Latest ArticlesBlendersauce-Vault Offline24. September 2022BlogI removed the Link to the Blendersauce-Vault because a lot of the Google Drive Links are broken and I do not have any time at the moment to redo all the Links… Soooo Good Bye Blendersauce Vault... Creating amazing 3D Models for Low Poly Style Games17. September 2020BlogFor 3 years now I am accidentally involved in Game development. I am working with Blender 11 years, at first more like a hobby, and then as a contributor to image agencies.During the past 3 years, I learned a lot about creating models for a game it is just another thing than doing 3D models just for fun or still renders. As fun (not) it would be to describe the whole process as text, I’m going to show you images of the process. I use a simple model of a Palm tree, one of my upcoming 3D-Assets for Game engines like Unity or Unreal.To create my 3D Models and doing the Texture-Painting I am using Blender and BPainter as texture paint AddOn. If you do painting on a computer you should really use a tablet. I am using a Wacom tablet Intous Pro Medium, not the newest one but it does its job. So let’s begin with the first steps, modeling the main parts of the Palm tree, the stem, and the foliage. Because this model is a Low-Poly Style Model I do not use that much Polygons. Why Low-Poly Style and not Low-Poly, that’s is because out there are some really polygon minimalist fanatics saying.” No Sir there are still too many Polygons”. After the modeling and before I am going to unwrap these models I always do “Apply Rotation and Scale”. After applying the rotation and scale I am going to join the models to unwrap them to make the models ready for Texture-Painting.After joining the models I unwrap these models and placing them on the UV-Map so that there is no UV overlapping happening. After the UV mapping is done I switch to Texture-Painting. For Texture-Painting I am using the amazing tool BPainter. The first step I create a Layer for the base color. After bringing in the base color I am starting to bring in the features of the foliage. The main feature here is the middle of the foliage, just draw with a really dark green a “not so straight” line in the middle of the foliage and paint with a brighter color and lower the opacity of your brush. Use a soft falloff to get soft transitions between the colors.The next step is to bring some more color onto the foliage. For this step, I use a new layer. So let’s call that finish and turn over to the stem elements. For the stem, I repeat the same steps but different… hmm yes… different. As you can see the same steps but like I said before, different 😉 Because I have joined all together there is only one object instead of six. To get a good workflow and to not destroy our Texture painting I am going to separate all the objects so that I can work with single objects. Before I do that and because I am a little bit paranoid I always create copies in separate Collection to have the chance to go back when needed.To be able to handle the separated models in a better way I move the point of origin to a logical position. Right after moving the Cursor, I bring the Point of Origin to the Cursor position. The next step is to repeat this for every object. Sometimes 3D modeling has a lot to do with repeating tasks. Before we come to the fun part and putting all together I have to give the foliage some curvy look. So let’s do that.By using the proportional editing feature I can bend the foliage by increase the influenced area of the tool with the mouse wheel and dragging the selected Vertices up. To pronounce the foliage a little bit more I am bringing the complete center of the foliage a little bit down to help the painted center to be more realistic. The next step is to do that for every foliage. As you can see every foliage has a different bend shape.Now it is time to assemble the whole thing. At first, I am going to put the stem together by using our stem parts. Sure it would be possible to create that by using a curve and the curve modifier, but I prefer here the manual method. As you can see the stem is looking pretty good. I created the stem by using the 3 stem parts I created earlier. And by scaling, duplicating, rotating and repositioning the parts it is pretty easy to create a good looking stem. For the foliage I am using the same scaling, duplicating and rotation and while distributing the foliage I am bending the foliage again by using the proportional editing.It looks Ok and it is ready to add maybe here and there some coconuts, but that is maybe a topic for another Post. ... Game Model Test10. September 2020BlogJust doing a little test on how the model is building up and the different build stages of the building are fitting together.... Importance of checking your Game Models10. September 