Unity Opens Asset Store

Unity, the popular and completely free game development kit, has just opened up their own asset store. Users are now able to submit their own created content and have it sold to the public. The assets are not just limited to models either. Shaders, scripts, and even whole projects can be sold via the store. Those who submit content would then receive 70% of the profit when it is purchased, which is very generous in comparison to other similar services, such as Turbosquid, who offer the creator only 50% at the most.

My only experience with Unity is from trying the online demos they have on their website, but what I saw was certainly impressive. It supports next-gen graphics and lighting in a browser based format, and I can see why it is growing so popular so quickly. After hearing about the new asset store, I’m definitely going to download Unity and maybe submit some content myself.

 

Tutorial – Cutting Holes Into Meshes

So I’ve always been a fan of quick, concise image tutorials. They’re easy to follow (usually), and you don’t have to worry about missing that one little bit of information like you do for video tutorials. It’s also nice to be able to save the images for later use. My goal is to create a short image tutorial every couple weeks. They’ll mainly be based on simple techniques and common issues that people often come across while creating 3D art. As a test run to nail down the style and layout I’d like to have, I created a tutorial on cutting holes into flat geometry. There are still a few things I need to fix, but once I have everything solid, I’ll go ahead and put together another one on how to cut holes into curved surfaces. Let me know what you think. Enjoy.

Life Is Good

I officially have a foot in the industry. As of this past Monday, I am a 3D artist at TerraSim, Inc., and I couldn’t be happier. The whole thing came about so fast, I’m still letting it sink in. Thanks to a recommendation from one of my instructor’s at AIP, I was offered an interview on Wednesday, went in for it on Friday, and got the job Monday. It’s a part time job, since I’m still in school, but just having the opportunity to experience a professional production environment is just fantastic.

TerraSim produces software that is used by the military and other organizations for training simulations and other types of 3D visualizations. My main job will be producing models and textures for TerraSim’s databases, as well as help out with various other visually focused tasks, such as promotional images and videos. So while I may not be producing actual video games, I’m still getting to put my skills as an artist to use, and I’m very excited about it.

In other good news, the contest over at Next-Gen Hard Surface wrapped up last week, and I was lucky enough to take 3rd place. Looking back on it, I feel like I could have done much better with my entry, but I can’t complain. It was fun and I learned a lot from it. Congrats to the other winners as well. For my prize I was allowed to choose one tutorial from Eat3D, and I went with their new dozer tutorial. From what I’ve watched so far, it’s great stuff as usual.

My final entry for the NGHS contest.

NGHS Contest - Final Entry

Sci-Fi Ballista -NGHS Contest Entry

So the folks over at Next-Gen Hard Surface are also hosting there own little challenge, which happens to be sponsored by Eat3D. The rules of the contest are to create a futuristic version of an old wooden ballista. You can read more about it here.

So far I have blocked out the basic shape of the ballista and have begun on the high poly model. I just finished the barricade that will be sitting in front of the actual weapon to protect it from enemy fire. I would have liked to do more with it, but it took me longer than I expected and I need to move on to the actual cannon now.

nDo – Normal Map Creation Toolkit Released

Teddy Bergsman, game artist and one hell of a generous man, has released a new normal map creation toolkit that he has been working on. You can check out the release post over at Polycount.

I haven’t had time to play with it yet, but from reading over the nDo tutorial written by tutorial master Philip Klevestav, it looks like it goes above and beyond any other in-Photoshop normal map plugins I have used, such as XNormal and the Nvidia filter. It allows much more precise control over the results of your maps, and even allows you to paint your own maps with any brushes or settings you choose. Really awesome stuff.

I can’t say this will even come close to eliminating the need for skills such as high poly modeling and baking your own maps, but it is definitely a great tool and time saver that will help you push your work just that much further. Phillip K. does a much better job at explaining all the awesome things this program can do, so I suggest you just check out his tutorial to learn more about nDo. I’ll make sure to update with a post once I’ve had a chance to check it out for myself.

Modular Metal Textures

These are some modular metal textures that I worked on for a class last quarter. I have really become interested in texturing lately and used these as practice for my workflow and technique. After posting them on their forums, Eat3D was kind enough to feature them as a forum spotlight. The vent texture has come a long way from where it started, thanks to critique from members of Eat3D and Polycount.

Cobblestone!!!

High poly sculpt of some tileable cobblestone for an environment my roommate and I are putting together for the Polycount challenge. Props go out to Crazyeyes from Polycount for his insight into his workflow. You can check out some his work in this thread.

A New Blog And Some Recent Work

Hello everyone! Before I start posting some in progress work, I thought I’d show some stuff I’ve been working on recently.

Here is a 1940′s light post and some boat ties that will be used for a film noir style dock setting. These are just the base high poly models and I’ll take them into zbrush for some more detail before building the low poly.