RTL chapter eight, “Summoning Magic” done!

Hey. Long story short, it’s been a pretty crappy past few days for a variety of reasons, and my street is still covered in 2-3 feet of snow as it still hasn’t been cleared. (EDIT: Ironically, an hour after I posted this the trucks came to clear the snow; I would have written this days ago if I had known that would happen.) I still have been getting headaches as well; both from the weather and from all sorts of shit in RTL 8 not working right. I haven’t had this many issues rendering a main set in a while, but for some reason the lighting in RTL 8 just was not behaving at all. My best guess is that transferring the scene from one machine to another completely messed with it somehow; I don’t know what else could cause two days worth of issues. I literally spent 3-4 hours earlier just trying to fix the lighting. The current lighting is still not what I was hoping for, but it will have to do since it’s the best I can get in this scene for some reason. I would have just made another scene had I known it would have this many issues at render time.

Even now, when the set is basically done, I still need to fix a few small issues in the last scene that I apparently missed on the previous renders, (I noticed the problems during postwork phase) as well as a few other minor things mostly related to the lighting. (I could leave it, but there is no reason not to fix it right now.) However, it has been long enough already so I am posting the previews now; I was not going to use any images from that late in the set for the previews anyway. I cannot give an exact image count of the set yet, (since the last scene needs to be redone a bit) but it is likely going to be 30-something images. [EDIT: Final count is 42 images, each with both clean and story versions.] It features Helenya the succubus “fighting” a magical summoned dire wolf. Below are two story and two clean preview images, I may make minor changes to one of them but I think these images are clear of the issues in the future scenes. I should have a preview of this month’s mini-set posted later this week.

Serious weather issues.

Hey. I am posting this as a small status update and heads up if I don’t post anything over the coming weekend. Today was my last day of physical therapy so hopefully that whole thing is done with; and for the most part I feel better most of the time so I think it probably is. (I hope.) However, this whole past week the weather has been shifting 30 degrees up and down between day and night temperatures, which trigger the weather/pressure related migraines that I have been getting all my life. I haven’t been able to work on this stuff realistically for more than a couple hours each day this week since staring at a screen just makes my head/eyes hurt even worse. (I have been planning through/writing some other things ahead though.) To top all this crap off, now we are expecting a blizzard of possibly record-breaking and/or historical proportions tomorrow and the next day on the US east coast; and I live right in the middle of where it is going to be worst. There have been all sorts of warnings and such about this; but the main one that concerns me is the possibility of losing power due to two feet of snow/wind/ice.

I mainly get the headaches when the weather comes and goes, but while it’s here I am generally fine; so I was hoping to get RTL 8 actually finished over the coming weekend. However, if the power goes out, I obviously have no way to do that. There is also the possibility that I get RTL 8 done but my internet goes out and I have no way to post the previews; essentially anything can happen here and there is no way for me to know until it happens, during which I may have no way of saying anything until after it is fixed. Long story short, I will do the best that I can, (without hurting myself further) as I always try to do; but my one issue has been traded for two others this week, and there is nothing I can do about this. In other news, more votes in the polls would be appreciated so that I have a better idea of what people want from this point forward; since as it stands people seem to just want story sets with some other kind of content on the side. That is totally fine and the poll is rather definitive in terms of votes right now as far as you all seeming to want the above, but there are aren’t that many votes in either poll; so things could still change. Thanks to all who voted though, I do keep the results from the polls in mind when making/planning future stuff.

Status update: 1/11

Hey. Just checking in quickly to note that I am still here and working on everything. My patrons know what to expect from this month’s mini-set and I am still working on RTL 8. Strangely my weekends recently have been busy though, so I haven’t had as much time to work on everything as I’d like. So I am still not totally sure when RTL 8 will get done, but I think I should have a fair bit of time in the next couple of days so we will see how much I can do. However, so far so good as far as my health goes, so things are as good as can be expected right now. (My previous shot wore off around a week ago and I can still move so I am definitely doing better.)

I also spent a few hours looking over the assorted VN-making/game-making stuff I was doing way back whenever; as mentioned in the last post. Just in case it didn’t sink in the first time, these polls are probably among the most important that there have been/will be for quite a while; as it lets me know what people want to see. (Or at least what the people who can read english and/or care enough to vote want, which is what matters.) I also updated my main Patreon page, as apparently the update that I thought I did last month didn’t save somehow.

