zack3d

A Roo'd Introduction 4k clean

The night shift - oh, how I loathe it. The pay is incredible, I admit, but starting as a runner is the worst. My job involves shuttling between labs, carrying samples and fetching test equipment for people. Each group of scientists seems to find new ways to make things difficult. Feline scientists prefer their rooms dark, canines are easily distracted, avians can't stand noise, and the list goes on. But keeping the labs running smoothly is what I do best, or so I tell myself.

“James! Hold on for a moment. I need you to take something for me!” One of the lab scientists called out as I passed their room, breaking my moody thoughts. As I stepped into their room they handed me a small duffel bag with a sea green tag on it. Sea green packages were some of the rarest packages, usually with the least information shared about them. 

“Take this bag down to fluid testing, tell them its the suit from the hotel test. They will tell you where to put it. Let me know if they need anything else, thanks!” The scientist said before he shoo-ed me out of the room. As is tradition with the sea green tags, I get told as little as possible, not even a ‘careful its heavy’ as that would be ‘too much sensitive information’ as my boss put it. Its never worth even asking for more information, so I might as well get the bag over to the testing lab. Pulling out my phone with the company app I scan the tag to indicate its on the move.

The halls of deep blue have been abuzz with runners after that biological release last week, the workday after the company announced they were moving from ‘felidae’ to ‘marsupial’ safety tiers temporarily and ever since then samples and files have been flying through these halls. No one has explained to us runners what the safety tiers mean or why they're named that way, but I assume "marsupial" is safer.

I can tell when I enter the fluid labs, ironically a lot of felines work in that sector. The biggest evidence is how all the windows looking into the rooms have less and less lights on in them, but the amount of people doesnt change. Cats love their darkness I guess… luckily the app has shown that my destination is right around the corner and not in the dark areas. 

'Scan on arrival; a scientist will unlock the door to room 96,' the app instructs as I round the corner. I set the duffel bag down and scan the tag. The app border changes from red to yellow, indicating that I should wait for the scientist. While waiting, I examine the bag. It resembles the ones high school football players carry, but with a padlock on the zipper and some tacky rubber splattered on it. I don't even want to know what that substance is.

A muffled yelp from behind the door catches my attention. I notice the door isn't fully shut, so I peer into the room. Like all feline labs, it's practically pitch black except for one lone light illuminating an empty workbench. I gently push the door open, allowing the hallway light to spill in and reveal the situation.

In the exact spot where I usually drop off the samples was a large shiny kangaroo creature, its green markings clear in contrast to the white and red of the scientist on his lap. The scientist doesnt look in distress… in fact he looks to be enjoying himself as the creature he was sitting on bounced him up and down while wedging the cat’s muzzle open with a finger. It looked like the coloration was melting off the kangaroo and onto him as he held the cat. As the door opened more I found the source of the yelp. The other scientist in the lab was pinned to the floor by another kangaroo, this one gray. The kangaroo was pulling the cat’s hand behind its back while humping into him. Both the kangaroos were thankfully distracted by the cats and didnt seem to notice my presence.

Not knowing what exactly to make of what I saw, but knowing it couldn't be anything good I quickly hid behind the door, not wanting to be seen when they noticed the door was open. Opening the app I moved over to the ‘emergencies’ tab, a section for situations just like this. Hitting the big red ‘general emergency’ button I expect to get a swift response… instead I see a form to fill out on the app! “Please describe your emergency or provide a picture” Fucking  corporations and their apps. I hope a picture is the fastest… peering around the corner I manage to snap a quick picture and hit the upload button. 

"Come on, you stupid thing!" I mutter to myself, glancing around the hall for other runners. Just as one passes by the junction at the end of the hall, something yanks me backward by my shirt collar, pulling me into the room and slamming the door shut. Before I can even register my surroundings, a hand presses me against the wall. A heavy, squishy weight pushes against my shoulder blades, pinning my chest to the wall. The fluid seeps through my shirt. Another hand reaches for my hip, slipping inside my pants and underwear, grasping my sheath with a warm, gooey mass. I let out a muffled yelp...

