Ra’s Palace Renders – DAZ Studio Prop
January 7, 2012
DAZ Studio prop, previewed in DS native render engine and kick ass render speed with gorgeous lighting straight out of the box… Out Now! Grab it HERE.
Click for full size:
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Inspiration For 3D Modeling
January 4, 2012
Have you ever been thinking of doing a new 3D model and whaaaaammm… No inspiration?
Well, here’s some sources you can use for inspiration:
1. Other artists models (of course!)
2. Other artists 3D images
3. Sci-Fi / Adventure Movies or TV-shows on DVD. Currently watching Stargate Universe and I gotta tell you – it’s FULL of inspiration in every set.
4. PC / MAC Games – The cool thing is that you can go and look at the scenery as much as you like and often even take screen shots for reference. Very handy! I’ve just been playing Borderlands, Rage and Serious Sam 3 – and there’s a TON of inspiration right there.
5. Go out with your photo camera and grab some references while travelling. This is way cool for finding unique textures as well as documenting buildings and details.
As always, start with simple geometry and work your way up. THE most important aspect of any 3D model is the texturing process. That’s where you add all the details. It’s amazing how simple some models look without the texutres – because modeling is really 30% modeling and 70% texturing.
When you have some references, and follow a path – 3D modeling becomes a lot easier and faster.
Alright, now – go and have som fun!
PS. Need 3D modeling and texturing training? Check it out HERE.
Rage vs Borderlands – Which Is Better?
December 26, 2011
Rage vs Borderlands – Which Is better?
Whether you’re about to get any of the games, or own one of them and want to get the other, this comparison review is going to help you decide with your question in mind: Rage vs Borderlands - and which is actually better than the other.
As always, there are people out there that will complain and tear things down, if things are not 100% exactly when and how they want them to be, the battle about Rage vs Borderlands will just go on. I’m here to give you an open and honest opinion about both games. Things are not just black and white.
First of all, I own both games. I’ve played the whole Rage game and I’ve reached character level 25 in Borderlands. I’ve got them through Steam and I play them on a high end 8 core 64 bit 24 Gb RAM PC, with a fast 3D graphics card that loads everything at max resolution. I’ve been playing games for 30 years and I’ve been involved with 3D graphics animation, content creation and training 3D students for over a decade. So, I’m not just someone playing games; I know what it takes to produce 3D graphics and I can give you a broad view on both games.
Onward…
Let The Games Begin – Rage vs Borderlands
Our Rage vs Borderlands comparison starts with what meets the eyes… Visuals. Graphics is not just eye candy, such as the artistic touch, varation, lighting, mood and shadow work – it’s also the overall design, how well it blends with everything else and how fluid it looks and feels in terms of speed and immersion.
Both games feature huge cyber-punk / Riven / Myst IV style landscapes (Rage also has some post-apocalyptic elements), both indoor and outdoor scenery and free movement. Rage has a better finish and more details when it comes to design. It just looks more realistic and complex. Rage borrows lots of environments from Borderlands, but makes them different and more complex and vibrant.
While Rage has more polished textures and brilliant lighting, it lacks close up detail and some of the textures are very poor and blurry. Borderlands graphics is more even as far as quality goes, still good and has a more “cartoonish”-touch to its graphics, with the black outlines on every item. But whether it’s Rage vs Borderlands is not just about what we can see… It’s more what we can feel.
Rage has more WOW-factor… Often during game play, I just had to stop and watch the scenery. I’m a big sucker of cool lighting effects and some of the effects in Rage are BRUTAL. It’s honestly one of the most stylish games out there as far as design goes. I’m not talking pure visual excellence; there are other games that have more impressive graphics, but Rage impresses with it’s lighting, design and mood.
Borderlands is not as impressive with its lighting and visuals, although it offers a more even graphics experience and also includes live lighting that cycles through day, dusk, night and dawn. In a way, the Borderlands graphics is more clear and simple to navigate through. Still, the level design is very good in Borderlands and the game has that “home” feeling to it – that makes you just play a little longer and a little longer…
Rage vs Borderlands – how about the characters? Character design very impressive in Rage, it has more detail and “character” so to speak. Rage characters are simply more “alive” and vivid. The animations are extremely well done and each character has its own personality. The cut scenes are IMPRESSIVE.
Borderlands characters are not of the same quality and don’t have the same personality, although they do their job just fine. While Rage truly let’s you almost feel the RAGE of the enemy with its incredible detail and animation, Borderlands has more variety when it comes to enemies.
