Art Directing Procedural Worlds: The World Planner HDA I’ve been working on a new Procedural World Builder kit in Houdini, and I’m excited to share the first tool from the set: the World Planner. The goal was to move away from manual heightmap management and create a system that handles the "heavy lifting" procedurally, allowing artists to focus on the concept rather than the technical overhead. The World Planner acts as the "brain" for the terrain, providing a simple way to art-direct biomes so that any downstream generators can read the world as a unified concept. 🚀 Key Features: Auto generative system: to create the needed nodes and creates the required attributes based on python logic. Live COP Pipeline: Instant visualization of layers that auto-updates as you paint. Smart Blending Logic: Dynamically identifies _Blend suffixes to automatically categorize and composite biomes within a COP network. Voxel-Based Extraction: Uses Medial Axis extraction (SDF/VDB) to generate procedural spines and ridges directly from 2D masks. Artist-Centric UI: A custom Python-driven interface designed for rapid painting and mask adjustment. The Tech Stack: 🐍 Python (Houdini API) | 🏔️ Heightfields | 🖼️ COPs (OpenCL) I’m particularly proud of the memory management and Python API logic that allows the tool to scale from small map chunks to massive world-sized composites without the RAM spikes usually associated with large-scale compositing. Check out the demo video below to see the workflow in action! #Houdini #SideFX #VFX #ProceduralModeling #GameDev #TechArt #PipelineTD #WorldBuilding #TerrainGen

Vibrante-Node version 1.8.0 is here to work with Prism Pipeline and other tools like Maya, Houdini and Blender. This makes it very useful for people who work with effects and production. This new version of Vibrante-Node includes examples of how to use it. These examples cover things like: - Controlling the flow of your workflow including conditions, loops and delays. - Handling data, such as working with lists and strings and using Python code. - Automating tasks in Maya without having to open the user interface. - Working with Prism Pipeline to manage projects and assets. - Creating production pipelines for effects, including things like publishing assets and submitting renders. All of these things run on a single engine that can handle dependencies and loops efficiently. You also have control when you need it. You can find examples of workflows for Vibrante-Node https://lnkd.in/db7sthXM You can also find examples of visual effects workflows here: https://lnkd.in/d8_2ZAEA If you want to download Vibrante-Node, for Windows you can find it here: https://lnkd.in/dfyKjham #Python #VFX #Pipeline #TechArt #Maya #Houdini #Blender #Prism #Deadline #Automation #OpenSource #NodeBased #TechnicalArtist #3D #Animation #GameDev #FilmProduction

Excited to share a custom Maya utility I’ve been developing to streamline the Model Review and Playblast workflow! 🚀 As 3D Artists, generating consistent, high-quality review playblasts with proper camera setups and display properties can be a frustrating and repetitive time-sink. I built the Playblast for Model Review tool to completely automate this process natively within Maya. With a single click, this script completely takes over the tedious parts of viewport sequence generation. Key Features: 🎥 Instant Turntable Generation: Automatically constructs custom Face and Full-Body turntable camera setups framing your exact model dimensions. 🔄 Intelligent Display Passes: Support for automated sequence passes like cleanly rendered Shaded, Wire-on-Poly, and Reference overlays without state bleeding or black frames. 🔢 Sequential Re-numbering: Bypasses cumbersome Maya timeline padding to output clean, custom numbered file sequences (e.g., Sequence_001.png, Sequence_002.png). 🛠 Automated Cleanup: Keeps your scene clean. After generation, the tool safely sweeps out any temporary rotation keyframes, display keys, and visibility states it introduced for the renders. The goal was to get technical friction out of the way so artists can just focus on presenting their models beautifully. Built entirely with Python utilizing maya.cmds. If you are interested in trying it out in your pipeline or collaborating on similar pipeline scripts, feel free to reach out to me! https://lnkd.in/gS9fQ5fw #Maya #Python #Pipeline #3DModeling #TechArt #vfx #automation #cg #Model #3dscan #playblast

I’ve finally released Infinite Lands 0.9.0! About a year ago, I left my job to focus fully on building this project. At the time, it felt like a leap into the unknown, but this release feels like a meaningful milestone in that journey. The main addition is a system for generating procedural roads and paths across entire worlds in Unity. It connects large-scale terrain in a way that makes traversal part of the world generation itself, alongside improvements to pathfinding, spline data management, and the overall node system. It’s been a year of slowly figuring things out, both technically and personally. Building a Patreon, managing a community, and trying to keep updates fast and complete hasn’t been easy, and it’s not something I was fully prepared for. Still a long way to go, but this release feels like things are finally starting to come together. What would you build if roads and traversal were procedural by default? #gamedev #unity3d #indiedev #proceduralgeneration #worldbuilding #gamedevelopment

