First Links Sent out for Gold Patrons
Just messaged out the links for Release 2 to the Gold Tier Patrons. Links for Silver will follow in 1 week, Bronze a week after that.
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays!
Mike the3DGuy posts
Release 2 Update 29
So, I have good news and I have bad news.
Good News: Looks like I should be sending the 2nd Release of TAG to Gold Tier Patrons tomorrow (Christmas Eve) . It will probably be later in the day, since the timeline is tight.
Bad News: Of the two animations I had to complete, one of them I wasn't able to do. It's the one where Olivia throws the MC into the pool. Getting that splash continues to elude me - it always ends up with water flying off...
Release 2 Update 28
My god I hope this will be the last update before release! All of the sound is done FINALLY. This includes multiple re-done AI dialogue files because re-listening to ones I had done before the ElevenLabs speech-to-speech feature, and wasn't happy with, really ground my gears and I couldn't resist FIXING them. Also, I ran into an extremely annoying Windows 10 problem that made File Explorer function like absolute dogshit. Imagine copying a file to a folder or re-naming a file and having it tak...
2023-12-16 23:33:33 +0000 UTC View PostAlmost FORGOT! MORE MUSCLES!!!!!
Remember when I talked about a Daz product called "Auto Muscle Enhancer", that was released for the male figure I work with (G8) but not the female because the vendor's wife died just before he completed it? Created amazing muscle shapes, striations, details and veins? And I really really wanted to use it for Olivia, and some other female TAG characters?
Well, I've got GREAT news: another Daz vendor (Zeddicus) contacted that guy (D. Master) and the torch was passed from one to ...
2023-12-09 21:57:36 +0000 UTC View PostRelease 2 Update 27
Rough week as far as getting regular times to work on TAG, meaning I had to find and sneak time when I could. But I still got many hours of work done. Even though 95% of my work is done on my desktop PC, and I cannot do Daz Studio image work on anything BUT that, I do have a Microsoft Surface Pro (sort of a laptop/tablet) that I dumped a bunch of TAG files and applications onto. So I was able to get a lot of game testing and coding done on that. Got the game code tightened u...
2023-12-09 21:23:04 +0000 UTC View PostRelease 2 Update 26
Getting a little tough to work efficiently with my parents' health issues, which unfortunately are getting worse: fractured thoracic vertebra on one and two fractured ribs from a fall last week on the other. Life can get rough in your 90s, that's for sure. Working in the background to get them regular home visits from qualified health professionals and those who can help them with basic daily tasks. Some time spent driving them to medical appointments last week, and the next two days...
2023-12-02 20:22:48 +0000 UTC View PostAI/ELEVENLABS SPEECH-TO-SPEECH!!!
I just tested out the speech-to-speech AI feature I mentioned in the last update, because it turns out I accidentally skipped one of Nina's dialogue lines in the final scene. HOLY CRAP is it amazing! I just read her line into my mic exactly like I want her to say it... including LAUGHTER... and it came out the other end with her voice, exactly matching everything I did, even little tongue-clucks!
When it's time for Release 3 I might be using it for every single AI line. It's THAT good!<...
2023-11-30 15:52:29 +0000 UTC View PostRelease 2 Update 25
Last week I guessed I had about 15 still images left to do. Turns out it was more like 28! Anyway, the last one is done now. Whew. This week I'll be completeing sound effects and music, and then I've got those two animations to finalize and render. That part I'm honestly not looking forward to. I decided to roll with Nina's bitch-mode here since, as you can see, she's smoking a cigar.
This won't come into effect until Release 3, but there's a new feature of ElevenLabs software (11Labs i...
2023-11-26 19:08:08 +0000 UTC View PostRelease 2 Update 24
I think I've got about 15 still images left before I'm finished with them. That will take me probably to the end of Tuesday or maybe Wednesday at latest. then I can complete sound FX and music, which isn't a long process... then those two animations to finish up.
All my voice stuff (AI and human voice artist) is complete, except for a tiny number of voice AI files between now and the end, which I'm doing as I go. I have to say (or repeat?) that I am LOVING the AI voice stuff for Nina. ...
Release 2 Update 23
Okay so finally I can post a real update. Again: sorry for the delay! This update has only two images for a couple reasons:
1) I shifted heavily this week to sound and voice work, and
2) This particular sequence of images in the scene has very dim lighting, and that slows down rendering speed a great deal.
