Suggestions for new courses

[Jonathan Gonzalez]

That would be an interesting topic. I know Blender could definitely be used to create the visuals of a graphic novel. Although I’d probably approach it without going from the ground up. Modeling characters and props wouldn’t be much different than traditional modeling. Since these would be used as images you could probably also skip retopology unless needed. Rigging could also probably be skipped soon enough due to this: https://twitter.com/pablodp606/status/1160961114273910785 

You could render each scene very quickly and even add in unique animated panels by rendering out a simple animation. You could create the inked look with a shader in Blender. Here is an example of a shader created in Blender that could work: https://cgcookie.com/lesson/clip-art 

[Lionel Alvergnas]

Hi everybody! Maybe a course dedicated to the clothing system, because play with basic animation (like a fabric piece falling on an object, or moving in the wind) is relatively easy but when you try to will be more specific, it’s harder!

For example, how to make specific fabric setting to have cotton, silk, jeans, leather, etc…

And maybe another one is to update some courses like “Shader Forge” to Blender 2.8, because I had started it last week and I had quickly stopped, because I think all the first half of this course is too old now… 😉

[spikeyxxx]

Hi @pbriggs !

A small look into the future: in 2.81 you will be able to animate a sculpt directly, no retopology or armatures necessary. 

Thanks to Pablo Dobarro 2.81 comes with an Elastic Deform Brush and a Pose Brush!

Using Shapekeys on the sculpt you will be able to do amazing things! Here’s a small demo of the Elastic Deform Brush (this took me just a few seconds and the result is not great, but I only wanted to show you the power of this…):

[Jonathan Gonzalez]

Cloth simulations can definitely be it’s own course. Lots of creative stuff you can do with that too to create some really realistic looking wrinkles and folds within objects without having to manually sculpt it. It’s something I can bring up with the crew. 

Regarding the Shader Forge course. It’s unlikely it’ll be completely rebuilt for Blender 2.8. A lot content from older courses can be utilized with Blender 2.8, some of the tools may change or move but the general concepts stay the same. New shaders can be added to the course and will be made with 2.8. 

[Omar Domenech]

@theluthier This has Kent Trammell written all over it. It’s figuratively talk people, don’t go looking for the fine print.     

[Jonathan Gonzalez]

Definitely an interesting shader for sure. I wouldn’t even know what that is called. At first glance it looks like something you’d see in a splat map that takes into account the height and adds a reddish falloff to it while the base texture is the onyx looking portion of the rock. 

[smurfmier1985]

@jgonzalez 

Hi Gonzo, which of your courses should I watch to learn more about Level Design / Game Design? I don’t mean how to make the stuff in Engine, but more about how the design process itself works. 

How do you prep? How do you come up with game mechanics / rules? How do you determine goals for the players? How do you design a good layout for your level? How to greybox / test effectively? How to determine routes for players to takes? Routes the enemies can take? How to make sure you frustrate the player just enough to enjoy it, but not so much that they put down the game? All that kind of stuff. 

A crash course in learning how to actually design your own games, instead of only following along with tutorials..

I bring it up here because if you haven’t made a course that goes into that, I would love to see one 😊

[Jonathan Gonzalez]

I don’t think we have anything on that to be honest. At best we might have a few courses that go over some basic level design like this: https://cgcookie.com/course/level-design-with-modular-assets. In terms of the brainstorming and design process for building something like a Game Design Document we haven’t really covered that.  

I briefly talked about the subject in this article: https://blog.cgcookie.com/levels-of-game-development/ but doesn’t go into a lot of detail. Having a course that discusses the brainstorming process of designing would be great. It’s also probably the most enjoyable process of building a game since you tend to have the most energy and enthusiasm for building something new. 

It is however highly subjective to the type of game you’re building. A mobile game with a single control mechanic will have vastly different design parameters in place than a multiplayer FPS shooter. 

There’s definitely a lot of “non-technical” aspects of game development that people need to account for. The technical stuff can often times be easier since it’s more concrete and specific, but determining why something is fun and what keeps players engaged can be tricky. There’s a ton of psychology and subtle hidden things in games that drive player interactions without us even knowing about it. 

Also a great series that may also help you out is from Riot Games: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqRoXLLwJ8g&list=PL42m9XiTqPHJdJuVXO6Vf5ta5D07peiVx , covers a few different aspects of game development from a theory point of view and shares some great advice. 

[smurfmier1985]

@jgonzalez I’ve seen that series a couple of times actually, it’s great!😊 doesn’t go very deep into it though.. 

Perhaps you can document the design stage of the next game course you make? 

Record a couple of videos of all the things you do before you start the actual building phase of the game, from initial idea till greyboxing/playtesting. Just to get some insight into the process, it would be most helpful.

‘Cause I think it’s not about the specifics that come out of it (like what mechanics and such, because like you already mentioned every game is vastly different), but it’s more about the thought progression and how you go about testing out ideas and such.

[Tishard Nathaniel]

Cloths modeling/or sculpting would be nice

[Jonathan Lampel]

Here ya go! 

https://cgcookie.com/lesson/clothing 

https://cgcookie.com/lesson/week-3-kickoff

[Omar Domenech]

So I was watching Elon Musk’s Starship announcement and they had some sad animation for the rocket. I don’t get it, this people are revolutionizing space travel, making Star Wars a reality and the CGI in their presentations looks like as if they don’t care about the CGI, like scientist worried about the science and not the looks. I don’t get it. Anyways, the part of the rocket re-entering the atmosphere, when the heat shield is flaming up, I did wonder how could I do that in Blender? and I got nothing. It’s not a fire simulation because is heat from the resistance, not a flame. I need to figure this one out. 

[Ala Dhiabi]

All i want is a beginner character modeling course. 

And by beginner i don’t mean a very long step by step course that will finally have you create a high poly highly detailed character (like the old one we have here), no, i want the final model to feel like “beginner model” too, something like this: 

or even this:

a very simple low poly character made for a top-down view game or something, i tried going through the old tutorial, but honestly between the sculpting and retopology and everything in between (and after), i found it very overwhelming specially that every mistake will feel end up being “multiplied” a bunch of times later.

Thanks

[khasburrahman]

I second this! Like to see this kind of simple character tutorial 
Actually new here, just joined, about to explore what’s in cgcookie

[Jonathan Lampel]

@alaslipknot That kind of thing is definitely on my radar! I think it’s a great idea. 

@khasburrahman Welcome! 

[Author]

Posts