2020BlogIn the past I was somehow really lazy when it was coming to do really clean models. But since I am involved in the development of Empires and Tribes I learned a lot. Checking your models is key. But what should you check. Blender gives you a bunch of tools to do so. Doubles Doubles are the first thing I am looking for. Blender gives you the Funktion “Merge by Distance” This is one of the functions I have in my Quickmenu. Normals Direction If you do gaming models it is very important that you always check the direction of the Normals, I not, Backface-Culling will hit you in the Face UV-Mapping and Textures Check always your UV-Mapping and Textures. Not once, you should check it twice or more 😉 Point of Origin The Point of Origin or saying the root of the model location should always be 0,0,0 Rotation – Scale Always, Always check the Rotation and Scale values of your model Rotation always to 0,0,0 and Scale to 1,1,1 Export fbx My preferred export format is fbx. I always limit the Export to Selected Objects and check the Apply Transform option to be sure that I have not to change the orientation afterwards in the Game-Engine, because every action you have to take in the Game-Engine to change, except for the position, your model is something the Game-Engine has to work on. The keyword here is perfomance. Just my two Cents about how important it is to check on your game models.... Long time – No Post – Why?9. September 2020BlogSo why did I no new posts the last year? It is simple as it sounds, I was busy.Busy creating a lot of models for our Game Empires and Tribes which we have released finally in May 2020 on Steam as an Early-Access Version. We are working hard on the Game to bring it to its final status.Currently, I am working on Level 2 Buildings for the citizens of the Game.Here just a few examples: I will try to change my post frequency in the future, I am not promising but at least I can try it 😉 ... Let the Game begin – Game Developing Blog21. October 2018Blog / Empires and TribesSince a few month I am involved in the developing of a Game called Empires and Tribes. My Job is .. hmm let’s call it “Leading 3D Artist” to remake all Models and Textures of the Game and oversee others work. I starting now with a personal Development Blog because I want to keep track myself a little bit about the progress and I will give you the opportunity to have a deeper look into Game developing from the view of a 3D Artist. Currently we are working hard on a new Demo Version. The Main change is the upgrade to the newest Unity 5 Version to be able to use new features and functionalities of the engine, shaders and Assets. My main task is the rebuilding and retexuring of all 3D Models in the Game. Here you can see a quick render of the a new model (left), without Specular or Roughness Data. As you can see the new Model is much more detailed. The main goal at the beginning of the remodelling is to create an Asset in Blender to do the modelling process quicker over time as the asset is growing and growing. Because we have to Build over 120 Buildings, I had to create a workflow which gives us the ability to create easily new models in a real short time. Here you can see the model in the middle of the mapping process. The first model is the one, which takes the longest time. Because every error I have done during the modelling process is now showing up. Thanks to the really great Asset Management Addon it is easy peasy to manage the Asset. Stay tuned.. there is more to come... Dungeon Props for Tabletop Gaming – 3D printable13. October 2018Blog / Dungeon Props / Tabletop GamingNew Asset is coming soon — Dungeon Props The 3D printable Asset – Dungeon Props is about things you will find in a Dungeon, like Crates, Treasure Chests, Demon Summoning Places, Fireplaces, Torches, Furnitures like chairs, tables, bookcases, Alchemy Tables, Wizard equipment and of course broken Dungeon parts as obstacles, Traps and much more. Give your Dungeon Tabletop Adventure more atmosphere, a more realistic feeling. Live is about the little things 😉 Here you will find the latest modeling results of the Dungeon Props Project. All Model will be soon available at Kickstarter. Satanic summoning Ring is one of many different Monster and Demon summoning places you will get. And here a Pile of Skulls These images are rendered samples … as soon I have a 3D print I will post it as well. But be aware that a high detailed surface like the pile of skulls is only possible by a Resin Printer on a small scale, a FDM Printer need an upscaling for the details. Stay tuned for more.... My first Kickstarter Project25. September 2018BlogFinally I did it, I released my first Kickstarter Project. It is just a small campaign but it is a start and preperation for following bigger Projects. 