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Life is about learning, from
your own
experiences and from helpful people along the way. Everything from a 3d
tip to larger topics such as composition and color theory, this is my
area to give back to the graphics community, a community that has given
me so much over the years.
While several lessons deal directly with 3ds Max, I've tried to keep discussions as software unspecific as possible, so you won't have to be a Max user to get something from these lessons. If you have any comments or find some mistakes, feel free to go to my contact page and email me. Would
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| News |
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July 3rd 2009
My Gnomon DVD "Hard Surface Shading And Texturing" is now out. To order, or for more information, please go here. Added a few new details to Piles Of Rubble and Replacing Scatter With PFlow. June 11th 2009 Added a new technique to Converting A Grayscale Image To Black On Transparent. Added a new lesson Chipped Paint Material. June 8th 2009 I have just completed an instructional DVD for The Gnomon Workshop called "Hard Surface Shading And Texturing". It contains over 5.5 hours of content. Here's the description from the website: "In this 2 DVD set, Neil introduces his pipeline for shading and texturing hard surface models. The pipeline can be used for any highres models, such as models for photoreal fx work, animated feature films, ride films or videogame cinematics. In Part 1, he discusses reference gathering, how to make a visual details list, and common shaders. Then he outlines all of the major methods for placing patterns on your surface, their advantages and disadvantages, and ways of creating patterns, including procedurals, photo manipulation, and hand painting. He breaks up the lecture with practical demonstrations in Adobe photoshop and 3dstudio max using the Scanline, Brazil and mentalray renderers, and stresses how the theory can be applicable to your 3d application and renderer of choice. In Part 2, he uses the theory and pipeline from Part 1 to shade and texture a 2000+ object robot character and simple environment using 3ds Max, Photoshop and Brazil. With a focus on texturing thousands of objects fast and efficiently and theory that is useful in any 3d app or renderer, this intermediate level course is sure to add many new tricks to your personal arsenal." The DVD should be out July 1st 2009, go here for more info, including a sneak peak at the final robot (more images to follow when the DVD is released). Added a new pic in my Enhancing Bumps Through Rake Lighting lesson. Added more pics to my Flat Metallic Surfaces lesson. And lastly, a big thanks to everyone who came to my talks in Utrecht last week, we had a fantastic time. May 18th 2009 First off, I updated my Chrome Material lesson with some extra info on the difference between polished, blurred and glossy reflections. Alexander Yergashov again has translated a number of my lessons into russian, here's the list: A White Plane That Fades Into A White Background, Spun Pattern, Dust Material, Replacing Scatter With PFlow, Towels, Carpet Or Grass Material Using Displacement, and Offset Filter To Make Tileable Textures. And one last reminder that I will be in Utrecht next week giving 2 presentations for the "End User Event 2009". Can't wait to see everyone there! Apr 12th 2009 Alexander Yergashov was nice enough to translate several of my lessons into Russian. So if you're a russian speaker, feel free to click on the link at the top of any of these pages: Rounding The Edges, Chamfers And Fillets, Ambient Occlusion, Flat Metallic Surfaces, Complex Organic Materials Using Falloff, and Microscope Materials. Thanks Alexander! Apr 7th 2009 I will be giving 2 presentations at this year's "End User Event 2009" May 28th-29th in Utrecht, The Netherlands. The first will be the Pixar related talk "The Sets Of Wall-E: Trash Planet" where I will discuss some of the challenges the Pixar sets team encountered making a giant world of trash. The second talk will be called "Shading And Texturing Hard Surface Models", which will be a non-Pixar talk where I show a number of techniques I use in my personal work when shading and texturing hard surface models. While 3dsmax will be my primary example platform, theory from this talk can be applied to the 3d app and renderer or your choice. For more info, please visit here. Also added 2 new simple Photoshop tips, Converting A Grayscale Image To Black On Transparent and Changing A Photoshop Layer's Color To A Different Color While Keeping Transparency. Mar 19th 2009 Added a new lesson, Multiple UV Tiles. Added more info to my Pelt Mapping lesson about evening out uvs across the entire surface. Added a whole ton of new info to my Converting A Mudbox 2.0 Model To 3DSMax lesson. Mar 14th 2009 Added a new lesson, Replacing Scatter With PFlow. Feb 26th 2009 Added an important note to my Converting A Mudbox 2.0 Model To 3DSMax lesson about linear uvs. Jan 31st 2009 Added a bunch of new info to my Anisotropic Highlights lesson, including a better max Standard example, info on mentalray, and a warning about smoothing groups. Nov 21st 2008 Added a new lesson which gives step by step instructions on how to do Pelt Mapping. Added a note about a limitation in my Worn Edges Using A Distorted Vertex Map lesson. Added some more details to Converting A Mudbox 2.0 Model To 3DSMax. Added another new technique to Removing Brightness Variation To Make Tileable Textures. Oct 7th 2008 Added a new lesson called Tiled Floor Material, and another one called Converting A Mudbox 2.0 Model To 3DSMax. Sept 1st 2008 Added a new lesson called Towels, Carpet Or Grass Material Using Displacement. Aug 16th 2008 Added a new lesson called Ambient Occlusion Rust. Aug 15th 2008 First off, a huge thanks to everyone who came to my Shading & Texturing class at Siggraph. I really appreciate the support, and hopefully the information I presented will be useful to you. I certainly learned a few new tricks. Also, I have a chapter in the new book Digital Art Masters Volume 3 discussing how I went about creating my "Mouths To Feed III" image. To purchase the book (and get a preview) go here. |
| Online Lessons |
| DVDs |
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The Gnomon Workshop Hard Surface Shading And Texturing With Neil Blevins "In this DVD, Neil introduces his pipeline for shading and texturing hard surface models. The pipeline can be used for any highres models, such as models for photoreal fx work, animated feature films, ride films or videogame cinematics. In Part 1, he discusses reference gathering, how to make a visual details list, and common shaders. Then he outlines all of the major methods for placing patterns on your surface, their advantages and disadvantages, and ways of creating patterns, including procedurals, photo manipulation, and hand painting. He breaks up the lecture with practical demonstrations in Adobe photoshop and 3dstudio max using the Scanline, Brazil and mentalray renderers, and stresses how the theory can be applicable to your 3d application and renderer of choice. In Part 2, he uses the theory and pipeline from Part 1 to shade and texture a 2000+ object robot character and simple environment using 3ds Max, Photoshop and Brazil. With a focus on texturing thousands of objects fast and efficiently and theory that is useful in any 3d app or renderer, this intermediate level course is sure to add many new tricks to your personal arsenal." Go here to order. Go here to see the addendum, which has extra information not included on the DVD. |
| Lectures |
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| Books |
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I contributed one chapter to "Digital Art
Masters Vol 3"
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I contributed 3
chapters to "3DStudio Max 3 Magic". The chapters are...
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For
"Inside 3dsmax4" I did one chapter...
Other authors in the book include Kim Lee, Brandon Davis, Ian Christie, etc. Check it out at Amazon.com |