5 steps to get your 3D REALLY going
August 11, 2010
It´s a wonderful morning here in Stockholm, still summer and nice weather. I felt like writing about REALLY getting you on the right track…
There are so many paths to take, so many things to learn – and all the knowledge may at times seem overwhelming. I know the feeling. And here´s how I tackle that:
1. Find your passion. Sounds easy, but yet again – there are many things to choose from. You know when you´re passionate about something, when you loose track of time and feel like a kid playing with a bunch of colored crayons for the first time.
If you still haven´t found what you´re passionate about, then go out there and test different things. Try modelling, doing different kind of renders, different approaches and various styles. Try changing the mood of an image, or using different characters / objects / props.
Maybe you like to merge pieces of a render into a final composite, or do animation. How about editing animation or even adding sound? Selling your art? Helping others?
Take a look at other artists… Often, when you feel envious of some other artists work, then that may be an indication that you want to go in that direction.
You will know when you find it… 
2. Don´t get discouraged by all the fantastic artists out there… No matter how far you will make it, there will always be artists that are better than you, and artists that are less good than you. It´s just part of the reality.
Get inspired by them and don´t let them ruin your own journey.
3. When you find something you like to do, stick with it. Improve your skills by taking small steps each day. Progress is made over a longer period of time. So again, this can´t be rushed into.
When you make progress, even the smallest step – make sure you reward yourself. Most artists are very hard on themselves. You can see that from the words they speak, and from the words they write.
4. The moment you feel down for some reason, stop doing what you do and break the pattern. Do something else. Maybe another project or simply something non 3D. The thing is, and I know this from my own experience – artists often push themselves over the edge. Real progress is not made by force… It should be fun!
5. Make sure that you´re surrounded with people that help you and push you to move forward. Developing your skills in 3D and moving forward, may at times seem impossible. That´s when you need to be around people that really care for you and that make you feel good.
Allright, that´s it! That´s the 5 steps to quickly get your 3D REALLY going forward.
Let me know what you think! If you like this post, don´t forget to share it with your friends… 
Thanks a bunch!
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Vrooom… Getting your DAZ Studio car animation realistic…
July 14, 2010
In these two 10 min videos I´ll show you how you can quickly set up a “non-flexible” car model so that it can perform more accurate physical movements. Yes, I´m talking about the body moving as the car accelerates or turns heavily.
Most car models come with a solid body, with the wheels attatched and in most cases you can rotate them and spin them. And that´s it. Now, if you put a real world car into some serious motion, it will not look solid. The body will move and represent the g force that its subjected to.
This is hard to achieve in 3D, unless the car body is a separate object. If its not, then you can re-model it, and detatch the body. Or, you can view these two videos and get going right away…
So, buckle up and off we go!
Video video 1 of 2:
View video 2 of 2:
I hope you enjoyed these two videos… As always, let me know if you found them useful, and if so, don´t forget to tell your friends!
Thanks a bunch!
How to get rid of audio noise digitally
June 26, 2010
If you´re recording sound effects or speech, you´re aware of the number one high quality sound killer… Yes, we´re talking about noise.
Well, rule number one when it comes to recording sound is to avoid any noise and we all know that. But when you´re doing a quickie and you´re PC´s fan is screaming on the recording, then here´s how to get that fixed and still get away with “decent” sound quality…
This is a simple two step process, that you can do all for free. One of my excellent co-workers and friends, Steven Magyar, actually presented me with parts of this really great procedure a while ago – and I´ve been using it ever since.
Step 1
There´s an excellent and popular audio editing software from www.download.com. It´s called Audacity. Just go there, make a search for it and install it.
You can also click on this link to go to the page directly:
http://download.cnet.com/Audacity/3000-2170_4-10058117.html?tag=mncol
Install and run the software, then load your audio file.
Now, use the maginfying glass icons to zoom in a portion of your audio, where your noise is all you hear. Use the left mouse button to drag a selection and use the play icon to check the noise.
It´s important that you DO NOT hear anything else besides the noise…
Next, head over to the Effect menu at the top and select Noise Removal. When the window appears, select Get Noise Profile. Close the Noise Removal Window.
