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Designing Sci-Fi in 3D


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With Dave's (3d-Pangel's) inspiration and impetus we have a new thread that I think will be fascinating and beneficial:

"Designing Sci-Fi in 3d"

 

This discussion will be very open to all approaches and choices of software.

 

Since this is a broad topic I suggest we generally focus for the first day on:

TOOLS. What are specific features, plugins, addons, small standalone programs that we can leverage when building our designs? Feel free to jump in and add any candidate tools.

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Trypogen, third party c4d generator for environments, props...trippy Alien creature eggs...organic whateva in space....

 

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Other possible Merk plugins with sci-fi relevance: TopoWire, Symex, TopoFormer

 

 

JSplacement

A texture generator primarily used to create faux-geometry via displacement. This is free standalone app. Since it creates a simple map this is handy for any/all DCC's, as they all feature displacement functionality.

 

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There are numerous tools specifically intended for "Greebling", which is a quick way to mash a lot of various tech meshes onto surfaces.

 

Kuroyume was well known for having a c4d tool for this, but his software support (and even online presence) is highly unpredictable. Ironically the best successor, Merk's PolyGreeble, has also seen off-and-on support...I believe due to the dev's health.

 

Here is a screengrab from Poly Greeble creation:

 

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Blender has numerous Greebling addons.

 

One example? Plating Generator by Mark Kingsnorth. Different folks have created "Greebles Packs" to work with this addon.

 

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Fluent is a hard surface modelling toolset Blender addon that provides a feature set ideal for Sci-Fi. It might not be ideal for a casual user who doesn't have much familiarity with Blender.

 

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Decal Machine is a Blender Addon that empowers the artist with the ability to drag and drop decals (etchings, overlays, "extruded" objects, etc). What the tool is actually utilizing is normal and displacement trickery without real geometry. The results are quick and easy, but perhaps not always suitable for up-close hero objects.

 

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I could go on at length about popular Blender addons that are often used for SciFi : Grid Modeler, Box Cutter, HardOps, etc.

 

If you want SciFi Greeble objects to use for your DCC of choice, I suggest going to GumRoad and searching for "Kitbash" or "Greeble".

 

Certainly there are numerous c4d, Houdini and Blender tools yet unmentioned.

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c4d's Mograph, I suspect, is a hidden gem for some SciFi scenes. I say that because of it's ability to do so much with non-destructive iterative repetition. Though this was done in Blender, perhaps while watching you can think about doing similarly with c4d. Houdini, no doubt could excel at the same.

 

Massive arrays and mirroring are incredibly well suited for SciFi work, IMO.

 

 

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Way to set the stage with the big stuff 🙂
Since i am not an artist at all i have to start on a slightly lower level. Please find attached a paramettric Modeling function that creates a Groove from selected edges. As part of a modeling stack you can use it to create those grooves that can be found on nearly all surfaces somehow SciFi. It has options to subdivide and smooth the grooves to allow more organic shapes.
image.thumb.png.f0e90fc65da8fca568b723d4d5d430b5.pngimage.thumb.png.6ab7949e96d4751d420446b6471bf5f3.png

Edge to Groove 01.c4d

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