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vintagesimstress · 4 years

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V. Adding missing body parts / Frankenmeshing / Finishing touches

(Previous: IV. The most useful meshing tools in Blender)

I know I promised to finally talk about uv maps, but I realised I forgot to cover some tiny, but important meshing-related details. Originally I hoped I could mention them in the parts dedicated to uvs or clones, but somehow they didn't properly fit into any of those topics, so I decided it'd be better to make a separate post about them. I probably will have to re-mention some of this stuff later though, so sorry in advance for anything being redundant!

1) Adding missing body parts

I mentioned a long time ago that my dress, being made from a top, comes without legs. It's not a problem, as it's supposed to be floor-length anyway – but what if it wasn't? What if it reached e.g. only until knees? Or what if you accidentally (or not) deleted/messed up some other body parts, like hands or neck, and wanted to replace them?

To fix this, first of all we need to get the right body meshes from S4S.

It's almost the same steps as in the very beginning, when we were getting the top which we used as a base for the dress. Open S4S, choose 'Create 3D mesh' under CAS and then click the CAS button. Just as back then, you'll see a list of all EA CAS assets existing in your game.

To find meshes of different body parts, type 'nude' in the box in the top right corner. No worries, it's The Sims, everything is safe for work (a.k.a. Barbie-style).

Now you have to select whatever it is that you need. Let's stick to the idea of a knee-length dress in need of some legs. Click the female naked bottom (if you're not sure which one is which, hover over the picture; it'll tell you if it's yf – young female – or ym - young male) and then hit 'Next'.

You'll be asked to name your package, but – just like in case of the top – it completely doesn't matter. It's only the mesh we want – once it's extracted, we can delete the package file.

Now that the package is created, you can access its data. Again, just like in case of the top: go to 'Meshes' and click the 'Export mesh' button. Make sure NOT to change the LOD!

You can close S4S now – that was all we needed from it.

Before we go back to our mesh, I suggest we open the newly extracted legs' mesh, select all the vertices (a) and remove doubles (w, choose from the list). By default each mesh coming straight from S4S is cut in certain places (I guess wherever there are cuts in the uv-1?) - and in case of a naked body such cuts are most definitely not needed.

Save and close.

Now, open the mesh which needs the legs. For this tutorial, I cut off the bottom part of the dress I was making. As you can see, it's very legless.

Go to Object Mode (tab), open the 'File' menu and choose 'Append'.

Now you have to find your extracted legs' mesh. However, you'll notice that just selecting the right blend file isn't enough – when you click it, it opens like a normal folder, making you choose from more specific contents of the blend file/package. Here comes the tricky and very important part: the mesh data sits in the 'Object' folder, NOT in 'Mesh'. When you open the 'Object' folder, you'll find inside the file you're looking for: s4studio_mesh_1. Select it and click 'Append from Library'.

Kaboom!

As you're going to join the legs with your mesh anyway, you can safely delete the bone_shape.001 and rig.001. You don't need them and they'll just be making your blend file bigger. It's only the mesh that's necessary.

Now we need to edit the appended legs by deleting the parts which we don't need. Select the legs' mesh, go to edit mode, turn on the x-ray and select (b) everything which will be hidden underneath the skirt. Leave some margin though!

Delete (x) the selected vertices and go back to object mode.

As you can see, right now your dress and the legs are separate from each other – in other words, they are separate cuts. And while some (...many...) EA meshes include several cuts, they are never cut in this way. We need to join them.

Select the legs' mesh on the right and, while holding shift, the dress' mesh. Then simply press ctrl+j. That's all! The legs are where they're supposed to be.

In case you're interested, if you want to do the opposite – turn a part of your mesh into a new cut – select that part, press p and choose 'selection' from the drop-down menu.

Of course, appending isn't limited to saving your dresses from leglessness. As mentioned, the same principle can be used for adding any other body parts... Or even clothes.

2) Frankenmeshing

There's not much I can say to it right now, without going into cuts, weights and uv maps, but if you want to try it, that's your starting point. You extract a couple of meshes from S4S, open one of them and then append the other ones. Depending on what it is that you're frankenmeshing, it might take some time to clean the meshes (i.e. delete the unwanted vertices). In most cases it's also very important to connect the vertices of the separate parts once you join the cuts! If you combine top A with sleeves B, or top C with skirt D, you have to merge the vertices where those parts connect – otherwise it'll at the very least look weird, and that's only a best case scenario.

3) Closing the mesh

I kind of mentioned this one last time, but I guess it won't hurt to explain it once again, this time properly. Whether your dress is short or super long, if you look at it from the bottom, you'll see that it's... Empty. Transparent. Unfinished. The legs – or feet – are ending apruptly, as if cut by a saw. We don't want to see it. That's why we need to close it.

