Another New WIP
Even if I don't have the software to do object-to-object baking, I can still create all the necessary parts. The 2005 remake of the classic (1983) COBRA H.I.S.S. caught my fancy, and will be the subject of this exercise. Still a couple of details to add to this, and then I'll be creating the low-res mesh and a boat-load of maps to make it look all pretty in a real-time engine.

Co-braaaa!


New WIP
More subsurface scattering doodling, inspired by my neighbor's baby aloe plant that watched while he was on vacation. All of the surfaces are procedural textures here (except that baby photo and the background). The dirt has two displacement maps, one for the soil and another for the fertilizer; the geometry consists of just one face. Modo's Shader Tree allows for hierarchical, multi-layered shaders, even groups within a single shader, which allowed me to use two different displacement maps in the same shader. How? Equivalent to a Layer Mask in Photoshop, the Group Mask dictates the application of grouped textures within the hierarchy. The displacement map used to create the fertilizer is in its own group (with its own mask) and sits higher in the hierarchy. Thus, it overrides the displacement map used to create the soil. So, the fertilizer group does its thing according to its mask, and the remaining area is filled in with the soil group.

Brilliant!


New(er) Stuff
Check it out. I've been doing some experimenting with subsurface scattering (a real-world physical property of translucent objects, basically dictating how much light passes through) using Modo. Great little program. Very cool as far as I'm concerned. I guess subsurface scattering isn't really all that new, but it's new to me. (and isn't that what really matters?) =P

Here's a tip: because it's a real-world phenomenon, create your models to scale. Unlike most other parameters in the shader, the program requires a physical distance, not a percentage, to determine the rate at which the light traveling through the object is affected.

I've also posted an invitation I made for a spring event for the Massachusetts Children's Trust Fund. And I've revisited two old friends, the OH-58 Kiowa Warrior, adding, tweaking, etc., and the RX-8, which has a nice new shader on it.

Sexy.

I'll be posting (shortly) more images of this stuff for you to oogle. And more stuff is on the way, like, for real. So check back.