3D Tinkerer

Blender 2.5 How to Remove Dark Blocks of Shadows

2010-09-03T20:26:00.000-07:00

In the Blender 2.49b version you can have a scene composed of one lamp light and an object and you wont have a problem producing this kind of image.

Notice the transition from light to soft shadows.

However, in the current Blender 2.5 version you will get this...

We get large blocks of ugly dark shadows.

How are we going to solve this problem? How do we make it as nice as the old Blender 2.49b render?

1. Click on the World button.

2. Click on Environment Lighting
3. Play with the Energy setting until you get the desired result.

Blender Artists: Bispodejesus Bros

2010-09-03T17:59:00.000-07:00

I like the two Brazilian brothers working on CG animated films using Blender. So I am bookmarking their blog here.

http://bispodejesusbros.blogspot.com/

Animated CG Film Pipeline

2010-09-03T04:24:00.000-07:00

You can make a 2D Animated Short without going through any pipeline. This is especially true if you are just working alone.

But when you are trying to transfer to 3D, the pipeline becomes very important whether you are working solo or with a group.

3D Animated Shorts are a lot harder to make than 2D. It requires more art discipline. You need to have someone skilled at modeling (somewhat similar to a sculptor). You need a person with great painting skills to make the textures. Then you need to have a good video editor. You need to have a rigger. And then an animator.

3D Animated Films requires more people compared to 2D Animated films.

Having said that I like this article from cgtuts describing a CG Animated Film Pipeline.

Sculptris Primer

2010-08-31T06:41:00.000-07:00

Sculptris is a very nice digital sculpting software. It takes advantage of dynamic tessellation to keep the number of faces down.

It is a very intuitive software. But you will be able to use it better if you really understand how its various tools work.

Sculptris sculpting primer Part 1 from 3dioot on Vimeo.

Sculptris Primer part 2 from 3dioot on Vimeo.

Sculptris Painting Primer from 3dioot on Vimeo.

The Future of 3D Printing

2010-08-08T19:54:00.001-07:00

Blender 2.49 Draw Type Shaded in Blender 2.5 Beta

2010-08-08T05:03:00.000-07:00

In Blender 2.49b had a Draw Type feature named Shaded. It allows you to see your 3D Mesh with its texture even if you haven't rendered it yet.

It's is a useful feature because it allows you to get a sense of how your model would approximately look like when it is rendered.

However, in Blender 2.5, "Draw Type" is now called "Viewport Shading". And the previous "Draw Type: Shaded" is no longer there.

Where did it go?

Let's find it.

1. Go to Object Mode
2. Set the Viewport Shading to Solid.
3. Press N
4. The Properties Panel will appear.
5. Scroll Down and find the a section marked Display
6. Click the arrow next to it to show the options for this section
7. Look for Shading
8. Click the check box marked "Textured Solid"
9. You are done.

If you will notice, the option to use GLSL rendering is also in this Properties Panel.

The Cup

2010-08-04T23:40:00.000-07:00

Blender 2.5 beta has just been released. But even in using the Alpha version some artist have already created very good CG Short Films. Take this one created by Psl-Man.

The Cup from psl on Vimeo.

Designing Robots, Futuristic Vehicles, and Architectures

2010-05-21T15:24:00.000-07:00

I was at the bookstore yesterday and I found this book Extreme Worlds by Francis Tsai. He seem to be a very good artist and also a very good teacher.

According to him, in order to draw robots and futuristic vehicles, he often take inspiration from construction vehicles.

On the other hand, when he is designing futuristic architectures, he uses construction buildings as his reference.

The Making: Treasure of the Skyrocks

2010-04-24T02:17:00.000-07:00

This short film is not really made with Blender. But we can learn the workflow that it's creators followed. And then we can apply the same process when we make our own CG film using Blender.

Part 1

Part 2:

The Making of the Film:

Blender Surface Sketching

2010-04-08T23:21:00.000-07:00

This is something to look forward to in Blender 2.5. What you do is loosely draw lines and the script will automatically create the surface/faces.

Checkout the Blender Artist thread for more information:
Blender Surface Sketching Script

Surface Sketching for Blender (tutorial version) from Blend_Ideas on Vimeo.

