
wed feb 08 2023

mon jan 30 2023
# Spike Space A messenger delivering bad news arrives at a stranded fleet of spaceships. With this project I wanted to test the limitations of using displacement maps in Blender. I tried to convey a sense of scale and improve my cinematic composition skills. I combined a lot of 2D elements with advanced shader techniques. The clouds and most of the textures are painted in Heavypaint, then brought into Blender. Some of the background elements are also painted textures.
# Phone Sketches I enjoy sketching on my phone late at night! The small format really helps to remove all barriers from wild experimentation. I use a Samsung Note 9.
# Terraformed Environments A terraformer leaves behind tracks on the landscape it creates. With this project I wanted to create cinematic shots with dispacement landscapes and careful use of the Blender compositor. Thanks to Jama Jurabaev for his great tutorials on the topic!
# Pleinairpril 2022 Sketches Virtual pleinair paintings I did for the PleinAirpril 2022 challenge.
# Heavyjan 10 Projection Mapping As part of my effort to combine 3D and 2D in my work, I developed a projection mapping shader that enables me to project my 2D paintings and reuse elements with very little effort. No UV mapping requied. This workflow enables me to do overpaints of existing 3D scenes, create 3D scenes from 2D paintings and enhance 2D paintings with 3D effects. I can add lights that cast proper shadows, adjust the perspective, reuse projected assets in other scenes and so much more. I plan on expanding this toolset for a proper Blender addon in the future.
# Rottweil Environment This panoramic rendering is part of an ongoing VRtual X project. The image will be used in Unity in combination with a custom cloud shader. Its for a VR app on a mobile device, so a prerendered background was the best option. Luckily the camera in the app is more or less fixed ontop of a 250m high tower. I used digital elevation data and OpenStreetMap to recreate the landscape around the TK Elevator Test Tower in Rottweil, Germany. Once the project is finished I will be able to show in engine content that better illustrates the final usecase of this environment.
# Forest of Knowledge In this very large project I worked on at VRtual X we created a forest environment for a 360 panoramic showroom. Overall we did about 40 panoramic renderings in this environment. As the lead artist I was responsible for all the vegetation and environment work. Other members of the team worked on the props that were placed in the environment. I used a lot of different Blender addons for this one. The trees and the medium sized foliage was generated using The Grove. They were then placed on the environment using Scatter. The small vegetation was added with Graswald. We also used assets from Quixel and other libraries. The rendering was done with the custom kubernetes renderfarm I setup for VRtual X. We have a blender addon that lets us control it from inside blender. Its really cool. Thanks to CoreWeave for helping me get started with that one.
# North Sea Island For this project I set out to create an island that could be located in the north sea. One of the main inspirations was the biggest german island, Rügen. It has cliffs made of chalk. I generated the terrain in Gaea. This is a very cool and easy to use tool for node-based terrain generation. It outputs image maps for use in other programs. As lead artist on this project I was responsible for the environment, scene setup and lighting. Except for the layout, I did not work on the architecture located on the island. In its final stage, this project is a panoramic tour around the beach area, however because my main challenge was the environment I am showing a wide shot of the island here.
# Enter XR Panoramic Showroom This 360 image is part of a panoramic showroom for Enter XR (formerly called Safety X), one of the products VRtual X is selling. Enter XR is all about safety at the workplace. The idea is that learning by doing works best and VR allows you to make all the mistakes that would be fatal in real life. The image shows as many different safety hazards as possible. Safety training is essential not only for jobs outside of the office. A lot of different blender techniques have been used for this scene. There is physics- and cloth simulation, geometry nodes, particle systems, a custom height-blend shader, fire- and smoke simulation, 3D scanning, rigging and probably more. This really shows what an awesome all-round package Blender is.
# Virtual Art Gallery I designed a virtual art gallery building for this VRtual X project. Later it is supposed to house real exhibitions of VR-artwork, NFT-artwork as well as traditional art. The exhibition space is designed, so that each art medium has its own seperate building. They are connecte via a large plate at the bottom. This time the focus was on the architecture, not the environment. Oscar Niemeyer and Zaha Hadid were two of the main sources of inspiration for the design of the building. I modeled the building in Moi3D and exported it to Blender for further work. Later I also brought the whole exhibition space into Unreal. Once this project is further along, I might be able to show more.
# Eonos Concept Sketches This is concept art done for Eonos, my bachelor thesis project. Eonos is a narrative design project for virtual reality from before any other narrative VR games were available. As part of a small team amongst other things, I was responsible for art direction, level design, as well as Blueprints scripting for Unreal Engine. I did a lot of these concepts to establish the mood for key locations in the game.
# Eonos Screenshots These are screenshots from Eonos, my bachelor thesis project. Eonos is a narrative design project for virtual reality from before any other narrative VR games were available. As part of a small team amongst other things, I was responsible for art direction, level design, as well as Blueprints scripting for Unreal Engine 4. One of the key locations in the game is the protagonists apartment in Eonos, the empty city.
# The Pillars of the Earth This is background artwork I painted at Daedalic Entertainment for The Pillars of the Earth game. This point and click adventure is based on Ken Follett's bestseller of the same name. Artdirector Simone Grünewald and Lead Environment Artist Manuel Vormwald did a great job teaching and leading the team to create a unique visual experience.
