culture

Sci-Fi Helmet Showcase

Aug 14th 2017

The Blender Sci-Fi Helmet courses came out 3 years ago and we've seen a ton of user submissions! It's hugely satisfying to see how many of you have watched the training, applied what you've learned, and created something unique and impressive.

In no particular order, I want to spotlight some of my favorite submissions:

"Kepler 22-b" by yanclos


Look at those details! It's as if yanclos fell in love with kit-bashing, in the best way, and pushed the technique as far as it could go. So much fun to look at.

Like the lovechild of a paintball helmet and a fighter pilot's helmet, the design is really strong. And again with this level of detail, I can study every square inch for several minutes. From modeling to texturing to shading to lighting: First-class work all around.

"Mr Freeze" by dragonrlh



The first thing that stuck out to me about this helmet was the unique theme: Elemental Batman villain based on all things frozen. The context is different enough that I don't immediately recognize it as a tutorial result, but rather as an artwork on it's own. I love when students do that with our training :)

And the icy effect is accomplished beautifully. My guess is that a combination of icy/snowflake texture and some particle shards spread across the surface is what sells the shivery appearance. Also the glowy HUD underneath is a nice touch.

Beyond that ice-ing-on-the-cake effect, the modeling, texturing, and shading work is top-notch. Awesome job!

"Mariana Helm" by Keegan Keene


This helmet wins the award for most unique among my favorites. The design choices are a truly fresh take on the genre where shapes don't suggest humanoid facial features at all. This face-less aesthetic suggests a villainous context to me. Like it's a creepy boss from a Bioshock game. I love it!

Clearly a lot of attention was paid to the details which make for a much richer render. Wonderful work from Keegan.

"Sci-Fi Helmet" by Miloud Djarloul



I really admire Miloud's helmet design here. Particularly the way his shapes overlap each other and the isolated nature of detail. The overlapping style makes for a deliciously complex, layered model that keeps my eye scanning in a fun game of "connect the contours". Nothing is jarring or abrupt; everything is smooth and formed with care.

As for the detail - Notice how he has some areas that are broad and less-detailed while other areas are highly detailed. The complimentary balance is quite appealing to me and not easy to pull off. Often less detailed areas appear neglected, but not in this case.

My only complaint is that the renders are too small! This quality of work is worthy of more pixels :)

Honorable Mentions

Seriously, there are so many awesome helmet submissions that it was difficult to narrow my favorites down to four. So here's some honorable mentions:

If you want to get in on this sci-fi helmet action, start with the  modeling course and finish with the shading course. Don't forget to submit your helmet renders to the Gallery!

Author

Kent Trammell
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