Blender: Lighting effects through post processing

You might remember the post I made some time ago where I experimented with two different methods of acieving a glow effect in Blender. Through a little experimentation I've found a much better way to achieve the effect I was looking for. I'm going to detail that process in this post.

I first set up the scene, just something incredibly simple, in this case just a cube which has been loop cut and extruded inwards, a plane which has been subdivided, smoothed and position as a base and the camera. I also deleted the default light.

Next I set the materials on the inner sections of the cube. Be sure to enable to enable indirect lighting in the "world" tab and ensure the shading is set to emit in materials. For this particular project it's best not to have the emitted light too strong so don't overdo it.

At this point you can position the camera and render the image.

It's not looking too bad at this point but that lighting effect can be improved on through the use of Blender's node editor. At the bottom left of the render screen you'll see the option to change the current editor type. Use this to open the node editor and enable the settings shown below. You may want to enable the backdrop option as well.

You should have a "render layer" and a "composite" node on screen by default. If you don't, hit "shift + a" and add them through the input and output menu respectively. Next, all you need to do is press "shift + a" again, go to the filter option and add a glare filter then "shift + a" again, go to output and add a viewer. Then, by clicking and dragging the yellow points on each node, connect them all as shown below. You may need to lower the "threshold" setting in the glare node to see the effect properly.

From here you can play around with the various settings on the glare node, changing the type of glare, the intensity or size and so on. Then you just need to hit the little render button on the Render Layer node to render the image with post processing. You can see a comparison of the results below and just how much a simple glow effect can enhance the feel of a scene you're working on.

Resource: Web coding tutorials

http://www.w3schools.com/

This is a site I used rather extensively during my IT course last year. It details pretty much all of the various technical elements used in the creation of a webpage. There are examples of coding such as HTML, CSS, Javascript, going right up to more advanced codes and various tools to experiment with most of the codes available.

You probably think there's no need to know any of this considering Adobe Dreamweaver does it all for you. To that I say bollocks! It's the same reason why you might learn how the engine in your car works or the operating system on your computer. Even with largely automated processes, it's always good to know at least a little of how it works, just in case that automation doesn't work as expected and you need to tweak something by hand.

Resource: Textures

http://www.cgtextures.com/

I've used this site a few times in the past and the amount of textures it has is absolutely insane. Hundreds upon hundred of different metallic textures, fabrics, camoflage, carpets, bones, bricks, wood.

Pretty much any texture you could possibly need.

Resource: Anatomy References

http://www.posemaniacs.com/

Posemaniacs, as the name suggets, is a site about poses. It has hundred of different 3D poses ranging from sitting, jumping and other dramtic movements as well as simple close ups of the face. There are multiple angles from high to low for each pose as well. All the models can also be rotated around the Z axis and combined with the high and low viewpoints, you can view any pose from almost any angle.

It's an ideal reference for drawing a character concept, posing figures in an animation or just general sketching. You might think it ideal for anatomy practice as well but the models don't have the same bulk or musculature as a real human, making it somewhat less suitable for that purpose.

There are even several accurate walk cycles which can be scrolled through frame by frame, once again all viewable from multiple angles, which make them perfect for references when animating.

Creative Tool: Seventh Sanctum

http://www.seventhsanctum.com/

Seventh Sanctum is essentially a creation tool based around random word generation. All you need to do is select a generator, such as technology and then select the type of technology you want generated, like vehicles and such. Most of the generators will spit out just a relatively simple name but some, mostly the character generators, will give a more complex description.

The results the generator spits out can be incredibly random and completely nonsensical at times, as the generator simply lashes together a series of adjectives and nouns based on which type of generator has been chosen but it's a great aid to help inspire creative thought.

You can't honestly say you would have thought up a bacon powered turbo-surfboard or an internet enabled, helio-bra on your own, can you?

3D guides, tips and tutorials.

Now, don't let the name of the website fool you.


http://www.poopinmymouth.com/tutorial/tutorial.htm

But there is a wealth of information concerning pretty much every stage of creating a 3D model from concept art to rigging for animation.

Most of the tutorials are created with 3DS Max in mind but a lot of the same principals could easily be applied to other programs.

Glow effects in Blender

The first effect I played around with was achieved through Blender's node editor. The specific tutorial I used can be found here http://www.blendercookie.com/2010/03/09/rendering-a-light-saber/

The second was achieved though the emit settings in the materials menu.

If you ask me, the first effect looks better on its own but doesn't work when you actually add it to an existing model. This is because the node method just creates a fancy effect, it doesn't actually interact with the rest of the model by creating shadows and highlights and such, thus diminishing its effectiveness somewhat.

Working with the emit settings, on the other hand, does interact with the rest of the model. It turns the selected material into an additional light source, creating the shadows and highlights you'd expect. It does give the final render a much softer appearance though.

I have tried combining the two effects but I haven't been able to make that work so far. I'll have to play around with it some more.