Now, deselect your selection, zoom out and make sure you either have nothing selected or that ALL of your audio is selected.
Go ahead and bring that Noise Removal back up again, and this time select the amount of noise you want to be removed and click on Remove Noise.
Be careful not to remove too much of it, since that will then interfere with the audio quality. In case you removed too much, you can always use the Edit -> Undo function.
When you´re done, save the new audio as a new WAV file.
Step 2
Now that the noise is gone, we want to get a nice, even audio levels for your speech. If you´re doing sound effects, you can probably skip this step. But it won´t hurt to give it a go anyway…
Get the Levelator from the Conversations Network:
http://www.conversationsnetwork.org/levelator
Run it, drag and drop your noise-less WAV file and let the software do its magic.
It will save a new audio file and add “-output” to the filename.
And that´s it!
Have fun with your audio recordings and let me know if this was helpful!
If it was, don´t hesitate to share this technique with your friends…
Thanks a bunch!
How to start making a Myst-alike game in 30 min
June 9, 2010
Some time ago, I talked about the Adventure Maker and how you can make Myst-alike games for free…
Well, today – I´m going to actually show you how that´s done – from creating the renders in Vue 8 Infinite, to stitching the 360 degree panoramas using the Image Combiner that comes with the Adventure Maker – to loading the final images and creating the actual nodes with hots spots that you can click on to move around in the game.
In less than 30 minutes! (Give an take some rendering time)
I´m using Vue, since it´s so easy to use for this purpose. I´m mean, Vue just rocks when it comes to… creating ROCKS!
You can use Bryce, Terragen, POV-ray and 3D Studio Max with the provided examples on the Adventure Maker website as well.
I´ve created some using Lightwave before, and I´ve heard that Poser can do the right renders without trouble.
I´ve actually had some issues with DAZ Studio, but there is a work around and I´ll post a note on that shortly.
So, ready to get started?
Awesome..!
Here´s the first video, that will walk you through the scene creation and rendering in Vue.
View video 1:
And here´s the second video, that will walk you through finalizing the rendering, then move on to the stitching and finally setting up the game nodes.
A node is simply a position in your game, where you can rotate 360 degrees and click on hot spots to get to other nodes – progress through the game…
View video 2:
Allrighty, I hope you had some serious fun!
As always, let me know what you think – and if you liked the videos, don´t forget to forward them to your friends.
Thanks a bunch and see you soon!
PS. I actually made a small mistake during the second video, while positioning the second hotspot. It´s supposed to be the opposite of the first one, but it ain´t…
Why 3D vendors seldom make it really big
June 5, 2010
There are many great ways to start selling your 3D products without actually learning to sell.
Take www.daz3d.com or www.renderosity.com as an example.
With a great product that´s niched and unique, you can sell several 100´s or even 1000´s of copies over a few years.
So how come content creators seldom make it big?
Well, the obvious reason is that you give away 50%.
But there´s a more profound reason…
See, there´s only 24 hours a day, and you can only create so many products each month.
Even with a team that produces more products in the same amount of time – you can´t release too many of them, since they will then interfere with eachother.
Well, unless you make all of them 100% unique and without competing against eachother. (Not likely, unless you´re into several niches at the same time)
Regardless, you would have to mass produce new products each month…
Yes, there´s a compound effect going on… As your store gets larger, all the “old” products will start adding to the monthly sales.
No doubt about it…
However, you´re never really free doing that…
I know I never was…
Yes, I quit my job – but only to jump straight into another rat race.
So, what am I really talking about?
Hold on, I´ll explain…
Take a closer look at DAZ 3D… Renderosity… Frankly even STEAM that sell games online.
What the people behind these websites really have done, is to create as sytem for instant delivery. It´s more than a webshop.
It´s support, a community and it´s all connected with the 3D software or in STEAM´s example – with your PC / MAC.
Now, DAZ 3D have a little over 4200 brokered products.
Compare that to creating 1. Maybe 10. Or even 50.
And, I know vendors that have well over 150 products.
So, what´s the issue?
