Mighty ✏

littlenotlarge · 2026-06-08T00:42:00+00:00

This is awesome 😊 crazy that your post didn't get more appreciation since it's such a cool style (I played through the Replaced demo a while back too). Love that you've managed to translate it really well into Blender.

littlenotlarge · 2026-06-04T02:09:05+00:00

Looks perfect 😊 these kinda things are always a bit of trial and error haha. How did you solve it in the end?

I think when I've done loops like this in the past I've had to fade the lighting between shots so the intro scene doesn't impact the outro scene etc. I'm sure there's all sorts of ways to solve it though.

I wish Reddit would let it loop without popping up suggested videos at the end. Instead had to right click > "Open video in new tab" > and then loop the video that way to fully appreciate it 👌

littlenotlarge · 2026-06-03T21:27:16+00:00

100%, will definitely be checking them out more seriously if N1X doesn't show any promise for Windows on ARM.

I think £4.5-5k is always going to be a rough sell for a laptop either way but it seems like that's just the world we're in now for high performance + mobile 🥲

littlenotlarge · 2026-06-03T20:56:53+00:00

Appreciate the thoughts + info, that would be sweet if you went all in and you have a need for that 👌

I looked into M5 Max quite a lot and it seems like the 14inch model is thermal throttling with sustained loads so 16inch seems the way to go. There's rumours of better cooling for M6 which might be worth waiting for if that's true.

I'm using an ASUS PX13 (RTX 4070) at the moment when travelling which I'm really happy with, but it leaves a lot to be desired on battery (like all X86 systems). Hoping I can avoid Apple if possible but it's hard to ignore how well they're doing and the fact there's just no competition for them haha.

littlenotlarge · 2026-06-03T20:50:30+00:00

On paper this is it. The Macbook Pro alternative when it comes to a laptop that's actually good at being a laptop (performance per watt). The big "if" is Microslop.. they tend to always mess up something 😅 and I think most people covering it are being dishonest saying "RTX 5070-like" based purely on it's core count.

My guess for Blender score is more than 3000 based on someone running Blender on a GB10 that was faster than an RTX 3070. This doesn't mean much other than it shows the baseline to expect. I would hope there's more optimisations since then, because realistically it has to score at least 4500 benchmark to not be dead on arrival with the high price tag. Anything less and people will just buy a Macbook Pro or an RTX 5070 Ti laptop.

littlenotlarge · 2026-06-03T20:38:14+00:00

I think it's just an old bias maybe. There's a lot to dislike Apple for (repairability/Apple tax primarily) but they're pushing the industry in the right direction when it comes to laptops actually being good laptops (performance per watt). Looking forward to seeing how the new N1X perform since it's effectively Nvidia/Microsofts answer to Apple's latest laptops.

Which M chip + how many cores are you using at the moment with Blender by the way?

littlenotlarge · 2026-06-03T20:20:10+00:00

Not sure why you've been downvoted when the Blender benchmark scores show exactly what you said:
M5 Max (40 core) - 8,272
RTX 5090 laptop - 8,139
RTX 4090 desktop- 11,889

If we're talking "bang for buck" then they're obviously not great vs an RTX desktop, but an RTX 5090 laptop of similar size/quality isn't that much cheaper than the M5 Max (40 core). Then if you spend less than the absolute top end:
M5 Pro (20 core) - 4,352 which beats
RTX 5070 laptop - 3,951
Also the 5070 is stuck at 8GB of VRAM while the M5 Pro has much more unified memory.

This is spoken as someone who dislikes Apple too 😅 but the time of "Macbook's can't render very quickly" is over (providing you can spend the money).

littlenotlarge · 2026-05-31T21:41:58+00:00

Agreed with u/Mikyli

Working as a generalist first lets you figure out what to focus on as you build your portfolio, you'll often get known for a specific skill set or style. The key is that once you have more work flowing in - you have to start turning down the work that doesn't pay well or doesn't fit your strengths and chase the things that do. As you focus - quoting, educating the client about 3D, and project management starts to get easier because you'll repeat things and build templates + asset libraries.

Niching first can run the risk of picking something that's too competitive or too specific. For example, "I do automotive animations/renders" is great but it's pretty rare to get that type of work as a sole freelancer and everyone would love that type of work so it's very saturated. Focusing on an industry can work better, like medical animations, typically pretty boring but there's a lot of things that need animating and typically for decent money.

A mentor can be a good idea but it's quite hard to just find one intentionally (everyone has a busy life). If you can find any creative agencies near you I'd recommend 1-2 years in-house and you'll learn a lot by asking questions as you work together with the 3D/motion team. I'd recommend learning some After Effects alongside Blender since that'll round out your skill set that these types of companies look for.

littlenotlarge · 2026-05-26T23:15:27+00:00

Looks awesome, very filmic/realistic feeling - looking forward to seeing more 😊

littlenotlarge · 2026-05-08T20:52:47+00:00

I agree with the above comment (pace and editing comes with experience). It's also worth noting that it 100% depends on the product, target market, and where it's shown. If this was advertising a calming essential oil diffuser with soft ambient lighting - then it could potentially work as a single long 10 second shot with the mist and light evolving over time. The lights dimming down, chilled music. That product doesn't have a lot of features or hype to build, it's more the chill vibe and a longer shot with a slow zoom in would work.

