chippwalters

Part 1 of a series on using Trim Sheets to create SCIFI

Hey folks, here's the first video of a series where I'm using FLEX to create some really cool sci-fi models The two images shown at the beginning of that video use the exact same material which includes a height map, a diffuse map and an emissive map. The object on the left is a basic cylinder and the object on the right is the default cube. 

I'll be sharing the maps I make as well a...

A versatile dot material group

Hey folks, just thought I'd start out the new year by publishing a neat little procedural material that creates a Black and White dot pattern you can use as a bump or displacement map, a fac for mixing materials and shaders, and more. Check out the video and see the material below. Just drop it in a KPACK folder along with the thumbnail and you're good to go!

I've also uploaded it to the ...

My take on the Rabbit R1.

So, here's a take on some new tech that I doubt you'll see anywhere else. At CES this year, a new company introduced a product called the Rabbit R1. If you haven't heard about it you might try Googling it and you can learn more but basically it's a very inexpensive mobile device that allows you to interact with Chat GPT and translate your interactions into actual events for you. Think of it as ...

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!

Hey folks, sorry I've been missing in action a bit lately but I've been busy getting the new Sci-Fi flex up and running. It's looking good and I have some things I'd like to share with all of you. I'll keep you posted and keep your eyes open these next couple weeks.

Hope everyone has a relaxing holiday season!

Fixing topology for proper beveling

Quick video showing how to properly fix topology for accurate bevelilng.

AI Image Generators: My Take in 3 min

Hey folks, been meeting to do something like this for a bit now and took the opportunity while I was away to consolidate some thoughts. It's very disturbing how DALL-E has become more and more the evil empire of AI image generators. It automatically adds prompts to make things politically correct and now it has removed any ability to try and create any image that references anybody, anything, a...

New One Material to Rule (testing version)

Hey guys and gals,

Just wanted to share this material I've been working on. It's a new spin on the old One Material to Rule and it uses more texture maps. We all probably have more video memory that 4 years ago and it's time to have a material that can use Diffuse, Roughness and Normal maps. This one does that and a bit more as it has the ability to add some user generated texture to brea...

What I've been up to lately...

Hey folks ,

Sorry I've been MIA recently, but I've been busy with some new products as well as updating old ones. When I have something to show you, you'll see it first.

One of the things I have been playing around with lately is a product called HueForge. It's basically for people with 3D printers who want to create very cool 3D paintings. It can do some near photoreal stuff with t...

KIT OPS naming conventions

A user over on Discord asked me why the naming convention in Kit Ops duplicates the object name twice when creating an INSERT. And, I thought to myself I don't really know the answer. So I did a bit of digging and then remembered exactly how it works.

And I thought you guys might want to know also. Check out this very short video that explains it all.

My modeling workflow for creating 3D prints

Hey folks,

I thought I'd share how I use DESIGN MAGIC and KIT OPS to create 3D printable designs. In particular you might  find some interesting way to accurately work inside of Blender. I'm including the files, both the Blender file and the Template file. Holler at me if you have any questions.

(Note, there is some overdubbed voices which I'm in the process of correcting and w...

Quick tip on creating clay rendered scenes

Hey folks, here's a quick video explaining how to create a material and a clay rendered scene. Note it's non-destructive, which means you can keep all your materials on your objects in your scene. I've included the file if anyone wants to take a look.

Early thoughts on the Bambu Lab A1 Mini

If you're not into 3D printing-- then this video (and printer) might be for you :-)

Using BATCH to create KPACK INSERTS from scene objects

A few questions came up from users on how to convert objects in a scene file to KIT OPS KPACKS using KIT OPS BATCH. 

Awhile back, we added a secret prefs mode to enable this feature, and some have missed it. Here's a quick video showing how to do this quickly. BTW, Batch can also create thumbnails from existing files, as well as a host of other features, including just exporting .ble...

The trick to using Booltools Slice when adding materials

Another quick tip from Discord where a user was having trouble.

This has nothing to do with our addon SLICE IT. It's part of the Booltools addon and it allows you to:

1. Add a difference Boolean modifier to one object from the other

then

2. Duplicates the one object and sets the modifier to intersect instead of difference.

If you want to change materials...

Fixing a shading issue for a user on Discord

I thought it might be nice to share a video showing my workflow around fixing a shading issue a user on Discord was having. 

The point is: NEVER use Harden Normal *unless* it is the very last modifier!

