An embarrassingly long time has once again gone by between updates. The truth is I got caught up an a couple of real-world creative theatrical projects as well as the practical aspects of putting a new roof and solar panels on the old homestead. Not an excuse, but it’s the truth.
But now, I have found the time to try to make it up to all of youse, and I hope you all will still stick around to see and enjoy it!
Oh, great to see a new page, Jed. 🙂 Much appreciated.
And I totally get getting caught up in other things; some times you just gotta get stuff done. Will continue checking in here on the regular.
I can relate, in the last 4 years, I had to get my neck fused, developed heart trouble, my cancer returned, (in remission now) and a slue of other minor health issues. My wife fell and broke her hip, they had to replace the joint 2 years ago. My father is 90 (I’m his care-giver) and has dementia. Yeah, been kinda busy myself. Don’t get old, it sux…
I love your comic, I’ve been following for many years now, I don’t mind if RL gets in the way for you. We can wait!
Hey, RL has a habit of that. But on the plus side, it clearly allowed you time for your brain to process the layout for this page in the background, and the results are very dynamic.
I especially like the final panel cliffhanger, even though I knoe full well that, Tula, of all people, will have her shields up for dragon breath weapons. 🙂
Some times, “Been there, done that” doesn’t quite cover it, but it does help to have support. I’d love to see Keltan to throw his morning star at either the dragon or Gorslash while he’s distracted, but that might put an end to the story line a bit premature. Granted Gorslash could beg to get resurrected again, all we can do is wait and see.
LOL, sorry. I just wanted to give support and a few words of encouragement. I was working on a web toon about 20 years ago myself, but in that case I trusted the wrong person with my concept art and a rough-sketched opening comic and they stole the idea, In a display of karma, he screwed it up and it bombed, so maybe it was for the best.
Perhaps the flame will be like that Russian AA missile that did an immediate U-turn back to its own launcher. (I know it’s impossible but is it not beautiful to imagine?)
I’m seriously thinking of doing a re-read here, it’s been ages since I did that, so I might be behind on the lore a bit. When dealing with an evil “god” they do tend to break the rules a bit. At some point, someone is going to have to reaffirm the seals placed on “Scumch” ( I think that was his name) so he will stop messing with our hero’s and torment the planet.
I remember the last Urtt that was yelling “Pratha”. Kelten took care of that nicely. Do it again! Now I’ve scratched that itch and need to go find the panel again.
Dude! thats the kind of shit we LIKE to hear is causing a delay! when you say Theatrical. im assuming small-time shoe string drama/plays? and solar panels on the roof, ALWAYS a great fucking investment. its fun to come home and find out you’re supplying power to the grid and they local P&L company has to be paying YOU.
I owe you all many apologies, and many updates, but we’re finally truly back in the saddle. I am so very grateful for your loyalty and patience, and I won’t bore you with all the details of the heart problems (now completely symptom-free) and the neck stuff and the lung infection (fine at last ) and Jeebus everything in my little old body that seemed determined to break down all at freaking once. I’m back to splitting logs and exercising and all the good, healthy stuff – and, of course, working on Zona!
So here we go! Yes, the dragon tried a flame-strafe and yes, flying top cover Tula was able to shield the frontline of the cavalry and now it appears some kind of hawk has taken a decided dislike to our urtt rider. Imagine that.
More as soon as I can get it finish rendering and doing the magic. Warmest regards,
Hi kids! There was a delay in updates, and I think you ought to know why.
Didja ever want to know what an actual heart attack feels like? Well, with any luck you never will. I, on the other hand, know exactly what it feels like. It’s not like Aunt May clutching her heart and collapsing. It was more like the worst acid reflux you can think of for about 24 hours straight. Went to the doc, and to make a long story short, anyone can have clogged arteries under the right conditions – even me!
This was about a week and a half ago, and yeah, I spent a couple of miserable nights in hospital where they kindly opened my artery and put a nifty little mesh tube in there to keep it open. Did I ever wish there was some kind of wormhole and Tula could come use Erogenian Magick to heal things quicker. Hospital sucks.
Otherwise, I am fine, and looking forward to eventually splitting logs again and doing other macho stuff around home, just like before. But, as I write this I need lots of rest and can’t lift anything heavier than ten pounds. (That means I have to put my little dog or my cat on the scale before I heft them, just to be sure. )
But I am now well on the mend, and look forward to making regular updates – or even more to make up for the lost time.
Soooo – I know the comic is a bit late, but I have not been idle. Nor has Brian. We are now really, truly and officially out of preproduction. The hernia was to transition all the assets, including out titular heroine, into Unreal Engine 5. It was a seemingly Sisyphean task, involving lots or frustration, hard hard work for my dauntless perfectionist animator and some creative innovations to solve the problems that they can absolutely take complete credit for solving.
