But first a bit of history…

What you see above are a bunch of 2D trees I’ve been using and abusing for a long long time now. I use them in my sketchup scenes whenever possible and it is very good decision because it make my scenes look good  and being 2D they are just one plane so very low poly count but…

Problem with 2D trees is that they are flat objects in 3D world so if you turn on the shadows you can quickly see the problem immediately.

So for a long time I used this really clever but depressing method of hiding the source of imperfection by hiding the base of the trees behind walls, structures, other plants and shrubs or make sure they are offscreen.

It works but this severely limits what scenes I can do which makes UNCLE MUGEN really sad…

Of course, there are 3D trees in Sketchup but chances are the poly count quota for the leaves alone is enough to model a whole town in sketchup. A single tree alone is enough to slow or even hang a low end unit and even if you have a high end unit that can accommodate such polycount intensive resource they don’t quite look anime’ish enough for use with OELVN (visual novel) backgrounds.

So UNCLE MUGEN comes up with a clever solution because UNCLE MUGEN is very smart. Let us combine 3D tree trunks with low poly 2D leaves. I am genius!… not only does it look somewhat OK for use with OELVN (aka Visual Novels) it is low poly count enough that I can put a whole forest of it without worrying too much that it will make machines all over the world crash… and best thing of all… I can now do scenes that I wasn’t able to do before using 2D trees… like scenes where the base of the trees are visible…

Anyway, this is just the first. it doesn’t look good right now but we’ll get better. As always, UNCLE MUGEN is releasing this for everyone to enjoy. You can download it HERE in the Sketchup 3D warehouse… more to come!

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Of course along the way we have to do things by trial and error and sometimes we end up with a few test BG’s that are byproduct of the experiments. Some of them are good enough to be used in a project and it would be a shame it I just discard them right?… So I quietly compiled them in a nice little thread that is being updated regularly where I post them backgrounds together with other resources like frameworks and sketchup models for everyone’s use.

Terms are pretty lax… anything goes FREE to use, modification is OK , even OK to be used in commercial projects… just say hi to me Uncle Mugen when used…

To visit the thread click HERE

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Perhaps some have noticed my lack of activity here in the blog. Rest assured my friends… I’m still pretty much alive and active behind the scenes but I have decided to limit release on all my OELVN (and other related) projects. There are several good reasons for doing so but let’s just say one of them is superstition related but I can give several hints on current projects running and completed ones that I haven’t had time to release properly (due to lack of music)…

Project 1 = (Technically Complete) Hammer and a Girl

Project 2 = 2 Twin Girls and some foreigner from the Netherlands…

Project 3 = (Almost Complete) Mushrooms and Explosive Diarrhea

Project 4 = (Technically Oh-Hold) Rock, Scissors, Paper and a few naked girls

Project 5 = Meddlesome Uncle

Anyway, that is all for now… I truly wish I can reveal more but I was advised not to do it and I must adhere strictly to our plan even though for an attentionwhore like me it is trully painful…

;_;

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Just pretend it’s a Macrophage floating in some liquid stuff…

I hate to say this but I have pretty much exhausted and perfected everything I needed to produce “decent” looking BG’s using Sketchup and Photoshop. I have streamlined the process to the point that making a typical urban BG from scratch takes about 1 hour (sans rendering time) and another 20 minute or so for post processing. It’s so efficient to the point that it is now pretty much boring. Sure, it still doesn’t look as good as hand drawn BG’s but hey… instant BG… you can’t complain…

Despite the simplified 2 tone shading it still took me 8 hours to finalize this sprite and that contradicts my Quick, Cheap and Efficient way of doing things.

Unfortunately, drawing sprites and CG’s is still something that I still need to take care of manually. For those who are following me, you are very much familiar now that I put more emphasis on Speed, Efficiency and Quantity over Quality… and I have no choice… I’ve been working solo on my projects most of the time and unless I found myself willing collaboratives who can share my vision… I foresee that this will be the case in the future. It seems, I need to move on to 3D too when it comes to Character Sprite and CG Event Creation if I wanted to maximize what little time I have. Besides, focusing too much on producing quality OELVN’s is pretty much not on my interest since I don’t profit from them but rather do them for personal satisfaction and the sooner I can produce content the better for me so I can soak in all the feels… another thing is I no longer have the luxury of sitting down in one spot for half a day drawing something. That is no longer possible for me. So the quicker I learn how to accomplish this, the better…

Even the Japanese is slowly reverting to 3D characters. Efficient and can be done and edited cheaply and still look anime enough if done correctly.

Unlike Sketchup and Scenery, Organic Modeling is pretty much alien territory to me. I am raised and trained in AutoCAD and relying too much on Sketchup that I pretty much ignored other 3D modeling software and mastered only what I think I will be needing to accomplish things and that turned out to be a pretty bad decision leaving me unprepared for organic modeling.