Here´s the issue…
How much time, money and effort do you put in to create a single product?
And you get 50% of every sale – right?
How much time does DAZ, Renderosity or STEAM put – to sell the same product – and still make 50% (I don´t have the exact figure for STEAM)?
It´s probably a ratio of 1/100.
Whoa…
Yeah…
To say the least.
They make THE SAME amount of money, putting in less time, less effort and less money…
And now… Here´s the BIGGIE…
How much sales volume do you think 4200 products can create?
Quite a lot.
THAT´s the difference.
It´s UNCOMPARABLE.
Those who make it big are those who learn to sell and market.
Not content creators…
You can´t compare that to producing one or two products each month,
letting someone else market it for you.
Of course, and I repeat again – DAZ 3D and Renderosity are outstanding. And it´s a great way to start…
But it´s hard to live doing ONLY that…
And it´s even harder when you are out of control and let someone else take 50%.
Take book writers as another example. They make a percentage of each book sold.
How much effort do the publishers put compared to writing a whole book?
Probably 1/100. Or atleast 1/10.
I don´t care what the number is – it´s HUGE no matter how you look at it.
Those who learn the skill of selling, get more with less time and money.
Period.
There´s nothing more to it.
Yes, selling is an art. It´s not luck.
It´s a whole science!
It includes getting over the fear of selling, and of perfecting the skills by doing that on a consistant basis…
I would have been out of business a long time ago, if I didn´t learn to sell on my own…
I remember back in 2006, when I released my first big 3D product – the Light Dome PRO for DAZ Studio.
I was scared beyond words and I think I sat 70% on the toilet waiting for DAZ to release it.
And I sat there 90% after the release…
Ok, lets not end with THAT picture, shall we..?
What I was saying, is that I´ve learned so much since then and I can see the difference…
I´ll be opening up another blog shortly, devoted entirely to online marketing – of ANY product.
And there will be lots of tips of off-line marketing as well.
I just HATE seeing good people struggle out there!
You can learn to sell, and you WILL see the difference.
It´s just THAT big.
And the best part comes here…
Selling is VERY predictable…
Yes, you read that right…
It´s an art, and like any art – and once you learn it, you gain such powerful control, that you will fall out of your chair…
Frankly, you´ll be asking youself why you never did this before…
Does this make sense? I´d love to hear your thoughts and if you like the post – don´t forget to share it with your friends…
Thanks and until then, have a great weeked!
7 ways of lighting interiors in 3D
June 1, 2010
Someone turn on the lights please!
In just a few minutes – I´m going to reveal to you, the 7 ways of lighting interiors in 3D. You can use them to instantly add lighting with an understanding of WHY. You can mix the 7 ways or use them one at the time…
Interior lighting can be very frustrating, since there are so many options to choose from. I know that I always preferred to make outdoor scenes in the start, since that´s easier to grasp… I mean, there´s just the sun, sky and some ambient.
Indoors…
…that´s a different story.
So, jump right into the first video here:
Yes, you can of course use an area light instead of using several spotlights. But I like to talk about the real basics, since that will give you a better understanding of the concept. And in some cases even more control.
For instance, having a few spotlights, enables you to vary their intensity through out the room – where an area light is constant all over. And spotlights render faster…
Allright, now – here´s the rest of the video, watch it here:
And that´s about it!
Let me know what you think, if the videos were helpful and if you like them, don´t forget to pass them on to your friends…
Thanks a bunch!
Why positive thinking alone doesn´t work and what I did to deserve my wife Jeanette…
May 30, 2010
Ok, this one is going to be nasty…
Raw…
…and unsensored.
From time to time, I get emails from artists that open themselves up and reveal big chunks of their lifes. They talk about their problems and stuff going on their end.
First of all, I want to say thank you for your trust in me.
Second, it´s an act of great courage – and it takes LOTS of it to write the emails I get.
For that – you guys should be very PROUD of yourselves…
The other day, I did get a very long and emotional email from an artist that was having some serious issues. She revealed her childhood and all the issues she faced then – and today.