3D Printable Tombstone Models Tabletop Gaming 28/32mm... Game Asset: The Pirate Bay – Update9. March 2018BlogThe last few days I am working on the Game Asset – The Pirate Bay. But I was not really creating something I was just try to find a style and a workflow I will use for the Game Asset. I was trying to use Substance Painter for the hand painted textures but as it turned out either I am not able to handle Substance Painter correctly in the manner of hand painting or Substance Painter is not ready yet to provide me the right tools to work on. What I want to create the next days is a wooden Catwalk and bring it into Unity and create a little Demoscene to upload it to the Unity Asset Store as single Asset, to test the whole workflow. The next step then will be to create more models and textures. My plan is to create a bunch of small Game Assets and at the end one big one. You can follow my work on Twitch. If you want to support my work you can do that on my Patreon site. ... Timelapse – Low Poly Desert Scene25. February 2018Blender / Blog / SpeedartIn this timelapse video you will see the creation of a small dessert scene.... Low Poly Snow Cabin Scene – Blender Speedart24. February 2018BlogIn this Video I tried the first time a snowy winter scene. The challenge here was to create an interesting look.... Low Poly Lighthouse – Blender Speedart23. February 2018BlogIn this Video the challenge was to create a real stylized Landscape.... The Pirate Bay – Creating a Game Asset23. February 2018Game Asset / The Pirate BayThe Pirate Bay is my new project about creating a Game Asset. This Project will be something new. What is new.. it is just another Game Asset?! Yes it is “just” another Game-Asset, but it will be different in the creation process. You can participate and follow every step I do in the creation Process. The goal is to create a Game Asset with the Topic “The Pirate Bay”. To make it much more easy for you here is the Introduction Video So the rough Layout of the Project is: Creating a Mindmap with Freemind to get an Overview what is to do. Creating the Models Texturing the Models Creating a Unity Test Asset Create a Unity Game Asset Upload to the Unity Asset Store Like I said this is just a rough Project Layout and needs refinement. Right now the Project is at the very beginning and needs a lot of planning. Soon I will release a plan about the Live Stream and Video Schedule and as well about my Ideas how you can participate. Stay tuned! ... Low Poly Simple Tree – Blender Speedart23. February 2018BlogIn this Speedart Video I am creating a simple low poly tree on a floating island.... Low Poly Blacksmith Building18. February 2018Blender / Blog / Speedart / YouTubeIn this Speedart I show how to create a small stylized Blacksmith building. It is a small building but it needs a little bit of work. I tried here different methods of creating the model. I used the classic modelling as well as the sculpting method. Lean back and enjoy the show 😉... Materials & TexturesUpdate The-Blendersauce-Vault #226. December 2017Blog / Materials / The-Blendersauce-VaultNew Texture Section and new Material Today I added a the new texture category “Pattern”, there you will find all kind of Pattern Textures. To start the category I added some Blueprint pattern, but there will be more in January. Red Oak Material This is a good looking Red Oak Material Node Setup. Go to Red Oak Material Click here Blueprint Pattern Five different Blueprint Pattern in the new Category Pattern Go to Blueprint Pattern Textures Click here... Update The-Blendersauce-Vault #125. December 2017Materials2 New Blender Materials Today I added two new Blender Materials to The-Blendersauce-Vault. Stained Metal This is a simple basic stained Metal Material Node Setup Go to stained Metal Material Click here Polystyrene This is a simple Polystyrene Material Node Setup Go to Polystyrene Material Click here... Preview – The-Blendersauce-Vault – Blender Materials30. November 2017Blender / Materials / The-Blendersauce-Vault / YouTubeJust a quick Video. In the Video you will see the Blendermaterials which are currently in The-Blendersauce-Vault. Because there is still so much to do and the lag of time I “only” have created a Video of the Blender Materials, there will be more when The-Blendersauce-Vault is released on the 23.12.2017 Stay tuned!... IOR List for PBR Materials3. November 2017Blender / MaterialsIndex of Refraction values (IOR) To create realistic PBR Materials for use in 3D Applications you will need the right Fresnel or IOR Factor in order to achieve a more accurate representation of a surface material. These values are are used in many 3D applications like Blender, Cinema 4D, Maya, 3DS Max and so on. Here is my list of commonly used materials which I use in my daily 3D life 😉 IOR List – Commonly used materials Material min max Acrylic glass 1.490 1.492 Air 1.000 Alcohol 1.360 Aluminium 1.390 1.440 Asphalt 1.635 Beer !! 