How to Cover a Hole in Wings3D

2010-04-04T18:26:00.000-07:00

Wings3D 1.2 now allow you to make holes in your mesh. Unfortunately, it is quite confusing to cover this holes.

Here is what you need to do.

1. Select a face adjacent to the hole.
2. Right click on the selected face.
3. A list of commands would appear
4. Hover your mouse pointer over the command .Hole
5. Right click again

The hole should now be covered.

This would have been less confusing if the developers created a separate command in the list named "Face" or "Remove/Cover Hole".

Hopefully they are doing just that in the later versions.

Low Poly Anime Character Modeling

2010-03-22T05:30:00.001-07:00

First in a series about Low Poly Anime Character Modeling

How to Make a Runescape Machinima Using Blender

2010-03-06T05:19:00.000-08:00

This is a very nice demonstration on how to make a machinima. The author used Blender 2.52

Blender 2.5 Alpha 0 Download

2009-11-24T10:30:00.000-08:00

If you noticed, I haven't posted any tutorial and I haven't shared my projects with you. My reason is that, it would be useless for me to post a Blender 2.49 tutorial when Blender 2.5 will come out very soon. And it's interface is vastly different.

But now the first Blender 2.5 Official Release is out, we can finally get this thing going.

Mite!

2009-11-02T21:43:00.000-08:00

Looks like I will have to add another one to my Best Blender Movies List.

This one is from the creator of "Da New Guys".

It is about an alien invasion that did not go according to plan.

Enjoy!

If you want to know how Chris Burton made this, you can check out his The Making of Mite! thread at blenderartist.org.

Blender Lego Animation

2009-09-12T03:48:00.000-07:00

I was wondering what's all this rage about Lego Animations. Until I watched this one.

Very entertaining indeed.

Blender Movie: Memory

2009-08-21T01:41:00.000-07:00

There is a reason why my favorite Pop Culture is Japanese Pop Culture. My favorite source of visual entertainment is Japan. And of course, my favorite Blender community is Blender.jp.

Why? Because when they do something they really take pain to do them meticulously. Just like this video.

Modeling X Wing in Blender

2009-08-01T07:22:00.000-07:00

If you are a Star Wars fan you will love this video made by Youdaman921.

Part 1

Part 2

Blender Projection Texture

2009-06-06T11:32:00.000-07:00

This is a nice tutorial I found on youtube regarding Blender Projection Texture.

Ear Modeling

2009-05-23T06:15:00.000-07:00

One of the most difficult part of a human body to model is the ear.

It is very intricate. You will end up with a lot of edges and then you have to connect it back to the head using as few edges as possible.

The only solution is practice and looking at a lot of ears until you can see how it looks using only your imagination.

Modeling the Human Ear from Jonathan Williamson on Vimeo.

3D Hand Modeling

2009-04-24T00:54:00.000-07:00

This video will teach one possible way to model a hand.

(3D) Hand Modeling from Carlos Bisquertt on Vimeo.

I've been looking for a nice 3d hand topology and I think this one is very good.

The Importance of 2D Concept Art in 3D Modeling

2009-03-21T06:18:00.000-07:00

It is very important that you do 2D concept art or better yet have model sheets before you actually construct your 3D models.

Having one could mean the difference between creating a 3D model in a one day to doing it for a week.

In 2D, you could freely draw your props, environment, or characters. Meanwhile if you work in 3D, you will quickly run against a lot of rules like you should keep everything quads (four sided polygons) and you should keep in mind your edge flow.

If you are just practicing your 3D modeling skills, here are sources of concept arts you can use:

www.anime-model-sheets.com

www.celshading.com/gallery

Blender Hair Particle Tutorial

2009-03-18T08:54:00.000-07:00

This hair particle tutorial was made for Blender 2.46 but I think it is still usable for Blender 2.48a.

Blender 2.46 particle hair from Dipingo on Vimeo.

Blender 3D Review

2009-03-08T22:48:00.000-07:00

There are a lot of capable 3D software out there but why do I recommend Blender?

Let me cite its features to give you an idea.

1. Modeling
2. Sculpting
3. Texturing
4. Animating
5. Rendering
6. Compositing
7. Game Developing

Some of the other 3D package will give you some of these features. But I have not seen one who has all of them built in.

