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Hey everyone! 

Today I am going to share the process that I have been to in order to create a Low Poly Christmas tree that I will use for the Christmas scene that I am working on.

The approach was similar to my first experience with Blender [1](I am getting more familiar with the platform), however it was more complex and I have used a different approach for the texture.

We will start with a cylinder (with 8 vertexes) and then Loop Subdivided [2] in order to stretch some of the parts and build the pine tree effect (as we can see on the figures bellow).

Figur1 1. Blender - Cylinder with 8 vertexes.

Figure 2. Blender - Changing the scale on top.

Figure 3. Blender - Changing the scale.

Figure 4. Blender - Top of the tree.

With the top part of the tree ready, now we are going to add the trunk (another cylinder):

Figure 5. Blender - Pine Tree Low Poly.

We are getting somewhere. A star would look really nice on top and for that we will use a pentagonal prism.

Figure 6. Blender - Pentagonal Prism.

After that, we select the bases and Extrude them (one by one), so that we can scale it and create the tips of the star.

Figure 7. Blender - Extrude.

Now we have a good looking star:

Figure 8. Blender - Star created.

In order to add the star on top of the tree, we will flatten it, rotate it and reduce the size:​​​​​​​

Figure 9. Blender - Tree with the star.

The layout of the Christmas Tree is almost ready, we just need to add some ornaments (icospheres that we will reduce the ratio - to guarantee that Low Poly effect).

Figure 10. Blender - Creating the balls.

With the ornaments created, we just add them to the tree:

Figure 11. Blender - Final Layout of the Christmas Tree.

Now we are ready to deal with the texture.

For that, one can use Blender (don't forget to save the textures and then add them to Unity - assming that one will use it in Unity).

Figure 12. Blender - Texture Editing [4].

Even though I am aware of that procedure, we will add the texture inside Unity.

This is the final result:

Figure 13. Unity - Christmas Tree final model.

As a matter of curiosity, I will leave here the model that we will use for the gift on the Christmas scene that I am working on:

Figure 14. Unity - Christmas present model.

See you soon!

Gonçalo Peres

References

[1] Peres, G (2019). My first 3D Model in Blender and Substance Painter. Available online in: https://mtsiw.duckdns.org/cenafinal.html (accessed in: 28 de novembro de 2019).

[2] Blender (2019). Blender 2.81 Manual - Loop Subdivide.  Available online in: https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/latest/modeling/meshes/editing/subdividing/loop.html (accessed in: 28 de novembro de 2019).

[3] Blender (2019). Blender 2.81 Manual - Extrude.  Available online in: https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/latest/modeling/meshes/editing/duplicating/extrude.html (accessed in: 28 de novembro de 2019).

[4] Blender (2019). Blender 2.79 Manual - Texture Editing.  Available online in: https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/2.79/render/cycles/materials/texture_editing.html (accessed in: 28 de novembro de 2019).

Used at the origin of 3D as a form of simplified representation to comply with processing constraints, low poly has evolved to a beautiful 3D art form in its own right.

Enhancing Low poly with Unity 3D smooth tools and post-processing techniques

Unity's smooth tools and post-processing techniques can improve significantly the aspect of low poly scenes.

1- Several parameters of a shape smoothness, including adjusting the normals smoothing angle that can be easily adjusted in the inspector.

Adjusting the normals smoothing angle

Flat shading vs. smooth shading (source)

Check this tutorial: How to Change Object Shading in Unity

2 - Post-processing techniques can improve other impactful rendering aspects of a scene.

Check these tutorials:

• Everything you need to know about Post-processing in Unity
• How To Make Low Poly Look Good
• Advanced Rendering

Enjoy!

A merry christmas... with VRML!

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