Rob Balder [10:03 AM]
Let's get started.
You've read the above?
@Connor Cercone?

Connor Cercone [10:07 AM]
yeah im wokin on getting the paige scene with rig into her folder
the dress isnt really anything at the moment

Rob Balder [10:07 AM]
Okay. Stop.
Stop doing anything other than discussing this.
Right now I am paying you to be in a staff meeting. There is no better use of your time than this window.

Connor Cercone [10:08 AM]
ok

Rob Balder [10:09 AM]
Even if you're waiting 30 minutes for me to say the next thing, the thing to do is stare at slack and think about what's being said in here.

Most of the other work you might jump to do requires an assumption about what's important.
This is a discussion to decide what's important. You don't know it yet.
You can start by commenting on what I wrote yesterday.

Connor Cercone [10:13 AM]
i saw the trello, seems like those are the things you need asap.
i thought we had updated all of the scenes from past comic pages
opening any scene has been the plan since you left, i dont think that has changed but am unsure what file youre opening that isnt working
earthquake thing is neat

Rob Balder [10:14 AM]
So you could pick a panel from a recent update and find me the filepath to the scene it was rendered from?
And the camera's in place and the model's pose, the lines, all that stuff is just exactly what I began working with to produce that panel?
And then there's a different file for the next panel?

Connor Cercone [10:17 AM]
we still need to go over and name which pannel is which, but they are openable with the lines and cameras still avaliable in the same positions
F:\OneDrive\Erfworld3D\Erfworld 2.0\scenes\Prologue

Rob Balder [10:17 AM]
That's a folder.
How specifically do I have to word a question, to get the question answered?

Connor Cercone [10:19 AM]
im opening it just to make sure im sending you the right one, 1 sec

Rob Balder [10:19 AM]
Should I be putting things in a different color or something, when I really need an answer to the exact thing I asked?
I have looked in the Prologue folder, Connor. I worked quite a lot yesterday to inspect the current state of files on the OneDrive.
If you think that what I'm looking for is in there, I don't believe it is. Something's there, but you do not understand what needs to be there.
And it's so unclear to pretty much everyone in this channel that this whole project is on the bubble now.
If I don't start to see everybody here slamming this mess into shape over the next couple of days, I will absolutely pull the plug on 3D ANYTHING for Erfworld.
This experiment will be over.
And I have spelled it out again in bold, what I need. It's not something I'm making up for my own convenience. Being able to retrieve and open any file ever used for Erfworld art is a *primary requirement* of the modeling project.
It will literally be impossible to create Erfworld from 3D models if we don't have that level of organization in the files.
And that's going to mean a number of other things.
@Connor Cercone Stop doing anything but looking at Slack. @Brendon Kibler it's been 45 minutes since "on in 30" are you here? (edited)

Brendon Kibler [10:28 AM]
I've been waiting for a chance to say I'm on, didn't want to interupt

Rob Balder [10:28 AM]
Participate.

Connor Cercone [10:29 AM]
ok, listening

Brendon Kibler [10:29 AM]
Well, from what I know I've been doing we've been doing a lot of what you asked over the time you've been gone, we made sure all the files for the scenes and base levels are mapped to the R drive, and I believe this organisation issue can be fixed.

Rob Balder [10:30 AM]
Okay, you really have not.
In no way was a week's work on Splitsville justified
We need 15 cities like that. Not one that's way nicer.
Specifically, we need things related to Archezoa so I could come back and continue updating
If you absolutely had to spend your whole week on improving one city, Archezoa would have been the city.
But it doesn't matter, because the next two days are really a test of whether or not 3D can actually support the process of creating the comic or not.
If we fail that test, we're done.
I will know it's impossible.
If we pass the test, there are still ways we could fail the same test in the future.
I don't think the important things about what I expect you guys to be doing have really sunk in.
I probably have to go over the basics of what I thought you already understood.

Linda [10:35 AM]
Failure of the first test falls on me. I should have known to specifically redirect the modelers to what the goal was during Rob’s absence. (edited)

Rob Balder [10:35 AM]
The requirements for this project changed dramatically when the Kickstarter failed, and we started to need to update again.
It was the plan originally to pay you with Kickstarter money.
It is the plan now, to keep putting out as many updates as possible.
It was the plan *before* to develop toward the final goal of a near-perfect representation of Erfworld.
It is the plan *now* to always develop for the short-term support of the art that is needed for the updates, and only *steal* time for longer-term development as we can.
Because if we don't update, there is no money to pay you.
And reality makes your jobs vanish.
We are perfectly capable of creating art for the updates.
But you both (and Red, John, Linda and Brendan) seem to have forgotten that this is not the same project as it was in April.
The goals have changed.
We are modeling to keep the lights on and your checks coming.
That means 1. that we will do a lot of things the stupid way
As in, the shortcut, hacky, crappy, "best we can do right now, and it'll be completely different in the long term" way.
And everyone here needs to feel an absolute sense of urgency about getting the *render* out, as far ahead of the scheduled update as possible.
Not as good as possible up to the last second.
As *soon* as possible.
There is literally nothing more important that you have to focus on.
I know there are lots of more fun things you want to focus on.
Brendon is in love with his city. Connor keeps working on rigging Sizemore.
I don't want to see a screenshot of those things ever again.
Until I say it's okay to open that city or that character model, *do not*
Do you understand? You're not skimming over that, right?

