Dust Particles+ has always been about a lightweight, procedural way to add atmosphere (and life!) to your scenes without the default Blender particle system headaches. This update pushes things a fair bit further in that direction by introducing… well, procedural life.

We’ve included generators for things like swarming insects, bees and birds. It’s all powered by Geometry Nodes, so it stays fast in the viewport – actually now about 5x faster than in 1.2 – while giving you that extra layer of believability.

What’s new?

• Custom 3D Objects each with their own custom generators – Bees, Birds, Raindrops etc (Pro)
• 3D Object deformation options (Pro)
• Now uses a faster points based method (Pro & Lite)

See full changelog below for more details…

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CHANGELOG v1.3

Lite & Pro

• Changed from planes to points
• Scale with bounding box (there was a request to bring that back)
• Transparency variation (in addition to emission variation)
• Dithered alpha option
• Cast shadow option
• Bug fixes and optimisations

Pro only

• Custom 3D Objects; birds, bees, flies, moths, leaves, papers, clumps, raindrop – each with its own geometry nodes control in the modifier panel
• Added ‘Use texture color’ option to preserve more varied texture colors on some of the objects (e.g. birds and bees)
• 3D Object deformation options (good for floating bags and underwater stuff)
• Align rotation to direction
• Random rotation amount (should work for 2d and 3d)
• Particles following curves can now be influenced by the curves radius and tilt

Superhive

Gumroad

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v1.2 Changes

• Wind and Curve Flow (Pro)
• Extra wind themed sprites, leaves and papers (Pro)
• Extra example project files (Pro)
• Asset Browser Icons (Pro)
• Box fade (Pro & Lite)
• Cleaner UI (Pro & Lite)
• Point rendering (Pro & Lite)

See the full v1.2 changelog below for more.

Superhive

Gumroad

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CHANGELOG v1.2

Main asset can be found in these zips:
dust_particles_lite.zip
dust_particles_pro.zip
These include v1.0, v1.1 and v1.2 versions

Extra Project Files:
Project file folders for pro now includes extra demo blends for the v1.2 features. These also contain the v1.1 and v1.0 project files for convenience

Pro:

• New looping directional wind with edge fade feature
• 3 extra paper animated spritesheets
• 1 leaves type animated spritesheet
• New looping wind section – i.e. directional flow to the particles, with it’s own edge fade
• Experimental section – Curve, this makes the particles flow along the selected curve, then use the settings to customise the look and the behavior
• Asset browser icons implementation

Free & Pro:

• UI Updated to take advantage of Blenders collapsible panels that can now be used within the geo nodes modifier
• Camera now no longer needed to be selected, instead there’s a new section at the top ‘Align camera to sprites’, with that enabled Blender will orient the particles towards whatever happens to be the active camera. This is useful for when using multiple cameras
• New ‘Domain’ section has been added to contain the domain related options like v1.1’s sphere fade. This includes a new ‘edge fade’ feature – useful for longer domains
• Experimental section – Point rendering – useful in cycles where we can use spheres as points in the viewport, this gives a very optimised rendering of a 3d object (a sphere in this case). This still works with the rest of the system – however note that the alpha/border settings are relevant in this context.
• Galaxy A and Galaxy B have been tweaked to include some nicer color detail

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CHANGELOG v1.1

Main asset can be found in these zips:
dust_particles_lite.zip
dust_particles_pro.zip
These include v1.0 and v1.1 versions

Extra Project Files:
Project file folders for pro and lite now include extra demo blends for the v1.1 features. These also contain the v1.0 project files for convenience

Pro:

• Created new ‘use mesh shape’ feature so that shapes of any kind can be used as the shape the particles should spawn within
• 5 extra star themed spritesheets

Lite & Pro:
Main Changes

• Created a spherical fade option
• Created a new ‘Scale with Bounding Box’ option which toggles whether or not the particles scale automatically as the bounding box of the domain object changes (in edit mode)
• Created a new ‘Scale Multiplier’ movement parameter to conveniently scale all the movement settings manually (including uniqueness) all at once if needed

