Tag: 3D

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Unreal Engine As A 3D Modeling & Sculpting Application

The most recent releases of Unreal Engine now include new beta Unreal Modeling Tools Editor Mode enabling you to create, sculpt and even texture entirely in Unreal Engine. If you want to check out the new features, you need to enable the plugin. Don’t worry, there are step by step instructions available below

In Unreal Engine, select Edit->Plugins.

In the Plugins dialog, filter by Model and locate and select Modeling Tools Editor Mode and click the Enabled checkbox.

Modeling Tools Editor Mode in Unreal Engine

This will first prompt you if you want to continue due to it being an experimental feature. Allow this, then it will prompt you to restart Unreal Engine, click Restart Now.

New plugin restart Unreal Engine

Once your project has restarted, you can access the new modeling tools in the Modes menu by selecting Modeling.

Modeling Mode in Unreal Engine

Once enabled a new toolbar will be available with options for creating new geometry from primitives or other creation modes, tools for modifying and deforming as well as sculpting geometry and much more.

Go hands-on with the Unreal Modeling Tools Editor Mode plugin in the video below.

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VoxEdit Beta Hands-On

VoxEdit is a free 3D Voxel graphics editor you can freely download for Windows and Mac OS here, with a Linux version mentioned as “coming soon”. The application is actually designed as the content creation tool for The Sandbox a voxel based game platform where artists can monetize their voxel creations. That said, the modelling portions support exporting in OBJ, FBX and GLTF formats making it useful for use with other engines and DCC tools. The animation tools however cannot export except to the Sandbox marketplace.

The modelling tools have the following features:

  • All-in-One software (Model, Rig, and Animate)
  • Incredible performance
  • Available for Windows and Mac
  • Amazing voxel creation tools
  • High level of detail models
  • Advanced Renderer
  • Versatile Color Palette
  • Friendly 3D environment

These are the key features if you are using VoxEdit as a straight out voxel modelling tool. However if you are intending to publish on the Sandbox marketplace, the tool also has advanced animation features, as well as the ability to define and texture voxel blocks. Neither of these features however support exporting into “open” file formats.

If VoxEdit isn’t to your taste for Voxel modelling, be sure to check out BlockBench or possibly MagicaVoxel for alternatives. You can learn more about VoxEdit in the video below.

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Quixel Release Quixel Bridge 2020.4

Quixel have just released Quixel Bridge 2020.4 with a heavy focus on making the tool easier to use. Quixel Bridge is a cross platform (Linux, Windows and Mac), free tool for organizing your textures, as well as acting as a communication tool between your data and your game engine or DCC tool of choice. Quixel Bridge also acts as a handy interface to Megascans massive texture and 3D object library, a library that is completely free for Unreal Engine users!

Highlights of the 2020.4 release from the Quixel blog:

At the beginning of this year, we overhauled the Bridge browsing experience to help you discover new, relevant content faster than ever before. As part of this ongoing effort to simplify the creative experience for artists, this latest update comes packed with enhancements to the Asset Preview Panel, the download and export settings, and other improvements that make Bridge even easier to use.

Key new features include:

  • Redesigned Asset Preview Panel
  • Simplified download and export settings
  • Managing Plugins made easier
  • Simpler initial set up
  • Deeper categorization

Quixel Bridge is available as a free download here and you can learn more about the 2020.4 release in the video below.

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Blockbench 3D Modelling Application Review

BlockBench is a free 3d modelling, texturing and animation application for creating Minecraft style models. Blockbench is available on Windows, Mac and Linux, as well online.

Blockbench features include:

  • Blockbench is an all in one 3D Editor and Animator for Minecraft and other games and applications
  • Blockbench comes with a powerful animation editor. Animations can later be exported to Minecraft: Bedrock Edition, rendered in Blender or Maya, or shared on Sketchfab.
  • Customize Blockbench with the built-in plugin store. Or create your own plugin and add a new feature or new format.
  • Collaborate with your friends on models, textures and animations – in real time, over the internet!
  • Blockbench is available in 12 languages, and the number is growing.
  • Create, edit and paint texture right inside the program. Create or import palettes, paint, draw shapes or automatically create templates.

You can learn more about Blockbench and see it in action in the video below.

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Babylon.JS 4.2 Game Engine Released

Babylon.js, the open source 3D web based game engine, just released version 4.2 with a ton of new features and tools. Key features of the 4.2 release include:

  • New particle editor for direct creation of particle systems in the Inspector
New Node System in Babylon.js
  • new Sprite Editor built into the Inspector to create, control and save sprites
  • new Skeleton viewer to visual bones and bone weights in Inspector
  • texture inspector for debugging texture issues
  • PBR support in the Node material editor with access to metallic, roughness, clearcoat, sheen etc when creating materials
  • new Procedural Texture, Particle Shader, Post Processing modes added to the Node editor
  • reusable frames in Node Material editor, enabling you to reuse shader code between projects easily
  • playground templates, essentially quick access code snippets in the code editor using Ctrl+Space
  • direct support for pre-filtered .hdr files
  • support for React Native for creating native applications
  • KTX + Basis U texture compression support
  • much, much more

You can learn more about the release in this article here or by watching the video below. Babylon.js is an open source project under the Apache 2 license with the source code available on GitHub. If you are interested in learning more about Babylon, be sure to check out our older Babylon.js tutorial series.

