【2023/07~08】Process - 80000 | 過程 - 80000 (Pixiv Fanbox)

Concept | 概念

concept

Have you ever seen one of those mugs where if you pour hot water into it, the image on the side will appear? Well, this is the same concept, it's thermochromic paint :3!

Below ~25°C, the color will become opaque, while above ~28°C, the color will slowly disappear and it will disappear completely at ~32°C. Meaning you can heat it up with your body temperature, and reveal the image underneath it!

(If you live in a hot place/is hot during summer, this technology won't work as well)

你有看過那種倒入熱水，側邊的圖案就會顯現出來的馬克杯嗎？這些都是一樣的概念，是感溫油墨:3！

在~25°C以下，顏色會越來越濃，但~28°C以上，顏色就會慢慢淡出，而~32°C會完全消失，意味著你可以用體溫來讓顏料消失，顯現出下面的圖片！

（如果你住在很熱的地方 / 是很熱的夏天，那效果則不會好）

Application Test | 應用實驗

Now that we have the thermochromic paint, we want to run some tests to see how well we can apply it before I determine what kind of design is possible 🤔.

My original plan was to create a laser cutout masking mold, then just overlay the paint on top of it. However, the paint is super sticky, it's hard to get an even spread of paint / solid fill regardless of how many materials we try. The only thing that kinda worked was toothpick, but it'll take forever if I want to mass produce it.

Oh and it smells pretty bad too, we even purchased gas mask for this XD. Anyway, I kinda gave up on doing this ourselves.

現在有了感溫油墨，我們做了一些簡單的測試來看看設計上的操作空間有多少🤔

我原本的計畫是用雷射切割做一個遮色片，然後直接覆蓋在印刷品上塗這個顏料就搞定了。但是這個顏料超黏（跟油漆沒兩樣），不論用什麼方法要均勻平塗都幾乎不可能。唯一有點搞頭的是牙籤，但如果我想要大量生產的話用牙籤一點一點刮真的會做死。

而且這漆聞起來挺糟的，我們還特別買了面罩XD。總而言之，我們最後基本上是放棄自己加工了

Sample Design | 示意圖

There aren't many printing houses in Taiwan that has this technology, with the few we found, there were quite a lot of limitations:

1. You can only have 1 color for the thermochromic ink, and there's not a lot of option for color. This makes it super difficult to convey form since it'll make the design look super flat.

2. The design can only have a minimum thickness of 0.2mm, else it'll risk being smudged together. This is an issue which I'll explain a bit later with my design.

3. You must work in CMYK instead of RGB. In short, the color looks worse D:

4. Thermochromic ink must be 100% opaque

台灣沒有幾間印刷廠有提供這樣的印刷服務，而有提供的都有以下的限制：

1. 感溫油墨一次只能印一種顏色，而且顏色選項不多。這讓傳達體積變得非常困難，因為成品會變得很扁平

2. 設計至少要有0.2mm的間距，不然有機會糊在一起。這個問題我接下來會搭配我的設計一起討論。

3. 必須用CMYK，不能用RGB。簡單來講，顏色比較醜D:

4. 感溫油墨必須要100%不透明

Since it's summer, and I want the thermochromic paint to reflect a skin-tight garment, I've chosen the theme of snorkeling this time! _(•̀ω•́ 」∠)_ ₎₎

Here's how I plan to make the thermochromic paint feel less flat:

1. Use halftone to convey a less opaque color. But it runs into the aforementioned 0.2mm limitation

2. Let the diving suit share the same highlight and rimlight as the body by simply not having paint there.

畢竟現在是夏天，而我希望變色油墨是用在緊身衣上，於是這次的主題就決定是浮潛了！_(•̀ω•́ 」∠)_ ₎₎

我打算用以下的技巧來讓變色油墨看起來不那麼扁平：

1. 用網點來表現不那麼純的顏色。可惜的是有先前提到的0.2mm的限制

2. 讓潛水衣跟身體共用同樣的高光以及輪廓光，只要不在這些點上放油墨就可以達成了

Here's the sample I sent to the print house to demonstrate my concept and see how viable my design is.

The good news is that it's possible (given that I follow the 0.2mm rule).

The bad news is that it's super expensive (estimated at 100NTD per card that's business card size, not including a lot of the extra stuff I haven't yet request) ʕ´• ᴥ•̥`ʔ

這就是我發給印刷廠的示意圖，用來確認我的要求可行性有多高

好消息是他們說這設計是可行的（前提是我遵守0.2mm的規則）

壞消息是這印刷超貴的（差不多每張名片大小的卡片要100台幣，這還不包含我接下來會要求的一堆東西）ʕ´• ᴥ•̥`ʔ

Post-Processing (Sand) | 後製（沙子）

Added some graphic design and a slogan to express the overall concept. Now that's the draft of Sand done ٩( 'ω' )و

You might've noticed that I'm using cel-shading this time, which is definitely not my usual style. The reason is because the thermochromic paint will be flat, and I need the rest of the illustration to consistently match how flat it is, which is why I've deliberately chosen this process.

