Hey Reader,

Zach here,

With the last dose of fresh inspiration and resources from the 3D world before the Christmas Holidays. 🎅

Today, I’ll share a tutorial on texturing in Blender with the Ucupaint add-on, followed by two awesome short animations, a new Eevee course by Gleb Alexandrov, and finally, ToAnimate’s Christmas Sale.

Let’s dive in.

The Holidays are coming, and we’re taking things slower.

Small & quick announcement from our team:

As this very special time of the year draws near, we’re taking some time off to celebrate Christmas and New Year’s Eve, and take care of our families and friends.

Content and student support will be slower from December 20th until January 4th.

​Texture in Blender, like in Substance Painter with Ucupaint​

Texturing in Blender can be cumbersome, but with the Ucupaint add-on (freely available Blender extension), it becomes much more intuitive. The add-on offers a layer-based system with some additional tools, including those for automated edge detection and decals.

​This tutorial by Polygon Runway is a good introduction to Ucupaint’s core features that he demonstrates by texturing a mailbox model.

​Blender Animation with "Toy Story" vibes​

If you’re a creative or simply a sensitive person, I’m sure this animation will resonate with you in some way (If not, I’d love to know why you’re subscribed to this newsletter? 😜).

It may have been just another teaser for an animation course, but it goes far beyond that with a great story and a fun main character.

The poseable figurine RigAtina goes through some rough times, losing one of her hands, which makes her useless for her previous job as the artist’s muse. Will that make her give up, or will she find a way to turn the challenge into a new opportunity?

Find out by watching the video here.

​"War is Over" - A Touching Animated Short inspired by John Lennon’s Music​

Christmas should be a time of peace, but unfortunately, we all know it is not the case all over our beautiful planet.

​This powerful animated short film, inspired by the famous John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s song "Happy Christmas, War is Over", was made by Dave Mullins and Brad Booker in collaboration with Sean Ono Lennon (John Lennon’s son) and Wētā FX.

It won the 2024 Academy Award for Best Animated Short last year, and is now freely published on YouTube, with the intention to spread the anti-war message and raise funds for War Child UK - a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing help to children affected by war.

​Brand New "Realistic Lighting in Eevee" Course by Gleb Alexandrov​

Eevee has grown a lot since it was introduced in Blender as an alternative to the Cycles render engine. Gleb Alexandrov pushes it to its limits and proves it can get incredibly close to Cycles’ quality levels in a fraction of rendering time.

In his newest ‘Realistic Lighting in Eevee’ course, he shares all his in-depth knowledge and secret tricks to take your Eevee renders to the next level.

The course is now available in Early Bird price (so grab it while it’s hot).

​Get the ‘Realistic Lighting in Eevee’ course here (affiliate link)

​ToAnimate’s 30% OFF Christmas Sale​

If you’re looking for a great Christmas gift for yourself or someone you love, ToAnimate has a generous 30% discount for those who want to learn animation in Blender.

You can get all of their products 30% OFF with the coupon code: XMAS25 until Dec 31st.

​Grab ToAnimate’s Courses here (affiliate link)

Our newsletter will also go into a more "reflective mode" for the upcoming two weeks to give you some food for deeper thought.

See you next year, we’re excited to share more of what we’ve been working on behind the scenes soon.
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That’s all from me today. Have a great weekend, and a very Merry Christmas! Till next time.

~Zach & the CG Boost team