Sarah B.

Just some duck who wandered in looking for bread crumbs. 3D Artist, Gamedev, and Musician. 26 - She/Her

[shutupsergeant]

I am Online

Shut Up, Sergeant Online

Personal website of Some Guy.

Because social media fucking sucks at most things: I made a personal website! I've been sitting on this for a while, finally decided to make it actually public. Big thanks to the lovely @sarahbduck for hosting!! (that means if it goes offline it's her fault teehee)

[sarahbduck]

Subscription for a Paintbrush

A painter might feel like a paintbrush is an extension of themselves, developing muscle memory and skill to create beauty. But what happens when that tool is owned by someone else, and they charge rent? What if they've decided to take it away from you? What if they've decided your art isn't yours?

As a 3D artist, I was professionally trained in using Autodesk Maya, a 3D modelling and animation application. I became really good with it, and grew to love it! I used it at work and at home for my own projects. It became muscle memory, an extension of myself, an organ for expression.

The full version of Maya is ludicrously expensive at CA$2,500 a year! So I had to settle for a cheaper version called Maya LT. It was missing some features, but I wasn't using them at the time so it worked out. I paid CA$360 a year for 3 years.

COVID struck, and I lost my job. I had to use savings to continue paying my license for an additional 2 years, yet in that time they provided no updates. I was just paying for access.

In 2022, Autodesk announced that Maya LT was being discontinued, replaced by a new version called Maya Creative. Instead of a subscription, you'd buy "tokens", spending one token for 24 hours of use. You could only buy tokens in bulk, the cheapest being 100 tokens for CA$405, and they expire after one year.

I've never seen such a predatory, disgusting pricing model for a piece of software. It's like an arcade machine! I thought subscriptions were bad enough! I refused to participate.

Despite spending nearly two grand, the tool I love is going to deactivate itself soon, and I don't have any say in it. It's bytes will still be on my computer, but it'll refuse to launch. Maya LT had a proprietary file format, so all of my projects will be unusable.

It feels like I'm losing a part of myself.

I feel like a fool for even letting this happen in the first place. I let myself become attached to a tool I didn't even own, run by a faceless corporation! My own art is being held hostage! How unfair! Should it even be called a tool, or a service?

I've been avoiding 3D art lately, focusing on programming and game development. My friends and I started working on a game in the Unity Game Engine. A couple months in, Unity's owners were saying and doing some unsavoury things, so we swapped to the Godot Engine. I feel incredibly lucky that we did because of the Unity drama that followed.

Unity wanted to start charging a fee for every user that installed your game. They wanted this to apply to every Unity game retroactively. This is obviously a stupid idea, and they walked it back, but it begs the question: Do you even own the game you developed? It seems like you don't.

I don't want to let myself fall into this trap again. I feel like we as artists form a personal relationship with our tools, and it shouldn't have to be an abusive one! I want to own my art and tools! That shouldn't be difficult as a digital artist! I've been recommended some proprietary subscription based "tools" by friends recently, and I refuse to use them. I won't let this happen to me again.

I'm going to use as much open source software as I can. Open source software is the only software you can truly "own". You have access to the code, and you can do with it as you please! It's often democratically run by the community! You can distribute it to your friends, and it's not piracy! There's a ton of excellent open source art software out there, and I encourage you to check it out!

Autodesk broke my heart. When I get back into 3D art, I'm going to be learning Blender.

[sarahbduck]

We've added a Venus Fly Trap! It tries to eat you, but if you bring it food it'll stop (for a bit)!

[sarahbduck]

You can play multiple notes on your instrument now! Harder to implement than you'd think!

[bathroomcube]

groovin

[sarahbduck]

Live at Strummer's Pond has Steam page!

Live at Strummer's Pond on Steam

Come for a visit to Strummer's Pond with your friends! It's a cozy place full of tiny musical critters. Explore, ride a frog, pollinate flow

Wishlist it! Our code name was Beepin' Buggers, but we've finally got a proper title!

[sarahbduck]

Beepin' Buggers is making great progress! We've got new particles, new day night cycle, all sorts of stuff.

Wishlist it on Steam!

[sarahbduck]

Hi!!!

[sarahbduck]

Me, my partner ribboncable, and my pal @shutupsergeant have been working on a comfy 3D platformer! Code named: Beepin' Buggers.

It takes place in a big pond, you ride a frog from level to level and play music! It's also fully multiplayer! I hope to devblog more over time.

EDIT: We're on Steam!

[sarahbduck]

Toxic Invaders - A PICO-8 Bullet Hell

A few months ago, me and my partner made a really awesome PICO-8 game! Ribbon did the artwork and SFX, and I did the coding and music. We're both super proud of it! We really deepened our bond working on it, it was so much fun.

It's free, and runs in a browser. You can play it on Itch, Newgrounds, or on the Lexaloffle BBS!

[sarahbduck]

Hello again!

After many years I think I'm gunna start using tumblr again! I've changed a lot since I've been gone. I'm a lady now (woah), and I've done some cool projects!

I'm currently best known for the Udon Bird Sanctuary, a VRChat map where you can feed ducks. Right now I'm doing some programming work and developing a cool game with my partner!

[sarahbduck]

Woah, it’s sure been a while!!!

I haven’t even visited this site in so long!!! I’m looking around at different places.

[sarahbduck]

This is Felix, a character I’ve been working on for a series idea.  He's a calm, sarcastic, yet very insecure monster fellow.

[sarahbduck]

Here’s a Character Design I did for class! His name is Adam.

He’s a relaxed, chill (but somewhat lazy) robot. He is reluctant to be around human strangers due to prejudice (robophobia?) that many people have against robots. He is one of the few robots who has free will, emotions, and isn’t working. His original creator died of mysterious circumstances, which gave him his freedom.

[sarahbduck]

The Garden of Eden

I did this for school. The assignment was to take a story that was over 100 years old, and make it steampunk. I chose “Paradise Lost” and changed Adam and Eve to robots. God in this story is the king of a floating steampunk city, and Adam/Eve are his creations. This scene is where Adam opens the apple to find knowledge within (on some sort of flash drive maybe?)

[sarahbduck]

NEON VALLEY

A Wallpaper I created in Blender!

[sarahbduck]

Here’s some drawings I did!