Day 548
It has been over a year since I did meaningful writing on the novel. A year and a week to be exact. What an awful year it was.
I am more than halfway through the non-fiction book I am writing, which I have continued to work on despite being unable to muster the creativity to work on fiction. My estimate for the non-fiction book timeline of two years should be about right. It is a massive book, the second in a series of five, so being more than halfway through is quite good. Now it is time to get back to writing fiction.
When I last wrote about plot ideas, I had discovered a real place that has nearly continuous lightning. Two of my characters have to travel on foot a few kilometers into this jungle. I had come across this incredibly toxic tree to add to the mix. Then it occurred to me that this area could be stocked with some of the deadliest creatures on earth, as well. Not top predators, but those lower on the food chain with self-defense mechanisms with lethal consequences. Smaller, harder to spot, and still deadly. Turns out, there are some terrifying creatures out there. I am not going to reveal why the jungle is stocked with deadly critters, but there is a reason.
I had enormous fun doing the research. I found an incredibly deadly, large, and highly aggressive spider that rears up to expose the red under its chelicerae (sharp edged jaw). It looks as scary as it actually is, and has long fangs, which is important for what I need the spider to do. Needless to say, it is one long dangerous slog through the jungle.
I also have to go back and rework a number of scenes. The car chase is being completely redone. Now only two of the characters are involved. I have more things going on now during the chase with the other characters that takes them off of the playing field for awhile. That leaves just the two, and that will take a bit of rewriting to make it work. I really need to stop killing off all of my characters.
When I first came up with the knife fight scene with Maggie being held prisoner, I did not know how that was going to fit into the story. I just liked the idea. Now I have tied the slogging into the jungle with the rescue of Maggie from the cell, which makes sense, and it gives me a lot more to work with. I can jump back and forth between the two scenes, so I don’t have to have one overlong unbroken sequence.
Ideas have percolated slowly and I have solved a whole bunch of problems that had stymied me earlier. I am ready to get back to writing, which I will do tomorrow while Belle is off doing her show.
What’s Up With Us
I did more than just work on a non-fiction book. I also work with my wife to develop original magic effects. Several of them incorporate cutting edge technology.
One trick we are developing is based on the latest hydrophobic materials to control and shape water. Another uses existing tech repurposed to create smoke and fire without any actual fire and a very non-toxic and quickly dissipating smoke. We are also looking at two new paints, both the darkest and lightest ever created. I suspect we will come up with something interesting using them.
For the effect we titled Boo, Belle has an invisible ghost named Boo that helps her (or at least tries- she is not always actually helpful.) We don’t see her until the end of the show, when Belle decides it is nap time. She puts a big bag of marshmallows (ghosts love marshmallows) in a box with an open window on the front. All the kids shout “Bedtime Boo!” and the marshmallows visibly disappear, and in the box is Boo, a 3D animated character that appears to be floating in space. Belle can walk out into the audience and let them look in on Boo and her antics.
The first step was to figure out all of the magic aspects. Then it was my job to design and animate Boo. I had not used Poser in a couple of years, which had been my go to for quick character creation. However, I had noticed that the popularity of Poser was declining, and realized that maybe it does not have much of a future. I think it may be near the end of its life cycle.
I learned 3D using Lightwave when it first came out, but I have not upgraded in a long time. It has been seeing diminishing advances and Newtek recently sold it to another company. While there is a Lightwave 2020, there is no certainty that there will be anything beyond that.
I have a lot of Nostalgia for Lightwave. I wrote a lot about it, and I was a columnist for Video Toaster User Magazine. The Video Toaster was the amazing hardware that came with Lightwave initially that was basically a video studio on a card at much less cost than any other options at the time. It began desktop video along with the Amiga computer. I knew the founders of Newtek, and in my book, The Greatest Adventure, I tell the story of how then Saturday Night Live star Dana Carvey and Next Generation star Will Wheaton were also connected to the technology that changed the face of video production.
I realized that it was probably time to invest in new 3D software. It is not just about the cost. Working with 3D software tends to require a continuous outlay of money. There are the regular updates, additional modules, and 3D models. I have thousands of models, and a really good pair of 3D pants can cost as much as a real pair of pants. Fortunately, things like cars cost less than the real thing, but you still wind up spending much more on models than the software cost you. Almost as important as cost is the generally steep learning curve. Is it similar to what you already know or will you have to invest a lot of time relearning a lot of stuff? I did some research to see what was the latest and greatest in the lower end of 3D, since I did not want to spend thousands of dollars just for the software.
I had been aware of Reallusion’s products, but they had not seemed like serious tools to me. I gave them a second look and they have come a long way since I last checked them out. I got Animator 4 which can do pseudo 3D working with flat 2D art, something I need for a promotional project. Then I realized that their iClone might be the perfect tool for animating Boo, so I got it as well. They have made it magnitudes easier to use than Poser, much faster, and with more capability. I am having a blast learning iClone and all that it can do with a few simple clicks. There is some real power here behind a robust and easy to use interface.
I got a lot of the add-ons, which can add up very quickly, but at least it lets you slowly grow with the software instead of having to buy everything all at once without really knowing what features you need. Most exciting to me is the facial motion capture option, allowing you to act out the character’s expression and render them in real time. I will be playing with that very soon. I do plan to add the finger motion caption option. The hardware required for it has reduced dramatically in cost.
I have also downloaded Blender. In development for 20 years, it does it all, including modeling, rigging, animation, simulation, rendering, compositing and motion tracking, video editing and 2D animation pipeline. It has advanced in some amazing ways, especially when you consider that it is free. I think it is finally time to learn it as well. I have a lot to learn.
Boo has been designed and rigged, and we have a working prototype of the box, so we have proof of concept. There is still a lot to do, but it will be killer when it is finished. I don’t mean that Boo is a killer. She is a friendly ghost.