UI Changes

• Renamed movement ‘noise scale’ to ‘uniqueness’

Bug Fixes

• Fixed the movement noise scale/uniqueness to properly scale with the rest of the noise parameters when the domain was scaled up or down
• Fixed a bug where the further the mesh domain is from the origin point of the object the more that would affect the type of movement giving inconsistent results in those cases
• Slightly altered how the alpha is used for sprites without alpha channels (old method could result in slightly more transparency than intended)

Miscellaneous
Added a new pro v1.0 blend file that has been refactored to allow it to work for anyone still using older versions of Blender, specifically Blender v3.3 LTS (long term support). Unfortunately we can’t currently support any Blender versions further back than that.
dust_particles+_v1.0_pro_3.3LTS.blend

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Dust Particle Tutorials

• Overview v1.2 update : https://youtu.be/bAGFH1Sy1FE
• Overview v1.1 update : https://youtu.be/mvXgVhbhLFM?si=tLUN5cbeyWHFUYo2
• Original Release tutorial : https://youtu.be/5UGC8xUDgys?si=FATzOkXEbOEoFQR2
• Original Overview by Gleb: https://youtu.be/4sZpmNLMOWU?si=aUIXiXtUs7yZ95eY
• Create a 3d starfield: https://youtu.be/7S-u8X-XH58?si=8hItSP52cNdjq1yl
• Snowglobe : https://youtu.be/jKd_nUSKceQ?si=lNioWUdHjIGfqiHr

• Snowglobe (Short) : Snow Globe Illusion with Particles in Blender #3dblendered #motiongraphics #blender #animation #b3d – YouTube
• DOF in Eevee: https://youtu.be/rO8xupUuN5U?si=W1zsgL6P8RZLkkOM

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p.s. If you’ve already grabbed the pack, the v1.3 update is ready and waiting for you.

Links to the store pages for quick access: Superhive & Gumroad

The post Dust Particles Update v1.3 appeared first on Creative Shrimp.

In this Blender tutorial we’ll…

• Show how to recreate a normal map matcap that works for geometry and bump textures
• Make a node group to use as a master control to switch between render passes
• Show how to combine 2 normal map textures together
• Show how to combine grayscale height textures with normal maps

Chapter List

00:00 – Overview
01:06 – Bump to matcap style
05:47 – Making it work from all angles
07:51 – Geometry + Textures = WOO!
09:09 – Node groups
10:41 – The global switch
14:01 – Mixing 2 normal map textures
17:20 – End

Links & Project Files

Download Blender 2.8

Using Blender Like Substance Designer

Procedural Clean Asphalt Texturing in Eevee Tutorial

Principled PBR Baker

Simple Bake on the Blender Market

Blending in Detail, Combining 2 Normal Maps Article

Combining 2 Normal Maps node group on Blendswap by radcapricorn

Baked Road Scene with Pavement Demo File

Textures.one Excellent PBR image texture resource

Let’s carry it on in the comments below if you think we should go into further details on anything!

The post Advanced Normal Map Creation Tips appeared first on Creative Shrimp.

In this Blender tutorial we’ll…

• Show how to bake to a plane
• Setup camera and materials to render like a bake
• Show a potential bug in the current Eevee renders
• Convert the bump node output to a normal map using nodes
• Save out the texture passes
• Show the renders working in Eevee and in Unreal Engine 4

Chapter List

00:00 – Overview
02:51 – Reason To Layer
05:11 – Baking To A Plane
05:24 – Baking 1 – Create the plane to bake to
05:32 – Baking 2 – Create the texture to bake to
06:30 – Baking 3 – Choose bake pass type
06:46 – Baking 4 – Select the geometry you want to bake to the plane
05:09 – Baking 5 – Hit Bake – or see 6 to optimize
07:00 – Baking 6 – Optimize
07:14 – Limitations Of Baking
08:04 – Setting Up The Camera
09:30 – Setting Up The Materials
10:22 – Frames and reroute nodes
12:15 – Continuing with the materials
13:54 – Rendering Final Setup
14:53 – Eevee rendering border issue (world material bleed)
16:33 – Continuing with rendering final setup
17:50 – Bump To Normal Map
20:08 – Saving The Textures
22:27 – Using The Textures on a single plane
24:58 – Using The Textures In UE4
27:23 – END

BAKE DOWNSIDE – Notice (above right) the loss of detail

BAKE UPSIDE – Notice above the speed at which the shader updates on the first plane. Simply put we get faster changes and faster renders. Meanwhile the 2nd plane that isn’t baked and still has huge amounts of node calculations takes close to 20 seconds to make the same change.