It’s not like I’m running around without a plan. I have a pretty much straightforward agenda that goes like this…

● FAMILIARIZE with the TOOLS

● LEARN how to EFFICIENTLY MODEL basic organic things

● LEARN how to EFFICIENTLY MODEL anime styled CHARACTER

● LEARN how to TEXTURE and BAKE MAP anime style

● LEARN how to RIG

And that’s pretty much what I needed to learn to accomplish the task I needed to do. Anything else will be useless for I don’t intend on doing anything else other than the task I am currently focused on and that is replace Sprites and CG’s with 3D.

This will be a long and bumpy road. Who knows how far I can get… oh well…

So here is Ren’py Date Simulator, The Game (not again)… a tiny VN based around the demo VN included in Ren’py released back in 2011… Unfortunately, the rush to finish it before the end of the year left me with some lingering regrets and questions like what could I have done to make it better but still within my cheap, fast and efficient way of doing things… the amount of regret is so much I haven’t uploaded the game on the Ren’py archives yet.

I know, I know… this is beating a dead horse… again and again… but I’m doing this to achieve a desired result. Right now I know next to nothing about Ren’py screens and boxes and widgets and so on so I’m not gonna touch the underlying Date Simulation Framework. That leaves me with Graphics and GUI as the only things feasible for an update.

So let start with the BG’s… time and time again I am preaching the advantages of creating BG’s using Sketchup. Everyone frowns about it but hey… it works! And I’m gonna use it… Nearly 2 years later, my methods have streamlined and improved so much, I’m beginning to think some of my BG’s are really hovering close to professional VN quality… minus the hard work and effort… but there are times that the renderer I’m using (Twilight Renderer) doesn’t behave the way I wanted it to be resulting in BG’s that are borderline almost life-like which is a big NO-NO in OELVN… all of that despite all my initial efforts to make sure it doesn’t come out that way.

Another thing I need to note is my ever changing style that is dictated by how lazy / busy I get. I gave up a long time ago on becoming the best artist / illustrator out there and instead focus on making as much money as I can before I reach retirement age. And especially now that I’m plagued with several ailments, one of which is destined to eventually get me, I must make use of my remaining time more efficiently. So I resorted to simplistic anime styled two tone that changes from time to time depending on my mood and dictated by how lazy / busy I get.

Click image to view larger image

Which is kinda interesting how much the characters have evolved from the initial release to their now current form. I also decided to focus on what I think looks good instead of trying to be as close as possible to the original source look. So I throw everything out of the window (like I always do) and decided to give her a much more slender looking but less complex hair. I also give her more meat and muscle despite being the timid one and I also increase the mass of those two things in her chest. The tie is now gone and is replaced by a ribbon which is looking better and the skirt is now plaided…

OK last preview… I think I’m beginning to miss those painkillers now…

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So here we have this image of Anime Styled School Building…

NaNoRenO?… Again not this time. Instead, I’ll continue talking about the ongoing retrofitting of that old sketchup building I released a while ago which can be downloaded HERE.

In the previous thread while in the middle of the retrofitting. I received several suggestions from teresamanco on improvements like more access to disabled, gentler stair steps, railings and access ramps. Aesthetic-wise, the changes made to accommodate disable friendly improvements made the building look interesting but for a contractor, it was a total nightmare. Lesson learned here.

We also made the stairs wider so no crowding in case of fire induced stampede. Same thing with the fire exits. They are now gentler and wider and doors open both ways with really loud alarm siren to help people find way to fire exit.

The lobby is now wide, and high ceiling. Very inviting with chairs for those who are waiting and LED screen to display school and government propaganda.

Unfortunately, to save file size, we have to eliminate accurate electrical paths and pretend it is hidden in the ceiling. Same thing with ventilation. But it is good news now we can has Florescent lamp embedded in ceiling.

We also added more details in gates and is marked by colors so you can tell which gate is red, green or blue. Also, Disable Friendly because of access ramp.

Also added a bunch of bench around the building for social interaction and place where students can sit when they are tired.

The classrooms also get a boost in details with more objects and chairs and tables not arranged properly.

The comfort room is also not neglected. It has everything you need in toilet.

Of course, most anime themed school building had this rooftop where every VN character obligatory goes to at least once in their lifetimes. We made it look interesting by adding benches and plants to contrast the ugly air-condition units and big water tanks.

Again, the cabinets, doors, windows and everything are interactive. Giving you maximum flexibility.

Not every room is created equal, some are small, some are big and some are just plain weird… like the one below… it is full of chairs and tables and no apparent purpose…

Anyway, to give you complexity of this project…

Last preview for now… hope you enjoy my English XD

Like every single free resource from UNCLE MUGEN, this is free for use on whatever purpose it may serve you best, even OK for commercial use, may it be on OELVN creation or anything else but may I humbly request you credit me and say hi to me when you use it…

OK… That is all for now… you can download it HERE in Google 3D warehouse… again be warned, it is big and complex file so it is recommended for you to have very good machine…

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