Behind the Scenes: Discoveries By Alina Khan on November 21, 2024 Behind the Scenes Dive into the sci-fi world of Alexander, an Austria-based concept artist, as he illustrates his work with special texturing techniques.INTRODUCTIONHello, my name is Alexander. I am 35 years old and based in Vienna, Austria. I picked up Blender and various illustration software such as Photoshop about two years ago. So, due to my actual professional background in the health sector, I did not have any training or education in the 3D industry. Having the opportunity to introduce myself and show the creative process behind my renders is a great honor for me.But enough about me now, let's dive into the project! Thank you in advance for reading through my process.Enjoy!INSPIRATIONThis image was the result and my entry for the monthly Blender competition on their Discord channel. The theme was Machinery. By now, I have a structured workflow that I follow every time I start a new 3D project. The first step, like the headline already says, is finding inspiration. A really good habit to develop is to browse art pages and media sites on a daily basis. By doing that, you will expand your visual library, which makes the process of creating a basic layout/composition later on in Blender much easier. So, places like Artstation, Reddit and Discord servers are a great way to start.Personally, when I read the theme, I immediately thought about some sort of sci-fi-like environment. So, with a basic idea in mind, I started to collect some references, most of which were actually screenshots of two games I played very recently: Dead Space Remake and The Callisto Protocol. Games in general are a very good source for getting some inspiration as well as references since the environments are already there for you to observe! So, take advantage of that!After gathering a bunch of screenshots and references from the web, I put them into PureRef. Its a godly piece of (free!) software that lets you build a moodboard for your projectshighly recommend it. So now, it was time to open up Blender and start blocking out my first ideas!PROCESSHardware Specs: Nvidia Geforce RTX 4080 Intel i5 13600K 32 GB DDR5 RAM @ 4800 MHz Software and main Addons used: Blender 4.1 Plasticity Photoshop Random flow addon Box Cutter / Hard ops addon Mesh Machine addon Botaniq addon Fluent Materializer addon Creating a composition:Before hopping into modeling assets and texturing them, the first thing I usually do is get an idea of my composition by blocking it out roughly and setting up my camera. In this render, I knew I wanted to create a big environment so it was clear to me that my camera will have to be tilted upwards with a low focal length (I go for around 23 mm for large shots). I usually display the thirds in my camera view to get an idea where busy spots and focuses should be as well as spots where the viewers eye can rest.This process is very important in my opinion, because focusing on too many things at once (composition, lighting, modeling, etc) can be overwhelming. Also, with a basic layout of the scene, its much easier to place your real assets later on. By doing this, you can already get a sense for the scale of the environment and for the assets themselves. So, a good thing to do is to always implement some human-size reference cubes in the scene, as seen in the blockout screenshot. I always model my assets to human scale, because faking size can be very distracting for the viewer in the end result. For example, just scaling a railing up will look not natural."Basic layout/composition of the scene"After the blockout phase is done, I move on to the basic lighting setup. Here, I try to find cool angles and shadows which will make a nice atmospheric lighting, combined with volumetrics. I usually go with 1 strong light source in my renders (for indoor scenes, of course its different). With volumetrics in your scene, you can also create a really good feel for distance and how big everything appears to be. The settings of volumetrics have to be quite low though, otherwise it can go south really quickly. I also tend to place the volumetric cubes a little bit in front or further away from the camera as it affects the image overall, when the camera is also inside the volumetric cube."Initial lighting setup, changed later in the process"Modeling the assetsWhen it comes to modeling, I basically have three techniques that I use. Most of the time, I start with primitives and try to implement interesting shapes by cutting parts away, mirroring, adding parts and so on. A very good tool for that is Boxcutter/HardOps which makes Booleans very easy to use, and the Twist 360 modifier is an absolute time saver, giving really nice results.For the main ground asset, I chose a machine called Hydroponic. I picked up the idea from the video game The Callisto Protocol and really liked the design of it so I made my own version."Face mode of the Asset"As mentioned before, my modeling mainly consists of simple shapes where I cut or add certain things to get the look I want. The mesh is not necessarily a clean quad topology but when you do still images and do not have to morph the mesh in any