Working for 20 years as a Manufacturing Engineer for various Aerospace companies the only 3D programs I had any interaction with were CATIA, Solidworks, AutoCad and NCAD so it is no surprise Blender is a new world. I love it!
I also enjoy most outdoor activities, fishing, hiking, camping etc. Most music and College Football (UW Huskies!). Favorite vacation spot: Hawaii.
I worked a little on the Spaceship Corridor last night, using the tips by Andrew for adding the control panels and it lowered the file size considerably from 10.2meg to 2.6meg. This was done by duplicating the mesh using <alt> + “d” rather than <shift> +”d” and NOT joining them to the mesh. I also changed the location of the control panels by placing them on the vertical wall and will create some new ones for the lower surface. These panels will all be the same with monitors and key pads for the ‘people’ residing on the spaceship. I am not sure what to do with the upper surface yet.
I was using the Release Candidate of Blender version 2.64 and noticed an increase in speed along with other intangibles I can’t really seem to put my finger on but the experience was a good one. I will put this release candidate through some gyrations I had found to crash the other versions and see how stable this is.
I was able to blend only ‘briefly’ last night because I had downloaded the movie Avatar from iTunes intending to watch just the beginning but it was such a great movie I watch in its entirety and LOVED it!
Yesterday was ‘just another Monday’ with the exception I had meetings all day and will continue throughout the week for ‘Electronic Work Instructions’ for which I care nothing about. With that said, I will not be attending the meetings with the work I need to get done by Friday I really do not have the time.
I did not get to Blend any yesterday because Angie was here from St. Louis with her cousin and came over for about an hour or so. All I had time for was dinner and bed which means off to Blendering I will be going as soon as I get home tonight.
Here is the new screen shot of the Spaceship Corridor. I spent most of the weekend creating the control panels and I think they look pretty good. Next I will create some monitors that will go on the vertical walls. I think that will polish things off before the floor grating and whatever I decide to place on the overhead panels.
New image for the Temple project with the missing compositing. I had forgotten to link the output of the color balance to the composite node. The next picture is of the corridor as it is coming along so far.
The next items on the list for the Spaceship corridor are the control panels on the left and right bulkhead walls.
I completed the Temple and I am not that happy with the way it turned out. The modeling is great but the compositing (I made a couple of changes), background and materials are what I am not happy about. Those changes will be for he weekend along with the Ocean Scene.
The Spaceship Corridor is coming along with the bulkhead walls finished (for now) and an array modifier added.
Photos: Screen shot of the Final Temple render, screen shot the node group for the Temple render and Spaceship Corridor.
Edit: Just noticed the Vignette is missing from this render, I am going to have to fix this.
I completed part 1 of the Temple tutorial last night and as it turns out the problem I was having with the roof tiles was not a problem at all. The tiles were showing up on the roof but in different orientations for each side of the roof and I was perplexed. I decided to wait, see what he was going to do because things looked different on my computer, try his way or a work around I came up with. As it turns out, my ‘work around’ was actually the way he ended up completing the process. 🙂
So, part 1 is complete and on to part 2 this morning (1:45am again), sky and a light set up so I could get a first look at the cycles render. Here are two pictures showing an internal render with temporary lights set up and a screen shot starting part 2.
Temporary Lights, no textures (Blender Internal)
Starting Part 2, rendering with Cycles. I am actually a little bit farther than this but forgot to take a screen shot before left for work this morning.
This was an early morning for me. I rolled out of bed at 1:45am, turned on computer washed dishes while it was starting because I did not wash them last night and got to working in Blender. I found that some of the different techniques I had used during the modeling of the Temple, even though they worked, did not work with some of his techniques for the tiles on the roof which meant I had to fix things. This turned out to be a good thing as I then realized that I was catching on to all the keyboard shortcuts and modeling tools Blender has without having to look at books or backup in the tutorial. All the information I needed was sitting right in my noggin. This little fact made my day start off great. Tonight I should have all the tiles on the roof and begin the second part of the tutorial, rendering and compositing in cycles. Great morning so far 🙂
The Spaceship corridor is going slowly while I figure out some of my own touches to add to the bulkhead, Sci-Fi gadgets and such.
No additional pictures today, like I said I was just re-modeling and having fun with the new tool set that is embedding itself into my brain.
Here is the latest render of the temple project along with a new project I am starting.
Temple Render
Spaceship Corridor
This is just the start of one side of a bulkhead. It is a slow start as I had only a few minutes before bedtime but I promise this one will be great when it is complete.
No new pictures for you today as the image is very similar to yesterday. I added some architectural features on the top, added an additional top slab so it looks a little like a sandwich (you will see what I mean when I post again with a new picture). The architectural features were placed between the upper and lower parts of the roof. I’m sorry but you will have to wait and see. 🙂
Note: Tonight I am going to install the 30 trial of Maya 2013 🙂 to play only. 30 days does not seem long enough.
I was able to get past the duplifaces explanation and on to complete the project. The temple is well on its way as can be seen in this latest screen shot
New site covering miscellaneous activities including my favorite activity: Blender