# Spike Space A messenger delivering bad news arrives at a stranded fleet of spaceships. With this project I wanted to test the limitations of using displacement maps in Blender. I tried to convey a sense of scale and improve my cinematic composition skills. I combined a lot of 2D elements with advanced shader techniques. The clouds and most of the textures are painted in Heavypaint, then brought into Blender. Some of the background elements are also painted textures.
# Phone Sketches I enjoy sketching on my phone late at night! The small format really helps to remove all barriers from wild experimentation. I use a Samsung Note 9.
# Terraformed Environments A terraformer leaves behind tracks on the landscape it creates. With this project I wanted to create cinematic shots with dispacement landscapes and careful use of the Blender compositor. Thanks to Jama Jurabaev for his great tutorials on the topic!
# Pleinairpril 2022 Sketches Virtual pleinair paintings I did for the PleinAirpril 2022 challenge.
# Heavyjan 10 Projection Mapping As part of my effort to combine 3D and 2D in my work, I developed a projection mapping shader that enables me to project my 2D paintings and reuse elements with very little effort. No UV mapping requied. This workflow enables me to do overpaints of existing 3D scenes, create 3D scenes from 2D paintings and enhance 2D paintings with 3D effects. I can add lights that cast proper shadows, adjust the perspective, reuse projected assets in other scenes and so much more. I plan on expanding this toolset for a proper Blender addon in the future.
# Rottweil Environment This panoramic rendering is part of an ongoing VRtual X project. The image will be used in Unity in combination with a custom cloud shader. Its for a VR app on a mobile device, so a prerendered background was the best option. Luckily the camera in the app is more or less fixed ontop of a 250m high tower. I used digital elevation data and OpenStreetMap to recreate the landscape around the TK Elevator Test Tower in Rottweil, Germany. Once the project is finished I will be able to show in engine content that better illustrates the final usecase of this environment.
# Forest of Knowledge In this very large project I worked on at VRtual X we created a forest environment for a 360 panoramic showroom. Overall we did about 40 panoramic renderings in this environment. As the lead artist I was responsible for all the vegetation and environment work. Other members of the team worked on the props that were placed in the environment. I used a lot of different Blender addons for this one. The trees and the medium sized foliage was generated using The Grove. They were then placed on the environment using Scatter. The small vegetation was added with Graswald. We also used assets from Quixel and other libraries. The rendering was done with the custom kubernetes renderfarm I setup for VRtual X. We have a blender addon that lets us control it from inside blender. Its really cool. Thanks to CoreWeave for helping me get started with that one.
# North Sea Island For this project I set out to create an island that could be located in the north sea. One of the main inspirations was the biggest german island, Rügen. It has cliffs made of chalk. I generated the terrain in Gaea. This is a very cool and easy to use tool for node-based terrain generation. It outputs image maps for use in other programs. As lead artist on this project I was responsible for the environment, scene setup and lighting. Except for the layout, I did not work on the architecture located on the island. In its final stage, this project is a panoramic tour around the beach area, however because my main challenge was the environment I am showing a wide shot of the island here.
# Enter XR Panoramic Showroom This 360 image is part of a panoramic showroom for Enter XR (formerly called Safety X), one of the products VRtual X is selling. Enter XR is all about safety at the workplace. The idea is that learning by doing works best and VR allows you to make all the mistakes that would be fatal in real life. The image shows as many different safety hazards as possible. Safety training is essential not only for jobs outside of the office. A lot of different blender techniques have been used for this scene. There is physics- and cloth simulation, geometry nodes, particle systems, a custom height-blend shader, fire- and smoke simulation, 3D scanning, rigging and probably more. This really shows what an awesome all-round package Blender is.
# Virtual Art Gallery I designed a virtual art gallery building for this VRtual X project. Later it is supposed to house real exhibitions of VR-artwork, NFT-artwork as well as traditional art. The exhibition space is designed, so that each art medium has its own seperate building. They are connecte via a large plate at the bottom. This time the focus was on the architecture, not the environment. Oscar Niemeyer and Zaha Hadid were two of the main sources of inspiration for the design of the building. I modeled the building in Moi3D and exported it to Blender for further work. Later I also brought the whole exhibition space into Unreal. Once this project is further along, I might be able to show more.
# Eonos Concept Sketches This is concept art done for Eonos, my bachelor thesis project. Eonos is a narrative design project for virtual reality from before any other narrative VR games were available. As part of a small team amongst other things, I was responsible for art direction, level design, as well as Blueprints scripting for Unreal Engine. I did a lot of these concepts to establish the mood for key locations in the game.
# Eonos Screenshots These are screenshots from Eonos, my bachelor thesis project. Eonos is a narrative design project for virtual reality from before any other narrative VR games were available. As part of a small team amongst other things, I was responsible for art direction, level design, as well as Blueprints scripting for Unreal Engine 4. One of the key locations in the game is the protagonists apartment in Eonos, the empty city.
# The Pillars of the Earth This is background artwork I painted at Daedalic Entertainment for The Pillars of the Earth game. This point and click adventure is based on Ken Follett's bestseller of the same name. Artdirector Simone Grünewald and Lead Environment Artist Manuel Vormwald did a great job teaching and leading the team to create a unique visual experience.