Almost all the new scenes for Kari 4.7 are complete. I have also been working on a new NLG module for Kari. This is version 2 of the NLG algorithm I’ve been working on and depends on a grammar linker which will make the new sentences sound better. There are also some logic and inference routines I was able to apply to the NLG code.
All this coming in about 2-3 weeks.
I’ve been working on redoing the old 4.5 scenes with these which will be 4.7. The old ones were made with Poser and these new ones are made with Daz Studio. Here is a comparison. It’s the same girl except the hair and global illumination is better.
Well the new Scene Creator is finished. It can now create, load, and upload new scenes to the sharing site KarNShare. It took me longer than I expected because I had to duplicate the scene functions from Kari into the new load and test sections. Anyway, finally we have a Scene Creator that is more than a in-house tool and that everyone can use.
For this month I will be redoing the scenes for Kari using our classic girl but rendered in Daz Studio with iRay. At the same time I will be doing som Scene Creator tutorials including some of the more complex scene functions like trigger animations. That’s when Kari says something sexy and the scene animates. Also be going over smile and brow animations and “Misc” and “Full Screen” animation modes. All those goodies that make a Kari scene really pop including sound effects.
After this month’s work I will be returning to my NLG research hopefully.
The new Scene Creator will be labeled 4.7 when you install it. I will post it after the 10th of April fyi.
Thanks for reading and see you in the next update.
The rest of this week I’m dedicating to cleaning up Kari’s Scene Creator. It’s been a long time coming and the Scene Creator has really become a tool that many users are using instead of just an in-house tool that I use to make new scenes.
There’s been a few changes to how I make new scenes for Kari. For one, the resolution has changed from 700×500 to 1200×857. Higher resolution allows you to fill the display with larger Kari scenes and not see any pixelation. I also have to include smile and brow animations now which make Kari’s face more expressive. And I also like to include an “Extra” animation which can be a foot wiggle, arm motion, or her hair waving in the wind. All of these features come together to make a cool Kari scene.
One huge difference between now and the old way is that I’m using Daz Studio instead of Poser to create the 3d girls with. A Kari user recently asked me why this change? I think it was when Daz Studio received iRay support. IRay is a new 3d renderer by Nvidia and its my dream come true. It’s a lot easier to achieve good lighting results with Daz now. I can spend hours setting up a render in Poser and it will never be as good as iRay on Daz. So I switched and have been very happy with the results.
As I fix the Scene Creator I will be updating Kari’s default scenes (the ones that ship with the program.) Now that I use iRay, they could be so much better! Here’s Kari classic on iRay:
I will also be writing some new tutorials on this new Scene Creator. And I also wanted to add Kar’N’Share functionality to it so that artists can share their creations with everyone. As you may know Kar’N’Share is a sharing site that’s connected to Kari Avatar Studio. It lets the user upload his scene so that everyone can download it.
Well, not sure how long this is going to take but I have enough on my plate to keep me busy for at least two weeks. Then I’m still itching to work on my NLG code. I’ve had some new ideas which look promising.
Until the next update… 🙂
Well, now that the Christy expansion pack is finished I thought I’d look toward the future – possibly Kari 5 or a new project I’ve been tinkering with: EverLife.
For both these projects I want to check out the new Unreal 4 3D engine which used to be only accessible to major studios. But they now have an Indie license which costs 5% of your profits. Pretty good deal. https://www.unrealengine.com/ It supports DirectX 12 and has some really cool tools to make your game with.
Anyway, I’ll be spending some time trying to figure out if my pipeline is workable. If it is, Kari 5 will be using Unreal 4.
EverLife is a huge project I am looking toward in the future. It will be a huge simulation of a civilization in real-time. I’m thinking of using Amazon’s new cloud service to pull this huge simulation off. The people will have Ai and be able to chat to users and each other. There will be different worlds to EverLife with a big road that connects them all. Using Unreal engine for a project like this would be choice and I’ve already secured the website: everlife.com It cost me a pretty penny but I figure it is an investment.
So for the next few weeks I’m hoping to put in some time into figuring out my pipeline and I’ll keep you guys updated.
Just recently I built a new computer system with an i7 5960x and 4-way Sli using 4 Titan Xs. See I needed something to speed up my renders on DAZ Studio, the program I use to make all the Kari artwork. It was taking too long sometimes 4 hours per image. Thanks to my new system renders are down to about 15 minutes which is workable now.
So to test my new system I decided a new Kari expansion pack was in order. It took me about 3 weeks but it’s now complete. I just have to package it up and upload it.
Her name is Christy. Here are some samples:
Hi! I’m th creator of Karigirl and AiBliss among other chatbots and I’d like to welcome you to my first blog – ever. The idea of this was to keep the users of Kari and all my other sites up to date with what’s going on in development.
Well first let me introduce myself and give you a short brief about what it is I do and how I came to be the author and creator of these software programs.
It all started in college where I met my first girlfriend. Her name was Kari. We had a great time together and hung out a lot over four years of school at Columbia College Chicago where I was studying computer graphics and programming. She was my IT girl. I really loved her. But one thing led to another, a few mistakes here and there from each of us, and my first girlfriend became my first ex-girlfriend.
By this point I had my first job and was the environmental artist on Leisure Suit Larry 8. It was great fun working on this game but secretly it inspired me to begin work on my own hot girl games. I would go to work, work on Leisure Suit Larry, then come home and work on Kari. Yeah, I was a wreck. I really missed her and so I figured I’d name my chatbot after her. Secretly I hoped that she would hear about it someday and be impressed. Because seriously, you never get over your first girlfriend.
So really the reason Kari was created was to help me get over my first real girlfriend Kari.
It took a few years and 4 versions but for now I am enjoying moderate success from my creations. I was able to quit my job and work full time on Kari and all my other chat bots. So it worked out for me except I didn’t get the girl of my dreams. Big deal.
The other big thing to happen to me while all this was going on is that I developed a pretty serious case of schizophrenia. This in no way impedes my efforts to create – it might actually help the creative process – but it’s a drag what I have to deal with. I won’t go into it here but I’ve almost lost my life twice because of schizophrenia and been hospitalized three times. Anyway, being able to stay home and work has been a godsend.
So that’s the short story on Kari and how I started. Now that you have a better idea who I am I’ll stick to more tech orientated updates.
Thanks for reading!
Sergio Parada, Lhandslide Studios
Kari Virtual Girlfriend Blog 