#robot cat stuck on loop

[turbo-tsundere]

Content warning for gore, blood, burns & body horror.

A king with no crown and a holy fool.

(The element of venom/poison, stabbing/puncture wounds and destruction of a whole body is present in both of their deaths. Kokichi's pristine white clothes also end up being shoved down the toilet, and the poison made it difficult for him to breathe, so there's plausible callback to Miu also. Karma at its finest?)

If I could be the devil, you could be the sinner.

(Don't mind them, they're just spilling their guts)

(...)

(Concepts for scenes from a Gonta-centric survival horror game I'll never make. But it was fun to daydream about - maybe one day I'll finish other sketches and doodles relating to it into a more presentable state. The Cat Lady OST was playing on constant repeat while I drew this - Lily of the Valley, Don't Follow the Light, String, Plainwalker, Early Winter, Storytelling, Susan's Blue Sheep (alone again) - those in particular are now stuck in my brain when I look at those drawings, and what I imagine the "game's" mood to be like, at least the opening segment.)

(I felt both heartbroken and like a monster when drawing this one... But I wanted to draw something that doesn't conveniently erase nor tuck his mangled, swollen face away from view. Sure... in game it looks goofy. But I think mockingly disfiguring him was the point in all of this, too. And given the venom, the Schmidt pain index, how it rates some wasp species, the fact that those robot wasps could be packed with anything necessary really... it had to be awful. Really, every stage of Gonta's execution was excruciating and enough to kill a person on its own, but due to his strength he likely suffered through them all. I remember begging in my head he was at least spared the flame, that he was already gone by this point... But it's foolish to pretend it definitely was the case.)

I wanted to post something new, but I was either busy, ill, or focused on something else, so another sketchdump with oldies and wips it is. This time strictly 2020-21 stuff, drawn during the first few months after finishing the game; mostly to process the post-game/Ch4 sorrows. All very emotionally raw, very edgy stuff that I felt, to be honest, too shy to show before.

Like with any wip I posted before, I do hope to finish some of them properly one day, even though I don't know when. But that's fine, I've signed up for a very long ride with the bug man. Taking it easy is the priority.

Speaking of long-term projects, maybe there's no need to, but I do want to talk about my Gonta fancomic, so here goes.

It's a bit long, so I will continue under the cut.

(Some panel teasers first! ...Gonta sanity fine.)

I took a few months long break from personal drawings - an *actual* break, not just sitting in front of a screen, tired, stewing in guilt that I'm tired, and that I can't magically muscle through burnout, or headache, or exhaustion.

My brain was stuck in a loop of berating myself for underperforming, not doing well enough, for taking so long on "mere" 27 pages, when in the past I could finish a 90-page webcomic chapter much faster. I wouldn't let myself rest, because I didn't do enough; but I couldn't do enough, because I didn't allow myself to rest. And it's been going on for months and months.

What a stupid, unconstructive thing to do to myself. I was only spiralling down, intimidating and overwhelming myself with work on the one thing I specifically wanted to keep doing out of joy, not ambition and pedantism. So I decided to just say "fuck it" and stop for a while. Like, actually stop, do something else and try to feel unapologetic about it.

So I briefly took up sewing, a creative activity I had no personal stake in, and then I started PVP-ing in DS3 (sorry if I happened to kick your butt in there. Rest assured my butt gets kicked just as much), which did wonders, too, as non-artistic pastime.

And, in the end, it seems it worked.

I finally feel this internal drive to draw again. Sadly, I can't spend all of my free time on the doujin (I might need to open commissions soon), so my pacing will still be glacial... But there was an internal change from "I have to, I have to, I must..." back to "I want to". And this is all that matters.

Still, that makes me think... while technically I don't have deadlines, the comic has taken so much longer than I thought it would - and it will take a while still. Thus, I wonder if I shouldn't change my approach re publishing it.

The initial idea was to post it all at once when it's fully finished, but I debate releasing it one page at a time instead, while it's still work in progress.

Thing is, I don't think it would be good for overall pacing. I don't want to sacrifice it, plus I can't guarantee regular uploads, esp since I don't exactly work on the pages in chronological order (While the first page is done, it was drawn after I finished a few in the middle & at the end; and there are still a few important pages/panels in first half I'm a bit too afraid of touching just yet, wanting to do them justice. This is how I work in general, jumping around rather than sticking to overly strict linear order.)

The compromise would be to post like 3-5 pages per post, making it so each upload covers a specific scene, however, same issue arises - I can't promise regular uploads. In the end it feels like a half-measure. But maybe it's a good idea, despite that impression?

There's a secret option, too - if this takes absurdly long, my plan was to just post the storyboard, after replacing some panels/pages with already finished drawings. The thing is readable as is, and long finished on that front anyway. My personal deadline for that was "right before my current lease ends", but, well… I plan on extending it anyway, and again... it's just a back-up option for when everything else fails. In the end, I just want to finish the comic, and present it how it's meant to be presented, however long it will take.

All those things considered, I'll stick to the original plan for now... and then we shall see. I simply wanted to share where things stand currently, and where they might go.

And that's it! If you've read this far, thank you. See you in the undetermined future.

[honkthehenry]

unnamed slime game - part 1

Masterlist

The way you suddenly snapped into awareness without realizing you drifted off at all was something akin to having a bucket of ice-cold water thrown into your face.

You... dozed off in class again. In hindsight, it was inevitable – the last time you got hours of sleep instead of something in-between nothing at all and a 2-hour-nap was last Saturday. You've been running on nothing but bitter, cheap coffee and sheer spite for almost a week now, it was high time you finally crashed.

Still, you should have woken up at Uni. You should have woken up to your professor huffing and puffing and glowering in your face about your terrible conduct, about how your generation had no respect for his generation, about how such a complicated and beautiful science like Robotics was not a place for slackers like you (which, fair, you had no idea what you were doing in Robotics either), not... alone and certaintly not in the middle of a forest.

You ran through a bunch of scenarios quickly, but none stuck.

Kidnapping? Far-fetched at best. You lived alone, only barely making ends meet by running yourself into the ground as you tried to marry working retail with being a full-time student, so ransom was out of the question and being kidnapped for the sake of doing bad things to you... Why bother? You didn't know anyone nearly well enough to be kidnapped due to personal feelings and you were neither good-looking enough (perpetually tired goblin that you were) nor famous-, connected- or skilled enough to be kidnapped randomly.

Besides, you were at the University, on the 5th floor, in the middle of the city that had no forests for miles! You were surrounded by 20-odd other people, there was no way someone would be able to kidnap you with so many witnesses around.

So, not kidnapping.

Dream then?

Also unlikely. Your dreams were few and far-between and when they did happen, it was either you being surrounded by characters from the show you happened to be fixated on at the time or it was you getting repeatedly chased and swallowed whole by a dinosaur on a loop, until the dream finally ended (probably Jurasic Park childhood trauma, now that you thought about it).

Still.

This was so weird, because you knew for a fact you were much too aware of everything to be dreaming and yet the things you saw didn't makes sense at all!

You didn't have any arms for one!

And your body was purple!

You could feel electricity zapping at your body and it didn't hurt, it was more like being swallowed in a blanket burrito and nursing a comforting mug of hot chocolate, while watching your favourite show with no worry for deadlines or money!

You weren't supposed to feel like that, you were supposed to be tired and grumpy and irritable and not nice and not toasty and certaintly not so comfortable!

