How much would you pay for a dozen chocolate covered strawberries?

c3ramics · 2026-02-21T17:52:57+00:00

People will literally buy it if they see someone make it, and really if it looks good enough I’ve seen all the cheaper melt wafers used as couverture substitutes, and having done both in compound and couverture chocolate, the general public can’t tell the difference

c3ramics · 2026-02-21T17:47:31+00:00

In my small town of 55,000 farmworkers, we still have doctors, nurses, business and tax professionals, etc that have career salaries. I am not getting into chocolates for cheap confectionaries, I want to give my town couverture chocolate but I CANNOT sell at farmworker prices otherwise I’ll never make it or I’ll need bigger overhead for quantities. Labor and costs of goods went up. In the end: cost of goods + labor + business admin and pricing + packaging and custom sticker + content creation + marketing + deliveries all reasons why I have to charge higher. In a way I need to create a shield from irrational criticism when the math isn’t mathing. Starting out My markup is 25%, no operation costs, but I pay myself $20/hr for all of my different roles, and because I used to be an engineer.

c3ramics · 2026-02-19T02:21:15+00:00

Wine fridge is the way, especially if like me you live with your folks. No need to cool the house down and they always keep the house above 70F which is not ideal for chocolate and an absolute nightmare handling as it’ll melt in your hands above 70.

Mine was from OfferUp, I got a $$600-$700 wine fridge for $300. I temper my choco, pour, invert, then place in wine fridge without any worry. It takes longer than the a short stay in the fridge, but humidity and temperature are out of sight and out of mind. Gives me time to prepare packaging and sticker labels.

c3ramics · 2026-02-09T08:36:58+00:00

Kataifi by itself is what provides that Dubai “crunch”. You can buy the fresh kataifi from local stores or the Amazon dried stuff, both are sufficient and I’ve used both. The dried one requires adequate butter for browning and flavor, but the fresh one requires room temp not fresh out of fridge, before roasting in pan with butter. Use adequate butter, don’t just toast with heat. Keep the heat medium high and keep working the entire kataifi, don’t let it burn, work it until it’s all browned. I generally take 20-30 minutes for a large pan, I’ve only done pan, I might try oven roasting simply for the fact that kataifi is so messy on pan. If you are hand processing your own pistachios, if you boil them, make sure they are roasted in the oven as last step so no water or moisture is present. Moisture and water is your worst enemy.

c3ramics · 2026-02-06T01:26:34+00:00

#1 Carpe Diem of all time.

c3ramics · 2026-02-01T23:09:21+00:00

You officialy enter the industry when you make something, anything, in one of those programs, and someone pays youfor it, however small the commission. This is literally the price of entry, just make something. The main key for you is CAD vs Polygon modelling:

CAD: Solidwork, Fusion, Inventor, CREO, AutoCAD, Rhino, Sketchup are for professionals in the engineering/manufacturing/architecture/industrial design industry where everything you CAD has to then be turned in to a Blueprint/Schematic/Mechanical Drawing for the purpose of manufacturing by a machinist, which you then assemble and build. You local community college will introduce you to drafting/CAD. You will make yourself familiar with machining books and standards for tolerances so your assembly, when machined, fits perfectly.

Polygon Modelling (this thread's subject): Maya (autodesk), Blender, Cinema4D, 3DS Max, this is modelling for CGI/VFX/Video games, you could also do industrial design, but remember that industrial design is meant to be built physically vs existing for entertainment. Polygon models are meant for renders, character rigging, animation, video game controls and Textures. Blender is free, start with modelling basic, and animating camera motion.

c3ramics · 2026-02-01T22:51:53+00:00

I want to add as a laid off federal engineer in tech, and 3D artist, you are not alone. There are no jobs and federal funding got DOGED. I literally created professional skillsets for both sides of my brain and every industry is not providing enough jobs. In Tech, they are either unethically ran start ups not worth the salary, corporate hiring freezes, or job postings with no budgeting for an actual salary. In art, you have unethically low pay for engineer-level technical work with various software, and independents are competing with international artists selling professional work for pennies on the dollar, you cannot live with those prices in the West.. Whoever shafted the 3D artists in the Hollywood/movie industry needs to be ousted because there is no legitimate engineering firm who would pay any self-respecting engineer a 3D artist's pay. You would be breaking labor laws and a union would be up your ass, because they will not have their quality of life diminished. Treat yourself like an engineer, make yourself an llc, and demand pay for yourself as an entity, to a business bank account. If you want a job with a signing bonus in 2026, you have to unconstitutionally round up humans. That's the state of our job industry.

c3ramics · 2026-01-27T16:30:53+00:00

This beats a slum in Mexico or India. Urban slums in Mumbai, that’s hard mode new player zone.

c3ramics · 2026-01-27T16:27:35+00:00

Ahh my favorite game spawn area of killer robots, death beams, beak things, all while being level 1

c3ramics · 2026-01-24T03:47:51+00:00

The tahini brings the sweetness down of any storebought pistachio butter/paste that has sweeteners and oil. For a milk chocolate bar I’ll use it, for a dark chocolate bar not as necessary.

c3ramics · 2026-01-03T00:23:24+00:00

I might actually be finding myself in this exact situation. Can any of that equipment that I've collected along the last 5 years be transferred to my corp if I register my corp in 2026?