She felt that positive thinking didn´t work for her…
In fact, she ENVIED me that it worked for me and that I was some kind of a lucky guy that didn´t have to deal with difficult times…
She wrote that she tried and failed to improve her life several times…
And that her experience was that for every positive step she took, some bad things happened and ruined the whole thing.
Her email inspired me to write todays blog post…
I have deep empathy for all the pain others feel in their lifes…
…because I´ve been there.
And now – let´s be BRUTALLY honest here…
Let me tell you some facts about my own life… And how positive thinking is part of a bigger puzzle… And why it doesn´t work – when used the wrong way.
Frankly – how it can be counterproductive…
I was born poor in Poland. When I was at an age of 7, there was a state of war in Poland, where tanks and military guys where all over the city.
That was SCARY as hell…
We had food stamps – and had to count the food we bought.
When we moved to Sweden a few years later, we were living by – but were still poor. I had a broken, used bicycle, where my friends had new ones with 27 gears. I had cheap, ugly clothes, where my class mates had new fashion clothes.
I was frozen out…
I took various jobs after dropping out of school with ZERO grades.
NONE!
I started to drink, take pills and felt like a wreck.
And this was going on for years!
Believe me, I wanted to take my life several times – and I was close to – damn close to.
I had a high speed car “accident” (I don´t belive in accidents, things happen for a reason) where my car hit a bridge reiling and was totally demolished. The only reason I´m still alive is becuase I had my seat belt on and that the bridge reiling was strong enough.
But it was bended like butter…
My car looked like a pile of squashed metal. There was nothing left of it… There was a scary free fall of 30 meters straight down – so talk about an angel that saved me that day.
I survived that day and was able to continue doing what I did…
This was my reality…
I´ve been fighting with peoeple…
I´ve been angry…
I´ve been depressed for 20 years…
Diagnosed with borderline…
My best best friend died in cancer…
My wife Jeanette have had some MAJOR health challenges.
Recently we found out that her father has cancer in his blood.
Her grandmother died in cancer and was an alcoholic..
Her grandfather drowned himself…
Her first love died in an car crash…
I could easily write a long list of friends and relatives that have had strokes and other issues that RUINED their lifes for good…
In fact we have lost serveral beloved family members that was so close to us that life didn`t feel worthy living without them…
And on top of all the live challanges, we also had our share of financial struggles…
We´ve had cars that we used to duct tape to hold them together… Where the engine stopped running, at the most inconvenient places…
Or that simply wouldn´t start at all…
I´ve eaten noodles for weeks…
I´ve taken overdoses with pills to end my desctructive life.
And I envied people that in my point of view had it all… That had great relationships, that had nice cars, that had money, that seemed PERFECT…
So – in a single word – I truly understand and know all about…
…PAIN.
I´m not saying this to compare my life with others, nor do I blame myself or others for starting my life in the wrong way.
With those circumstances, experiences and lifeskills I had at that time, it couldn´t turn out any other way.
So… I´ve been to hell…
And I found a way out of it.
And here´s what I did…
Pay close attention – because this is UNIVERSAL.
This works for everybody that´s willing to do what it takes…
It all begins with a DESIRE to get out of the freaking shit.
When I was so fed up staying where I was – I had to do something radical.
When I hit the bottom, I have had enough.
When I met Jeanette, she understood my pain and really felt empathy of how I felt and the reasons behind it.
She accepted me the way I was…
But…
She NEVER accepted this to be a permanent state. Jeanette is a fun mix of an oversensetive fighter and she litterary KICKED me in the right direction.
And that was the sparkle I needed, to ignite my DESIRE to CRUSH my destructive life.
Slowly, I started to learn more about my self and others.
And that´s not an easy thing to do having borderline…
I read books about self development. The first one I ever read, was Dr. Phils Life Strategies that Jeanette bought me. I highly recommend it.
See, the mind that created my former life, couldn´t fix it.
And here´s why…
I was infected with disbeliefes, lack of proper thinking and I was holding on to the fact that I was a bad person not worthy anything.
This is what I learned as a kid.
Kids ALWAYS blame themselves for everything that happens to them.
Me included.
