chippwalters

Print and mount your renders

The Peter Lik technique is pretty amazing. In his photo galleries, the prints seem to glow. The colors are saturated and vibrant and the contrast is perfect. You can use his same technique to mount and frame your renders as well-- here's the research I did on it.

Here's a free Holographic Material

Just apply it via KIT OPS. Only kinda works in EEVEE-- best to use Cycles.

Inkscape to Blender HEX pattern with Gradient Scale

Hey guys, just want to share this with you. Something I have been playing around recently with some 3D printing vent details. I really really like Inkscape.

And if you haven't tried the latest version, you should check it out. Here's a quick tutorial on all it's features: https://youtu.be/vA09Lezcpm4 

I've also uploaded the cutter INSERT I created in the tutorial.

Creating and saving textures lighting presets using KIT OPS

Hey guys,

I just want to share with you some notes on how you can add textures to your lighting and then save them inside of KIT OPS. This works even if you don't have KIT OPS PRO. As I perused the Internet looking for videos and tips on how to do this I came across a lot of different information and some of it was not accurate at All. So, I thought I would create this short video just to make sure that I had a reference of exactly how to do this. And to my delight, saving these lights ...

Some of the reasons I use KIT OPS to manage mats

So, after spending some time with Blender's new Asset Manager, I've some thoughts on why I prefer using KIT OPS PRO to manage my materials collection. Just thought I'd share them with you.

Fun cutter excercise

Hey folks, I just wanted to put together a quick demo of how you can create cutters with the new KIT OPS PRO feature.

For those of you who may be wondering, cutters are objects that are used to Boolean cut into other objects and KIT OPS makes it very easy to just drag them onto a target object.

Using a variety of cutters is a great way to explore different kinds of interesting shapes. There are many that come standard with KIT OPS PRO and there are more in DESIGN MAGIC but you ...

CYBERDECK and some freebies

The CYBERDECK KPACKS just dropped and as promised I'll share with you a free KPACK with the screen graphics, the awesome cw-textgen INSERT (see video above how to use it) and a sample of the CYBERDECK completed-- all in a single KPACK. Just unzip, and drop the folder into an existing KIT OPS Masterfolder and you're good to go!

Here's the link:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/wqwlj1gm2at...

New version of KIT OPS: HARDPOINTS Edition

It's been awhile since we've released a new version. Hardpoints has been in testing for quite some time and it should be good to go. The idea is you can now use KIT OPS PRO to create INSERTS that can be easily assembled. So, creating combinations of objects is as easy as snapping things to their hardpoints.

I worked with another Blender user, Brunya, to create an interesting "CYBERDECK KPACK" that demos this process nicely. We have a beta version of SYNTH which can intelligently snap th...

Compositing Photos and 3D Models Tutorial

Hey everyone,

I recently had to complete a project for a company where I had to composite a newly designed autonomous truck on a highway image and learned some things in the process.

I've also have the file you can check out here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/t2azgsxx9kdmwc6/Wednesday_13-July-2022_19.25_01.blend?dl=0

AI and Blender: use case

So for a while now, I have been thinking about how to combine these two. In particular, how to use AI to help Blender create better renders.

So, here's an example I'd like to share. The first image was created by GREEZYBEAR and uses his Sci-Fi in a Box kit Ops KPACK. I then used disco diffusion to create a number of variations. And, I used an online AI upscaler to resize the AI render. https://icons8.com/upscaler
2022-06-25 15:17:57 +0000 UTC View Post

You asked, here it is :-)

AI flavors

Hey guys, so I've had more time to spend not only learning about the different AI flavors but also configuring my own local version.

There are new versions of text to image AIs being worked on every day. The Big Three are Doll-e 2, midjourney and Disco Diffusion. Currently, Doll-e 2 is only accepting signups to be on a "coming soon" list. Midjourney also has a sign up sheet but they are much more available to new users and those wishing to try it out. One reason is that new users can a...

Free 27 Lesson EEVEE Interior Rendering course (Patreon only)

Hey guys, A couple years back, I created this first ever Interior Rendering Patreon course. It used the brand new 2.8 interface which is very similar to what we have now. For the most part, the settings shown either still work, or you can figure out what names have changed. Actually, much is now even simpler, but the basic ideas are the same.

Plus there are scene files and materials that you can use-- as well as all the objects too.

I only ask that if you find yourself stumped, yo...

Early thoughts on AI prompting

So I've been digging deeper into this new AI prompting and what it means for concept design and visualization.

I've decided to transfer to the Disco Diffusion AI for several reasons which I'm glad to go into detail if anyone is interested. These images shown here are all from this new DD AI. A couple of them definitely have the Syd Mead influence. I also redid the aquarium and alien octopus versions in DD to see how they compared with the midjourney AI.

And, I've been asked to ...

AI Rendered images using only a text string

Hey everyone, just want to give you an update. Returned from a vacation and now that our ranch has sold we bought a new place and we'll be moving soon which always throws a kink into things.

So, one of the more interesting things I've run across lately is this new idea that you can use AI to create amazing images. Here are a few of the ones that I've managed to squeak out with very little training and just a few hours of playing around.

The AI I'm using is called midjourney an...

My little saltwater reef

Some of you know I enjoy the saltwater coral reef hobby. My specialty is in pico or nano sized tanks, which can be difficult, but are most rewarding if things work out right.

