No news from dsp3000 yet on his progress with Academy Part 4. Hopefully all is fine and we’ll here from him soon. As soon as I get any news, I’ll post it.
In the meantime, I just want to give you all a quick update on my progress with Leanna.
In my last blog post, I wrote that I had resigned myself to redoing all of the images in Poser with V4 models instead of Genesis 3 and IRAY. Well, I’m happy to say that this crisis may have been averted.
At about 4am on Friday (yeah, I had a poor night’s sleep), my brain started wandering onto new possibilities. You see, it doesn’t take that long to render images with just the characters. The promo shots you’ve seen me post from time to time where it’s just Leanna or whomever standing in front of light grey or white background only take about 2 minutes to render. It’s the environments that can take forever.
So, I started thinking, how can I get rid of the environments, at least in terms in render times. Back when I started making these games, I didn’t make the environments myself. I used screenshots from games like Hitman or GTA, then rendered the characters on top of them. I won’t go into all of the details, but I’ve tried doing this and where it can be done, it’s working really well. I do one render of the environment with IRAY, then just use it as a background image with Leanna rendered on top.
For images where I can’t really do this, I’ve also tried just replacing all of the shaders with much more basic versions, and this is also working rally well. It’ll mean that for the locations you’ll see slightly less detailed bricks, or wood, but you’re all here for the women, not the architecture, so that’s fine.
Over the weekend, I’ve persevered and rendered an extra 30 images, which considering it was the weekend with no full work days, is really good.
So, in summary, it looks like I will be able to deliver Leanna in full IRAY format after all.
Here’s a few examples of my weekend’s work.
An extra note on the redhead on the last image too.
I noticed it’s been a while since I had a redhead as the focus of one of may games. The last time I rendered one was Faye in Miranda, and the last time a redhead was the main character was Maddison. So, I decided to introduce a secondary character in this game, but one I’d spend some time designing too.
So, everyone, meet Ashley. You won’t see her naked in this game, but I like the idea of her being the main focus of one in the future.
Loading ...
Genius rewarded!
I’m happy to see that you are still able to use IRAY. Last week I voted for “Whatever works” but I’m not gonna lie, I was looking forward to the higher quality renders so I’m happy with this. It also makes sense to do the game that way. I’ve been using Daz for a month now, still learning of course and following some of your tutorials on the site. So rendering an environment, then using that image as a backdrop is a great idea. Plus it’s reusable. Also more redheads the better!
Are Triss and Ciri also going to be used in a future game? I really like the new characters you have developed, but I also have a soft spot for some of your older characters.
I’d certainly like to use Triss, Ciri, and possibly a Jennifer in something, yes,
That’s certainly good to hear. Not trying to pressure you or anything, just curious. Will the Crystal game be next? The one you were planning with Cherise? I feel like that would be an easier game to work on after Leanna. The Photographer part 3 (if you decide to proceed with it) will probably be the biggest game on your site. Thanks for your time.
Crystal Part 3 does seem like the most likely next game.
the blonde bunny is a total babe as well I hope she will be in the Ashley game maybe as a roommate who gets her a job there and maybe meets the player in leanna game at a later date with possibility of threesome or foursome with the bunny girls and leanna or some other worker possibly female boss there maybe a harem story where all girls fall for him but its a real shame she wont be a sex scene with Ashley in leanna game please reconsider
Ashley also seems to have the same facial structure in the 3rd picture so I’m guessing Ashley is leanna’s sister
i also really like your new characters, but i would like to see some of the older girls get a newer game. Latricia, Sarah, Nelena, Sarah, Evana, Sarah, Jess and have a mentioned Sarah?
I’m guessing you don’t like Sarah very much. I would also add Zoe, Miranda and Kelly. I’m not so worried about some of the others because they are really popular.
I forgot about Zoe 🙁
Speaking of redheads, I have missed Maddison a lot. Are you planning to make games ft
her again?
i agree
Maddison best girl
Now that’s what I call good news! Good work Chaotic!
More like excellent news
Awesome news on your weekend work, the images look great.
And Ashley gets a big old 5 from me! Love to see her as a main character some day.
Keep up the good work my friend!
Great work, Chaotic!
While I love the idea of the redhead, but I think that Ashley looks a lot like Leanna, face-wise. The body is fine as it is, but I think you might want to change the face a little bit. Just my opinion though.
Firstly, apologies for the lack of update from me on The Academy: Part Four. I’ve had a very busy weekend which has included several hours working on the game. I’ll supply a full update for the usual Friday update.
Secondly, I’ve been rendering backgrounds separately for most of my games since I started making them to reduce render times. It works very well for most images.
For some images you just need to do a full render, but for sequences like conversations it usually works very well. I spend time setting up the camera angles, an initial pose and lighting in a scene and then render a background separately. Next I simply remove the background visibility and render out multiple images with just the characters as PNG files with transparency switched on.
I’ll then put everything back together in Photoshop. Separate layers also allow me to add a little blur to create some depth of field.
This method can be a little labor intensive and time consuming but I prefer it to massive render times.
Glad to hear you have found a workable solution Chaotic.
Hey dsp, you must hate this question by now, but roughly how far is The Academy to completion? As always keep up the good work 🙂
Hey, Dude.
Glad you see you’re not dead. 🙂
Yeah, but finishing this game is nearly killing me!
Still no update Friday is nearly over
Another idea for you. You can still use your high quality rooms/scenes but run empty renders of them… Then use those rendered images as backgrounds behind your models. Now it limits the movement slightly it makes should work without much loss of quality.