(I remember when I was just learning to mesh I found this part super weird. I thought I'd rather not cut the legs, but duplicate the skirt and flip direction, to make it have both sides, just like in real life. While this idea is not completely ridiculous and can even be useful in certain cases (e.g. when you're making a half-transparent skirt – if it's see-through, you do need the legs to actually be underneath), there are two big reasons why you shouldn't do it: one, it might be very hard to get rid of any clipping, and two, the polycount could potentially kill you. Just in case you're having similar thoughts right now :) )

Select the lowest row of vertices. It might be a bit tricky now that the legs are appended – you might want to separate them into a new cut for a second, just so that they wouldn't be getting in your way. Or just hide them with h. Another easy method is selecting the row on the uv map, but we haven't covered this one yet, so let's stick to separating legs for now. Turn the x-ray on and, while in front view, select the row.

As mentioned last time, this lowest row is supposed to be a sharp edge, so before you proceed, mark it as sharp (ctrl+e)!

Turn the camera a bit to see what's going on underneath. Now extrude the vertices (e) and scale them (s). Click wherever.

As you can see, the new, extruded circle is selected now. Press alt + m to merge those vertices and, from the drop-down menu, select 'at center'.

Personally I don't like it when the bottom of a dress is so completely flat, so I move that middle point a bit higher, along the z axis (g, z). That's also one of the reasons why I left that leg margin earlier. I guess you don't have to do it, but I think it makes it look a bit more natural.

If you separated the legs, you can once again adjoin them to the main mesh now.

It's very important to close any open ends your mesh might have. The bottom of your dress/skirt, cuffs, necklines, sleeves if they're short – everything must be closed, otherwise you'll notice it in the game, sooner or later. It's fine if you don't do it now – you might want to wait until you're done with uvs and weights – but eventually you have to do it. Just for a little crack, here's a screenshot I took while testing one of my dresses. It's floor-length, so it shouldn't matter if it's closed or not, right?

That’s how it ends.

***

The long-awaited uvs tutorial will follow very soon, unless I suddenly get some urgent project to work on. I know how badly it's needed, so it's scheduled now, like any normal job-related stuff. And as hard as it might be to believe, I'm actually quite good at meeting deadlines if they're set in stone – I might not enjoy it, but I get stuff done on time. Stay tuned!

(Next: VI a. UV_0)

#tutorial #meshing #blender 2.79 #blender #appending #frankenmeshing

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secretgamergirl · 4 years

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We really need 1:1 time passage in games.

I play a lot of games. I particularly play a whole lot of RPGs, strategy things, survival games, and these all tend to be games that try to create an extra sense of immersion with hunger, thirst, and a day night cycle. And WOW do they ever end up doing the exact opposite with the implementation!

Like, let’s just start with food. If I am playing a survival game, and I choose not to eat for a while, my little hunger meter will bottom out, and I will start taking damage then eventually die. This tends to take like, one real life hour/in-game day, give or take to kick in, and then death comes within like, maybe 5 minutes if they’re generous? And I stave this off by... usually finding, killing, cooking, and eating, 2 entire turkeys per real hour/in-game day.

So... what the hell is any of that!?

So we have hunger, and we’re representing it as this slowly draining meter you have to keep an eye on. Already, that’s just weird. In my experience, you can go an entire day, not eating a damn thing, and not feel a thing out of the ordinary. But when you do actually get hungry, it can be overwhelming and impossible to ignore (have you eaten yet today by the way? My meal schedule’s gotten totally weird). Nothing about that makes sense to simulate as a slowly lowering bar. If you want realism, you have absolutely no onscreen hunger meter, and then like every 4-24 hours or so you have some incredibly distracting hunger indicator kick in and stay kicked in. Like, activate rumble packs and leave’em going at a steady pulse sort of annoying. And it gets worse when you’re actually preparing food.

Also feeling hungry is not an early indicator that you are going to suddenly die of starvation, or even that you’re anywhere near that point. I had dinner 6 hours ago, I’m a little hungry now. It varies a lot, but actually starving to death can take upwards of going TWO WHOLE MONTHS without any food at all. Like if we’re representing that as a meter, “hungry” kicks in when it drops to 99% full. Starvation is not a particularly common cause of death. If you’re dying of starvation, either someone is intentionally starving you to death, or some horrific catastrophe has just wiped out completely absolutely every potential food source in an area you somehow cannot wander your way out of even if you have months to do so. Relevant real world fact- Any time you see stuff about people dying of starvation, that’s never “farming just is not a thing that works in this area,” it’s “some malicious tyrant is actively preventing these people from accessing food in a deliberate effort to cause them to starve.” It’s really not actually a concern in any sort of survival story, unless we’re going real long term.