way, it will render out completely fine.The second method is done with HardOps and its amazing feature, Twist 360. It allows you to create really interesting shapes and forms within a few clicks. While the base mesh is editable, you create more and more different assets of a very simple base structure, for example, this walkway.Taking it from thisTwist 360to this, in a few clicks! Amazing, right? Twist 360and even more interesting shapes and forms!So, this somewhat unorthodox modeling method allows you to come up with lots of cool models in a few minutes, which you can then use to greeble up your main assets or big structures, to create a massive amount of detail on the one hand, and on the other to show the scale of your large objects even more!The last method is making use of an addon called Random Flow, also highly recommended. With this addon, you can greatly increase the big, medium, and small elements on your base mesh. In this example, I used it to create a very detailed structure that ended up being the big thing in the final image."Selecting the faces you want to be affected by the addon"After selecting the faces of the base mesh you want to alter, you can start working with random flow.As you can see, my initial base mesh was pretty simple (some cubes, cylinders, extrusions, and bevels on the edges). After applying the addon, the mesh is detailed with larger junks and smaller parts as well.TexturingWhen it comes to texturing my objects, I have three methods. They are procedurally generated; I use photo textures from textures.com most of the time, or Quixel Mixer for grounds.With procedurally generated materials in Blender, there is an amazing addon called Fluent-Materializer. I use it a lot when it comes to rusty, grungy sci-fi objects, and it gets the job done perfectly. Setting up the node system can be a bit tricky at first, but with a little practice, its smooth as butter. You will achieve a very detailed, realistic look that can be shown on any hero asset, and it will look very nice!"Hydroponic, textured with Fluent Materializer"and the results speak for themselves!"Bridge asset, textured with Fluent Materializer""Main structure textured with Fluent Materializer"The second method I constantly use is using photo textures and projecting them onto the mesh. This is very advantageous because your model does not have to have every detail modeled in or dozens of decals. Instead, the juice comes from a 4K, sometimes even 8K texture (when very close to the camera). The node setup compared to Fluent Materializer is very easy and simple."A wall asset from a different Project, textured with photo textures"The model itself is just a cube, with some unevenness modeled in to make it look more organic and believable.The third method I use is mostly for the floor/ground only. Quixel has a piece of software called Quixel Mixer. Basically, it allows you to mash up lots of different textures from their Quixel Megascans library. You can then adjust everything to your needs (be it displacement, roughness, metallic, etc.) and even add puddles of water. After importing into Blender, you can work with the displacement modifier to apply the displacement onto your mesh (subdivide your planes a bunch of times). The only downside of this method is that its very heavy in GPU load due to the displacement. So, I usually end up making one or two and alt+d ing them around the scene. Also, you should decimate the plane after applying the sub d and displacement. Another cool trick is to make the albedo, roughness, and normal smaller beforehand. There is an awesome free software called Infranview that gets the job done perfectly. You can reduce the size from 100 mb to around 6 mb within a few clicks. Just save it as a .JPG instead of the heavy .PNG files. The only thing I do not make smaller is the displacement map itself, cause thats where the juice is."Quixel ground asset"From Quixel Mixer"Imported ground asset into Blender"into the project, it looks fire!After I was finished with modeling and texturing, I went back to the blockout and started to arrange my assets in the scene. I usually end up showing a few compositional guidelines in my camera view, such as the thirds and the golden ratio, to get a rough overview on how to and where to place my objects. There are a few little tricks you can do to lead the viewers eye where you want it to go: Rule of thirds (place your main objects into that area) Do not split the image in half (rather, pick a side). Have strong leading lines to guide the eye. Cluster detail Include scale references or shapes in your image that the human eye can easily relate to. Have breathing room (e.g., empty space in your scene) to give the eye a little rest. Lighting sources should be placed not randomly but with a specific purpose (to show something important or to lead the viewers eye towards something). Use volumetrics (either in Blender itself or render out the mist pass alongside for further processing in Photoshop or any other software), but use volumetrics carefully as it washes out your textures when you overdo it. After rendering it out in Blender, I took it to Photoshop for color grading, lighting