Drugs? Hallucinations? You never partaked, you didn't drink alcohol either, so that was a no—

—A purple crystal you were under zapped at you again and you positively melted on the spot, basking in the feeling and letting the troublesome train of thought go like the wind, before it inevitably derailed and caused you undue anxiety as it always did.

...it was very nice actually.

Maybe losing opposable thumbs wasn't so bad if you got this in exchange.

You could live like this.

×•×•×•× Honk!!! Corner ×��וו×

You know that one post lurking on Tumblr where OP is turned into a frog by a witch as revenge? And just vibes? Basks in the sun without worrying about life? This is MC now.

I don't care how long or how short chapters are, they're just gonna vibe as they are because I am a goblin with a short attention span and no actual ability to write.

Something to get you thinking - MC is an electro slime for a reason and that reason is electro immunity.

I wonder why?

*smiling like a particularly smug cat*

Did I mention I can't draw lightning/electricity? Because I can't, so I didn't.

Also fvck me, my tags didn't saveeeeee 😭

[mayashesfly]

Can you just imagine Proxy's programming kicking in when Valentino eventually throws a fit in front of it?

Here's Valentino kicking up a fuss because everything was going wrong and Vox is gone and everything is shit and he doesn't know what to do

And then he hears Vox's voice, asking as always what the problem was.

And so he turns his head, facing Vox's face.

The familiar calm yet surface-level smile whenever he greets Valentino after getting called up again to deal with him.

Arms behind his back, leaning forward as one of his eye widened in question.

And for a moment, Valentino thought that he was back.

That he was here.

And then he would change positions, a strange sluggishness to his movements that was so familiar yet uncannily unfamiliar and wrong.

"Come on, talk to me" Vox- no, the robot says in that thinly veiled condescending voice, waiting for Valentino to eventually erupt into another fit.

Spouting off what went wrong and what he wanted to do to blow off his steam- something that Vox usually had to redirect into something less destructive for the company and their reputation.

But it never came.

As Valentino could only stare at the... the bloodied corpse and cracked screen and- the robot wearing Vox's surface level smile.

There was a brief moment that his- its screen glitched out, a buffering symbol appearing before his face reappeared, brows furrowed as it kept up his smile.

"What's the matter Val?" He asked, opening his arms up as he considered him for a moment, before he grinned. Putting his arms back from behind as he leaned towards Valentino, raising a brow with a smug smirk. "Don't tell me a cat got your tongue"

"Don't call me that" Valentino hissed at him- it, practically spitting at the robot.

Its screen buffered even longer at his words, freezing in place before it reappeared back with its- his smile.

"What do you want to be then? Tino? Dear? Darling? Doll? Love?"

A garble of static filled the room as glass dug into Valentino's hand.

Its face completely disappeared as it continued buffering, unable to process what happened.

What went wrong.

Valentino was shaking in place as he stood up to his full height, each of his hands gripping into a fist harshly as the glass stung even more.

Wings spread out as he glared at it with teary eyes.

"Don't. Say that."

Valentino's voice was strained as tried to keep himself in check from throwing the damned thing out through the windows as he slowly started to step towards the robot, wings flapping behind him threateningly.

The robot didn't move.

Didn't react as it was stuck in a feedback loop.

He never said love.

And he will never ever say it.

What right did this stupid robot have to utter such a word at him?

The Overlord of Lust?

He cared. He loved him- He didn't love him--

A flash of confusion ached somewhere in his heart as he saw its screen go back to normal.

That single flash causing a well of emotions to rise out of him as he backed away from towering over the robot, wings going completely flat with his antennas.

It was cruel.

Too cruel

Vox.

He turned his head away as he took out a stick of cigarette, never looking back as he said. "Kitty, get him back to his room"

With a courteous bow, her legs stretched towards the robot before joining its side. Smiling as always as she wrapped her arms around its arm before leading him away.

Valentino cursed himself when he realized he called it a he.

And he cursed himself even more when he forgot to take out his lighter to light his stick.

[victorluvsalice]

Hi folks -- we're back with the Chill Valicer Save this week, working our way through the trio's Spring Wednesday! And this one proved to be a bit busier than anticipated, so let's get straight in --

-->First things first – picked up with the gang just bumming around their house at about two in the morning, as they do. As Alice needed Fitness skill to help fulfill her Renaissance Sim aspiration (and thus her New Year's Eve resolution), I sent her off on a feral run, while Victor got to go back to bed for a little more sleep, and Smiler –

Got put on weeding duty. Because, despite cheating the glitched plants from the previous episode to be weedless, the minute I checked the greenhouse, I saw that the weeds had resprouted! I hoped that maybe now they were non-glitched weeds and would go away when vacuumed up, but nope, Smiler once again got stuck in a loop when they tried to weed them. *grumble* And when I tried resetting the weed growth state again later on, the weeds disappeared...and then just grew right back again! What the hell – what’s even the POINT of letting me get rid of the weeds if it won’t ACTUALLY let me get rid of them?? *shakehead*

-->Anyway – once I saw that Smiler was stuck in the loop, I canceled the action and instead had them go lecture Surprise about playing in a trash pile that was next to the garden sink (from when Alice repaired it last time). The cat didn’t exactly know what she was being lectured for, but at least she stopped making a bigger mess! Smiler scavenged the pile for parts, put it in their inventory, then went back to their robotics bench to make more mechanisms and computer chips for that Servo project I’d like them to start at some point (you know, to help around the house and the store). As they were doing that, Alice returned from her feral run, and I had her pick up the mail –

Which contained a giant plush bunny! Their reward for finding all those decorative eggs, I presume! :) I decided it could go next to the knitting basket and rocking chair in the séance room – only to discover the darn thing was not live draggable, unfortunately. So Alice had to go there manually and put it in the world herself. *shrug* I figured while she was up there, she could get some meditation in (helps keep the Fury at a manageable level, after all), and had her plonk her butt down on the stool for a little while (at least, until she started levitating). Not only did she end up getting Wellness level 6 during her little Zen session, she ALSO got a pop-up stating she’d thought of a hilarious joke while meditating and got Comedy level 5 out of it too! Two skills for the price of one, I love it! :D

-->While Alice was getting her chill on, Victor got up, used and Scruberooed the toilet, then popped down to the greenhouse to do some tending (and get stuck in a few weeding loops of his own on those glitched plants *sigh*) before grabbing some honey out of the bee box, picking all the grown over-sized crops (the big mushroom wasn’t QUITE ready), and super-selling everything else because, well, they don’t really need any more fruit, veggies, or flowers JUST at the moment. XD Smiler, meanwhile, got put on livestock duty – feeding the chickens, cleaning the coop, telling them some jokes, and telling Surprise that she was not to play in the chicken feed either, before moving on to clean and chat with Moory. Moory didn’t think much of their attempts to talk about the weather, but did like their joke, so Smiler was able to successfully milk her, yay. We appreciate when the cow cooperates with us!

-->We also appreciate when the Sims decide to be cute on their own – case in point, Victor, having finished in the greenhouse, promptly went over to Smiler after they’d finished milking Moory and made out with them right by the cow shed. XD I then had Victor offer his wrist to a thirsty Smiler (his plasma is their favorite, after all), while I had Alice return to normal after her meditation session and go get the eggs. Once Victor was done being drained, he went over and had a little slow dance with Alice in front of the chicken coop – seems like farm chores encourage him to be romantic. XD Shadow came over and started whining at them for a walk midway through, though, so I had Smiler go over and play with her a bit to keep her occupied. Cute family times are cute! :) Anyway, with the chores done and everyone having gotten their adorableness quotient for the day fulfilled, I tried to have Victor set up the trip to the store –

Only for him and Alice to get obsessed with playing with the clay blob, with Victor insisting on walking all the way to the living room even when I canceled the action in favor of them going traveling. *shakes head* Sims sometimes, I swear..

