#AND THEN SOME !!! i don't even like 3d modeling that much but. maya for free??? that's awesome. that's awesome!! anyways

[butterflieswhisper]

looping echidna beastlife gif from trying to figure out toonboom

[swiriko]

A Pencil and Paper

On September 12th, 2023. Unity announced that it would be adding a "per-install" fee towards developers. [X]

There have already been many indie developers that have already spoken out against it, so I will amplify their voices here:

Inner Sloth, developers of Among Us: [X]

Aggro Crab, developers of Another Crab's Treasure: [X]

However, there's been some interesting takes on where developers are going from here. And the top contenders seem to be two vastly different engines: Godot and Unreal Engine.

Godot, an open source, yet still fledgling game engine.

Unreal Engine, an engine that's been one of the heaviest hitting professional engines for literal decades.

It reminds me of a parallel situation: People fucking off of Autodesk Maya to use literally anything else, people fucking off of Adobe to use literally anything else. Except not everyone can afford to just switch to something else, due to logistical reasons, or that they're entire franchise has been using this engine/software/tool for literal years, and they can't afford to relearn something new.

And to those that switch, there's a siren waiting for those sailing through new waters: Unreal Engine is literally owned by Epic Games, who also own Artstation, who literally ostracized their entire userbase in support of AI art. [X] You're telling me THAT'S one of the main alternatives to Unity? You don't think Epic Games given enough time and greed will pull this same kind of shit or worse once you've built your entire business model upon being dependent of their product?

The internet simultaneously has an entire archive of history, yet the collective memory of a goldfish.

The Unfortunate reality is that it IS one of the main alternatives.

Adobe's main alternatives for digital art has been Clip Studio Paint and Paint Tool SAI, both great software for digital painting, and yet parallel's this same situation. CSP was supposed to be the herald of a new standard, yet fell hard from grace when CELSYS decided to adopt the same dreaded subscription model as Adobe once so many digital artists latched on and became dependent on it. [X] While Paint Tool SAI's lone developer has been rather struggling due to SAI's wide spread userbase being mostly pirates. [X]

At the same time, for 3D Art, the many many other 3D Software packages are also hilariously expensive, with many also requiring subscription models now... EXCEPT for Blender. But blender still isn't considered the industry standard. And yet it's one of the few 3D software I still have installed.

History tends to rhyme, so most likely, Godot will never become an industry standard game engine. But if it has enough people behind it, it can and will be the Blender option for Game Development, with a rich library and marketplace of user-made add-ons and plugins. Open Source, and free.

There is something to be said, however. The Tools DO matter, as much as we hate to admit it, good tools DO matter, ACCESS to good tools matter, the affordability of good tools matter, being able to use the RIGHT tool for an art piece matters, being able to use the most comfortable tool for the artist matters.

That's why Unity's new business model, hell even UNREAL ENGINE'S business model is an insult to game development as an art. John Riccitiello and Tim Sweeney have said to the game industry, "I make the pencil you use, so I get a cut of what you make from it, even if you've already paid to use it."

Fuck off with that shit. Motherfucking RPG Maker had a better business model.

It wouldn't be such a huge issue if it didn't matter. After all, you can make art with just a pencil and paper, but a pencil and paper alone is only a mere FRACTION of the tools we have used to make the raw, unfathomable library of art in the history of art itself.

[izzybubs24]

Photogrammetry Experimentations (29/04/2024)

This past week I have been experimenting with photogrammetry, using it as a medium to produce 3D digital models from the clay sculpts of my most recent design ideas. To do this I tried out 2 different Apps to see which one would produce a better quality, and more easily accessible result.

"Polycam"

The first app I tried was called "Polycam". Using this I was able to produce digital versions of my clay models at a high quality that would have been perfect to download and import into Maya. However, the down side was you needed to subscribe to the app in order to receive a free trial and the reviews about the download quality and the ease of being able to cancel the trial were mostly negative. So I didn't want to take the risk.

Here are screen shots I took showing the turnouts of each of my models within "Polycam".