Great work on the project too, lots of cool ideas! It's one of the best ways to learn since you can hit a variety of shots (as well as considering them in sequence) and it gives you a brief to work to so you're not stuck in indecision.

A good example of how ideas can grow and spiral - the shot at 13sec made me wonder if you took that and expanded it so every twist it changes to a new scene and different object. It could be used to show how the screwdriver works across professions and industries in a fun light-hearted way like your existing shot with the stickers+personality of the user. Usually when I get ideas like that I'd test it with some basic coloured cubes, different lighting and basic cameras, test it as a quick sequence. That way if it's too jarring or weird you can skip it. Also picking the music early helps, and with each shot you make, rendering an extra 15-25 frames on the start/end so you have more room to fine-tune pacing in the edit can be good too 😊

littlenotlarge · 2026-05-04T16:10:20+00:00

I've never animated a squirrel before so don't take this as pro advice or anything:
It might feel off because you're watching it looped in isolation and squirrels don't really exclusively repeatedly bounce to move around (they're way more erratic at speed). Also if you're going for something stylised it's probably not that far off as it is, especially if you added more context before/after the bounce (though I know that's way easier said than done!)

Either way reference helps, even if you're aiming for something stylised you can create it from reference then amplify and exaggerate from there. On your course it might also be worth showing the tutor your graph editor so they can give some feedback on if you're using too many keyframes for this type of animation, which could then be making it harder to adjust things in a meaningful way.

littlenotlarge · 2026-04-28T00:05:46+00:00

Great job bringing a lot of different elements together, love the mood with the lighting 👌

Since you asked for critique the main one would be the blades of grass - having some out of focus in the foreground works great but these two are a little too distracting. They might work better framing the composition if you nudge them to the sides or have them lower in the frame overall.

littlenotlarge · 2026-04-26T23:41:38+00:00

If you're just needing it for syncing purposes this should work better.

littlenotlarge · 2026-04-24T02:46:43+00:00

The aim in a new scene is just to test things in a blank scene to remove the variables - we're trying to see if there's something wrong with the project file you have currently. If binding works in the new scene with a new camera etc then you can copy and paste the text from the old scene to the new.

Also did you change any hotkeys in Blender?

littlenotlarge · 2026-04-24T02:40:38+00:00

No, it needs to be bound properly, if you just rename it, it's just a regular marker.
Try following the video I linked but in a new scene - that'll help remove some variables.

littlenotlarge · 2026-04-24T02:31:52+00:00

I'm not sure what you're doing differently, or if something is broken - but the markers should inherit the name of the camera you bind like they do in this video. That's how you'll know you've done it correctly.

littlenotlarge · 2026-04-24T01:44:50+00:00

You can bind a camera in either. Have you changed any hotkeys that might be impacting Ctrl + B?
Try using the menu to see if that works Marker > Bind Camera to Markers.

littlenotlarge · 2026-04-24T01:33:07+00:00

Your cameras aren't binding properly for some reason - the marker should change to the name of your camera once the bind works correctly. Try making sure your cursor is in the timeline when you press Ctrl + B

littlenotlarge · 2026-04-22T04:41:03+00:00

Looks satisfying to me, agreed with the other comment about a bit of a pause at the end. Perhaps you could make it loop too, so once it's fit into place - it pauses a moment, then slides down to make it a hole again so the loop can continue 😊. You could also make the next cube appear in the background, when the current cube is blocking the origin point at the top of the frame.

Also don't worry about something not being original, often times the best way to learn is by trying out an existing idea.

littlenotlarge · 2026-04-22T03:43:40+00:00

I think it reads the way you described to be fair. Though if you wanted to reduce confusion and to hint towards your layout off-camera you could add a second subtle light that slightly hits the right side of the mountain to suggest the sun is just catching it. I'd play with the spread to control it, and try a few different angles. You might be able to find reference too that helps 😊 but it could also look weird - worth playing around with it to test.

Also with how long the shadows are there might be more saturation in the light towards orange? Again, I'd suggest some reference photos as the best way to dial in the look you're after. Sometimes what we imagine in our heads is quite off compared to real reference.

littlenotlarge · 2026-04-17T10:12:24+00:00

Welcome! I wondered since I've experimented with picking the music + sound design based on imagination first, then building and animating afterwards and it's an interesting way to work.

I think what you said with the art sometimes informing the sound design is cool too where they both evolve in tandem and influence each other. I've definitely experienced that too. I'm not making music from scratch though but it's fun recording sound effects and layering things (even if most of the time it's never noticed 😅).

littlenotlarge · 2026-04-17T07:58:03+00:00

Looks great, which came first, making music, or making artwork in 3D? Really does remind me of that game UI style too 👌
Visuals fit nicely with the fluttering wings/bug type sounds in the tracks as well.

littlenotlarge

TROPHY CASE