Final parts of new post (avi-progression)

main-site/content/feed/3-years-of-avatar-making-progress.md

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+---
+title: '3 Years of Avatar Making Progress'
+description: 'No technical stuff, just an evolution in my  tastes'
+date: 2025-04-30T22:07:32-07:00
+thumbnail: '/img/avi-progression-3yr/intro.png'
+ContentThumbnail: true
+article: true
+---
+
+# Where it started - Luna
+
+
+Featured in the thumbnail **Luna** was my first model that I used
+for a couple months while I still just hopped from public to public.
+At some point she even got a disco out fit :smile:
+
+{{< pic "/img/avi-progression-3yr/01.png" >}}
+{{< pic "/img/avi-progression-3yr/02.png" >}}
+
+Two things I learned from this first foray into model making: 
+
+1. I love bright colors.... a lot
+2. Gloves on vr hands do **so much** for making the hands more connected.
+
+The second point is really important because I realize making the dorsum
+and palm feel slightly more beefy makes the fingers better ( for me at least ).
+
+
+# The Beginning of My Current Model
+
+{{< pic "/img/avi-progression-3yr/03-bright.png" >}}
+
+This was the first time I started messing with the idea of using a
+male model :scream::ghost::scream::ghost::scream::ghost::scream::ghost:
+Back When I first made this model male models were somewhat rare ( they
+still kinda are though). Most male models were either hyper feminine or
+hyper masculine [ see e-boys and girl models marketed as males -.- ].
+
+I still wanted something femine since I'm a bit of a fruitcake myself :3
+so i ended up making this:
+
+{{< pic "/img/avi-progression-3yr/032.png" >}}
+
+:information_source:
+Should note that at this point I still didn't have full-body so that
+pose is done in [:link: VRoid Studio](https://vroid.com/en) not VRChat.
+
+I started getting into really fem stuff at this point but I was still 
+more/less in my _amazon-basics-femboy-fit-phase_ hence the uhhh, outfit.
+
+# Moving on to my Raver Era
+
+:warning: I still very much  go to raves at every opportunity I'm just
+more selective about them since I have more experience now and _vibe-check_
+certain scenes before deciding to full send. :warning:
+
+Basically I wanted something casual, fun, and rave-inspired so I cut off
+the sleeves of a hoodie in vroid and swapped to shorts from skirts:
+
+{{< pic "/img/avi-progression-3yr/04.png" >}}
+
+This is the part where I start learning some really nasty tricks with VRoid;
+like dropping poly counts by abusing alpha channels and putting stuff on
+the **skin texture** because **omg** does that save a ton of space. Also I
+finally decided to take on the prospect of using a non-default shader,
+[:link: Poiyomi](https://www.poiyomi.com/download/). Which is how I got my
+first fancy looking shiny things :3
+
+{{< pic "/img/avi-progression-3yr/05.png" >}}
+{{< pic "/img/avi-progression-3yr/06.png" >}}
+{{< pic "/img/avi-progression-3yr/07.png" >}}
+{{< pic "/img/avi-progression-3yr/08.png" >}}
+
+You would be amazed at how long it took me to realize I need to use a cutout
+rendering mode to get rid of those little black triangles (which are nearly
+empty polygons but opaque sets all transparency to black).
+
+> :stop_sign: Is that a hat in the last pic???
+
+Yes I also picked up blender but only to make super simply hats which ended up
+being super useful later on since it gave me the fundamentals to make more
+complex things like these neato googles I made for a halloween project 
+:jack_o_lantern:.
+
+{{< pic "/img/avi-progression-3yr/09.png" >}}
+
+That one had some nice pulsating animations that made it appear like fluid was 
+pumping through the pipes but in reality it was just a regular emmision that
+flowed from the middle out :wink:.
+
+Eventually I realized that I needed to fix my fitment; that is the way the 
+avatar is proportioned in relation to your actual body. The closer to your
+actual proportions the better the avi will feel when wearing it. This took
+a lot of recompiling and reuploading but was super worth because it felt
+literally flawless eventually.
+
+Below you can see in the first pic that my avi's hand is on the hip but it's 
+also perfectly lined up like that in real life.
+
+{{< pic "/img/avi-progression-3yr/10.png" >}}
+{{< clip "/img/avi-progression-3yr/11.png" >}}
+
+Couple of updates to the outfit and I can get super tight poses in VRChat
+that are completely 1 to 1 IRL to VR because of the fitment work.
+
+{{< pic "/img/avi-progression-3yr/12.png" >}}
+{{< pic "/img/avi-progression-3yr/13.png" >}}
+
+Love that old club logos hat :smiling_face_with_tear:. Ended up learning how
+to do audio link with it:
+
+{{< clip "/img/avi-progression-3yr/audio-link-ex.mp4" >}}
+
+Minor adjustments to the outfit but this ended up being the final outfit that
+I ended up with for a while on this version.
+
+{{< pic "/img/avi-progression-3yr/14.png" >}}
+
+
+# My Cottage Core Era and Maturing as a Femboy
+
+Excuse the tangent(kinda). While I love the _cutesy hehe style of a lot 
+of femboy aesthetics_ I also realize that it's not a style that will age
+very well. Coming from a background with a lot of older people I want to
+be able to maintain an aesthetic that is still feminine but like more
+grown up.
+
+Thus my switch to **cottage core** so some shit idk zoomers have like 9999
+names for every subgenre of styles and I don't bother to keep up.
+
+My solution to the "aging femboy" that "dresses their age" is uhhh, long 
+skirts :3
+
+{{< pic "/img/avi-progression-3yr/15.png" >}}
+
+Was not feeling the under turtle neck so I switch to a simple crop top
+with a strap and kept the torn up edges from the halloween outfit.
+
+
+{{< pic "/img/avi-progression-3yr/16.png" >}}
+{{< pic "/img/avi-progression-3yr/17.png" >}}
+{{< pic "/img/avi-progression-3yr/18.png" >}}
+
+
+# And Right Now
+
+Currently I've got back to a more "masc" fit but still keeping the light
+colors and generally easy going aesthetic. I do want to try making more
+"femguy" models that feel more "mature" but still retain the fun :3
+
+
+{{< pic "/img/avi-progression-3yr/19.png" >}}
+{{< pic "/img/avi-progression-3yr/20.png" >}}
+
+# Future models?
+
+Definitely going to bounce around in what I'm calling :house:"fem-home-core"
+because I really like being fem but I still like masc stuff; guess I just
+need to find a way to establish a more mature femboy aesthetic :wink:
+
+