Meanwhile, have game designers ever actually, like, eaten food? Like I said, 2 whole turkeys per real hour/game day seems to be the going standard and like... have you had a turkey? I live in America, there is this tradition on Thanksgiving to go get a turkey, spend a day cooking it, and serving it as part of a meal served to one’s whole extended family. You’ve got that one turkey (granted, generally with a lot of side dishes) feeding like... a dozen people, easily. And at the end of the day, you’ve only MAYBE collectively made your way through like half a breast. You carve up a bunch more and send everyone home with a ton of leftovers. Then you’ve still got this giant mountain of turkey left, and you’re eating it for like the next week until you’re completely sick of turkey and throw the rest out, with plenty of meat entirely uneaten on the bird. Or hey, do you eat hamburgers? You know how the standard for a really kinda too big to responsibly be ordering it hamburger is “a quarter-pounder?” Which refers to the 0.25 lbs. of meat on the bun? Just quickly googling “beef weight” and copying the preview text from the oddly named first hit, on beef2live.com... “An average beef animal weighs about 1200 pounds and has a hanging hot carcass weight (HCW) of about 750 pounds.“ I can’t honestly say I know what “hanging hot carcass weight” is and I kinda doing want to, but I’m assuming that’s how much you have to work with after stripping out all the bones and organs and such. Multiply that by 4 to get how many oversized burgers you get out of one “beef animal” (why does it not say cow? I’m growing increasingly unsettled)- 3000 burgers. Give or take. You go smack that one Mnecraft cow with your sword, you should be fine for like 5 years. At least assuming we’re not simulating food spoilage. And if we are, HEY THAT TAKES SIGNIFICANTLY LONGER THAN ONE DAY, 2 IF YOU SALT IT!

And I mean, on top of that, we’ve got this whole standard I keep citing of 1 real world hour/1 in-game day. That kinda seems to be one of the more common standards for the passage of time video games use. That or 1 minute=1 hour. And I... really don’t understand why we have these scales?

Like, the earliest example of a day/night cycle in a game is Dragon Quest 3, where 1 steps on the over world map=12 minutes passing, or 120 steps=1 day. That’s a weird scale I’m having to use, but that’s because as the most traditional of JRPGs, DQ3′s sense of both time AND space are super abstracted and walking a short distance across the world map is this super compressed and simplified conveyance of a big long epic journey through the untamed wilderness. The first games I can think of offhand to really do it as a real time elapsed ratio thing are like... The Sims and GTA 3? Let me look at each of those in turn in a bit here.

So, The Sims has to pass days pretty quick, because that’s like, the whole idea. We’re watching this little household drama unfold in a compressed time scale... but the scale is really messed up? Like, we start off pretty simple. Sims work their shifts of like 9-5 on the in-game clock, need an appropriate amount of sleep... but then MOST things have timing based off having animations play at a reasonable pace, which is to say, 1 to 1 time, not 1 to 60. It takes like 3 in-game minutes for a Sim to get up out of a chair, several more minutes to walk to the kitchen and even start cooking, altogether just getting up, making a meal, cleaning up, and sitting back down is going to end up being this hours long affair, most of that being travel time from one room to another. It’s weird, and practically speaking you end up having them eat one meal, use the toilet once, and take a shower once per in game day, because less than that problems occur, and more than that, it’s a huge pain. And forget conversations. Those are like 12 hour commitments.

And then we have GTA3, where 1 real minute=1 in game hour... and this isn’t tied to anything in-game at all really. You don’t eat, you don’t sleep, nothing really has business hours to deal with, the whole day/night cycle is just there to give you a nice cycling change of scenery... and also again, breaks immersion, because the animation speed is 1:1. According to a video I just watched, walking end to end across the map of GTA3 takes a full 48 in-game hours (121 in GTA5). And I mean... there’s races, and high speed chases, and all this other stuff that according to the in-game clock are at such slow speeds you can barely tell anything’s moving. It’s weird and arbitrary! And also unnecessary! Like, I’m pretty sure I sank at least 80 hours into my first playthrough of GTA3. I definitely spent enough time cruising around any given island that if time passed in a 1:1 ratio, I’d still see what everything looked like at every time of day. And hell if you rigged it up to a real world clock I could plan around that, do all the cool missions right at sundown.

But I mean, also, there’s these things called movies and TV shows? You may have heard of them, because it’s where games get a whole bunch of terms they use all the time. Like camera, and scene. So the thing there is, when, say, a movie switches to a new scene, they’ll often arbitrarily jump the day/night cycle ahead by several in-movie hours, or even days, so the lighting is appropriate to what’s going to happen in that scene. You can actually just... do that in games, too. It’s OK. Nobody’s going to stop you or say it’s breaking immersion. I talk to this guy to start this mission at what’s clearly noon, then we fade to back, and I come back out onto the street late at night so I can do this daring nighttime raid. That’s.. OK. You can do that. Honest. No need to have the sun doing crazy fast laps in the background.