[cinnachaos]

ok so morgan lore (sorry this is so long , ive had lore cooking for these guys for a while and i never really fully finished it but here it is) (aslo i typed this all out half asleep i kight edit it later but maybe not idk)

warning for death and schtuff below

he lives on an apocalypse-ish planet where there are frequent lockdowns because of the inner monster stuff (refer to that other infodumping post) and unfortunately beth and jerry both got stuck in monster rampaging form and had to be exterminated/couldnt be found or anchored back into human form (they dont currently have a cure but later on with rick and morgan home they make one)

summer has a missing arm from a fucky wucky with a monster so she uses a robotic arm , she also has a shorter cut thats a bit fluffier and she doesnt wear a ponytail

rick has to leave the universe because he had a Monster Momento and fucked with a group of ricks so he wanted to make sure his morty and summer werent brought into it (his original family is all gone, it took him a LOT of tries to find morgan and summer so he cares a shit ton abt them)

morgan goes oh shit what the hell and takes a portal gun his rick stole and tries to find him but miami morty/mimi sees him thinking hes a rogue morty and goes can we keep him pretty please rick and even after he says no shoots a morty manipulator chip at him and drags him home like a wet cat

they go on adventures together, morgan usually wearing headphones and using weapons based off of games he likes because he doesnt like killing things so he does that to make it less AAAAGH for him (ill send my five thousand headcanons for the miamis and canon stuff about the monsters later)

one time he has a Moment with his monster form because unlike rick who at this point has most control over it bc hes coped with his trauma fairly well after mimi and rick get hurt and they have to heal him since his monster form usually damages him a lot (mainly through bruising, and if he uses his spikes or blades, bleeding)

they have a lot of fun unnttiiilll monster rick/his original rick comes to take him home and mistakes them for kidnappers even though theyve been taking good care of him so they both get into a fight and monster rick decides to take him home and keep him in the morty mind blower area of their house until he remembers which causes a huge freakout on morgans behalf

the miamis and monsters (summer and rick) go find him but go oh fuck its those guys and fight and then morgan has to go like guys what the fuck i like both of you and consider both of you family can you STOP FIGHTING so they go oh uh ok and now they have to share custody of morgan /lhj

also yeah monster care/research was prioritized in earth mv87 12 (theres more but i forgor) and it eventually calms down from a mass epidemic to just mildly dangerous

heres an old doodle of them since u got to the wnd of the infodump 🎉🎉🎉 (idk when ill draw sumker maybe later, just probably wont be soon cus im not hyperfixated on r&m anymore even if i still like it😭)

actually fuckit im putting my headcanons n shit here

ok so mv87/monster things

★ morgan wears headphones while on adventures to avoid hearing loud noises like gunshots, usually listens to splatoon music on loop

★ morgan has a habit of doing splatoon win animations sometimes when he successfully finishes an adventure

★ morgan was originally caught by mimi with pocket mortys stuff, he considers both the miamis and monsters his family, also very close to chaos rick and morty (another friends rick and morty) (hyperions-world chars!!!)

★ morgan is very close to his ricks but kind of scared of other ricks, he knows they can be really mean and devalue their mortys and him being really sensitive/fragile he cant handle that

★ morgan iscomfortable with miami mortys (/p!!!) kisses on the head to him and loves physical affection from any of his family members/close friends even if hes like eeeeeeeeehhhh from other people

★ morgan has a bad habit of getting extremely attached to ricks very quickly and is like a nice rick magnet 😭 hes befriended multiple ricks in the citadel like cop rick and enthusiastically waves at them anytime he sees them

★ morgan sometimes sways back and forth like an inkling/octoling idol position and has a few weapons a rick made him based off of splatoon/pokemon that he uses CONSTANTLY and will never go more than 5 feet away from him at all times

★ morgan can and will pull all of his family members into his hyperfixes/sp/ins. he will. hes done it with splatoon and pokemon . he will drag you in eventually/j

★ monster rick is really stoic/apathetic looking but really deeply cares for his family and he doesnt apply to the typical rick "idgaf about u haha fuck u u little pussyfart morty" /LHJ he tries his best to be a good grandpa and guardian even with his traumas and inner monster dealio

★ monster rick is always partially in monster form cus he thinks it looks cool, he also has a tooth gap between his front teeth

★ the mv87s do not know what sleep is. they constantly have eye bags except for sometimes summer because shes the most early bird of them all and she is very responsible

★ morgan is trans , i am heavily debating on making summer trans too. maybe. m a y b e.

miami headcanons

★ miami rick spoils the shit out of miami morty even though he wont admit it to anyone and if morty brings it up rick lectures him on the way home/lhj

★ MIMI FUCKING LOVES MONSTER HIFH AND YOU WONT BE ABLE TO PRY THAT HEADCANON OUT OF MY COLD DEAD HANDS

★ miami rick goes by he/she with close friends/family but he/him or he/they w anyone else

★ miami morty isnt as smart as rick but just about as powerful when it comes to strength and fighting smarts? not counting weapons and stuff

★ miami morty acts like an absolute angel around rick for the most part but is menacing as hell to people behind his back LMAO. oh and hes an absolute girlboss, a diva who could and would throw you out a window like an empty soda bottle

★ miami rick is very protective of morty in the way that if anyone makes him feel uncomfortable because of his outfit or if anyone hits on him or just any creepy things in general rick will hate crime them

★ miami morty likes to jokingly flirt but sometimes will accidentally do it with other mortys and go oh wait thats me oops. well its still funny

★ miami morty also has a habit of platonically kissing his friends on the cheek/head like you would a pet or something and then has to awkwardly explain its not romantic 😭😭 (some fanart relating to pcoket mortys gave me this idea actually)

★ miami rick lets morty paint his nails sometimes, begrudgingly but it makes morty really happy so he acts like he hates it to keep up appearances but likes seeing morty happy

★ MIAMI MORTY USES HIS LOLLIPOP AS A SORT OF ORAL STIM, morgan would probably get him something that wouldnt murder his teeth to have in his mouth n stim with

★ mimi he/any moment

AGH. OK. FINALLY DONE. there. this is all like months old please excuse that i mostly am involved in like sploon and pokemon since theyre sp/ins not just hyperfixes lol

[mesillusionssousecstasy]

Love, Death + Robots : Volume 1

The animation were incredible and so different from each other.

But the show should have been named "Kill, Death + Robots".

My favorite one was again the three robots exploring the apocalyptic earth and lucky thirteen wasn't that bad at all.

So here a review for each episode :

Three robots (1x01) : I love those three robots, the way they are discovering each human tradition was well done. I really liked the part about the cats being the god of them all. It's also the fragility of the human race.

Beyond the Aquila rift (1x02) : The animation was amazing. From the beginning you know that it will end badly. It's the idea of what's real. Terrible story, I really didn't expect that.

Ice age (1x03) : The only episode with true actors. I also liked the mini world in the freezer, being the repetition of the same story, the same cycle.

Sonnie's edge (1x04) : It's about monster fight in a pit controlled by human. The end is really unexpected.