Anyway, while looking though my old game stuff, I did manage to figure out one thing that had eluded me for weeks way back when I was trying to get a cg gallery working for my original game idea; which is something that I would also want any game I make to have. What I have coded here doesn’t make much sense to me, but it works somehow and that is really all that matters. Long story short, once I get over all this health crap (and get through all the other stuff in my backlog here, such as the short story contest winner renders, making some more stuff for DA, and posting commission info) things are looking good for me do to any and/or most of the things in the one poll. However, I need to know what people want most in order to know what to work on; right now it seems most people prefer my story sets and yet most people also want me to do the two-month plan for additional types of content and less story sets; which doesn’t make much sense. Yes, I realize that I haven’t actually made any full games yet; but given all my released story sets, it shouldn’t be too hard to imagine that in an interactive format. I also realize that people may just currently prefer my story sets but want to see something else as well, but the current results still seem strange. Total votes right now are also rather low, given the high importance of the poll; so check out the polls on the right if you haven’t already.

EDIT 1/15: I got a bit done, but this week was the last one for my twice a week sessions for physical therapy; so after this is when it gets interesting. So far so good, but I do not want to jinx anything; this weekend should be clearer than the previous ones so I will see how the next few days go.

New year, new polls, new plans?

Hey again. Happy new year and all that, if it is a bit late. I had a horrible weekend or I would have posted sooner. Anyway, two new polls are up now which relate to two of the things in the title of this post, but more on that in a bit. Before that, let me review the old polls. One poll asked what type of VN people preferred and most people definitely wanted the standard VN and/or a choose-your-own adventure style VN over the other choices. This is fine, as those were my top two choices/options anyway and will likely happen whenever I can get to that. The other poll was less productive; it asked what type of animation people wanted to see. Votes were low in both polls, but unfortunately this poll was one vote away from a complete three-way tie. So unfortunately I have no real direction in the animation department; but I will likely do at least one more basic walking animation before trying anything more complex. (No guarantees though.)

So all of this leads me to the next main point, and that is the idea I have been considering recently; about keeping my current two-month per main set schedule even once I get over all this health related crap just to give myself time to make other types of content. Since I can do more complex things now, and/or just make animations at all, I could use the offset month to make animations and/or some type of VN/game content. As I have mentioned before, making any type of game or even just working on a game would take time and effort that I used to not give myself back before this whole health fiasco started. I used to try and get out one story set per month back when I could actually work more; but that left no time for anything else.

As things have gone recently, I have needed two months to make a set just due to my physical limitations, which I am desperately hoping are soon coming to an end. So that hopefully being the case, I now have to consider whether or not to try and resume my old schedule in a couple months, or if I should keep things as they are and do other things as well. So the two polls up now are your way of possibly helping me decide this. One poll asks what your favorite type of content is, and the other asks whether or not you agree with my two-month per main set plan. (I.E. One month for making animations, working on games or whatever else, and the second month for the main set; then repeat.) Votes in these polls are rather important and would be greatly appreciated; though unless there is some strange outpouring against it, I currently plan to do the two month thing.

In regard to RTL 8, I am still working on it; but I have a terrible habit of going back to add/fix things which makes it take longer. (And as noted earlier, the past few days have been horrific and totally unproductive.) Also this is the first of what will surely be a few awkward transition sets in terms of me getting used to my new hardware. So just know that this set will not necessarily look like that much of an improvement compared to previous sets, as the main scene was made on my old computer and it seemed too good to throw out by the time the new one was ready. I have used this limited, old machine to make renders for almost nine months now and this new computer will take some getting used to, as many of my old limitations are now substantially higher than before; so I have to get back into my old mindset of actually creating larger scenes and more complex images, which I had been unable to do previously in Octane.

RTL 8 delayed until January; Happy preemptive New Year!