Anyway, other games since have all copied that time scale, because blindly copying things from GTA3 was kinda... how people made games for a good stretch of time (and yeah yeah yeah, Elder Scrolls was probably already doing it, whatever... hell so was Robinson’s Requiem I’m pretty sure, and Drakken I know was paced something like that). But anyway, we mixed that sort of time scale with Survival Gameplay and we’re just kinda mashing these problems together. We’re doing everything in this one to one time scale, but the in-game clock is running at like 60 times that, and our already ridiculous food intake needs are downright absurd, and suddenly we’re destroying absolutely all life on sight to sate our ever-present ravenous hunger (and possibly never sleeping).

And like... survival games don’t actually need that? Like the interesting bits of the angle are finding sources of things like clean water and shelter so you don’t die of exposure once the sun’s down and stuff. And these are things you really just need to do once and you’re set. You could... basically set up a whole game, running in real time, where these are early potential fail states. Get some kind of shelter set up within the first 5 hours or so, sleep to advance straight to the next day after pulling that off, then you have like 3 days total to find drinkable water, and... honestly at that point we’re talking like a good 45 minutes of gameplay and you could really end it there, or start your last goal. But instead, no, we’re making some kinda crude axe/bow and killing everything to eat.

Not only is it not realistic, not only does it take me out of the experience by checking the math, the whole affair feels kinda like I’m being put through someone’s weird hyper-masculine cargo cult fantasy of what it would have been like if they grew up Hunting With Dad and like.... OK people who actually do that still kill like one animal, then drag it home, throw it in a big fridge, and eat it for quite a long time, or sell it, or leave it to rot because they’re just really into ending the lives of innocent creatures and don’t want weird gamey meat at all.

So yeah, just let time be time, and don’t ever actually make me eat if we’re trying for some kind of gritty realism thing. I really don’t get hungry nearly that often and fill up quick.

#game design #survival

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anon-e-miss · 5 years

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My sim plot of the moment.

In a decision that could only be described as impulsive, Prowl took a posting in the remote island of Staniz of the coast of Polihex. He was not fleeing war or poverty but humiliation. He left behind a generous wage to serve as Praefectus Vigilum over what proved not to be a single island but an archipelago. His posting as Praefectus Vigilum over the Enforcers of Praxus had not been taken from him, he had left it. After catching his Conjunx Endura having an affair, Prowl had tried to continue on with his life and career in Praxus as his soon to be ex took his lover off planet, safely away from the gossips. Prowl could not just up and leave for the stars, he had responsibilities, two mechlings to raise. While he considered himself a mech immune to others’ opinions, even he had his limits. After seven vorns trying and failing to ignore the speculation and mockery thrown at his back, the Praxian opened his inbox to find a job offer from the Vilicus of Staniz. The offer came without any warning, or any application on Prowl’s part, and still he accepted the offer.

There was an odd condition in the contract he signed. Until the Island accepted him, or his five vorn contract was up, he would board with the Vilicus and his kin. Prowl packed what matter to him or his creations, and put the rest in storage, and turned his back on Praxus. He took some pleasure he the shock and dismay his departure caused within the ranks of the Enforcers and the Praxian government. They might have amused themselves with the gossip, but the austere Praefectus was an effective administrator and Enforcer. His subordinates would not miss him, nor would the politicians he had sparred with, but they would miss the results he had ensured.

Up until the moment he had stepped off the ferry, Prowl had be resolute in his decision. But the moment he stepped off, his confidence crumbled into dust. Staniz was not what he had imagined, It was not a desert like the mainland, but a tropical oasis. The streets were narrow, and more mechanisms seemed to walk than drive. Perhaps it was for the best because the thin armour they wore could hardly offer any protection in a collision. Some of these mechanisms wore barely any armour at all. One such mech stood at the end of the offloading ramp. What armour he did wear was odd, rather than made up of sheets of plating welded together, it was made up of small overlapping pieces, like the scales of a robo-minnow. The manners written on his code kept him from staring, and also from looking completely away. He was tempted to shield his optics, or those of his creations, but as he did look off down the streets he saw that this mech’s armour was not entirely unique. Could it be a Staniz fashion? Prowl had never considered himself to be a prude, but as it turned out, he was.

“Yo, Praefectus!” The mech he had been trying not to stare at stepped into his path and Prowl flared his doorwings back to keep himself from stumbling. He held tightly to Smokescreen’s servo, and he adjusted his grip on Bluestreak, who he was carrying on his hip.

“Hello...” Prowl said, stiffly.

“‘M Jazz,” the stranger explained. Primus damn it, this was the Vilicus, his host. “I realized ya had no idea what I looked like so I figured I’d better come to find ya.”

“Thank you, I anticipated looking for the precinct, we are a mega-cycle early,” the Praxian replied.

“I been watchin’ yet itinerary,” Jazz explained. “Ya been traveling. For a few mega-cycles, we’ll end home ‘n get ya fueled ‘n rested before we worry ‘bout meetin’ wit the mayor ‘n council.”