My current aquarium is a 22 gallon cube with a 15 gallon sump underneath. This is the largest aquarium I've ever owned. I typically like things really small as there much easier to maintain and keep up. That said, there are many issues that come with trying to host a tiny saltwater aquarium and in particular they a...

Some sci-fi character poses I've been working on.

Here's a few 2K mapped poses of a sci-fi character ready to be dropped into your scene using KIT OPS. Just unzip this folder, and drop it into an existing Masterfolder.

I've been pretty busy lately. Turns out we sold our ranch in Texas where we live and we'll need to be moving soon-- not exactly sure where. So, I'm pretty busy trying to get things organized.

Hope everyone is safe. Chat soon.

2022-05-10 06:36:17 +0000 UTC View Post

Update to Lasercutter workflow, and GRIDFINITY?

Hopefully, this is interesting to someone. I'm still working on refining my laser cutting workflow. I'm currently creating a gridfinity compatible set of storage bins and organizational objects. If you're interested in learning about gridfinity, then I suggest you check out this amazing video.

https://youtu.be/ra_9zU-mnl8

Free QUICK SHOT addon

Hey everyone,

This is a video that GREEZYBEAR just completed and I thought to share it with you. It's using some of the features of the new QSHOT2 add-on which allows you to simply add drivers to any object in your scene. It will be a free update to all those who have purchased QUICK SHOT.

FREE: last version of QUICK SHOT

I'm enclosing a link to QUICK SHOT if you want to check it out. This is the last version and it does not have the new drivers features but...

I'm getting a Glowforge Laser cutting machine

So, what's this all about? Well, as many of you may know, I've been a Prusa 3D printer guy for awhile now. And I've also recently gotten into MSLA resin printing. So, to round out my maker lab, I've decided to get a Laser cutter-- and after 60 hours of research, I decided to get a Glowforge. There are certainly pros and cons, and I won't go into them here, but let's just say I weighed things carefully, and especially considered ease-of-use since I want my 26 yr old daughter to also work with ...

5 min sci fi box and scene file

Wondering how and why I make these? Watch the video :-D

File below.

Working on some new materials..

UPDATE: I've made some changes to these materials after some user feedback. Now, there are two different edge masks, using two different techniques: one for EEVEE and the other for Cycles. It should render much better in Cycles. Also, I changed the interface so that user input is in Yellow boxes only. Let me know if you try it out and it works for you.

New link for materials (inclucing the cw-super-dirty node group):



2022-04-01 10:49:34 +0000 UTC View Post

Quick mapping tutorial with some neat tricks

Hey folks,

I was fielding a question about combining normal maps for bevels with existing UVs and thought I would take the opportunity to do a quick demo showing an interesting and quick workflow to accomplish creating worn bevels on low poly assets. It works in EEVEE and Cycles. Here's the scene file as well.

Quick Grate in under 5 min

Youtube tute: 

https://youtu.be/BX2MAt_OQ8A

I was helping out someone at Discord, and thought I'd share this with you. I also created a KIT OPS INSERT for it, just drop in any KPACK folder. It has the array modifiers included so just up/down the array numbers and you're good to go. GREEZY will be posting a cool image with it on http://cw1.me/discord 2022-03-08 21:29:04 +0000 UTC View Post

SIMPLE SCIFI PRO updates with new FLEX addon

Hey everyone. As you may know, GREEZYBEAR, Anthony Aragues and I have been working for quite some time now on a new addon for SIMPLE SCIFI and it's finally launched. The addon is called FLEX and it's a free upgrade for PRO users. You can now place SSF "greebles" (called DPACKS) on any combination of faces in your scene-- and it's amazingly fast, too.

We've added some nice files in it as well, including a couple of characters I've been working on. I've been using Gravity Sketch to create...

Blender-like NURBS modeling

I just saw this and thought it was worth sharing. In the past, I used Moi3D to do this type of solids modeling. There are several advantages to this type of model, in particular if you do any 3D printing you're always assured of having a manifold object. Also, using booleans and fillets is typically much easier and more exact.

The biggest issue with these types of modelers is when you want to export it to a program like blender, the masked version and topology is always not optimal. S...

Design Specific Workflows

Hey everyone,

I want to spend some time talking about design specific workflows. So let me give you an example. We're working on a brand-new version of SYNTH which has something called hard points, it will also be in KIT OPS Pro as well. And what it is is basically connection points for inserts. So for instance if you are creating a train you would have connection points in between the cars and the engine would be the original target object with only one connection (hard) point and that...

New update and a free dirt shader for you

Hey guys, just want to announce it today were releasing a brand new update to SIMPLE SCIFI PRO We've added six new DPACKS with over 12 collections and a brand-new panels generator which can create some pretty cool panel assemblies. And, were also adding in a really cool dirt shader where you can now add it to your scene and create realistic dirt and grime to your models.

If you haven't yet purchased Pro, you should consider because our next update will raise the price as we will be add...

Creating your own DPACKS for SIMPLE SCI FI

If you're like me, you want to create your own object instances for use in SIMPLE SCI FI and here's the video to show you how to do it. 

Using live text as a Cutter INSERT

First off, very sorry about the video quality. This was a quick help video for someone over on my Discord. But, I thought you all would appreciate it as well.

The problem with text is that you have to convert it to a mesh before you can do anything with it and it just makes things really difficult especially if you want to use a lot of different words and use Booleans to cut them into solids or add them to other objects and then once the text is done you can't really change the font or ...