Model 1:

This model turned out pretty well as a first trial using the app. Polycam allows you to choose different qualities when processing an outcome so I chose the highest resolution to begin with. This would then give me nicer models to work with within Maya.

I also really liked how it had an option to remove any backgrounds or surfaces that the model was on. This would also be helpful when performing retopology in Maya as it means I wouldn't have my view obstructed at the base of the model.

Model 2:

This next model turned out fairly well, or at least most of it did. The top and sides turned out perfectly and the quality of the model was really good as well. However, due to the model being 'flat', I was unable to capture images of the base of it, and the app didn't manage very well to automatically add mesh to the base of the model either, even tho it managed this for the front and back of the base area. This would also make retopology a bit more difficult as I would be creating new mesh rather than working on existing mesh.

Model 3:

My first trial capturing images for this smaller design didn't turn out as well as I was expecting either. The outcome produced had completely merged the head with all the legs. This wasn't a great turnout as it would make the retopology stage much harder than it would needed to be.

I then had another attempt at capturing the model digitally after adjusting the positioning of the head and the legs. This second outcome turned out a lot better after the adjustments were made, as nothing had decided to merge at the base! I am a lot happier with this second result as it means retopology will be much easier.

Model 4:

I had a similar issue with this next model as I discovered from the processed outcome that 2 of its arms had been merged together with extra mesh, even though they weren't making contact on the original model. Due to this I needed to make some more adjustments to the model to make sure the gaps between the body parts were more prominent to the camera.

The second outcome turned out much better as each part of the design is a lot more visible as well as no longer touching other parts of the body. This means it will be a much better mesh to work with when it comes to retopology.

Model 5:

I feel this digital model turned out the best. Not because the quality is visually high definition, but because each part of it is completely visible within the processed outcome with nothing joined or merged together with extra mesh. This will then make retopology much easier as it means you're not having to work with extra mesh that you don't want to include or need to get rid of.

Model 6:

This is the last of my chosen sculpts scanned in using photogrammetry in "Polycam". I'm really happy with how this digital model turned out, as, similarly to model 5, nothing has any extra mesh added merging any of the sculpt together. This is very helpful for any retopology needed.

Overall, my experience using "polycam" as an app for experimenting with photogrammetry was a positive one. However, I won't be using the app to produce the final results for use within Maya as I can't be guaranteed the quality of the processed outcomes whilst only using the free version to configure the digital models.

[allora-the-booty-slayer]

Ok, i'm gonna bitch and i'm sure no one really cares but hey. My blog, i'm gonna bitch.

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Why the fuck is blender so user unfriendly to people with any kind of previous 3d knowledge?

I learned maya from college. And while learning it from the beginning was difficult, i know how to use it now. I'm able to relatively easily navigate in trial versions of 3ds max due to my maya knowledge, and i generally don't have issues bouncing between similar programs.

But trying to learn blender has been an uphill battle that at this point, even opening the program makes me angry. I'm trying to do modding/working with game rips, which are apparently all done via blender for some reason, and every time i try to do something in blender that would take me 20 minutes in maya, blender takes me hours, if i even get something workable.

I've fucking tried watching tutorials and asking for help, but all the documentation and tutorials are just godawful. People do not know how to teach this program. And the UI and how it functions are just... so unfriendly and needlessly complicated??? A friend and i went to watch some blender tutorials together, and despite the fact that they had never done 3d work before at all, they managed to get the hang of blender much faster than me which like.... that shouldn't be the case. I have previous 3d experience in many programs so how the hell is this one in particular a worse learning curve for me than my first modeling program???

I get that blender is the popular choice bc it's free and open source but i'm so sick and tired of this stuff being locked to blender. Like, to the point where most gMe rips are not only in a blender specific format (which makes no sense bc every single 3d program, including 3d printing programs use FBX but whatever), but these rips tend to be in blender PLUGIN specific file formats. And on top of that, half of these filetypes are only useable with specific older versions of blender.

