This blog is about my journey back into the graphic design industry after a brief pause from the turbulent arena. This journey will encompass new technologies I encounter along the way as well as my exploration into social media outlets.
If you have ever used a 3D modeling program you know that you can usually create 3D text objects. You should also be able to add a bevel to your text AND add a fancy profile to the text edge simply by clicking on a button. Not so easy in Blender. What I mean by not so easy is you cannot simply click a button and have the profile appear onto your text. You have to do a little more work in Blender which also means, in a good way, having a little more control over your profile.
For a long time I always wondered how artists retained so much detail in their 3D renderings. How could they get small nuances to render and display as photo realistic. The answer is displacement mapping. Adding a grey scale image into the displacement channel will render true texture with lifelike modeling.
I have waited a long time to get this first render out. It seems like life and keeping the building rented is a full time distraction. Not that I can claim ownership to the couch model; I am excited I got everything to work together as planned. Thanks goes to Andrew Price's course on Architectural Visualization. I am learning at an accelerated pace and enjoying it very much. It has taken me a few days to get reacclimated with the blender UI but I'm picking it up much quicker than last year at this time.
The other aspect of this journey is getting all of the social networking in place. I am entering back into the field with a renewed spirit and an open mind to change. This transformation has come to me slowly while spending the past few years adapting to a teaching environment. With the down turn in the economy, and the obliteration of the graphic design community, I've had to rethink my chosen path and alter its direction. I think I am finally pointed in the right direction and crossing my fingers that the world can stabilize itself and behave like a normal world should. Wishful thinking!
Stay safe, create daily, and be attuned to change.
Today I am beginning to review the content in Andrew Price's Architecture Academy for Blender. I signed up for this online course in March of 2013 and then never had time to work on it. Life just gets in the way sometimes. Architectural illustration is something I have been wanting to explore for some time now. I have always been interested in old structures and the renovation of all items old and discarded. I studied architecture in college for a while but was never smart enough to keep up. With this realization of my limitations, I opted out for a career in illustration and design. I'm certainly not complaining. I have been very fortunate to withstand all of the ups and downs associated with my career path.
This course looks to be very robust and filled with free assets to help anyone get started. Everything from free furniture models to materials and HDR backgrounds. The course is well worth the expense just for the included assets. The course is closed at the moment getting updates and revisions but will be available again in the spring of 2014. If you are working in Blender or want to get started in Blender, Andrew is certainly a very seasoned artist to follow.
Blender is a free, 3D, open source application used to build models, scenes and conceptual illustrations. The best part of Blender is it's FREE, but don't let that scare you away from this powerful program. It has a huge community of users and is constantly being refined and updated to keep up with 3D demands. I started using Blender about a year ago after the program I was using just lost focus. I also taught a 3D visualization course at Ivy Tech Community College which utilized Blender for its course content.
