Compared to last year, 2024 was a far quieter year on the public side of the zayJax coin.

Only nine renders and one animation this year. (3 if you exclude commission work or renders featuring commissioned models).

Well the answer is fairly simple, burnout and a ton of commission work.

This year was, by far, my most successful yet in terms of work. Lots of new folks and recurring clients. And as you can see on public platforms, mostly Coda. He's an excellent client to work with and every rig i have to do presents a new technical challenge for me. Which forces me out of my comfort zone in ways that i would've never done otherwise.

Pomni's face, Zooble's mix and match parts, Gangle's EP4 face, Baron's incredibly detailed face, The aprons on most of the cast, even a Lord X rig i made a while back all were challenging on their own right, leaving me a far better artist man by the time i finished them all.

Speaking of which, yeah! The TADC Model Pack! That took a significant amount of time out of the year with the overhauls leading up to the release and updates, and it's honestly some of my best technical work yet. But you all know that, you've all seen it and (probably) downloaded it. With each new episode released i learned new tricks, refined old skills, and just became overall a better 3D artist both on the technical and artistic side despite how simple these characters might look.

Here's a quick highlight thread of some of the best stuff i've seen that uses the pack (excluding Coda's work because then that would be like 90% of the list).

Unfortunately most people don't tag (or credit) me when using the pack so there's probably other good stuff i'm missing out on.

https://x.com/Funtime_Robbie/status/1873133593343771023

https://x.com/MrFrostyAnim/status/1843853792678425005/video/1

https://x.com/blueanimates_/status/1825352130728771781

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utk7F8zlUtM

https://x.com/MrFrostyAnim/status/1826952760098537535/video/1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CahGbsPrPc0

https://x.com/Avovet3D/status/1873376174912811030

But let's focus on what else happened aside from TADC despite it being a major focus throughout the year.

A lot happened surprisingly enough.

Early this year i got INVITED to this year's Pico Day NJ Event! I was genuinely super excited to go to the event, i could meet lots of cool artists and go to the US for the first time! New faces! New places to go to! But unfortunately i couldn't go due to passport complications that are still not resolved to this day. Whoops.

But it was streamed! So i could take a peek of what i was missing, i tuned in live to see what was going on, backtracked a bit and couldn't help but notice that there was an animation shown that looked eerily familiar. Eh let me click the timebar and Oh REREDEEMER WAS SHOWN THERE????????? I am still in awe that it even got considered at all. It made my entire month and i was so happy to see people enjoyed it THAT much. Big thanks :)

I also did some character renders for The Stupendium! Ooh!

It had been a while since i had made a render up to that point but i'm very glad i did it, shows that i still got it despite how few renders i tend to make.

And aside from that i really wanted to step up my game with the few renders i could make in my spare time, and the Boom Buster and ZB&ROX revamps were the result of that. I tried making more frequent stuff starting with the Stylish Crocs render all over to the ATHF one, but i felt like i was just making renders for the sake of making renders, which is not fun. I want to show clear improvements in the stuff i put out, and if it isn't there, then it's not worth showing. Might sound harsh but that's how it is for me.

But there is one thing i've been cooking up.

Earlier this year, i said this.

That was a fucking lie! You see, i was trying my best to cook up a script for a completely original ZB&ROX animation, no strings attatched. Voice acting, a funny plot, actual shit going on, the works! But something terrible happened.

Originally titled MEET THE ZAP-BOT, it was gonna be a two-parter about ZAP-BOT getting a world record for... something. I barely remember the original premise, but it was meant to be something like the Meet the Team videos mixed in with how Homestar Runner handled it. But there was one problem.

I kept writing. I wrote too much.

One thing led to another and FUCK

yeah it's... beefy. Around 8 minutes if all goes to plan. I can't show it since it would spoil all of the fun but this is a long-term project i wanna be chipping away at in my free time, when the burnout eventually fades out.

There isn't a lot done, aside from a new character, MEET THE SPINEBREAKER (name pending)

he is very mean and he's green.