New version of SLICE IT with multi-axis slicing

Hey folks, Anthony and I just released the new version of SLICE IT, and it has some pretty cool new features-- not to mention several bug fixes. Plus, the price jumped as well to $9. But, you guys are getting it for free. Here's the link :-)

Check out the video above.

2023-09-07 06:20:03 +0000 UTC View Post

Quick video on converting INSERTS with modifiers

A customer on Discord wanted to know how to do this, so I created this quick video.

Some of the earlier cutters were created with tons of modifiers and were never realized as at the time it was expected people might want to edit them-- of course no one ever did. So, until I get around to converting them all, I thought I'd share this quick video to show you how I would do it.

Why I switched to Google Sites

(sorry about the quality of the video. I'm still working through the growing pains of a new Descript workflow)

I found myself paying way too much for static website content. In some instances, I find myself paying for websites that are no longer in use, costing a significant amount of money. Late last year, I discovered that Google Sites had transformed from a mediocre platform into a pow...

50+ free sci-fi + KPACK

I've been working lately with Blender Market on creating some models for an AI experiment they're doing with another client, and I thought I'd also share these models with you guys. They are from several different free and commercial KPACKS that I already own. Just download the KPACK, unzip it and place it in a KIT OPS Masterfolder and refresh. Thumbnails for all INSERTS included in the KPACK.<...

The power of INSERTS

So, this video is mostly just information to remind me how to use this thing down the road, but it does show using an INSERT to create a print in-place hinge for 3D printing. We need to add to KIT OPS the ability to transfer an INSERT from one object to the other and that would actually make things even easier than they are shown in this video-- as we can just duplicate the INSERT in place and ...

Three new materials for you

Hey guys, this will give you an update on some of things I've been working on. Here are three new materials that you might find valuable and eventually they will appear in the different material libraries but you guys get first crack.

These are all unique in their own way and if you watch the video you'll understand how to use them. And speaking of understanding materials, one of the grea...

Really cool use of the SLICE IT addon

Hey folks, here's another cool use of the SLICE IT addon. It uses KIT OPS to create a single segment, convert to mesh and SLICE IT, then add an array and curve modifier and it's done. Be interesting to see what you guys come up with.

SLICE IT- free addon for mesh slicing

Talked about this one for awhile, and finally got around to creating a video for it. You guys are getting a free copy-- see below.

Talked with Jerry (of Hard Ops and Boxcutter fame) awhile back about this feature , and he agreed Blender needed such functionality and added it into Hard Ops. Since then, I've been looking to create something much simpler, and Anthony Aragues said he thought ...

Speed tute on texturing and rendering

Thanks to Frank Maturi for his gun model. Spent 90 minutes working on this render and compressed the video into a much more digestable 20 minutes. Hope it's not too fast, but if so, I can answer questions about it.

Here's a link to my startup file if anyone is interested:

https://fil...

Slice and Bend Objects

One of the stranger lack of features in Blender, is the inability to "slice" an object. By "slice" I mean to add evenly spaced cuts throughout the object in one dimension only. Funny how Lightwave had this feature over 30 years ago, and Blender still doesn't.

There are so many reasons to want to do this, and one being bending the object. There's just no way to do it easily without an addo...

Great New Material--FREE to Patreons

Hey folks,

Had a request to create a new EEVEE+Cycles brushed metal material. A couple difficult sticking points has always been easily changing the direction of the brushed texture, and creating anisotropic reflections. And, based on some earlier work on rotation shader groups, I was able to create a collection of brushed metal materials that are easy to apply with simple settings to adj...

Ambient Occlusion Node Group

Here is the response I sent when asked why the hero shader doesn't show ambient occlusion from other objects. 

It has to do with a setting in the Ambient Occlusion node. This video explains that this setting only applies to Cycles and not EEVEE. HTH.

Hour long materials discussion

Some of you may have seen I have a mentoring program here on Patreon. One of the guys I'm working with is named Christopher and he's a Marvel concept designer who wants to learn more about Blender and deisign.  I typically record our sessions. He kindly agreed to let me share one with you all-- so here it is.

There are really 3 parts to this. The first is about creating glass reflect...

When objects show in viewport but not in render

Here's a very quick video showing what to do if your objects don't render, but are visible in the viewport. You probably duplicated a boolean cutter object to create a solid object.

SPOCK is alive! And for 1 day of the BM sale--it's 25% off

Just wanted you all to know you can grab SPOCK for 25% off for 1 day (Friday) of the Blender Market sale. I'll be uploading some new stuff here soon for SPOCK users as well.