metapixelatron-blog

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This is the part 2 of a 3 parts tutorial about creating lighting and shadows which can be quickly rendered directly from the 3D viewport, using the OpenGL render function, without the need of other time consuming rendering engines.

In this part, I will teach you how to create basic 3D viewport shadows for a relatively small scene.

Hi, it's me again.

In my last Blender Tutorial, I have shown a simple way to create proper illumination in the 3D viewport, using a sun lamp and some other techniques.

This is the part two of the tutorial.

Now, I will teach you the technique for creating shadows directly in the 3D viewport.

Yes, with this technique, you will be able to render the scene with shadows, using OpenGL rendering, without the use of any render engine.

But wait, it get's even better than you can imagine...

This amazing technique, will allow you to render a scene, with high quality shadows and almost instant render times.

Ok, here it goes.

So, the first thing that you will need to do, is to create a second sun lamp, and position it accordingly.

I will assume you already know how to create a simple lamp object, because I hope you do.

This is my second sun lamp, and it is set at a distance of 150 meters from the characters of the scene.

Activate the specular and diffuse lighting for this lamp.

Activate ray tracing for the shadows.

The raytraced shadows will always stretch in the direction of the lighting, as they should.

Now, you will notice that there are some visible shadows in my scene.

In your scene, you will probably not see the shadows yet, because you still need to configure some parameters.

I will show you how to configure it.

Go to the Blender Game Engine.

I will show you how to create higher quality shadows.

As you can see, in the Blender Game Engine, we have a bunch of other options available for the configuration of the lamp.

Set the configuration exactly as I did.

The most important parameters are the clipping distances and the frustum size.

These parameters control the minimum and maximum distances for the generation of shadows, starting from the lamp.

As you can see, when the lamp is moved far away, the shadows will disappear.

You will notice that the shadows still look unnatural and unrealistic.

To fix this, change the shadow map type to variance.

Now, the shadows will look much more realistic.

You will probably experience computer slow down, due to the real time processing of the shadows.

Anyway, these shadows have a fading effect, which makes them look smoother and more realistic.

To reduce the viewport lag, while animating, deactivate the variance, and only activate it when you are about to render the animation using OpenGL render.

That variance option is only available in the Blender Game Engine, but if you activate it and then go back to the Blender Render Engine, the variance option will stay activated.

You have probably noticed that the lighting of the scene, became brighter, when I activated the specular and diffuse lighting of this lamp.

This is how you fix this brightness.

Click the only shadows checkbox.

As you can see, the brightness is back to normal, because this sun lamp is no longer creating any lighting effect, but only shadows.

But, if you were to deactivate the diffuse lighting effect, the shadows would disappear.

Basically, this lamp will only generate shadows.

You can also control the color of the shadows.

The show shadow box option, will show you the cubic area in which the shadows will be visible.

The shadows will only appear, within this transparent cube.

This convenient tool allows you to see exactly the limitations of your shadow generation.

I will show you how it works.

The shadows disappear when outside that cubic area, but you would not know about it without marking the shadow box option.

You may think you are all done, but there something else I need to show you.

The bigger objects in the distance will not generate shadows, and this will make your scene look incredibly weird.

Such a strange sight, indeed, don't you think so?

Anyway, in the next segment of this tutorial, I will show you how to create some smooth looking viewport shadows, for this entire scene with a cubic area of something like 6 cubic kilometers or so.

You will surely enjoy it, I believe.

That was it for today.

Subscribe, for virtual reality videos, 3D animations, Blender Tutorials and all kinds of content, the likes of which you have never seen before in your entire existence.

This was Metapixelatron, signing off.

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This 360 degrees first person VR video, is a different rendering of the Archon Warriors 3D animation fight scene, using 1st person perspective instead of the more common camera angles. Basically, you can experience the 3D animation, from the first person perspective of the Archon warrior number two.

Archon warriors fly through the air, like angels, using their gunblades with incredible speed. If you have always wanted to know what it feels like to fly while fighting with a sword in the middle of the air, this video should be as close to that kind of VR simulation as possible. By the way, the animation was made using Blender.

360 degree videos allow you to rotate the camera with the total freedom of 360 degrees of spinning motion, up, down, left or right, and can be experienced on desktop, using the WASD keys or the mouse with click and drag.

If you have an android phone or tablet, you can move it around to control the camera.

For the fully immersive and virtually real experience, you should use a Google cardboard or some other type of virtual reality device.

FOLLOW ME ON THE SOCIAL MEDIA WEBSITES BELOW https://www.youtube.com/c/MetapixelatronOmniverse, My YouTube Channel. https://twitter.com/metapixelatron, My Twitter. https://metapixelatron.newgrounds.com/, My Newgrounds Page. https://metapixelatron.tumblr.com/, My Tumblr. https://www.facebook.com/MetapixelatronOfficial, My Official Facebook Page. https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/102002307173937702169/+MetapixelatronOmniverse, My Google+ Page. https://metapixelatron.blogspot.com, My Blogger Blog.

