Hey Reader,

Zach here,

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

I’ll start with a cool video about creating a Star Wars battle VFX shot with Blender (that gets me back to when I started learning 3D) and then I’ll share an inspiring samurai stop-motion animation with anime vibes.

The long-awaited premiere of "Secret Level" (an animated series inspired by various video games) has finally come, so I’m sharing some details and thoughts about this, as well as a useful Pattern Designer add-on that can boost your creations in unexpected ways.

Let’s dive in.
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​Making a Star Wars battle VFX shot in Blender​

Drifting Walnut - a YouTube VFX artist has challenged himself to make an epic Star Wars battle shot using only free tools. The main tool is of course Blender.

The video brought back memories of how I started to learn 3D to be able to create crazy sci-fi VFX shots with my brother. It is more of a funny breakdown video than a tutorial, still, you can learn some cool tricks and techniques by watching it. I hope it inspires you to make some amazing VFX yourself.

If you need some training to mix your 3D work with real-world footage, you might be interested in our upcoming Master Compositing in Blender course that can help you create similar VFX shots in Blender. The course launches December 20th (next week).

​"Hidari" Anime-inspired Stop-motion Samurai Film (Pilot)​

If you are into 3D animation, you might wonder where to get inspiration from, when most CGI stuff looks similar. A good way is to look at other animation genres, such as traditional techniques used for decades before 3D was even invented.

"Hidari" is not a 3D animation, but an amazing traditional stop-motion film inspired by anime and samurai movies. This means it was hand-animated frame by frame using real wooden dolls crafted with true artistry.

Though the technique is different, we can find a lot of common ground in the creative process. Making a 3D character in Blender can take similar dedication and attention to detail, but what makes stop-motion unique is that the puppets need to really work to be properly animated. This kind of "grounding in reality" is a very useful lesson we can take from it as 3D artists. It makes the final artwork more believable.

If you’re interested in how the "Hidari" pilot was crafted, here’s a behind-the-scenes video about it.

​"Secret Level" is out, and it looks great!​

I’ve shared some teasers of this animated series in previous newsletters, and finally, it has been released on Amazon Prime. "Secret Level" is a collection of short animated films inspired by some popular video game titles.

The entire series is created using 3D animated CGI. Every episode is a different story inspired by a specific game, and they have unique design and animation styles too. It’s a great source of fun and inspiration to draw from.

To watch the whole series, you need an Amazon Prime Video subscription, you can get a taste of it in this snipped of the "Unreal Tournament" episode.

​Pattern Designer Add-on​

Pattern Designer is a cool add-on that enables making an infinite variety of patterns from images. The idea looks very simple, but it is also powerful.

Check out some possible use cases (environment design, sci-fi UI designs, hard-surface models etc.) the add-on’s creator Pierre Lazarevic shows in this teaser video.

​Get Pattern Designer here (affiliate link)
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That’s all from me today, have an amazing week, and till next time.

~Zach