Our Rage vs Borderlands comparison hits the sound wave… Sound-wise, both games are of total excellence. Every sound effect is just perfect and the music is breathtaking. Both games have that cool retro music feel to them, a blend of sci-fi, techno, heavy metal, wild wild west and Tron Legacy. Music adjusts to the intensity… Just awesome…
While the Rage storyline is told via cut-scenes and more linear, Borderlands rely on telling the story in a more suddle way, such as picking up audio recordings while on missions and when interacting with the locals. While the first one sure is Hollywood impressive, the latter gives more mystery and feels like part of the game. Which story is better? Lonly hero saves the world – what else do you need to feel cool while playing?
Now, escalading our Rage vs Borderlands comparison to the game play, both games are FPS (First Person Shooter) games with RPG (Role Playing Games) elements. While Rage offers cool add ons for weapons, your character and vehicles and parts you can pick up and assemble to create new parts – Borderlands is a full blown RPG game. It offers a more complex image, where you can shape your character into 4 classes, and carefully mold your characters abilities. However, having hit character level 25 in Borderlands, I’ve not yet found items that you can combine to produce new items. Well, for me – I don’t like combining stuff THAT much, so I can live with it.
Rage vs Borderlands or Doom – someone? I’ve always been a fan of FSP, ever since the first Doom came out – and I’ve had a hard time adjusting to games with role playing elements. They didn’t quite work out well in Dues Ex, But with Borderlands – I’m just sold. It’s so cool and so well done. The inventory, map and character screens are large and well done. It’s just easy to navigate. I feel like a kid on Christmas, looting boxes and body remains searching for a bigger and faster guns and cool items that makes monsters and enemies cry.
Speaking of Rage vs Borderlands , one annoying thing about Borderlands is the lack of in-game map. You have to switch to a larger map in order to find your way around. In Rage, you have a mini-map at the top of the screen, making the process so much easier.
Both games offer shops where you can buy stuff for money you find while on missions. Missions by the way – as simple as go there, kill someone, get back and get paid. Go there, find some pieces and then go there and let someone do something with them. Nothing too serious, but the immersive environments in both games give enough variety.
Rage vs Borderlands – all in all? I love both games, but here’s how the games excel in different ways. Choose what seems to fit with your preferences:
Rage: Shorter, but more RAGE and scary enemy that will literary scare the hell out of you. Rage has more vivid characters with more “character”. Borderlands: Far longer, less linear game to finish and offers more “bang” for the buck.
Rage: Easy RPG elements, large environments (although smaller than Borderlands). Borderlands: Superior RPG elements, incredibly large environments and large variety of enemies.
Rage is visually more stunning, with incredible lighting, style and mood. Some flaws, like uneven texture quality drag it down as well as some inital PC release issues. Borderlands offer a more even, more laid back “cartoonish”-look-alike visual style. Offers lighting that changes over time from day to night.
Both games have vehicles. Rage has racing incorporated as “mini-games”. As a game, Borderlands is overall a better and longer experience, however Rage is more intense, shorter, scary and visually appealing.
Alright, Rage vs Borderlands ends here. Both very good games, but slightly different.
PS. Read other posts HERE.
With that said – have fun!
And There You Have It – Rage vs Borderlands
The Dark Side Of 3D Lighting…
December 21, 2011
3D Lighting is without a doubt THE single most important aspect of your renders. It will either make or break your image. If you master this skill alone, you’ll elevate your images to unprecedented heights…
I see so many great artists struggle with lighting, so here’s some tips to immediately get on the right track:
1. Light Only What’s Important
Let go of the rest. Sounds simple enough, yet this is what we tend to do when starting out with lighting. We light everything in fear of missing something. And I was there too… Try lighting only the parts that are important to tell the story or set the mood, and focus your lighíng in a specific area of your image, rather than lighting it all.
2. 3-point Light Set Up
Start using the simple 3-point lighting set up. It’s not perfect, and it won’t magically work for all your images, but it’s a great starting point. One light from the front / side / above (key light), one softer and weaker light from the front / other side / above (fill light) and one from behind / side (back light). Play with these three lights, narrow them down if needed and try to light only what’s important. Back lights are great for mystery and creating dramatic effects.
