#and see the alt text there so hopefully a screen reader would catch it

[cjgladback]

[ID: First image is a swift 8-frame base walk cycle of a stylized 3D scorpion character and an anthropomorphic potted cactus riding in a chair on its back. Nearly everything bounces a little, including the simulated fabric of an umbrella-like sunshade attached to the scorpion's stinger. Only the characters' faces and the cactus's arms have no animation keyed on them.

The second image is a work-in-progress render sequence of the scorpion and cactus characters. It follows the finalization of the scorpion's claw forms, the sculpting and retopologizing of the cactus character, painted textures for each of them, the formation and texturing of the umbrella as well as the chair the cactus is sitting in and the cloth and straps under it, and finally the addition of a not-yet-textured hat that was not in the walk cycle. The rigging of the characters is unseen other than a change in posture of the scorpion's legs. End ID]

After some unexpected travel and delays, I pushed until the final weekend of the Endless Engines challenge but opted not to submit an animation and environment that just made the characters look sloppy. I saw a ton of incredible arthropod, cute, stylized, and desert renders from the community that I'll be rooting for in my place.

So from here on, I'll be keeping the trappings of the challenge that serve the characters but composition, timing, etc can just be for me. I've already slowed things down a bit and raised the main scene camera to see more of the characters (different from the character progress camera used for the renders above). I'm also making all the props, including those whose rigging is a bit more of a puzzle; starting with the hat I modeled during part of stream today. And for the environment I'll be excited to apply the texturing and generative plants skills I gained during the Bellicosaur project to the best of my ability rather than the fastest.

Still thrilled to have gotten that challenge-initiated jump start to make these characters (again, credit to Nicholas Kole) after almost two years of wanting to.