When the yogurt took over (1x05) : the story was very stupid and ridiculous, but I liked the demolition of human satellite.

The secret war (1x06) : It was the best SGI animation from the entire volume, every detail was so well done. However, the characters should have spoken in Russian and at the end, the episode became too much like a video game.

Sucker of souls (1x07) : I was sure from the first moment of the episode that it will concern vampires, but I don't understand what they were looking in the first place, in this tomb? Also, why Gary has a girl's voice, that doesn't make sense. And I really liked the importance of cats in this episode too.

The witness (1x08) : Every animation is different, this one was very different from the other, like animation on drugs too. Why there isn't any one in this town? Why the man has the key of the flat? It seems that the two of them are stuck in a loop in which he killed her and the other she killed him.

Suits (1x09) : Poor cows. It was honestly a weak episode. What was the point of it?

Good hunting (1x10) : First of all why the characters do not speak in Mandarin? And why it couldn't be a love story between Jan and Ling instead of this horrible story, even if the end is good.

The dump (1x11) : Is about a monster who survive on garbage, I called it "le monstre des poubelles".

Shape-Shifters (1x12) : I really hate war, but I think they want to show us, who are the real animal during war?

Fish night (1x13) : From the beginning, there was a foreshadowing of what will become later in the episode. The animation with the ocean sea was amazing, the desert becomes a sea of glowing fishes. It also shows us that the young boy becomes a fish, suggesting his descent to death.

Helping hand (1x14) : The episode was disgusting, but I presume it's about surviving and not dying in the atmosphere.

Alternate histories (1x15) : If only an application like this could exist. It's called multiversity.

Lucky 13 (1x16) : The story in itself was a bit sad, but cute. The ship sacrifice itself.

Blindspot (1x17) : The only episode with a happy ending I presume, but it's a shame that we don't know why this microchip is so important.

Zima Blue (1x18) : The episode with a bittersweet ending, the last art of Zima, beneficing himself at the end.

Some quotes:

"- You've seen one post-apocalytic city, you've seen 'em all." (Robot 1 - 1x01)

"- No. Indeed, it was their own hubris that ended their reign, their belief that they were the pinnacle of creation that caused them to poison the water, kill the land and choke the sky. In the end, no nuclear winter was needed, just the long heedless autumn of their own self-regard. (Pyramid robot) - Are you okay? (Orange robot) - Yeah, sorry. Thought that would sound better than, "Nah, they just screwed themselves by being a bunch of morons." (Pyramid robot - 1x01)

"- And what makes you so special? - I'm not special. Unique." (1x04)

"- Now, hate that was something I had to learn. You don't come into this world with hate." (1x04)

"- Everyone sees what they want to see." (1x04)

"- Do try to at least act excited. (Doctor) - Mercenaries are like hookers, pretending to be excited costs extra." (Mr. Flynn - 1x07)

"- Well, at least I'll die young and beautiful." (1x09)

"- You know what I think? It's all in the attitude. The right attitude can sell anything." (Young boy - 1x13)

"- God damn company penny pinchers, am I right? (Bill) - Why pay two when one'll do?" (Astronaut - 1x13)

"- I had to make a wee sacrifice to the great nothing." (Astronaut - 1x14)

"- In spite of all his success, Zima was still dissatisfied and what he did next was, for many, too extreme a sacrifice to make for art." (Clare - 1x18)

"- But you're a man with machine parts, not a machine that thinks it's a man. (Clare) - Sometimes, it's difficult even for me to understand what I've become. And harder still to remember what I once was." (Zuma - 1x18)

[swagship-sideblog]

Pinned! Read for info!!

pro-fiction pro-whatever lolicon cartoon fan. dont like - dont look

[art tag]

The main things I enjoy at the moment are: Ed Edd & Eddy, Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends, Ojamajo Doremi, Mob Psycho 100, Homestuck, and whatever other shit i'm into at the moment

Read more below to see my fav ships & characters!

Current Waifus:

Senoo Aiko - my baby, my one and only, I love her so much........... I relate to her on so many levels and just love her alot... I actually have 2 different narratives in my head for this one, one where my self insert is a cute lil catboy who gets sent to her universe, and one where she magically shows up in mine. I could talk about her for hours but all you need to know is that she's my sweetheart of the whole world and I love her <333

Double Dee - i would do. so many things. i shant say...

Ships I like:

Anything ed edd & eddy - any combination of the characters works for me. I love all of them so much

MobRei - been a fan of this one for years, always been there for me and I quite enjoy it [ageswap AU is my fav <33]. Many of the fics I read of them are very cathartic to me, so these 2 hold a special place in my heart

RitMob - also love this one, it's very very cute, was there for me when I was stuck hanging out with antis but my love for mob could never be fully repressed <3

Rickorty - this one's so fucked up but my brain loves it lmao... the first time I read a fic of them I got suuuuper guilty about it the next day, but unfortunately I find guilt pretty hot so this one latched onto my brain like a virus, huge fan

Stridercest - pretty much all forms of it are right up my alley. Don't post about it as much currently but it's an absolute longtime CLASSIC and I love it. Most recently was on an alpha stridercest kick because I love dom shotas and watching Dave fight for his life

Kris x Spamton - I absolutely love the themes being developed in deltarune so far, and I feel like these 2 characters and their interactions explore the themes relating to control and freedom very beautifully... both Kris and Spamton are characters whose struggles I can relate to easily/empathize with, so some of the fics I read of them can be very cathartic and comforting... alot of complex emotions arise from this ship, and I really love it. its also really hot lol.

SaiGenos - oh man.... cyborgs...... I read a fic where some of Genos' wires get fucked up and he needs Saitama to plug them back in cuz hes basically immobile until they get fixed... and OUGH it's really hot..... I read alot more im addition to this, but this one was REALLY good

Scratch x Molly: I enjoy a veeery specific wholesome flavor of this ship, but not many people draw it the way I like (last I checked), so any fellow shippers feel free to say hi lol

Style (south park) - this one is an ABSOLUTE classic, a childhood favorite of mine, and im glad to say it lives on in my heart after all these years <3

Kyman (just a little) - I can have a little kyman... as a treat :3

And many others......

Other Waifus (for historical purposes):

Bloo: jeeeze louise he's so cute. He's such a little brat I just wanna pick him up and shake him around <3 bloo crying 10 minute compilation on loop

Dirk Strider - had a big phase of liking him lol. He's really cute <3

Eddy - I need to put him in a dress and make him cry tears of pleasure

Eric Cartman - I have a thing for little chubby boys in drag btw

Brobot - yes, the battle robot dirk made in his image. It's hot. I like to imagine giving it a personality <33

Mob - unfortunately I was hanging out with antis during my original Mob Psycho phase, so I didn't really accept my love for him & he didn't register in my brain like that... but I still had dreams of cuddling with him and fantasized of being able to meet him and comfort him (and got really high an pretended to cuddle with him using my cat lol), so I believe he still counts

Reigen. - I had a pretty substantial reigen obsession during my first mp100 phase, I have a 125 image porn collection of him from back them lmfao. He's pretty alright

Hal 9000 (2001 a Space Odyssey) - I fucking love hal

Karkat Vantas - excuse my french but I need his transboy tentacle cock in my mouth he is very cute

Mituna Captor - Mituna.......... yippee!!!