Brendon Kibler [10:45 AM]
yes

Linda [10:45 AM]
Yes

Connor Cercone [10:45 AM]
yes

Rob Balder [10:45 AM]
All right. So let's talk about what I couldn't do when I began my work week yesterday.
I spent the first part of my day cultivating some new 2D talent for backing up Xin.
There are parts of making art for the prologues that we're not going to be able to do well enough under deadline. (edited)
For these parts, for the rest of the year or more, we will need a 2D artist in the production pipeline.
Xin is there, but using Xin comes with a few drawbacks.
Her availability is spotty, and she often hasn't been able to do the kinds of low detail, cartoonish artwork we need for these distance shots like panel 1 of the current update.
I interviewed a guy who's pretty good at linework.
I wanted to start him out with a panel that could accompany Tuesday's update.
It's important to take another time out here and emphasize this fact, which both your jobs are hanging on: *I HAVE NOT BEGUN TO WRITE TUESDAY'S UPDATE AND I NEED ABOUT 12-15 HOURS TO WRITE IT*
Live this reality with me.
Don't let it fall out of your head.
We need to update on Tuesday. And Friday too.
And the next Tuesday and the next Friday.
And on and on until we have stolen enough time to have modeled our characters and materials and interior scenes and all of that well enough to make a comic page and start Book 5.
So I'll say this again for emphasis. Your jobs are in support of the updates now.
Let's talk about what that means.
First thing it means is that the questions you have for me should be about the updates.
You should be thinking about Friday's.
What art might be in it? What do we have?
What is Rob going to want me to do for that page?
These are questions you mostly have the answers to, because I sort of already laid out what happens next in the story, but I would be surprised if you remember.
We're going to Archezoa next.
What does that mean>?
It means we need several model versions of Archezoa. From grand city to pitiful little tower in the center of some ruins.
It also means we need Archezoan character models.
Fortunately for you guys, we've never seen any of these people before.
They just have to be credible Erfworld men and women, dressed appropriately to their roles.
And (and I can't emphasize this enough) *they do not have to be perfect. They do not even have to be good.*
What they have to be is *delivered* to me by the time I come back from Colorado.
Oh, whoops.
I am back from Colorado 2 days ago.
So it's Sunday.
And nobody's working.
And I can't do what I need to do, because the files I would need to prepare a "cut your teeth on it test" for new illustrator Mike are not anywhere I can find them.
I can't make a new scene from panel 1 or 2 of the current update because (and this is not anyone's fault, we agreed to do it this way) the Paige in those scenes was static.
But I don't have the Paige I was posing to give to Connor to make the static file. Where I would expect that asset to be, it's not there.
And the scenes for the panels aren't up. Again, probably nobody's fault but mine. But it's a stopper.
And the scene for the future panel where she is on the balcony. Not up.
The assets for the posing dummy I used for the rough for Xin and Lillian. Not up.
None of this is about pointing fingers. This is me trying to *establish your awareness* of what has to be available at all times for me to do my part of the job. The part nobody can help with. The part that brings in the money to pay everyone.
So this is the process you have to support.
1. Rob will decide where the story is going next. This could be as simple as "We're going to go to Planetolly Wood about 3 updates from now. I need interiors of the throne room, a master bedroom, and an office at the top of the tower."
2. Rob will start closing in on what characters and scenery will be needed for the update about a week out. You'll need to assemble the scene as fast as you can, even if it has problems.
3. You will put the working version of that scene *in the right book-->page-->panel folder, and it will be called Erf5_prologue29_panel1_working_001.ma or something with that nomenclature.
As we work on it together, we will keep incrementing the working file.
4. When I have decided that the scene is composed, and I have gotten my renders out of it and moved on to working with the 2D artists, we will name that version Er5_prologue29_panel1_final_012.ma or something. Where 012 is the number of the final iteration on the working file.
5. When the comic goes up on the site, we will save a READ_ONLY version of the file that was used to make the art in the comic. All in the same folder.
Nobody ever touches or changes that file.
If we need to retconjure something, we start making versions called RETCON.
Now this part is really, really important to keep in your head.
In most cases, we will *not compose a scene from scratch*.
In at least 75% of panels, I believe we will start from a previous panel's READ_ONLY scene, and save a cloned copy to the folder for the new panel.
This could be 5 years and multiple books in the future.
*It better work*
Whatever stupid crap Maya pulls, whatever we do to change our file system, I need to open a scene that was used 5 years ago and have all the materials and file associations work the first time I open it.
And then I need to save a copy to another folder, and open that, and *it must work also*
In the next 2 days, the people in this channel are going to prove that kind of thing is possible.
If we can't prove it's possible, *the rest of Erfworld will be novels with no art*
Because it will prove once and for all that you just need a studio and a hundred people to do what we're trying to do.
That's it in a nutshell.
Questions?