Coldworks art and other stuff- blog

Long knife project

2014-01-22T18:09:00.002-08:00

I was practicing for one of my examns, and I ended up having some left over materials.
This included a 45 cm long piece of steel.

Let's do something crazy and make a makeshift long knife out of it.
While we're at it, let's do this the ~~cheap-ass~~ manly way and not use any power tools whatsoever.
Sure, there are smarter ways to do this, but I just want to see if I can pull it off this way.

Materials used so far:
- Steel profile, used half - 1m length, 2cm width, 4mm thickness - 4,5€ / 2 = 2,25€
- Sanding paper - 1,5€
- Small handsaw - 3€, not sure, will verify
Most of the stuff bought at action (http://www.action.be/)

Materials planned for use:
- Cork sheets to be used for the handle.

Actions taken so far:
- Sawed profile to length
- Sawed one end to create tip of the blade
- Started sanding to create still blunt edge, tip is already sharp.

Experiments:
- Beveling relevant angles and creating edge with sanding paper: Really slow process, cleaner finish. Sanding paper wears out really fast.
- Use saw as makeshift file: much faster, much messier

Observations thus far:
- This takes a really, really long time. (Duh!)
- Might need better sanding paper

Work time:
One week so far, during breaks and combined with a ton of other projects.

Pictures coming soon

Tablet drawing app experiment

2013-11-07T11:59:00.002-08:00

I've just started experimenting around with sketcher free on my cheap tablet, and it's quite a bit of fun.
Let's see if I can make this better in gimp.
Let's start off with the original image.

Let the editing begin!
First off I tried doing some layer duplication, with one layer using edge detect.
The difference is barely notable.

After that, I tried adding a background image with a clothify filter added to it, and set the original image as a "multiply layer"
Also noticed I forgot to delete the alpha layer on the original image. I might have wasted a lot of time on this later on, had I neglected this..
Won't add this intermediary step, but I experimented with the "old photo filter as well.

I dropped this version and added some lighting effects instead.

That's enough fun with this one for now.

Back to doing some more 3D modeling: cargo ship design process

2013-07-16T05:43:00.000-07:00

Hi, It's been a while since I've done some stuff.
I'm modeling a cargo ship and going through it stage by stage.
(Actually, I'm more focussed on making modular components that can be combined into more designs. May or may not be game design related, still thinking about that :p )
To start off: here's the basic layout for the design:

Now for the refining process, let's start off with the core block first.

Next up, the cargo blocks have been reworked for the V2.

It's been a while since I last updated yet again.
Cockpit area and engine block added. Time to add some point defense guns in case it needs to handle some floating debris.

Added a pair of railguns, but for now, the thing still looks a bit boring, right? Time to add some textures

After some fiddling around with the materials, here's what I got

... Probably going to rework that soon, but for now, I'm going to experiment with the modules I've done so far.

Gunship variant:

Well, you can't really make up anything out of these screenshots...

How to highlight the edges in blender: Under render options - Post Processing - Edge

Dealing with ransomware

2013-06-15T18:16:00.001-07:00

I've just had a fun run-in with the so-called police virus.

The version I encountered basically locks up your computer, attempts to access your webcam and shows a full screen notification with several police logos and a note that if I don't deposit 100€ as a fine, legal action will be taken.
Starting the computer in safe mode did not work, because windows immediately rebooted upon startup.

Don't panic if it happens to you. The authorities are not involved.
Also, do not pay, it will only encourage others to pull off similar stunts.

Steps taken to solve the problem:

- Intall Hitman pro kickstart (Link) on a usb drive using another computer

- Boot from the usb drive ( For asus, boot selection activates by holding esc from the moment you press the power button)

- Choose option 3

- System will start up and hitman pro kickstart will override all other processes and appear fullscreen.

