Beetlebomb - Animation Progress Update 2!
infoAbout This Title
Good evening, everyone!
I come to you today with the next big update to the Samus animation project! (And a bit of a ramble. See below, if you dare!)
Please sit back and enjoy the juicy previews while I share a bit of insight into what goes into making this piece come to life.
BEFORE you continue, I want to preface that NONE of the actual growth has been added yet. I've been working tirelessly to get the movements to feel more natural, and the plan is to add the actual growth portions in AFTER. A lot of manual sculpting is necessary, so applying those to an unfinished motion would be a pain to redo later! So if you're watching these and thinking "I expected more growth." That's because there will be. A lot more! ;)
Poses, Poses, and More Poses!
What you see in the timeline are 1,782 unique poses needed to complete the Blockout portion of the animation. Every expression and bone in her body is keyed to make her come to life.
Animation Details Are Emerging!
Things are progressing well! The believable weight of her dumbbells, the secondary motion of her arms due to her center of gravity... all of it is necessary to help make the animation not feel stiff and unnatural. And, as a returning animator, this has been the hardest part! So much polish is necessary to make this all feel real. So much to do, and so little time...
A Little Jiggle, Anyone?
For the final animation I intend to use jiggle physics to accomplish the sumptuous bounciness, but manually keying them has an amazing effect on the 'greater' movements I'm envisioning. And we haven't even gotten to the growth yet!
Crazy Complex Movements!
Since the last preview, this frantic balancing act has gotten a lot smoother. Can you tell? But... I can't help but feel like I've bitten off more than I can chew. What the heck was I thinking, adding these exaggerated fast movements into Part 2?! I only JUST got back into animating and I'm already attempting this?! That said, I think it came out great, but the sheer amount of polish necessary to get this over the finish line is going to be immense. Not to mention this next one...
Asymmetrical Growth, Anyone?
If you're a fan of asymmetrical growth, like me, then this animation is going to be right up your alley! As discussed at the top of the post, I'm only really scaling the rear end bones here to get an idea of what the final sizes will roughly look like. Please don't think that this ugly semicircle-of-a-booty is the final shape!
So What's the ETA, Beetlebomb? Tell Me Everything!
I have a bit of a story to tell here, so if you want the TL;DR, scroll to the bottom. Otherwise, I’d like to break down what I have to say in a bit more detail. If you’ll humor me. :)
I want to make it crystal clear that I’ve been pouring my heart and soul into this animation. If I were a better, more experienced animator, I would have already finished it on time during my 2-week deadline. But reality is a cruel, cruel mistress…
To give myself a little credit, the scope of the project unexpectedly grew (teehee!). I aimed for a 24-second clip and ended up blocking out over a minute. This wasn’t because I wanted to torture myself. Quite the contrary. I honestly believe the best content comes from a place of passion, and when I was brainstorming Part 2 I had so many ideas I wanted to bring to life. At the time I was convinced it couldn’t be more than 24 seconds. Remember, I had just finished Part 1 (a roughly 24-second clip) on a 1-week deadline. Coming out of that, I felt ready to tackle the same thing with twice as much time. Less stress, better delivery window. Or so I thought.
The reality was that the movements, the actions, and the amount of growth I planned all added up to a level of complexity I wasn’t prepared for, even for a video of equivalent length. On top of that, what I had interpreted as 24 seconds was actually triple that. So I was stuck with a project that was both more complex and much longer than my estimations… by far.
Why not just make it shorter? Why keep pushing? First of all, I only recently realized the full predicament. I finished the first phase in two days. Two days! That first animation preview post was the result. It didn’t feel too bad because I churned through those 64 seconds like they were nothing. I was in the mental space of “Okay, this is longer than I anticipated, but I got a lot done in two days. I can do this, and the fans will be happier with a longer animation!”
It wasn’t until I entered Phase 2 (“Splocking”) that the large gaps between frames stopped being easy. I needed subtle movements, expressions, follow-through, momentum, inertia, the works. I worked tirelessly on a portion of it, trying to make it play back smoothly. It took me three or four days to realize I couldn’t get it to look natural at all. I had hit my first real wall. It didn’t make sense how I could finish so much in two days and then struggle to complete 50 frames (roughly two seconds) in four days. I started thinking that if things kept going this way I was going to quit animating altogether and chalk it up to not having an eye for it. “Maybe I’m just meant to do comics…”
I talked to a friend who had recently finished schooling for 3D animation. He explained that my approach for Phase 2 isn’t the typical one. It’s something some animators (like him) prefer. I had misunderstood his workflow as gospel from an earlier conversation. The more popular approach is known as “Blockout Plus.”