3. Dark Side Of Lighting
Definitelly, start lighting with SHADOWS and darkness. That’s right… Instead of just thinking what can I light, starting thinking: What can I hide and why should I do that? Play with darkness, since shadows are what really creates lighting in the first place. If there was no play of light and dark, we would not see anything at all… This is the untapped dimention skilled artists use, and most beginners fear. Use shadows and darkness to create a mood, shape your scene and create drama that speaks for it self. When your lighting is alive, vibrant and has a wide spectrum through out your scene, it will make your images POP.
Keep tweaking. Every scene is unique. And so are you..!
PS. Conquer 3D lighting HERE.
Upgrade 3D Frenzy – Should You Upgrade Or Not?
December 19, 2011
If you’ve been around for a while, then you’ve probably fallen pray to the upgrade frenzy. You barely got your new software installed and then it strikes again…
Time to upgrade?
I’d like to shed some light on this “upgrade frenzy”, since I’ve been involved long enough to see tons of upgrades hit my PC. First, there are pros and cons with upgrading and before I get into the core of what I’d you to grasp, let’s take a look at the situation from a technical point of view.
Upgrades CAN be unstable and have a few bugs. How many times have you installed a new version only to see that it doesn’t work as good as the old one? No matter the software, there is a wonderful thing called the human factor, meaning that an error can and will most likely happen. So, waiting with an upgrade until it’s been patched into stability may be a good thing. Not always, but usually – the longer a new version runs, the more bugs will be found and squashed.
So, having that said – should you upgrade?
Yes and no.
When you’re relying on some new features and effects and simply need those to finish your projects, then upgrading is a no brainer, especially if you’re doing commissioned work. However, be careful with new bugs.
However, and here’s my point with this article – I don’t believe art is in the software. It’s within the artist. So, it really doesn’t matter what software you’re using and what version you’re running. Chances are high that you end up being caught in an endless upgrade frenzy and spend time figuring out new features and functions, instead of mastering your REAL skills…
See, many 3D artists upgrade to a new, better and enhanced software in a hope to produce better art. It might be true in some cases, especially if you’re already skilled – but if you’re new to 3D or intermediate – then I suggest you learn the basic skills, such as lighting, camera composition and scene layout.
You will have more fun and create better images if you focus on YOUR skills, rather the skills of your software…
Keep tweaking!
PS. Conquer 3D Lighting Here.
UV-Mapping Made Easy
December 18, 2011
Most 3D artists would agree, that modeling is simpler and more fun than UV-mapping… During the years, I’ve come up with two ways of doing UV-mapping that make the entire process much faster and more fun.
1. UV-Map Early On
This method actually changed the entire concept of UV-Mapping. This applies to surfaces or objects where you have minial distortion. For instance, you create a plane – uV-map it – and then go wild with subdividing it and altering it’s shape into a landscape. Same goes for simple organic shapes, such as stones. On the positive side, is the fact that your UV-map will remain square and you can therefore paint with precision later on. On the negative side, is that this only works to some degree. If you bend polygons too much, you’ll have to battle some stretching. Alright, you can fine-tune that on the UV-map, but it’s good to know.
2. UV-Map After
This is the dreded scenario. You have a complex object and you’re about to start UV-Mapping. Here’s a few things that will make it a lot easier. First, divide your prop into pieces. And detach them from the rest. If you can work in layers, that is to be preferred. Why? Because when you UV-map chunks, while they are connected you might experience some weird UV-mapping errors. So, as you divide it into smaller chunks, be sure to remove the pieces and paste them into a new layer.
Next, you can see the chunks as closley related primitives, such as a plane, box, cylinder or sphere. Those UV-mapping layouts will work best when used with a similar shape. In some cases, the altas-layout might work best. It will lay out all the pieces flat. It can also be good to work on pieces from various angles. To you work on X in one go and then do Z on the next UV-map.
When you have worked your way through all the pieces, assemble them back again and run the merge points function. (I think this is for Lightwave Modeler, but there might be similar functions in other 3D modelers).
By now, you should have a complete object, fully UV-mapped in one piece.
Got questions? Let me know if this was helpful!
PS. Wanna learn more about modeling? Then go HERE.
How To Model Large Props 10 Times Faster
December 17, 2011
Ever been looking at your next 3D modeling project and thought: Man, that’s going to take ages?
In fact, you can cut your modeling time of larger props, such as cities, outdoor settings or even indoor buildings by a factor of 10, if you follow these simple principles…
1. Have a plan or design. A sketch or something that will give you an idea of where you’re heading is PRICELESS. Look for reference photos or draw your references. This step alone will save you lots of time.
