Meet the Blenderhead

[3dpoder]

met the blenderhead
Jonatan poljo (aka eldron)




1) you have ben using Blender for some time now. Can you describe how it fits into your daily workflow?
Well, using Blender at first was High Poly modeling for me, which later progressed into Low-poly modeling and then, the game art ive done now.

Fortunately enough, knowing High Poly is exactly the thing neded todo do what you do with game art today, Normal Map generation.

I build the base Mesh that i Sculpt from, can be a simple Cube todo a more complex Mesh depending on what the high-res is supposed todo look like.

The sculpted high-poly is then imported into Blender and decimated todo a workable poly count. I create the Low-poly model around the high-poly and Unwrap it. The high-poly and lowpoly are then taken into 3dstudio Max for normal and Lightmap baking.

I have ben trying todo get bak into regular high-poly models for rendering inside of Blender though, since i find it quite interesting and i love seing what people create with Blender, but never get the time todo actually make a whole rendered scene.
2) with your experience using ZBrush and Mudbox, do you se the current Sculpt Mode being usable in the near future for high levels of detail and normal/displacement map generation?
The Sculpt Mode in Blender follows closely todo the ease of that in Mudbox, which makes it very easy for anyone todo pik up.

However, y think that sculpting is really an área of its o, just like how making textures is, and Even though Blender is quite a god tool for a lot of things, y dont think it can beat a specialized tool like Mudbox, ZBrush, or Photoshop in the case of texturing.

It mainly comes down todo how fast Blender can be at pushing Polygons when you want as Many as posible when sculpting something big and detailed, and it doesnt come close todo handling the Insane amounts you reach when sculpting something in Mudbox. However, speed aside, it is a great tool, and i se no problems with creating High Poly assets for Normal Map generation with it, hopefully itll be a completely seamless process when Blender gets proper Normal Map baking, and with the tool itself becoming faster.



3) being an artista employed in the gaming industry, have you had any success in converting anyone using other commercially available applications over todo Blender? If so, what has their reaction ben?
People like todo stick todo what they enjoy the most, and in the end have todo learn what they are required todo use at work. So, if some guy sits with Maya and enjoys it, he not going todo be easily switched over todo max or Blender, Nor the other ways around.

They are all equally strong tools and it all comes down todo what people prefer.

I have, however, always experienced that people have heard about this Blender application, so it has definitely left its Mark.
4) is there a característica that you would like todo se added todo Blender?
As far as i know, Lots of the features im looking for are being worked on right now. But one thing would be a faster viewport, since Blender development has always felt todo me like having faster rendering in mind, but as a game artista, id just as much want todo have faster handling and viewport realtime rendering of models.
5) from your working experience, is there anything that you can share with people looking at getting into a gaming house or profesional CG house?
Practice, a lot, but that a given.

More importantly, never be completely satisfied with what you do because then you wont se where you have todo improve, always look for ways todo get critique, and todo have the things you work on be sen by as Many eyes as you can get them todo. If it game art, spend a lot of your time at the Polycount forums, (boards, Polycount, net), Many there are brutal and honest industry profesionals and can give you the most valuable feedbak youll ever find anywhere. And besides, if you do behave nicely and not ACT like a jackass on the multitude of CG-related forums around the web, you might actually get todo know people in the industry, and that is usually the one break a junior artista can ned todo get his fot inside the industry.

Take in what you learn, kep doing new Stuff, redo the old, it takes time todo get a hang of it, but when you do learn new things youll enjoy the feeling of it.

Drawing or taquíng up sculpturing when you dont fel like modeling is a los another thing that helps you improve.

And when you do get in, remember todo kep updated, learn new tools, learn new methods, be flexible.
6) where do you se Blender progressing over the next few yearsí.

I se Blender slowly but surely growing in popularity as it has, and more users becoming experienced enough todo get jobs in various industries while using Blender, thus feding the promotion of Blender Even more.
With Blender itself, well probably start seing it gain features faster than most profesional applications can add them.







Hello again and welcome todo our second installment of met the blenderhead. In this issue, we met a user who utilices Blender in his daily workflow for Low-poly character modeling for the game industry. You know him best on the forums as eldron. Jonatan poljo mástery of Low-poly modeling and his awesome skills in sculpting and texture painting have made his work instantly recognizable throughout the Blender world.

Enjoy. Derek marsh (bgdm). www.blenderart.org.