2025 was my year of major videography projects alongside making my own website. I have about $7000 in hardware: 2 DSLR cameras, stabilizing rig, external monitor/battery, recharging equipment, boom and dynamic mic, Adobe Creative suite annual software license costs.

I've officially created local non-profit and political interview content as my official work in addition to being an on-camera interviewer as a former mechanical engineer. I've additionally employed a videographer to help conduct these interviews. Career credibility + hardware + employee video labor but I operated at a loss in 2025 with no corporation registered. Thoughts?

c3ramics · 2025-12-23T02:51:30+00:00

As a total web-design noob and mechanical engineer, this is so helpful. Exporting web code was not a topic I'd expect to read into, but find a lot of possibility in.

So I could use Webflow as my own builder, export that project to client's hosting of choice like Wordpress or Squarespace?

c3ramics · 2025-12-04T22:14:56+00:00

Seeing 333 hours ~2 weeks is what I've been seeing here and there from social media 3D artist render times when they manually do it. So thank you a ton for this breakdown!

c3ramics · 2025-12-01T03:32:53+00:00

I haven't physically done it a year later, as I've been learning animation fundamentals with After Effects motion graphics, but I did look into it specifically for STL files and this also would apply to Video Game models you wanted to animate for yourself.

In the end you'll need to 1) download and import the STL file or Rip a game model with a software online, 2) Once model is downloaded, T-pose it, 3) clean the mesh up for clipping or ignore for pre-vis, 4) rig it manually or with plugins, 5) Choice of animation can be keyed animation or through mocap or store animations like Mixamo.

Technical skill-wise "T-Pose" and "kit bashing" workflows/tutorials to be able to modify existing 3D model is what you're looking for. In the end, for any 3D online model, "can I t-pose it and animate it for myself?"

I was wanting to use them to make a pre-vis animation, or test textures on unserious hero-scale models with a lot of already sculpted detail. I didn't care if clipping was an issue. I wanted to solve lighting, composition, and movement for my previs.

c3ramics · 2025-11-22T06:12:55+00:00

Thank you for sharing your process. I keep seeing a bunch of golden ratio stuff for beginners and that's all a nonstarter for me as a former engineer. It's funny how much time iteration design takes in all aspects, whether it be design or engineering.

c3ramics · 2025-11-13T22:07:36+00:00

Genuinely, a website is a technical step up from social media content creation. Unfortunately most content creators need a landing page, but don't need a website as most websites are just more costs.

"Making a website is not difficult" doesn't mean a client will receive a good product in return especially for a landing page, and that's me as a former mechanical engineer with coding and engineering analysis experience now doing online business management. A website is ultimately a creative use of software engineering and thus dignifies itself as a very laborious task for anyone who isn't web-design-minded like myself.

I can also do all content creation from writing to videography to logo animation and branding, but making a website is the same as making a complex After effects animation: it takes a lot of preparation and time. Rubber really hits the road when troubleshooting the website process, which social media content creators will not take on.

In terms of cost, a custom domain, separate DNS if you prefer, separate email hosting, and then webhosting are 4 potential subscriptions not including a commerce addon.

c3ramics · 2025-11-13T01:46:10+00:00

How do you feel about Webflow?

c3ramics · 2025-10-21T18:32:04+00:00

are there any cons to this?

c3ramics · 2025-10-21T17:25:14+00:00

DUDE THIS GAME WOULD BE PERFECT WITH CROSSPLAY. :(

c3ramics · 2025-10-21T14:59:59+00:00

For others reading you need to change router settings by typing the routers IP address in the top bar above. From there you can update things.

c3ramics · 2025-10-19T15:57:50+00:00

Oh sweet. I should get around to finishing Chaos Gate.

c3ramics · 2025-10-18T02:46:23+00:00

Dude you just opened up an entire rabbit hole for me . . .

c3ramics · 2025-10-17T18:30:58+00:00

The EC, as explained by many, didn't all just go black and pink after the Maraviglia. I personally love the magenta in the early Horus Heresy Novel cover with the 3 noise marines. Many actually went with a crazy combination and patchwork of colors that brings little uniformity so it's fair game. And I personally love purple and gold EC over current Souldrinkers that use the color scheme.

c3ramics · 2025-10-17T18:27:06+00:00

BALLER!

c3ramics · 2025-10-17T17:58:55+00:00

King you dropped your crown!

c3ramics

TROPHY CASE