Category Archives: Design

Robonk AI Comic Strip Improvements

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The software that builds Robonk has been significantly retooled for the next 256 strips. Lots of changes have happened. The rendering of the robot has become more rich, the robot has changed ever so slightly (and gained a new rug), panels are generated entirely in a new version of Bubblematic called Panelmatic (plus Titlematic for generating the title pages), the dating profile database has been reloaded, and there’s mild improvements for the script generation system.

New look and software

Robonk #00200-02

New robot rendering

The robot views are now rendered in POV-Ray, a “high-quality, Free Software tool for creating stunning three-dimensional graphics”. POV-Ray allows for a series of still images to be rendered with lighting effects. Being a command line tool that accepts options arguments, I was able to use PHP-CLI to call for the full series of angles and facial expressions needed to generate the panels for the strip.

Slightly modified robot with a new rug

Robonk (the robot) looks about the same, but there are changes:

  1. The tablet was shortened. It cuts less through the robot’s arm than before.
  2. The mouth and eye whites have been mildly moved from where they were. The eyeballs still stick out.
  3. Tiny changes to body element sizes.

The biggest change is the new rug. Before, it was the workplane in TinkerCAD, and now it’s an “actual” drawn rug.

Panelmatic/Titlematic

  • Main Panels: Originally, the panels were composed in Photoshop with screenshots from TinkerCAD (strips #00000-#000FF). Later (strips #00100-#001FF), strips were created from Bubblematic (which drew the talk bubbles and fade background) and TinkerCAD (robot, chair, and rug) then merged together in Photoshop. The main panels are now generated in a browser-based program called Panelmatic (which was created from the older Bubblematic).
  • Texas Instruments Dataman educational calculatorTitle Panels: Title panels were originally made in Photoshop, using an action to scale and rotate the text on the robot’s tablet for each strip. Now, this is all done via Titlematic, a new tool using a web browser to generate the title panels. The title font for the strip was changed (with inspiration from the Texas Instruments Dataman educational calculator from 1977), the tablet has a new font, and the scene uses a different angle plus updated graphics from POV-Ray.

The biggest change with all of this is that Photoshop and TinkerCAD are no longer needed to generate a comic strip. A big savings in creation time while having an improved look. Using Titlematic is a multiplier (maybe 5x) faster than using Photoshop. Panelmatic also saves a significant amount of time while creating a nicer looping strip, though a chunk of those gains existed with the predecessor (Bubblematic).

Dating profile database reload

The database load was dirty (beyond just the content in the tables) and there was missing data. Everything was rebuilt/reloaded and now there’s more available profiles to draw from, and they’re more complete as well. The next set of strips (#00200-#002FF) will have more usernames on the title panels by percentage than before because the database is more complete.

Script generation

Behind the scenes, the script generation system Robonkers has seen mild improvements, which make everything easier to work with. It rejects a higher percentage of profiles compared to the earlier versions, but there’s more overall profiles to work with because the database reload increased the overall amount of accessible profiles. The character name for the human in the source dialogue is now “human:” rather than “you:”.

In conclusion

Robonk is ready to go for another 256 strips, and this will be the basis for the next 256.

Sunday Comic Strip Test

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At the time of writing (January, 2020), Robonk is still three days a week. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday there’s a new strip and each one is three panels plus a title panel.

What would a larger Sunday style Robonk look like? I found an AI “conversation” that didn’t split well into multiple day strips but had enough dialogue for a Sunday strip with seven panels plus a title panel. Here it is. There’s no plans at this time for Sunday strips at all, and this strip is the first to not have a Session ID since the alpha level strips back in March, 2017.

Source
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|           D A T A           |
 ----------------------------- 
9645859

SINGLE_FEMALE_SEEKING_MALE (4) Single female, seeking male

Age/Gender: 27F
need someone who can tease me...
150lbs
Height: 5'6"

Want someone who can take control of my body and make me moan with pleasure...