It’s a bit technical, but animations are usually built in constant interpolation first (think flipbook or Claymation). Only later do they move to spline interpolation (the smooth, finished look of a Pixar film). I had jumped to spline way too early. Since I was struggling just to smooth 50 frames, I dropped back to constant interpolation and adopted Blockout Plus.
It instantly clicked. Suddenly I could flip through the frames and picture exactly what was happening. I knew where her hand needed to be on frame 18 and where she needed to land by frame 35. If I was off by a bit, it was simple to offset the whole pose a few frames and keep going. I was back on track and ready to dig in. I was going to overcome the 1,800 frames of content in front of me! Yay!
That was two weeks ago, which is why we have the “Animation Progress Update 2!” post today. Blockout Plus is about 90% complete in constant interpolation (the flipbook-like state you can see above). I tried switching back to spline just for fun and there are still a lot of problems left, not to mention the missing growth, physics, lighting, expressions, camera movements, sound, thumbnail, and special effects that still need to be made.
So circling back: why didn’t I cut the animation shorter? Because I was too naive to know it was too long until I was already deep into it. And now, with where the animation is at, I owe it to you all and to myself to see this through to the end. I have no doubt it’s going to be amazing, but I needed to write this out so you know where my headspace is at. I need to get this done, and it has to be done correctly.
I’m truly unkind to myself whenever more than a week goes by without a Patreon post. The daily mental anguish and the sacrifices to my freedom just to squeeze out more work time are definitely unhealthy. I don’t want to continue down that path. I’ve thought long and hard about how to avoid this happening again, and I think I’ve finally locked onto the solution.
I’m too ambitious. I’ve learned a lot about animating and about scope creep. I always discover new and exciting ways to push what I deliver even further. That’s the crux of why, when I first started this hobby (now my full-time job) back in 2020, I could run three active comics and push out 16 new renders a day without a care in the world. Why does it take me three to five days to make a six-panel update now? Because I’ve honed the craft. I care about quality. I know what it takes to get good lighting and expressions. I’ve moved to Blender and render in multiple passes. I spend days in Photoshop cleaning things up. I draft, review, edit, and review again until the writing is solid. Before, I’d just sit down and throw whatever came to mind onto the page. Now there are real plots, character personalities, and Progress Card metrics to keep track of.
I won’t allow my ambition to control my life anymore. I want to be real with you all. I need to be able to step outside, go to a restaurant, breathe some fresh air, and not feel guilty that I’m not investing that moment into work. I love my job and I love you guys. I want this to be something I can pour my heart into for the rest of my life, but it has to be a healthy relationship. This is part of learning what that path looks like. I’ve seen so many amazing creators, my good friends, fade away from burnout, and I don’t want to be another one.
TL;DR:
I had two realistic timelines. On one hand, if I focused exclusively on the animation I could probably get it to an amazing finished state by August 28th. But that’s not the reality. I have an obligation to keep producing content throughout the month. My Molecular Makeover fans are starving for another update (Chloe growth moment, anyone?), and I need to produce some quality extras and premium panels too.
So after everything that’s been said, I humbly ask that you give me more time for the animation. I want to periodically break off from it every other week to do story updates and extras until the animation is done, then return to our regular Monday/Friday schedule. I hope that sounds good? It’ll take longer this way, but at least there will be content (and previews!) along the way.
By the way, I made a new banner. You like? :)In Conclusion
I know I wrote a lot here. For those of you who needed the extra detail, that’s basically my heart laid out on a platter, lol! It was pretty therapeutic for me too. Even if most of you happen to skim through it, just knowing it’s out there publicly feels really good.
So what’s coming next? A few really high-quality individual renders (leave a comment if you’ve got any SUPER sexy ideas in mind, I’m all ears!), since I need at least one for a big announcement I’ve got coming up. After that I’ll knock out a small Molecular Makeover update (2-4 panels), and then it’s back to the animation. I’ll keep switching between the animation and story updates/extras every other week until it’s finished. Phew!
Thank you, as always, for the incredible support and understanding.
