I’ve made the popular 3D Shape Generator now available on Gum Road, to compliment it’s Blender Market Counterpart:
Category Archives: Uncategorised
Blender Add-on: Bevelled Extrude
Add-on Link: https://blendermarket.com/products/bevelled-extrude
If you have a new feature suggestion or feedback on the add-on feel free to contact me through this website or through Twitter @markkingsnorth.
Star fighter & nebula in Blender
During the odd free weekend in the summer I had a play with Blender volumetrics, their Cycles rendering engine, and some modelling. After an initially steep learning curve, I was very impressed with the general ease of use and speed with which you could put something together. The above image was mostly done in Blender, with a little tweaking in Photoshop.
Here is a closeup of the basic starfighter I made, which was mainly an exercise in simple box modelling and UV mapping:
My best work so far.
Contact form fixed
It came to my attention that the contact form was broken, which then uncovered a virus lurking in my blog. I think I’ve resolved the problem, but if you see any issues please comment here to let me know.
New Gallery and Website changes
I’ve given the blog a small facelift with some rotating banners and a gallery of my previous work, so you can access it in one place without having to trawl through blog posts.
Future projects: I’d like to explore some new territories – NURBs modeling (application of choice not yet decided) and volumetic rendering (probably with the new Blender 2.5). If anyone has some good pointers to suggest, let me know!
Home is where the starship is…
Taking a break from the Eaves Class 3D mesh, which I still feel needs a little more work, I thought I’d try my hand at making a triptych (A picture split into three pieces) of the Insignia Class starship for my home. I’ve been wanting to do this for some time and have had blank empty walls in the house ever since we moved in because of it.
I did the picture below a couple of weeks ago with this in mind, which was a combination of cloud effects and radial blur in photoshop:
I then split the above image into three, rescaling the ship so that it fit within the third section. Originally the ship spilled over into the second, but I thought this might look a little disjointed.
I then went over to canvas101 and ordered three prints on foam board. This was cheaper than printing them off on canvas, and as this was the first time I’d done this I was wary of them turning out badly. However, I was quite pleased with the results. Here they are on my wall:
Overall, I was quite pleased – I hope they don’t look too geeky for “normal” people visiting!
Next, I’m turning my thoughts to the end of our hallway. I’ve put together this rough concept image to give you (and my understanding wife) a taste for what I’m planning:
So, what do people think? Would you have something in your lounge like this?
Orbital Station mesh available for download
The model used in my previous picture is now available in the downloads section.
As always it would be good to hear how this mesh is used – so let me know of any pictures/animations!
Insignia Class Starship mesh available for download
I have had a lot of requests over the years to release my Insignia Class Starship mesh to the public, and after some resistance on my part I have finally submitted.
It can be hard to let go of something you have come to hold very dear to your heart; I remember when I first developed this design from the sketches at the back of the old TNG Technical Manual. I recall the hours and the months slaving away to make it a reality. So I have been very wary of unleashing it into the public domain where I have no control of it. I have come to trust you though, dear readers; so treat it well.
I never seem to have the time to make the many animations and pictures I have in mind for the model, which is also a reason for releasing it. There are a fair few of you and only one of me, so I look forward to seeing all the images and animations people make with it – please do email me with any of the work you do. Just remember to credit me whenever you use it!
So, with that, continue to the new downloads page…
In production: Mothership concept
For some time last year I was working on a project for Sonnett Realm Productions, where I was tasked with realising the concept and animation of some invading saucer-like motherships. The concept was meant to very much reflect the genre of the piece.
Whilst the project is on ice, here are some test animations and images with some annotation:
Shot 1
Shot 2
Shot 3
Shot 4