Learn How To Retopologize Complex, Hard-surface Forms in Blender

Through the continued improvement of sculpting tools and workflow we now have a lot of different ways we can choose to model a subject. A perfect example is Kent Trammell’s training series that looks at how to use Blender’s sculpting tools for creating a hard-surface weapon design. The techniques Kent uses rely on the dynamic topology feature, allowing Kent to create most anything he can imagine. However, these techniques and workflows don’t generally result in models that are easy to work with through the rest of the production pipeline. Dynamic topology, and sculpting in general, result in very high-resolution models that may have beautiful forms but they’re challenging to texture, render, or do much of anything with. This is where retopology comes into play.

If the retopology process is a mystery to you then this is ideal for you! Unlock the complete course by joining Citizen

Retopology is the process of recreating an existing form with a clean mesh structure that accurately represents the original form. This process is often used to yield a animation or render-ready model that’s not only easier to work with, but may also have cleaner surfaces that give the artist more freedom in the remaining stages of the complete workflow (such as texturing, shading, and rendering.)

What you’ll learn through this course

Building on Kent’s previous series, Sculpting a Sci-Fi Weapon, this Blender course will take you through the retopology process for that final sci-fi weapon model. Among other things you will learn:

• How to break the model down into key forms
• Modeling methodically to get more control over the mesh
• How to easily add sharp details with proximity loops (holding edges) and edge creasing
• How to use surface snapping for fine mesh control
• How to use the Shrinkwrap modifier for better visibility
• How to use the BSurfaces add-on as a retopology tool

Music by: FortyTwoMusic, Airtone, septahelix

The post Hard-Surface Weapon Retopology in Blender appeared first on CG Cookie.

Vehicle Modeling Course in Blender

The Vehicle Modeling DVD was released in the first quarter of 2011, after the Intro to Blender and Character modeling series. It was our first physical DVD ever shipped and has shipped more than any other training DVD we’ve ever produced. However, now that the series has reached the ripe age of 2 years, it is being inducted into the CG Cookie Citizen library, making it accessible to all Citizen members.

Trade the value of a couple lattes for complete access to our Citizen training library

What you’ll learn

In this intensive, mesh modeling training series, you will be taken through the complete process of modeling a very detailed, sci-fi vehicle in Blender. The series makes use of modeling sheets and concept art by David Revoy. This series is presented in such a way to be ideal for all levels of users. Each tool used is explained along the way for new users but the topics presented will intrigue even the most advanced modelers. Throughout this series you will learn extensive modeling techniques, mesh topology, and workflows for creating a manageable model in relatively little time.

Beauty renders of the final model

Included in the download

The source files for this series contain the original concept art and modeling sheets by David Revoy, a video breakdown form David himself showing how the concept came together, and all the .blend files for the final model.

The post Modeling a Sci-fi Vehicle appeared first on CG Cookie.

Hard Surface Sculpting

Everyone knows how valuable digital sculpting is for things like characters, monsters, trees, animals…any kind of organic shape. But what about hard surface shapes? Is it possible to apply the artistic freedom and benefits of digital sculpting to rigid forms?

Yes!

Join the Citizen ranks to learn how you can create your own sci-fi weaponry

In this Citizen series we’ll take a beautiful piece of sci-fi concept art by Tim Von Rueden and realize the weapon in 3D with Blender’s sculpting toolset. I’ll show you how to quickly generate a base mesh with the skin modifier and how to approach your sculpt with hard surface techniques. By the end you’ll be an expert with brushes like Polish, Crease, and Pinch!

Why Sculpting instead of Modeling?

If you’re like me, you welcome the more artistic approaches to digital art. Granted sculpting is not appropriate for every hard surface task. For example something like a wooden crate or coffee table makes more sense to model traditionally. However in the case of some complex hard-surface shapes, like this futuristic firearm, it can be easier for an artist to achieve the right forms with brushes instead point-pushing. The sweeping curves and angles make this object a prime candidate for hard surface sculpting.

Credits and License Info

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Learn to create mist in Blender with Cycles for environments

When you’re creating expanse environments that are believable, one of the things you need take into account is the saturation of far away objects. As things get farther and farther away, they appear less saturated, almost like they’re covered in a slight mist. In order to create believable CG this is a very important detail to consider, particularly when creating your environments, as it greatly adds to the realism of your scene.