We are now in production and animating scenes for the final trailer in UE5. Well, why did we go to UE5 in the first place? If you look at this picture, maybe you’ll understand. It’s representative of what you will be seeing on screen, and this is just one frame. UE will show you 60-120 fps of THIS in real time.
I’m extremely pleased. This is much much more than I thought I wanted. She’s going to live, breathe and act out the story in the world we’ve created.
Naturally, if you want to see more, then go to Patreon.com/ JEDraft
Our ongoing incompatibility issues with the new WordPress are still not worked out, and I am afraid I might have to just redo the whole site again, but until I absolutely have to do that, I have this kludgy workaround.
See at the top menu on the right, “, I have converted the entire history of the web comic into a series of yeary PDF files that any one can download.
It’s not elegant, kind of a brute force workaround, but at least you all now can really start at the beginning and read the whole thing at your leisure.
Many thanks for your patience, and with hopes of a permanent solution in the near future.
In this, the final version we’re doing of this proof-of-concept video, Brian put in more fancy stuff and fixes and attention to wonderful details. Now we dive into production of the actual product, beginning a trailer for the series itself with all the new elements and knowledge we have put together so far.
This is the proof of concept for Zona in action. Brian’s solved a truckload of challenges and details with the hair and cloth simulations, animation and incorporating it all in the impressive realism of Unreal Engine. I put the music in … 🙂
We are moving from California to Connecticut, and we’re driving with the dogs and cat and so for the next couple of weeks the updates are going to be sporadic, and communication with you all might drop out. Never fear, we will return as surely as the sun rises and sets on our VW camper van. Still, I might have a little surprise for you Thursday or Friday. Stay tuned! Warmest regards, -JED
This is the final version of Zona in Unreal Engine before we begin full production on the trailer. Long time coming. Brian’s outdone himself, IMHO.
She breathes, she moves, she inhabits the space. Next update will have her in full-on sword-slinging action. Brian wanted to show her being something other than angry and hulked out, so he imagined her swooning at the sight of Mentl. I said that’s not really how the story goes, but it could be her first sight of Mentl naked, which is, well … long-time Zonaphiles know about Mentl’s Pride.
This is the realization of a dream I’ve had for a very long time, to bring Zona and Mentl fully to life in an animated series telling their story. Romance, violence, adventure and sexy stuff! Thanks to all of you for your support, and especially to all the Patreon Patrons for the generosity that they have shown and continue to show.
We have been at this for a long time now, and using Daz Studio for animation is adequate, but we needed much much more than it could deliver in order to do justice to Zona’s world. So we have ported all the Daz character assets into Unreal Engine, and Brian is finding that this is not only more realistic than we could have realized before in Daz, but also so much faster that he has accomplished more in six weeks than he did in six months before – maybe more. For myself I could not possibly be more pleased. This is a huge game changer!
This little teaser is a taste of what we will be making the series look like. It’s just the prelude to the opening scene where Mentl comes upon the Urtts. In 2021 the real stuff begins.
Until then, judge and compare the previous efforts to what Brian’s doing now.
Enjoy, and don’t forget, the patrons on Patreon.com/jedraft are going to see more sooner and enjoy additional benefits and rewards as well!
NOTE ALL: We recommend that the video be watched in at least 1440 at 60fps for full effect. Auto video quality in Youtube is set to much lower than that due to a decision on behalf of Youtube to decrease playback quality as a response to the increased use of broadband during the current crisis.
There are however, some ways to defeat this, as detailed in the video here:
18 thoughts on “High-flying Hocus Pocus – Page 1312”
jedraft
An embarrassingly long time has once again gone by between updates. The truth is I got caught up an a couple of real-world creative theatrical projects as well as the practical aspects of putting a new roof and solar panels on the old homestead. Not an excuse, but it’s the truth.
But now, I have found the time to try to make it up to all of youse, and I hope you all will still stick around to see and enjoy it!
Warmest regards,
JED
Lora
Oh, great to see a new page, Jed. 🙂 Much appreciated.
And I totally get getting caught up in other things; some times you just gotta get stuff done. Will continue checking in here on the regular.
Scarsdale
I can relate, in the last 4 years, I had to get my neck fused, developed heart trouble, my cancer returned, (in remission now) and a slue of other minor health issues. My wife fell and broke her hip, they had to replace the joint 2 years ago. My father is 90 (I’m his care-giver) and has dementia. Yeah, been kinda busy myself. Don’t get old, it sux…
I love your comic, I’ve been following for many years now, I don’t mind if RL gets in the way for you. We can wait!
angry primate
A Wizard of Id reference. Love it.