adjustments, and adding dust and some particles floating in the air. A really neat way to get rid of the 3D-ness is to overpaint the image. I usually go with the mixer-brush tool in Photoshop, and it gets the job done perfectly. Paint over the sharp edges to soften up your image and give it that slight painterly lookit will make a considerable difference!Below youll see the final image and a clay render alongside it.RENDER: Discoveries"Final image after post-processing""Clay render of the final arrangement"Thank you so much for letting me have this opportunity to guide you through my process of creating my 3D art. I hope you enjoyed the small voyage.Cheers, Alexander!About the Artist Alexander is a 35-year-old radiographer and hobby concept artist based in Vienna, Austria.Links

Txa_ant offers a wide range of options including landscape type presets, setting strata (layers) and it comes with a material library to use. ChuckCG explains how to use it.Source

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AI is coming for us all. Writers, doctors and artists among many others all stand to have their livelihoods decimated by artificial intelligence. And the next potential victim? The Son of God.Peters Chapel in Lucerne, Switzerland, recently unveiled Deus in machina, an experimental art installation that features an AI version of Jesus in the confessional booth, according to its website.Videos by VICEThe church has encouraged visitors to share their thoughts and questions with AI Jesus, though it clarified that this shouldnt be considered the Sacrament of Confession.AI Jesus, whose likeness appears on a screen in the confessional, may create a sacred moment, the church said. Peters Chapel added that the installation is meant to encourage visitors to think critically about the limits of technology in the context of religion.A recent video released by German media out Deutsche Welle took viewers inside the unlikely experience. When the reporter entered the confessional, AI Jesus warned, Do not disclose personal information under any circumstances. Use this service at your own risk. Press the button if you accept.Do People Like AI Jesus?About two-thirds of participants told the outlet that they came out of the tech-assisted confessional having had a spiritual experience.He was able to reaffirm me in my ways of going about things, one woman said. And he helped me with questions I had, like how I can help other people understand Him better and come closer to Him.I was surprised. It was so easy, another woman remarked. Though its a machine, it gave me so much advice, also from a Christian point of view. I felt taken care of and I walked out really consoled.Another person told the outlet that AI Jesus, who speaks 100 languages, gave a great answer to their question about being rational and faithful, while another man dubbed the experience a gimmick for sure.Why Turn to AI for Religion?Marco Schmid, a theologian at Peters Chapel, explained why he agreed to give AI Jesus a try.What were doing here is an experiment, Schmid said. We wanted to launch the discussion by letting people have a very concrete experience with AI. That way, we have a foundation for talking about it and discussing it with one another.He also pointed out the practical benefits of AI Jesus, noting, [Hes accessible] 24 hours a day, so has abilities that pastors dont.While ethics Professor Peter Kirchschlger told the outlet that the project goes too far, he agreed that it provides food for thought.We should be careful when it comes to faith, pastoral care, when finding meaning in religion, he warned. Thats an area where we humans are actually vastly superior to machines, so we should do these things ourselves.

Rich ininspirationPath of Exile 2 has many inspirations from Elden Ring to Civilization 5, according to game directorIn a roundtable interview with press, Jonathan Rogers reveals some of the game's inspirations.Image credit: VG247 News by Connor Makar Staff Writer Published on Nov. 21, 2024 According to Path of Exile 2 game director Jonathan Rogers the game has a wealth of inspirations from across the video game landscape, including Elden Ring and the wider action genre for its boss fights, and Civilization V for its end-game map.Revealed during an end game presentation, and elaborated on in a press roundtable, the topic first popped up following a story boss fight in which the player character faces off against a massive construct with over a dozen unique attacks and various phases. When asked about wider inspirations in a roubtable press interview following the presentation, Rogers stated the following.To see this content please enable targeting cookies. "Honestly it would be very hard for me to come up with just one game, becauase we get inspired [a lot] and there are random influences everywhere. The in-game map, right? The thing I said to the artists is that I want it to look like Civiliation V! These are things you wouldn't usually expect to influence an ARPG. We take inspiration from everywhere, and it's hard to even nail down the list.""Obviously, recent action games because it was approaching the combat stuff that we were