You guys are the best!
Good evening, everyone!
I come to you today with the next big update to the Samus animation project! (And a bit of a ramble. See below, if you dare!)
Please sit back and enjoy the juicy previews while I share a bit of insight into what goes into making this piece come to life.
BEFORE you continue, I want to preface that NONE of the actual growth has been added yet. I've been working tirelessly to get the movements to feel more natural, and the plan is to add the actual growth portions in AFTER. A lot of manual sculpting is necessary, so applying those to an unfinished motion would be a pain to redo later! So if you're watching these and thinking "I expected more growth." That's because there will be. A lot more! ;)
Poses, Poses, and More Poses!
What you see in the timeline are 1,782 unique poses needed to complete the Blockout portion of the animation. Every expression and bone in her body is keyed to make her come to life.
Animation Details Are Emerging!
Things are progressing well! The believable weight of her dumbbells, the secondary motion of her arms due to her center of gravity... all of it is necessary to help make the animation not feel stiff and unnatural. And, as a returning animator, this has been the hardest part! So much polish is necessary to make this all feel real. So much to do, and so little time...
A Little Jiggle, Anyone?
For the final animation I intend to use jiggle physics to accomplish the sumptuous bounciness, but manually keying them has an amazing effect on the 'greater' movements I'm envisioning. And we haven't even gotten to the growth yet!
Crazy Complex Movements!
Since the last preview, this frantic balancing act has gotten a lot smoother. Can you tell? But... I can't help but feel like I've bitten off more than I can chew. What the heck was I thinking, adding these exaggerated fast movements into Part 2?! I only JUST got back into animating and I'm already attempting this?! That said, I think it came out great, but the sheer amount of polish necessary to get this over the finish line is going to be immense. Not to mention this next one...
Asymmetrical Growth, Anyone?
If you're a fan of asymmetrical growth, like me, then this animation is going to be right up your alley! As discussed at the top of the post, I'm only really scaling the rear end bones here to get an idea of what the final sizes will roughly look like. Please don't think that this ugly semicircle-of-a-booty is the final shape!
So What's the ETA, Beetlebomb? Tell Me Everything!
I have a bit of a story to tell here, so if you want the TL;DR, scroll to the bottom. Otherwise, I’d like to break down what I have to say in a bit more detail. If you’ll humor me. :)
I want to make it crystal clear that I’ve been pouring my heart and soul into this animation. If I were a better, more experienced animator, I would have already finished it on time during my 2-week deadline. But reality is a cruel, cruel mistress…
To give myself a little credit, the scope of the project unexpectedly grew (teehee!). I aimed for a 24-second clip and ended up blocking out over a minute. This wasn’t because I wanted to torture myself. Quite the contrary. I honestly believe the best content comes from a place of passion, and when I was brainstorming Part 2 I had so many ideas I wanted to bring to life. At the time I was convinced it couldn’t be more than 24 seconds. Remember, I had just finished Part 1 (a roughly 24-second clip) on a 1-week deadline. Coming out of that, I felt ready to tackle the same thing with twice as much time. Less stress, better delivery window. Or so I thought.
The reality was that the movements, the actions, and the amount of growth I planned all added up to a level of complexity I wasn’t prepared for, even for a video of equivalent length. On top of that, what I had interpreted as 24 seconds was actually triple that. So I was stuck with a project that was both more complex and much longer than my estimations… by far.
Why not just make it shorter? Why keep pushing? First of all, I only recently realized the full predicament. I finished the first phase in two days. Two days! That first animation preview post was the result. It didn’t feel too bad because I churned through those 64 seconds like they were nothing. I was in the mental space of “Okay, this is longer than I anticipated, but I got a lot done in two days. I can do this, and the fans will be happier with a longer animation!”
It wasn’t until I entered Phase 2 (“Splocking”) that the large gaps between frames stopped being easy. I needed subtle movements, expressions, follow-through, momentum, inertia, the works. I worked tirelessly on a portion of it, trying to make it play back smoothly. It took me three or four days to realize I couldn’t get it to look natural at all. I had hit my first real wall. It didn’t make sense how I could finish so much in two days and then struggle to complete 50 frames (roughly two seconds) in four days. I started thinking that if things kept going this way I was going to quit animating altogether and chalk it up to not having an eye for it. “Maybe I’m just meant to do comics…”
I talked to a friend who had recently finished schooling for 3D animation. He explained that my approach for Phase 2 isn’t the typical one. It’s something some animators (like him) prefer. I had misunderstood his workflow as gospel from an earlier conversation. The more popular approach is known as “Blockout Plus.”
