Monthly Update: July 2020
Since the release of Part I the second episode continues to progress at a very steady clip. While Part I was in the final stages of the edit, I was also working on the environment of Part II. The set for Part II was the first set I built for the project way back in the olden days, before the throne room set featured in the pilot. You can even see the original form of that set in the background of the pilot, if you look hard enough. However, I decided long ago that it was, as the expression goes, trash garbage, and in need of a do over. In all honesty it was fine, but being the first set I made way back in 2018 there was a lot that could be updated, as I had learned a lot of better texturing and detailing techniques since starting this project. And with the story getting expanded and the exterior built, the design needed to be updated to reflect its new surroundings. I also used the opportunity to add a new spin (pun intended, you’ll see), to an old set piece.
In the fervor I get into when it comes to updating and improving things, I decided to do something I told myself I wouldn’t do an revisit a small aspect of the main character’s textures. Watching the first episode, I noticed the seams of her jacket weren’t showing up very prominently. I decided rather than spend the rest of the series with less than ideal seam normals on her jacket, I went back into Substance Painter and touched those up to bring them out a bit. I also used the time to add a second coat of detailed normals to her jacket and other elements of her costume to have a crisper look for future close ups. I suppose one of the downsides to releasing the short in segmented form is if I become distracted by things like this and go to improve them between episodes, there will be a slight discrepancy. But when all the pieces are released I do plan on making a final all-in-one edit, so that’ll be the time to update the older episodes with any new stuff I gradually add in. And by that time UE5 will be released, and who knows what kind of visual improvements that might bring to it.
In terms of environment and animation, Part II is a far simpler episode than Part I. The set is less massive, and by extension less complex. The story beat is a little smaller and more straight forward, and the animation has, in terms of literal ground covered, less movement. The episode currently exists as about a dozen shots. As of this update about half of the episode is animated. At this pace it should only be a few more weeks before it’s completely finished. I also spent a good portion of the last couple weekends playing with some alternate angles and adding in a shot here or there. It’s always nice to explore, but ultimately I felt that the original animatic I had made was still the strongest option. I was able to find some better angles for a few beats in my tinkering, however.
Due to it being a little simpler I looked into the possibility of combining Part II and Part III together, but I decided it wasn’t the right choice. Part III is an incredible complex episode, requiring a new environment, 2 new characters to be made (one revised and one from scratch), along with a host of other little things. And that’s not even including animation, which is set to be very technical and demanding. Who knows how long that will take to make, and I’d much rather release the episodes in small bites than release a big, messy chunk. All in all, Part II is almost assured to be the easiest episode in this series. I optimistically expect it to arrive in the September/ early October window.