And guess what, as an adult – as I knew I was a bad person – bad stuff had to happen to me to justify it.
I justified what I beleived in, by attracting bad circumstances.
This is a universal law – and it´s called the Law of Attraction.
It´s as real as gravity. Whether you belive in it or not – it works. All the time.
You can choose to ignore it – but it still works… And it will for every second for the remains of your life.
Law of Attraction says that what you focus on – will grow. What you feel – you attract.
In therapy, I´ve learned that my thoughts, feelings and actions were all connected. (Congitive Behaviour Therapy)
Each thought, whether contious or subcountious (as a result of your background) – will create a feeling.
ALL humans react to the way they feel.
ALWAYS.
As I grew, I started to see things in a wider perspectve… And I started slowly to feel better more often…
Day by day – week by week.
After a few years, I quit taking pills.
AND… After a YEAR of withdrawal symptoms, I was free of them.
Now, here´s the important part of the story.
Positive thinking alone doesn´t work…
It just doesn´t.
I mean common – just thinking that things will become better is pure nonsense.
And those who tried – KNOW IT.
And here´s when it DOES work…
When you take ACTION.
Somewhere, deep inside of me – with Jeanettes strong support – I started to think that there´s SOMETHING more…
With each piece of the puzzle, that became more obvious to me.
So, I developed a mind set – and started to BELIEVE that I could accomplish more in my life.
However, at that time I didn´t know what that would be.
But that didn´t matter at that time… My desire for a better life, was already on fire.
But hold your horses…
My ACTION – was to gain more knowledge from successful people – some of them with the same kind of experiance that I had… but that already had made it…
After the pills were gone, I had one more thing to get rid of…
My job…
At that time, I was in so much pain, that I just wanted to stop it.
I couldn´t go to my job no more…
And that was a painful fact to realize. Because I loved that job.
But in order to move on, I had to let go of what was holding me back.
I needed to change the environment, that at that time – supported my desctructive lifestyle.
Finally, I hit a turning point.
With GREAT support from my life coach Mike Lewis (Thank you Mike, you´re the best!) – I went to the office of my boss and said to him that I wanted to quit.
And then, for the first time in my life – I was no longer employed…
The day I left my job for good, I didn´t feel any fear.
I felt free.
When people were fired all around me and in difficult financial times – I dediced to take control of my own life and go my own way…
I continued to GROW and surrounded my self with successful people.
And I still do.
They helped me to broaden my perspective…
There is NO simple road to success. All change is horribly painful from time to time.
But´s it´s worth it!
And it all starts with…
1. A burning DESIRE to change your life and take control – this happens when you´re dead tired of your situation and truly WANT a change.
This is a tricky one, becuase as soon as you say YES to ANY part of your current life… Then you´ll stay there. As long as there´s a pay off – people will always stay.
You can hear people MOAN about their jobs. But the moment they justify it by saying: -”But it pays the bills”… Done – you´re staying.
Compare that to:
-”I´m fed up – I´m OUT OF HERE”…
See the difference?
Same situation.
Different mindset.
Even if that someone can´t quit their job right away, an open mindset enables them to find a solution.
If they say that it pays the bills, then it will continue to pay their bills. (And not so much more)
You know the saying:
For many people, J.O.B. often means Just Over Broke.
2. Believe that you CAN and even more importantly that you are WORTHY that change.
This is NOT the same thing as just wanting things. ALL people WANT stuff. Instead, this means believing that you actually can get there.
How this looks like in real life?
-”I would like to have that car… But it´s too expensive”…
Done, you´re NOT getting that car.
Compare that to:
-”That´s the car I want to have, and I will get it next year…”
Same situation.
Different mindset.
If you say that it´s too expensive, then it always will…
If you say that you will get it next year, then your mind is open for searching and finding solutions…
3. Gain more knowledge and GROW as a person – therapy, books, CD´s, videos, seminars, coaches – whatever it takes to learn EVERYTHING about successful people.
I had a big issue with this. I hated when I felt that what I knew was not enough.
I actually resented successful people, because they had what I wanted to have.
