Hey Reader,

Zach here,

With a new round of inspiration and resources from the 3D world.

Today I have a beautiful anime-style animation made in Blender, a tutorial on creating realistic macro shots and a teaser for the upcoming Warhammer 40K animation "Astartes II".

Finally, a reminder about our soon ending sale of the Robotic Planet course (that just received 2 brand-new chapters).

Let’s dive in.

​"The Lost Tower" - Beautiful Blender Animation​

Many 3D artists try to give their animations a hint of 90s anime style but not a lot of them come as close to perfection as Florent Lebrun with his "The Lost Tower".

Beautifully painted environments, the cel-shaded airplane as well as lots of small details in this work are a real pleasure to watch. The whole animation is not very long, but it carries a lot of emotion without many "bells and whistles".

The fact that it was made in Blender makes it even more fun.

​Macro Photorealism in Blender​

Making macro shots in Blender requires great attention to detail. Graphical Ninja challenged himself to make a nature documentary-styled shot of an ant on tree bark.

The results he achieved are pretty amazing, and he kindly shared his workflow in this breakdown video.

​Astartes II - Warhammer 40K Animation Teaser​

If you’re a fan of Warhammer 40K (or generally dark sci-fi fantasy) you've probably watched the amazing "Astartes" fan-art animation created by Syama 'Digital Bones' Pedersen.

A new teaser for the next part "Astartes II" has just been published, announcing that it will be released in 2026.

The video contains lots of amazing shots in various settings. Both the release date and the amount and quality of 3D art in the trailer make me expect something spectacular!

Content Warning: The video contains some blood and violence that may be disturbing to some viewers.

​Robotic Planet Sale - One Week Left (20% Off)​

A quick reminder that our Robotic Planet course just got an update with 2 brand-new chapters featuring a Snail Bot and an Ostrich Bot.

Now the Robotic Planet is inhabited by five cool species of bots (including Camera Bot, Fish Bot, and Owl Bot from the previous chapters).

Louis (the course instructor) explains what the update contains in this trailer video.

To celebrate this update, we’re running a sale with a 20% discount for the course, that ends in about a week (February 13th, 23:59 CET).​
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Join the bot-making fun, and perhaps you’ll invent your own fun robots that will enrich the Robotic Planet’s environment.
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That’s all from me for today, have an amazing week and till next time.

~Zach