In this tutorial I’ll show you how to create an accurate, anti-aliased Z-pass with Cycles that can then be used to create this mist-like effect. This is done by creating a custom shader that makes use of the View Distance option of the Camera Data node for Cycles shaders.

The post Creating Mist in Blender and Cycles with Z Depth appeared first on CG Cookie.

Learn how to create a scene of falling buttons image montage with Rigid Body Physics

With the release of Blender 2.66 we now have native access to Rigid Body physic simulation tools, which can be used to create all kind of effects. Using rigid bodies we can make objects realistically interact with each other just as they would in the real world.

In this tutorial you’ll learn how to use the Rigid Body simulation system to create a scene of textured, falling buttons that fall into place, forming an image montage. You’ll learn how to create active and passive rigid bodies, how to calculate object mass, how to model the buttons, and how to use the UV Project Modifier to texture the buttons.

View the final result:

The post Using Rigid Body Physics to Create a Falling Buttons Image appeared first on CG Cookie.

Learn how to use the Light Path node for Cycles

Blender’s light path node is incredibly useful for all sorts of tasks, but it’s also a bit difficult to grasp at times and so many of us are left with no understanding of how to use it. This tutorial gives you an introduction to the light path node, showing you what can be done with it in Cycles. However, it’s easier to understand how to use this tool when we know how render engines work, so we will give you a basic introduction to raytracing. You’ll also learn why it works, and what you need to know in order to use it effectively.

We will be taking a look at how to control the influence of created materials on other objects in our scene. This includes changing the color of an object inside a reflection, in the shadow, through refraction, or any number of other ways. It also covers how to hide objects from specific light paths, such that it appears invisible in reflections, doesn’t cast shadows, etc.

The post Using Blender’s Light Path Node in Cycles appeared first on CG Cookie.

Create fire in Blender with the Fire and Smoke Simulator

Using the simulation tools in Blender you can create stunning smoke and fire effects. These can be used to create rocket trails, explosions, campfires, candle flames, or even roiling expanses of smoke and flame.

Not a Citizen member? Get more cookies for just $10/month

In this tutorial we’re going to learn how to create a simple fire simulation that would be appropriate for a small bon fire. Fire simulation can be a bit daunting at first, in part due to the sheer number of parameters available for tweaking. Physics-based simulations always need quite a bit of experience to achieve the result you have in mind. During this tutorial we will share some tips and tricks for simulating and rendering fire.

Watch the final tutorial result:

The post Fire Simulation and Rendering in Blender appeared first on CG Cookie.

Use the Bilateral Blur node to denoise your renders

With the addition of Cycles Blender’s rendering ability has greatly increased, but a common problem with Cycles renders is the noisy. Due to the nature of Cycles, unless you let the render cook for a long time or have a very optimized setup, you’ll often have noise in your renders. There are many different ways to remove or reduce this noise. In this tutorial Bartek shows you how to denoise a render with the Bilateral Blur node.

The Bilateral Blur node allows you to blur an image while preserving the edges. If used correctly this lets you only blur surfaces, maintaining the details, resulting in less noise. You can do this with a Determinator image, which defines the edges of the areas to be blurred.

The post Using Blender’s Bilateral Blur Compositing Node appeared first on CG Cookie.

Learn how to create a outdoor grassy scene in Blender with Cycles

In this tutorial series, go through the complete process of creating a grassy field with a cricket ball. The tutorial aims to teach important shading and texturing concepts that will enable you to theoretically be able to realistically shade and texture almost any object.

In this part we’ll model the cricket ball, making use of various techniques to make it as easy, quick and customizable as possible.

Join Citizen to get this tutorial and many more tutorials and training. Signing up is about the cost of fast food, just $10/month.

The post Creating a Grassy Outdoor Scene in Blender – Part 2 appeared first on CG Cookie.

Learn to use Dropbox to sync your Blender Settings across all your machines

If you use Blender on multiple machines, such as a desktop machine and a laptop, then chances are you get tired of constantly update your settings to match the other machine. This is particularly annoying anytime a new feature comes out and you change your default settings. Suddenly both machines are out-of-sync again.