“That is...” Prowl planned to say it was not necessary, but Smokescreen tucked on his servo.

“Can you carry me, please?” His eldest asked.

“Oh,” the originator murmured. It had been an easy thing when they had been younger but Bluestreaker was no newling, and Smokescreen was no first tier sparkling.

“Why don’t ya hand me the lil mech?” the Polihexian offered. “My own are ‘bout his age.”

Bluestreak was a happy mechling, and while he was chatty with those he knew, he could be painfully shy. Prowl was ready to take him back if he kicked up a fuss, and he was so tired himself that he rested his helm on the Vilicus’ shoulder as soon as the mech held him against his chassis. He would be in recharge in no time at all. The Praxian knelt so his elder mechling could climb on his back. When Smokescreen wrapped his arms around his originator’s neck, Prowl stood, and held his mechling under his knees.

“Thank you, Vilicus Jazz,” Prowl said.

“Just Jazz, we ain’t formal here.We’ll catch a transport down to the beach,” the mech explained. “We live on one of the little islands off that away.”

The straights were too narrow for ferries, and there were no bridges, Prowl wondered how they would cross. Perhaps there were tunnels under the ocean, certianly the mech could not expect them to swim. Jazz waved down a transport, not a Convoy as Prowl was familiar with, but an Tagonian hauling a low trailer, with crude seats. This struck the Enforcer as a terrible idea. At least it had a forcefield, and seat belts. Their host hopped into the trailer with ease, and set Bluestreak down before he turned back around to life Smokescreen from Prowl’s back. Prowl though the mech made a face, but it was difficult to tell, he was wearing a visor over his optics. When Smokescreen was situation, Jazz turned back again and offered Prowl his servo, the Praxian took it, but climbed in for the most part under his own strength. He heard the smaller mech vent. At least the mech was polite enough to comment on his weight. Compared to him and nearly all those around them, Prowl may as well have been a tank.

“Just to the beach, ‘Breaker,” the Vilicus ordered.

Prowl did not think he had ever known a single Convoy’s designation, though he had never used the same one twice. The population of Staniz was far smaller than Helix, a small town, versus a bustling metropolis. It took Breaker only a few bream to reach the shore, opposite from the port where the ferry had docked. Smokescreen had not perked up over the ride, and his originator carried him on his back, again, as he followed their host down to small dock lined with odd looking boats. The solar canoes had what looked like arms over the sides of the hull, brushing against the water.

“Outriggers,” Jazz explained. “They help wit balance. Mine’s over here. Seataxis run between some o’ the islands, but not to mine. It’s just my kin on it by rite.”

“Right?” Prowl asked.

“Rite,” the Polihexian corrected as he led the over to a solar outrigger with a deep blue sail. “My origin’s the chieftain of the shoal.”

“Shoal?” The Enforcer asked.

“Tribe o’ finmechs,” Jazz explained, he fussed with the sail, adjusting it’s angle. “We’ve shared these islands wit the landmechs for millenia.”

“I did not realize there was a population here,” Prowl said. He knew these mechanisms existed. Like Predacons and other beastformers they were often reclusive, running into conflict with more common frametypes.

“Reason I wanted to hire ya was ‘cause ya were from outside,” the Vilicus replied. “We get into it wit the landmechs sometimes... more in recent vorns than before. Been a lot more crime, more than such a small population outta have, they ain’t gonna respect the law comin’ from the glossa o’ one of my framekin, ‘n we don’t respect it from them. So an outsider was the ticket.”

“I would be a landmech,” the Praxian said, would I not?”

“If the Island accepts ya,” Jazz explained. “Ya got none o’ the old scores or history the landmechs got. I think ya can put us right. Sit tight.”

They were off. The sail caught the sun and leapt across the sea. Jazz controlled it with ease. Prowl wondered how he was meant to cross himself. Would he be expected to learn how to operate one of these things. It made his fuel tank clench. He was going to have to cross the strait ever mega-cycle, with his luck he would fall overboard and sink to the bottom his very first try. Feeling uncertain and wholly out of place, Prowl held Bluestreak on his lap an Smokescreen close to his side. There was little he could do with either if they fell in. Of course, their host could go after them, the mechlings not him, the Praxian was fairly certain he was too heavy for the mech.

Sunlight sparkled off Jazz’s scale like armour. It made sense that he would wear as little as he did, heavy armour would only weight and slow him own when he swam. It occurred to Prowl that he likely had no vehicle mold, like a Predacon, his alt-mode would be a beastmode of sorts. That might explain why so many in the town walked, rather than drove. Though the finmech was a skillful sailor, and he manipulated the sail and the vessel with small, precise motions, Prowl could not relax. He was not meant for the sea. It was a relief when they reached the shore. Though the ride over had only made him tenser, the breeze had invigorated the mechlings, though it would only be temporary. Smokescreen bounded up the hill after Jazz, brimming with excitement. Though Bluestreak had perked up, he was content to be carried, which was good because Prowl had no intention of letting him loose. The island was covered in crystal outcrops and serpentine palms. It would be all too easy to lose him.