And it's also rare for a 3D software to have a built in sculpting and game development capability.

You can practically do everything in Blender and you won't need another software.

The last reason why you should use Blender is

8. It's completely free for personal and commercial use.

If you are still not convinced, check out these movies made with Blender.

Freddy's World

2008-12-14T10:40:00.000-08:00

This is really cool. Another proof that you can do great art with a free software.

You can visit the official site at http://www.fweibel.com/ for more information regarding this animation.

Correct 3D Modeling Philosophy

2008-11-21T19:01:00.001-08:00

Before you dive into the world of 3D modeling, there is a website that you need to visit before all else. You can find it here.

This website belongs to Bay Raitt who is co-attributed to the creation of Golum in New Line Cinema's The Lords of the Ring trilogy.

After reading the entire article, here are the things you need to remember:

1. Make a mess - As you visit forums you will get advices like: your 3D model must follow proper topology, you must model in quads or triangles or ngons, you must use poles or not use poles.

This is wrong. Atleast in the initial stage. Don't follow these advises or else you will get yourself stumped.

When you are just starting your model, only silhouettes and contours matter.

It's not important if you are not producing perfect quads or tris. You're primary goal is to shape your mesh to the object or character you have in mind.

But while you are making a mess, do aim to use as few edges or vertices as possible. Because as you will eventually find ,it is hard to manage lots of edges and points and move them around in 3D space.

2. Cleanup - You should clean up. But remember this only comes after you are finish shaping your mesh.

During the clean up stage you can concentrate on turning your model to all quads or triangles.

On this stage you can also apply proper topology.

These two principles is no different from 2D drawing. In 2D drawing, professional artists first scribble sometimes producing an incomprehensible drawing.

Then they slowly refine their drawing choosing only the strong lines. Then they delete all the unimportant lines.

If you follow these steps you will save yourself from getting frustrated when you are modeling.

Best Blender Movies

2008-11-21T19:00:00.000-08:00

Do you ever dream about making your own 3D film?

But in order for you to do that, you must first have a 3D software.

If you are going to buy an all-around commercial 3D software like Maya or 3ds Max, expect to shed $16000 to $4000 USD. Or you could use Blender which is opensource and completely free and still produce professional quality 3D animation.

Here are some of the best 3D films made with Blender:

1. Big Buck Bunny - by Blender Foundation
2. Lighthouse - by Promotion Studios
3. Elephants Dream- by Blender Foundation
4. Alchemy - by Jason Pierce
5. Orion Tear - by Rogerio Perdiz
6. Da New Guys - by IceBoxGames
7. Freddy's World
8. Memory
9. Mite! by IceBox
10. The Cup by Psl-Man
So If you ever dream about becoming the next Pixar or Dreamworks, what are you waiting for?

Get crackin!

Blender Bone Rigging Tutorial

2008-11-21T18:59:00.001-08:00

Here is a simple Blender 3D rigging tutorial. If you find the display too small, just hover your mouse over the video and find the full screen option.

Enjoy.

Big Buck Bunny - Rigging Tut from Ben Dansie on Vimeo

Where to Learn Blender 3D

2008-11-21T18:54:00.001-08:00

For a 3D software that pack a lot of features, the Blender installer is just around 9 MB. However the documentation is not included with this installer.

But no need to worry. I will give you a list where you can be introduced to this wonderful software.

Where to Learn Blender:

1. http://www.blender.org/education-help/ You will find the official documentation and several tutorials here.

2. You can also watch some of my favorite channels on Youtube.

a. http://www.youtube.com/bitsofblender
b. http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=agent47crows&view=videos

3. You can also buy several books available at http://www.blender3d.org/e-shop/. Whatever you buy here will help support further development of Blender. Or you can also buy from Amazon or your local bookstore.

Well that's it for now. I will continue to update this list as I find new information.

Low Polygon Game Character

2008-11-21T02:14:00.000-08:00

I found this very low polygon character demo. I post it here for my reference because I've always been interested at how far textures can make a very simple model look interesting.

Everything About CG

2008-11-20T20:05:00.000-08:00

I figured that I better keep all my computer graphics related post here.