There is a limit to what you can do with cardboard, glue, and popsicle sticks. Such materials take quite a while to prepare, and you never end up with the end result you were aiming for. I knew there was work to be done, but I didn’t know exactly how to get it done with the improvised materials I had. In the United States you have a multitude of options and resources. Big box retailers like the Wal-Mart, Target, Staples, and Michael's, etc. Not to mention Amazon and eBay. Whatever you need, it’s usually not hard to find or more than a few clicks away. But when you are living out of AirBnb in a country with a language you barely speak, and a far less developed economic ecosystem, getting exactly what you’re looking for is a rare treat.
Then I remembered ‘Blender’.
Blender is a completely free 3D modeling program that anyone can download. It also has an extremely deep community of dedicated users who upload tutorials and teach others how to use it effectively. I couldn’t tell you specifically what drove me to go this route, but as I mentioned in an earlier post, so much of this process has been guided by gut instinct and intuition. I signed up for an online instruction course, and the instructors were fantastic. I learned an extraordinary amount from them, and that course proved to be just what I needed. I was no longer limited.
Anything was possible.
Training Day 2:
Training Day 3:
Training Day 5:
Training Day 11:
Training Day 12:
I spent most of 2016 November grinding through that training course on 3D modeling, and the progress was undeniable. I went from pure amateur, to rendering anything I wanted. For the record, I am still an amateur. But compared to where I began in November, I’ve come a long way. 3D modeling remains, to this day, not just the most useful and lucrative skill I’ve cultivated, but the most fun by far. It is, in a way, much like playing God. You can craft anything you can think of, even entire worlds, in your own image. I have yet to go that deep, but the possibilities are endless for those who decide to venture down the rabbit hole.
My little arts and crafts project was all well and good, but it was still just that. No one is going to take it seriously (or pay good money for it) until you can produce something polished and refined. And as far as I’m concerned, you have no right to ask for money until you’ve crafted something really well. Money is the economic reflection of time spent and energy invested. And so in that way, it is the only objective evidence we have to show for the work we’ve done. Not everyone will dig your music, eat your food, or buy your book. But everyone will take your money. So it is important to give them something real and genuine in return.
Going through this grind brought continual improvements in my skills. And once I figured out how to use the ‘Cycles’ rendering engine, all of a sudden it started to look good. Working in a completely free and open environment, not bound by the laws of physics, materials budgets, or spacial constraints, I finally had the freedom to begin crafting this little experiment into something more substantial and aesthetically on-point. For the first time, it became “real”.
This is why going the 3D modeling route was so important for me in the overall development process. I was able to start giving real consideration to materials, dimensions, assembly, and all the other little details regarding actual production of the physical product. When you are working on broad concepts, general ideas, and other abstract elements of a business, there is a wide margin of error you can afford, because up until that point you’ve not actually produced anything. But when the time comes to produce something physical, to pay for and choose specific materials, lab time, infrastructure & equipment, when that time comes, the margin of error you can afford shrinks massively. Prior to this I had only thought about the game I wanted to play. But I had not given much thought to how the game would actually be constructed or produced.
I could now model the assembly and construction!
Coming off months of working with cardboard and carpal tunnel, to rendering the images below for the first time, gave me goosebumps. When I saw these render out for the first time (they can take hours depending on your computer specs), I knew I was on to something. It was right then and there I knew what had to be done. I had to get to Hong Kong immediately. I needed lasers, and I needed them now! And my journey to Hong Kong will be the subject of tomorrow's post.
