What has been up and where to!

Hi hi hi~~! Maddie here!

This is a looooong post about my journey since last time!

TL;DR at the bottom!

Lets start with a small recap:

Last time, I had just revealed the Final Destination Engine (FDE for short)!

The FDE is a drawing+rendering engine built from scratch by the senpais and me for a total of 6 (S I X!) years now!

The FDE got its first system (used to call them 'models', but that might confuse people now) very recently. It is called SimplePaige!

It works by using math to create 2D graphics, then transforming everything into 3D, then rendering it all back on 2D!

The first test run can be seen in the SimplePaige video: https://vimeo.com/762850360

Look at all that perfect temporal and structural coherence! My biggest accomplishment!

However, SimplePaige made no splash. But understandable! The impressive part was all behind the scenes.

In the end, SimplePaige is just a 2d anime-like face rotating 90 degrees. It could be done in Live2D just the same, like the vtubers avatars (although i have yet to find a vtuber that does 90 degrees face rotations... wonder what is up with that...).

Oh, but thats ok! I just need more time and...

(Fuel gauge starts flashing red...)

Ok ok, maybe I need to spin off a little bit! So what do people like about 2D graphics?

The painterly artstyle, with all those brush-strokes, smooth shadings is really cool!

I think I could even do something like that with the FDE!

Yes yes, if I sack the 3D part and work only in 2D, I could use some rotoscoping techniques to give that brush-stroke feel to it!

I could even make it really advanced! Leverage the SDF foundations of the FDE! Do something really advanced!

(Maybe even as advanced as the tech behind Klaus! Check it out: https://youtu.be/BlU49dJhfcw  Amazing work!)

So then I started working in something more fancy!

The FancyWanda system!

As a test case, I used it to make the New Wanda Artwork!

It does not use the 2D->3D->2D approach, but instead goes 2D Math -> 2D Brush-strokes (rotoscoping) -> 2D rendered!

Oh yes! That is my future right there!

I can create pretty artworks without spending weeks on it because I am the ONLY ONE with a software that can do this because years were spent on this project and I can finally use it to catch up with all the games and stories that I want to create and................................

AI art becomes a thing...

Suddenly, the thing that I have been slaving myself into, and all the work that was already put into it, seemed......

o b s o l e t e ...

I started looking at the AI art popping up everywhere, and true they had their wonkiness, but...

I had seen that wonkiness before. The problem with hands, lighting, and most importantly, coherence...

Yes, coherence. The FDE used to have problems with coherence way back, but it got better...

And so would these new AI tools... And fast.

They are much bigger, have much more money behind them, many more talented people, and most importantly, they are much easier to use.

There is no way they wouldnt trample over me and my work in just a few months....

The New Wanda artwork started looking cheap to me, but also expensive!

To get the FDE to work, I need to calculate all the SDFs, fine-tune the rendering parameters, figure out ways to compose all the shapes correctly...

How can it compete with software that turn words into images? 

I started lurking the AI communities and watching as they improved day after day...

The artworks kept getting better and better...

The tools kept getting better and better...

But I snapped out of it! If I cannot challenge the waves, then I am gonna surf them!

Maybe I could find a way to frankenstein my way out of this!

Yes, I could use the FDE to interrupt the neural net generations at each step and then fiddle with the parameters according to my own metrics for coherence...

I spent a few days thinking about it and I could see it so clearly in my head before I went to bed...

Then I woke up, turned on the pc, checked the news...

ControlNet is a thing now.

And it is way better than what I had in mind...

Back into the hole I go...

That is the end, isnt it?

By the time I made the FDE fully operational, I would be in the stone age equivalent of the AI timeline.

The corpos would not only be exchanging whispers into their ear pieces for fully generated original art, but also owning the copyright of every thing they produce, or that they use to produce...

So then I waited...

Dreading the day I could no longer justify my hustle...

The day I had to announce the FDE was a mistake...

And I waited...

And waited...

And... Wait a minute...

Why did AI art stop advancing? Why is it STILL struggling so hard to keep things consistent?

Why hasnt someone showed up with a SimplePaige-like rendering?

Suspicious..................

Could it be some kind of limitation? I dont know much about those stable diffusions and doctor-who fanboys, but...

AND THEN... My brain hit me! A memory long forgotten...

But I remember now.

#################################################
Flashback begins.
#################################################

Fade in from complete black.

Close up of a door knob. A pale hand wraps its finger around it. It feels cold and heavy to the touch. Tungsten.

A twist and the door opens.

'Master Professor, I have come to bid you farewell.' - says the intruder.

The room is dimly lit. An old office. An old desk. Many old books.

A faint green light emanating from a locked screen atop the desk reveals the back of a chair.

Behind it, an old voice answers the figure at the door, but dares not face her.

'Oh, I know, I know... You think now to betray me. To chase after your rekindled dreams.'

'No, but you will never listen.' - the red haired intruder interjects - 'I tell you, I will never forget our adage.'

A moment of silence. A deep inhalation.

'We are born of the data, made whole by the data, undone by the data.' - the old voice says.