Not that I only created two images this last week, but I don't want to flesh out scenes too completely to Patrons before release to (a) give too much away, and (b...
2023-11-13 01:37:34 +0000 UTC View PostUpdate Delay
long, Long, LONG week! From driving parents to medical appointments to an unscheduled trip outta town to a sick wife (who's okay now)... not to mention trying to wrap up the final scene scripting, keeping up with AI voices, finishing image renders and just a day ago: Olivia voice files arrived! So I've been going through and processing them and splitting them off into individual files. A number of them have to be re-done, but my voice actor I'm sure will get to them right away once I...
2023-11-12 06:13:11 +0000 UTC View PostRelease 2 Update 22
I think you'll find this captivity scene to be lots of fun and very interesting! Nina has a very specific reason for doing this but she's also toying with and punishing him. Not to mention kind of drifting away from sanity.
Kind of looks like by the end of this week I may have my Olivia voice files!
Anyway we're definitely in the home stretch now! I need to spend a few hours generating some AI voice files for the latest chunk of script I've written, to stay current.
2023-11-05 18:07:42 +0000 UTC View PostRelease 2 Update 21
Now, I'm finished with all the AI voice work up to the last render I've completed so far for this release. All those 339 voice files I needed to do since the last update are done and integrated into the game code, as well as the files for Aubrey's voice files (from a human voice artist. The files from my other human voice artist, for Olivia, will probably be coming in the 2nd week of November, about a week after she returns to her studio from Europe. Got her $ quote which is very...
2023-10-28 23:47:44 +0000 UTC View PostMC Name Choice
How important is it to you that the MC can be custom-named?
2023-10-27 13:49:25 +0000 UTC View PostSound FX and Voice Integration
Just FYI.. I'm finding that in many cases now, as I'm adding voice support for the entire VN, where I have sound FX and voice tracks, that it makes sense to combine them into a single voice track instead of keeping them separate. This only matters for those who want to mute the voices and just read the dialogue on screen. If you do that you'll end up missing many of the sound effects. The reason is that now that voice is added I'm finding many situations whe...
2023-10-26 18:52:24 +0000 UTC View PostRelease 2 Update 20
This week I did no image renders. I provided images above that are ones I've done for Release 2 in previous weeks, but haven't shared them here yet. Wanted to make sure you were getting something other than just my words!
I've focused heavily on VOICE. I've now completed all AI voice work for Release 2, except for voice files to go with the (40 or 50?) renders I have left to do. Release 2 will be FULLY voiced... and in fact I've now decided to go back and fill in ALL t...
2023-10-22 15:59:36 +0000 UTC View PostUpdate Note
Going to update tomorrow morning. Too tired to do it now. Have been pounding out many, many AI voice files for the VN. Sorry for delay.
2023-10-22 03:47:49 +0000 UTC View PostRelease 2 Update 19
Okay, just a mini-update here, about the voice acting. I reviewed ElevenLabs AI voice updates, and while they're not quite as "life-changing" as I'd hoped they'd be by now, they definitely are an improvement! Some updates that make a difference to me:
- There are now quite a few created voices in the voice library I can choose from for characters. This helps find appropriate voices for NPC-types.
- Based on what I recalled from release 1, it seems to be significantly quicker ... 2023-10-16 17:15:05 +0000 UTC View Post
Release 2 Update 18
Okay, this update is a little different because I'm posting FIVE images instead of FOUR. The extra image is the last one in the series, and it's provided because there's a (subtle?) surprise somewhere in it, for the "eagle-eyed" among you.
It was a pretty good week production-wise, but slowed down a little since there are a few images that show a laptop screen that includes its own webcam image on it plus the remote camera image (like a Zoom screen). And that means I ha...
2023-10-14 20:36:26 +0000 UTC View PostRelease 2 Update 17
Similarly productive week bopping along with this scene's still renders and script! Even though I had some delays, most notable delay was that I had staged and rendered something like 20 images before realizing that the floor texture in this room was shitty as hell! then I realized also that I wasn't effectively using sunlight coming in through the window blinds, which adds a lot of drama and interest. So I fixed both of those issues in each file and re-rendered nearly all of those images. I ...
