Planet Blender

The Banshee – thanks to GIMP and GURPS
Starbright Illustrations (blog) - 2010-09-20 20:14:28

I always need starscapes to go behind the design sketches and finished renders of my spaceships and in the past I have always resorted to an awful lot of mouse clicking to make white dots or searching around the internet for copyright-free images of supernovas and the like. But not any more. There is a script for GIMP that will make a pretty starscape for you at the touch of a button. SpaceScape Script | GIMP Plugin Registry.

A pretty starscape even makes this quick design sketch of a spaceship look pretty good. In fact I liked it so much I wanted to write some blurb about it and generate some GURPS Spaceships stats. Again, this proved easier than I expected thanks to an online resource. An online spaceship cost calculator I found.It allowed me to design a spaceship in minutes, I’m calling it the Banshee.

I’m still reading the spaceship design books for the GURPS space game so the Banshee design might be a little unbalanced, or just plain wrong, at the moment. If you spot anything amiss please don’t hesitate to tell me. The page for the Banshee spaceship is here. Or follow this link to see the buttons I pushed to generate the Banshee, and the values the online calculator finally came out with.

I’m glad I finally got round to GURPS, it’s been a long time, the spaceship rules in GURPS Space are just the thing I’ve been looking for. They are quick and painless, but they still manage to generate some detail about the spaceship to excite the imagination.

Steel Storm Episode I
BlenderNation - 2010-09-20 18:00:11

Steel Storm Episode I is a shooting game which its arts were done in GIMP and Blender. Kot-in-Action Creative Artel developed this game for Windows, Mac, and GNU/Linux and the game is released under...

[read the full article on blendernation.com]

CADuntu: Another open source AutoCAD alternative
Blender 3D Architect - 2010-09-20 17:33:18

For those of you who are trying to find a good alternative for AutoCAD, especially if the option is an open source software, it may become hard to find one that fits most of the needs of an architectural visualization artist. Due to the great number of options, it is always good to take a [...] Related posts:

1. List of open source and free alternatives to AutoCAD I got a lot of messages and questions about how...
2. Mitsuba: Open source physically based renderer It is always good to have a wide range of...
3. Tutorial HeeksCAD: Another free AutoCAD alternative Among all free alternatives to AutoCAD we have FreeCAD and...

Blender 3D chain with physics
Vimeo / Blender 3D - 2010-09-20 15:39:57

A short animation of a chain in blender using the game engine physics. A few problems such as the chain breaking, and going through the floor at one point, perhaps a higher resolution mesh would have resolved this.

Cast: Ray Mairlot

‘Jacob on the Road’ by Dave Interactive
BlenderNation - 2010-09-20 15:00:00

Dave Interactive, a South Korean studio  is working on the animation called “Jacob on the Road”. Blender is the main tool used to “spread the valuable christian message through our...

[read the full article on blendernation.com]

ape head
thisroomthatikeep - 2010-09-20 11:53:00

Inspired by blender's monkey primitive, I did sculpt a chimpanzee head past week. Hope you all like it. :)

Blender Cookie’s 2010 Blender Training Series is Complete!
BlenderNation - 2010-09-20 11:00:14

Wes Burke tells us that Blender Cookie’s 2010 Blender Training Series is now complete. The series has over 23 hours of Blender 2.5 training and is being sold as 2 parts for 72 USD (5 USD goes...

[read the full article on blendernation.com]

The Sylvius Project – Presentation at the Blender Conference 2010
BlenderNation - 2010-09-20 06:09:52

Michael Stitt writes: Hi there, I thought I’d share the news that our project: The Sylvius Project, has been accepted to be presented at the Blender conference 2010. The Sylvius Project is...

[read the full article on blendernation.com]

Gilgamesh Rig Preview Video
Tube - Epic Production Notes - 2010-09-20 05:02:49

The end of this week should see the initial rig in the hands of animators, and I need a quick intro video to show them what’s in store. I whipped up a quick screencap of (most) of what we have so far. The rig is far from complete – I won’t do fingers and face until the model is finaled, too much can change in those small details. The rig itself is quite ‘smart’ as Rigamarule has been ported by myself, Daf and Josh to Blender 2.5. As a result, moving a joint can auto-update the rig easily, and I can add bones and then ‘place’ them using rules rather than manual transforms. More on that later, onwards to the actual features for animators.
I’ve hopped on the 2.5 rig-ui-in-the-view3D-properties-region bandwagon so popular among Blender riggers these days, though more could be done there.
Nice things that 2.5 enabled is seamless Pivot switching (via Python, rather than the constraint), and not shown in this video, seamless IK/FK switching (without jumping), better drivers, and myriad small features. I’m still waffling on exactly how certain features will look/feel/work, so this is a work in progress, but it should stabilize by Wednesday (time for animation tests)
On to the video:

For a higher resolution version, download this file.

graphicall: Realistic Rain with Dynamic Paint http://www.miikahweb.com/en/blog/2010/09/17/realistic-rain-with-dynamic-paint
Twitter / graphicall - 2010-09-20 04:25:13

graphicall: Realistic Rain with Dynamic Paint http://www.miikahweb.com/en/blog/2010/09/17/realistic-rain-with-dynamic-paint

Real-World Insight into 3-Point Lighting and the Chiaroscuro Technique
Blender Newbies 3D Video Tutorials (Learn to Create 3D Graphics with Blender!) - 2010-09-20 01:34:00

It's easy to forget that what we do in Blender is built upon real techniques and concepts from the real world. Oftentimes, when trying to learn how to do something in Blender, the first instinct can be to look for a "Blender" tutorial on the subject. That can be fine for a quick fix, but don't forget to dig a little deeper on the subject when you have more time.

Figure out where you can get richer information about the real-world practices for the subject, and bring that knowledge back to Blender.

For lighting techniques, I think photography is a great place to start. Oil paintings (done by the Masters) are a great way to study the artistic application of the techniques. Of course, oil paintings precede photography on the timeline of history, but photography is where you'll find descriptions of lighting techniques that directly relate to what you'll be doing in Blender.

The following videos are good examples of the kind of info that's out there just waiting to illuminate your mind (sorry, couldn't resist). The three videos on 3-point lighting compliment each other with subtle, overlapping details. The fourth video is an example of a painting technique (Chiaroscuro) applied to real-world lighting.

Experiment with these techniques in Blender and watch your confidence increase as you have a new level of understanding based on real-world practices.

3-Point Lighting







Chiaroscuro Lighting Technique

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