He's the main antagonist of the script, but don't let his looks fool you because this guy is pathetic as shit. Which is fitting because this is a comedy short with some tiny bits of action here and there. The problem is that it's 8 minutes, and as you already know, animation takes a bit! I don't know what the future of the project is, as i've done most of the progress during July. There's a script, there's a storyboard, and there's a VA for ZAP-BOT. It's paused as of now but i will 100% come back to it in the future.

Here's some test renders, all of them will be unused, but it was a fun way to explore what kind of rendering style i would be going for. I'm gonna go for something a bit more stylized (mostly because of render times) in the final animation though.

I tried testing out a neat shader a while later. I like it.

Aside from that i strengthed my relationships with newfound friends, met lots of new people, joined a team of cool people making an animation that will likely release next year (you'll know), and overall gave a bit more time to myself this year. It made it so this profile is a bit of a ghost town, which is a bit of a shame. I wish i could do more, but unfortunately i can't.

I'm in a far better spot compared to last year fortunately, so i'm doing well. It's just that personal art has not been a focus, but it will perhaps be next year. Who knows!

I also have a Bluesky account. It's not Twitter so that means i can safely say Sonic Movie 3 sucked dick and i won't be beaten to death with rocks so that means it must be the superior platform

zayjax.bsky.social

zayjax.bsky.social

zayjax.bsky.social

See you all in 2025!

With TADC's 3rd episode releasing about a month ago, it was probably inevitable that The Greatest Expansion Pack Of Our Times And All Of The Times would grace many computer screens. For the low low price of free! 4 new characters and a big upgrade for Pomni!

Get 'em here! And be sure to read the changelog.

(render by Coda)

(P.S. Sorry for the inactivity in here. Been a while since i released anything noteworthy outside of smaller renders on other social media platforms that i know damn well won't fit on this site, i've just been really busy doing commission work, which i'm eternally grateful for btw, it just leaves me with far less time than i'd like for doing personal projects, but when i have something to show, you'll know. Will probably elaborate more in a future end-of-year update in about a month or so.)

Hey! Remember those TADC models i made? You can download them right now!

For Blender 4.1 and above. There's a little guide for those using 4.2 too, since that update changed a LOT about how Eevee works.

Hope you like em!

Check the announcement tweet, download is in the replies alongside some key things to note before downloading.

(render by Coda)

WHAT THE FUCK

WHO DID THIS

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS SO I CAN GIVE THEM A METAPHORICAL KISS ON THE CHEEK WHAT THE FUCK

WHUH??????????????????? HUH????????????????????? WHAT THE FUCK

thank you.

(edit as of 18/06/24, and no i'm not using MM/DD/YY YOU CAN'T MAKE MEEE)

the vod is now public so that means that you can see this on video form instead of two screenshots

Today's update of the day is called Oopsdate. Because Oops! I have been far more inactive than i would have liked in here. Better give an update!

I've just been really damn busy these last few months. Not as busy as earlier in the year, but still busy.

As for stuff you can get your eyes on right now... LANDFILLJAX!

A second channel where scrapped projects and stuff that can't be published to my main channel go to rot. Alongside some other things.

You can find stuff as high quality as this commission i did recently:

...to stuff as yucky and bad as my Shitty Laptop Era works:

You can even find that Joel animation i was working on post-reRedeemer times! (speaking of which reredeemer turns a year old in a couple of days! feels weird)

As for other news, Coda made another TWO* fun animations with my TADC models that you can check out right now:

*the second one wasn't out by the time i wrote this so i'm gonna put it in here because why not

Speaking of my TADC ventures, Jester has reached 24 million views! Dear god that's a lot of people

But enough about old stuff what about the future that is mildly related to what i just talked about?

Well, a couple of months ago i got invited to a Secret Project™ where it's the first time i've worked with a proper team. Modelers, Technical Artists, Animators, a Director, the works! It has been insanely fun so far and i can't wait for everyone to see the final product. Everyone's been giving it their 100% and i've learned a lot and met lots of really talented and funny people.