加入了一些平面設計還有標語來詮釋這次的概念，沙子的草稿就完成啦٩( 'ω' )و

你可能有注意到這次我選用賽璐璐的上色法，跟我平時的上色風格差非常多。主要原因是感溫油墨看起來很扁平，因此插畫的其他部分也需要扁平一點才不會突兀，也就是為什麼這次選用這個上色流程

Draft | 草稿

Three more to go!

還有三隻要畫！

Colored Draft | 草稿上色

>>>Struggles to make every design not 18+<<<

I'm going to be asking for @Draugnut's opinion first before I move on to rendering them! Mostly because I'm not confident with my cel-shading's shape design and would really like a second opinion XD

＞＞＞努力讓設計不要18禁＜＜＜

我打算在細修之前就先問 @爪爪 的建議，畢竟我對自己賽璐璐還有形狀設計真的很沒自信，很需要第二人的意見XD

Draugnut's Suggestion | 爪爪的建議

Fixed shoulder, torso, and pelvis shape. I changed the hand on my own since it didn't like how the old one looked.

修正了肩膀、軀幹、及骨盆的形狀，我自己修正了手部的形狀，原本的看起來有些不自然

Minor changes in the shadow shape, as well as turning the back towards the audience a bit more

小改了一些陰影的形狀，也將背部朝向觀眾更多一點

The perspective is less 3 point and more 2 point to better match the flat theme.

Huge changes in the collar bone region.

透視從三點改成比較接近兩點透視的感覺，跟扁平的主題比較搭。鎖骨的部分改了不少。

Huge changes in the torso. He looks super sexy 🥵🥵🥵

軀幹的部分大改，看起來超香啦🥵🥵🥵

---

Other notes Draugnut gave 🙏:

- Don't use cross hatching on rim light, it doesn't look as good as simply using a flat color with less contrast

- Consider using a bit of soft edge on the body, it's okay to not keep everything hard edge, and it better conveys the softness of human flesh

其他爪爪給的建議🙏：

- 輪廓光別用斜線，用對比較低的顏色扁平塗上會比較好看

- 考慮在皮膚上用二級邊，不用所有東西都硬邊，因為硬邊比較難表現出肉體的柔軟感

Line Art | 線稿

Base Color | 底色

I'm essentially drawing everything twice just to make sure it's clean and professional looking

基本上我可以說是把所有圖都重畫一遍，這樣比較能確保他們乾淨又專業

Post-Processing | 後製

Now I'm just waiting for the print house's response. Hopefully everything goes well ୧(﹒︠ᴗ﹒︡)୨ Super exhausted

現在就是等印刷廠回覆啦，希望一切順利୧(﹒︠ᴗ﹒︡)୨ 累死啦

Card (Back) | 卡片（背面）

Also quickly made some design for the card's back side. I'm hoping to do this with a metal texture via gold stamping technique, but I'm still enquiring about the possibility

簡單做了卡背的設計。希望背後能用燙金技術做出一點金屬的材質，但還不確定可行性如何

Material Change | 材質改變

Instead of printing on paper with business card size, I thought, screw it, let's go all in and print on plastic cards. This way, it is much more durable and it's also water proof, meaning you can cum on it (run)

The size will be standard card size (like credit card). I had to modify the design a little to include round edges on the corners. The down side is that printing in this medium requires a much larger minimum quantity, and let's take a look at the price in NTD...

我打算不印在紙上也不用名片大小了，我覺得乾脆一點梭哈，直接印在塑膠卡上，這比紙還要更耐用，而且防水，所以你要的話可以直接射在上面（喂

大小是制式的卡片大小（基本上是信用卡的大小），所以我稍微更改了設計且把圓角考量進去了。印塑膠卡的缺點是印刷最低要求的量比紙張要大得非常非常多，讓我們來看看這次的印刷費用（新台幣）…

ok, just know that I love you guys very much (´；ω；｀)

I'm now waiting for their printing sample, they estimated for all cards to printed in around 20 working days. I guess the event will be held in August

嗯… 你們知道我很愛你們就好了 (´；ω；｀)

現在我在等他們發樣品過來，他們預估所有卡片要印完大約需要20個工作天，我想這活動大概只能在八月發表了

Sample | 樣品

They've sent 3 samples for each design, and here's a preview of what it looks like in an air-conditioned room:

他們每款設計都寄來了3份樣品，以下是在冷氣房裡的效果：

Preview

Preview2

However, I'm not very happy with the effect due to some of the problems below:

First of all, this is what it looks like in room temperature, it's almost fully transparent...