- Start the scan and let it run

- Reboot

- Full system scan with malwarebytes and avast for good measure

Latest blender experiment

2013-05-20T07:25:00.001-07:00

I'm in the process of rendering a tanker (ship).
Still early progress'ish, but coming along quite nicely.

The materials were acquired from blender open material database
Only around 366 faces for this one, but only one problem.
It takes forever to render, so I doubt it's suitable for ingame use yet.
I'm going to try to bake it next.

First attempt, copy the mesh, unwrap and bake to selected.
Result: too dark

Used two standard lights in the baking process.

Second attempt: used a normal baking method this time, results are better this time, and I might actually be able to use it as an ingame passive prop now.

3D scanning experiment

2013-05-09T07:51:00.000-07:00

I've had this fun little experiment in my head for a short while now, and I decided to give it a go.

I've basically just improvised a crude 3D scanner.

Components used:
- Trust spotlight webcam (paid around 9,99€)
- Laser level square (was lying around in garage, price unknown, but didn't feel like getting the parts required to build diy line laser)
- David laserscanner software (free)
- Sheet of cardboard/foam plates at a 90° angle to keep calibration sheet in place.

Here's a single angle attempt at scanning so far:

It's a scan of a little sculpt I did a few years ago.

Issues I have yet to properly resolve:
- The residues you see around the scan results. Can probably resolved through more controlled sweeping of the laser line and tweaking of the scanning corner.

Issues I have run across and found a solution for:
- Can't start camera error: under hardware setup, click the camera format button, and set up the format. The camera should start up now.
- Calibration issues: Place the camera close enough to the scanning corner, make sure enough of the markers are in frame, use a flashlight/lamp to illuminate the scanning corner and tweak the cam properties (contrast and brightness specifically)
- Laser not detected: Change the cam properties, again tweak contrast and brightness.

Software can be downloaded at: http://www.david-laserscanner.com/

Mecha design process

2013-05-01T04:52:00.000-07:00

It's been a long while since I posted.
I'm doing this particular design in steps, and will add to this post as I move along with the design.
The newest image will be on top of the list.
The basic premise: A simple mass production mecha model without a head and with the ability to design some variant models... oh, and a reasonable polygon count.

Stage 6: added some more detailing to various parts, as well as modifying some of the materials a bit.

Fifth stage: added some basic materials, next up, more detailing.
Poly count for this stage model: 2K'ish faces

Materials acquired from: http://matrep.parastudios.de/

Fourth stage: Legs reworked, next up, texturing

Third stage: arms reworked, now busy with the legs.

First stage was just a crude first design to figure out the general layout of the machine, and in the second stage I expanded on the cockpit and spine sections of the machine.
Polygon count is still quite low, with just under 2K faces for both models combined.

Submarine render, texture baking experiment

2013-04-14T17:41:00.002-07:00

A small experiment I did with texture baking in blender.
It did not entirely succeed... The model on the left has around 60K+ faces, while the one on the right only has only in the 400+ range.

Here's the first try, somehow ended up rather strange.

Going to keep experimenting until I figure this out properly.

Learned: pack the texture images and link them to your materials before appending the model to another file or saving, otherwise they won't be added properly.

Something put together with Gimp

2013-03-26T08:47:00.000-07:00

I just did a small speed-thingy with gimp.
I'm doing the general concept for another 3D thing now.

More alchemy sketches for now

2013-03-23T16:49:00.001-07:00

Here's my latest batch of alchemy sketches.
Inspiration level raised to 64%, will be running at full capacity again soon.

Alchemy sketches, will be doing more 3D stuff soon.

2013-03-22T10:14:00.002-07:00

Today's post contains more alchemy sketches.

More 3D stuff will be coming soon, as well as an experiment with papercraft.
Even have a model ready for that, but I think it would be smart to wait until I can get the poly count down a bit on the model.

Post of the day: more alchemy sketches

2013-03-20T17:41:00.003-07:00

Seems I've got a massive case of artists block regarding 3D modeling, so I'll try doing some more alchemy sketches until it passes.

