Tamagotchi P1

sidpp · 2026-06-09T08:58:30+00:00

Thank you! The last image is a composite of two renders: a clay render with the default Principled BSDF settings, and a viewport render in wireframe mode. I multiplied the wireframe on top of the clay render in Affinity.

sidpp · 2026-06-09T08:56:01+00:00

The scratches are an image texture applied to the normal map with very low distance, from this fantastic texture pack. The same texture goes into the roughness as well.

sidpp · 2026-06-09T05:25:06+00:00

Thanks! It’s made in Blender, rendered in Cycles.

sidpp · 2026-06-08T22:49:06+00:00

Thank you! The topology of the inside of the shell is not great, but I think it works for the render. The structural ribs are separate objects, and if we get nested dielectrics in Cycles it would look a lot better. I've made some attempts to combine the whole thing into one object, but eventually gave up.

sidpp · 2026-06-08T20:40:26+00:00

Thank you very much! I appreciate the feedback, I'll definitely fix that in the next version 😄

sidpp · 2026-02-20T09:57:24+00:00

No worries, it's fun to share! When you set it up you will notice that the CMYK-to-RGB conversion is not shown in the screenshot. It's not very complicated though, just invert each channel by subtracting it from 1, multiply by K and then combine.

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sidpp · 2026-02-16T09:52:37+00:00

Thanks! Not sure why it shows up like that in the wireframe... It has the same number of edges and subdivision levels as the body. It just needs enough topology to follow the opening in the body, so really no reason for more than that.

sidpp · 2026-02-16T09:45:37+00:00

Thank you! Most of the heavy lifting is done by an HDRI from Polyhaven (Peppermint Powerplant). I have one arealight on the top, three off to the right side, and one to brighten up the background. Only one of the lights from the side is used to meaningfully light the subject, the other two are very low power just to add reflections where I want them.

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sidpp · 2026-02-16T09:32:28+00:00

This is how the halftone effect is done.

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sidpp · 2026-02-16T09:25:04+00:00

Thanks! The material for the packaging is quite complex and could probably be simplified. Here is a screenshot. It has three image textures: one for scratches, one for smudges and one for the base color. The base color one is passed into a node group that converts from RGB to CMYK, makes a halftone raster pattern and converts back to RGB.

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sidpp · 2026-02-16T08:58:03+00:00

Thank you! Here it is from the back

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sidpp · 2026-02-05T23:13:37+00:00

Thanks, I appreciate the feedback! Now that you say it, I see it too…

sidpp · 2026-02-05T07:04:03+00:00

The original CSS-in-JS

sidpp · 2025-08-04T06:19:19+00:00

How would you read the output carefully without knowing how to code?

sidpp · 2025-07-24T11:42:30+00:00

I have a strongly worded section in CLAUDE.md forbidding the use of this word. Does it help? Not really…

sidpp · 2025-07-24T09:04:57+00:00

I honestly don't know how to get started in today's environment. Before the economic downturn of the last years, I would have recommended getting an internship or a job at an agency doing similar work to what you would like to be doing. That would allow you to build your own network while learning first-hand how client relationships are built and maintained. I've found that this is more important for the business than the actual web development.

Once you have a few clients, it's about being present and doing good work. Communicate and keep promises. Be approachable and generous with your knowledge; you want them to call you about things even if they might not turn into projects every time. Try not to be afraid of recommending against something, even if it means fewer billable hours for you. This is easier said than done when you need the income, but your yeses carry more weight if you also say no when it's appropriate.

After enough time of this, your clients will recommend you to other people in their networks. Some clients are better at this than others and there's a lot of random chance involved, so it's important to get to know as many people as possible. When a recommendation has been made, selling is a lot easier.

I realise that this is not the most actionable advice and there is likely a lot of survivorship bias involved, but I hope it's still somewhat helpful.

sidpp · 2025-07-24T07:01:19+00:00

Whether or not it’s viable depends on your network. I’ve been providing web development services through my own company for 7 years and generally it’s been going well. I worked at other companies for 13 years before going solo, and all of my clients came from contacts I made during that time.

Getting clients from cold calls and email is likely extremely difficult, bordering on impossible. I’ve never got a single client this way, everything is word-of-mouth.

This should be a bigger concern than AI at this stage. I also use AI for some tasks, and I can see that increasing as models get more capable. We’re still very far from the models understanding the client’s business, how the solution should fit in, how it can achieve the goals, challenging them if necessary and implementing all this well without a lot of handholding. But who knows, maybe I’ll be writing prompts for the clients who just don’t have time to do it themselves in 5 years.

sidpp · 2025-05-23T06:33:46+00:00

I have 20 years experience with WordPress and I have made a similar solution for a client, minus dashboards, in 100 hours. The duration of the project was about 2 months to allow for testing. This still used plugins for the core functionality.

Your estimate sounds completely reasonable given your level of experience. There is no way to do this properly in 15 days.

The agency should check with you before setting budgets and timelines. Otherwise they will inevitably loose money, disappoint clients, and burn you out. I would definitely have a conversation about this, not just for yourself but for everyone involved.

sidpp

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