More Updates: Seven Quick Takes Edition

Decided to do another of these, since I'm behind on my posting.  Here we are:

1. I've gotten a request to do a tutorial on Jason the Jumper (if anyone remembers him)!  I won't get too technical, but here are some major points:
a) Start out with some basic shapes. In this case, I started out with a subdivided cube. 
b) Extruding is essential (using the E button in Blender).  I've heard from one of my books that the Extrude function is possibly the most useful tool in the whole of Blender.
c) Make a rough version. The Subdivide Modifier is a great help with smoothing out a final version.

For anyone interested, here's a more step-by-step version of how I made it (excluding the face).  It assumes you already know the basics of Blender; if this wasn't what you were looking for, there's a much more detailed walkthrough on a gingerbread man on Blender's wiki (the original page doesn't exist before, but it's on the Internet Archive). Here's the link. Anyway, here is the picture/walkthrough:

2. I'm going to keep the rest of these takes a bit shorter.

3. In my college class I revisited a program I'd almost forgotten about: Sculptris! What I'd apparently missed in my previous attempts at the program was that I was able to add a background image (Options--> Background) and make something based on real life.  The next two pictures were my reference picture and my work on my project, based on the actor Peter Capaldi.


4. The class was mostly on Blender, and taught me something entirely new: Cycles! The animation is mostly based on nodes (which I haven't worked on much), and it's a great setting to play with and explore.  To get to it, go to the top of the screen where the File/Render/Window/Help menus are, and to the right is something called "Blender Render."  Change it to "Cycles Render," and you're there! A brief note though: rendering in Cycles mode can take a lot longer to render, and also causes grain/noise; it's possible to get rid of the noise, but that takes even longer to render.

5. I learned about a new program, MeshMixer!  This program isn't just about making 3D models, but also about modifying and healing meshes/models for 3D Printing!  It's a must-have for 3D Printing (which they had in my college).  Here's a link to the free program! 
Printing an earlier model of mine (a camera) at the college.
6. I'm done with my 3D College Finals!  I know I've already said this, but I really like saying it because it helps me pretend I lived through them reminds me of my success. 

7. I've also done a bit more with After Effects!  Using a few custom shockwaves (from a fantastic tutorial from Video Copilot), lightning, stock footage and a few other stylized effects, I was able to pull off this:


More on my college finals later!  More quick takes on This Ain't the Lyceum! 
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Seven Quick Takes Friday

Image
So, it's been over a month since my last post and I haven't done a thing.  This is partially because I was: a. in New Jersey with my grandparents and cousin in early early July. b. packing up for summer camp in later early July. c. earning merit badges in summer camp for a week in mid-July. d. this is late July.  And next week I'm going on a family vacation. On to the other excuses for non blogging what's been happening: 1. Of course, there are all the minor details like my birthday , earning a learner's permit , signing college applications, etc. 2. Back with computer animation, I am happy ecstatic to announce that someone has downloaded my TARDIS model !  Somewhere, someone is using it for their own projects!!! 3. Speaking of downloads, I have downloaded and am coloring a Tardis interior from the same website.  To tell the truth, I actually like it that downloads all start out colored gray; it gives the person working with it something to do.  O
Read more

K12 Project and Assignment 3: Build a Creature and a Monkey

Image
Did you notice I have no idea if the “k” in K12 is capitalized or uncapitalized?  See, in the last sentence, k12 was capitalized.  Yet in that previous sentence, K12 was lowercase.  And yet, in that previous sentence… well, you get the idea.  Anyway, Project 3 introduces modeling , and taught me something new–using a bump map texture; which makes the object look, well, bumpy.  It’s interestingly called “normal” in the influence section of the Texture panel.  My special addition for this project was using “emit” (same section, same panel) to get some parts of the creature to seem to glow.  Upon noticing that it wasn’t a huge change (as well as my not being able to see its eyes), I also changed the camera angle and provided some more lighting.  I actually noticed then that it looked like he was jumping down, so… well, I suppose a picture’s worth a thousand words. “Jason the Jumper”, as I call him, uses particles for the crashing-glass effect  The particles are on billboard
Read more

Blender 101 1/2: the Physics Engine

Technical alert: this post explains how to do things in technical detail; you can skip this post if you're not interested in that kind of thing. Now, I am an amateur as you could see by some of my models, but nevertheless I also like teaching others about what little I know about Blender and other 3D software.  Today, the physics engine is my focus. There are seven different types of physics in Blender.  Force Field can make things like wind, tornadoes and, well, force fields.  Collision is necessary for projects that involve gravity--which would include clothing, floors, objects... basically anything in an advanced project.  Cloth makes your object turn into, well... cloth.  Fluids and Smoke also speak for themselves, and I have no idea what "Dynamic Paint" and "Soft Body" do. The physics engine is absolutely necessary for any advanced project; if you want snow to move around, that's a good time to use Force Field; Collision can help if yo
Read more