As for personal projects, you might have noticed that my little robot guys have disappeared from the banner. Where did they go? Well, they've been taken to the nearest dark alleyway and got shot to death and their remains will be sold off to the black market.

Or in Layman's terms; i redesigned them. Again. It's the most subtle sets of redesigns i've done but it is indeed very noticeable if you get to compare the two.

Redone from scratch, using Rigify, fancy lattice controls for the head, completely retextured in Substance Painter i swear to god this is it. No more after this. I'm at the point where my models don't look like complete ass anymore and i can see myself using these two for many years to come.

I know i promised to not promise animations in the future, but i want to do one that will show these redesigns in a proper manner. You'll see these renders properly lit up when that animation eventually releases. If you see the renders with no animation in sight, then that means it has been scrapped.

But hey, if you want a taste of the ROX redesign, why not just straight up have her! In GMOD that is. Big thanks to Golden Diossito for helping me with porting.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3226940016

That's it for now! It has been a very quick year. A little too quick so far. Feels like yesterday when i had that sudden burst of activity back in February. But eh, we'll see how all of it pays off.

Also happy (late) birthday tom fulp hope you had a good one and ate a big newgrounds shaped cake. what do i mean by newgrounds shaped? i know but i won't tell

2023 was quite the eventful year compared to practically....... uh........ every other year in my life? i think?

So much stuff happened so it's best to start at the beginning.

December 2022!

REREDEEMER is in a terrible spot. The thing has been in production since February and i only have 2 and a half scenes done? That's fucked! Especially since i made the incredibly wise decision of dropping a Sneak Peek of sorts on Madness Day 2022. It ain't easy doing a full animation while trying to balance school and other projects. So as a "New Year Goal Type Thing", i decided that once the year was over, i would sit my ass down and finish this animation once and for all.

And fresh out of graduation, The next 5 months of my life began.

From January to May.

The Non Stop Balls To The Wall All Shits Given Grindathon Began with me animating the remaining frames. Which took only from January to February.

That's right. HALF of reREDEEMER was animated on just two months!

In March i took a tiny little break to do other projects, most notably i got invited to be a part of the Duke Nukem Forever 2001 Restoration Project in early January, as an animator. Haven't done a lot of animation due to custom rigs and animations not being supported at that moment in time, but i did contribute by doing some props, and most notably, making a model of a major boss, the Praetorian Snatcher, seen here. Aside from that, once i finished those Pizza Tower renders, i was back on the reREDEEMER grind. Doing bullet casings, muzzleflashes and the sort.

A friend wanted to help with the blood splatters and had an idea that sounded great on paper. Animating frame-by-frame every single blood splatter with Blender's Grease Pencil! What could go wrong? The few examples they sent me were fantastic but it was clear that we would not make it out on time if we continued with the idea. So to the Google we go! Awez made some pretty chunky blood splatters and i proceeded to not make them justice because i made them too damn small.

But there was blood! At least...

SFX was finished in 3 days. Don't have a lot to say about it other than i will use Kosmos' Mega Sound Pack until the day i drop dead.

Rendering was a big problem that almost killed the project. You see, said friend had an insanely powerful graphics card. I could do raytracing! But once they dropped the whole animating blood thing, irl stuff kept popping up, and they had to leave the project. Which is completely fair, i'm not gonna force anyone to do work they can't handle.

So i'm sitting here, no RTX card to assist me. Do i tweak the shading of EVERY SINGLE SCENE so i can render it on Eevee or do i just brute-force my way through Cycles? Guess which one i chose.

The main laptop i used was unavailable during the last week of production so i had to throw large boulders at Scientist once again for rendering assistance. And by rendering assistance, of course, i mean "hey can you render over 3500+ frames of animation in Cycles with your not-RTX-card?" He agreed. And he's pretty much the only reason reREDEEMER crossed the finish line.