Hi again. As the title says, I have had to delay RTL 8 until next month due to too much lost time this month due to both making my new computer earlier in the month and now having physical therapy twice a week. (The holidays didn’t help either.) It is also nearing the end of the effectiveness time for the shot in my back which may leave me in crippling physical pain again; so there is no way to know when RTL 8 will get done, but sometime in January for sure I would think. Naturally this will push back everything else that I had planned next month, such as the images for the winning contest entries and another thing; but that can’t really be helped at this point. We will just have to see when I can get this done and how it all ends up working out; but theoretically people wanted monsters, so this should be worth the wait. Hopefully all this physical therapy and stuff will pay off in the long term and help me get over this annoying pain in my back and be able to work on things properly again. In other news, Happy late Holidays and Happy early New Year!

RTL 8 public early preview!

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Hi again, happy holidays and a happy new year to all of you! Here is an updated early public preview of RTL 8. It should be fairly obvious what is likely to happen based on the image here, but as mentioned a while back; the working title for this chapter is “Summoning Magic”. The set features Xan, Helenya, and at least one of Xan’s many magic summons. I also did not give away too much in the tags for this post this time to keep some things a surprise for when the set is done. As mentioned in the last post, I am still not totally sure when that will be; I am still hoping for the end of the month, but that is seeming less and less likely. (I have been busy with the holidays and physical therapy twice a week among other things.)

I will do the best that I can as I always try to, but I do not want to compromise the quality of the set just to get it done faster/on time and/or hurt myself in the process. As I mentioned to my Patrons, I likely should have delayed this month’s main set due to the massive technical upgrade that I went through earlier this month; and I may still have to do that if this doesn’t make a lot of progress in the next few days. I do have a fair bit of spare time in the coming days though, so anything is still possible. As I think I mentioned here before, all of these assorted delays should pay off in the long run; either by getting me back in shape to work on things more or by getting used to me newer machine to make better/fancier stuff. It will obviously take a few sets for me to get used to/the hang of the new machine and it;s enhanced capabilities. Anyway, I will post again next week with news regarding RTL 8, and whether or not it will be done this month or next.

December Patreon mini-set done!

Hey. The December mini-set for my $15 and up patrons on Patreon is done and as decided in the vote that they had earlier this month, the set features James and Tabitha. The early Patreon preview image for RTL 8 has been posted as well; it will likely get posted here later this week sometime. I am still hoping to get RTL 8 done before the end of the month, but I have had a ton of crap to deal with this month between assorted health issues, more physical therapy and assembling/preparing my new rendering machine, so anything could still happen. However I think the time taken to work on/get the new machine was more than worth it as my rendering abilities have essentially doubled and the likelihood of things like animations and other content is now much higher than before. (Further testing is needed here to know for sure.) I can also make much more dense/populated images now, like the preview below thanks to the newer machine. If you want to get access to these Patreon mini-sets, early access to my regular sets, assorted other bonuses, or you just want to support my work and help me make more and/or better content, check out my Patreon page! https://www.patreon.com/redleatherart

Status update: 12/15

Hey. So I am a bit behind schedule due to a rough past two weeks in terms of physical health and other real life issues, but my new machine is now assembled and almost ready to use on renders. I just need to copy over all my files and transfer some other things and it should be ready. I plan to try and use it for the mini-set and/or RTL 8 preview that I hope to have done by the end of the week. I know there has been a bit of a lack of content recently, but if this works as it should it will more than make up for the delays since I won’t have nearly as many problems rendering anymore. (The general slowness of content recently is still almost entirely due to me not being able to sit for very long [if at all] most of the time which limits what I can do; and there still really isn’t anything more I can do about this.) The polls could use some more votes incidentally, so check those out if you haven’t.

EDIT 12/17: New machine is up and running; with only a few small issues related to porting over all my content that need fixing, it shouldn’t take that long. I am not sure if I will change what I was planning for RTL 8 or not; is is still early enough in the process that I could change it with minimal problems. (I waited to do much of it for this very reason; I was hoping that it would be ready a bit sooner.) However, this would likely push the set into next month a bit; but even that is not certain. I have been working with what little time I had this whole week getting this new computer all set up and working in the hopes that I could use it on this month’s content; but I am not sure I have the time left to do all that this month. The mini-set will have it and will definitely get done this month; the main set it will mainly depend on if I change my original plan or not, as well as my general available time due to my continued back issues. I am still hoping to get preview(s) of something up this weekend, I will do the best that I can to get that done; but I am doing somewhat better recently in terms of health and I do not under any circumstances want to mess up my back again now that it is doing slightly better. I am also trying to go to physical therapy twice a week now which leaves me in too much pain to work usually both the day of and the day after.

