Tech Direction Spring 22

Class 1

What is the role of a tech director

• Fix problems for the creative director
• Make things easier for the creative team
• Build new tools for the creative process

If tech direction was a Venn Diagram

Further discussion - The Eisenhower Box

How to be More Productive and Eliminate Time Wasting Activities by Using the “Eisenhower Box”

Learning Markdown

Notes from this class will be in markdown format

Please complete this profile to famaliarize yourself with Markdown

Tech Direction Profile Template

Markdown guide

HackMD Guide

Sharing a document in HackMD

Tools

• Markdown: https://hackmd.io
• Diagrams / Screenshots: https://excalidraw.com/

Blender Intro

Preferences

Navigation

Blender has come a long way

https://www.tiktok.com/@savannahxyzart/video/7117085164953472298?is_from_webapp=v1&item_id=7117085164953472298

Class 2

Modeling in Blender

Create a backdrop

Shift+A to add a plane

Tab into edit mode
S to scale up the plane

Switch into edge select mode

Click the back edge to select it

e, z, 10, enter to extrude the back edge by 10 meters

click the back edge to select it

ctrl + b + drag mouse along y to bevel

mouse scroll to add loop cuts to the bevel

tab back into object mode
right click, shade smooth to remove the faceted look

final model

Lighting and shading

Studio lighting

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Generative Primitives

Generative Primitive Bundle

Spline Lesson

SDF Lesson

Github

The problem

The solution - version control

Single User

Many Users

1. Make a repository on Github
2. Clone that repository
   a. copy the repository link
   
   b. git clone repositoryurl
   for example:
   git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/td2023.git
   c. switch into the repo directory:
   cd td2023
   d. check the status of the repo:
   git status
   e. you should see:
   ​​​​On branch main
   
   ​​​​No commits yet
   
   ​​​​nothing to commit (create/copy files and use "git add" to track)
   

   f. add a file to staging
   cd hw1
git add hw1.blend
   or if working on many files
   git add .
   g. commit our staged files
   git commit -m "design: work you did"
   g. push the staged commits to github
   git push

Parameterizing Node Groups

Using the SDF Primitive Assets

1. Run this in the terminal
   cd u:\blender\projects
git clone https://github.com/michaelgold/generative-primitives.git

2. Open Blender and add this to edit > preferences
   click plus to add a directory
   

   

   add the path we git clonedu:\blender\projects\generative-primitives
   

   

   You should now see generative primitives in your asset library

   

   In Geometry Nodes Editor click Add > Search

   SDF nodes should display
   

   

example

1. Run this in the terminal
   cd u:\blender\projects
git clone https://github.com/michaelgold/td2023

2. Open sdf_head.blend

Geometry Nodes Tutorials

Intro to Geometry Nodes Tutorial Playlist:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwCRakRO61dZEV4WNQNo1u8BUKwhiW3w0

Deep dive Geometry Nodes Workshop:

Shaderverse Generative Art Addon

Shaderverse is an open-source generative art add-on for Blender

You can use Shaderverse to quickly preview and export Geometry Nodes projects into various 2D and 3D file formats

Addon Download

Example Project