[metapixelatron-blog]

This 360 degrees first person VR video, is a different rendering of the Archon Warriors 3D animation fight scene, using 1st person perspective instead of the more common camera angles. Basically, you can experience the 3D animation, from the first person perspective of the Archon warrior number one.

Archon warriors fly through the air, like angels, using their gunblades with incredible speed. If you have always wanted to know what it feels like to fly while fighting with a sword in the middle of the air, this video should be as close to that kind of VR simulation as possible. By the way, the animation was made using Blender.

360 degree videos allow you to rotate the camera with the total freedom of 360 degrees of spinning motion, up, down, left or right, and can be experienced on desktop, using the WASD keys or the mouse with click and drag.

If you have an android phone or tablet, you can move it around to control the camera.

For the fully immersive and virtually real experience, you should use a Google cardboard or some other type of virtual reality device.

FOLLOW ME ON THE SOCIAL MEDIA WEBSITES BELOW https://www.youtube.com/c/MetapixelatronOmniverse, My YouTube Channel. https://twitter.com/metapixelatron, My Twitter. https://metapixelatron.newgrounds.com/, My Newgrounds Page. https://metapixelatron.tumblr.com/, My Tumblr. https://www.facebook.com/MetapixelatronOfficial, My Official Facebook Page. https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/102002307173937702169/+MetapixelatronOmniverse, My Google+ Page. https://metapixelatron.blogspot.com, My Blogger Blog.

[metapixelatron-blog]

That’s some inspiration, right there.

Floating Island by artist Wenjun Mao.

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3D animated short CGI film, titled "Archon Warriors". This 3D animation shows a sword fight scene between Archon warriors. Yes, the archon warrior 3D model is designed to look like an angelic knight. The 3D models are low poly, giving the animation a retro video game feel. This 3D animated short CGI film was made using the Blender software.

[metapixelatron-blog]

3D character model showcase, of the Archon warrior character. This 3D character model was made with Blender. The Archon warrior is equipped with the vambraces and greaves of the Archon armor set, as well as the L1 or L2 wings. It is showcased wielding the Archon Driver Prototype gunblade weapon. Some would mistake Archons for Angels, unaware of the true warlike nature of these powerful beings.

[metapixelatron-blog]

I made this weapon for an upcoming animation. It’s already textured. It’s a simple low poly gunblade, so I’ve had to create a texture which is focused on bump maps, to add some more details. Well, I think it’s good enough for a cartoonish 3D animation. It was made with Blender, and the texture was hand painted.

[metapixelatron-blog]

I made this 360° 3D animation, based on the Brick Game racing classic (the one where you dodge the brick shapes at high speeds). It’s a 360 degree video, so play with high quality settings. It was made with Blender, by the way. :)

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I have a lot of feelings about what’s been going on lately.

[metapixelatron-blog]

Reiko Okuyama

Reiko Okuyama was one of the first female japanese animators (she left this planet on 2007). She faced some discrimination inside the animation industry, but still managed to become a very competent animator (she became a head animator at Toei Doga, later also teaching animation at the Tokyo Designer Academy). So, never give up on your dreams, woman.

[metapixelatron-blog]

Virtual reality video on YouTube, inside a 3D world environment, in which you can take a ride on a flying motorcycle. A 360 degrees video puts you inside the scene, effectively altering your very perspective of reality. Virtual reality is amazing, don't you think so? Well, VR has come to stay. So, I welcome you, to the future of entertainment.

[metapixelatron-blog]

Want to know what it feels like to drive a high speed hoverbike? Well, this 360° virtual reality video was made just for you. Enter this 3D-grid-like roller coaster 3D animation. Enjoy!

[metapixelatron-blog]

That’s some cool pulsating extra-dimensional angelic metal stuff. LOL

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I made this animation, inspired by old 3D fighting games and the Dragon Ball Z series. I will be making more in the future, as it was really fun to make.

[metapixelatron-blog]

360 Degree 3D animation, inspired by Dragon Ball and Old School Fighting Games. Since it’s a 360° video, you can rotate the camera even while the video is paused. It was made with Blender. I will be making more content, so any feedback is appreciated. :)

[metapixelatron-blog]

Who’s moving, you or the universe?

https://soundcloud.com/rainbowclash/sets/first

[metapixelatron-blog]

I made this simple kick combo animation. I got some inspiration from the Dragon Ball animation style. With Blender, it’s very easy to create separate actions and blend them together, creating a combination of moves. I will use these moves for my upcoming animations.