taurinfox

Asher Fur Dynamics (rough draft)

I've been working a lot with this new fur system we're using, and tried applying dynamics to the fur I set up for Asher's character.  If I can get this working right, it should help to add a whole new level of realism to the fur on my characters.

The results I'm getting so far are kind of a mixed bag, but I guess not entirely terrible for a first attempt XD  Aside from needing to add more stiffness to the overall body fur, the main issue I'm running into is random jitters, whi...

Asher - More fur work

Today we got some work done on Asher's tail and whiskers and added his hair!  Also, Fox figured out what was causing issues with our face rigging solution, so that's working well now too.

Enjoy!

Phastor | Animation Commission

The finished version of Phastor's short animation commission. This is the last of my animations being rendered and animated fully from within 3DS Max, with the rest to come all being done in a mixed workflow using Maya as the animation and rendering host. 

Patreon Sales Tax Updates and More

Patreon is instituting a sales tax system, and our basic approach to creation has changed since the launch of this page. In order to make things easier on everyone, as well as try and keep you all from paying more than you really want to, we are going to go through and make some sweeping changes to the way we structure this Patreon community.

We want to provide everyone with the most value for their contributions, so we will be putting some serious thought into what we can offer under o...

Phastor Ref Sheet

I just finished putting together Phastor's 3D rendered ref sheet.

Enjoy!

Asher Whiskers

I didn't have a lot of time during the stream tonight to work on Asher's groom, but I did fix some problem issues around his eyes, and with Kish's help, I got some whiskers in place!  

I literally just popped the whiskers on at the end of the stream, so they're still pretty basic ATM, but they seem like they'll be pretty easy to work with =) The next big challenge will be getting his hair styled.

Enjoy!

Asher Fur

On tonight's stream, I started a new fur groom for Asher's character.  It got off to a little bit of a rocky start as we dealt with some technical issues, but after the stream I continued working on him and got him to an -almost- presentable state.  I figured out how to give him some natural looking fluff, and got away from the initial "plush" look that he had at the end of the stream.  

He still needs some tweaks to the fur around his eyes, as well as the ear and cheek f...

Favnir Ref Sheet

This one took a little longer to get around to than I wanted, but I love how it turned out =)

This is Favnir's 3D rendered ref sheet, which he got as part of his animation commission ("Money Shot").  I had actually forgotten how good his character looked, especially with the scale texture ^.^

Enjoy!

Fur rendering!

Today was a pretty lazy day.  I mean, it's the weekend after all, but still, I couldn't resist playing around with the new fur tools we're trying out.  As a test, I threw the fur system on my Taurin model, and damn, these are some nice results!

The overall fur strand count in the closeup shot is amazing, and the full body shots look equally good.  He still needs some whiskers, which I might try to tackle tomorrow, but I'm especially proud of the last render with the light...

Fur Dynamics Testing: TAIL DONUT

Kish here! We don't have any progress to show for today on Asher's character specifically since today was art day, but here's Asher's tail running a fur simulation that Fox set up in like... a couple minutes of poking around at the settings. We're happy!

Asher Fur

On tonight's stream, I worked with a new tool to get some fur onto Asher's model.  It still needs some work, but I'm very happy with the initial results =)

The next step will be getting the fur dynamics to work with animation, which I believe Fox will be taking the lead on, and I'm really excited to see in action!

Enjoy!

PS: For anyone who was watching the stream when we had to suddenly cut things short...  During the rendering process, our room lights started flic...

Asher Speed Rig

Tonight was REALLY productive.  On stream, over the course of about an hour, I got Asher's character set up with a main body rig, as well as a pretty good face rig!  He still needs some tweaking (obviously the teeth poking through his jaw needs to be fixed), but this new rigging process represents a HUGE step forward in my workflow!

Also, Kish and Fox put in work on a new, more realistic eye that will replace the basic eyes he has now.  I'm really looking forward to seein...

Asher Has Sheef!

Today, Fox made some updates to Asher's UV mapping, so I re-baked the color, normals, and AO maps during the stream, and did some cleanup on the baked textures, specifically around the eyelids.  Also, Kish sculpted him a sheath and balls, which I created a material for on stream as well.

Enjoy!

Asher Baked Maps

Tonight, we got the high resolution details from Asher's Zbrush sculpt baked into maps for the animation-ready model.

Enjoy!

Asher Ninetails Polypaint Progress

Kish and I have redone the sculpt for Asher's fox model and tonight during the stream I went ahead and applied a new layer of paint to the pretty vulpine. We're making a ton of progress on the character commissions and anticipate having them done and getting back to production as usual in the next month or so!

