BlenderBoy's Blender Blog - Homeschool Blogger

Calvary Scene

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 17:58:00 -0600

For the thanksgiving theme, here is a little scene I built representing the thing we are most thankful for.

Now, I've always been a fan of 3D pictures and have tried to make some of my own in the past, but I was not really satisfied with my results. The other day, I saw "A Christmas Carol" in 3D and that inspired a need to try again. So, if you have your red/cyan 3D glasses at hand, take a look at this.

Or, if you have yellow/blue 3D glasses...
(click any picture for a full size image)

BTW: If these pictures are too dark to see clearly, then tell me and I'll see if I can't lighten them up a bit.

AI Car Explanation

Wed, 7 Oct 2009 16:26:00 -0500

So... after fourteen months, I've decided to post again. Back in February, somebody asked me a question about the artificial intelligence of my car. Um... I don't actually have a car; we are talking about a "virtual" car. Anyway, to the point.

   The AI is done predominately with rays as sensors, using logic bricks to transfer properties and do the actual work, and using a Python script to make sense of it all. I have a couple of screenshots to give you an idea of what I'm talking about because it would be hard to explain it all.

This is showing the invisible stuff that you don't see (was that redundant?) while running the exe.

And this is a glance behind the scenes.

   Basically, the rays (which are shown as the variously sized lines extruding from the car) send information to the Python script which determines what to do and, in turn, sends commands to the logic bricks which preform the neccessary actions (like steering, accelerating, and braking). The big pyramidal-ish object in front of the car, works in conjunction with the cube on the track to make sure the car is going in the right direction.

   Ever since that 'tragic' day in June of '08 on which I lost my Blender work, I have kind of gotten away from using Blender, but I was able to recover a very few of the lost files and I just recently remembered how much I like Blender. So, who knows... I just might start again. And, of course, Blender is getting better all the time; especially with v2.5 to come!

Faking Object Shadows -- Great Camera Setup

Tue, 5 Aug 2008 00:22:00 -0500

I received a comment asking how I did the shadows and camera setup in my Car Game.

Shadows: The shadows are are not actual shadows (you have to fake the shape) but are very easy to make.

1. In the mesh that you want to have the shadow for, make a plane, subdivide it (if you need to), and make it the right shape for your object.

2. Then, in the 'Editing' buttons (F9) and in the 'Texture Face' panel, set the faces to 'shadow'. Now they will drop strait down the global Z axis and set on the next face that they hit when you start the game engine.

3. From what I can remember, you need to make sure the face is even, in the 'z' direction, with the object center. To get the right effect, you should also add a semi-transparent material to the shadow faces.

Camera Setup: This is a little more complicated, but all it is, is a bunch of empties and a small script.

Here is a '.blend' file with just the camera setup: Camera Setup.blend. (right click, select 'Save target/link as')

For illustration purposes:

Empty #1: The Camera!

Empty #2: The parent of the camera. The script sets the location of this empty to the location of Empty #3.

Empty #3: This empty is independent. It always tracks Empty #4, and moves toward it at a certain speed. The speed is defined in the script using a certain formula which makes it faster when it is farther away and slower when it is closer.

Empty #4: This is the main camera position. It sets it's location to the location of one of Empty #6's ray's collision points or the location of Empty #5 if there is no collision. (was that understandable?)

Empty #5: The location of Empty #4 when there is no collision. It has a location ipo so that it will match the distances of the collision rays from Empty #6 when you change the camera distance during the game by pushing 'c'.

Empty #6: Parent this to the object you want to follow. This also sends the rays that determine camera collisions.

On the slight chance that you were able to understand that (I'm not a very clear writer most of the time), you now have the basic functions of the setup.

More Trees!

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 22:05:00 -0500

I have to admit, the trees in the previous post don't look that great. Here are some better ones that are not as sparse and have better proportions.

This is just a screenshot from inside the game engine (instead of a render), so the colors are probably not as good and there are no shadows. This is because, I'm not running it off of the Apricot build with GLSL. Of course this computer doesn't have a modern enough graphics card for it to work, so it wouldn't matter even if I was.

Anyway, here it is:

No, I didn't mean for the tree to be in the center of the path!

Trees

Wed, 9 Jul 2008 16:32:00 -0500

There's not much to say about these trees except that I plan to create a script or something that will randomize the number and position of the branches.

Chevy Camaro Concept Car - Modeling Process

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 14:50:00 -0500

This entry will take you through a not-so-detailed process of modeling a car.

Click on each picture to see it full size because it probably won't be clear unless you do.

The Car

Started at 9:40PM, June 18

I have a box that is the basic size and has the right number of edge loops.

The edge loop that runs down the middle of the car now has it's shape.

A render of a little more sculpting around the edge.

Finished section at 10:15PM, June 18

Started section at 5:25AM, June 19

A lot more detail on the top.

Finished section at 6:15AM, June 19

Took 1hr 25min in all to get this.

Started section at 10:05PM, June 19

Finished the entire main shape of the car.

Rendered

Finished section at 10:32PM, June 19

Now, the next morning, (from 9:15 to 10:10), I had finished all the little details of the car when the computer shut down. I hadn't saved in a while so I lost it all back to the above picture. But I got it all back except the last ten minutes of work because Blender had auto saved it.

Started section at 10:50AM, June 19

Details finished - Solid mode in Blender.

Details finished - Wireframe mode in Blender.

A render of the finished details.

Finished section at 11:05AM, June 20

Started section at 11:10AM, June 20

I then added textures and made a weird small scene.

Final render from the front.

Final render from the back.

Finished at 1:00PM, June 20

Hope you enjoyed!

Unfortunate Happening

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 08:39:00 -0500

Bad news (at least for me). I discovered yesterday that the USB flash drive that I keep all my Blender stuff on, got corrupted! I lost almost three years of work. I think it has something to do with the fact that the computer that I work on the most, clicks off from time to time without warning.

Unfortunately, I didn't have the files backed up anywhere. So, a little piece of advice: make sure any files that you really want are backed up somewhere.

Now, this dosn't mean that I lost any thing that you can download from this blog. Only that I can't make them any better.

Car Game: Demo 2

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 15:04:00 -0500

The next great demo release is here!!! Just kidding, it is here but it's not necessarily great.

There are a few upgrades: a second level, a few more camera options (see the readme), and some cheat codes! (that's all I can think of right now)

A couple of fixes that were suggested from last version: slower turning, no backing up camera.

Here's the link: Car Demo2.zip

Size: 11.3 MB

Just download and unzip. Be sure to read the 'readme' especially if you didn't play demo1.

If you have problems, questions, comments, or suggestions, let me know.

Lightsaber In Two Different Programs

Tue, 5 Feb 2008 13:49:00 -0600

A few weeks ago, I wanted to see how long it would take me to make a certain object in both of two different programs. I decided to model my brother's toy lightsaber.

The first program I did it in was Gmax and this was the result.

It turned out better than I expected seeing as I hadn't had a lot of experience in that program.

The second program was Blender and this was the result.

Now, if this picture looks better than the other one, as far as quality goes, it is because Blender has a built in renderer and Gmax doesn't. So I had to print the screen into paint and save it from there.

I can't remember, (although I could at the time) but I think it took three or four hours to make it in Gmax and only thirty minutes to an hour in Blender. A pretty big difference, mostly due to the fact that I don't have as much experience in Gmax.