Webcomic: Day 12

What I learned today

1. Since I needed to introduce a new character (a high mage) today, I thought I'd spend some time to make the character memorable and age them up. So I went back to a tutorial that did that, only to find that I didn't have the same controls. Turns out you need the $70 Essential Shapes bundle. Sadly, that would triple my budget for this project.
   
   (It's a great deal and you should pay for software, but it's not really necessary for what I'm doing and I'm on a budget. Clearly, I need a rich patron who wants to shell out cash for my useless projects. Oh well.)
   
   
2. Subtle changes need to be less subtle at this resolution & size. I opened the chest slightly in the first panel and put a spotlight inside. You can see it if you really look, but it's not as obvious as I thought it would be. This lesson will apply to book covers, so I'll try to remember this.
   
   
3. If only there was a live feed of me trying to get the high mage's expression right... :)
   
   Unlike the Genesis 8 figure (Ian), Genesis 9 doesn't come with default expressions (though I'm guessing they're in that Essential Shapes bundle). So I was trying to figure out how much nose flare and brow compression I needed to create a sneer. Basically, I sat there making faces at my monitor for ten minutes.
   
   (Then I rendered it and it doesn't really capture what I was trying to do. Oh well.)
   
   
4. I manually installed some free clothing and then spent a long time trying to figure out where it was in the program so I could use it. Note to self: the Content Library. Maybe there's some database that needs to be updated to get it to show up under Smart Content, but I couldn't figure it out. In any case, the high mage wasn't forced to wander around in a t-shirt and boxer shorts, so it's a win.
   
   
5. JFC, the lighting is going to kill me.
   
   

Outtakes

For some reason, hair doesn't show up on characters if you are outside the room looking through a window (at least in the working viewport — maybe it works correctly in the render). I assume that's a bug, but who knows?

Looking through the window

Inside the room