Joe Fonebone
Agreed. Johnny Hart would be proud.
T'Renn
Hey, RL has a habit of that. But on the plus side, it clearly allowed you time for your brain to process the layout for this page in the background, and the results are very dynamic.
I especially like the final panel cliffhanger, even though I knoe full well that, Tula, of all people, will have her shields up for dragon breath weapons. 🙂
Scarsdale
Some times, “Been there, done that” doesn’t quite cover it, but it does help to have support. I’d love to see Keltan to throw his morning star at either the dragon or Gorslash while he’s distracted, but that might put an end to the story line a bit premature. Granted Gorslash could beg to get resurrected again, all we can do is wait and see.
Calisto01
@Scarsdale Dammit Scarsdale! Now I can’t complain! Jeez, you took all the fun out of it.
Nice to see a new page JED, looking forward to RL taking a break…
Scarsdale
LOL, sorry. I just wanted to give support and a few words of encouragement. I was working on a web toon about 20 years ago myself, but in that case I trusted the wrong person with my concept art and a rough-sketched opening comic and they stole the idea, In a display of karma, he screwed it up and it bombed, so maybe it was for the best.
Jean
I’m just hoping she remembered her opponent would be riding a flame-breathing dragon, and prepared accordingly. (This IS Tula, after all!)
Descartes
Good to see you back in business…and I see you were a Wizard of Id fan, too.
MasterDiver
Perhaps the flame will be like that Russian AA missile that did an immediate U-turn back to its own launcher. (I know it’s impossible but is it not beautiful to imagine?)
SanBernInATL
Nice work! It’s panels like these that keep us coming back (as well as the sexy heroines, of course)!
I have done some theatre, so I get that lure, and congrats on getting the old homestead more self sufficient!
Scarsdale
I’m seriously thinking of doing a re-read here, it’s been ages since I did that, so I might be behind on the lore a bit. When dealing with an evil “god” they do tend to break the rules a bit. At some point, someone is going to have to reaffirm the seals placed on “Scumch” ( I think that was his name) so he will stop messing with our hero’s and torment the planet.
Jim
I remember the last Urtt that was yelling “Pratha”. Kelten took care of that nicely. Do it again! Now I’ve scratched that itch and need to go find the panel again.
Freelance
Lightning Bolt!
Lightning Bolt!
Lightning Bolt!
Magic Missile!
Fireball!
Lightning Bolt!
jason
“prismatic sphere” start making them saving throws since you didnt specify what spheres you were targeting….
Jason
Dude! thats the kind of shit we LIKE to hear is causing a delay! when you say Theatrical. im assuming small-time shoe string drama/plays? and solar panels on the roof, ALWAYS a great fucking investment. its fun to come home and find out you’re supplying power to the grid and they local P&L company has to be paying YOU.
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Latest Chapters
High-flying Hocus Pocus – Page 1312
Finally!
Wow, it’s been a long time.
I owe you all many apologies, and many updates, but we’re finally truly back in the saddle. I am so very grateful for your loyalty and patience, and I won’t bore you with all the details of the heart problems (now completely symptom-free) and the neck stuff and the lung infection (fine at last ) and Jeebus everything in my little old body that seemed determined to break down all at freaking once. I’m back to splitting logs and exercising and all the good, healthy stuff – and, of course, working on Zona!
So here we go! Yes, the dragon tried a flame-strafe and yes, flying top cover Tula was able to shield the frontline of the cavalry and now it appears some kind of hawk has taken a decided dislike to our urtt rider. Imagine that.
More as soon as I can get it finish rendering and doing the magic.
Warmest regards,
JED
A Minor Inconvenience …
Hi kids! There was a delay in updates, and I think you ought to know why.
Didja ever want to know what an actual heart attack feels like? Well, with any luck you never will. I, on the other hand, know exactly what it feels like. It’s not like Aunt May clutching her heart and collapsing. It was more like the worst acid reflux you can think of for about 24 hours straight. Went to the doc, and to make a long story short, anyone can have clogged arteries under the right conditions – even me!
This was about a week and a half ago, and yeah, I spent a couple of miserable nights in hospital where they kindly opened my artery and put a nifty little mesh tube in there to keep it open. Did I ever wish there was some kind of wormhole and Tula could come use Erogenian Magick to heal things quicker. Hospital sucks.
Otherwise, I am fine, and looking forward to eventually splitting logs again and doing other macho stuff around home, just like before. But, as I write this I need lots of rest and can’t lift anything heavier than ten pounds. (That means I have to put my little dog or my cat on the scale before I heft them, just to be sure. )
But I am now well on the mend, and look forward to making regular updates – or even more to make up for the lost time.
