Retopolgy Quickie

I have been spending so much time studying retopology techniques and tricks and tools, that the subject is going to warrant its own Pinterest board soon.

Anyway, this is a great simple solution to a problem that I frequently have and am often unsure how to fix. I just gleaned this little gem from a Ryan Kittleson course on lynda.com.

I am posting it here so I don't forget and because eventually I am sure some of you will want to practise retopology, especially after I convince you how much fun sculpting in Blender is.

  
Find more from the guy I learned this trick from on his You Tube. His name is Ryan Kittleson, he is a brand new discovery for me, but I already know there is lots more he can teach us.

Drag & Drop in Blender

So yesterday, I ran across this great looking theme (he calls it a Format) for Blender on Sensei Blender on You Tube. One aspect in particular just struck me as so brilliant I simply could not believe I hadn't seen it done before - by anyone! I wish I had thought of it. Best I can do now is just share it.

You know that animation timeline window down at the bottom of your screen? Handy if animating or running simulations, but otherwise, kinda wasted real estate, so I usually keep mine squeezed shut. But a better idea (borrowed from the Sensei Format) is to turn that window into a File Browser. It's easy, it's fast, and it means you can DRAG & DROP textures and models into the 3D Viewport or UV Image Editor.

I already don't know how I lived without it.

How To Bake An AO in Blender

By request, and frequently asked in Blender groups & Builders Brewery, here is a very basic How to Bake an Ambient Occlusion Map in Blender, (starring the chair of course). If you need info on how to unwrap and where to put seams and stuff, either go look that up first, or just use Smart UV Project as your unwrap method for the first one :)

   

Using a Pen Tablet With Blender

It might be a bit hard to make out those settings, but they are the same I recommended pen or not: Emulate 3 Button Mouse, Continuous Grab & Emulate NumPad. You can find them in User Preferences under the Input Tab.