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Hey all!


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Hey all!


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Hey all!

Last week, I briefly talked about this topic as part of the latest update on the Esther 6 project - which you can read here. The reason for this post is to particularly focus on this topic and share some engine specific tricks that GOD showed me through personal leading and from a few articles, so let's get into it.

This will be mostly focused on Blender Render, as that is my engine of choice for the time, but I will talk about Cycles Render as well in another post - GOD willing.

Blende...
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Hey all!!

Today we cover the last in the series on underwater compositing! There may still come future posts on certain features that still apply, but as far as compositing goes for a basic underwater scene, we're ending today :D.

As you've seen, we're covering softness today. While this is not always required, there is a certain presence to water that to most often presents itself as a softness. You'll find it even out of water in very humid conditions, but really makes most underwater scenes ...
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Hey all!

Been a while since the last post, but this one is something I've learned a little bit on, so I hope this helps you tons! :D

Something that can easily be missed when it comes to underwater compositing is mist or a cloudiness. This comes from the way light bounces in the water, as well as other particles in the waters. Just think of a misty day. You can only see so far. Depending on the kind of water you are in, you will have varying decrees of clarity.

BUT! This is not a white mist. Ther...
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Hey all!

When I saw I hadn't shared this yet, I was really surprised. Must be because I'm so tired, hahaha. No worries, here we go:

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Hey there everyone!

Firstly, I want to say thanx to the people from the Blender Facebook group here and more precisely, here.

I found out a lot about toon shading here, though it did not produce what I wanted - it did however bring me a heck of a lot closer, haha. I would never have thought of using full oversampling nor about turn the auto ray bias off, so huge thanx there!

Though these methods are great, there are issues here. If you leave on the auto ray bias, you get this (see the collar are...
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Hey all!

Today we talk about lamps in BGE. Now, for all intensive purposes, this does cover some functions of lamps, but this is about what you can accomplish with lamps in BGE.

Now, you will find that I've already done a post on making sure that you don't lose your shadow in game and this you can find here.

In games, you see the following on lamps:
 - Point Lamp, no shadow projection
 - Sun Lamp, limited shadow projection

 - Spot Lamp, shadow projection and no volume yet (hopefully the improvement...
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Hey there everyone!

Today's post is one kind I have not been able to do for a while! So very excited!

Yesterday, a friend and I was talking about doing crumpled paper. Now, I was thinking he was talking about those balls of paper you make when you try to form an idea, then you don't like it, so you tear it off, crumple it and put it aside. But, he meant like paper that was crumpled then folded open again. Haha, anyway, so I said I would try it (before the misunderstanding was cleared up) and th...
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Hey all!

I'm sure many of you have heard of this feature, but you have absolutely no clue as to how to use it. I was there and I'm still learning some cool stuff about it; even today (the day I started writing this post; yes, sometimes it takes more than a day per post due to render times for examples)!

Now, just to show you some examples (click on them for the videos), I rendered some more practical projects and listed them below:

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That is, to stare into the sun, haha.

Hey everyone,

Today I get to share a little sun glare I've been working on last night. It's not exactly what I wanted to achieve, but very close and I am very happy with this as a sun glare (what I wanted would fit a shiney metal glare, not the sun)!


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Hey all!

I was given this assignment and I did not know how to approach this. I had an idea of how I would've like to do it, but that didn't workout at all the way I wanted it to. What am I talking about? Check this out first and I'll tell you:


That's right!! You can make rain drops have a splash in Blender without having reactor particles. How? Dynamic paint!
Unfortunately, this is a feature that is a bit much for an easy QBT, so for th...
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Hey all,

Coming at you with another Quick Blog Tutorial on black light in Blender Render! Here is the result:


I don't know how many know that you can actually do this in Blender, but I only found out while writing the book. GOD wanted me informed about where the textures apply and how to make them visible, but for this specifically, HE hadn't given me any practical application apart from possible caustics on stationary objects, l...
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Hey all!

I'm not someone who specializes in realism, but I have noticed some features in Blender Render that I have been very happy with in getting me closer to realism and I'd like to share some of them with you. Remember, most of these apply to Cycles as well and also to traditional arts!

- Ambient Occlusion (AO)
A strange corner shadow phenomenon I've never really seen much of in real life on the intensity that Blender can produce, though it is a fantastic boost, even on a low setting, set on...
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Hey everyone!

Comin' at ya with another Quick Blog Tutorial, or QBT :).

I've been sharing a little on the compositor, but this one is part of texturing, so you don't need the node editor to test this one out! Feel free to, but you don't need to.

Here's just a little example that it works (a plane with 5 faces):


I don't know if you knew this or not, but you can have more than one active UV on a single object in Blender Render too. I didn't know it and I'm sure most of you didn't think it impossibl...
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Hey all!

This one developed in a funny way. Not like ha-ha, just different than most works, which are planned pieces, not just growing into something.

I experimented with rigid body physics in Blender yesterday and while I got some okay results, I need to learn about the constraints for these kinds of physics options. While they are extremely useful, I don't know how to use them just yet, lol.

Anyway, after trying this and trying that, I just didn't get anywhere, until GOD suggested I use what I...
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Hey everyone!

Today I want to give a free tip again. Many users may think that because development ceased on Blender Render, that it is now obsolete. While it doesn't have certain features, I really still enjoy this engine and find it surprisingly powerful when used with the compositor.

This tip is about transparency in Blender Render!
There are three types in this case and I have honestly never used the Mask one. Tried once soon after starting with Blender, but I don't really know how it works,...
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Whoohoo!!!! Blender render section of the tutorial is almost complete! It is incredible to say the least. At a practical advice packed level of 130+ pages so far, I am super excited about getting it finished and released!!

And, to celebrate it's almost completeness, here is the result from the flag tutorial when ropes are added. Ogg file as always (^^,).


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I recently applied for a job and needed a proper portfolio of my 3D work (and I made sure I added only what HE wanted in) and you can check it out using the navigation at the top (far right).

Obviously, they will not remain the best works and will be replaced by other pieces as I learn and grow in skill, but I like the work so far!

Hope you enjoy scrolling through it!

Oh, about the feature pic. I did a comparison a while back between Cycles Render and Blender Render for the book I'm still workin...
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This image is a custom colored version of a cloud procedural texture with a cell noise basis. What that means is that the procedural texture is made and written mainly for creating clouds or texturing them, either by deformation of a shape or just using color, or both. The basis is how the texture will be made, or put together. There are many options in Blender regarding basis, but this one is cool for a few reasons.
   I've been a fan of this kind of pattern for a long time, but I've always h...
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I can see a massive difference between the two, but I don't want to call one better than the other, because one is more developed and the other works different. So I'll say this: I personally still prefer Blender Render (BI)

Here's why I do.
I've used the same project, creating first a Cycles Render version and then a Blender Render version. Out of the two I like the overall look of the Cycles Render one more, but the capabilities in procedural textures in Blender Render overshadows the quality...
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I really want to start with a massive commercial tutorial for Blender Render and Cycles, focusing on procedural textures and what you can do with them. Like the one already done, except very very much expanded.

So, as I said, this is something I want to do, but can't make any promises yet.

Here is an image I made with Blender Render (aka Blender Internal) that I would like  to use as a title page for the Blender Render section:

This image took a day's ...
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