It’s a bit technical, but animations are usually built in constant interpolation first (think flipbook or Claymation). Only later do they move to spline interpolation (the smooth, finished look of a Pixar film). I had jumped to spline way too early. Since I was struggling just to smooth 50 frames, I dropped back to constant interpolation and adopted Blockout Plus.
It instantly clicked. Suddenly I could flip through the frames and picture exactly what was happening. I knew where her hand needed to be on frame 18 and where she needed to land by frame 35. If I was off by a bit, it was simple to offset the whole pose a few frames and keep going. I was back on track and ready to dig in. I was going to overcome the 1,800 frames of content in front of me! Yay!
That was two weeks ago, which is why we have the “Animation Progress Update 2!” post today. Blockout Plus is about 90% complete in constant interpolation (the flipbook-like state you can see above). I tried switching back to spline just for fun and there are still a lot of problems left, not to mention the missing growth, physics, lighting, expressions, camera movements, sound, thumbnail, and special effects that still need to be made.
So circling back: why didn’t I cut the animation shorter? Because I was too naive to know it was too long until I was already deep into it. And now, with where the animation is at, I owe it to you all and to myself to see this through to the end. I have no doubt it’s going to be amazing, but I needed to write this out so you know where my headspace is at. I need to get this done, and it has to be done correctly.
I’m truly unkind to myself whenever more than a week goes by without a Patreon post. The daily mental anguish and the sacrifices to my freedom just to squeeze out more work time are definitely unhealthy. I don’t want to continue down that path. I’ve thought long and hard about how to avoid this happening again, and I think I’ve finally locked onto the solution.
I’m too ambitious. I’ve learned a lot about animating and about scope creep. I always discover new and exciting ways to push what I deliver even further. That’s the crux of why, when I first started this hobby (now my full-time job) back in 2020, I could run three active comics and push out 16 new renders a day without a care in the world. Why does it take me three to five days to make a six-panel update now? Because I’ve honed the craft. I care about quality. I know what it takes to get good lighting and expressions. I’ve moved to Blender and render in multiple passes. I spend days in Photoshop cleaning things up. I draft, review, edit, and review again until the writing is solid. Before, I’d just sit down and throw whatever came to mind onto the page. Now there are real plots, character personalities, and Progress Card metrics to keep track of.
I won’t allow my ambition to control my life anymore. I want to be real with you all. I need to be able to step outside, go to a restaurant, breathe some fresh air, and not feel guilty that I’m not investing that moment into work. I love my job and I love you guys. I want this to be something I can pour my heart into for the rest of my life, but it has to be a healthy relationship. This is part of learning what that path looks like. I’ve seen so many amazing creators, my good friends, fade away from burnout, and I don’t want to be another one.
TL;DR:
I had two realistic timelines. On one hand, if I focused exclusively on the animation I could probably get it to an amazing finished state by August 28th. But that’s not the reality. I have an obligation to keep producing content throughout the month. My Molecular Makeover fans are starving for another update (Chloe growth moment, anyone?), and I need to produce some quality extras and premium panels too.
So after everything that’s been said, I humbly ask that you give me more time for the animation. I want to periodically break off from it every other week to do story updates and extras until the animation is done, then return to our regular Monday/Friday schedule. I hope that sounds good? It’ll take longer this way, but at least there will be content (and previews!) along the way.
By the way, I made a new banner. You like? :)In Conclusion
I know I wrote a lot here. For those of you who needed the extra detail, that’s basically my heart laid out on a platter, lol! It was pretty therapeutic for me too. Even if most of you happen to skim through it, just knowing it’s out there publicly feels really good.
So what’s coming next? A few really high-quality individual renders (leave a comment if you’ve got any SUPER sexy ideas in mind, I’m all ears!), since I need at least one for a big announcement I’ve got coming up. After that I’ll knock out a small Molecular Makeover update (2-4 panels), and then it’s back to the animation. I’ll keep switching between the animation and story updates/extras every other week until it’s finished. Phew!
Thank you, as always, for the incredible support and understanding.
You guys are the best!
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