Published Nov 6th, 2012, 11/6/12 1:50 am
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Introduction:
Hello, I'm Rea and this is my first blog entry here on the ever lovely Planet Minecraft; however, this is not the first time I've been on PMC. My following blog post is based on what I've seen from nearly a year of submissions, and one common thing I've seen growing is the use of 3D modeling to attract viewers to submission pages in hopes of getting more diamonds and ranking up.
What is 3D modeling and how does it affect PMC?
In short, 3D modeling is when somebody creates a 3-dimensional representation of something, in our case most people render models of Minecraft characters and projects. The extra shadows, refraction, and reflections of light and the extra render distance that you cannot normally get in screenshots of Minecraft are more aesthetically pleasing and when combined with Photoshop sky backgrounds to create an atmosphere, can potentially attract more viewers which lends a big hand in getting front-page popular submissions.
Appealing to the masses
If you're a serious poster here on Planet Minecraft and are having a hard time getting people to like your submissions, give 3D modeling a try. Where do I start, you ask? There are a good few rendering editors out there for you to use, many of which include Autodesk Maya, Autodesk 3DS Max, Cinema 4D, and Blender. All are more than capable of providing you with the essential tools to start rendering your own models.
Which 3D program should I get? What's the difference?
Personally, I use Autodesk Maya. It's an extremely powerful program made to create the most realistic renders possible, and does an even greater job if you combine it with Vray plugin for Maya. However, Maya is extremely expensive and out of the budget range of most users here. If you're looking to get the best bang for the buck, try the free alternative to Maya, Blender. It's more bare bones than Maya and does not provide the advanced animating and particle effects that Maya does, but if you're looking for a couple shots to post as your featured image, it's a great program which has fully customizable shading and reflection options. If you're looking for some greater realism than Blender can offer, download Cinema4D and give it a shot. This program is fairly new compared to Maya and Blender and offers some pretty unique controls that some may argue are more user-friendly than the latter two options. The final choice is 3DSMax which, like Maya, costs a hefty sum and is more for creating low-poly game characters and environments, so I wouldn't recommend it if you're just posting projects.
How do I make my world 3D?
A nifty little program called Mineways is here to save the day! It was originally made with the intent of making your minecraft worlds available for 3D printing, but it also has an option to export as a .obj file, which you can directly open with any of the aforementioned rendering editors. Once you've opened up your world feel free to play around with lighting effects and angles and position your camera, then render out an image of your beautiful creation! Most renderers will automatically make the sky on your rendered images transparent, which makes it super easy to insert a sky using Photoshop or GIMP 2 and finally upload it to your planet minecraft submission!
Final thoughts:
This may seem like a lot of work just for the possibility of having a popular topic or front-page submission, but hard work is the key to getting recognition here. Like I said at the beginning of this blog, this is my first post on PlanetMC, so feel free to let me know if I missed anything and I'll add it.
Diamonds are appreciated but not necessary! :)
Also, I'd love me some of them subscribers people are always talking about. ^^
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wow! My first blog is already a popular blog ^^
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Front page! Thank you guys so much!!!
Hello, I'm Rea and this is my first blog entry here on the ever lovely Planet Minecraft; however, this is not the first time I've been on PMC. My following blog post is based on what I've seen from nearly a year of submissions, and one common thing I've seen growing is the use of 3D modeling to attract viewers to submission pages in hopes of getting more diamonds and ranking up.
What is 3D modeling and how does it affect PMC?
In short, 3D modeling is when somebody creates a 3-dimensional representation of something, in our case most people render models of Minecraft characters and projects. The extra shadows, refraction, and reflections of light and the extra render distance that you cannot normally get in screenshots of Minecraft are more aesthetically pleasing and when combined with Photoshop sky backgrounds to create an atmosphere, can potentially attract more viewers which lends a big hand in getting front-page popular submissions.
Appealing to the masses
If you're a serious poster here on Planet Minecraft and are having a hard time getting people to like your submissions, give 3D modeling a try. Where do I start, you ask? There are a good few rendering editors out there for you to use, many of which include Autodesk Maya, Autodesk 3DS Max, Cinema 4D, and Blender. All are more than capable of providing you with the essential tools to start rendering your own models.
Which 3D program should I get? What's the difference?
Personally, I use Autodesk Maya. It's an extremely powerful program made to create the most realistic renders possible, and does an even greater job if you combine it with Vray plugin for Maya. However, Maya is extremely expensive and out of the budget range of most users here. If you're looking to get the best bang for the buck, try the free alternative to Maya, Blender. It's more bare bones than Maya and does not provide the advanced animating and particle effects that Maya does, but if you're looking for a couple shots to post as your featured image, it's a great program which has fully customizable shading and reflection options. If you're looking for some greater realism than Blender can offer, download Cinema4D and give it a shot. This program is fairly new compared to Maya and Blender and offers some pretty unique controls that some may argue are more user-friendly than the latter two options. The final choice is 3DSMax which, like Maya, costs a hefty sum and is more for creating low-poly game characters and environments, so I wouldn't recommend it if you're just posting projects.
How do I make my world 3D?
A nifty little program called Mineways is here to save the day! It was originally made with the intent of making your minecraft worlds available for 3D printing, but it also has an option to export as a .obj file, which you can directly open with any of the aforementioned rendering editors. Once you've opened up your world feel free to play around with lighting effects and angles and position your camera, then render out an image of your beautiful creation! Most renderers will automatically make the sky on your rendered images transparent, which makes it super easy to insert a sky using Photoshop or GIMP 2 and finally upload it to your planet minecraft submission!
Final thoughts:
This may seem like a lot of work just for the possibility of having a popular topic or front-page submission, but hard work is the key to getting recognition here. Like I said at the beginning of this blog, this is my first post on PlanetMC, so feel free to let me know if I missed anything and I'll add it.
Diamonds are appreciated but not necessary! :)
Also, I'd love me some of them subscribers people are always talking about. ^^
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wow! My first blog is already a popular blog ^^
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Front page! Thank you guys so much!!!
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1 Update Logs
Fixed broken links : by Alderea 11/06/2012 12:09:32 amNov 6th, 2012
Links to external sites were broken. The issue's been fixed. Thanks for the heads up!
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