Hey! Sorry to bother, but about the grand occult baking championship, are you still working on that project or did you abandon it entirely? It’s fine either way, just curious!
I am actively working on it! I'm about halfway done with the writing, and maybe a quarter of the way through the renders.
For most of this year, I haven't been able to write anything funny. I'm finding my sense of humor again, and I've been able to make progress! Unfortunately I'm an extremely slow writer 😅 If I do end up abandoning the project, I'll post a summary of the desserts/winners/losers, since I have those planned out.
I don't know much about lighting - GOBC looks great because my guy works in live production and lighting big sets for broadcast is part of his job. He was kind enough to draw me a diagram of how he would light my kitchen if he'd been hired for my show.
that is how I went from this:
to this:
he's good :D
He told me to build a grid of 80W area lights 5m up and 4m apart. The horizontal lights are 120W and located 3.5m up. I don't have lights over the windows because I do actually have "natural" (magical?) light coming in from outside. Without the windows the lights would've been evenly spaced along both walls. The light over the judges' table is 160W instead of 80W. He also helped me adjust the strength of the world background (the Realm): 5 ended up working out well for me.
sidenote: it's crazy that I was able to pretty much directly translate the diagram he drew into blender to get the effect he wanted to achieve. he knows nothing about blender. that says a lot, about both his understanding of lighting and Blender's ability to realistically render light.
My original setup had 5 400W area lights: 1 over each station and 1 over the judges. not great. in addition to more lights, he also had me add a ceiling to block outside light so I'd have more control over the stage. the result?
episode 2 is actually 4 teams of 2, but psh. I just got done redoing everyone's models and I wanted to test them out :D i realize the only visible difference is that Elle has new shoes, but I also:
switched to the new 3D lashes - they cast pointy shadows and i keep freaking out thinking I'm looking at a mesh problem, but i do really like how they look in renders
put glass in Wolfgang & Celene's glasses because yes lmao those were just frames last time
fixed an issue with how Brandy/Caleb/Elle's hair attaches to their models so now they don't get random holes in their foreheads, as well as a mesh issue for Morgyn/Caleb causing weird pits in their cheeks.
fixed an issue with Brandy's mesh sometimes causing her apron to clip through her pelvis
cut Elle's nails short because she became a violinist in a recent save I did and violinists can't have long nails
still making adjustments to Morgyn, Elle, and Emilia - their makeup doesn't always render the way I'd expect in blender, with Morgyn's lipstick and Elle's blush giving me the most trouble.
Been having some trouble writing episode 2 (hot damn I write slow) so I’ve started with renders. I’m trying out some small adjustments to the models - fixed some mesh issues I was having with Caleb and Elle’s hair, switched over to the new eyelashes, etc. I need to make some makeup adjustments to account for lighting changes (like Elle's blush looks weird) but all in all it feels great to be working on these sets again.
the grand occult baking championship || episode 1.12 - final confessionals!
gotta love Elle and Wolfgang bonding over their mutual desire to kill each other :D
first // prev
That's it for now, friends! Thank you so much for sticking with me through this. Your support an encouragement has meant the world to me, and I hope to continue making you laugh!
Episode 2 starts up in November. I will most likely have some interlude content (there's a lot going on outside the competition, and it's fair to assume that most occults are watching along). I'm also planning to participate in Simblreen, so keep an eye out for that!
Special thanks to @charsimsalot - you really helped me figure out exactly what kind of story I'm trying to tell, and I feel like I have a much clearer path forward, as well as a better handle on the characters. Your support means a lot to me.
I'd also like to give a huge shoutout to my fiancé. I get a lot of positive feedback on the lighting, but I can't really take credit for that - he works in live production, so I asked him to light my kitchen like he'd do at work. Every time anybody comments on the lighting, I immediately let him know "OMG PEOPLE ON THE INTERNET THINK YOU'RE GOOD AT LIGHTS" and he gets this cute little smile about it that I don't generally get to see.
gobc: final confessionals! 10/8/24 at 12pm pacific
first // latest
holy shit people - we've reached the episode 1 finale!!!! That's 12 entire parts omg!!! I honestly cannot believe we're here already. I'm so grateful to everyone who's been reading along with me!
After this, I'm going to take a break from the main story for a few weeks. In the meantime, I'm participating Simblreen, I'm catching up on renders, and I have some content exploring what's going on in the GOBC verse outside of the competition!
I do have a piece of very bad news for episode 2: Team Friendship Mischief is getting split up 😭😭😭😭😭 With 8 bakers remaining, they'll be working in teams of 2 for the next challenge. As a vampire, Brandy is immune to emotional deaths, but let's just hope Jacob and Emilia don't literally die of sadness.