I'd kinda get if blender didnt want to play well with other programs (but for an opensource one that's stupid) but the fact that it can't even play well with itself is just. Exhausting. I really want to be comfortable with blender. I want to be able to do these fun and amazing things with game assets like everyone else can, but it feels like i've hit a wall, and it's so incredibly frustrating that despite knowing HOW to do everything, i'm physically unable to because the needed program decided it wanted to be special.

I'm sick and tired of this, and every time i try to explain my issue, people just throw more crappy, poorly explained tutorials at me, or just say "well, maybe it's because you're just used to maya."

I was used to firealpaca, but i was able to pick up csp relatively fast and with no tutorials, just by messing around. But maya to blender just feels impossible.

[kyleyoungblom]

Hi! My name is Gregory and I'm 17 years old. I found that I'm very interesting in modelling and programming. However, I'm just a beginner and I don't know from where to start. And it's a great opportunity to ask someone who already got an experience in this sort of work. I was just wondering if you could give me some advice. From what to start? Or What programs or programming languages I have to know? Thank you!

Hey Gregory! It’s great that you know what you’re passionate about at the age of 17. I didn’t have that figured out till I was in my late 20s. 

When you get old all you want to do is give younger people advice! You feel like you’ve learned so much stuff and you want to go back in time and teach it to your younger self, but since you can’t do that, you have to settle for lecturing other people who are younger than you are. Anyway, here’s my advice:

Learning

Projects

Choose projects for yourself. Whether in art or coding, you'll learn the most if you have a specific task you're trying to accomplish. Maybe you're trying to model and rig a bird’s wing. Maybe you're trying to code a security camera so it looks at your player. Start small and push yourself to grow from there. Figuring out what you need to learn in order to accomplish a task is a great way to keep focused and motivated, and motivation matters more than anything else.

Resources

Find the kinds of tutorials you like. Maybe video works best for you. Maybe text. Check out catlikecoding for some amazing tutorials in coding in C# for Unity. Follow people like @minionsart​ on Twitter for fantastic bite-sized tips. Watch Makin' Stuff Look Good’s YouTube tutorials. (Don't get overwhelmed).

Community

Connect

Learning is hard, and even if you never go to school or meet another game dev/artist face to face, you won’t be learning alone. You’ll be learning from the shared experience of others. Find those people. Find the social networks that work for you. Polycount. ArtStation. Twitter. Tumblr. Find people doing things you like and follow them. Twitter has been great for me, though it may not be for you, and that’s ok. Here's a list of low-poly 3D artists you can follow on Twitter for a start.

Share

Share share share. Take tons of screenshots of the stuff you're working on, and share them on forums and social networks. Install ShareX (Windows only) and have it automatically save your screenshots and gif screencaps to a folder that you keep around forever (maybe in Dropbox). You'll be super glad you have record of the things you're working on now so you can see your progress as you learn. Then take those screenshots and share them. Do it long enough and people will notice.

Tools

I saved this bit for last, because people often think that if they just have the right tools that art will just happen. Really, the previous two sections are way more important; tools are just a means to an end. Ask yourself what kind of art you want to create. High fidelity photorealism? Cute low-poly chibi stuff? Abstract impressionistic stuff? Find and use the tools that’ll help you achieve that goal, not because they’re “the best”, or “what everyone uses”, but because they work for you.

Modeling

I use Maya but only because I use it for work. Otherwise it's quite expensive. Blender is free and apparently pretty good! Modeling programs are very complicated. It’s easy to get overwhelmed at first, but remember that you don’t need to know how to use every aspect of software for it to be useful. Even if you’re just creating cubes and stacking them up, you’re making something, and it’s a start. Ignore the complicated parts until you’re ready to use them.

Game Engines

Experiment with both Unity and Unreal; they're both free and you can learn to make neat stuff pretty quickly. They each have their pros and cons. I use Unity for personal and professional stuff, along with a couple plugins which weren’t free (Shader Forge, ProBuilder, Playmaker).

That’s pretty much it I guess. Learning is a very personal process, and there’s no right way to make art video games. Make that process yours, don’t be afraid to ask people for advice, and don’t be afraid to try something different if that advice doesn’t work for you. Good luck!