doing, stuff like Elden Ring. I kind of play jsut about every type of genre of video game, I'm not locked into just ARPGs. But I think probably, strangely enough single player action games are probably my favourite genre.""It's really what I love, so those types of games are what I take a lot of inspiration from in terms of boss design and stuff like that. We really want the bosses in PoE 2 are world class as far as action games go. There's lots of interesting mechanics, a lot of abilties, and it takes a lot of work to make a boss like that. In PoE 2 we also have to take into consideration dodge rolling right? So there are more action game type considerations you have to make. We have to be an action game and a stat game at the same time, which is quite tricky."We noted the merit behind PoE 2's boss design in our preview of the game, which you can read in full here. Path of Exile 2 is set to launch on December 6, on PC and console. Read this next

Another PathPath of Exile 2 is a deep, dark, dastardly ARPG that's got what it takes to transcend even the original - hands-on previewI came away from my time with PoE 2 with an urgent sense to play more.Image credit: Grinding Gear Games Article by Connor Makar Staff Writer Published on Nov. 21, 2024 There are some games, really good games, which are time vampires. They entice you with engaging gameplay, snatch your gaze with beautiful visuals, and trap you in a vice of challenging fights you don't want to give up on.Having played around seven hours of Path of Exile 2 during a preview event - all the way through Act 1 of the campaign and a good way into Act 2 - it's clear to me that this game is the Nosferatu of hour-eaters. The great weekend devourer. I look towards its December 6 release date and know I am screwed. You certainly are, too. Sorry.What Grinding Gear Games has done here is taken the ever-excellent Path of Exile 1 and refined it into a greater, more modern monster. Don't panic! The complexity is still there in spades, as is the challenge. Rather than dilute the sauce, it's a gorgeous revolution of the original. Easier to pick up, but begging to be experimented with. Full of surprises, too - even for those familiar with the team's work.You're thinking maybe you'll be fine, but you won't be. Path of Exile 2 has 12 classes: all very different from each other and with a frankly absurd level of skill customisation which all but confirms that my playstyle and yours will be entirely different. Eat your heart out, Diablo.To see this content please enable targeting cookies. This is true even if we play the same base class, by the way. My Warrior could be all about his totems, popping them up and using them to detonate the ground around them in vast AOE clears. Yours might be a fire-centric warrior, using war crys to ignite enemies and enhance their attacks. Maybe you'll grab a unique weapon that boosts bleed attacks? Well, then you can reset everything and build your character around it to superb results. Add on top of this support gems and the legendarily enormous passive skill tree...building a character in Path of Exile 2 is like thrifting for clothes, you could come across a shirt or jacket that totally flips your outfit on its head.This on its own is similar to what Path of Exile 1 offers. The key difference for me is the improved new-player experience when it comes to scaling the daunting wall of complexity that surrounds this series. The Path of Exile 2 approach offers a path to the top of that wall. Any active or support skill gems you get offer you a selection that's broken down into classic and weapon type. You can, if you're more experienced, venture away from the standard options presented to you. But what this approach offers is a streamlined avenue through the games' systems. This way, once a player reaches the end of the campaign, they'll understand how everything works. No lengthy guides needed! It's not hard to get a decent character working here, which is good for the newbies! | Image credit: Grinding Gear GamesIf that's the meat and gristle of the game, where do you take all these skills and intricacies to? Well, you take it to the homes of a honestly absurd variety of monsters, ghouls, freaks, and horrors in invigorating combat. It's all well and good writing about how much you can tweak your abilities in Path of Exile 2, but such praise would matter little if these skills flopped about limp and unimpressive. I'm happy to write that nothing could be further from reality. Your attacks erupt outward in VFX-laden blasts and brutal blows that send enemies flying, or scattered and gory.Path of Exile 1 has taken significant steps towards improving the overall combat experience in recent years, but I feel Path of Exile 2 has leaped forward into an exciting direct. No part of the game exemplifies this more than the boss fights. Not just end-of-act bosses either, regular bosses you find all over the gaff. Various phases, heaps of attacks, and very eager to slap you dead. This is a good thing! You shouldn't have to wait until the end game to have to lock in. It's also worth noting that it's incredibly easy to feel radically powerful in PoE2. | Image