I have had this hobby over the past few years of learning 3D Modeling and Design.
Originally, a lot of my efforts were geared towards making a game in Unity. I quickly realized that a lot of the work in game development revolved around asset creation. So, I got distracted from the idea of making a game and instead wanted to design assets.
I had previously done a little bit of asset creation in Blender before, and then I discovered Houdini.
Houdini is a procedural tool that lets you do 3D Modeling, Animation, FX, and Rendering. I like the node-based model and ability to write code to build models, and how much Math and problem solving is involved. It felt like a lot the Math I had learned when I was younger was coming back in new and interesting ways. It also felt like a creative way to continue coding.
I had no real background in 3D design, and choosing to learn it through Houdini has been quite a challenge. I’ve learned a lot about shaders, meshes, animation, lighting, simulations, color spaces, file formats and a lot of other specific techniques that I can’t quite remember.
It’s an incredibly powerful software package but it’s designed for experts, or those looking to train up to become a professional 3D designer. The docs are a little bit difficult to follow, unless you are already familiar with the jargon from another software package like Maya.
I’ve been working on modeling a flower over the years. I’ll try and write some more about that, and what I’ve learned. Since I just do it for fun, I don’t make progress particularly quickly, and have found myself several times rebuilding things that I’ve done in the past. Some times, I never really get where I’m going and move on to something else.
I’ll try and post some more “work in progress” on this website. Here’s an unshaded picture of a flower I did a few months ago.