But that also explains why the final project looks so... noisy. Especially the elevator scene good lord that looks like hot garbage. I had to lower the sample count a LOT. And i did some questionable compositing choices that made it even more noticeable.

Notice how i've been JUST talking about reREDEEMER? Well that's how my life was from January to May so it's accurate.

So.

reREDEEMER has officially released at the night to an unsuspecting public on Pico Day at midnight. And of course, i'm scared as shit. What if they don't like it? What if i missed a scene? What if there's a mistake animation-wise? I even had nightmares about the possible negative reception. That's what spending 14 months in a project does to a man.

But, fortunately, it got an insanely positive reception, one that i'm still grateful to this day. But one question remains.

What the hell did i do between reREDEEMER's release and the Pico Day winner announcement? Because keep in mind i no longer had a good laptop to do stuff. Sure, i could make a simple render like the Annie one but that was it for me. Just crossing my fingers hoping SOMETHING would happen. Aside from my dad occasionally bringing different work laptops that could kinda handle my projects.

And SOMETHING did happen oh my god. I still don't understand HOW or WHY, but it did happen!

Treasure Hunt 2023, Pico Day 2023, and Best of May 2023. All competitions with my stupid ass name at the top. This plus some extra commission work gave me the funds i needed to buy myself a GOOD PC. Scratch that, an EXCELLENT PC.

What you have to understand is that all of my work was powered by an Intel iGPU from 2016. It was bad.

Parts arrived Early August but that was it. It was time to go NUTS.

Showdown was the first thing i released that was made from scratch on my new PC. Hopefully it showed what i'm capable of with ACTUAL HARDWARE.

Everything rendered in Cycles with barely any splotchy visuals. (looking at you reREDEEMER)

And after all that........ It was quiet. And for good reason.

I was finally at peace. Achieving a childhood dream. Doing my funny art with barely any limitations. Running any game i wanted at 1080p max settings. Beautiful.

Then i opened commissions, didn't get a lot of clients, but a BIG highlight was Coda, who wanted to use my TADC models, but they were uhhh kinda garbage if i'm being honest.

Rough Pomni model/rig with mishapen hands and eyes so i could do some funny cheating to the camera.

So, with no experience doing advanced rigs, i said yes!. I had never used any advanced rigging tools, so it was a very good learning experience having to re-rig all 7 characters, plus Bubble for good measure.

The current Pomni rig. Much better looking! And much more complex.

And also the rigs are good as hell on their own. You can see what they're capable of here:

And.... yeah. That's basically all that happened this year..... If you exclude my insane ability to never release any animations i say i'm gonna release.

That's something i noticed this year. I HAVE to keep my mouth shut about upcoming projects because they're almost never finished.

Remember that Joel animation i was doing after reREDEEMER?

Remember that Madness Day 2023 animation?

Yeah. No more promises like that in 2024 and beyond. I work better when i shut my mouth and show stuff publicly when it's almost done.

And if there was one word to describe this whole year. It would be Exhausting. I'm tired, believe it or not.

A lot happened irl that i won't get into because this'll turn into a big vent post and i don't want that, but i'm just Tired. And i can't exactly take a break due to my current circumstances. I've been doing nothing but crunching projects all year. Will it get better? If this year has shown me anything is that it WILL get better. It always does. But for the time being, i'm in the grinder. 

See you all in 2024!

Another zayJax has been spotted in the wild. Wanted for 50 dollars for such crimes as: "Making Semi-Accurate TADC Rigs", "Camping in PvZ:GW2 as Cactus" and "Littering". Stop this madman at all costs.

But where oh where you may ask? Aren't i seeing him right before my very eyes? Yes! You are! But you haven't seen THIS one!

That's right! Coda approached me to use my TADC models for an upcoming project of his, and this being such an insane opportunity, i said yes! (Ignoring the fact that the original models were held together by duct tape and gorilla glue, so i completely re-rigged them, so now they're pretty damn good by zayjax rig standards)

Go check out the video! NOW.

mr retro said so

is this real