 This show was proudly brought to you by these lovely people. Hey there you lovely NPR enthusiasts! We have an excellent show this time, and the highlights are First, Malt 1.0 Preview Release Second, the hashtag 256FES Challenge And third, Low Poly Model Secrets Let's get the show going! Here comes a feast of artworks to excite you! Please enjoy! First up, some super-duper alley-upper great news! Okay that was a bit over the top, but seriously Malt 1.0 Preview Release adds a ton of shader coding and node enhancements The main highlight is the ability to create your own rendering pipeline Yes, you heard that correctly Previously, this was only possible in code, which is not very accessible for the non-coders But now, you can use Malt's node editor to create your own custom rendering pipeline Wow, right? Okay, so custom rendering pipelines from a node editor Rare, and will open a world of possibilities beyond what most common render engines do Now you can add screen space effects, like lines, either globally And that is in the render layer, or locally, which is in the material itself Please watch this short feature showcase video by Miguel It's mind-blowing when you have the absolute freedom to make your own custom rendering pipeline You can add or strip down the rendering pipeline, it's all your call So please support Malt's development by donating to Miguel The link is in the show notes There's a fun Twitter tag making its round lately, hashtag 256FES The modeling challenge was initiated by AtFeelsInVR with no deadline The challenge is to model anything with the budget of 256 faces or triangles If you want to limit yourself further, use only 256 pixel squared textures And the results are beautiful Many model types, in various styles, in different mesh topologies with interesting colors If you're feeling a hint of deja vu, well, you are We just repeated the same script from show 16 But we're sure that low-poly, like pixel art, will never go out of style Many 3D artists have been participating in the modeling challenge Which unites artists from all 3D softwares, seniority, and styles There's no comparison of my software is better than your software Just have fun The 256FES modeling challenge celebrates the modeling limitation that 256 faces bring So how about trying it out yourself as well? And on to tutorial time This time the tutorial is brought to you by the evil geniuses in the BNPR team At least that's what some people think we are But we know that we will help brew beer from malt Presenting the low-poly modeling and shading secrets Before we go into the secret sauce, a few disclaimer sentences What you're going to learn next will change your modeling a bit, for some, a lot You will love triangles, so please use them wisely and with wisdom You are not obligated to use all the modeling secrets, but more is better The silhouettes of your models will decide the topology of the mesh, not the other way around You will not agree with one or more of the secrets you are going to learn, and that's alright Most of the secrets are actually public knowledge And have been used in games as old as the original PlayStation And finally, if we show your model here, it does not mean your model is wrong It only means that there is the possibility for optimization Join us in the thoughtful ogling that triangle arrangements posted with the hashtag 256FES tag And let's see the secrets in action Secret number one Join, they bend There are so few low-poly mesh topologies to optimize a bend mesh Depending on your silhouettes, your joint topology can be either Well, this, where the triangle points to the front of the bend, or this Where the triangle is pointing to the direction of the bend Why choose one over the other? Well, if your silhouette demands a more realistic look, please use the first topology This topology provides the opportunity to indicate muscle The second topology is used if you want a simpler and less detailed bending Both topologies are simple to weight paint, which is a plus Secret number two Break the mirror The mirror modifier halves the modeling work, but doubles the polycount at the mirror access This does not mean that you should avoid mirroring topology like on the head, for instance This means that when the opportunity presents itself, try to merge the center of the mesh for less polycount With those fewer polycounts, you can use the extra polycount budget to add details on other parts of your model Secret three Disconnected meshes Remember the original Final Fantasy 7 character on the PlayStation? All the character's joints are disconnected That's a valid way to model for low-poly With disconnected meshes, you're free to model segment by segment You're also free from the constraint of needing to follow a specific topology If you need disconnected details, disconnected meshes are the way to go Secret number four Triangle or squarish limbs There's two camps, either triangle or squarish For us, the solution is simple If you need to save polycount, pick triangle limbs If you need more detail, pick the squarish ones If the limbs only have two directions, then pick triangle limbs Secret number five Flatten micro details Often on a character, there will be accessories like a belt or watches or hair clips You don't have to model in these details, you can put them on a texture Secret six Don't model hidden meshes This often happens on a clothed character, where you also model the mesh inside of the character If the knees are hidden in a skirt, just don't model the knee Also, uncap the mesh in there too Same with the neck and the ears hidden under the hair If you can't see them, often times you can just remove them Texture as details This might seem like a repeat of the previous point, but this time we want you to look at it from a different perspective You can add shading details like shadow and textures If you need a pattern on the mesh, put that in the texture as well And of course, if you need help unlocking the power of colors, please get our soul-stirring digital color master ebook The knowledge in it has been used in productions like Cyberkatsu 2 And numerous artworks seen in this show Secret eight Transparency as mesh details This is elaborating more on a texture Did you know that you can model a pair of wings in just four triangles? You can then use alpha transparency on the texture to shape the wings and the feather details You don't have to model the wing shape Just let the texture carve the form This can be done with a lot of other details too, like hair, bangs, and antennas of a car Secret nine Use simpler shading to hide blocky polygons What is simpler shading? It can be shadeless, like a plain solid color, or a shadow area already painted on the texture It can have simple tune shaders, but often it needs a bit of normal smoothing to make it look good You can use our abnormal add-on to make smoothing the vertex normal super easy Secret number ten Non-manifold geometry is okay So what is non-manifold geometry? Here's a few examples Intersecting faces, verts and faces floating alone in space, holes on a mesh Two layers of a surface in a geometry, or two faces occupying the same surface These are totally okay on a low poly model, although you might want to avoid them if you plan to 3D print your model And the last secret Secret number eleven Follow the form or the silhouette of the shape, not the topology This is a repeat, but it's very important The traditional modeling method wants us to focus on topology for nice edge flows But for low poly, the silhouette of the object is more important And there you have it, all the low poly secrets we can think of for now You don't have to use all of them, and they might not fit your model But in MPR, you first learn some of the rules, and then you break away from the rules, and that's how you grow Please have fun with your low poly modeling journey, and don't forget to join the hashtag 256FES tag on Twitter We have two very exceptional MPR animations this time The first is Dawn of the Eclipse Episode Zero, a student project for the CG Professional Training College, HAL from Nagoya, 2021, fourth year In a distant future, the war is raging between humans and the Black Knight, an extraterrestrial invasion weapon After a fierce battle, the human race has the upper hand in the war and executes a last-ditch effort mission to wipe out the Black Knight This feels like a studio production, we're wishing them a bright future ahead The second animation is Bite the Bullet by DesignBox Channel Production Here's the synopsis, even if today is repeated indefinitely, can you still affirm that way of life? The battle is brutal and emotional, if you follow their Twitter accounts, you'll see quite a number of tricks used in the animation Please go watch both animations, they're great And so, time to go But before we're totally out of here, please visit the show notes, links to support malt's development are in there too This show is only made possible by these kind-hearted people, so please thank them kindly Before we go, one final question, what other low poly modeling tips do you know?