In my studio, I have three machines. A 27″ iMac and a 15″ Retina Macbook Pro both running Mac OS X Mountain Lion, and then a custom desktop box running Ubuntu Linux. I use Blender on all of them. But due to the nature of constantly updating and improving my default configurations, I’m constantly finding the machines to have slightly different settings. More than anything, this is annoying for custom hotkeys.

For a while I simply stopped customizing my settings so that I wouldn’t have to worry about it being out of sync. Then I decided to solve this once and for all by making all of the machines sync automatically.

This is actually a little easier than it sounds.

Step 1: Use Dropbox

If you don’t already use Dropbox in your daily life then you’re missing out. It is an incredible piece of software that has become ingrained in daily life here at CG Cookie. We use it for everything. Seriously. It allows you to keep all of your files in sync across multiple machines, so long as those files are within the Dropbox folder.

If you’re not already familiar with Dropbox, then check out their tour HERE. Otherwise, I’m going to assume you already have it and know how to use it.

Step 2: Move Blender Config to Dropbox

Anytime you save your settings in Blender, it saves out specific files in a pre-defined location. This is also true for all user-installed add-ons, custom themes, etc. This location is known as the Blender Config folder and can be found at these locations:

Mac OS X: /Users/{user}/Library/Application Support/Blender/

Linux: $HOME/.config/blender/

Windows Vista/7/8 : C:UsersusernameAppDataRoamingBlender FoundationBlender

Windows XP: C:Documents and SettingsusernameApplication DataBlender FoundationBlender

First you’ll need to find the directory above. In recent version of Mac OS X, and in Windows, the Library/ and AppData directories are hidden. But you can access them from the location bar in Windows by typing in the exact path, and in OS X by pressing Cmd+G from your home user home and typing “Library”.

Once you have found the Blender/ directory, we need to move it into the Dropbox. In my case, I’ve moved it to Dropbox/Blender-Config/Blender/

Note: while doing this don’t do ANYTHING with Blender. If you open or save anything with Blender during this move it’ll create a new settings directory, which you’ll have to remove.

We are now ready to do the real magic, making symbolic links.

Step 3: Make Symbolic Links

If you’re not familiar with symbolic links, then you’re in for a treat! Symbolic links act a bit like shortcuts, but they’re better. When you create a symbolic link from one location to another, it creates a connection between the two locations, making your computer think they both go to the exact same place, when in reality only the original location is real.

This is useful because it means we can store our Blender config directory in Dropbox and yet make Blender think it’s still in the original location.

For this tutorial, I’m going to show you how to create the symbolic links via command line on Mac OS X and Linux. If you’re on Windows then check out this tutorial from HowToGeek for the symbolic link portion:

To create the symbolic link first open a command prompt (on OS X use /Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app). Next do the following (be sure you’ve moved your Blender/ directory to Dropbox!):

Mac OS X:

cd Library/Application Support/

ln -s /Users/username/Dropbox/Blender-Config/ Blender

Linux: 

cd .config/

ln -s $HOME/Dropbox/Blender-Config/ Blender

That’s it! You should now have a symbolic link from the original config location to Dropbox. You can test this by going to the original location and checking for a Blender/ directory. Opening that directory will then take you to Dropbox/Blender-Config/Blender/. This also means that now when Blender saves out any settings, Blender will think it’s saving them to the normal location, when it’s actually saving all settings to Dropbox. Nifty huh?

But wait, there’s more.

Step 4: Repeat for Each Machine

You now need to recreate the above symbolic link for each of your machines that you want synced. Otherwise the syncing will not do any good.

Once you have done this you are ready to go!

Step 5: Live in Peace

With all machines now synced with Dropbox, and the symbolic links in place for each machine, your Blender settings will automatically be synced. This includes all add-ons you install, any themes your create, any layouts you change, and even any custom hot-keys you add.

Enjoy!

FAQs:

Q: Can I use other syncing software, such as Sugar Sync with this technique?

A: You sure can! Any software that keeps files in sync between multiple machines should do the trick. The symbolic links are what make this work, not the syncing software specifically.

The post Keeping Blender Configs Synced Across Multiple Machines with Dropbox appeared first on CG Cookie.