🚀 Infinite Lands 0.9.0 is now available! This update introduces a major new system for building procedural roads, paths, and large-scale world connections in Unity. 🌍 Procedural spline system: Designed to make large-scale traversal feel natural, controllable, and data-driven. • Connect points across terrain with no distance limits • Automatically flatten terrain along generated paths • Extract density maps for textures, spawning, and gameplay systems • Smooth curve generation using Catmull-Rom or linear sampling • Fast spatial queries using R-Tree indexing 🧠 Improved pathfinding (A*): A rebuilt, performance-focused A* system using Burst + Jobs, built for gameplay-aware procedural navigation, not just shortest paths. • Terrain-aware path generation • Avoids water, steep slopes, and restricted zones • Supports weighted traversal costs (biomes, hazards, mud, enemies) • Bias toward natural vertical movement using height data ✨ Also in this release: • Fully rewritten graph system (performance + flexibility improvements) • Improved graph editor (snapping, shortcuts, clearer debugging) • Runtime world sampling via World Data Store • New procedural transformation and spawning nodes • General stability and performance improvements across systems Built with Unity’s Jobs System + Burst Compiler for large-scale performance, this release moves Infinite Lands closer to its goal: an all-in-one toolkit for procedural worldbuilding in Unity. 💬 What would you build with procedural roads and traversal systems available by default? 🔗 Asset Store: https://lnkd.in/dPy8YKKC 📘 Docs: https://lnkd.in/dbenumDA 💬 Discord: https://lnkd.in/dcEBFGkG ❤️ Patreon: https://lnkd.in/d6A88wNa #gamedev #unity3d #indiedev #proceduralgeneration #worldbuilding #gamedevelopment #technicalart #programming #unitydeveloper #worldbuilding

I’m excited to share a new workflow tool I built for Adobe Substance 3D Designer: a custom, dockable Python Timeline Plugin. One of the biggest friction points in motion graphics and dynamic material design is the inability to easily control time-based variables without jumping back and forth between Designer and Player. With this plugin, run directly via the Python Editor, you can now: - Play, Pause, and Stop animations directly in the viewport. - Set custom FPS to match your project’s target frame rate. - Stay in the flow: Tweak your Pixel Processors or dynamic nodes and see the results live without exporting. Special thanks to Antigravity AI for the assistance in building the code! It’s amazing how much the Substance Python API opens up for technical artists. No more guessing, just real-time creative control. If you'd like to use this in your own workflow, just let me know in the comments or shoot me a DM. #Substance3D #SubstanceDesigner #TechArt #Python #Adobe #GameDev #MotionDesign #AntigravityAI #VFX #80lvl

Not going to lie, this took me more time than I'd like, but it's done!! Well, sort of got more ideas to do with it as I am uploading. This uses Google's OpenCV library to run the hand tracking using Python to drive the animation of a robot arm in Unreal Engine. I had to brush up on my 3D modelling skills and modelled the robot in Blender and used Unreal Engine's control rig to create an IK rig, and honestly, that was the easy part! When I brought this model in blueprints, the control rig was not animating at all. It took me a day and a half to figure out that it was one button in the control rig menu, and almost no documentation I could find. I also wanted to add sounds for each joint movement, and I kind of got it to work, but I found out my skills were abhorrent and my ears were going deaf, hearing servo sounds going haywire. If anyone knows how I can tackle sound design cleanly, please do let me know!!!! I tried to ask Claude to help me out wherever I lacked the knowledge, but it doesn't seem to work well with Unreal, so this was mostly me, and I used Claude to keep track of my progress and for documentation. Well, for updates, since my right hand does the movement of the body, I was thinking of using my left hand to animate the gripper. It should be an easy enough task to tackle, and I will update the file on my GitHub (https://lnkd.in/gTGrD_er) Please do share your thoughts!!! #UnrealEngine #MediaPipe #Python #ComputerVision #ControlRig #MachineLearning #RealTime #HandTracking #Robotics #CreativeCoding #OpenCV #OSC #GameDev #ProcuduralAnimation #TechArt

I connected ISLAB's deflection output to a custom Python pipeline and rendered a 3D animation in Blender: a -20°F temperature differential, visualized. The catch? The real deflections are so tiny they're physically invisible. So I cranked the scale up 300× just to show what's happening. That's engineering drama for educational purposes. 😄 This is just the starting point. The same workflow works for: → Any slab geometry → Uniform or point loads → Multiple temperature scenarios The goal: go beyond iSLAB's built-in post-processor and build actual visual, educational resources for concrete pavement design. More scenarios coming soon. 🚧

I wanted a simple way to test 3D geometry… …so I ended up building a small interactive playground 😄 Just added a new feature: 👉 Segment ↔ Segment distance with live visualization You can now: • Drag endpoints and see results update instantly • Visualize the shortest distance between segments • Inspect exact coordinates + formulas • Actually understand what the math is doing This is still a work in progress, but I’m excited about where it’s going. GitHub: https://lnkd.in/gahrkgyh #opensource #golang #3d #engineering #buildinpublic #NextJS

🔥 UVReactor for Blender is happening 🔥 As I promised I started working on the UVReactor Blender port. The first thing I started porting is the constrained flattening system, which you can use to adjust UV islands with minimal distortion. The system already uses the exact same system that the 3ds max version uses. Due to the limitations of the Python API, it's unfortunately cannot provide the same performance, but it can still be used as a real-time solution. The system already supports the core features, like Vertex Pinning or Edge Axis Lock. This way the user have more control over UVs. Because of Axis Lock you can straighten non-grid, non-uniform UV shells and you can force them to a rectangular (or any) boundary, where the system can still balance out the distance between boundary vertices. Please let me know what you think, share your thoughts, comment, and if possible, REPOST! Product Page and 14 days Trial version for 3dsmax: 🔗 [https://lnkd.in/d_RUuZUw] Documentation For Details for 3dsmax 🔗 [https://lnkd.in/dsgVz4bb] Join my Discord for feedback and bug reports: 🔗 [https://discord.gg/3QUmnYu] Reddit: 🔗 [https://lnkd.in/drMjkEZt] Facebook: 🔗 [https://lnkd.in/dzC8w5Az] YouTube: 🔗 [https://lnkd.in/dmjcQDnU] #uvreactor #3dsmax #blender #uvmapping #3dmodeling #RealtimeUV #3dartist #cg #workflow #plugins