Donald P Watkins: Blender

Showing posts with label Blender. Show all posts

Saturday, February 17, 2018

Dream for an Early Spring - The Blender Experiments #003

It is deeply winter in Michigan and my mind is dreaming of the coming spring. Soon the frogs and toads will awaken and begin their joyous chorus welcoming back much warmer days!

While waiting for the Sun to return and the days to lengthen, I decided to embark on a new experiment with 3D modeling and the Blender open source software package. This time, I've adapted techniques learned from two online tutorials (details below) and combined them into a celebration of the coming season.

The above image was crafted by me using a powerful (and free) open source 3D modeling software package called Blender. A glimpse at the Blender interface and my workflow can be seen in the screenshot below.

Techniques for creating the grassy meadow were adapted from the "Grassy Meadow" tutorial provided by Andrew Price. Visit Andrew's BlenderGuru website for even more awesome tutorials. The meadow scene that I created also includes assets from BlenderGuru's "Grass Essentials" along with some free objects provided as part of Andrew's beginner friendly tutorial.

The stone sculpture is a photo-scanned image of a real garden stone from my yard. Photogrammetry software was used to turn the garden stone into a 3D object thanks to a process demonstrated by Gleb Alexandrov (visit his CreativeShrimp website). Check out Gleb's "Free Photo Scanning Workflow" tutorial for links to free photo scanning and photogrammetry software and for a close look at the process of turning real-world objects into photo-realistic 3D models.

And last but not least, credit for that wonderful sky filled with soft clouds of blue and white must be given to Greg Zaal and his incredible website full of free HDRI sky images called HRDI Haven. Check out Greg's gracious contribution to the open source art and education community today!

Thanks for visiting. Please feel free to share this article, follow me on social media, and post your questions, concerns, and suggestions in the comment space below!

Get Outside!
Donald P. Watkins, Jr.
West Michigan, USA

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Friday, March 17, 2017

Nebula Fly Through - Blender Experiment 02

Nebula Fly Through - A Blender Experiment - UHD 4K - 2160p

Drift aimlessly through the center of an endless nebula as a passenger on a ship lost in space. Will your ship and crew make it to the other side? Will you survive? Will you suffer from space sickness?

- Video Link Below -

Stare at the center of this video for 20 seconds and then quickly look at something else. If done correctly, you will likely see your world bending and twisting right before your very eyes!

This video is the result of following a free Blender tutorial produced by Aidy Burrows at CG Masters.

After following the tutorial, I played around; changing settings and tweaking things until I had created something pleasing that was a little different from the nebula produced in the tutorial.

Creating this scene involved animating a camera to fly through a nebula created from an array of transparent planes which have had a "tweaked" noise texture applied to them.

The animation was rendered to individual png files representing each frame. These files were then pulled into Sony Vegas Movie Studio for the final render to which I added the title graphics.

Nebula Fly Through - A Blender Experiment

- Click Here for Video -

Staring at the video for too long could make you motion sick if you are susceptible (be warned). At the very least, if you stare at the center of rotation long enough and then look away, the things you look at will twist and bend. It's a rather interesting effect all by itself!

Blender is a free 3D Modeling and Animation Tool...

► Download Blender - https://www.blender.org/

Learn more about the Space VFX Tutorials below...

CG Masters YouTube Channel -
► GG Masters - https://www.youtube.com/user/blengine

The tutorial video is called "Nebulae Cloud Flythrough in Blender | Free Tutorial" and I highly recommend watching it if you are interested in generating 3D nebula and/or clouds in your renders.

Link to the tutorial -
► Tutorial - https://youtu.be/CB8_QKQ4eKQ

The tutorial is a free segment from a more than 12 hour professionally produced VFX course offered by Aidy Burrows and Gleb Alexandrov. The series is titled "Space VFX Elements: the Ultimate Guide to Creating the Galaxy in Blender" and it will guide the student through the creation of "quasars, gas giants, planets, black holes, asteroids and more."

LInks to Aidy and Gleb's Websites:
► Aidy Burrows : www.cgmasters.net
► Gleb Alexandrov : www.creativeshrimp.com

Space VFX Promo Video:
► https://youtu.be/9GThOpX-ceU
► http://www.cgmasters.net/spacevfx/

Thanks for visiting. Feel free to share this video and if you liked it, be sure to smash that like button, subscribe, and comment in the comment box!

Stay Skookum!
Donald Watkins
of Skookum Valley Productions

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Sunday, March 12, 2017

Getting Started with Blender 3D Modeling - Blender Experiment 01

My first foray into the Blender Universe was a fast trip to doughnut heaven. Being a complete beginner who has never touched Blender before, I was looking for a very thorough "beginner's guide".

Fortunately, I stumbled upon the tutorials created by Blender Guru (Andrew Price). His teaching style is smooth and informative. The Blender Beginner Tutorial series (see list below) will not only teach you how to make a nice set of doughnuts with matching coffee mug; it may also grant you a greater appreciation for art and photography in general.

The first image to the right is the result of carefully studying the tutorials and working through the details of the lessons. Without Andrew's direction, this image would not look nearly as photorealistic as it does. If stared at long enough, the CGI shortcomings may become increasingly noticeable. However, the results are amazing when you consider that the image was this modeler's first ever experimental journey into the world of Blender and 3D modeling.

The Doughnut Image on Instagram

On the right, is a sample image that I decided to put on Instagram. At the time of this writing, the image has the highest level of viewer interaction compared to any other image in my Instagram portfolio. The comments include pleasant conversation with another person who is eagerly learning blender and who is also following this particular tutorial series. There is a strong sense of community behind Blender.

Those who are interested in seeing the Blender interface to get a glimpse at what is involved in modeling the doughnuts and setting the scene may wish to take a close look at the image below. I find it fascinating that it is possible to go from a wire-frame to a fully photorealistic image with the power of an average home computer.

The Blender Guru's Blender Beginner Tutorial Series

If you want to learn Blender then I highly recommend the Blender Guru Beginner Tutorial Series. Andrew will carefully walk you through the world of Blender; from getting familiar with the user interface, modeling real world objects, texturing surfaces, lighting scenes, and developing your final composition. If you follow his guidance, you will learn quite a lot about photography as well as 3D modeling and the Blender tool, itself.

All in all, a little more than an hour per tutorial was dedicated to following the videos and performing the work. It was important to me to understand everything because each lesson was built upon the knowledge gained in the previous sessions. This set of tutorials can be treated as a true college level course in my opinion because that is the quality of instruction that is provided by this instructor.

In total, the series is composed of nine sessions of less than one hour each. By the time you complete the series you will be well on your way toward new adventures as a 3D artist. It is certain that you will also gain a great amount of artistic and photographic appreciation along the way.

I am thankful that Andrew, the Blender Guru, has decided to share such a valuable introductory course for no cost whatsoever. Thank you, Andrew, for your inspiration and assistance!