“Looks like they go a feast goin’,” the Polihexian... finmech observed. Prowl jerked his helm up with horror.

There were a ring of low stools around an energon fire. A couple dozen mechanisms loitered about. One of the mechanisms stepped through a pair, and towards them. He was blue and yellow, with scale-like armour. Though looked nothing like Jazz, Prowl knew this was his originator, the chieftain of the finmechs. It was the way he walked, the predatory confidence. Prowl felt a little like a robo-fish on a hook. Bluestreak seemed to have a similar feeling and he turned around and buried his helm in his originator’s neck. The Praxian ran his digits along his creation’s back, between his doorwings, comforting both of them. Smokescreen stood next to Jazz, his doorwings flitting about.

“Ya made good time,” the chieftain said. His voice was deep like his creation’s, His cerulean optics were shroud, and uncovered. “Glyph got ‘round that the Praefectus was arrivin’ ‘n this happened.”

“Feast pop up ‘round here,” Jazz explained. “Ya don’t plan’em, they just happen. It’s our way, we share fuel, stories. Let’s get ya three seats so ya can fuel up. They’ll be dancin’ all dark-cycle but no one’ll expect ya to stick ‘round. Origin barely makes an appearance.”

“He’s not wrong,” his originator said. “‘M Punch, since it looks like the manners I tried to teach’m didn’t take.”

“Prowl,” the Praxian replied. “My eldest is Smokescreen, and my youngest is Bluestreak. Thank you for your hospitality, Chiefain.”

“Punch’ll due most o’ the time,” the mech in question replied. “‘M gonna make my appearance, ‘n my escape. Don’t keep’em up late, Jazz.”

“Don’t plan on it, Origin,” the Vilicus replied. “O’er here, Prowl. I see my brother ‘n the Twins.”

Twins, that would make sense given what little the mech had already said of his creations. Mechlings Bluestreak’s age came running towards them, shrieking with delight as they bypassed the better part of the mechanisms gathered. Like Smokescreen with his doorwings, the mechlings’ audials were almost comically too large for their slight frames. Their progenitor scooped them up all at once and spun the around. They roared with laughter. It was the laughter that convinced Prowl’s own mechling to look up from his shoulder. Jazz did not put his creations down but carried them over to Prowl and Bluestreak.

“Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, this is Prowl, ‘n his bitlet Bluestreak,” Jazz explained. “I told ya they’d be comin’ to live wit us for a bit. Say hi?”

“Hi!” The little mechling with red, scaled armour waved. His brother, with yellow armour of the same style waved more solemnly. Bluestreak wiggled his doorwings.

“He is shy,” Prowl explained.

“Sunstreaker’s ‘bout the same,” the finmech replied. “Hey Ric, can ya plate us some fuel?”

“Sure thing,” his brother replied. They looked very similar, apart from the colour of their faces and optics. Their helms were identically shaped, though Ric’s was white and not black like Jazz’s.

“Sit down ‘n relax,” Jazz said, gesturing to a padded stool. “Smokescreen, why don’t ya drag one a lil close to your origin?”

Ric returned with fuel, Prowl did not care how it was sourced, he took it, and ate it with gratitude. His creations shared his inclination. As they fueled, Jazz’s mechlings inched closer, Sideswipe was clearly the leader here. With their progenitor sitting to Prowl’s left, both twins felt confident enough to come over to Blue, who was sitting on his originator’s lap. Sideswipe help up a sphere, and pushed it into Bluestreak’s servos. Bluestreak looked from it to the finmech sparklings looking up at his with bright anticipation.

“Ya throw it!” Sideswipe ordered. Bluestreak flicked his doorwings and did as he was told. The finmechlings both chased after it, for his part, Prowl’s bitlet was at least intrigued. They returned with the ball and Bluestreak through it again. By the time they return, the Praxian mechling had wriggled off his originator’s lap to join the game in full.

Soon dark-cycle had fallen completely. It was not dark. There were crystal torches throughout the courtyard and the energon fire glowed. Ricochet came and took the Twins to their berths, Bluestreak curled up on Prowl’s lap. Jazz whispered that he would show them to their rooms, and he stood. Before he could take a step, before Prowl could stand, other finmechs broke from the festivities and walked towards them, carrying odd looking rods. His host made a bemused sound as the rods were tossed towards them. He had no difficulty catching them.

“Yer forgettin’ somethin’,” one of the mech’s said.One closer inspection, he was not a finmech but a landmech, still Polihexian in build.”

“Dance ‘n fuel are the biggest parts of our culture,” Jazz explained to the Praxians as he turned back around. His originator stepped out of the crowd gathering to watch. “We got a dance for everythin’, since we do got a feast goin’, I outta give ya a proper welcome.