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Godot FBX Importer Improvements In Godot 3.2.4

In Godot 3.2 FBX support was improved by implementing the open source AssImp library. In the upcoming release of Godot 3.2.4 we are getting an all new FBX importer. While based on AssImp initially, this project took over a year to developed, removed over 50K lines of non-FBX related code and made improvements across the board.

Developer Gordon MacPherson recently wrote about the experience on the Godot blog and detailed the following changes:

  • We rewrote all the mesh code to support all formats of FBX meshes correctly.
  • We built an entire abstraction for the FBX transform information, which was a very complex and convoluted undertaking to get working properly.
  • We designed a better handler for the animations which can compensate for the complex transform information, which means that we can handle animations correctly.

The project is ready for use but there are some plans in the pipeline:

  • Finish porting the rewrite to Godot 4.0 (we use the 3.2 branch in production, so that’s where this was developed and quality controlled by many users).
  • Locator bones. Right now, you need to bake your animation before exporting.
  • Improve material mappings (most are supported, some need mapping).
  • Fix bugs in the beta phase, we expect them.

Be sure to check out the blog post for details on the project, why they did it and why you should care. In the video below we put Godot 3.2.4 through the paces with a couple FBX tests, including this scene from Sketchfab. Unfortunately until Godot 3.2.4 is released, you will have to build Godot from source, just be sure to checkout the 3.2 branch from GitHub. Special thanks to IMVU for sponsoring the project.

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Creature 3D Animation Software Now In Alpha

Kestrel Moon software, creators of the Creature 2D animation software have just released the very first 0.1 alpha of Creature3D. Creature 3D is a stand-alone 3D animation application, currently available for Windows 64 machines for free, for rigging and animating characters using procedural animation.

Features of Creature 3D:

Procedural Animation at your fingertips

Walk Cycles, Tail Animation, Ropes, Skin Sliding and Dynamic Flesh/Breathing Motion are a breeze with Creature3D’s state of the art Procedural Motor System. Take full manual control by tweaking both keyframes and animation splines.

Fast, Easy setup of Characters

Easily rig your Characters via Auto or Manual Rigging Modes. Add bones, then pick between Auto Weight or Manual brush painting for your Skin Weights.

Export your Animations to the World

Export your animation as industry supported mainstream FBX or GLTF assets which can then be imported into Game Engines like UE4 or Unity.

You can learn more about and download Creature here. If you want to get started with Creature 3D there are a few sample projects now available here. You can learn more about Creature 3D and see it in action in the video below.

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Nomad Sculpt

If you’ve ever dreamed of doing 3D modelling on the go, today’s product Nomad Sculpt may be perfect for you. Nomad Sculpt is a 3D sculpting application designed from the ground up to be mobile first. It brings all the functionality you would expect from a modern 3D sculpting application like ZBrush, Mudbox or Blender but it runs on your Android or iOS mobile device!

Key features of Nomad Sculpt include:

  • Clay, Crease, Trim, Smooth, Mask and many other brushes
  • Stroke customization with falloff, alpha and other options
  • Matcap rendering or Physically Based Rendering
  • Vertex painting, with roughness/metalness control
  • Multiresolution sculpting
  • Voxel Uniform Remeshing, along with subtractive boolean
  • Dynamic Topology, to refine locally your mesh
  • Robust layers that supports topology change
  • Designed from the ground up for a mobile experience
  • Support pencil pressure (Apple Pencil, Samsung S Pen, etc)
  • OBJ, STL and glTF support

Nomad Sculpt is available on the App Store and the Android Store. It is $15 for the complete version, but there is a reasonably full functioning, export disabled trial version available. You can also see Nomad Sculpt in action in the hands-on review below.

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001 Game Creator Humble Bundle

The 001 Game Creator game engine is currently featured in the Game Dev STEM Humble Bundle that just launched. 001 Game Creator was previously featured in a Humble, so be sure to check your library to make sure you aren’t purchasing it twice. If you are interested in learning more about 001 Game Creator, check out our hands-on review available here.

As with all Humbles, this bundle is organized into tiers:

1$ Tier

  • Misc design documents

10$ Tier

  • 001 Game Creator Engine
  • 001 Basics E-Book
  • 001 Resource E-Book

20$ Tier

  • Point and Click Adventure Kit
  • Dragons Den Resource Pack
  • Retro Fantasy Music Pack
  • Sound Effects Pack Vol 1

25$ Tier

  • Enhanced RPG Kit
  • FPS Kit
  • MMORPG Kit
  • Visual Novel Kit

As with all Humble Bundles you get to decide how your money is allocated between the publisher, charity, Humble and if you so choose (and thanks if you do!) to support GFS using this link. You can learn more about the bundle in the video below.

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Cascadeur 2020.2B Released

The currently free animation tool Cascadeur (previously covered in more detail here) for Windows and Linux, just released a new beta update, Cascadeur 2020.2.

Key new features of the 2020.2b release include:

  • Quick Rigging tool for humanoid models – you can now create a simple humanoid rig much faster and with less hassle
  • Simplified Ballistics edit menu and new Ballistic ghosts options – you can now see ghosts of all the ballistic trajectories or only the selected one, but the ballistics in your old scenes will need to be created again
  • Improved Interval Edit mode – now with Linear and Bezier options 
  • Notification of a new version inside the program – as soon as the new version of Cascadeur becomes available, you will see the announcement directly in the program
  • Several minor bug fixes and improvements

You can learn more about this new release, including seeing the new Quick Rigging tools in action, in the video below. For more details on creating animations in Cascadeur, be sure to check out this earlier video.