COLLAB2021 – HQ – Stylized Fantasy Environment

[Jake Korosi]

Excellent!  And it’s good to be back. 🙂

Kind of liking the house….starting to sort of gravitate that way.  But, like you said, we’ve got some time yet.

[Carlo]

I’m really excited about this. Has been a long time since the last time I worked on anything at CGcookie. 

[Daphne Lameris]

Sounds interesting. Normally April is a socially busy month. Since that’s cancelled I could use a project with goals. 

[Kent Trammell]

I noticed you were quiet yesterday! Figured you had other stuff to take care of – like job, family, little things 😉

Speaking of, I love that you watched with your kids. I did the same. They said “cool!” and walked away.

Figure out what I want to work on: Not sure, but I want to stretch myself.

You obviously have the modeling thing down. Even though low poly stylized modeling will be different than the DOG, I think you’ll pick it up easy enough. What about texture painting though? If you were to practice anything before April, I’d recommend practicing basic painting skills. Even some 2D concept videos here could help.

[Kent Trammell]

Me too! Last year’s collab atmosphere was electric. We’re glad to have you on the team 🤜🤛

[Kent Trammell]

Your social circle’s loss is our gain! Happy to have you on the team 🤜🤛

[splat21]

@theluthier – this looks like a very cool project to collaborate as a team.  While there will be activity for a month, it is more bite-size compared to the backhoe project.  It is very evident that you have planned and thought this project out very well.  Even providing reference training material, which will no doubt reinforce lessons in this class.  There are a few classes in your helpful content lists that I have not gone through yet.  I will work on viewing the rocks, clouds and tank courses prior to April 6th.  I recognize that running a class like this disrupts your normal daily routine.  Many thanks in advance – I am definitely looking forward to collaborate on this project. 

[Kent Trammell]

 it is more bite-size compared to the backhoe project

Very true, intentionally so. You’re the second person to mention the smaller scope so I’ll take a moment to write out my perspective.

7 months is a long time to stay committed to a project, both for contributors and for the instructor (mainly because they can’t record courses in that time). Even though I aspire to do huge, multi-month Collabs in future, I think it’s best to start smaller in scope to refine the system enough so  that it can facilitate larger projects with larger numbers of contributors eventually.

That said, the backhoe also taught me something important about these projects: They are what we make it. When the first volunteers signed up for parts to model on the backhoe I expected a lot less than what they delivered. I just figured they would commit an hour or so here and there since it was all volunteer. But they all took it very seriously. They made it into the impressive model it became. Way beyond my expectations. In fact their commitment and level of detail pushed me to a higher standard. It was so compelling how naturally this happened. Their effort made the backhoe into such an impressive thing I simple needed to animate and render an assembly sequence to do it justice.

What I’m trying to say is that even with a smaller scope environment project, we each will decide how impressive we want the final model to be. That makes me excited to see what it will become!

I don’t mean to ramble. I guess I’m starting to read into a potential consensus that the smaller-scope project might seem underwhelming(?) It’s understandable compared to the behemoth that was the backhoe. But I’ve also dropped my jaw at what a collab team is capable of. I suspect the same will be true in April 🚀

I will work on viewing the rocks, clouds and tank courses prior to April 6th

That’s great! I’m glad you’re going to watch before April. And I’m thrilled to hear you’re looking forward to it. April is gong to be a month to remember ✊

[Keith]

I’ve been really excited about this project since I first read about it and definitely want to be part of the team!

Because of my work pattern I wont be able to join in on every livestream though, but I will catch up with them when they get posted afterwards. 

Really looking forward to cracking on with it!! 

[Kent Trammell]

[splat21]

@theluthier – While I did not participate on the backhoe team, I attend all but one of the live streams.  I am confident that I learned several new things during each session.  The participants were excited and supported each other in a truly collaborative fashion.  There were interesting discussions – such as:  if a screw won’t be seen do you still model it?  The stretching exercises were always welcomed.  In the end, a phenomenal complex model was created.  Coming into this Spice Vendor’s House project, this community has an exceptional team resume.

I do not consider this project to be underwhelming.  I applaud your strategy of working on a relatively small project, refine the teaching process with the possibility of working on larger projects in the future.  Get a larger number of people on the same page on how to collaborate effectively within Blender.  I am confident that you will enlist more experienced users to assist.  Expand from there with bigger projects if it makes sense.  The only disappointment that I have with the project is the project name:  COLLAB2021.  I’d prefer it to be called COLLAB2021A, which would imply that there would be a “B” this year.  Having said that, while you are working on this and other collaborative projects, it is probably affecting your timeline for your anatomy course.  And, trust me, every Citizen is very interested to learn how to make portraits like you have already unbelievably created in Blender.

I am also excited to see what this project will become.  On Vadim’s ArtStation page, he delineates the Spice Vendor’s House into three sections:  Market, Residence and Production.  My future CG Cookie collaborators are a creative bunch.  I am sure that I am not the only one that is thinking:  what is on this property that we can’t see?  Perhaps there is a balcony from the third floor bedroom overlooking a spice garden on the back side of the house.  On the outside of the production side are there bushels of whole spices?  Maybe wooden shelves, a table, or staging area?  What is the watermill used for?  Perhaps, to grind the spices?  Perhaps it powers a conveyor system that moves the spice jars within the house and over the stream.  The potential for project creep is real.  However, it has to be balanced with the course schedule.  That is fine.  Perhaps some people will create models of what it looks like on the inside of the house when this course is complete.  

Also, your enthusiasm is infectious.  Just look at the responses you have already received upon announcing this class.

[Shawn Blanch]

Oof! Texture painting is definitely a weak point, although I have some great tools and I have been practicing on a few things in the past but definitely still a novice in this area (I have tons of drawing and vector art experience though) so this may be just the area I want to spread my wings.

Be thinking what model will stretch me with my current abilities. I’ll post a link to my 2D portfolio/texture painting skills if that helps.

I’m off to see the wizard the wonderful wizard Grant Abbit. (If anyone is good at low poly and texture painting it is truly that guy).

[Shawn Blanch]

You’ll find the collab team is going to be a-buzz with social activity

[Shawn Blanch]

Oh man we are going to get @beefkeef  in the collab!?! This dude is wicked good at putting in the creative juices towards his works.

I can’t wait to work alongside such a stud.

[Shawn Blanch]

@fide So glad to see a friend from past projects join the ranks!

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