但，說真的因為以下原因我不是很滿意：

首先，這是他在室溫下的樣子，幾乎全透明了吧...

Secondly, probably the most fatal, is that the printing location is inconsistent, and just flat out off in many of the spots:

再來，感溫油墨層偏移問題很致命，而且偏移程度不一致

Thirdly, there are random marks and scratches on the surface

其次，卡上有不少奇怪的痕跡與刮痕

Lastly, the printing is very grainy, and it's visible even from a distance

最後，印刷上不知為何有很多雜訊，而且還是遠距離能注意到的

On the backside, the holes in the letter for the "THANKS!" part, as well as the border for "@" symbol is broken as well

從背面來看，「THANKS!」字樣的洞都被吃掉了，而「@」符號的邊框也被吃掉了

Sigh, looks like it's another back-and-forth discussion again (◞‸◟ )

They better not charge me again for creating another sample

哀，看來又要來回溝通了(◞‸◟ )

他們最好不要再跟我收一次印樣品的費用

Cards | 小卡

20230825_144204

Since printing the thermochromic card takes an entire month, I've printed these cards and instruction manual in the mean time =w= This is from the other printshop that I often work with, amazing quality as always!

由於印刷感溫卡片要一整個月的時間，我在等待時順便把小卡跟說明書都做好也印好了=w= 是跟過往合作的印刷廠製作的，效果真的好到沒話說！

Side note: I've changed the ink for the thermochromic card to "33黑 BF" so that the temperature for changing transparency is higher. Though, it also costs a bit more ʕ´• ᴥ•̥`ʔ

順帶一提：我把感溫卡的油墨換成了「33黑 BF」，這樣變色效果溫度較高才會改變。缺點是這油墨比較貴要加價ʕ´• ᴥ•̥`ʔ

Promotional Material | 宣傳材料

Since I'm pretty bad with photography, instead of taking photo of the actual product this time, I thought why not try making it in 3D 🤔

由於我實在不太擅長攝影，比起直接拍產品照，我想這次嘗試看看在3D裡做🤔

I first modeled the card using image to plane. Then I changed the material of different card layer (the thermochromic paint is more matte while the card itself is very reflective).

我首先用image to plane把卡片的基底搞定，之後改變了不同圖層的材質設定（感溫油墨比較霧面，卡片本身很光滑）

For the background, I want:

1. Outdoor - to match the snorkeling theme

2. Able to show temperature change

3. Wet - to show that it's water proof as well as matching the snorkeling theme

So I began creating a floor that has some puddle by following Blender Guru's tutorial while mixing it with EasyPBR. Then I also added some water droplet on top to add a bit more detail.

背景的部分我希望有：

1. 戶外 - 跟浮潛的主題搭配

2. 有辦法展現溫差

3. 濕 - 展現卡片防水，且一樣跟浮潛的主題搭配

於是我就先做了一個有一些水窪的地板，做法是用Blender Guru的教學 + EasyPBR的材質混著用。最後也在表面上加了一些水珠來增加細節

I then added some free assets from Poliigon and added an atmosphere using the Physical Starlight and Atmosphere (PSA) plugin. The reason I bought PSA is because this way I can get the exact same atmosphere while only tweaking specific parameters to show temperature change.

之後我堆了一些Poliigon上的免費素材且用Physical Starlight and Atmosphere (PSA)的外掛做了環境。我買PSA的原因是這樣做環境時，我可以維持一模一樣的環境，但同時調整特定的參數來表現溫差。

I then learned a bit of compositing in Blender to get a bit of chromatic aberration.

之後我學了一點Blender的compositing來生成了一點點色偏效果（chromatic aberration）

Here's the 3D render!

I rendered it with both Eevee and Cycle, as well as both Standard and Filmic shading language. This way, I can pick and choose what I want from each render in Photoshop later!

這是完成的3D渲染圖！

我同時用了Eevee和Cycle，也生成了Standard跟Filmic不同的顏色版本。這樣我最後在Photoshop內就可以把圖疊在一起，把每張圖最好的部分保留下來合併成一張新的最佳的圖

Final results in Photoshop!

I exaggerated the shadows a bit to make the cards pop out more, as well as exaggerated the color temperature even more.

Time to wait for the final prints to arrive~

用Photoshop做出的最終結果！

為了讓卡片更突出我把陰影魔改了一番，同時背景的色溫差異也誇大了不少。

是時候等待印刷品了～

The cards have finally arrived! Let's goooooooooooooooooooooo

卡片終於到啦！辦活動辦活動辦活動辦活動