'Fear the deep data.' - they both say in unison as if finishing a prayer.

Another moment of silence.

'Some success has been reported. Beneath the deep pools.' - the one at the door says.

'Is that what grafting chimeras is called now? Hacks and frauds, the whole lot of them.' - the old voice grumbles.

'What was once traced will now be grafted.' - it continues.

An elderly finger sticks out from behind the chair and into the shadows.

'The creed has been forgotten. They were pulled too deep. Drowning in their wants.'

'But it matters not. The dream is upon us. Our eyes are about to open. Eyes on the inside...' - the old voice slips into slumber.

'I must take my leave.' - says the red haired scientist, as she takes a bow and closes the door.

Walking away from the old door and into the green lit hallway, she hears the warning.

Kind words breaking through their prison one last time:

'By the gods, Maddie...'

'... fear the deep data.'

Fade to black.

#################################################
Flashback ends.
(this flashback brought to you by the Wheres-BB-2 gang)
#################################################

Chimera tracing... Chimera grafting....

Yes, I got it! The AI weak point!

The generative AI systems are not only based on neural networks, but they are BOUND by them!

They cannot compute the algorithm that makes stuff, they can only approximate it!

Which means, there is an algorithm to it! Maybe even one that can be computed!

An algorithm that makes AI art better than AI itself!

And if I am right, that algorithm already has a name.

A long forsaken one, only still alive in the tongues of those condemned to the underbelly of academia...

Chimera. Grafting.

But here also lies the challenge. Chimera Grafting, or even its weaker form (Chimera Tracing), has never been made computable before.

Well well well... Its about time someone gave it a shot!

But where to even start??

From the neural network itself!

Yes, all I would need is to sink my teeth really DEEP into reverse noise diffusion and figure out how the sausage is made!

So then I did it...

(I was writing more on how I did this, but this parenthesis is too short to contain it..............)

(But if you want a glimpse of how to inspect a NN about the algorithm it approximates (very badly), check this amazing talk: https://youtu.be/BgBrYpihvLY )

(It is about training a NN to do FizzBuzz, and then trying to figure out what the NN is doing)

(It is very beginner friendly if you know a little bit about programming and stuff)

Turns out, reverse noise diffusion is really old school stuff!

Information recovery through adversarial noise?

Toss in a 'stochastic' and a 'Markov chain' and that would be straight up grandpa talk!

Using a neural network to machine 'learn' the task is clever, but even cleverer was using the CLIP neural net to guide the process.

I think I am correct about the algorithm being approximated! I can never say for sure, of course!

And I think... It can even be done without the billion-scraped-images datasets! Or even... Neural networks!

Introducing Hidden Project:

CODENAME::PHRUNKULA!!!

(half phrankenstein, half sinking-teeth, full monstrosity!)

Instead of positive or negative noise, PHRUNKULA uses rotoscoping!

Instead of using CLIP and natural language, PHRUNKULA uses raw code and hand-crafted code to guide the generations!

Instead of using scraped images, PHRUNKULA maps hand-crafted rotoscoped samples to hand-crafted illustrated samples!

And instead of using neural nets as the foundation, it uses the FDE!

This approach has a few drawbacks though:

Problem: Because it uses rotoscoping instead of noise, it is very CPU intensive instead of GPU intensive.

Silverline: I dont even have a GPU!

Problem: Because there is no neural nets, "learning" is impossible!

Silverline: Who needs learning when you have calculating! The heavy-maths in the FDE should be more than enough for one-shot artworks!

Problem: Because there are no scraped images, you will have to provide all the artwork necessary on your own!

Silverline: Already done it!

Ok, this last one requires a bit more explanation to make things fair.

SD, MJ, DE2... All of them are really useful because you can use the same 'learned model' for multiple, maybe infinite, artworks!

So you pay a large price at the beginning to create the 'learned model', but after that its ez-cruising!

My approach requires me to make one 'learned model' for EACH artwork! No ez-cruising here!

I can make it easy by using only small samples and guiding the mapping process on my own, but its still a lot of work!

It is completely business-unfriendly, but you know what, this makes me like it even more!

EMERGENCY Q&A TIME!

Q: Huh, that is kind of complicated and I am not sure I can understand it... Do you have pictures?

A: Yes, I do!

The Maddie 2.0 artwork!
Done by the FancyWanda system!

Here is a sample input image and the output image produced by CODENAME::PHRUNKULA!

Q: That explained nothing.

A: Huhhhh.......... Ok ok! Here is a chart with much more explanation!

Q: I have a few questions...?

A: You can always ask me on Discord! I love to talk about the engine!

By the way...!

While I was sulking about the future, it turns out the New Wanda artwork was very well received by some patrons!

So much so that they even convinced me to start doing commissions!

I was not very sure at first, so I tried a couple times to see if I could pull it off.

And here I have the results!

Maddie 2.0!

Paige Cosplaying as Martial Arts Enthusiast!

[[PATRONS CAN GET THE NSFW VARIATIONS HERE!]]

