Blender – Lannix Design

Update: Fully CGI Shed Workshop Layout Design!

Nick — Tue, 26 Mar 2024 21:30:42 +0000

Since the relatively brand-new camera has succumbed to injuries sustained during an altercation with a coffee table, I had some time on my hands. I’d always had it in mind to make a 3D model of the shed and create a layout for the workshop in virtual space before laying down any cold hard cash for shelving, workbenches and/or materials to complete the job. So that’s what I’ve been working on the last few weeks.

As some of you may already know, I like to dabble in 3D animation using Blender and I’ve already used it to create the intro and transition sequences for my YouTube videos. This project has so far proved to be far more ambitious than I originally thought. The detailed shed model took about a week to recreate in virtual space and includes working roller doors and accurately represented colours using details from the manufacturer.

The shed model was just the start of it though. The opening sequence required houses, trees and other details around the yard to be modelled and, being a stickler for details, the materials needed to match their real-life counterparts as accurately as possible. Then, because I like to punish myself, the shed was animated to assemble itself while the camera was moving down the driveway and into the back yard.

A screenshot from the YouTube shorts preview I uploaded to my personal channel.

Click the image to see the video!

This entire sequence took around three weeks from the start of modelling until the twenty second clip was fully rendered. I’ve uploaded a low res preview version to my personal YouTube since I’m keen to get it out there. Click the image above to check it out.

The upside to having sunk all that time into creating accurate models is that they can be reused for subsequent clips, greatly reducing the time to set them up. The downside is that rendering clips in 4K resolution takes a long time. The opening sequence took three overnight sessions to render the 600 frames and it seems that subsequent sequences are taking even longer. I’ve taken measures to optimise the scenes for faster rendering times but I’ll need to get more serious about it if the video is going to be completed this year! It’s not surprising that companies like Pixar and Dreamworks have entire floors of buildings filled with computers dedicated to rendering animated clips.

Although I am happy with the quality of the rendered images, I realise there is room for improvement and I’m hoping to hone my craft for upcoming projects like the office under the house and my bar and games room layout. So subscribe to our main channel if you’re keen to see the end result of what I assume will be months of 3D modelling and rendering, you can see some progress pics in the gallery below.

Smell ya later!

Gallery - Fully CGI Shed Workshop Layout Design!

Subscribe to our channel to keep up with the shenanigans at Lannix Design!

If you need more shed related content, check out the video below where I lay down an epoxy coating on the concrete floor! The lining and insulation video will be up as soon as it’s done and there’ll be more to follow as I’m working on setting out all the workbenches and tools virtually to hopefully find the optimal layout for the shed before forking over any cash!

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Make Your Own Triple 4K Wallpaper In Blender!

Nick — Tue, 19 Sep 2023 21:30:09 +0000

I’ve really been enjoying creating content for YouTube using Blender lately. A few weeks ago I uploaded some wallpapers I made for my triple screen displays so that anyone could enjoy them. Making them inspired the idea to create a tutorial on how to make them yourself so that the viewer could easily play around with the scene and produce whatever they wanted with the free assets provided.

So at last, on Friday the tutorial video was uploaded to YouTube for all to watch and hopefully enjoy. If you watched the video, please let me know what you thought of it. I’m keen to create the best content I can and have limited feedback on what I’ve made so far.

I’m trying to move into more of the DIY style content at this stage but there will still be some CAD and Blender elements to the videos.

Check out the link from our YouTube channel

If you want to follow along with the tutorial, you’ll need to download the free asset pack I made for it. Click the button to go to the download page!

If you ain’t got time for that, click the image above to download a free triple 4K wallpaper I prepared earlier!

Subscribe to our channel to keep up with the shenanigans at Lannix Design!

If you haven’t yet, check out our previous videos where we make the logo in Fusion 360 and then animate the logo in Blender. They’re both great tutorials for beginners in 3D modelling and animation.

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Making Graphics For Our Website

Nick — Tue, 29 Aug 2023 21:30:17 +0000

Making graphics for a website seemed like a daunting task a couple of years ago when I jumped into the project. I had no idea what the deal is with using downloaded images and the like when you’re making a commercial website, and I actually wasn’t that keen to just use someone else’s artwork.

Since I’d designed the logo myself in Fusion 360, I came up with this plan to use renders with low lighting that would hopefully just fade into the background of the website and look like a nice subtle image. I was initially quite happy with this for our original website, lannix3d.com.au, but when it came time to build our new website I wanted something a little more artistic to grab people’s attention when they clicked on our home page.

