i read a post by Diva Canto (Crista Lopes) in which she stated:
Everything in Unity3D seems designed to support professional scene creations, whereas everything in SL seems designed to support amateur content.
i am going to take her statement way out of context to present thoughts that have been mulling around my little head since i started in Second Life at the end of 2006. the intent of her statement is a fair one in her thoughtful post about her exploration of Unity 3D. her statement above merely serves as a launch point for my thoughts that often are parallel to that sentiment
Unity 3D requires that meshes (3D models) are created in a 3D modelling program like Blender 3D. Blender is a fantastic open source tool with a huge (like thousands) of contributing members and is very close to Maya in its capabilities. Maya is the software of choice for animated movies like Shrek and is often supplemented with custom written plugins created by the big animation houses like Pixar. Blender uses Python as its scripting language and has its own game engine. unlike Maya, Blender is a heavily keyboard driven authoring environment. most graphic and 3D software has a graphical user interface where you click on various buttons to do this and that. in Blender, keyboard shortcuts are the main controls and this makes for a steep learning curve but . . . that also means that it can be very fast to work in Blender – keyboard shortcuts are always faster than mousing over to a button
Blender 3D does get some commercial use and it was used in creating the animated storyboards for the Spiderman movies. becoming a proficient Blender artist means hours of work and a steady use of it. when i step away from it for more than three months, i start forgetting what shortcuts to use. it also takes time, even days, to render out things in Blender as compared to real-time rendering in Second Life and OpenSim
- does all of that make Blender a more professional tool?
- does using a few primitives and very limited lighting make OpenSim content the realm of amateurs?
of course not! no more than using simple colours made Picasso a hack. as with nearly anything, content is king
you can buy the expensive print layout software called Quark and create press-ready books but does that automatically make your written word more professional than the words Plato wrote in the dirt with a stick? of course not . . .
OpenSim and Second Life are very accessible to many (like dirt was to Plato) and allow many people to express themselves more easily than using Blender 3D, Maya, 3D Studio Max, or what have you. there is a lot of rubbish created in virtual worlds – many craptacular examples of stuff abound in Second Life and OpenSim but there are also great things being done and taught via this “amateur content”
the English language is spoken and written by many and has remained largely unchanged for hundreds of years, yet some magnificent things are created with it – again, it’s content that matters
one of the things i love about OpenSim building is that it is far easier than Blender. the activities i have created so far in Enclave Harbour would never have occurred with Blender – are they valuable? time will tell, but they are certainly far more accesible and far easier to share with others. and because they are built with just a half dozen primitive shapes they can inspire students to express themselves as well
my friend Erik from Open Blackboard has his students create all sorts of great things in OpenSim. there is no way those kids would have the same success with Blender (nor would they have the time in today’s educational setting to learn something like Blender)
it’s not that one is better than the other, it is what you do with it
two years ago the best selling novel in Japan, which was later made into a movie, was entirely written as mobile phone text messages – short messages that spoke to the hearts of many despite being composed in a manner that most academics would surely frown upon
it’s not the mesh, textures, or even the lighting that’s important – it’s how it moves and teaches others that matter, after all, a simple equal sign and closing parenthesis conveys how OpenSim makes me feel =)
ps – Crista Lopes was not saying that OpenSim is amateurish – she is one of OpenSim’s core developers and highly respected by us
For me this article hit it right on the head. This is why I got involved in virtual worlds. Not to see who could use the most complex tools to create the most realistic textured 3d mesh with pixel perfect lighting, but to see what the unknown artist puts together after a month of playing with the in world tools. To see what people that care about the disabled can create to help them live fuller lives.
To see what a few people that care about children can do to make their learning experience fun and memorable.
The real important uses for virtual worlds are glossed over too much in favor of what attracts the most attention or money. Im glad to have a few like minded people just a couple clicks away.
Tranquillity
18 Apr 11 at 10:50 pm
beautifully worded Tranquility – this is what moves me – often to joyous tears =)
Ener Hax
18 Apr 11 at 11:04 pm
The general trend of technology over the past few decades has been to take the tools out of the hands of specialized professionals and allow anyone to use them. PCs, for example, let employees do their own computing without having to wait for IT departments to do it. Word processors allow people to create documents without having to ship them to typesetters. Cloud computing allows employees to quickly manage products, manage customer relationships, conduct online seminars and a million other things without waiting for experts to buy the systems and integrate them into the enterprise.
