Historically, an Unknown Track implies death and badness. Call it a thematic element or Leitmotif.

The airbase was ATC’s first fully 3d environment. It debut 11 years ago this week, on August 15th, 2005. The original environment was a lot of work, in no small part because I barely knew what I was doing at the time. For this scene I fleshed out the surroundings a bit, relit the environment, added a skybox (okay, skysphere), and quickly modeled a bit of plot-critical geometry that will be seen later in the scene. I also tweaked the gun turret so it could be rotated and elevated, and did tons of test renders. I saved some of them and uploaded them to the ATC Patreon page, visible to patrons who’ve pledged $10 or more. Those of you who have done so may be questioning your investment at this point – rest assured that when production finishes the floodgates will open. I just can’t bring myself to render anything that isn’t a production shot at the moment!

On that note! As of this writing the final scene of the chapter is almost rendered. 43 of 55 panels have been generated, and seven of the ten pages that have line art are ready for line art prep. I’m on track to finish rendering the scene this month, and it looks like I will be drawing a lot of spacesuits in September. I may squeeze out a significant visual continuity edit between drawing and rendering – if I do I’ll make some noise about it on social media so if you’re curious about that be sure to check the ATC Facebook page or the barely-even-ATC-related Twitter account for details.

Stay tuned!