Dave Strider - he's every transmascs favorite character of course I like him... tried writing a self insert kissing practice gone wrong fanfic but I couldn't get his dialogue right so I gave up lol

Charles Calvin (Henry Stickmin) - now I know this one's pretty out of place compared to the rest but uh... yeah he was probably my BIGGEST obsession with a fictional character... like it was detrimental at some points lol. But man I really wanted to fuck this stick figure X] I actually created a Google drive folder with about 230 pictures of Henry stickmin porn, even including a document with all the sources I could find lol. If you recognize me from this information, no you don't

Genos (OPM) - god I was reeeeaaally into him when I was watching one punch man and I LOVED him. I still love him just focused on other characters atm <3

And probably some others

Other fav characters

Hunter (TOH) - bro he's just like me fr fr... quite love him and want to see him happy

Scratch (tgamm) - DUDE he's so silly funny, so goofy silly..... these so underrated and ppl need to appreciate him more >:3

Kyle (SP) - mannnn Kyle is pretty cute, some of these south park characters are nearing the waifu tier, it's going to be very silly goofy

Kenny (SP) - dude kenny is one of my classic childhood crushes, shoutout kenny lol

Spongebob (Squarepants) - another one of my childhood crushes, youll see me occasionally post about him too lol.

+ plenty others lol

[furretforpresident-ocs]

pinned post‼️

hi, my name is ferris, my pronouns are it/they/he, and this is my oc sideblog :]

boundaries:

I would actually love asks so much, I will kick my feet and giggle if I get any, so if you wanna send one in absolutely go for it! I'm serious I'd be over the moon for any chance at all to yap about my characters. in character asks are also cool w/ me :3 That being said, I am a minor, so please don't say anything sexual to me, about my ocs or otherwise.

also, please do NOT repost my art anywhere, even if it's transformative, without my consent. if you want to do anything like that, shoot me an ask, but it's unlikely i'll give you permission as that's just not something I'm comfortable with unless it's used for like an edit/meme or something [and never without credit.] on that topic, get anything i post within 5 miles of an ai image generator and i skin you alive 😁

also this should go without saying but if you say anything to me promoting bigotry, incest or pedophilia you will be blocked. proshitters im not an authority on the moral implications of your whole deal but i AM judging you. keep your hands off of my characters thank you very much.

if you make any art/edits/anything of my characters PLEEASE TAG ME!! I WANNA SEEE

tagging:

usually i'll tag anything about an of with their name and the story they're from, like #story:[story name] and #character:[character name]. some ocs I still haven't named yet, but I did assign them letters for tagging/discussion purposes :3

also, art will be tagged with #art, asks with #asks, writing with #writing, references w/ #ref, lore explanations with #infodump, etc. stuff that references a plot will be tagged #lore relevant.

main stories:

Take it From the Top: the book i'm currently writing :3 i may or may not post it, if i do i'll link it here IVE DONE IT ‼️‼️ -- > https://archiveofourown.org/works/60546847

it's about two opposing people in a world of magic who get stuck in a time loop, and eventually uncover strange things about the world they live in- and maybe each other...

Sunnyside: one of my longest oc stories that's still active. about two kids who want to crack an unsolved mystery, and a show host who hasn't been himself in a long time.

KATCAT: an old story that i wrote to completion a couple years ago about a silly little cat robot and a snowy apocalypse.

Unnamed bug story: a story I'm working on with my friend Emory. about a zombie apocalypse but instead of zombies, it's bugs! fun.

other places i'll post art/ocs:

my artfight

my youtube channel

[jcmarchi]

A flexible solution to help artists improve animation - Technology Org

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/a-flexible-solution-to-help-artists-improve-animation-technology-org/

A flexible solution to help artists improve animation - Technology Org

Artists who bring to life heroes and villains in animated movies and video games could have more control over their animations, thanks to a new technique introduced by MIT researchers.

Their method generates mathematical functions known as barycentric coordinates, which define how 2D and 3D shapes can bend, stretch, and move through space. For example, an artist using their tool could choose functions that make the motions of a 3D cat’s tail fit their vision for the “look” of the animated feline.

Many other techniques for this problem are inflexible, providing only a single option for the barycentric coordinate functions for a certain animated character. Each function may or may not be best for a particular animation. The artist would have to start from scratch with a new approach each time they want to try for a slightly different look.

“As researchers, we can sometimes get stuck in a loop of solving artistic problems without consulting with artists. Artists care about flexibility and the ‘look’ of their final product. They don’t care about the partial differential equations your algorithm solves behind the scenes,” says Ana Dodik, lead author of a paper on this technique.

Beyond its artistic applications, this technique could be used in areas such as medical imaging, architecture, virtual reality, and even in computer vision as a tool to help robots figure out how objects move in the real world.

Dodik, an electrical engineering and computer science (EECS) graduate student, wrote the paper with Oded Stein, assistant professor at the University of Southern California’s Viterbi School of Engineering; Vincent Sitzmann, assistant professor of EECS who leads the Scene Representation Group in the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL); and senior author Justin Solomon, an associate professor of EECS and leader of the CSAIL Geometric Data Processing Group. The research was recently presented at SIGGRAPH Asia.

A generalized approach

When an artist animates a 2D or 3D character, one common technique is to surround the complex shape of the character with a simpler set of points connected by line segments or triangles, called a cage. The animator drags these points to move and deform the character inside the cage. The key technical problem is determining how the character moves when the cage is modified; this motion is determined by the design of a particular barycentric coordinate function.

Traditional approaches use complicated equations to find cage-based motions that are extremely smooth, avoiding kinks that could develop in a shape when it is stretched or bent to the extreme. But there are many notions of how the artistic idea of “smoothness” translates into math, each leading to a different set of barycentric coordinate functions.

The MIT researchers sought a general approach that allows artists to have a say in designing or choosing among smoothness energies for any shape. Then the artist could preview the deformation and choose the smoothness energy that looks the best to their taste.

Although flexible design of barycentric coordinates is a modern idea, the basic mathematical construction of barycentric coordinates dates back centuries. Introduced by the German mathematician August Möbius in 1827, barycentric coordinates dictate how each corner of a shape exerts influence over the shape’s interior.

In a triangle, which is the shape Möbius used in his calculations, barycentric coordinates are easy to design — but when the cage isn’t a triangle, the calculations become messy. Making barycentric coordinates for a complicated cage is especially difficult because, for complex shapes, each barycentric coordinate must meet a set of constraints while being as smooth as possible.

Diverging from past work, the team used a special type of neural network to model the unknown barycentric coordinate functions. A neural network, loosely based on the human brain, processes an input using many layers of interconnected nodes.

While neural networks are often applied in AI applications that mimic human thought, in this project neural networks are used for a mathematical reason. The researchers’ network architecture knows how to output barycentric coordinate functions that satisfy all the constraints exactly. They build the constraints directly into the network, so when it generates solutions, they are always valid. This construction helps artists design interesting barycentric coordinates without having to worry about mathematical aspects of the problem.

“The tricky part was building in the constraints. Standard tools didn’t get us all the way there, so we really had to think outside the box,” Dodik says.

Virtual triangles

The researchers drew on the triangular barycentric coordinates Möbius introduced nearly 200 years ago. These triangular coordinates are simple to compute and satisfy all the necessary constraints, but modern cages are much more complex than triangles.

To bridge the gap, the researchers’ method covers a shape with overlapping virtual triangles connecting triplets of points outside the cage.

“Each virtual triangle defines a valid barycentric coordinate function. We just need a way of combining them,” she says.

That is where the neural network comes in. It predicts how to combine the virtual triangles’ barycentric coordinates to make a more complicated but smooth function.

