too much". This is exactly where you need to use Photoshop to do any further post-processing stuff.

Anyway, I just want to show you a cool technique that I found and interestingly, it's AI. I'm really sad by the fact that many people abuse AI to create art without much effort and not use it with the drive and desire to push for new boundaries. That creates a bad stigma for AI - "AI is bad" and "Human vs Machine". I just find it ridiculous because machines and AI are created to help people, so I really wish that folks would keep that ideology in their mind when they use any form of AI.

Now, that's also why the "art" phase takes more time for me. I am not really a person who wants to half-bake a render and call it a day - of course, this might be my demise some days; but really, my heart can't take when I look at something I did and go "wow, this is actually shitty".

3. So uh...contest?

Uh, so remember the contest? I lost sadly. :( If you haven't seen the entry, here it is. This was dedicated to Wagner - I initially didn't want to join, but this idea came on a breezy night of Thursday, feeling a bit of a sad vibes, and I just whipped it up.

Regardless of the results, this piece still remains one of my favorite pieces that I did so far. Fret not as well, since I submitted a new entry to a new contest, so we gotta wait and see for that one now!

4. Miscellaneous stuff:

This is more of a logistic stuff, but once Chapter 3 hits, I will open up the features that I'm supposed to open for the Enforcer, Cyberheart, and Sentience folks - for example, the Vault, and then Tier II (and above) renders too.

I know that some of y'all do not pledge for those perks but because you want to support me and the developent of Cyberheart. I thank you for that; but I have to take the perks seriously haha! With that being said, I am still thinking of perks to add so changes might be made...or not, we will see!

Phew, long ass post, but if you've made it this far, thanks for reading! That's all for now.

Till next time,

DiPeppo