🧵 Finishing shit
Anonymous at Mon, 5 Dec 2022 16:03:30 UTC No. 928602
I'd like to discuss a problem that I have had since I started this cursed hobby of doing 3D and it's about finish stuff.
I just can't fucking do it, after months and months and months (years actually) of doing a shit ton of tutorials on practically everything 3D but VFXs, I realised that I never finished a project.
Now I can confidently say that I can sculpt, model, retopo, rig, animate a character but I have literaly no example to show.
I'll sculpt a face and call it done when I feel it looks good enough and since I know what the detailing will be about, I'll simply not do it. I'll model something and once I feel I went far enough, same thing I won't finish it nor doing it's UV and textures.
Rigging and animating, same exact fucking thing, I'll get a random character from sketchfab or whatever, rig it. Then I'll pick an animation reference, put all the key poses maybe a few blending ones and I'll pass on the detailing phase. Same shit for Marvelous Designer and Houdini on a lesser extant. Made one piece of clothing once I got the hang of it, I never really touched MD. Houdini -> Made a few procedural assets then never touched it again. Worst thing is I have a project in mind wich lead me to learn all of these things but it's stuck bc of this problem.
I suddenly tought that maybe some of you used or are doing the same thing and wanted to discuss it.
Anonymous at Mon, 5 Dec 2022 17:02:54 UTC No. 928604
Is it really a problem, though? If it's a hobby and you have fun doing it, does it really matter if you have "finished projects"? Maybe your definition of a project is too vague to be practically achievable. There's always room for improvement, so a generic 3d project isn't ever finished until you say it is. Other than that, a 3d project is ever actually "finished" when you meet the goal you set for yourself, like replicating a random video using 3d models from start to finish, or making a working character/environment model for some sort of platform like sfm or vrchat or mmd or something.
I could say I'm in a similar boat, well I'm not that good to begin with so I can't exactly compare, but I'm constantly hoping to bring out enough motivation to "release" a whole bunch of original mmd models I've been silently working on for ages (pic is one of them, it's a really old project I'm currently polishing up to hopefully post some time in the near future) but I keep taking breaks and hopping from project from project that I feel I won't be done for a long time. But I don't dwell on it, since all it is, is a hobby to me. This is how I have fun.
the chair nerd at Tue, 6 Dec 2022 00:05:22 UTC No. 928647
>>928602
This is the only trick that actually works for finishing shit on time.
1.Set a deadline.
2. The state of the project on that deadline is the finished product.
Trust me that's how companies, pros the industry do it. There is no such thing as a finished product. If else ask General Motors.
Anonymous at Tue, 6 Dec 2022 00:23:17 UTC No. 928648
>>928602
What kind of fetish you like? I am not talking about disney shit but gacha shit, korean sex dolls akin to final fantasy or a korean MMO, furries, hentai, you name it. Sometimes you have to let the coom decide the direction of your project.
Anonymous at Tue, 6 Dec 2022 02:10:19 UTC No. 928661
posting in a cris thread
Anonymous at Tue, 6 Dec 2022 10:51:02 UTC No. 928695
>>928611
> implying I'm the only procrastinator (even if I hate this word) on this board
Kek
>>928647
Hmmm care to expand on this. How do you set those deadlines. Short or long ones? On specific tasks or on the project state. I think it's a good idea. I'm into gamedev.
>>928604
Yes it is. I started it as a hobby but I'd lie if I told you that I don't want to make money out of this hobby and I don't see anything wrong with that just so you know. I started all this to make games so if I'm not even able to finish assets, how will I ever finish a complete game.
the chair nerd at Tue, 6 Dec 2022 11:35:32 UTC No. 928698
>>928695
Well usually it's not me. It's my clients that set the final dealine but obviously I have to subdivide my work into tiny deliverables.
Take it as building. In order to reach the top you can go and set a deadline for each flight of stairs, those should be discriminated by dependency (you cant texture if you don't model). Dont jump to 4th floor.
As you define those steps you should the define what is the time assigned to each floor (ex 30% modelling, 5% lighting, 20% rigging etc).
Some floors can be done, should be done at the same time so work can fork into two streams of deliverables or more.
When you reach the top that should be version 1. Don't worry if it is not 'complete' because for all practical purposes it is.
Then try to set up your work so in each floor you have an elevator that lets you iterate on each floor without destroying the rest.
So think of version 1 as a finished product that may not be perfect but it works. Perfectionism will kill your workflow.
the chair nerd at Tue, 6 Dec 2022 11:42:33 UTC No. 928699
>>928698
Now take a big project as a series of buildings if they share design elements the plan ahead of time so you don't need the long route on each building. BUT even if you have two buildings that are 99% the same you must set a deadline for each building separately if you are only one person.
You cannot go two floors in different buildings at the same time, if the 4th floor in building A is the same as the 4th floor in building B the you should work on building A to set up an elevator to that floor.
Double work is the second workflow killer. A team can build several buildings at a time but not one person.
Hope my analogy wast too confusing.
the chair nerd at Tue, 6 Dec 2022 11:44:46 UTC No. 928700
>>928699
So if you plan in modelling several characters at the once then a character should not be a building but the first floor of one.
YNWIM
Anonymous at Tue, 6 Dec 2022 14:53:15 UTC No. 928713
>>928695
Honestly if your goal is to make games then don't waste time "planning" to make assets at this point. Make the game upfront using cubes and blender monkeys, and only then think about assets. Not only will you know exactly what you need, the bad case scenario is you fail to make assets yourself, and if so you can buy premade assets/get someone else on board once you have an actually working thing. Worst case scenario and you fail even programming the thing, at least you'd skip a poinless asset grind.
I'm sure the mental picture where you have just the right finished models as you program seems nice. But it's unrealistic, if only because you make assets to fit your game, not the other way around.
Another piece of obvious advice is to start programming right this second. Don't waste time picking the "most perfect" libraries and game engines and shit like that, grab the first thing that works and build on that. Try the first implementations that come to mind, don't put off work to go through some "full learning course" or something, if you NEED to learn something new then learn only what you need and move on. Good solutions come only from trying and failing, never planning.