Overly worried about clarifying my last message. If you have a scene that takes place in the same area and the action does not move but the girls do (for example modeling in the photo studio) build everything including the girls to set the scene. Then remove the girls, render the rest of the scene high quality once. THEN put the girls back, remove all the un-needed elements, set your last render as the background. Render high quality, repose the girls, and repeat. Jut be careful with the way shadows are cast.
hey chaotic is there a particular reason that betsy stopped working?
Thanks for letting me know.
I’m not sure what happened, but I’ve reuploaded the game. Everything should be working now.
Excellent thank you chaotic
I’ve been trying to replay the academy series games on my iPad Pro. The pics are great but there is no text in the boxes for actions. What am I missing? Please help,
sooo you gonna use the Visual novel style, oh please tell me you are not going this way of render …
if i have correct, some (for not say “almost all of them”) peoples who make games use this technic right ? like all the “lesson of glory” and else.
damn, i hope you are not going to go like them, because the render is (honestly) horrible..
i prefer an full 3D situation than just some character paper stick on background.
and not talking about the animations on the bed (for exempl) … brrrrrr
my own opinion stay the same. do the game in low quality or make it full in high quality. can wait for great quality or enjoy classic game.
apparently its “lesson of passion” , but whatever , you got it :p
No, no. It shouldn’t be like that.
A better comparison would be my earlier games like Photographer Part 1. Really, all of the images should look the same as they normally do, I just render the backgrounds separately.
ah, i think i got it.. like a movie, you make the scene in 3D and the background behind separate ? got it 🙂
Yes! Good comparison.
It’s a bit like doing everything with a green screen. 🙂
Glad to hear that you solved the IRAY vs V4 issue. There’s not doubt it’ll be an amazing game and the prospect of an Ashely game just adds to the excitement. Keep up the great work and I look forward to Leanna updates.
Man them cheekbones those are rough
damn! Ashley is fine!
Thank you thank you thank you! I was very saddened by the previous post, but seeing you figure out a better way forward using IRAY has made me happy again! I simply love the detail and graphics of this new engine. I’m am eagerly awaiting the final product!
Btw I’m really liking Ashley’s facial structure! She’s beautiful.
Hey Chaotic.
Great choice on the rendering! I was thinking render farm as another option? No idea how much they cost etc. but I’d be happy to get a piece of the action if you kickstarted it, in case it was v expensive. Just a thought…
I was talking about lennas face is rely gont and her neck is rely thin too
Is Academy Part 4 still coming out this month
Sounds like a plan. Looking forward to it.
That was quite a brainstorm you had! Flesh and blood demand far more detail than wood and metal, such that the difference between them in the photos you posted is hardly noticeable. That said, I only ask that you please don’t use existing backgrounds from GTA, Hitman, or any other games. Such plagiarism is beneath you, especially given how far you’ve come.
I’m LOVING this new redhead. Much as I love Lisette and Faye, something about their expressions always seemed off. And Miranda’s great, but her ginormous boobs are something of a distraction (just my opinion, anyway). Ashley has a lot of potential in that she has a much more even figure and she really knows how to smolder. But the real test — as with all of the girls — will be her O-face. If you can make her look like she’s at the height of erotic pleasure without making her look creepy or unintentionally hilarious, you’ve got a hit.
I really like the look of Ashley. Great figure.
But c’mon, I wanna see her naked out of that bunny costume!
A couple of things that help with IRay (if you haven’t already figured these out):
1) Mirrors and shiny objects are your enemy if you’re trying to do a quick render. To that point, anything that keeps the “light in” like a room with a ceiling and 3 or 4 walls, will cause similar issues.
2) Sometimes using a powerful, but simple HDRI (I use these: https://www.daz3d.com/iradiance-light-probe-hdr-lighting-for-iray) will go a long way.
3) Deleting things that are off-camera are great for improving render times as well (keeps you from overloading your video card’s RAM)
4) This isn’t intended as self-advertising, but I wrote a tutorial on a tool in Daz called the the iray section plane. If you’re not familiar with it, you can use it to cut through walls and hide objects so that you can let light in easier, or just remove a bunch of things you don’t want for a shot. You can find it here: http://slimmckenzie.deviantart.com/journal/Tutorial-Iray-Section-Plane-Node-beginner-661286658
I don’t mean to overstep, as I am just effectively a random person on the internet, but if you do have any questions, you can email me or ping me on DA. I hope that some part of this would be helpful, and I do look forward to seeing your future work!
Great to hear you figured out a fix to your troubles. I’ll admit I love your games but have no idea what goes into making these games and what the difference between programs like IRAY and Poser are. I know your games have gotten better and better looking so I would assume with IRAY they will look better than your newest games Betsy and April and Violet. I look forward to seeing IRAY Leanna. Very glad to hear it won’t look like LOP games with the way you’re making them. I really dislike the visual style of their games.
I love the idea of a redhead. Redhead women are one of my weaknesses. I love Ashley’s body shape, eye color and what looks to be a light coating of freckles. The face in general isn’t my favorite. Not sure what it is that’s throwing it off for me. Not unattractive by any means. Maybe my opinion will change as time goes on and more images are shown. On the topic of new characters, I would love to see more of the smoking hot brunette that is one of Leanna’s friends she is playing basketball with in your post from 3/17. Now she is gorgeous!
And again no update from dsp3000 hopefully the game is ready for release soon!!!!!!
I can’t even feel the difference at first glance. Keep it up!
How long til’ Leanna’s release?
The blog is with some issues? I enter almost everyday in the blog, and just yesterday the post of May 5th appear here. And today, i cant see the post again.
If in doubt, make sure you refresh the page when you visit the blog.
Most updates are on a Friday, and if you can’t see them, it’s probably just time to refresh.