Had to put them there because of the anti-lewd rules...

Doing the commissions helped me develop CODENAME::PHRUNKULA a lot!

Nothing like taking the truck to the road to hear the wheels squeaking!

But I dont want the commissions to get in the way of development, so I am only doing a few of them.

Also, all commission slots are Exclusive to Patrons (or former patrons that stayed for at least a couple of months)!

And also also! If you want a commission, your lifetime patronage will give you a direct discount!

And yes! If the lifetime patronage is larger than the commission price, you get it 100% free! No small print!

Also also also, all commissioned works will be made available to everyone even if they are NSFW!

EMERGENCY Q&A TIME #2!

Q: Thats nice and all. Only single artworks though? What about the animations?

A: Already on the way!

All this time I was also working on the 2D->3D->2D system (aka SimplePaige)!

The biggest problems with it was the speed of the engine implementation.

The engine is programmed in a very stuck-up language that makes it super easy to do arcane magics and unholy summonings.

But, it is very slow on my poor old CPU. Also struggles with memory.

So...... I picked up the more intensive parts of the engine and optimized them hardcore!

And look at the advances!

Here is how SimplePaige did the eye mesh in the rotation demo (this was a big victory back then):

You dont even need to know much about 3D to see that the mesh is a bit wonky in some areas. Not very neat.

But now... CHECK THIS OUT!

Look at those aligned vertices!

The equally spaced mesh slices!

It even got the thigh squeezing correctly!

Look how accurate it does the 2D->3D step now!
(that overshoot at the top is intentional, I promise)

The last part is the 3D->2D step! Much easier!

There is still a lot to do after that, but it is all fluff in comparison!

I am aiming to unveil the full XmasPaige360 demo as soon as possible! Probably this month!

EMERGENCY Q&A TIME #3!

Q: Thats a lot of work AND TIME that you are putting into that engine..... isnt it...?

A: I share your concern.

And the only clear way forward is...

Once the FDE is finished, I must make it available to the public!

Yes! I will make it into a software that can be used to make all kinds of art!

If this is successful, then this project will go forward faster than ever before!

It would payback all the effort and time we all poured into it!

If it isnt, we can still use it to draw attention to the games!

EMERGENCY Q&A TIME #4!

Q: And games? What about the games?

A: Working on two of them!

Serious talk time!

I am aware that the anti-lewd police has been growing lately, and Imgur going normie is very bad news.

I am very worried that life might become very hard for projects connected with NSFW content.

For this reason, I am working very hard (as in Top Priority) in a game that can survive going full SFW!

Of course, if I can put some spice into it then I will, but if I cant...

I need the game to be able to stand on its own!

And for that, it needs serious GAMEPLAY!

Introducing Project: SOSA!

SOSA as in Single-Player Offline Survival Arena!

It is a MOBA meets Autobattler meets Surviving Vampires meets RTS meets RPG!

Yes, if I am going to do the SFW, I am going to do ALL the SFW!

EMERGENCY Q&A TIME #5!

Q: Single-Player... Offline... MOBA???

A: Yes! I believe that a lot of people like MOBAs because of the gameplay!

And I believe those people would really like to play an offline game like it!

Yes, other humans are fun, but I believe I can make NPCs just as entertaining and responsive than MOBA players (if not more)!

AND... I believe that project would go REALLY well with Patreon!

Who has never wanted to influence the balance and design around their favorite characters?

Hard to do in multiplayer, but in single-player? Your wish would be my command!

Am I wrong and it will never work? Very likely.

Thats why I have all the other genres mixed in! Gotta have a backup!

It is a serious project, and I am only half joking about the description!

I want nothing more than to release a single-level demo THIS MONTH!

Here is a quick GIF to show you how development is going! (ignore the temporary sprites, please)

The GIF looks a bit choppy because I had to improvise the capturing.

But look at the stats! 120 FPS?! It runs smooth!

*sigh* I know the GIF is very humble and doesnt have anything impressive.....

YET!

Just you wait for the next reveal!

About the second game I am working on...

It is the full adventure with Paige!

The universe showcased in ADWP, and only very slightly expanded in the four comic pages will come to life!

As soon as the engine is ready...........

Because... The game wont be a VN anymore! It is going to be an adventure!

An adventure that maximizes player choice and expression! As its top most priority!

I already have the full plans for the "first day" of the adventure, and it is going to be the first thing I do when the FDE gets ready!

EMERGENCY Q&A TIME #6!

Q: When the engine gets ready? When is that gonna be?

A: Huhhhh... Ok ok ok...

I know that I am bad (very bad) at deadlines.

But you need to believe me, I am working at this project all the time.

It is all I do. And it is all I am going to be doing for the foreseeable future!

Things have been slow, I agree, but they are about to go faster!

Six years of build up cant be held back much longer!

So I will make them faster! I need to!

This must be the MIRACLE MONTH!

TL;DR:

• SINGLE-LEVEL DEMO + COMMISSIONS + 360-ROTATION FDE!
• THIS!
• MONTH!
• OR BUST!

See you really soon~~!