1.345 Bronze 1.180 Copper 1.100 2.430 Crystal 2.000 Diamond 2.418 Emerald 1.560 1.605 Eye(Lens) 1.410 Glass 1.500 Gold 0.470 Ice 1.309 Iron 2.950 Ivory 1.540 Lead 2.010 Mercury(liquid) 1.620 Milk 1.350 Nickel 1.080 Nylon 1.530 Pearl 1.530 1.690 Plastic 1.460 Teflon 1.350 1.380 Titanium 2.160 Water 1.325 Please be aware that these values are approximations for use in 3D applications and not for scientific use! If you have more IOR values you find useful, just leave me a comment below and I will insert them into the list.... Blender Cycles Chrome Node Setup23. October 2017Blender / Blog / Materials / Ohne Kategorie / TutorialsAnother of my old Tutorials. It is about how to easily setup a chrome material with just a few nodes. As you can see the Node Setup is really simple. Just a simple Glossy BSDF Shader which get the color information from a tweaked ColorRamp. The combination of the Layer Weight Node and the ColorRamp Node gives the material the typical fading to black like Chrome behaves.... InspirationDaily Inspiration – The Art of Leon Tukker1. January 2018Leon Tukker the first price winner of the Artstation Challenge: Ancient Civilizations – Environment Design and second price Winner of Beyond Humans – Environment Design. Have look on his amazing artwork. The image below is an example of his creativity – Faith-Earth. A post apocalyptic scene which gives me goose bumps. By using a well know monument and bring it into the post apocalyptic theme it has some of the scene of Planet of the Apes where Charles Heston finds the Statue of Liberty. This kind of art is amazing, the technique to connects something familiar with something strange gives the artwork some kine of fascination. Check out the Artstation Profile of Leon Tukker... Top 10 Star-Wars Inspiration Artworks on Artstation30. December 2017Nowadays Star-Wars is all over the place, in Television, Cinema, Ads on YouTube and so on. Nearly everyone is talking about Star-Wars. So I thought let’s put some really amazing Star-Wars Artworks together to give you a little inspiration for your next Projects. These are some of my favorites on Artstation, but these is only a small collection, there is so much more of amazing Star-Wars Artwork on Artstation created by some really talented Artist. 1.) Rebel Swamp Skimmer by Gabriele Gabba 2.) The Job by Adam Middleton 3.) Battle over Kamino by Kurt Miller 4.) Falling by Nikita Pilyuskshin 5.) Abandoned AT-ST in the Forest by Oliver Wetter 6.) Millenium Falcon at the Mountains by Oliver Wetter 7.) Rebel Hidden Base in SooKah System by Alfie Rodriguez 8.) Sarlaac Harvester by Ju Bel 9.) IG-88 “Alternate Universe” by Andy Lefton 10.) Sacrifice on Hot by Jul Bel... Daily Inspiration – The Art of Mohamed Chahin29. December 2017Mohamed Chahin is a Digital-Artist from Alexandria, Egypt. He is creating amazing Low Poly Art. His Artwork shows us that you do not need much Polygons to create stunning Artwork. Broken by MChahin on Sketchfab Check out the Artstation Profile of Mohamed Chahin... TutorialsMastering Sculpting Workshop by Zacharias Reinhardt27. December 2017Blog / TutorialsZacharias is a Blender Trainer and 3D Artist with his new workshop he showed again his amazing skills. With his training you will get a comprehensive introduction to sculpting in blender and you will also learn all of the amazing secret tips and tricks to boost your sculpting skills. Direct Link to the Workshop... Tutorial Tip – Sketchup to Photoreal13. December 2017Blog / TutorialsPedro Fernandes from Arqui9 has released a tutorial demonstrating a photobashing workflow for architectural visualisation. In just under 20 minutes he demonstrates how to take a basic sketchup model and bring it to life using photo libraries. You can watch the tutorial for free on YouTube, and download source files from the Arqui9 Learn website... Tutorial Tip – How to make a creepy tunnel in Blender23. November 2017Blender / TutorialsCheck out this really good Tutorial of BlenderBrit how to make a creepy tunnel... Create Stained Glass in Substance Designer21. November 2017TutorialsEven if you are fully into Blender it is sometime a good idea to have a look over the edge. I learned really much about Blender Nodes by using Substance Designer. Sounds strange but it’s true. Just expand your horizon! 😉 Creating Stained Glass Material in Substance 80.lv ... Tutorial Tip – Texturing for Beginners: Top 14 Ways to Mix Textures and Shaders (in Blender)19. November 2017Blender / Blog / TutorialsIn this Tutorial Gleb Alexandrov the CreativeShrimp shows your 14 Top ways to mix Textures and Shaders. In my opinion these topic is one of the most important things you have to learn about the Node-System....
