Hey Reader,

Zach here,

with new inspiration and resources from the 3D world.

Today I’ll announce a new 3D art challenge and share a couple of short tips from our course creators. Finally, I’ll share a free stylized materials library.

Let’s dive in.

​"Pumpkin Lab" - New 3D Art Challenge + November Sprint​

Time for another CG Boost 3D challenge!

This time, we challenge you to create a pumpkin lab where you can experiment and research to find a cure for the autumn spleen. Whether you feel like a peaceful gardener, a mad scientist, or a mysterious wizard, the pumpkins are ready to be enchanted with your creative spark!

You’ll find all the details on the rules, prizes, etc. at the link below.

​Join the Challenge here​

The beginning of November also means that a new Sprint has started. It’s a great chance to get your personal project up and running with some extra encouragement and feedback from the community.

​We’re looking for a Game Dev Instructor!​

We’re hiring! If you are experienced in the field of game development and using Blender+Unreal Engine (preferably) or other game engines, and you have some teaching experience, you might just be the right person.

Sounds more like someone you know? Just pass the message to your friend or colleague. Let’s find the next CG Boost tutor together!

​More details about the open position here​

​Tip #1: How to Make Seamless Textures in Blender - with Jim Morren​

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If you thought you must leave Blender to create seamless textures - think again! In this video, Jim Morren shows a simple but powerful trick with Geometry Nodes that lets you create seamless textures using 3D objects directly in Blender.

It’s easy, fun, and allows easy tweaking to make multiple versions of similar textures.

​Tip #2: Low-Poly Broken Glass in Blender - with Zach Reinhardt​

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To quickly and intuitively create multiple versions of broken glass panes (or any other low-poly geometry), you can use the trick I show in this video.

All you need is the Mask Modifier and a bit of Weight Painting combined.

​Tip #3: Add Fog to your 3D scenes in the Compositor - with Daniel Nees​

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Instead of using volumetric to create fog in 3D (and spending hours on rendering), you can use the compositor and the Mist Pass to do it in post-production in basically no time.

Our compositing magician, Daniel Nees, shows how to properly set it up in this video.

​Stylized Textures - 100% Free NPR Materials Library​

If you’ve been looking for some good free textures for your stylized 3D projects, Stylized Textures is a great resource. It looks a lot like Polyhaven, but for more painterly NPR shaders.

The library is not huge, but it’s got quite a variety of materials you can use to texture organic and human-made environments and 3D characters.

Keeping fingers crossed for the collection to grow and be used in some amazing projects.

​Get the textures here (they’re 100% free and with a CC0 license)

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

~Zach