Here's one I did today:

I've been wondering...
How does one deal with artists block?

I think I'm going to do some other stuff in the meantime.
Will post updates soon.

Alchemy sketch batch

2013-03-18T17:01:00.000-07:00

For today, I show off some more alchemy sketches.

In the meantime, I'm also working on making a stencyl based game for the currently running game design challenge.
It will be a bit of a sandbox game, standby for further details.

Todays post: more alchemy sketches

2013-03-11T15:01:00.002-07:00

Here are some random concept bits I doodled up with alchemy.

Pirate mecha, now with materials added

2013-03-10T08:08:00.001-07:00

Added some more materials to my little pirate mecha I posted a while ago.
I'll continue rigging the thing soon enough, and animation experiments will follow.
After I finally figure out this baking thing, as right now, it takes too long to render.

Click image for full size view of the render.

More fun with alchemy

2013-03-10T04:32:00.001-07:00

I fired up alchemy again today, and here's what came out of my experimenting:

It's fun to do some random experimenting from time to time to get a change of pace from your more serious works.

As I said in my title, this was made entirely in alchemy, a pretty nifty sketching program.
It's either a mecha cthulhu or a body armor for one of those creatures from district 9

Blender render of the day: walker WIP

2013-03-07T16:25:00.000-08:00

For my blender experimenting of the day, I modeled this simple walker model.
I'm going to take a stab at animating it through parenting, more updates will follow.

Alchemy sketch: beast soldier

2013-03-05T16:28:00.004-08:00

Here's my latest sketch.

Alchemy is a great tool for the initial sketching stages of a work.
It's very fun to use and provides great workflow.
It's also very fun as a platform for exercising due to one defining feature (or lack thereof): there is no undo button.
Try it out for a spin yourself, I'm sure you'll enjoy.

Update: assault mech

2013-03-05T15:27:00.000-08:00

I've added some materials to the assault mech mesh I've shown you guys a short while ago.
As you've probably noticed, I tried going for a touch of mechwarrior with this one.

Armament:
- Dorsal mounted medium particle accelerator cannon.
- Side mounted four barrel caseless high explosive shell launcher X2

To be added:
- More materials
- Some textures

Blender render of the day: tank droid

2013-03-05T13:33:00.001-08:00

Blender render of the day, a medium sized combat droid in basic configuration.
Upgrades may include: Additional armor, spine guard and shoulder guns.

Render of the day: another mech

2013-03-04T14:23:00.001-08:00

The blender render of the day... Is another mech.
Materials coming.

Alchemy battle armor

2013-03-03T16:27:00.001-08:00

A battlesuit made with alchemy, my favorite dedicated sketching program.
Get it here: Alchemy link

Behold! Fluffy! (link to rotation included)

2013-03-02T06:00:00.000-08:00

Another fun little blender experiment with fur.
I just wanted to make something a bit more cartoony with this one.

And here's a link to a 360° rotation vid.
Link to rotation on youtube

Best viewed at large size.

Bump mapping experiment with blender

2013-02-28T10:12:00.002-08:00

Alright, for todays experiment I tried using one of my drawings as a bump map texture on a plane in blender.

Haven't been able to do much other stuff due to personal issues, but don't worry, I'm working on it.

Next experiment: mammoth beetle

2013-02-23T14:25:00.003-08:00

Got kind of tired of making robots, so I designed a beetle, once again using blender.

Still looks a bit plastic, though...
Some minor editing later:

Have I mentioned today how much I like bump mapping?
Textures used:

For fur pattern (less visible, so less detail needed)

Bump mapping pattern for shell

Bump mapping pattern for eye

Texture for spots on shell.

Desert material acquired from:
http://matrep.parastudios.de/index.php?action=view&material=165-sand&fc=10
(always give credit where due)

Not the best of results yet, but learned a lot so far.