Hey Reader,

Zach here,

With a fresh dose of inspiration and resources from the 3D world.

Today, I’ll start with a tutorial on linking in Blender from P2Design, and our Cubic Worlds course update and discount.

Next, I’ll share a "The Spice Frontier" behind-the-scenes documentary, followed by an anime girl messing around inside Blender. Finally, I’ll share a free, open-source material creation program, "Material Maker".

Let’s dive in.

​Linking and Library Overrides in Blender Explained ​

If you ever found it hard to understand how linking vs appending works in Blender and what it is even good for, then this tutorial by Pierrick Picaut should save you a lot of headache.

He goes step by step, thoroughly explaining linking and library overrides, giving real-life examples of when these techniques are used in larger team projects.

It may be tempting to avoid such "boring" scene management topics altogether, but they can really help you optimize workflows and save you a lot of time, computing power, and disk space when used wisely. The benefits are definitely worth the effort.

​Get $10 Off Cubic Words with a New Chapter, and Blender 5 Update!​

Just a friendly reminder that our "Cubic Worlds" course got an update this week and we’re celebrating it with a 10$ discount until Feb 6th! 🥳.

The update contains a whole new chapter, including a breakdown of the "Coffee Break" scene (that many of you asked for), the Cubic Worlds shader updated to work with Blender 5, and a new Geometry Nodes-based pop-up animation setup (easier to use and more flexible) and more.

​Check out the Cubic Worlds course here​

To claim the discount, use the coupon code: CW10 at checkout.

To learn more about the update, check this overview video.

​An Inside Look into Steamroller Animation’s Pipeline​

​I’ve previously shared Steamroller’s "The Spice Frontier" pilot episode. Now we get a chance to take a little sneak peek at the studio’s production pipeline with this documentary-style video.

Although this particular project uses Unreal Engine (and not Blender) as its main tool of choice, it shows how bold workflow choices can impact bigger projects, leading to unique creative solutions.

I believe choosing Blender (which, quite like UE, is an all-round multi-purpose tool) gives a lot of similar advantages that you can leverage, whether you’re working solo or in a team, regardless of the project scale.

We’ve battle-tested it in our course trailer productions, and it did more than great. In the end, the goal is to make amazing art, with whatever tool that gets the job done, and if the tool helps your creativity flow, then it’s surely the right choice.

​Anime Girl Makes a Mess in Blender - Again!​

Speaking of tools, sometimes they can get in your way and start having a life of their own.

Just like with the anime girl character by Kensyouen_Y, who comes alive again and tries to prevent Kensyouen from closing Blender (and spoiling her fun).

The more annoying for the creator, the more fun for us to watch. 😛

​"Material Maker" 1.5 - Free Alternative for Substance Designer​

Textures and materials are always in high demand for a 3D artist, and it’s great to be able to make your own if you need them. "Material Maker" is a tool that allows just that. Creating your own PBR materials with a set of powerful nodes (like Substance Designer).

What’s even cooler is that it’s 100% free and open source, so you can use it with no strings attached. This video by Gamesfromscratch showcases some of the program’s capabilities.

​Get Material Maker here​

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That’s all from me today. Have a great weekend, and until next time.

~Zach