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The final piece of a YCH with vulcanriverwolf and vialvilevyle! I also uploaded the image as an attatchment just in case patreon compresses the main.

Finally, another render update.

So I have been working on this since my last post, having only taken a chill for Christmas/new years and to work on some other commission stuff. Here is the current look on the lighting alongside the compositing. This project has been a lot more overall complex than some of my others, having to deal with the camera and difficult lighting of the scene. While im not 100% happy Im at a point where I think working a lot more on it will be making it worse rather than better. I was thinking of possibly making this a simple YCH to get some variety in the 2 roo characters, along with anyone who gets the roo characters getting to pick the cat ones as well. What do yall think?

Render update! Got the new tool in action.

So here is the first big test of the goo tool, im about to get onto redoing the lighting but here is how the characters look!

Definitely an improvement over the original tool and I look forward to the fun lighting I will get to do with these effects. Once the lighting is done I will do a general polish pass where I add details in areas that are lacking, and then I can get a composite/post-process ready!

New features in my procedural TF tool

Simplified Overview

Before diving into the technical parts, here's a quick overview:

• I've developed a tool that takes a character and the goo character and via overlaying them I can create a partial TF effect, seen in my 'Jumping right into it' Kangaroo piece.
• The latest version, V2, introduces 'goo strands' that allow for a more grounded connection with the underlying model. This was an effect I have been working on for a long while, the first tests were in 2021. You can see an example of the effect in the header image.

For those who want the details:

Initial Steps and Challenges

• The initial version of the tool was quite basic. It identified overlapping areas between two characters, removed them, and then smoothed the edges.
• Despite being effective, it had limitations, like creating gravity-defying spots and unclear transformations.

Introducing V2: A More Advanced Approach

• V2 builds on the initial concept by adding goo strands that can be art directed across the characters.
• This approach uses a point scattering technique to create points across the surfaces, which are then connected to form lines. These lines are then simulated to create realistic, gooey strands that merge into the characters.

The Technical Breakdown

• Step one is to get the cut up goo character model, this model is made by detecting areas of the model that are close, then deleting those parts. After that the model is thickened and the sides of this added thickness are marked for future use.
• Next the first lines are made, scattering points only on the marked sides, then connecting the points randomly so each point has the start or end of a line.
• Next scatter more points, this time on the inner side of the goo character and the surface of the under character. Once again, connect with lines. But this time only do so for points that are close together.
• Once done, remove any intersecting lines (be it with the goo character or under character) and delete any lines under or over a user set limit.
• Simulate, I use a physics solver that detects when 2 lines are close, and then adds another really short line between them that pulls the lines together. Think of when you ziptie two cables together.
• Take the simulated lines, fuse any overlapping ones, then run it through 'polywire' to give them a 3d tube representation.
• A key step was using a VDB (volumetric representation) to seamlessly merge the strands with the goo character. Since the original cutout technique was VDB, in the end I can just VDB merge the strands. Due to their VDB nature expanding then contracting the volume surface will create thin gooey connection points.

The full graph is visible below, hopefully its high res enough to let you look at the entire flow.

 The Artistic Impact

The V2 enhancement hopefully will allow my work to be even more detailed, following the style I always envision for my pieces. The procedural nature should allow me to use this wherever I need.

I’d love to hear your thoughts! What do you think of this new technique? Any ideas or suggestions for future projects? Your feedback is invaluable in my creative process.

There's still a lot of cleanup and refinement to be done, but I'm excited about the potential this tool has to elevate my mid-transformation shots. Stay tuned for more updates and upcoming artworks using this technique!

Render project update

Well I have been working on this in my free time when I can, so here is how the poses currently are. They feel a bit stiff right now and I may change their location around, plus I still need to setup the lighting to work with them (this image is exposure adjusted for visibility) and then do some MORE posing for mid-tf effects... still a fair bit to go but its coming, slowly. If anyone has any ideas or tips on posing feel free to share em.

Progress update time again!