Really like a guy who can be honest about his relationship, whether that means you're single or attached. We are all here for a reason and sometimes it is nice to be able to talk about what we are missing in life. Looking to find one person that I can have fun with on the side, not multiple guys. I am disease and drug free, and expect that you are too!

Would really like to try new experiences. Have some hot things to do on my Bucket List... I have a wild side, and would like to be able to show it...

 ----------------------------- 
|        C H A T L O G        |
 ----------------------------- 
Welcome to your therapy session.
Your therapist's name is Robonk.

Robonk:	Is something troubling you?
you:	need someone who can tease me...
Robonk:	Are such questions much on your mind?
you:	Want someone who can take control of my body and make me moan with pleasure...
Robonk:	Your body and make you moan with pleasure?
you:	Really like a guy who can be honest about his relationship, whether that means you're single or attached.
Robonk:	Have you asked such questions before?
you:	We are all here for a reason and sometimes it is nice to be able to talk about what we are missing in life.
Robonk:	What answer would please you most?
you:	Looking to find one person that I can have fun with on the side, not multiple guys.
Robonk:	Why do you say Looking to find one person that you can have fun with on the side?
you:	I am disease and drug free, and expect that you are too!
Robonk:	Do you know anyone else who is disease and drug free?
you:	Would really like to try new experiences.
Robonk:	Does that have anything to do with the fact that your body and make you moan with pleasure?
you:	Have some hot things to do on my Bucket List...
Robonk:	Why do you say your Bucket List?
you:	I have a wild side, and would like to be able to show it...
Robonk:	Can you elaborate on that?

 ----------------------------- 
|   S C R I P T   N O T E S   |
 ----------------------------- 
SUNDAY 7 PANEL

FORWARD
you:	I want someone who can take control of my body and make me moan with pleasure.
Robonk:	Your body and make you moan with pleasure?

DOWN
you:	I really like a guy who can be honest about his relationship, whether that means you're single or attached.
Robonk:	Have you asked such questions before?

DOWN
you:	We are all here for a reason and sometimes it is nice to be able to talk about what we are missing in life.
Robonk:	What answer would please you most?

DOWN
you:	Looking to find one person that I can have fun with on the side, not multiple guys.
Robonk:	Why do you say looking to find one person that you can have fun with on the side?

FORWARD
you:	I am disease and drug free, and expect that you are too!
Robonk:	Do you know anyone else who is disease and drug free?

HALF
you:	I would really like to try new experiences.

FORWARD
Robonk:	Does that have anything to do with the fact that your body and make you moan with pleasure?

AI Comic Strip Changes : New Look, New Software

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Most comic strips evolve. Peanuts did. Dilbert did. Beetle Bailey did. I’m not saying Robonk is in the same league at all. What I am saying is that the cartoonist learns and evolves their strip. That’s a real thing.

Here’s the visual changes to Robonk in the first two years:

Alpha level : Spring 2017

Gotta start somewhere.

v1.0 : First real Robonk strip (#00000)

The robot got its own font. The title panels were massively improved.

v1.05 : (#000B9)

Same basic system as before, but some technique changes were developing. Robonk is generally zoomed in more and the talk bubbles at this point often have elements overlapped on top. Font size was reduced. This was the 177th strip.

v1.5 : (#00100) : The new look

The Robot is generated the same way as with the Alpha level strips (Tinkercad) but…

  • The bubbles have new individual looks for the robot and the human.
  • The human has a new font.
  • The background has a blue fade.
  • The bubbles are created using a newly written (just for Robonk) jQuery/HTML/CSS system called Bubblematic.

Bubblematic makes creating strips much, much faster. I used to spend a large chunk of time building the quote bubbles. Now, Bubblematic handles that quickly and with precision. Automation made the ELIZA AI writing process much more efficient (Robonkers system), and now the drawing side has a custom software tool too.

Here’s a screenshot of Bubblematic v1.0. I normally make prettier interfaces, but this is an inhouse tool for just me and it works nicely as is.

Bubblematic v1.0

Software doesn’t just write Robonk, it also draws the quote bubbles for the comic strip these days.

