\nAll afternoon (and evening), I’ve been hard at work using a mixture of FireAlpaca and Gimp… getting BenieTheDragon Boi v2 done. The texture is something I was sure I would\u00a0 need help with. But by learning how FlowBurn did the texture for the original, I was able to (very slowly) recreate his work.
\nAnd after several versions of evolving.. removing the fluff (even the chest fluff), coloring and reshaping the eyes and pupil (leading to this hilariously-frightening thing of fucking up with that…);
\n
![](\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/7WyEnok.png\")
\nDERP Boi<\/strong> \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n
I finally have something I like. And I did, all<\/strong> of this. No help. I am quite proud of myself. As I type this, I need to give him a test drive (mainly to see if the eyes don’t freak the fuck out). If all tests pass, the next phase is to ‘dragonfy’ the model (all done in Unity). Add the horns, the wings, the claws, and the scales on the back.<\/p>\n Tests have passed. All that needs to be done now, is to write down the positions of the existing attachments\/dynamic bone settings\/animations, and move them over to the new model.<\/p>\n EDIT: So far I nearly have everything moved over and placed as close to the original, but something just looks off. I can’t really put my finger on it. Something about the face. Like, it doesn’t actually look like a Best Boi without the chest fluff. But while I was attaching everything, I ran into a rather strange issue with the tail. So, remember that really annoying issue I had which Erodac was finally able to get working? Welp, it isn’t working for the new model. I thought I was going to have to wait ’till the weekend and discuss this with him. But thankfully, I don’t have to! Found something I was overlooking. I was setting the root of the dynamic bone, incorrectly. After finally seeing the problem.. that had stumped me all night, I had it. With that out of the way, all there’s left to do is add dynamic bones to the wings and wing claws. Then, recreate BTDB’s animations (eye beams\/wing flap & float), and.. and something I’ve wanted for a long time (but couldn’t have it)… Unfortunately, not fully<\/em> done. Several people have complained that the firebreath is too large (and unrealistic). So I decided to downgrade it by attempting to copy over the settings of the Dutchie firebreath… but it’s not working, in Unity and even in VRChat. I’m now doing some trial and error to customize the angle of the fire, as it looks too low when seen in VR. Playing with the gravity, I can arc it up. But at the end of the particle system, it suddenly goes up. Plus it doesn’t seem to follow the mouth when looking down.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" So, I know about the whole avatar ripping thing (especially with this model). It has me somewhat concerned, which is why I’m not going to make multiple size versions (as I had with the originals). Once I’m done, the only … Continue reading
\n![](\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/LTWKqt4.png\")
<\/p>\n
\n![](\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/sMwu02G.png\")
\nMaybe I should work on the shading of the outer eye. Give it a somewhat darker blue. Or maybe just fix the eyes to where they’re closer to the middle.
\nAbsolutely love the customization options, by the way. So, so much more freedom than the original.<\/p>\n
\nI mean, it does<\/em> work.. it just doesn’t work as expected. Putting the secondary tail bone in there and attaching it to CATRigTail1 (basing it from the original), the connection point (once in play mode) is further back and down than the actual tail bones are, and refuses to simply lay on the top of the tail. Instead, it wants to float above.
\n![](\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/qndUrX6.png\")
<\/p>\n
\n![](\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/SqK0m3c.png\")
<\/p>\n
\nUntil now! With Visemes, I finally<\/strong> can have a proper dragon firebreath! \ud83d\ude00 And I’ll be using the flame effects (minus the light as it lags me in VR) for it.
\n–
\nFinally got that done, having worked on this model for a solid 24 hours. And after debugging a few animations (eye beams following the eye tracking instead of head movement, and the firebreath not canceling itself out when switching to another emote), it’s DONE! A whopping 11,460 polys too; 2,222 polys more (without the flamethrower on the back) than v1. Makes sense though, with how more detailed the model is.<\/p>\n
\nThe particle system tries to work, but nothing shows up. So… I have no choice but to ask for help, of anyone that would know the Dutchie inside out (especially the flame
\neffect).
\nAsked one, but after 10 or so minutes of troubleshooting, he told me to seek out someone else. Had to wait ’till the morning as the other one was at work, and eventually got the help we need.
\nHe figured out the reason why the Dutchie fire wasn’t working; the Emission wasn’t set. Though he also had me recreate the particle system, and showed a few tricks of how to customize it. I greatly thanked him for putting up with me (and of course helping with a quite difficult issue to solve).<\/p>\n