So I don't have a new render for you guys this week, been slowly working on posing the roo scene when I have time and energy. During the day I cant do NSFW, so I decided to play around with UE5 again since I have not touched it in a while. The video I posted here is the current 'what I got' from that, I intend for it to be a long term project. In the end I want it to be similar to viscera cleanup detail, but a single level filled with lore for my Deep Blue Viral Research storyline. Specifically cleaning up after the 'Deep Blue Incident' I have hinted about a few times in my stories. No clue if this will ever come to fruition, but I have made quite a few things for this project and thought it would be a fun way to incorporate 'cut content' into a full project. The hallway with the carpet in the video being an example of a spot made from cut content X). 

As for future projects, im working into seeing if I could possibly open for commissions using vrchat avatars, doing renders for people. A lot of people seemed interested so im looking into a 'trial run' with a friend to see how well things work out. So hopefully I will have news about that soon, before I run outta money.

Current project update

Its been a bit since I shared updates on the is project. Things have been a bit slow due to life, a tailoring commission im working on for one of my outfits, and my brain is sad. But im still working! Figuring out lighting and camera angle for this project is a tough one, I still have a fair bit of tweaking to do on it but I feel like im getting a lot closer. I also experimented with camera position, using an iphone app to allow me to use AR to position the camera a bit more realistically. I also spent some time making a few fun posters for the walls. Once I get a bit more of the lighting in then I will be able to work on detailing everything and posing. Should be fun!

Leather Jacket Project for Tropical Kangaroo

As some of you may know I have a gumroad page where I make cheap little outfits for VRChat as another way to support my work, for those not into subscriptions. I posted a way earlier wip in my gumroad server but I thought I should give you guys/gals/nonbinary pals a more in depth look at how I make these things.

For all my Gumroad outfits, I use a tool called Marvelous Designer, its the 'artist version' of a CAD tool called CLO which is used to create patterns for actual clothing. These outfits take about 3-4 days to sew for simple clothing items like this jacket, since I have to literally measure and tailor it like a tailor would before draping it and simulating the fabric. What is extra fun too is this means I have an actual proper sewing pattern, so if the gooey roo ever pounces on you... give me a call so I can sew a real one for ya! I have included 2 pictures, one showing how I 'sew' items on and another showing an overview of the high detail simulation project.

My goal for this project was to make a multi-versioned outfit that can transfer well to other creatures. In this instance I wanted to have 2 versions, a zipped and unzipped. This leads to a bit more work as the fit has to be just right so it can drape logically in both versions, stuff like the latex suit is so tight to cartoonish proportions that unzipping it makes it simulate poorly. Along with this I used my first instance of 'rigid fabric supports', in this case there are actual shoulder pads on the roo to beef up those shoulders, just like some actual leather jackets. The other fancy part is the transferring, Marvelous Designer has a tool called a 'fitting suit'. WIth it I can sew clothing for one avatar and it can transfer the fit to a completely different one, while still roughly maintaining the placement on the avatar. For example I plan on trying out fitting this jacket onto the Rex.

Im hoping this project turns out as well as it is looking so far, leather work is very different in the seams than cloth, requiring a double seam. Like my other projects im looking to aim at this being 5ish dollars.

If you have any questions about this project feel free to ask! I love talking tech/details about the projects I do, so don't be afraid to ask any question you have.

First patreon post! Preview of possibly current project.

I dunno how to use this thing, but I mentioned in the patreon section of my server I plan on using this service more as I move away from AI. For those who have not seen, I plan on posting WIPs of projects that may not ever come to fruition and eventually any final stills will be here in full quality, public posts will be 'glazed', an anti-ai training technique which sadly minorly lowers quality. But that's the day and age we live in, I have to DRM my own work basically :/.

Let me know what yall think of this so far, I want to do another TF-y lewd piece, I also need a lil bit of cash (digging into my savings to survive now!) so having a project I might be able to YCH would be useful.

Bonus little bit on the left side of the render view, you can see the major points my last still went through in its creation X)