Links & Project Files

Download Blender 2.8

Procedural Clean Asphalt Texturing in Eevee Tutorial

Updated asphalt blend file with packed textures and single plane setup

Google Summer Of Code Procedural Texturing Project

Substance Designer

Great Blender Procedural Examples and Giveaways by Simon Thommes

Let’s carry it on in the comments below if you think we should go into further details on anything!

The post Using Blender Like Substance Designer appeared first on Creative Shrimp.

The main steps

1. The base layer
2. Rust
3. Edge scratches
4. Some more scratches (can’t be enough)
5. Lighting

Lighting and Material perception

I can stress this enough: lighting plays an important role in creating convincing metallic shader. In creating every shader, to be honest, but material is especially sensitive. No way we can make bombastic heavy metal with poor lighting. Never ever.

Especially rim lighting – or back lighting – that’s important, use it.

Bonus metal shader tips:

Box mapping

We don’t want to unwrap high-poly models, don’t we? If so, use box-mapping as a texture projection mode (in material editor). And, of course, Generated or Object coordinates.

A dull texture can be a good texture

As we are going to project our textures from different sides of the ‘box’, we need a tileable textures. For that reason, let’s keep away from fancy stuff, because it will make our tiling pattern very apparent. The interesting parts, like scratches, will be added as a material layer. So don’t worry about it being dull for now.

Metal and Fresnel?

Technically, applying fresnel falloff to metal material isn’t physically correct. But who cares? Fresnel reflections get stronger at sharp angles, so it will enhance the rim light effect near the edges and reveal the shape better. Go for it.

Few more notes:

Written tutorial with all steps covered in detail can be found in 3dWorld magazine.

Built upon the source model of the Drill by Frank the Smith (CC-0). You can download it from Blendswap. Thanks, Frank!

The post How to Make Metal Material in Blender? appeared first on Creative Shrimp.

How to create a stone in Blender procedurally, using Displacement modifier? In this Blender displacement modifier tutorial, we’ll explore layering Displacement modifier to produce large, medium and small scale details on our rock. Also we’ll prove one more time, that everything is better with stalactites.

Blender Displacement Modifier Tips & Examples

Use Voronoi Procedural Texture for a large scale details.

Use Musgrave Noise for a medium scale details.

Use Weight Paint to control the Displacement

Red paint means full influence on the Displacement, and blue means zero influence. Don’t forget to click on checkbox in modifier settings.

Displacement direction

To grow the stalactites, change the displacement direction to Y. See, everything is better with stalactites.

Fake light with Normal node

Use Normal nodes in your stone material to enhance (fake) the lighting on the edges and rough parts.

Can’t wait to see your procedural creations!

p.s. Check out Kiril Viktorov’s feedback on quick tip about Particle Textures. Nice render!

The post Blender Displacement Modifier Tutorial appeared first on Creative Shrimp.

Blender Particle Textures Tips

Particle textures can be used to create an interesting distribution pattern and get rid of uniformity.

This is especially bombastic when making nature renders. Noise is the key to natural looking grass, stones, trees.

Of course, there are a lot of other situations when particle textures will come in handy. Like when we need to fill some surface with objects (to form a word, for example).

Compare this two pictures to get the difference between uniform and chaotic system.

Uniform particle distribution

Distribution by Procedural Noise

Take your time and test various noises

If you have a free hour or so, click through the noises and see what it has to offer. Chances are, you will get excited with possibilities.

This value of knowing how various noises work is high in CG. Good luck!

Watch How to Create Stones in Blender

The post Particle Textures in Blender appeared first on Creative Shrimp.