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Wednesday, January 14, 2009

How to Create a Layered Snowflake Pattern in Blender

Hey there, time for the first video tutorial of the new year!

This one is about creating a layered snowflake pattern. The Blender 2.4x video tutorial covers:

  • Creating the snowflake pattern using simple poly-modeling techniques along with Blender's Mirror modifier and Spin tool
  • Arranging the snowflakes using the Scatter and Drop script along with some manual tweaking
  • Setting up render layers for compositing
  • Using Blender's nodes to composite the render layers with added FX
  • Adding colorful stars to the composited layers
  • Adding a background image to the snowflake pattern
If you've never used Blender's Composite Nodes before, this tutorial will be a good place to get your feet wet with the basics!

Resource File (ZIP file) Includes:

  • two Blender 2.4x blend files for the basic setup
  • the Scatter and Drop script (created by Roland Hess) along with a link to instructions on how to install python scripts. Normally, I would provide a link to a python script like this, but I couldn't find a working link to the file so I just included it in the download.
  • some additional sample renders of similar snowflake patterns
  • a copy of the background image used in the tutorial
I hope you enjoy it!

Check out the Blender video tutorial.
Check out the video tutorial...