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They likely created a large portion of these assets themselves. There might be some kitbashing but the amount of detail here is certainly doable for a motivated

They likely created a large portion of these assets themselves. There might be some kitbashing but the amount of detail here is certainly doable for a motivated 16 yr old. Theres a lot of creative ways to add details using scans, texture projection and scattering.

reactordev 3y ago
Hard surface modeling in blender is pretty easy if you go the kit bash route. You still have to have some concept of what you're building. You also still need environments, rigging, lighting, camera work, compositing, and post.
jojobas 3y ago
Or, you know, coding.
- Kye 3y ago
  From what I understand, Blender's nodes increasingly replace the need for code with each version.
  - jojobas 3y ago
    Yeah, geometry nodes almost feels like a cheat. On the other hand, it's like Scratch and from my distorted worldview exposing it as code would be more straightforward.
    - Kye 3y ago
      My brain just seems to prefer having a tool to reach for with a clear purpose. For me, availability of a thing that does what I want is generally the difference between being able to do it or not. I've tried learning to code on my own, but I always hit a "now what?" situation since the available tools for the things I make are already better than I have any interest in improving on. I'm not a programmer by interest and don't foresee ever being one by trade. I wrote some words on the topic: https://kyefox.com/2022/08/05/learn-to-code-or-dont/ https://kyefox.com/2022/08/05/learn-to-code-or-dont/ Node editors like Blender's are the best thing for me: you get all the tools, but they're composable with other tools. Your hammer can be a screwdriver. Worst case, I need a new tool no one's figured out how to make with nodes, but odds are someone already wrote that code as a plugin. Looping back to the "now what" issue: it already exists in a state beyond anything I could get up the motivation to improve on.
      - jojobas 3y ago
        Well creating a node and hooking it up to other nods is most probabily something like this under the hood: pd_node = PointDistributeNode(type = PDType.RANDON, seed=149) scaleRandomizerNode.geometry_input.connect(pdNode.geometry_output) So far it's perfectly represented by node editor. How about creating a dynamic number of point distribution nodes and adding them all together? Trivial in code, most likely impossible in node editor. The most flexible UI is a good programming language, anything else comes with flexibility compromises in favour of something else.
      - iainmerrick 3y ago
        Thanks for this comment, I find that a really interesting perspective. I'm the exact opposite -- I'm comfortable with code, and always find node editors really awkward to use (but I definitely feel I'm missing something because they're undeniably super productive in many situations).
        jojobas 3y ago
        They're super productive when you're unfamiliar with the subject matter, do it once only or can't code at all. Anyone can watch a couple of videos, launch Blender, start with a cube and work it into a chair in UI. Coding that for just one chair will take almost anyone more time. Now if you need to do this to make 10 slightly different chairs where changes need to be made early on in the process, code will win even with first timers.
      - RugnirViking 3y ago
        with stuff like 3d modelling code you're kinda skipping straight to some of the more hardcore coding. 3d transformations and algorithms are no joke, thats university and master's degree level maths. Don't feel bad if you don't get it, a huge number of professional programmers wouldn't either. I write a lot of software myself close to the metal as a robotics engineer and ive tinkered with blender code but id definately need a lot of practise to feel comfortable doing that without glueing together tools
        3y ago
    - quadrature 3y ago
      Good point, i like the balance houdini has here where you can drop into vex when you want.

reactordev 3y ago

Hard surface modeling in blender is pretty easy if you go the kit bash route. You still have to have some concept of what you're building. You also still need environments, rigging, lighting, camera work, compositing, and post.

jojobas 3y ago

Or, you know, coding.

Kye 3y ago
From what I understand, Blender's nodes increasingly replace the need for code with each version.
- jojobas 3y ago
  Yeah, geometry nodes almost feels like a cheat. On the other hand, it's like Scratch and from my distorted worldview exposing it as code would be more straightforward.
  - Kye 3y ago
    My brain just seems to prefer having a tool to reach for with a clear purpose. For me, availability of a thing that does what I want is generally the difference between being able to do it or not. I've tried learning to code on my own, but I always hit a "now what?" situation since the available tools for the things I make are already better than I have any interest in improving on. I'm not a programmer by interest and don't foresee ever being one by trade. I wrote some words on the topic: https://kyefox.com/2022/08/05/learn-to-code-or-dont/ https://kyefox.com/2022/08/05/learn-to-code-or-dont/ Node editors like Blender's are the best thing for me: you get all the tools, but they're composable with other tools. Your hammer can be a screwdriver. Worst case, I need a new tool no one's figured out how to make with nodes, but odds are someone already wrote that code as a plugin. Looping back to the "now what" issue: it already exists in a state beyond anything I could get up the motivation to improve on.
    - jojobas 3y ago
      Well creating a node and hooking it up to other nods is most probabily something like this under the hood: pd_node = PointDistributeNode(type = PDType.RANDON, seed=149) scaleRandomizerNode.geometry_input.connect(pdNode.geometry_output) So far it's perfectly represented by node editor. How about creating a dynamic number of point distribution nodes and adding them all together? Trivial in code, most likely impossible in node editor. The most flexible UI is a good programming language, anything else comes with flexibility compromises in favour of something else.
    - iainmerrick 3y ago
      Thanks for this comment, I find that a really interesting perspective. I'm the exact opposite -- I'm comfortable with code, and always find node editors really awkward to use (but I definitely feel I'm missing something because they're undeniably super productive in many situations).
      - jojobas 3y ago
        They're super productive when you're unfamiliar with the subject matter, do it once only or can't code at all. Anyone can watch a couple of videos, launch Blender, start with a cube and work it into a chair in UI. Coding that for just one chair will take almost anyone more time. Now if you need to do this to make 10 slightly different chairs where changes need to be made early on in the process, code will win even with first timers.
    - RugnirViking 3y ago
      with stuff like 3d modelling code you're kinda skipping straight to some of the more hardcore coding. 3d transformations and algorithms are no joke, thats university and master's degree level maths. Don't feel bad if you don't get it, a huge number of professional programmers wouldn't either. I write a lot of software myself close to the metal as a robotics engineer and ive tinkered with blender code but id definately need a lot of practise to feel comfortable doing that without glueing together tools
      - 3y ago
  - quadrature 3y ago
    Good point, i like the balance houdini has here where you can drop into vex when you want.