2. Break it into chunks. Ever been playing with Lego? Yeah, that wasn’t exactly yesterday, but here’s my point… Don’t do everything from scratch. Make up pieces, much like Lego pieces – but even larger. Create small chuncks you can then easily copy and paste through out your entire prop / layout. Work in increments of 1, 2 or 4 meters so that you can easily fit and rotate your pieces on the snap-grid.
3. Complete each piece before you start copying & pasting it. This means, create the UV map and even texture it. This will make the entire process of UV-mapping and texturing a LOT easier and save you lots of time.
4. If you need more variation, then create 2 or 3 variantes for weach chunk or piece. Then arrange those pieces so that they don’t look like exact copies.
5. Work in layers. For instance, do the walls in one layer, floor pieces in another and reiling or other details in a third layer. This will ensure that once you’re done, you can easily make changes to something that ain’t right, instead of painfully selecting those pieces manually amoung all the other polygons.
And that’s it.
Have fun modeling..!
Get Paid Playing Video Games
October 25, 2011
Having high altitude dreams of playing your favourite games at home while earning money? I’m going to give you a real and honest view of what you need to get started right away.
Computer and video games surpassed the movie and music industry a few years back, being the fastest growing segment of the entertainment industry both in the US and worldwide.
So, games are no longer just games… It’s serious business.
As technology became more affordable and advanced, the 80′s pixels became interactive, living and breathing worlds with amazing graphics and sound and you not only got more bang for your bucks (as opposed to watching a short movie), you could for the first time really BE the hero. And that’s the fuel behind the gaming industry.
Because of the staggering growth and high demand, companies are producing more games than ever. One of the major problems game developers face is game testing. The rapid technology growth where graphic cards, software, PC’s and MAC’s get updated all the time, puts tremendous pressure on companies trying to release their games on time.
This is where you come in!
So, wanna get paid playing video games?
In the low economy of today, there’s plenty of young kids looking for a job of their dreams. If you put the word phrase “gamer tester” in google you end up with over 200,000 global searches per month. If you count in all the variations you end up with several million searches per month. Wow, that’s some serious competition! But don’t get discouraged, I’ve got help coming your way in a moment…
I’ve been playing games for 28 years and I’ve experienced all the growth. Being an award winning 3D artist, bestselling 3D content creator and world leader in 3D graphics training for new and intermediate artists, having been training 1000′s of artists online, I know that creating new products requires a great deal of testing and patience.
Having that said, I know for sure that being a game tester is serious business. It requires a lot more than just playing a few games and say “It’s good” or “it’s bad”. So, how would you go by doing it?
To find out, I just recently got my hands on the bestselling e-book “Become A Game Tester” by Matthew Johnson. Knowing that it can’t be THAT easy, I was positively surprised on how well the e-book described all the components needed to become a highly paid game tester, earning from $15-$50 per hour to $80 and beyond. Matthew truly gives an extremely well balanced view and gives tips on every possible situation, everything from writing your first resume, to contacting companies and all the small tricks and tips along the way of actually doing the game testing.
You get complete lists of several hundreds of gaming companies to contact and get tips on real life time saving scenarios as well as how to scale up your journey as fast as possible. So no, it’s not THAT easy, but it’s a lot easier and will save you lots of time and frustration, having this handy guide on your journey.
If you’re seriously looking to get paid playing video games, if you’re REALLY passionate about this, I can higly recommend “Become a Game Tester”. It’s all in all well over 100 pages, giving you a complete overview of what you need to do, as well as useful pointers on the small stuff.
Read more about the e-book by clicking HERE.
Good luck and see you at the top!
How to add more 3D light without adding lights?
August 29, 2011
Whoa, what does that mean?
There are ways of intentionally illuminating your scene, without actually adding lights. And I’m not talking about “just” radiosity or selfglowing surfaces, I’m actually referring to a specific trick I often use to add extra lighting in conjuntion with radiosoity.
It’s very simple and fast to do and it will actually even save you rendering time! Professional photographers use this all the time…
I’ve made a short video here to demonstrate what I mean:
As always, I’d love to hear your comments and see if you got any inspiration from this video!
Keep rendering,
Waldemar
How to save at least 50% 3D rendering time?
August 22, 2011
My 3D students often ask me how they can shorten their rendering time without cutting down on quality or rendering size.
Well, I’ve made a short video to demonstrate how you can immediately start using this technique and not only save tremendous amounts of rendering time, but also gain incredible control over your final results.
I’d love to hear you comments if you found this video useful, and if you’re using similar approaches in your own work!
