W.I.P #176 (Animated) - Flint & Elias [+a small fluid sim test i did as well]

before i get into my usual spiel - happy new years! suffice it to say, 2025 was certainly a year. plenty of highs and lows - but at the end of the day, i'll always be grateful for the highs. and you guys have, without a doubt, made this last year a memorable one for me. the sheer amount of support you've all shown has really made all the difference, and i sincerely hope that i am able to continue to create work deserving of such generosity :] as i've said a number of times now, i wouldn't be able to do any of this if it weren't for you guys - so thank you.
now without further ado, onto the rambunctious reptilian action.

it's been a VERY productive last few days, i've been laser focused on this since my last post and managed to get the whole thing pretty much finished up. one of the few rare WIPs where there's actually full facial animation, so that's wicked.
all that's currently left to do on this is to set up the scene, lighting, and fluid sim (which, as the title probably already reveals, i've been fiddling around with - more on that below).
where it's currently at, this shouldn't take more than another couple of days to have ready to render. ideally, i'll be aiming to have the HQ release posted before saturday.

additionally, i attached a small extra thingy, which was just a basic fluid sim experiment i was doing to test out a new method of animating the White Goop That Makes People Go Gaga. decided on using miyaoka (fyixen's character) for it since....... well....... she's equipped for it (i just think she's neat).
i'd say overall the results were passable. not outstanding, but not necessarily bad - though that could just be my perfectionism talking. it's much easier to set up, which is nice - though there are some things i'm not a huge fan of (mainly the lack of any tapering, but for all i know that could be possible if i were more knowledgeable on the specifics). end of the day, it was a solid learning experience - though i'm still definitely leaning towards taking the dive into flip fluids since, from everything soskyee has showed me, it's LEAGUES above mantaflow.
regardless, that's attached below since i figured it worth sharing. consider it a new years bonus ',:]

and lastly, i've received all the voice lines for the SCP skit (along with recording the majority of mine - minus like 3 or 4 that i'll need to record in my car since i'd rather not disturb others with my shouting). currently i'm putting it all together, though that usually doesn't take a super long time. given that it appears to be reaching well past a 5 minute runtime - it's certainly gonna take a lot of work to get done, but i'm excited nonetheless to share my progress with you guys soon!

that's all i got for now. already said it at the beginning of this post, but as always, thank you guys for your support and just being generally lovely folks. here's hoping 2026 goes off without a hitch. see you guys again soon :]