Originally, the main page background was a brick wall with our logo as an illuminated sign hanging on it. I was happy with it at first but after looking at it closely I realised the brick texture wasn’t as high-res as I’d like and I felt it was looking a bit uninteresting. The light didn’t seem to stand out as much as I’d hoped so I went back and gave it some more attention.

Our home page graphic made in Fusion 360 and Blender.

The original background that I decided to evolve.

In the mean time I’d revamped our YouTube channel graphics with a teal & orange theme which I really loved. So I thought I’d incorporate those colours into the brick image somehow. I’d also been watching tutorials on how to light a scene for making videos so that gave me the idea of having the coloured lights illuminate the scene from either side. I thought opposite corners would look good and I’m happy with that part of it.

Our logo sign needed to glow and stand out more so I used some techniques I learned from Blender Guru on how to get a nice glow from your rendered emission textures.

Lastly, I wanted to add some more subtle detail to give a sense of realism so I modelled up an electrical conduit in real scale and stuck it in the top right corner. It’s barely noticeable but that’s exactly what I was going for.

Check out the screenshots of the Blender layout in the gallery below to get an idea of how the image was made.

Gallery - Making Graphics For Our Website

I’ve also included some screenshots of the Fusion 360 models I’ve used to create other graphics on our website. Hopefully some of you might find them interesting.

If you’re interested in learning Fusion 360’s modelling with text or rendering features, check out the video below. It’s a simple tutorial for beginners and we’ll go through the steps used to create the Lannix Design logo.

See how the Lannix Design logo was made on our YouTube channel

For those interested in learning animation in Blender, check out this video to learn the basics in a tutorial aimed at beginners.

Subscribe to our channel to keep up with the shenanigans at Lannix Design!

Until next week, Byeee!

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Make A Star Wars Inspired Animation In Blender!

Nick — Tue, 22 Aug 2023 21:30:50 +0000

The wildly anticipated follow-up to the logo design video is finally here! If you’re curious about how to make 3D animation videos like they do at Pixar, check out our latest YouTube video that shows the basics of 3D animation. It’s a tutorial aimed at beginners and is paced so that new animators can follow along.

Blender has a steep learning curve but for those who stick with it, it can be very rewarding when you produce a 3D animation that you can be proud of like the one in our video. Check it out if you’re curious about the process!

If you want to follow along with the tutorial, I’ve made a zip file availabel with the logo model

Subscribe to our channel to keep up with the shenanigans at Lannix Design!

Check out the link from our YouTube channel

If you haven’t yet, why not check out the precursor video where we make the logo in Fusion 360. Using the text feature in Fusion is often overlooked in parametric software but it is possible to get some cool results. Watch below!

This is the result of the Blender tutorial which you’ll be able to create for yourself in the video above.

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Free Triple 4K Wallpaper!

Nick — Tue, 15 Aug 2023 21:30:06 +0000

I’ve traditionally just found a bunch of pictures I like (usually of cars) to use for my computers desktop wallpaper. I’ve had triple monitors for a few years now but I never thought, until recently, to look for a wallpaper that spans across all three as one long picture. A quick search online for triple 4K resolution wallpapers found that either they weren’t actually 4K or they just weren’t very good. The one that I found that I did like was locked behind a paywall…

The version with cars on our triple 4K monitor setup.

I’ve been mucking around with Blender the last couple of weeks making a video for our YouTube channel and suddenly had the idea that I could make my own wallpaper in whatever resolution I wanted. I liked the brick wall render I made for the main page of the website so I decided to use that blender file as a base and add a few personal touches.

I got carried away with lights inspired by the colours of the YouTube logo and couldn’t resist adding some cars in there as well. I actually didn’t think about sharing the images while I was making them but it dawned on me that someone else might enjoy them, so here they are.

Brick Wallpaper

A simple, stylized brick wall with the Lannix Design sign glowing away. Teal and orange spotlights glow to create a nice ambience.

Brick Wallpaper With Cars In Silhouette

The same background but this time offered with two of my favourite cars in silhouette. It features the Nissan S30 240Z and the BMW E30 M3. The effect is subtle and mysterious.

I hope you enjoy the wallpapers. If you have any tips or suggestions for more wallpapers, let me know. I enjoyed making them and don’t need much of an excuse to try some more!