credit: Grinding Gear GamesAs for other notable perks? The tone of this game is extraordinary. Even in Act 1, the various biomes are distinct in nature, so much so that I never got bored of a particular zone nor enemy type. It helps that there are a frankly absurd number of enemies present! Rarely will you see repeated use of foes across your journey through the campaign - a fact which applies to bosses too! Each zone is a fresh slate, a fresh challenge to confront. All these zones share a dread, a malaise. You follow the path of the antagonists and they leave a poison in their wake, one that flavours the entire experience.These zones too are dotted with surprises. Those bosses I mentioned earlier aren't throwaway damage sponges but real, interesting fights. I came across a boss called Crowbell around half way through Act 1. This was a three-phase fight that navigated the map, one with a unique model and attacks. This fight, which could well have ended a side-quest or have acted as a mini-boss with narrative ties, was just left for me to discover. A genuine surprise, and a pleasant one.There's a lot of Path of Exile 2 I didn't see. I only saw a bit of Act 2, but none of Act 3. I haven't had hands-on with the end-game, but have seen how it works through a pre-play presentation. Even so, I can't help but sit here and feel a surge of excitement around Path of Exile 2. It really does feel like a sequel in the truest sense of the word, improving where it can and maintaining the foundation where it's stable. I would recommend it to everyone with a love of ARPGs to try it out next month, and anyone with even a vague taste for a deep, dark, dastardly game you can really sink your teeth into.Path of Exile 2 releases on December 6 on PC, Xbox, and PlayStation. We accessed Path of Exile 2 via a dedicated Grinding Gear Games preview event, with travel assistance provided by the developer.

Or just misunderstood?It's hard to believe that it's been 20 years since the Nintendo DS launched, yet here we are. It's been even longer since it was revealed too, with the newly-appointed VP of sales and marketing Reggie Fils-Aim taking to the stage at E3 2004 to showcase Nintendo's vision for the future of handheld gaming.We know now, of course, that the console clutched in Reggie's hands was a mere prototype. At the time, however, as far as many prospective customers were concerned, this was it. This was going to be the Nintendo DS that would wind up in millions of homes across the globe.Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Upgrade your Switch's storage.Black Friday doesn't officially kick off until Friday 29th November, but that hasn't stopped the likes of Amazon and even Nintendo itself from starting the party early.If you've been hoovering up games left, right and centre in Nintendo's eShop sales (US here, UK here), you'll probably be on the lookout for a bigger microSD card to help you store them all. Thankfully, the best early gaming Black Friday deals just so happen to be within that very category.Read the full article on nintendolife.com

In BriefPosted:4:22 PM PST November 21, 2024Image Credits:Manabu Takahashi / Getty ImagesAmerican Airlines is deploying new tech to shame boarding line cuttersAmerican Airlines has a new tactic for shaming boarding line cutters: A loud beeper.CNBC reports that the airline is rolling out a system that emits two loud beeps when a traveler tries to get on an airplane before their boarding group is called.As of Wednesday, the new tech was in over 100 airports around the U.S. following tests at Albuquerque International Sunport, Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, and Tucson International Airport.CNBC notes that other airlines have experimented with less, well, audible ways to prevent gate crowding, which can interfere with the boarding process for flyers who pay a premium to get seated early. United, for example, texts customers when its time to board, provides a countdown-to-boarding clock via its iOS app, and has digital signs showing which boarding group has been called. Topics

In BriefPosted:3:30 PM PST November 21, 2024Image Credits:Daniel Mihailescu / AFP / Getty ImagesHackers break into Andrew Tates online university, steal user data and flood chats with emojisHackers have breached an online course founded by ostensible influencer and self-described misogynist Andrew Tate, leaking data on close to 800,000 users, including thousands of email addresses and private user chat logs.The Daily Dot, which broke the news Thursday, reported that the hackers accessed the user data, then flooded the online courses chatroom with emojis that included a transgender flag, a feminist fist, an AI-generated image of Tate draped in a rainbow flag, another where his buttocks are enlarged, among others.The hacktivists provided the hacked data on the courses users to The Daily Dot, which handed the records to data breach notification site Have I Been Pwned, and DDoSecrets, a nonprofit collective that stores leaked datasets in the public interest.Per the BBC, Tate remains under house arrest in Romania awaiting trial on charges on allegations of human trafficking and rape.Topics