Warmest regards,
JED
Zona in Unreal Engine 5
Soooo – I know the comic is a bit late, but I have not been idle. Nor has Brian. We are now really, truly and officially out of preproduction. The hernia was to transition all the assets, including out titular heroine, into Unreal Engine 5. It was a seemingly Sisyphean task, involving lots or frustration, hard hard work for my dauntless perfectionist animator and some creative innovations to solve the problems that they can absolutely take complete credit for solving.
We are now in production and animating scenes for the final trailer in UE5. Well, why did we go to UE5 in the first place? If you look at this picture, maybe you’ll understand. It’s representative of what you will be seeing on screen, and this is just one frame. UE will show you 60-120 fps of THIS in real time.
I’m extremely pleased. This is much much more than I thought I wanted. She’s going to live, breathe and act out the story in the world we’ve created.
Naturally, if you want to see more, then go to Patreon.com/ JEDraft
Warmest regards,
JED
NEW PDF ARCHIVE
Our ongoing incompatibility issues with the new WordPress are still not worked out, and I am afraid I might have to just redo the whole site again, but until I absolutely have to do that, I have this kludgy workaround.
VDSD – 2021 (barbarianprincess.com)
See at the top menu on the right, “, I have converted the entire history of the web comic into a series of yeary PDF files that any one can download.
It’s not elegant, kind of a brute force workaround, but at least you all now can really start at the beginning and read the whole thing at your leisure.
Many thanks for your patience, and with hopes of a permanent solution in the near future.
Warmest regards,
JED
Zona Animation: Morning Exercises V2
In this, the final version we’re doing of this proof-of-concept video, Brian put in more fancy stuff and fixes and attention to wonderful details. Now we dive into production of the actual product, beginning a trailer for the series itself with all the new elements and knowledge we have put together so far.
Rubbing my hands with glee.
Warm regards, Â Â
-JED
Zona Animation: Morning Exercises
This is the proof of concept for Zona in action. Brian’s solved a truckload of challenges and details with the hair and cloth simulations, animation and incorporating it all in the impressive realism of Unreal Engine.
I put the music in … 🙂
We’re On The Road!
We are moving from California to Connecticut, and we’re driving with the dogs and cat and so for the next couple of weeks the updates are going to be sporadic, and communication with you all might drop out. Never fear, we will return as surely as the sun rises and sets on our VW camper van. Still, I might have a little surprise for you Thursday or Friday. Stay tuned!
Warmest regards,
-JED
Animated Zona – Final version for Unreal Engine
This is the final version of Zona in Unreal Engine before we begin full production on the trailer. Long time coming. Brian’s outdone himself, IMHO.
She breathes, she moves, she inhabits the space. Next update will have her in full-on sword-slinging action. Brian wanted to show her being something other than angry and hulked out, so he imagined her swooning at the sight of Mentl. I said that’s not really how the story goes, but it could be her first sight of Mentl naked, which is, well … long-time Zonaphiles know about Mentl’s Pride.
This is the realization of a dream I’ve had for a very long time, to bring Zona and Mentl fully to life in an animated series telling their story. Romance, violence, adventure and sexy stuff! Thanks to all of you for your support, and especially to all the Patreon Patrons for the generosity that they have shown and continue to show.
patreon.com/JEDraft
Warm regards!
-JED
GAME CHANGER: UNREAL ENGINE
Zonaphiles:
We have been at this for a long time now, and using Daz Studio for animation is adequate, but we needed much much more than it could deliver in order to do justice to Zona’s world. So we have ported all the Daz character assets into Unreal Engine, and Brian is finding that this is not only more realistic than we could have realized before in Daz, but also so much faster that he has accomplished more in six weeks than he did in six months before – maybe more. For myself I could not possibly be more pleased. This is a huge game changer!
This little teaser is a taste of what we will be making the series look like. It’s just the prelude to the opening scene where Mentl comes upon the Urtts. In 2021 the real stuff begins.
Until then, judge and compare the previous efforts to what Brian’s doing now.
Enjoy, and don’t forget, the patrons on Patreon.com/jedraft are going to see more sooner and enjoy additional benefits and rewards as well!
NOTE ALL:
We recommend that the video be watched in at least 1440 at 60fps for full effect.
Auto video quality in Youtube is set to much lower than that due to a decision on behalf of Youtube to decrease playback quality as a response to the increased use of broadband during the current crisis.
There are however, some ways to defeat this, as detailed in the video here:
Warmest regards,
JED
R
Happy Holidays – 2020
Best wishes to all of you! Be safe!
We will soon have really exciting news for you, so watch this space!
Warmest regards,
-JED
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