Several Tips and Tricks on Animation and Rigging

We created a collection of 10 tips and tricks showing how to rig, skin, and animate a model in Blender in preparation to use in a game.

 We are still trying to win the Salt Valley Tally competition so if you haven't yet please vote for us.

Please Vote Here!

If we win the competition we will release a animated manticore model to be used in commercial projects such as video games. Also we will make a large tutorial showing how to animate several animations and import the model into Unity 3D.

 Please enjoy the video below: :)

Speed Sculpt (Zbrush but it carries over)

As you may know I have been working on a game called Duel Beasts and it has entered a competition to get $5,000 to put towards its production at the Salt Valley Tally. The top 5 projects that receive the most votes will win.

Please vote for Duel Beasts:  VOTE HERE

We are putting together some really cool freebies and the following speed sculpting video is just the first of many such freebies.

Quick Tip: Default Font Directory

In this quick tip I show you how to set Blender's default font directory to actually point to your default font directory. How cool is that?

Also the first competition is officially over and I am looking over all the great entries I have received and trying to decide who gets the grand prize of Filter Forge. So stay tuned. :)

In Depth Review: Hologram- Complete Project

This is an in depth review of Oliver Villar's first commercial product "Hologram-Complete Project". This review is designed to show you the good and the bad about the product so before buying you can make a better informed decisions as to whether or not the product is for you. By kind permission of Oliver himself I also get to show you actual footage from the training itself in the review.

Quick Tip: Creating an Alpha Map

In this tutorial I go over how to create a bump map of a rendered image using the compositor. These maps are useful in a variety of situations; whether you want to do some texture work and need a specific bump map or whether you want to create a brush to use while sculpting.

For blender's documentation reference here.

Modeling a Toga

Toga Party! I don't even know what that means to tell you the truth... anyway, having committed to make a tutorial on how to create a toga here it is in all of its HD vimeo glory. In the tutorial I show you how to quickly make cloth and a toga using Blender's awesome sculpting tools. So sit back, relax, and watch yourself some good toga goodness.

On a side note, due to school being in full swing and me working full time teaching; I have found it a little hard to make Blender training, but if I get enough support via views, comments, likes on facebook, etc I will continue to try to make one video every week or so. I have finished three tutorials on modeling now; and will focus on texture work for the next three videos. I have some pretty fun tutorials lined up, so stay tuned. Also make sure you go check out the competition, it is still running until the end of September.

Competition: Math isn’t cool, this poster is cool!

As many of you know, or not; I am a math teacher and it is back to school time. So as school starts to gear up I realized just how bare my walls are of any interesting art and I thought to myself, “self, I bet you could get some really cool art from the Blender community to help liven up your classroom… oh, and it would be fun to do a competition as well.” And so the first ever Blender Cubed competition was born.

So what is the competition you ask? Well basically you are creating an image that I can print and hang in my actual classroom as a poster. You submission can be inspirational, funny, mathematical, or whatever; as long as it rocks… and is appropriate for public school…and it rocks.


Theme:
Poster for math class. Create an image that could be printed as a poster for Mr. Nielsen’s math class. The submitted image can be inspirational, educational, humorous, or just plain random; as long as it would look good in a classroom.

Prize for best submission:
Free copy of Filter Forge Pro Version (Retails at close to $400), ohhh and glory. See www.filterforge.com

Deadline:
September 30th, 2011

Specifics:
-Submit your final render to porternielsen@blendercubed.com with your name and email address.

• You may have more than one submission.
• You can not submit artwork that is not your own…
• You must use only blender for the 3d work.
• You may use other software for texture creation, rendering, and touch up.
• If you are selected as the winner I must have permission to print your image on a poster and display it in my classroom.
• If you submit artwork I must have permission to showcase it for the sake of the competition.
• Resolution should be high enough to be of excellent quality if printed. Different dimensions that I can print to are: 16 x 20, 16 x 24, 18 x 24, 20 x 24, 20 x 30, 24 x 36, and 36 x 48. If you want to submit a smaller resolution then print size with the intent to submit a higher resolution if you win; that is fine.

How do you win?
Submit the best artwork.