Hi everyone! Sorry for taking so long to make a post, I've been trying to focus really hard on finishing the short thriller. And finish it I have! Check it out here:
It definitely could have been better, however considering the insane constraints and restrictions we had, it's pretty good XD. I'm planning on creating a VFX breakdown video, which will also go into some of the filming complications that arose and how we fixed them. That'll probably come out later this week, but in case you haven't noticed I do everything in Valve time...
I really want to create more films due to the lack of creative freedom I've had with Shader Sandwich. I'm not sure whether or not I like film-making (or in this case, directing, VFX, sound design, music production etc) more than programming, but it's certainly something I'd like to focus on for now.
That being said, I'm still working on Shader Sandwich! I'm going to create a new tutorial and finish all the video tutorials I'd put on the back burner due to the short film, so hope to see those soon! I'm also still working on Shader Sandwich itself, although I haven't made much headway there yet. I'll try and get the next update out by the end of the month.
I'm also going to start posting about less "My Projects" centric things, since there are so many other creators out there and I'd love to give them a shout out. I'll add a few more options for when you receive emails so you can choose to filter out less important blog posts.
First off, the Shader Sandwich sale was a huge success, and it's been great having so many positive comments and feedback :). Some users have a found some bugs, so I'll be releasing a patch soon that fixes them all.
I've had a few users request shaders, so I'll link to them here :). Here are the ones used in the Stylized Character example:
Skin Shader Hair Shader
I'm thinking of creating a shader repository somewhere on the site, so users can share shaders they make. I might also add a browser for these shaders in Shader Sandwich itself, so you can just download a shader and customize it all within the editor!
I've also been going around and updating the documentation, all the new features have been added. I'm now turning my attention towards tutorials, already finished the Beginner Tutorial Part 2 :).
So, other than all that I've been upgrading the Checklist, you'll probably not notice much of a difference other than instead of checkboxes there are sliders, but on my end I can add and edit tasks much easier than previously, meaning the entire thing will be more accurate.
Finally, I'm planning on making short films more often, so I thought it'd be a good investment to get a new lens (especially with how well Shader Sandwich sold during the sale). I've bought a Canon 50mm f/1.8 STM which has been fantastic to use. It's got some fantastic looking shallow depth of field, and it's low f-stop will really help in low-light situations.
Two of the video projects I have going are a short thriller that I'll be making with a few classmates from drama, along with a VFX based video about a tiny martian ship trying to steal my fruit (got to fix those reflections...):
So yeah, soon I'll have another Shader Sandwich update coming out, a couple of short films and more. Life is pretty busy, but I think it's going to be fun :).
Still waiting for Shader Sandwich V1.1 to go live, but got some other really cool news anyway :). First off, Shader Sandwich has been accepted into the September 24 Hour Deals and will be 50% off! Pretty cool XD. I've also made a Shader Sandwich trailer which'll I'll put on the Asset Store page soon:
...just kidding XD. But really, I've been kind of disappointed with my level of content output recently, and I really want to try and increase it. Make more short films, post more updates, finish Charlies Rainy Day, review things, make a game, I don't know, I just need to do more.
So, as part of that I'm gonna light a fire under myself by making my weekly checklist public. I've been trying to make a list of things to do each week and then do them, semi-successfully, but I figure posting it publicly is a good way to ensure I try my hardest.
This is also good for anyone using Shader Sandwich as they'll be able to see what features I intend to work on in the immediate future. Who knows, maybe I'll add tags and sorting filters down the track :). Anyway, you can find this in the Creations drop down, as Checklist.
I wish I had more concrete stuff to show you, but hopefully I'll output content more regularly from now on :).