That was my BIG ego…
As I let go of it, and embraced new knowledge – I started to grow as a person. And the more I know – the more there is to learn – it´s an neverending ongoing process…
Sometimes the road gets bumpy, but overall – it´s a fascinating journey…
Success – on ANY level in your life – is a DIRECT result of your personal growth.
4. Positive thinking with DAILY action
Why positive? Positive thinking creates positive feelings – which in turn creates positive action steps.
Notice, I said DAILY action. That´s EACH day. Not once a month and then: -”Oh crap, it didn´t work”…
For how long?
As LONG as it takes!
As freaking long as it takes!
UNTIL!
How about set backs?
Oh dear, don´t get me started on this one…
Set backs?
HELL yeah!
They WILL get in your way, trying to DRAAAAAG you back to where you were.
And EACH DAY I take action.
I still, as of today, experience negative thinking from time to time…
But I don´t fight it the way I used to…
Instead, I handle it with ACTION – not only REACTION…
It´s a choice I´ve made a long time ago – that has grown into my reality by DAILY action.
“It´s not how many times we fall… It´s how many times we stand up…”
Doing your best is sometimes NOT enough…
I did what I HAD to… That means pushing outside of what I thought was possible…
Recently, I saw an episode of the great Star Wars Animated series… One of the episodes started with a saying that I can´t forget…
“Belief is not a choice. It´s a conviction.”
Oh man, that´s so powerful!
So I don´t believe in sitting and thinking that good stuff will happen.
That´s the biggest lie you´ll ever hear.
In fact, that´s a really dangerous thing to do… Positive tinking alone is more like living in a cocoon – and not really seeing what needs to be done.
Dr Phil has a great saying: “As you pray, MOVE your feet…”
I believe in DOING things UNTIL they are the way I want them.
Or as close as possible.
I mean, I can´t fly and I can´t walk on the surface of Jupiter.
And I don´t look like Brad Pit, and even if I perform surgery – I won´t be even close.
But that´s not the point.
The point is, I have a CONVICTION that I WILL make it.
And I will do ANYTHING in my power to get there.
There is no plan B.
NEVER has been.
Earlier, when I was busy reacting to all the crap around me, I felt despair – and as a result – more crap came my way…
And I couldn´t possibly know what to do without the proper knowledge…
So again…
Desire, Belief, Knowledge and Action…
Law of attraction is always working…
What I focus on – will grow…
So I focus on improving my life… But at the same time, always being greatful of what I already have.
Faith, hope and love - the corner stones of life...
But how about fair?
No, life ain´t fair.
Never has been.
NEVER will be.
It´s ONLY what we make out of it. The best we can.
Easy?
No…
Doable?
DEFINITELLY!
Ok, there´s A LOT more to say about this amazing subject…
Maybe I´ll come back with more in one way or another later on…
But for now, I wish you all the best!
How to create magic with a single 3D light
May 24, 2010
Whoa – what?
Just one light?
Are you kidding?
Actually, this IS where all the magic happens. Get one of them right – and the rest will fall into place…
So much can be done with a single light. In this 5 min video, I´ll talk about a few good pointers on how you can get creative with just a single light.
That´s right…
No more placing 27 lights to get your scene look good. Just one!
Watch this 5 min overview:
And watch this 8 min video, where I demonstrate how to light a peer with a single light in DAZ Studio:
Allright, I hope you enjoyed the videos! Were they helpful? I´d love to hear from you! Also, please pass it on to your Facebook friends!
Thanks a bunch!
Back to the 17th century – modelling a swedish castle
May 18, 2010
Skokloster castle
Last year, I decided to start a huge project. I wanted to create a 3D model of a swedish castle, namely the beautiful Skoskloster castle. Yeah, I know – it´s HUGE!
Oh, well – I love challenges!
During a lovley and really HOT summer day last year, I started the project with taking some reference shots. This is one of the most important steps when it comes to 3D modelling. To see how the structure looks like, experience its real world size and the mood of actually being there – and to have some guidelines of where to put all the points and polygons…
…that matters…
…a lot.