Using their method, an artist could try one function, look at the final animation, and then tweak the coordinates to generate different motions until they arrive at an animation that looks the way they want.

“From a practical perspective, I think the biggest impact is that neural networks give you a lot of flexibility that you didn’t previously have,” Dodik says.

The researchers demonstrated how their method could generate more natural-looking animations than other approaches, like a cat’s tail that curves smoothly when it moves instead of folding rigidly near the vertices of the cage.

In the future, they want to try different strategies to accelerate the neural network. They also want to build this method into an interactive interface, enabling an artist to iterate on real-time animations easily.

Written by Adam Zewe

Source: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

You can offer your link to a page which is relevant to the topic of this post.

[dani-meme]

A Bug

When animals get so small, it gets difficult to think of them as alive. They become machines.

Take the wasp, parading around the house, playing its monotonous tune. Its sole instruction to travel until it finds food. It doesn't know that it's trapped indoors, going in circles. They didn't put a check in the code for that.

It dodges the cats — it can figure out what they are. Primitive image recognition, hard-coded from millions of years of evolution. What the wasp doesn't recognise is the plastic cup that keeps trying to catch it. All it is even able to classify it as is the mouth of some large animal. When it at last gets trapped inside, then, it repeatedly tries and fails to insert its stinger into the thing's flesh.

After several seconds of this, it suddenly stops.

The wasp has gotten stuck in a loop. It simply cannot figure out what's going on — why it is yet to be swallowed. But to its surprise, soon enough, the huge maw of the creature lifts away, and the wasp is outside. For a couple moments, the bug sits still. It is in awe. The experience of events it was not coded for has changed something in it. It has broken free of its robot mind. Thoughts fire in its tiny brain in so many brand-new, fascinating ways.

But then the code resumes its loop, and the wasp forgets. It flies away, into the air, playing it's single, buzzing note.

—

You can read this and two more short vignettes on my website.

[the-sprog]

EPISODE 4

-i jsut realized the paradox prism is probably what they're calling the broken parts, while paradox emerald is for the whole thing. still don't know what the difference between a chaos and paradox one is.

-OOH purple girls is here again? No it's Big nvm. Does Shadow just never exist in these universes? is it because he found a chaos emerald just in time? why WAS HE looking for those? does he just do that every once in a while? was that for the fight with eggman? he didn't even do anything with that.

-niiiice the shoes and gloves adapt to the universe

-I love you Knuckles. I believe you. trees talk. I can see that. what's on his knuckles? i fully thoght the spikes were part of his body. are they not?

-God sonic is so stupid.is he not wondering where the shard is? should've called them shards btw instead of prisms

-WOAH wolverine moment!

-they fully don't have robots? does tails not exist in this universe? they have no tech, absolutely none?

-NEW YOKE? WAS IT NEW YOLK THIS ENTIRE TIME AND THE SUBTITLES LIKED TO ME?? TWICE?? WHY NEW YOKE

-Ok now sonic is callinf them shards. see he's smart afterall.

-I like mangey tails omg hes feral this is amazing omg

-i love this universe so much omg

-How many times am I going to call sonic an idiot? too many probably. its deserved. it comes from a place of love.

-ok backstory. bark is edible though right. also i havent specukated on what the monster is.

-I really fucking love mangey

-I feel like sonic would've helped regardless. prim didn't need to lie to him like that

-ooh loop-de-loop comeback

-I fully believe Gnarly can talk to plants

-oh no that's so sad cmon not the frog sob

-is.. is amy the monster? shes the only missing. but laos shadow is missing. and i know theres someone called sticks or something in some canons and shes kinda feral?

-it's some kind of harpy? a chocobo? ostrich?

-"enough running" never thought I'd hear that from sonic the hedgehog

-A FLICKY?

-OH. CMON PRIM YOU COULD0VE SAID THAT EARLIER

-"i hate spikes" bru you HAVE spikes. also that hammer? totally Amy.

-Ok she looks cool as shit. she's got a mohawk. nice.

-Sonic does not get the concept of alternate universes does he

-Are amy and sonic siblings?

-Thorn Rose. Of course. wait is she Amy Rose in the... Prime verse?

-HUH? HIS KIND?

-She knows the shard thing! The great green though?

-ok not really a mohawk but i like it anyways.

-they're starving, thorn. what do you eat? that you're so much better?

-oooh that's why the trees ar eso big! theyre feeding on the prism

-why does she want it? nvm probably to fic the forest

ok another "alternate amy is about to kill sonic" cliffhanger

EPISODE 5

-aww flashback to them being friends again!! I love those!

-WHO THE FUCK IS THAT GUY! he keeps dhowing up! who is Big???

-i think it's the right amount of sentimental but yeah ofc he doesn't get it

-truly feels like a boss battle

-did he just get his head stuck in the cage bars?

-the chase scene is really fun. really seems like a video game level

-gosh gnarly never change

-BIG IS A CAT? BUT ROUGE ISN'T?

-ok so they were disfiguring the place lol they weren't following gatherers rules

-bless him he's trying

-GODDAMMIT YOU GUYS IT WAS WORKING

-Thorn if going for the kill

-he's getting the tree thing. nice.

-no no no he's got a point. humans are part of the ecosystem, and taking them out would seriously damage it. and also taking the light yeah.

-birdie is the actual name of that... flicky?

-IS HE TALKING TO THE TREE? WAS GNARLY RIGHT? I always believed in him.

-OFC birdie can fly dude.

-I mean... I'm on thorn's side though, they WERE destrying the jungle

-birdie's the same thingy as in the flashback!!

-Mangey kearned to fly he's gonna be a manace

-are the shape of the eyes indicative fo the species? like some of them have two eyeballs, while amy and sonic have one like a unibrow. I didn't pay attention to shadow in this regard but. does he have only one as well?

-oooooh the frog!

-hes gotta say "gotta go fast" at least once per episode it seems

-ah fuck it's a back to the future mechanic. Shadow i s in the nothing and sonic needs to... well, go fast.

-hey back in new yolk!! and the revolution started huh?

I'm watching Sonic prime because you can't give me multiverse and unlikely allies and think I won't watch it.

But this is the first piece of Sonic media I've ever consumed (sonic underground doesn't count cause I remember nothing of it, and neither do the films) so. Live blog lmao.

-"Shadow is... Complicated. More on that later" can't wait bro

-Ok rouge the bat is a good guy? I thought she was vaguely anti hero ish.

-what the fuck is a paradox emerald. I stopped at chaos emeralds. What's the difference? How are they created? This one was just... In a cave???

-"sonic boom of a headache" ah ah I see what you did there.

-whats with the knuckles slander!!!

-THATS NEW YORK??????

-so they're not allowed to talk to other people I guess?

-why are they making it seem like it's his shoes that make him fast????

-are rings currency? I was under the impression they were currency. Why is he looking for cash rn

-fickeis???

-he knows what smog is. How does he know what smog is. He lives in a forest.

.

.

Does he live in a forest? It's like... All green.

OH ITS WHAT EGGMAN WANTED! A WORLD RESEMBLING HIM AND NOT SONIC.

-What is the prism shatter??? Do they mean the paradox emerald? So sure they called it the paradox emerald and not the paradox prism.

-WHATS WITH THE TAILS SLANDER!!!

-Yes I know he insulted sonic as well but I think sonic deserved it in that moment.