Finmechs or Polihexians closer to the energon fire played drums, a slow, easy rhythm, Jazz spun the rods in his servos, flame shot out from them, Prowl vent a sharp gasp. No one noticed, the finmech turned lithely on his peds as he twirled and twisted with the flaming staffs. Once the initiating shock faded, the Praxian relaxed to watch the display, Smokescreen clapped, off to the side, Punch did as well. Soon, Prowl was clapping along as well. It was a remarkable feat of dexterity and grace. A cheer went up from the shoal as Jazz lowered the rods and their flames went out, and he bowed. He smiled at Prowl as he straightened.

“Welcome to Staniz.”

#maccadams #ficlet #tf jazz #tf prowl #mermechs #au #tf sims

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coldstarlightharmony-blog · 7 years

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Audit: The $229 Moto G5 Plus stands as the lord of spending Android (for the time being) Minimized camera and flawed refresh strategy discolor another strong upgrade.

We've reported the decrease of Motorola under Lenovo widely. Despite everything we enjoyed the telephones, which had likely been created for the most part under Google's possession in any case, yet in 2015 we began to see slower refreshes and shorter support lifecycles. A year ago was the point at which the wheels truly began to fall off. Not exclusively did the organization generally demolish its leader telephone by swapping the modest and skillful Moto X for the costly and irregular Moto Z, however Lenovo issued a few opposing explanations about programming refreshes that made it misty whether the Z or the fourth-era Moto G would get normal updates by any stretch of the imagination.

It's not all terrible. The Moto G4, particularly the G4 Plus design, was as yet a strong midrange telephone that offered adequate execution, a huge 1080p screen, and a unique mark peruser for $250. Not at all like the Moto Z, it in any event comprehended and regarded the plan behind the first 2013 Moto G: a reasonable telephone with clean, unskinned Android and no-to-low-ruffles equipment that took care of business. Its absence of updates in the course of the most recent nine months has been disillusioning, however that is the standard in the Android world instead of the exemption.

The Moto G5 Plus generally proceeds in that vein, however its new aluminum backplate and marginally higher cost ($229 for a model with 2GB of RAM and 32GB of capacity, $299 for one with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of capacity) flag a longing to move upmarket a bit. Like the G4 before it, the G5 Plus demonstrates that Motorola under Lenovo isn't an acts of futility regardless of the possibility that this isn't the organization it was a few years ago.Look and feelThe G5 is the most emotional break yet from the nitty gritty utilitarian outline of the main Moto G. Its moderately expansive show bezels and its plastic edges still recognize it as a lower-end telephone, however past eras' rubber treated and additionally finished backs have been swapped out for an aluminum backplate with a smooth matte complete and a somewhat raised Motorola logo. It's as yet lighter in your grasp and somewhat chunkier than tantamount top of the line telephones, yet at first look you may experience difficulty recognizing it from a metal or glass-and-metal telephone like Google's or Samsung's.

Dissimilar to Ars Android master Ron Amadeo, I don't think metal is fundamentally superior to different materials. The rubber treated backs of the more seasoned Moto telephones made them simpler to grasp, particularly on the off chance that you were utilizing them one-gave. You lose that on the Moto G5, which likewise utilizes polished plastic edges that don't improve the situation. It's not as if the telephone is continually slipping and sliding around in your grasp, however it sacrifices something I for one preferred about more established Moto outlines for a more "premium" look and feel.

The plans and materials of $300 and $400 telephones have shown signs of improvement in the last couple years, so changing the G5's materials to help it contend bodes well as a business system. I simply enjoyed it the other way, is all.

The 5.2-inch G5 is only somewhat littler than the 5.5-inch G4, a change that is sufficiently minor that I truly have no assessment about it. The screen is sufficiently substantial to keep fanatics of huge telephones cheerful, so I wouldn't stress significantly over it. The main thing I ponder about is the manner by which Motorola made the screen littler while scarcely lessening the size and weight of the telephone by any stretch of the imagination (it measures the same as the G4 Plus and is intangibly littler). It's not clear why screen size would go down when the pattern is upward, ever upward (with the exception of possibly to shield it from venturing on the likewise 5.5-inch Moto Z's toes), however regardless it doesn't have an enormous effect.

The screen itself is unremarkable, a decent 1080p IPS board that isn't favor however looks pleasant and brilliant and sharp and has none of the uneven backdrop illumination that a portion of the prior 720p Moto G screens had. 1080p is an awesome determination for a screen this size—more would be needless excess, less would make things a tad pixelated and foggy. No objections here.

