Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't updated for quite a while, but unhappiness in the result of the Sakura I was making last month prompted me to start working on a completely new pipeline for my work. This involved
investing in new rendering software, looking at new programs to model in, and a non-stop learning tutorial/training cycle that is fortunately coming to an end very soon. The end result should be more detailed
and faster releases (finally) for Botanical, and (of course) better items for YOU to indulge in 
(I do realize that 'non-stop' and 'coming to an end' don't look right together... I mean that the last month has been non-stop) 
That's fantastic! BTW, did you see the materials viewer has been released (beta). it will be amazing on trees.
Hey DamienFate! Yeaaah I finally found out. I didn't realize that the newsfeed on our SL pages wasn't ALL the news (or that we can't pick and choose
) so I didn't hear for a couple days
) so I didn't hear for a couple days
It came out some time on Monday I believe, either way I hope your pipeline allows for normal + spec maps 
The texture formats threw me for a minute or two, until I read the wiki and realized that they were using the normal alpha channel for glossiness and the specular texture was specular color with the alpha for
specular levels... I'm glad they worked those in
You know, I didn't actually look. I've been too busy this week to do much but a quick test on monday 
I didn't even notice that
I didn't even notice that
So that's awesome
making spec and normals has always been part of my pipeline, even though we could never use them, simply because I've always rendered items to preview them as I work... glad I can finally being those in (soon)
\o/
well, I was explaining to someone else what tangent space normals and specular was, in regular 3D, then had to go back and say "OK, but you need to plug this in 'here' and that in 'there' for SL"
LEARN FASTER! You know just kidding... or am I!? Can't wait to see new things!
Can't wait to see new things!
Wildstar
says
welcome back 
YOU ARE MAGIC, BEARDY
I'm pretty excited what took me a week to do late last year for the fir trees now takes me about an hour, and if I got as fast as the people I'm learning from, would take about 5 minutes, literally. sheesh
not there yet though... I'll take an hour over a week
sup man!
of course, that puts the sakura still a month or so late, but it was an investment for the future, oh wells
so, this means you could have grass that has a bit of shine to it? GLAUCOUS LEAVES?
most definitely! I doubt that it will be on any releases (outside baked into the diffuse textures) for the next few releases until they get materials into the main release, though
Didn't the sakura have four seasons of textures though? SO not too late
well, my standard 5 season (have to include bare without snow)
One program will never give you a total solution though... right now my pipeline uses 4 programs, each good at specific things and none of it "automatic", which is why the learning process is so extended.
in the end, it's always down the the person designing to make sure that the end product is perfect. I'll do the extra work, and learn above and beyond, if it means that what I get to release to the public
satisfies my own standards. As much as the consumer will criticize a release, I am MUCH harder on myself
Having standards isn't a bad thing
newp newp, although it makes things... more prolonged I guess. I would rather not release something, than release it with regrets
Botanical
was
kind of worried when someone else released a 4 season cherry tree very recently, until I took a look at it. Then I was like... "Well, if that makes you happy".
Yeah... I would much rather sacrifice the time really get the vision of what I want, than settle for something easy
Artiste
sucks to cram this much learning into such a short time, though.
✴Sparkling✴
says
Excited to see the new product, what software did you switch to?
heheh wasn't so much switching to something different, as bringing more specialized software in to what I was already using.