No longer is this the case. While there are a few software choices that have been built specifically for nature creation (most notably e-on software’s Vue), most 3D programs are capable of creating beautiful natural scenes… as long as you know the toolset and a few tricks. Blender, the open source 3D content creation suite, is no exception.

If you’re just getting started on a nature scene and using Blender to create it, know that many others have posted useful tutorials and resources online. There are a lot of tips and tricks out there that can help you get your project moving in the right direction. Here are a few that I have found to be helpful…

• The Nature Academy: http://thenatureacademy.blenderguru.com (The Nature Academy is Andrew Price’s full course on nature modeling in Blender. If you’re willing to pay for some help, this course has most of what you’ll need in one place.)
• Complete Weather Series: http://www.blenderguru.com/videos/the-complete-weather-series
• Realistic Rain: http://www.blenderguru.com/videos/how-to-create-realistic-rain
• ANT Landscape Generator: http://cgcookie.com/blender/2011/03/01/tip-using-the-ant-landscape-add-on/
• Island Environment: http://cgcookie.com/blender/2012/05/07/creating-an-island-environment-in-blender-2-6-part-01/
• Tornado: http://cgcookie.com/blender/2012/05/02/creating-a-tornado-in-blender-with-particles-and-the-smoke-simulator/
• Ocean Scene: http://cgcookie.com/blender/2011/11/15/creating-an-ocean-scene-with-oceansim-and-cycles/
• Volumetric Clouds: http://cgcookie.com/blender/2010/11/23/creating-volume-clouds/
• Winter Macro Scene: http://blenderdiplom.com/index.php/en/tutorials/item/75-winter-special

All of that has now been resolved with my new entirely custom theme “The Grid”. Although inspired by other grid-style layouts, this one has been built from scratch with my own personal styling. It uses CSS media queries to incorporate viewport responsiveness so that its layout automatically adapts to the screen size on which it is being viewed… perfect for mobile phones and tablets.

To top it off, I added an entirely new AerisTech logo which I feel speaks a little more to my 3D graphic design capabilities.

With a home page that launches you right into AerisTech’s portfolio, I think this site will act as a better showcase for the projects I’m working on and de-emphasize other content that I’m typically less excited about – such as blogging.

This version includes improvements to the Cycles rendering engine, Bmesh modeling which supports modeling with n-gons, and various other improvements and bug fixes.

Additional information on all of the changes can be found here: http://www.blender.org/development/release-logs/blender-263/.

Additional information can be found here: http://wordpress.org/news/2012/04/wordpress-3-3-2/.

Let’s face it, we all get creatively blocked from time to time. If you find yourself staring at the walls at the beginning of a new web project, it helps to look to outside sources for inspiration. There is nothing wrong with browsing through web designs or artwork that others have created and keeping your mind free and open for that little spark of creativity – just as long as you end up with something original – NOT a copy of someone else’s work!

So assuming you’re not a thief or a pirate, here is a great site for viewing some slick web layouts:

www.thebestdesigns.com

These guys review thousands of submissions worldwide every year and only select the most impressive designs to be included on their site… so you know that the riff-raff has already been weeded out for you.

I’ve seen some really great layouts on that site. Whether or not the websites chosen to be included in their list are the “best” per their namesake is subject to opinion – but there is certainly a multitude of really great stuff there to inspire you and get you moving in the right direction on your own designs. Use it to get inspired… just don’t copy directly.