Thank you for supporting our work, and we look forward to showing you all much more stuff like this going forward!

Streams this week

Hi everyone! 

First of all, thank you all so much for your continued support. Things have been quite hectic all over, so I hope you and your loved ones are safe and healthy.

This week, Kish and I are going to try something a little different than usual. In the past, we've done streams once per week on Saturdays, but we feel like that might be a little too exclusive. We are going to try out more frequent, shorter stream times which could hopefully let more people catch us live...

Transition to Maya (learning the fur system)

Hey guys!

I'm in the process of moving my animation and rendering workflow from 3DS Max to Maya, and thought you'd like to see some of my progress working with Maya's fur system =)

(Ignore the tail.  I did some work on that, but lost my progress to a software glitch that was probably user error.)

Overall, I'm pretty happy with my results so far, but there's definitely a learning curve with it and some quirks I need to get used to.  Aside from the tail, the face sti...

Art/Animation stream 2/8/2020

Hey guys!

The weekly art/animation stream will be getting started at 5PM Eastern time.  I'll be doing some work on Asher's character model for the first hour before moving on to some commission pieces, and finishing up the stream working on a digital painting for an upcoming animation project.

There will be a drawing at around 7PM for a free sketch (open to all viewers), and Patrons are invited to join me in the Discord server to hang out after the stream ends =)

See yo...

Hit the Showers (public release)

 Hit the Showers is now live!
 

Kish and Taurin enjoy a steamy encounter in the Alphafox Resorts changing room!
 

Even though it took a lot longer to finish than expected, I’m really  happy with how this one turned out. Thanks to engagement and feedback  from viewers, Hit the Showers makes heavy use of motion capture,  dialogue, cloth and fluid simulations, as well as rendering  improvements.
 

Special thanks to Kish and Ash...

Hit the Showers

It's done!  Thank you SO MUCH Kish and Asher for providing the audio to bring this production to life.

It took longer than expected to get this released but, thanks to you Patrons, there's finally a new Taurin Fox feature animation out there, with a lot more exciting stuff in the works!  

I would normally go into an extensive description about how we used motion capture, dialogue, cloth simulation, fluid simulation, and other cool stuff to make this...

Art/Animation stream today!

Hey guys!  Sorry for the lack of posts.  Kish and I have a lot going on for upcoming projects, but not much that's in a sharable state ATM.  We've been developing a new workflow, learning new software, etc...  The Patreon WILL be a lot more active soon, once we get things ironed out.

BTW, Hit the Showers in in the final mastering process, and should be released in the next couple of days for those with early access ;)

I'll be streaming today starting at 6PM Eas...

Upcoming Format Change For 2020

Thanks guys for coming tonight! For those of you who couldn't be there during tonight's animation stream, we have a few announcements to make! 

The animation streams haven't been very popular since launch, so we've decided to change some stuff up and focus on what you guys wanna see. Going forward, the Animation streams will take place once per week, and will no longer be Patreon exclusive.

The 1$ Tier's award of stream invites will be replaced with after-stream wrapup voice ...

Animation stream 1/1/20

Happy New Years everyone!  I'll be streaming tonight starting at 6PM Eastern time.  We're planning a LOT of changes starting this year, so this may be my last stream in this format <=)

See you there!

Animation Stream 12/18/19

This will probably be my last stream for 2019.  Kish and I are traveling out of state next week to visit family.  I'm still hoping to get Hit the Showers released before the end of the year, but either way, we've got big stuff planned for 2020 =)

I'll be continuing work on Phastor's and Gaussly's  projects tonight.

See you there!

Animation Stream 12/14/19

The stream will be starting at noon Eastern time.  See you there! =)

Animation Stream 12/11/19

I'll be streaming starting at 6PM Eastern time!  Apparently, Patreon's link posts aren't working today, so please use the URL below.

See you there!

https://picarto.tv/taurinfox/e3152c4784dc497b841d67f03fc067b4

Timelapse Sculpt

Hey guys!

This was a 2 hour sculpt that I completed a few weeks ago during one of my animation streams =)  I thought it'd be cool to make into a timelapse, so that you can watch the process from start to finish!

Enjoy!

Updates

Hey guys!
Sorry  about the lack of posts recently.  I've been dealing with some seasonal  depression, plus increased demands from my day job has kind of slowed  me down a bit.  I've also been learning and working with other software,  trying to optimize my workflow.  That should result in me increasing my  productivity a lot going forward, but the initial learning curve is  slowing me down for now.  But not to worry, things are...

Animation Stream 12/7/19

The stream will be starting at noon today Eastern time =)

Animation Stream 12/4/19

I'll be streaming tonight starting at 6PM Eastern time.  See you there! =)