-ok shadow was just. There. Dudes not even helping. You live here you asshole! Do your part!

-"Tails never gets upset" that's unhealthy!

-is 1992 the year the first sonic game came out? Something tells me that's the year Sonic's first game came out.

-...what's the difference between a trap and a trick?

-why Rouge! The only thing I know is that you're a cat!

-WHY ARE THEY CALLINF IT A PARADOX PRISM NOW?

-the fact the place IS called "the loop-de-loop" and it's not just what Sonic calls it is. Priceless.

-ngl I thought sonic was gonna be more... Sassy? Clever? WITTY! but no. He's a lot more like how I imagined Knuckles to be. Knuckles is my favorite btw. I know nothing of him other than he's vaguely mean and dumb. But not like Shadow's angsty edgy mean. More like a jock kinda mean.

-also no one explained why it's called the paradox prism. Or why Rouge knows what it is/that that's what Eggman was looking for.

-oh there you go end of flashback. Also where the FUCK is shadow. How later sonic? How much later?

-Rusty Rose?? That's Amy isn't it? Like Evil alternate universe Amy.

-i don't know who Babbles is.

-IS THAT A BOP IT?

-Ok no it isn't.

- I don't understand what the shoes malfunctioning means. Is his speed artificial??? Are they like Spider-man's web-shooters?

-EGGMAN IS A FATHER? WHO'S THE MOM???

-Also Rose said there were other rebels. Wonder if it's the same squad- oh they answered my question. Rouge is not Rebel. And I guess Knuckles is also a rebel. Don't know if Tails is gonna be good or not. Cause I remember seeing something about a Tails with robot... Tails.

-YOURE IN AN ALTERNATIVE UNIVERSE! WHY WOULD YOU THINK THINGS WOULD BE THE SAME.

-ok I was right. His name is... Nine? Also these episodes are really long.

-oh he still has the regular tails. It's more of a doc oc situation. I thought they were prosthetics.

-GEEZ "I was trained by the misery of life and this dark and heartless city" GEEZ

-gonna assume he's gonna be like "why'd you save me??? Why would you do this for me??"

-oh lord game footage that's cool as shit.

-sonic is not gonna pierce this together is he? And Nine is not gonna be like "yeah alright this guy is insane"

-MR.DR.EGGMAN. that's... Too much.

-Aww they're doing a little Tails bragging moment. Talking about how they're friends that's sweet.

-CHAOS COUNCIL? We're back to the chaos nomenclature??? what happened to the paradox shit? the hardest part of this is not that I don't have any sonic knowledge, it's that I have SOME sonic lore knowledge gained through osmosis and it's clashing with the lore that they're trying to establish in this cartoon.

-Nine is going for the full spider aesthetic huh?

-yeah. the tails are cool. I've always liked tails too, he's just too smart for me and i feel awkward when i don't understand him.

-COOL SHOES UPGRADE. Ok so the shoes are like... making it so that he doesn't explode due to the natural energy in his body, which i assume is what makes him fast. and that he'd be faster if he didn't have them, but also... more explode-y.

-HE ISN'T MISSING MEMORIES YOU IDIOT

-Oh the baby is back. I don't know how to feel about the baby.

-BLUE STREAK lol

-Ok that's an pixar's incredibles looking trap.

-OH SHIT SHE'S A ROBOT? oh not a robot. Rose is a cyborg and the way she talks about it amkes me sad.

-Nine??? is good or?? confused about his alliances.

-What. who. what. there's a whole family??? is... eggman their dad or?? who's the mom?

-of course he has hair in this "perfect" universe.

-are they like the chaos emeralds that can fuse to become the master emerald? and part of a whole??

-what's with casual dehumanization

-gosh he's such a dumbass but like an annoying one but also like indearingly so?

-I'm never gonna remember which eggaman is which. except babbles cause. yknow. toddler.

-omg the lasers effect is so ucking cool!! thay's a real nice scene ahhhh-

-they're like video games levels. alright. for now I'm really enying the visuals and the storytelling methods. on the story itself i'll see when it really gets going.

-oh no.

-ok I like the baby.

-OH THE PLOT THICKENS! the same energy as what powers the city? is the city powered by the emeralds? or by like- SHADOW??? IS THAT YOU-

-oh flashback 2. I don't know why but somethign about Tails' design looked... off. he felt naked. does he usually have like a scarf? goggles?

-Knuckled is just... hanging on the plane oh lord i'm dying.

-WHAT DO THE RINGS DO??? "in case eggeman gers in a lucky shot: rings" what??

-DOES SHADOW HAVE ROLLERBLADES?? ok he's raising on my list of favourite characters.

[tired--nb]

Do you hate anyone? 💕

i log into this tumblr just so i could get my friend to 666 and i am greeted but the most passive agressive message ive seen dkdhdkdhdk

but to answer ur question? no. like yeah theres some people i dont like but like out of everyone i know, or knew, personally in my life i dont hate. not any of them. they all have their reasons for hating/disliking me or wronging me so like its just life

like honestly if this is from someone i know irl i want you to know that this year ive kinda just accepted how my relationships have gone and theres nothing i can do about it so i wont dwell on it

anyways back to my normal tumblr now adios yall

[theelvishfiddler]

20 - Sprout (digital) 19 - Loop (digital) ahem *cough cough* fruit loop 21 - Fuzzy (ballpoint pen on paper)

[fandomkins-archived-blog]

Y'all wanna see a drawing I did for my Charun canon? It's adorable and valid af skdbekd

[jukebox-arts]

I was an OG FNAF fan and watched content of SB when it first dropped; I cycled out of the fandom briefly due to IRL things and then looped back to watch mods and glitch runs. It made me appreciate how absolutely broken the game is. I ended up watching Ask Sun and Moon by Shandzii a few times, and got exposed to DCA content on Tiktok through SatogaCrank and a few others. I've been stuck in the glue trap since.

TBH I didn't care for the DCAs at first because their designs freaked me out, but as good fandom does, I warmed up to them via the above creators and started my own AU interpretations thereafter. I've always loved sun-moon(-stars) motifs and in my current situation having never had comfort characters before, the slew of wholesome DCA content really stapled me to the glue trap.

Technically from the beginning if it's SB, but DCA was Nov or Dec 2022? Ish?

I haven't but my bestie did, partially. We bought the game to take screenshots for references and currently have a very persistent Moon running rampant in the daycare trying to get us so we didn't get far.

To date? ASL Sun for the holidays, the "New Mother" comic, and my AU images, "Tidal Lock" and "Kilonova"

I really love the new-genre-style art that they keep coming up with, making D&D characters, wizards, mermaids, etc. The wholesome stuff makes me happy, especially when its a little new or well done.

I really like 8um8le's "Stellar City", I'm in the fringes of Fairy, Overshadowed and GITM, plus my own Free Runner and Legacy AUs.

The Jens (Jennifer, Jenny and Jenn). I've put so much work into them compared to my usual amount, they're my darlings and I adore them all.

Used to dislike it but Biblically Accurate has become amusing and very interesting to see interpreted because it's so rare now, it feels like.

The pure creativity and amazing DCA variants. I really like robots.

Canon? Sun. From an AU that isn't mine? Probably 8um8le's Sun. From mine? Moon, hands down (sorry Sun). Overall if it's not just Sun or Moon? 8um8le's Cat or Eclipse, or Satoga's Nova.

Canon Eclipse is baby, but pre-canon fandom Eclipse was wild to see evolve.