It’s common to say that specialized software like Blender or Photoshop or Quark is more “powerful” but personally, I think that the powerful software is the one that gives the power to the end user that needs it most.
I think SL/OpenSim are like that, and will probably keep improving in that direction.
They put the power to design learning simulations in the hands of educators and trainers. The power to create meeting environments in the hands of the folks who’ll actually be meeting there. The power to prototype store layouts, product designs, and public spaces in the hands of the people actually doing that work.
No software needs to be complex. But, on the high end, there’s a bit of a catch-22: those experienced with the software like having the respect — and job security — of being able to use a product that nobody else can. They’re not going to rush out and buy a more user-friendly upgrade. So innovation tends to happen with the startups, who go after users who find the existing products too difficult. Over time, the new products gain features and functionality and become comparable to the old, complicated products — even with the simpler interfaces. The software equivalent of “The Innovators Dilemma.”
The stuff that people make for themselves may not be as pretty as what a dedicated designer could do. But it’s usually good enough, functional, exactly what the user needs — and, at the end of the day, might be a better fit than waiting for the designer to come up with something that’s not exactly what’s needed.
Maria Korolov
18 Apr 11 at 11:15 pm
Hugz, Ener and Tranq. To me virtual worlds are, or should be, all about *enabling* people. As many as possible, in as many different situations. That includes both the skilled and so-called unskilled creators. Everyone starts somewhere, and sometimes the most important thing you can do as a creator is to encourage others. Sometimes the most important thing you can to as a developer, or grid owner, is to enable others. Both the amateurs and professionals have an important place in virtual worlds, so I’m very glad to see it happening on multiple fronts. Let’s keep growing the industry and we will all benefit.
Jim Tarber
18 Apr 11 at 11:17 pm
100% agree with you on this. I use a paintbrush and a scanner to make textures…what could be easier, and some of the best art installations I have seen in SL don’t have sculpties or textures (Selavy, Oberon).
The “Professions” have been called a conspiracy against the people….. an extreme view, maybe, but as you say, modern software costing thousands of dollars is, likewise, a way of restricting access.
VW’s, Gimp and Blender, all free …. just add inspiration and a little work and anyone can have a studio workshop on their machine. Wonderful.
soror Nishi
19 Apr 11 at 1:41 am
i would say your approach might be easy, but it is very creative. it is far too easy to grab the professional tool and let it work for you
my subQuark always uses an 11 by 17 inch paper tablet and pencil without an eraser and says if it can’t work on paper, it sure is not going to work on the machine
Ener Hax
19 Apr 11 at 11:10 am
Being a long time Maya user (since 1999, on Irix), and also other tools (xsi, 3ds,…) and Blender for good mesure, I confess that my first contact with building in SL 3 years ago was… weird. It felt to me like coming back to the middle ages. Prims is what we used in 3d in the beginning of the 90es. So much that i didn’t get any pleasure in the doing, and decided not to build in SL but instead script, and plainly enjoy the experience of being there. I’m always amazed at how much you can push the limits of limited tools (sculpties, prims) and the works of many SL/OS builders are amazing in that regard (I think mainly of Jenne Dibou, my all time fav builder).
Now, as a content creator, i’ll stick with Maya & Unity, because… well, that’s where I get the most pleasurable experience.
If I was to compare with a hand craft, i’d take sculpture : you can achieve almost anything with a basic 10$ chisel, but the hand forged one that’s more responsive, keeps its edge, cuts into ebony as easilly as in pine,… is, in the end, more pleasurable.
So, my last word on this would be that it’s not about tools being more “professionals”, but about loving a craft so much that you need to “push the envelope”, *your* envelope, beyond the limitations of the tools you begun learning with.
Sculpting in Zbrush, for example, is pure joy.
Peter host
19 Apr 11 at 4:45 pm
[...] USB drive for “real work” and asked me to write a post about this. I will dovetail into Ener’s post last night and frame this with a similar Blender 3D [...]
Building 3D Models for Product Visualizations at subQuark
19 Apr 11 at 9:06 pm
[...] USB drive for “real work” and asked me to write a post about this. I will dovetail into Ener’s post last night and frame this with a similar Blender 3D [...]
Building 3D Models for Product Visualizations at i live in science land
19 Apr 11 at 9:08 pm
very well put Peter! i fully agree with your point – the pleasure you derive from your avocation should be what guides you and it is only for you to judge what works best for you!
well written and a self-actualized statement! =)
Ener Hax
20 Apr 11 at 9:27 am