All the new software has improved the quality and speed of creating new Robonk comic strips. It makes me wonder what it’s like to actually write and draw a comic strip.

The Throw Rug and Shadow of Robonk

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Sending an idea to a friend for some feedback. Throw rug is a go.

A few of the key design decisions made in the first 48 hours of Robonk included:

  1. Use of Tinkercad for the source 3D drawing of Robonk, the chair, and the clipboard.
  2. Use on screen rendering in the edit mode of Tinkercad for screenshots of the “drawings” used in the comic strips.
  3. Having the shadow come off of Robonk.

I was deliberately going for some character in the drawings, and the screenshot method worked there. After all, the land of comic strips isn’t dominated by 100% reality nor perfection, right?! Exactly.

Some of the character of the illustration style that shows through is the odd nature of the throw rug under Robonk’s chair. That is the workplane from Tinkercad, and if you look closely at the far left corner of the rug when it’s visible, you’ll notice the text “Workplane” is present. Pictured below is a closeup from the bottom left corner of frame 03 from strip #00004.

Before taking a screenshot, sometimes I have to resize the workplane so the shadow will be from Robonk rather than his chair. Shouldn’t it be on both? Technically yes, but this is a comic strip. Any time you add manual intervention and verification to a system, you’re asking for the occasional failure. Here’s frame 02 of strip #00007 as originally released:

Here’s the fix that was released later:

Consistency isn’t as critical with Robonk as other projects (commercial or hobby) I’ve worked on, but it’s nice to have things within whatever standards have been set.

Comic Strip Font, Size, and Proportion

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Being new the at comic strip game, something I’ve struggled with a bit is fonts, specifically the faces, weights and sizes.

We’ll start with one of the initial five alpha-level strips.

Robonk strip

One of the first five strips. That’s the font I went with for the human and Robonk.

I chose that size and that font and went at it. I received some feedback that a robot font and/or talk bubble might be fun for the robot. I like the cleaner bubble, so that stayed, but after playing with some computer theme fonts, I found a winner. The human’s text got lost a little though, so I bolded it up. Balance achieved.

Did I pick the best font size out of the gate? Probably not. So, time for some trials. This is strip #00000 with the original font size, everything at 90%, and everything at 80%. This is not a perfect trial because with the smaller type, I might have gone with a different line breaks, but it gets across the basic idea all the same.

100%

Pre-release text trial at 100%
(View larger version)

90%

Pre-release text trial at 90%
(View larger version)

80%

Pre-release text trial at 80%
(View larger version)

I decided that 90% was the winner and am going with that. Time will tell whether that was a reasonable decision or not.

A Brief History of Robonk

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Brock at Border Town Comic Con 2017

Brock at Border Town Comic Con 2017 in Ontario, Oregon

A friend let me know a Comic-Con was happening over the weekend and wondered if I wanted to go. I thought it would be fun to debut a comic strip that day, but I didn’t have one. So, I created one.

I started working on Robonk around noon on 2017-03-09 and by noon on 2017-03-11 I was debuting the comic on a small strip of a table in Ontario, Oregon. Some people didn’t quite get it, which is to be expected. Those that did really did like it however, and laughing ensued. This was encouraging. Robonk clearly isn’t for everyone.

A lot was created in the first 48 hours, including:

  • 80 scripts. Wanted to see how viable the concept was.
  • A drawing of the Robonk and the chair in CAD software (Tinkercad).
  • Five illustrated strips to show if it could be done. The title panels were less than ideal, but I was learning and you have to start somewhere, right?!
  • Deciding on the name and reserving robonk.com which was available.
  • A single sheet of paper (double sided) with the first five strips to hand out at the Ontario, Oregon event.
Robonk strip

One of the first five strips. Something done on the first pass was focusing on how many words could be used and how many panels were needed. This strip was one of the deliberately extra wordy tests.

As I write this first blog entry, the website is being setup, and there’s a facebook page and a twitter account.

Robonk is still less than a week old. We’ll see how things develop as time moves along. Thanks for coming along on the journey.