Normal Map Plugin - GIMP

TIP OF THE DAY
 
I'm back just to share a very simple trick that I didn't know before: how and where to find the GIMP plugin for Normal Maps. This is a very useful plugin  as it works like Nvidia plugin for Photoshop, but it runs on GIMP and therefore on Linux.

So: I first decided to download sources and compile it on my own... I've solved some dependencies but I was still stuck on a "Package gimp-2.0 was not found in the pkg-config search path. [...]". Too much time. I was needing it to work immediately.

Then I discovered the packages:

• gimp-data-extras
• gimp-plugin-registry 

These packages come with lots of plugin, and what I need is under
Filter -> Map -> NormalMap

Ready to use and working like a charm.

Pietro 

WebGL workshop

Today at 15.00 I'll be coaching a workshop about WebGL at Campus Party Europe (Berlin).
More info on:
http://www.campus-party.eu/2012/developers.html#OpenTechSchool
http://campusparty.opentechschool.org/

Pietro

Upside down - Escher tribute on Sketchfab

Hello,
I've just terminated my last personal work. It's a simple architectural model inspired by Escher operas: an house made by mixed walls and railings, where you can't find a direction or a reference.
As my first Sketchfab experiment, I would make something planned to be explored and watched from different point of views. I think that the power of realtime visualization is that you are not locked to a single point of view or an animation timeline: you can create indeed your own story and everyone can get his own personal experience from the model viewing.
I tried some framework for webgl developing (three.js, p3d, osgjs, ...) but I found Sketchfab very comfortable and easy to use.



The model is done entirely in Blender 2.6x by me except for men, that are MIT_Stickman from Michiel Tieleman, a very nice and skilled Blenderartist's user.
Shadows and Ambient Occlusion are baked into textures, while lights are loaded directly from Blender: the very cool feature of Sketchfab is that they provide you Sketchup, 3DStudioMax and Blender free exporter and you're able to load your scenes from the software.
Another very cool thing is that you can also load .blend files with packed textures and it will be ready to go in a few seconds, depending on file size (mine was about 6Mb and tooked a minute from file picking to scene live exploring on the website).


Here's more render of my work:

  


Ciao!
Pietro

Sketchfab model

Hi,

I'm playing around with webgl technologies and I found Sketchfab.

Its viewport management is really fluid and amazing, so I tried to stress it with an heavy model like this gate I made for an animation:

It's easy to use and they've developed exporters for Blender, Max, Sketchup, and support lot of formats for upload. Pietro

3D Recruitment in Germania

Ciao a tutti i 3D Artist italiani!

Dal momento che sono a Berlino ormai da due mesi ho accumulato un po' di indirizzi utili per chi vuole provare a cercare lavoro qui e più in generale nella grande Germania :)

Tenete presente che è fondamentale per tutte una conoscenza eccellente dell'inglese ed è più che consigliata una buona padronanza del tedesco, soprattutto fuori Berlino, dove peraltro c'è MOLTO più lavoro per un 3D Artist... qui nella capitale vanno fortissimo i programmatori e più in generale i mestieri legati allo sviluppo web.

Ad ogni modo, ecco la lista (che continuerò ad aggiornare):

• http://www.dasauge.de
• http://www.crew-united.com/
• http://www.facebook.com/pages/3D-Jobs/177733002268898?ref=stream
• http://www.3dscout.com/stellenangebote
• http://jobs.justlanded.com/en/Germany_Berlin/Designers-Creative/1
• http://www.darwinrecruitment.com/
• http://germany.xpatjobs.com/jobs.aspx?areas=6&job_type=4&language=&keyword=3d&search=++Update+Search+Results++
• http://berlinstartupjobs.com/
• http://www.absolventa.de/

Qui invece due risorse sull'apprendimento linguistico DIY:

• http://www.busuu.com/
• http://livemocha.com/
• Android App - Busuu - Eccellenti e davvero ben fatte, disponibili per più lingue. Di base sono gratuite, consiglio caldamente di acquistare gli extra (costano poco e si prendono poco per volta) e di seguire regolarmente gli esercizi.
• Android App - Babbel - Vertono principalmente sui vocaboli. Anche queste ben fatte, un po' più limitate di Busuu ma eccellenti per acquisire tanti vocaboli in poco tempo. Le consiglio dopo aver preso confidenza con la struttura linguistica e i suoni.
• Michel Thomas Language Courses (solo a pagamento): sono un po' costosi ma vi daranno l'input migliore. Io li sto usando tutt'ora per l'Arabo e sono semplicemente stupefacenti.

Preciso che non sono un genio e ho imparato il tedesco in circa otto mesi di esercizi intensi, prima di partire. Chiaramente una volta arrivati qui è necessario ambientarsi prima di parlare tranquillamente ma la base è: STUDIATELO PRIMA.

Buona fortuna col lavoro!
Pietro
 

Eberhard Extrafort 125°

Eberhar Extrafort 125°, a photo by pietro.grandi on Flickr.

Hello,
this is my last work: a 3D for Eberhard.

Done in Blender, rendering VRay, postproduction Photoshop.

New Postcards

Hi,
I've printed some postcards for "Salone del mobile" in Milano (http://www.cosmit.it/it/) and some others events before summer.
Graphic by Megrpx http://www.behance.net/megrpx
The back image has been done entirely in Blender.

The front images were done in Blender/Max/VRay as usual :)

Ciao,
Pietro

Reel 2012 - Pietro Grandi - 3D Artist

And finally I got it :-)

My showreel 2012...

pietro

an ashtray

an ashtray, a photo by pietro.grandi on Flickr.

Hi,
yesterday evening I was finishing my showreel and I've found this little model done in Blender.
I've rendered it in B.I. and composited in Photoshop/After Effects.

tchüss,
pietro

ObjectMaterialTool - 1.2

Hi,
I've updated my utility for 3D Studio Max.
For the in-depth description I suggest you to read my ScriptSpot page: ObjectMaterialTool 1.2


Here's a simple presentation:

I've developed this tools in order to go fast with UV Mapping in shading stage of my work, but I added some selection tools and a pair of button to work with vrayproxies.


You can download the script here:
download OMT 1.2


I hope that this could be usefull to you as it is for me!
Pietro