Oskar versus Game Art

[Inspiration] Rymdreglage - 8-bit Trip

2011-07-17T16:27:00.000+02:00

8-bit Trip by Rymdreglage

Cultural Off-Topic: Modern Science Fiction

2011-07-03T20:34:00.011+02:00

Accelerando, space metal and the best anime series of 2000s.

Book. Charles Stross: Accelerando (2005)

Brilliant approach to the theme of Singularity and the best modern SF I've read in a while. As it says in the back cover of the Polish edition: it's "Cyberpunk Demythologised".
It seems to be a perfect book for the start if you want to familiarise with last decade's science fiction, because of a wide scope of topics this book touches upon.

All chapters, taking place in the consecutive decades of the XXI century, begin with a detailed description of the predicted changes to come - in the society, economics and space exploration. They're just briefings to the overwhelming amount of fresh ideas that follows.

Charles Stross has recently released the book for free: be sure to check it out!

Similar stuff: Greg Bear: Blood Music (1985), Peter Watts: Blindsight (2006)

Rock Opera Progressive Space Folk Metal Album. Great synth backgrounds. And... female vocalists singing about Mars and stuff! ... yeah, for real ;> Ayreon: 01011001. "Liquid Eternity", "Age of Shadows"

Similar stuff: Star One: Space Metal (2002) and Victims of Modern Age (2010)

Dark Science-Fiction Anime. Ergo Proxy (2006). Simply, my fauvorite 2000s anime series. Grim, leaving you in unease, but the story is one of the greatest you'll find among futuristic films, not only Japanese.

Similar stuff: Texhnolyze (2003)

Pen Tablet: How To Set Up Blender and Sculptris

2011-07-02T22:24:00.001+02:00

Blender and Wacom. Tip for 2.5 and 2.49.

A little modification in program's settings instantly makes any Wacom tablet friendly to use with Blender. Navigating the viewport becomes as fluent as with a mouse.

You will be able to move around the viewport by pressing the tip of the pen while holding the following keys:

[Alt] - Rotate
[Ctrl Alt] - Zoom
[Shift Alt] - Pan

Open a fresh Blender instance - or press File > New.

When you're done, press [Ctrl U] and confirm.

Some sliders, like those for opacity or size in Texture Paint or and Sculpt modes, have a 'P' or 'forefinger' buttons at their right. Turn those buttons ON to enable pressure sensitivity for chosen values.

Sculptris. Tip for version 'Alpha 6'

The viewport controls are identical as in Blender.

Strength and Size sliders have a 'dot' at their left. Turn this button ON to enable pressure sensivity for this value.

Blender: Saving Automatic Edge Split To 'Sharp Edges'

2011-06-28T00:52:00.001+02:00

This method is superior over AutoSmooth and the default EdgeSplit behaviour.

You will be able to gain full control over which edges will be recognized as sharp ones. Still, you will just have to correct Blender's guessing, instead of doing the whole operation by hand.

Additional benefit: easy conversion of sharp edges to UV seams.

When you plan to bake normals, it's extremely important for the low-poly model to have UV seams where the hard edges are. (Typically, you should use bevels for marking the sharpness on high poly; and NO hard split vertices.)

The procedure:

Object mode:
Select your low-poly model.
Add Edge Split modifier, set (From) Edge Angle ON. Set a Split Angle that gives a satisfying result.
Click Apply in this modifier.

Edit mode:
Select a sharp edge (a random one).
[Shift G] (Select Similar) > Face Users (2.49) or Amount Of Vertices In Face (newer versions)
[Ctrl E] > Mark Sharp
Remove the doubled edges (still, their sharp tag will be preserved):
[W] > Remove Doubles

Object mode:
Add Edge Split modifier again. This time set (From) Face Angle OFF and set From Marked As Sharp (Sharp Edges in newer versions) ON.

Converting sharp edges to UV seams is pretty straightforward now:

Select a sharp edge.
[Shift G] > Sharp (Sharpness)
[Ctrl E] > Mark Seam.

Blender: Absolute/Relative Edge Loop Slide

2011-06-24T15:20:00.006+02:00

Select an edge loop...
Press [Ctrl E], Edge Slide...

PRESS [P] WHILE DOING EDGE SLIDE!!!!!
Super Secret Blender Function Revealed! \m/

(tip for version 2.49)

Vertex Color Does More Than Just Colouring Vertices!

2011-06-23T09:53:00.017+02:00

Vertex Alpha - useful in some cases, when adding another texture (alpha map) is unnecessary or problematic. Select Alpha blending mode in [F9] only for those faces that need it. Clip Alpha could be useful too. It tresholds the vertex alpha like it was a regular alpha map :) and its rendering cost is much lower. For the rest use Opaque.

Overlay mixing mode - brightens and darkens the texture, instead of just darkening (like the default Vertex Color behaviour.)

(Possibilities are infinite ;) People beyond Crysis used vcol information as weight groups for animating the foliage [GPU Gems 3])