[Ryan Sweeney]

Hi, my name is Ryan. I’m I Software Engineer by day. I’ve been involved with Blender and consuming CGCookie content since 2013.

I like scripting and automating things so the Blender Add-on capabilities are where I tend to spend my time when I do flirt with Blender.

I live in Indiana with my wife, 3 kids, a dog, and a cat (I usually forget about the cat… he’s a recluse). I play in a cover band around town and a into ultra marathons. Apparently, I’ve become a collector of KHDK Guitar pedals as well.

Thanks for curating CGC into what it is today Wes and team ❤

[Ryan Sweeney]

Ah fun! Discovered that `INFO_MT_mesh_add` was replaced with `VIEW3D_MT_mesh_add` when adding an item to the mesh menu. Couldn’t find documentation on this but at least the templates in the text editor are up to date.

So old code for registering a module now changes to adding a class.
Old way:

def register():
    bpy.utils.register_module(__name__)
    bpy.types.INFO_MT_mesh_add.append(menu_func)
    
def unregister():
    bpy.utils.unregister_module(__name__)
    bpy.types.INFO_MT_mesh_add.remove(menu_func)

New Way:

def register():
    from bpy.utils import register_class
    register_class(ClassName)
    bpy.types.VIEW3D_MT_mesh_add.append(menu_func)


def unregister():
    from bpy.utils import unregister_class
    unregister_class(ClassName)
    bpy.types.VIEW3D_MT_mesh_add.remove(menu_func)

[Ryan Sweeney]

I love the concept!

[Ryan Sweeney]

Hi Thibaut,

I have experienced and still experience your pain. I was deeply engrossed in CG as a hobby a couple years ago. In fact, my engagement in CG has peaks and steep valley plateaus where I won’t touch Blender for months at a time. I have a 40 hour a week job and three school aged children. 

Here is what I noticed personally: I will start learning something specific. Like modeling, for instance. In the course of modeling, I want to delve into some other discipline, like texture painting, or sculpting. I think, because I expend so much engagement in modeling, when I go into something else, it feels overwhelming. After all, I just came out of developing muscle memory for all the keyboard shortcuts. But when I expand into another area, I just quit. 

But then, I pick it up again, because it is fun to create things. So I wake up early in the morning and I have some “things” that I want to make. So I get back into using Blender. I hone different skills to reasonable competency and then I get trapped in this weird space. With my limited amount of time to develop these skills, I also find I’m engaging with the CGC community or digging into a new tutorial that comes out.

Now I’m back after about an 18 month hiatus. I want to make a game and I am doing it presently using Blender and Blend4Web. I create. Then I realize, I don’t really texture paint things so good. I have to learn that. So it has been a balancing act of working on my project and yet, learning something new. And when you lean on tutorials, there is a comfort in the tutorials and it’s hard to escape. It gets better as you gain competency.

So what I need to do is time blocks. I evaluate on a daily basis. I have the mornings and the evenings after the kids are in bed. I will use those bookends of the day to either plow forward on my game or engage in an exercise. I can certainly stand to do this better as I fall to the temptation of catching up to @theluthier on the CGC Leaderboard… (shakes fist vehemently)

Do you write your goals down? When you are not motivated so much, is there something small you can do? Often, when you start doing something despite not feeling motivated, you’ll find the drive to keep going with it. Try to get away from doing tutorials if you can. I know, it’s so tempting. I see all sorts on BlenderNation via my twitter feed that are enticing.

Sorry for the ramble. I feel like something in my experience for the last 7 years as a hobbyist with a full time job is not uncommon to other folks out here. And, I just don’t know how to “fix” it. There is probably not a magic solution. It will take self-discipline and just pushing for your goals. It ain’t pretty. 

I’m rooting for you!

[Ryan Sweeney]

Got that, too. Luckily, it seems each object in the lattice gets a lattice modifier. Be aware of your apply order

[Ryan Sweeney]

*UPDATE* That was it, @frikkr! In the 3D View, I had the wrong slot selected. Slots are only accessible in the 3D view space, which is why I was having trouble. 

[Ryan Sweeney]

Awesome! Thanks @frikkr! I will mess around with that sometime. I’ve since moved on because it turns out that Blend4Web doesn’t really handle bump maps well, or at least, it’s complicated. I’m just using flat textures for now… 

But since Texture painting is is the next think I want to be above mediocre in, I’ll check out those videos. Thanks again!

[Ryan Sweeney]

I’m using Blender Render if it matters as I’m exporting to Blend4Web and it doesn’t appear to do great with cycles

[Ryan Sweeney]

You have to duplicate the brush, then go to the brush options and choose mask.

[Ryan Sweeney]

Nevermind, it appears so. I downloaded Unity 5 on my laptop. It’s got quite a lot nicer UI than 4

[Ryan Sweeney]

Ah! I found what I needed in the “Resources” section in the side navigation bar. And there is an extended brush set for $5 from Tim as well!

[Author]

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