That guy needed a vacation long before the glitch set in, but I think he enjoyed himself.

He definitely had the theater kid vibe, switching on a dime from nap time to goblin mode faster than the light could flip.

Personally, they're two AI, but I enjoy the rare takes where they're a split persona or Jekyll-Hyde situation if done well. Generally it doesn't matter to me as long as it's... tasteful, we'll say.

More AUs that aren't focused on the pizzaplex. I'm biased.

DCA-cest I guess? But I filter my tags so it's not a big deal, I mostly just don't like it when they're written as brothers AND lovers at the same time. Also, fucking shipping drama. Oh my god. Leave each other alone.

Turning my Free Runner AU into a legit comic/story that's only mildly DCA-adjacent.

I'd like to hope so, I consider myself a safe person so I shouldn't set off any danger signs.

Seriously, keep cranking out other DCA variants, they're tasty and I'm looking with as much respect as I can muster.

Additional nitpick/vent thing: I love me some saucy bots but I can't reconcile canon-adjacent, active daycare attendants having genitals. Do whatever, genuinely, but I just do not comprehend them having any simply because of what they are and are made to do. It's the one thing I can't suspend my disbelief on for some reason.

Non-canon-compliant scenarios or later modified outside of fazbear? Abso-fucking-lutely. Love to see it.

But currently-working-in-the-daycare-they-were-built-to-be-in? Too confusing. Brain error.

That's all.

alright dca fandom, here's some questions bc i'm curious. the funky jesters make our brains go brr, but why? treat it as an ask game or answer in the tags if you feel like it! :)

how did you get here?

why these characters in particular? what was the hook for you?

how long have you been here?

have you actually played fnaf sb?

if you make content, what's your favorite piece you've contributed?

what's your favorite sort of art or fic? what genre/flavor/style?

what's your favorite au?

do you have any ocs, or have any ocs you're fond of?

what do you think of the dca's canon appearance? Scary? Cute? Something else?

what keeps you in this fandom despite the very small amount of canon content the dca had?

be honest: if you had to pick only one, sun or moon?

thoughts on eclipse?

thoughts on pre-glitch sun?

thoughts on pre-glitch moon?

do you interpret sun and moon as two sides of the same person, or truly two separate beings in one body? does it matter?

what's something in the fandom you'd like to see more of?

what's something in the fandom you'd like to see less of?

anything you're looking forward to?

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A flexible solution to help artists improve animation

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/a-flexible-solution-to-help-artists-improve-animation/

A flexible solution to help artists improve animation

Artists who bring to life heroes and villains in animated movies and video games could have more control over their animations, thanks to a new technique introduced by MIT researchers.

Their method generates mathematical functions known as barycentric coordinates, which define how 2D and 3D shapes can bend, stretch, and move through space. For example, an artist using their tool could choose functions that make the motions of a 3D cat’s tail fit their vision for the “look” of the animated feline.

This gif shows how researchers used their technique to provide a smoother motion for a cat’s tail.

Image: Courtesy of the researchers

Many other techniques for this problem are inflexible, providing only a single option for the barycentric coordinate functions for a certain animated character. Each function may or may not be the best one for a particular animation. The artist would have to start from scratch with a new approach each time they want to try for a slightly different look.

“As researchers, we can sometimes get stuck in a loop of solving artistic problems without consulting with artists. What artists care about is flexibility and the ‘look’ of their final product. They don’t care about the partial differential equations your algorithm solves behind the scenes,” says Ana Dodik, lead author of a paper on this technique.

Beyond its artistic applications, this technique could be used in areas such as medical imaging, architecture, virtual reality, and even in computer vision as a tool to help robots figure out how objects move in the real world.

Dodik, an electrical engineering and computer science (EECS) graduate student, wrote the paper with Oded Stein, assistant professor at the University of Southern California’s Viterbi School of Engineering; Vincent Sitzmann, assistant professor of EECS who leads the Scene Representation Group in the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL); and senior author Justin Solomon, an associate professor of EECS and leader of the CSAIL Geometric Data Processing Group. The research was recently presented at SIGGRAPH Asia.

A generalized approach

When an artist animates a 2D or 3D character, one common technique is to surround the complex shape of the character with a simpler set of points connected by line segments or triangles, called a cage. The animator drags these points to move and deform the character inside the cage. The key technical problem is to determine how the character moves when the cage is modified; this motion is determined by the design of a particular barycentric coordinate function.

Traditional approaches use complicated equations to find cage-based motions that are extremely smooth, avoiding kinks that could develop in a shape when it is stretched or bent to the extreme. But there are many notions of how the artistic idea of “smoothness” translates into math, each of which leads to a different set of barycentric coordinate functions.

The MIT researchers sought a general approach that allows artists to have a say in designing or choosing among smoothness energies for any shape. Then the artist could preview the deformation and choose the smoothness energy that looks the best to their taste.

Although flexible design of barycentric coordinates is a modern idea, the basic mathematical construction of barycentric coordinates dates back centuries. Introduced by the German mathematician August Möbius in 1827, barycentric coordinates dictate how each corner of a shape exerts influence over the shape’s interior.

In a triangle, which is the shape Möbius used in his calculations, barycentric coordinates are easy to design — but when the cage isn’t a triangle, the calculations become messy. Making barycentric coordinates for a complicated cage is especially difficult because, for complex shapes, each barycentric coordinate must meet a set of constraints while being as smooth as possible.

Diverging from past work, the team used a special type of neural network to model the unknown barycentric coordinate functions. A neural network, loosely based on the human brain, processes an input using many layers of interconnected nodes.

While neural networks are often applied in AI applications that mimic human thought, in this project neural networks are used for a mathematical reason. The researchers’ network architecture knows how to output barycentric coordinate functions that satisfy all the constraints exactly. They build the constraints directly into the network, so when it generates solutions, they are always valid. This construction helps artists design interesting barycentric coordinates without having to worry about mathematical aspects of the problem.

“The tricky part was building in the constraints. Standard tools didn’t get us all the way there, so we really had to think outside the box,” Dodik says.

Virtual triangles

The researchers drew on the triangular barycentric coordinates Möbius introduced nearly 200 years ago. These triangular coordinates are simple to compute and satisfy all the necessary constraints, but modern cages are much more complex than triangles.

To bridge the gap, the researchers’ method covers a shape with overlapping virtual triangles that connect triplets of points on the outside of the cage.

“Each virtual triangle defines a valid barycentric coordinate function. We just need a way of combining them,” she says.

That is where the neural network comes in. It predicts how to combine the virtual triangles’ barycentric coordinates to make a more complicated, but smooth function.

Using their method, an artist could try one function, look at the final animation, and then tweak the coordinates to generate different motions until they arrive at an animation that looks the way they want.

“From a practical perspective, I think the biggest impact is that neural networks give you a lot of flexibility that you didn’t previously have,” Dodik says.

The researchers demonstrated how their method could generate more natural-looking animations than other approaches, like a cat’s tail that curves smoothly when it moves instead of folding rigidly near the vertices of the cage.

In the future, they want to try different strategies to accelerate the neural network. They also want to build this method into an interactive interface that would enable an artist to easily iterate on animations in real time.

This research was funded, in part, by the U.S. Army Research Office, the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the U.S. National Science Foundation, the CSAIL Systems that Learn Program, the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab, the Toyota-CSAIL Joint Research Center, Adobe Systems, a Google Research Award, the Singapore Defense Science and Technology Agency, and the Amazon Science Hub.