Hey Reader,

Zach here,

With a fresh batch of news from the 3D world.

We’ve got our new CG Boost tutorial about speeding up Cycles in Blender, a Blender Market Summer Sale, retro PlayStation 1 renders and a mind-blowing 3D environment breakdown.

Let’s dive in!
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​How to make Cycles render faster​

Frustrated with how long rendering in Cycles is taking?

Our compositing wizard Daniel Nees is here to help you out with his 5 powerful efficiency tricks and techniques you probably haven’t heard of, that can save you hours of render time.

From clever use of improved denoising to using light groups, render passes and more, Daniel explains everything in-depth for you in our latest Blender tutorial.

Daniel's video is made possible by Blendergrid, a render farm service for Blender, that can help you to render your 3D projects online superfast while you’re still able to use your computer at the same time.

Compared to other render farms, it gives you an exact price quote before rendering, so there will be no unpleasant surprises after your rendering job is done.

You can even tweak the render time upfront to lower the costs (longer render time = lower costs).

You can try Blendergrid with $20 free render credits by using the link below. Furthermore, you don't even need an account to get started.

​Claim your $20 free render credits here​

​Big Blender Market Summer Sale​

Lots of useful add-ons and 3D products (including the new "Core" Blender fundamentals mini-courses bundle) are on sale now with 25% off during the Big Blender Market Summer Sale that runs until August 25th.

It’s a chance to grab tools such as the Potter’s Touch by Bproduction.

Or GeoScatter (one of the best scattering tools for Blender).

The sale also includes some great courses. You can boost your lighting skills with Creative Shrimp in their Cinematic Lighting course.

Or spice up your renders with Dust Particles + allowing to add animated dust, embers or moths (100% coolness increase to any render) for as low as 9 bucks.

​Make your renders look like on PlayStation 1​

This new video by Pwnisher proves that making good-looking renders is not always about increasing realism. "Downgrading" can also lead to impactful art.

Clinton and his friend Derek take a nostalgic journey into the mid-90s (the era of the PlayStation 1, when modern 3D graphics were just taking shape).

They go over the technological limitations that shaped the PS1 look. They not only analyze it in detail, but also recreate the whole workflow using modern tools by pixelating textures and implementing other constraints to bring back the retro look in Cinema4D (but it’s totally doable in Blender as well).

If you feel the nostalgia for old video games, sprites and low-poly 3D, this is going to be a real treat!

​Ancient desert city comes alive in Blender​

3D artist Dylan Donaldson (Zertox) has made an incredibly realistic desert city scene in Blender (also using Houdini and some other programs in the process).

​In his YouTube video, he shares a very informative breakdown of the scene including modeling, rigging, and simulation techniques he used to get the final result (which is stunning!).
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That’s it from me for today. Have a great week and till next time!

~Zach