With my XenoGASM model reaching the point where it's able to generate just about as real as it can get, it's time to start turning things back the other way - heading back toward a Western Digital CG sort of art style.For years, I've been looking for a way for me to either reboot or continue the <a target="_blank" rel="ugc" href="https://mcstories.com/Authors/Xenos.html">stories I wrote and posted at MCStories.com</a> almost 2 decades ago as a game or piece of interactive fiction/visual novel. I wanted a way to be able to define my characters and (relatively easily) put them into different outfits and locations without having to spend 4 hours prepping a scene in DAZ Studio or similar. Other character tools like iClone look fun on the surface, but making new outfits and scenes is even more tricky.On top of that - I enjoy allowing players to customize and mod games they enjoy so that they can bring some of themselves info the experience - so I wanted something where someone else could just create a character look and be able to easily match the styles of the game and insert them in as if they were a part of the game all along.XenoXTC represents the milestone where I think I've got a great game character and basic environment model and it is time to start the other side and begin putting together my years of code snippets to actually start making the game.<h2 id="heading-535">XenoXTC</h2>This model is still an evolving process (see intro, above). It started out as this latest version of XenoGASM and then I mixed in a merge I've been working on for quite a while - a sort of realistic look and feel but with very smooth, maybe even plastic, skin. (Eventually I'd like to get the output default to be this sort of look, but with shapes and forms - both in people and scenery - that hearken back to the old LusasArts Titles.See the initial pics posts for various comparison and prompting ideas and suggestions.<h2 id="heading-179">vCMX</h2>This is another style variation with the same FreeForm base as vTOON. Less Disney/Pixar big eyes and shapes, more Comics and flat shaded styling. It does not replace other versions - just another styling option. <h2 id="heading-11256">VToon</h2>This is the version that will continue to be developed. At the initial release time (Nov. 19, 2023) the model has its base style and generates a very diverse range of default "1girl" variations and also takes known entities like Celebrities (or Chimera Combinations - e.g. [Molly Ringwald|Christie Brinkley]) and does great portraiture with simple or detailed backgrounds.It's NOT great at doing "action" type scenes yet - where both the characters and scenes have lots of detail - the scenes tend to suffer and get a little warpy. I'm working on some merges to help with that. The main idea is to create sprite character and bust graphics (for Visual Novels or RPG type games on RPGMaker and similar) so I'll typically be extracting characters and overlaying them as sprites over different backgrounds anyway - but I still want to improve this so that cool self-contained cut scenes will work well, too.The one thing I haven't, yet, been able to really accomplish is getting the exact skin look I want - so you'll notice I often add smooth skin and glossy skin to the prompt. These give it that extra polish. Sometimes it works well without and these can be overkill, which is why I didn't force those concepts into it. Plus those making harder to get wet skin looking nice.Calling for clothing items along with a style (e.g. Steampunk Style Outfit, pleated skirt, long sleeve buttoned blouse, penny loafers) gives a nice on-theme variety of outfit looks for which we'll eventually get some workflow pipelines to help keep things similar across generations for the same character in the same outfit. Not sure we can get it as perfect as we'd like for normal game production... but we'll see how close we can get. Stay tuned.<h3 id="heading-11257">V1 - FreeForm</h3>This is a more free form version before the styles and additional concepts have been merged into it. It is mainly here for others who want to build "bridge" merges (combined with a Style Slider Lora to easily "morph" between styles so their characters might explore virtual worlds or alternate universes within the game which consist of entirely different looks and feels. (I have a few fun game mechanic ideas I'd like to play with here, too. We'll get into those in a week or so).There is a Full (Just under 4gig) version and a normal 2gig pruned version of FreeForm available.<h2 id="heading-11258">General Usage Tips</h2>The TOON version fights hard to keep its style or at least hold onto the general character aesthetic. This is done so that we can do things like describe a "Steampunk" outift or even a "Skyrim Style" outfit without the model also changing the whole character and feel. In many cases it works, but some strong styles and calling specific artists may not work as well - depending upon how well this style and your prompted style play together.Simple is better - at least to start. Complex scenes are always tricky, but on a model like this - they can be even trickier. So if you're trying to create a complex scene and things are going bad with your long prompt - the way forward can often be to remove things more than adding more tokens to push back.I'll be updating here and posting articles and tips on the discord, so... stay tuned.<hr />I'll update this over time (and likely start a Dev Diary Article or something). If you have ideas, suggestions, or if you would like some help on how to prompt for a specific look, pose, or action - feel free to drop by the Discord and ask. (Link below). I've started a collection of openposes for portraits and busts that you can find in the resources section of the discord, too.<hr />I'm using Civitai's trainer - so Buzz Point tips are helpful - even just a few add up. Want Tips, Tricks, Pix of Things We Can't Show on Civitai? Join the <a target="_blank" rel="ugc" href="https://discord.gg/5yv4AwHtan">XenoEngine Discord</a> to discuss tips and tricks, complimentary Lora's and Embeds, and to post (and see) images not allowed here on Civitai.<hr />

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