Window details
I´ve seen this castle before, and I revisit it from time to time (hard not to) – but the photos really proved invaluable. So, if you have a camera, find something close enough to what you want to model. It doesn´t have to be 100% exact – just close enough to help you along the way.
And then fire away shots from all kinds of angles. This will not only help you with modelling, but also with texturing and lighting.
I love visiting castles and landscapes. Besides the great adventure, it´s wonderful to learn and discover how nature and people build stuff…
Basic model
Allright, as soon as I got home, I fixed some hot mint tea, sat down in my office and started to layout the basic model. At this point, I was just using simple primitives to get a sense of the whole model.
Using a reference shot
When the basic structure was in place, I used one of the reference shots as a background in Lightwave modeller – serving as a perfect scale reference. I was then able to carve out the arches for each of the windows.
Actually, a LOT can be done by simply using copy and paste. Once a single arch was done, I was able to produce all of them in a few seconds. After some beveling for the depth and some additional modelling on the actual windows a few days later – I had a basic model I was happy with…
Basic details in place
At this point, since I´m not a modeller, but still wanted this castle to really look great – I handed over the model to a great friend of mine, Jack Tomalin from Redhouse Studios. Jack is one of the best 3D modellers / texture artists out there.
He has an excellent eye for details and he actually survives the work!
I´ve known him for a few years now, and we´ve done a few projects together. Anyway, while Jack started enhancing the castle, I began to work on the garden and trees.
I had a big issue ahead of me… I wanted to squeeze in lots of trees. Not 30 of them – more like 300 of them. And they had to:
1) Look good
2) Render quick
3) Keep the polygon count down
Some nice issues to overcome, ehh?
Testing the trees
After several days of testing, I found a way to pre-render the trees and then project them on flat polygons. It looked good enough, rendered amazingly fast and it also kept the polygon count down.
Nice!
By that time, Jack had come a long way in adding details to the castle itself.
Enhanced castle model
And a few weeks later, it was all done – UV mapped and textured – and looking fantastic!
Final castle
I was stunned, but not surprised about the quality. Jack had done in again…
Just take a look at the windows…
Final window details
Fastforward to present time.
I wasn´t happy with the garden, so I let another awesome modeller, Jason White – go wild with it. Jason is a great guy, and I´ve known him for many years. At the time Jack was done with the castle, Jason returned from a trip to the UK.
And what does every great modeller do?
Take reference shots…
Right…
He was back with lots of photos of castles, gardens and stuff. He also took lots of photos while being in Italy a while back – and guess what – he started to build something really cool…
The swedish castle, suddently got transformed into a mixture of english, italian and swedish style…
Testing a new garden
Who knows where all this will end?
It´s been a great journey so far, and I want to thank you Jack and Jason for being such great friends…
…and 3D modellers!
Creating Myst-alike Games For Free
May 13, 2010
Adventure Game Test
I´m a big fan of the “old” Myst games such as Myst, Riven and Myst III Exile. What I like about those games, is the beautiful graphics, that includes lots of water, rocks and natural as well as un-natural elements.
It adds a feeling of freedom, which I absolutely adore…
Also, there´s a sense of this quiet, beautiful – almost timeless presense. There´s no stress, just the gorgeous sets and mystery…
If you´re into making similar games, you can – and it doesn´t cost a dime to get going.
Adventure Game Test
I´ve used the Advanture Maker from http://www.adventuremaker.com to produce a simple demo of a Myst-alike game.
You can download the demo for free here:
http://www.dreamlight3d.com/DLAdventureTest.exe
The Adventure Maker is remarcably easy to use and it enables logical puzzles to be incorporated. There´s a complete community with lots of free and paid plug ins and coders available if you need additional ones.
There´s a full version as well, and it comes with two licenes – for non commercial and commercial use.
The Adventure Maker has a neat plug in, called Cubic Panorama – that enables 360 degree panormic nodes, just like Myst III Exile. This plug in was actually the feature that attracted me…
You can add sound effects and music on several channels and it requires no coding.
At any rate, I like this software along with the community and I highly recommend it in case you want to explore the realms of adventure gaming.
Read more here:
http://www.adventuremaker.com