RLA first anniversary short story contest winners!

Hey! So it’s that time where I announce the winners of my first short story contest. First, I want to thank everyone who submitted an entry, and remind everyone to not take it personally if you did not win. I enter dozens of contests on DA and the like, and I have only won once. So if you did not win, please do not feel bad; there are always other contests. Also remember that all contest judging is subjective; everyone has likes and dislikes, but I tried to be as fair and objective as I could be here. Just to debunk a quick myth/common misconception here: I did not do this contest to get ideas for my image sets, I was doing it as a fun anniversary idea that required participation. I seriously have enough story arcs/sets lined up to keep my stuff going for years; this contest was just meant to be a fun chance for some of you to put your ideas forward.

Anyway, there were three entries that stood above the rest to me, using the criteria that I laid out on the contest page. So here are the top three with a short explanation of why I chose these entries. Just a reminder, first place gets ten-ish images, second place gets five-ish images and third place gets one (maybe two). Quick note here, when I posted the .rtf files, I did edit the entries to remove the non-story bits and put in the titles and authors names, so if I made a mistake somewhere please let me know and I will fix it as soon as I can.

First place: The Knight and the Naiad
by Derren Grathy; http://impregnationerotica.blogspot.com

The Knight and the Naiad

I chose this entry for first place chiefly because I felt it was the best written entry of those submitted. The overall story idea isn’t too original, but the characters and story are very well done and it should appeal to fantasy and couples fans, as well as fans of pregnancy stuff. Though the end of the main sex scene is a bit vague, but he did this on purpose to leave me a lot of creative/artistic room to do essentially whatever I wanted with this should it have won. (Which was nice of him.) So I will see what I can do with this whenever I can find the time to do the images for these entries.

Second place: Surrendering Her Body
by andi guinness; http://andiguinness.tumblr.com/

Surrendering Her Body

This entry got second place because it was a very well composed entry overall. Like the first place entry, this story idea wasn’t all that original either, however the entry did everything that I asked, and it got a lot of points for that. What got this entry second place was the fact that it was well balanced and well composed overall; which was the best thing to do to get as many points as possible according to the contest rules that I posted. It didn’t place first because I felt the first place entry was a better written story and I was a little weirded out by the possession thing, and there are some cheesy bits in the dialogue here and there. I am also not a huge futa fan, but I did not hold that against this entry; I mention this only to explain that this was not a bonus to me. The sex scene bits are well done though and cover the standard bases, and it will be interesting to see what I can make out of the things he wrote in here. As previously noted, this was well done overall. This entry should please futa fans.

Third place: Ambrosia of Fertility
by ammon17 http://affect3d.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=4800

Ambrosia of Fertility

The third place entry got a lot of points from originality. This was the only solo entry that I received, so it got a bunch of originality points for having the guts to even try that. I only referenced this option in one line in the contest rules, so it is nice to see that some people read though it all. This is essentially a solo/masturbation story and though there is no actual hardcore sex in it, it is well written and original. Bit of a surprise at the end of this one as well, so check it out.

So there you have it! Congratulations to all the winners and thanks again to everyone who submitted entries. As mentioned previously, the images for these entries likely won’t get done until next month or so as my back is currently acting up again, I have a lot of stuff to do this month, and I have to assemble my new machine later this week as soon as the RMA gets here. I have also sent out Patreon rewards for last month and hope to get a Patreon RTL 8 preview up something this weekend.

November polls review, new polls posted.

Hi again. So two new polls are up now, one asks which type of VN-like game idea you prefer most, and the other asks about possibilities for future animations. Keep in mind that the more complicated the item, the longer/less likely it is to happen overall. The animation I just posted was fairly easy to do because it is one character over a black background; there wasn’t much to complicate the render/animation process. Similarly, the more complex the VN idea, the longer it would take; much like my first game idea which would take a couple months of solid work, which is why I had to shelve it for the moment. (My new hardware may help this, but I don’t know yet; regardless, some sort of VN will almost certainly come first.) Previous polls discussion after the break.

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