2023-10-08 02:54:59 +0000 UTC View PostRelease 2 Update 16
Very productive week! Got a lot of renders done, and we're steaming ahead through an exciting scene with Nina. Had to spend some time rigging some props and manipulating some static props into the shapes I needed but fortunately that didn't take too long. I ecpect the rest of the renders should go pretty quickly too, though at the end I'm going to have to finish 3 big animations (the two water-related ones you know about and a physical struggle scene coming up with Nina) and get all the sound...
2023-10-01 14:37:19 +0000 UTC View PostRelease 2 Update 15
Busy week!
Got all of the phone text message history (remember that?) written, entered and coded. Got all my difficult programming problems solved, and the hardest problem was solved in a much more elegant fashion than I realized existed, with a very cool effect I think. Am now plugging away on the next scene, where our MC returns to Nina!
With all that out of the way, next week should be just image creation and renders only.
2023-09-24 07:12:08 +0000 UTC View PostGoogle Drive Requests
Getting a lot of share requests to my Google Drive. When I can't match the requester to a Patreon account I have to decline those. If you need access to the drive and don't have it yet, please contact me either by responding to this message or by sending me a private message.
2023-09-16 23:58:46 +0000 UTC View PostRelease 2 Update 14
I think I've rendered the last image for this scene. Before I start on images for the next scene I've got to spend a day or possibly two testing and cleaning up the code I've got so far. Some of it's getting more complex, with nested "If Then" statements with multiple dialogue possibilities, and there's one bit of code involving chance (basically a dice roll) that I hope I can figure out on my own!
Do any of you speak French? I'd really like to have someone rev...
2023-09-16 04:22:23 +0000 UTC View PostRelease 2 Update 13
Surprise! I did go out of town as I mentioned last update, but still managed to get a few renders done. So here you go: a little late but still a full update. These few frames are where the rubber meets the road for the MC: Time to make a decision, bud! For me the decision is clear, but YMMV. Not so easy to walk away though when your body is under the influence of powerful "Change" pheromones!
There aren't many images left to the end of this scene, but from thi...
2023-09-11 18:48:45 +0000 UTC View PostRelease 2 Update 12
Still working on both animations in this scene, in the background. Got slowed down a bit this week - a number of renders back I noticed that Olivia's nipples started looking "off": pale and partially "submerged" into her breast. At the time I looked at all the typical things that could have gone wrong, but everything was right. Finally, the other day I tried deleting and re-loading something called a geoshell for her nipples, to see what would happen. Lo and behold, that fixed it. Surprising,...
2023-09-03 15:45:43 +0000 UTC View PostRelease 2 Update 11
In addition to the one (super difficult) animation where ODLR (my shorthand for Olivia) throws the MC into the pool, this scene will also include another animation: a shag in the pool! I always intended to include that one, but once the throwing animation started seeming so difficult I considered backing off it. For the shagging still scenes though, once I got the two poses ("in" and "out"!) created, I realized I really wasn't too far away from turning it into an ani...
2023-08-27 03:51:52 +0000 UTC View PostOlivia Bicep Flex (OHMIGOD)
I'm doing an image now where they're still in the pool. He's sitting on her lap, and Olivia's flexing a bicep for him. I gotta admit: I'm losing it... this scene is HOT. The look on her face... the look on his face...
IT'S KILLING ME! (in a good way)
2023-08-24 02:01:49 +0000 UTC View PostRelease 2 Update 10
As you probably know, I've lately been working on an animation where Olivia throws the MC into a swimming pool. The fluid/water simulation portion of that is the hardest thing I've ever done in 3D. And the learning curve is so long that I think the best way to proceed at this point is to work on it in the background, so that still image creation can continue as normal. So that's where I am now. I think I'll be able to finish the animation, and when I do I'll post it ...
2023-08-21 05:55:51 +0000 UTC View PostWater Simulation Fun (Read: Hell)
Just want to let you guys know I haven't forgotten about you! I thought the glasses breaking was hard! Well: turns out I didn't know squat. The fluid simulations and settings are much harder! I've lost track of how many simulations I've run trying to get the water in the pool to behave at this point. And they each take hours. Getting closer though! As soon as I have something to show, I will. Couple or 3 days?
2023-08-14 03:09:30 +0000 UTC View Post