Announcement 
Hey guys,
So this is something of a “good news, bad news” type post.
Good news: the new free-form posing system, with the more intuitive click-and-drag gizmos, is working smoothly, all the various kinks have been stamped out, and you all seem to be enjoying it greatly. You’re making more dynamic minis, more easily, and we think you’ll agree it’s just fun to play around with. On the backend, it’s laid the groundwork for some truly epic things, which we can’t wait to share with you (there’s even a special sneak preview at the bottom of this post).
Bad news: older saved characters have had sporadic trouble meshing with the new system. This has to do with how the system saves what’s called “bone data” — the positions of each joint and limb relative to the one next to it. The new system changed how that data was saved, which on the one hand opened up those variables considerably, but on the other hand has led to unpredictable results with characters bending this way and that, arms where they shouldn’t be, boots going missing, and other undesirable outcomes.
We’ve been working at this issue for a while now, but we haven’t been able to create a comprehensive solution for saves dating from before the fixes were implemented.
We could proceed as we’ve been and continue to subject Briana (our loyal and patient Customer Service Tiefling) to endless troubleshooting with you all, even as you get increasingly frustrated that your minis aren’t coming out as designed. We could work at creating a fully backwards-compatible loading-and-re-saving function — and only working on that — but it would delay everything else we’d like to do by about 1-2 months (conservatively), and it might not even work. We could just throw up our hands and say “not our problem”.
I think you’ll agree that none of those are great options.
So this is the point where I have to make a decision. We know for certain all saves from the 1st of May onwards are working as intended. We also know that while some older saves are just fine, we can’t accurately predict which ones, or build a find-and-fix algorithm in a timeframe I can live with.
So with a heavy heart, I’m going to push a painful fix, the only possible fix. On June 24th, a little more than a month from now, we’re going to delete all characters who were last saved before May 1st.
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FAQ
What about my old, beloved characters? Can I save them? The answer is YES, and it’s not too hard. Just load up an old (pre-May 1st) character, make any change — switch out a weapon, alter the pose slightly, perhaps swap in one of our 44 totally new bases — and re-save under a new name. That will keep your characters safe from oblivion, and also ensure they are being rendered properly the next time you want to print or share them.
You can then delete the old save, or just wait until June 24th when we’ll do it for you.
Prefer all that info in picture form? Here you go (click here to embiggen):
What about links to old characters? The newly-saved characters will, of course, have new unique links. After June 24th, older links (ie for characters saved before May 1st) will simply take you to the default Haenir (Caucasian human male) model.
What about characters created or saved since May 1st? They should be just fine. Basically, you’ve already done the steps outlined above without even realizing it. If you want to be extra cautious you could open those up too, make sure they look just right, and then re-save as you see fit, but it shouldn’t be necessary. In any case, post-May 1st characters won’t get deleted on June 24th.
Are my STLs safe? Yes, this won’t affect previously-rendered STLs. With that said, as outlined in our FAQ, we strongly recommend downloading and saving all purchased STLs anyway, since we periodically purge old (6 month+) STLs to save on storage space. If you haven’t done that for your purchases, consider this a friendly reminder!
Does this affect any physical orders currently in print? No, that’s a totally seperate operation. As always, if a miniature arrives and it doesn’t match what you created, reach out and we’ll make it right.
Did you try <X>? What about…? I assure you, we explored every option. We are not doing this lightly, it’s really the last resort.
What if I have other questions? We’re happy to answer them. You can contact us at contact@eldritchfoundry.com or via our webform.
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My apologies for this. We truly tried to avoid it. We hope that you understand why we’re doing this, and agree that it’s the best path forward.
As a bonus chaser after all this painful medicine, here’s a sneak peek at something the new bone data / posing system has made possible, and that we’ll be releasing within the next few weeks.
Onward and upward!
Matan