The front of the cell phone doesn't go astray a long way from the standard cell phone format. There's a little "moto" logo under the earpiece over the screen that I could genuinely manage without, yet it doesn't make the telephone greater like HTC's logos used to once upon a time. The unique mark peruser under the screen is somewhat odd, as well. It's less prominent and attached on looking than the one on the Moto G4, however it's still simple to overlook that it isn't a catch. Route is dealt with by Android's standard onscreen buttons.One change Motorola has made is that in the event that you put your finger on the sensor when the telephone is as of now wakeful, it will bolt. Regardless of whether you like or utilize it will rely on upon how you utilize your telephone; I frequently ended up killing my screen unintentionally, yet in the event that you're utilizing the telephone one-gave it can likewise be more advantageous than coming to up for the power catch. On the off chance that you don't care for this conduct, you can handicap it in the settings.

Like the G5, the G5 Plus has two catches on its correct side: a power catch and a volume rocker. The power catch is gently finished so you can differentiate just by looking about. Lenovo exchanged the position of the catches, as well. The power catch is currently underneath the volume rocker, put about mostly down the side of the gadget.

The one thing that plainly pegs the G5 as a lower-end telephone is Lenovo's proceeded with utilization of small scale USB rather than USB-C, which all lead Android telephones (counting the Moto Z) have been utilizing for a year or two now. Possibly the organization assumes that individuals in the market for a low-end telephone would prefer additionally not to need to change every one of their links and chargers and frill—regardless, the advantages of the more up to date port are sufficiently various that despite everything i'd get a kick out of the chance to see this change.The metal backplate doesn't fall off, the battery isn't replaceable, I'm as yet pitiful to see the beautiful swappable shells and the Moto Maker customization components of past Moto Gs pass by the wayside. They gave the more established telephones a character that these more up to date models need. The Moto G4 had removable batteries yet none of the past models did, so this is a stage once again from a year ago; I additionally wish the G5 was totally waterproof like the G3 was two or three years back. The G5 is simply "water-repellant," which signifies "you can get a little water on it once in a while."

Since the back doesn't fall off, on the off chance that you need to swap out a SIM or put in a SD card, you'll have to fly out the plate on the highest point of the telephone with a bowed paper clasp or some other thin jabbing actualize. This plate does its employment, however I don't love that it doesn't sit flush with the highest point of the telephone.

Programming

Ugh, this segment gets all the more discouraging to compose each year.

We should begin with the well done. The Moto G5 Plus boats with Android 7.0 and January 2017's security patches (capacity encryption is empowered as a matter of course out of the crate, a first for the Moto G lineup regardless of the possibility that they do even now deliver with 32-bit Android portions for reasons unknown). Indeed, even under Lenovo, the Moto lineup has kept on utilizing an adaptation of Android that sticks pretty nearly to the Google-outlined UI. This incorporates the notice shade and settings screen, two places that Android OEMs have a tendency to update and foul up themselves.

The default application launcher isn't the Pixel Launcher (still select to Pixel telephones) or the old Google Now Launcher (on out), however a kind of in the middle of launcher that keeps a similar swipe-up-to-open application drawer plan and places the Google Now sustain to one side of the fundamental home screen. It's sufficiently nearby to Google's and sufficiently tame that I didn't want to change it.

The default application loadout is additionally pleasingly free of cruft, at any rate on the opened adaptation that I'm auditing. Lenovo inclines toward Google applications like Chrome, Gmail, and Gboard to deal with center usefulness without including the duplicative applications run of the mill, say, Samsung telephones. There's as yet a Moto application, Motorola still ships its own default camera application, as well. Be that as it may, all things considered, this is Nougat as Google boats it.

With respect to what sucks, the short form is that Motorola under Google was truly awesome about Android updates, head and shoulders over whatever remains of the other Android OEMs. Presently, Motorola under Lenovo is quite terrible about updates. I wouldn't state it's "the most exceedingly awful," on the grounds that the opposition is so wild, however the speed and recurrence of updates, the measure of time Moto gadgets are upheld, and the organization's correspondence about these issues have all gotten discernibly, clearly more awful under Lenovo.

A valid example: I checked on the Moto G4 back in July of 2016. The telephones ran Android 6.0.1—Android 7.0 would be discharged the next month—with May 2016's security patches introduced. Start up a similar telephone today, at any rate in the US, regardless you'll be running Android 6.0.1 with May 2016's security refreshes. A since a long time ago guaranteed refresh to Android 7.0 is clearly accessible in India and is pending bearer endorsement in the US, however it's not generally accessible yet.

Making an already difficult situation even worse, Android 7.0 has been supplanted by both Android 7.1 and 7.1.1 as of now, and 7.1.2 is appropriate around the bend. Moto's commentators' aides and official statements used to specify ensured refreshes up top, and now they don't say refreshes by any stretch of the imagination. Google's applications keep on doing a good employment of keeping telephones feeling new by means of individual application refreshes, yet it's outrageously difficult to give a telephone a full-throated suggestion when there's so much proof that it will get new OS and security fixes sporadically if by any means.

Motorola reveals to us it's focused on conveying an Android O refresh and quarterly security refreshes for the G5. We'll see.

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