The case for making art when the world is on fire | Amie McNee | TEDxManchester

As an artist, do you also feel overwhelmed by this loud, screaming, and over-commercialized world?
Do you feel that your creative work has little or no impact on the overall fabric of our society?
That there is no longer any room for art in a burning world?

And does it even make sense to explore your own creative process and create something yourself in the age of CRAP (“Computer-Rendered Artificial Images,” or sometimes called „Generative AI“) (by @mthie@fedi.mthie.com)?

I can understand the feeling of paralysis in the face of these major threats to your own art only too well.

I find this short TED Talk by Amie McNee so inspiring and encouraging; it speaks out of and to my soul.

The case for making art when the world is on fire | Amie McNee | TEDxManchester:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XZ9z6OewR0

Through my shamanic worldview, I am convinced that the creative process is an important, intrinsic human act of creation. It cannot be replaced. That’s why I enjoy “personal art.” Hence my love and commitment to Indies.

Happy creating 🙂

Helge

P.S. You inf this and other of my articles also on my (free) Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/c/pixeltrain3d

pixeltrain | Helge Maus is teaching online Blender & Godot

Here are the next dates for my Blender training courses (German and English, remote).
The German-language courses will be held in collaboration with the Visualisierungs-Akademie Schweiz GmbH:

🇩🇪 Blender Introduction Course, May 22 + May 23:
https://visualisierungs-akademie.ch/de/kurs/blender-einfuhrungskurs/21d29c48-ee8a-4549-a500-6f82f7ff7ddc

🇩🇪 Blender Rendering Course, June 12 and June 13:
https://visualisierungs-akademie.ch/de/kurs/blender-renderingkurs/98514946-325f-4818-bcdb-4f6b351a490b

🇩🇪 Blender Animation Course, July 3 and July 4:
https://visualisierungs-akademie.ch/de/kurs/blender-animationskurs/68ff897c-f766-4119-bea3-9f3422704d2f

🇩🇪 Blender Modeling Course, July 24 and July 25:
https://visualisierungs-akademie.ch/de/kurs/blender-modelingkurs/ff1b0321-e948-41c1-bca6-1c23651e75ea

The dates of my English Blender training courses (English, remote) are also available.
These courses consist of 4 sessions, each a half-day long.

🇬🇧 Blender Fundamentals course, starting May 22 + May 23:
https://www.pixeltrain.net/pixeltrains-academy/

🇬🇧 Blender Shading & Rendering course, starting June 09 + June 10:
https://www.pixeltrain.net/pixeltrains-academy/

🇬🇧 Blender Rigging & Animation course, starting July 07 + July 08:
https://www.pixeltrain.net/pixeltrains-academy/

More information and all dates can be found on my website.
Please contact me if you have any questions or specific training requests!

Blender 4.4.1 is released!

The first bug fix update for the current stable version of Blender has been released:

Blender 4.4.1
https://www.blender.org/download/

This version contains 108 bug fixes. A detailed list of changes and fixes can be found here:
https://developer.blender.org/docs/release_notes/4.4/corrective_releases/

At the same time, the current LTS (long-term support version) of Blender has been updated to Blender 4.2.9.

Enjoy Blender!

PS. If you are looking for a “Blender Fundamentals class (English)” / “Blender Einführungs Kurs (deutsch)” you can find my details on: https://www.pixeltrain.net/events/

3D & GameDev Trainer Helge Maus in a remote Godot training.

The Godot game engine is rapidly developing into a strong alternative to established commercial giants like Unity or Unreal. Especially in the indie games sector, the Godot game engine offers everything you need for stable and flexible development of desktop and mobile games, without having to worry about licensing fees and regulations.

Well-structured training courses and seminars can provide an effective introduction to Godot and development in this engine.

For corporate training, you can find more information on my website at this link. I would be happy to put together a suitable training concept for Godot, GDScript, and C# for you. The training courses are offered remotely in English or German:
https://www.pixeltrain.net/godot/

If you are looking for a more affordable remote classroom training in English, then the pixeltrain Academy for Blender and Godot is just the right choice:
https://www.pixeltrain.net/pixeltrains-academy/

If you have any questions, please contact me at info (at) pixeltrain.net. I would be happy to help.

Godot 4.4.1 release

Godot 4.4 was released at the beginning of March. The update was another major step forward for the free, open-source game engine Godot, bringing numerous new features and improvements. 

Highlights included the integration of the external 3D physics engine Jolt, the interactive in-game editor, game stuttering solving with a new ubershader system and AgX tone mapping. And many, many more small improvement …

You can find a complete overview here:

https://godotengine.org/releases/4.4

As usual with such major updates, it requires a certain amount of time to get used to it and extensive testing of existing projects.

Naturally, minor issues, glitches, and bugs will also arise. Therefore, from a production perspective, it always makes sense to wait for at least the first bug fix release before porting a complex project.

Godot 4.4.1 was released today. Thanks to the great community and numerous dedicated developers, it took less than a month to smooth out the rough edges.

So here is the maintenance release of Godot 4.4.1:

https://godotengine.org/article/maintenance-release-godot-4-4-1

Download-Links:

https://godotengine.org/download/archive/4.4.1-stable

Have fun,

Helge

P.S. I offer corporate and individual training (remote, English, or German) on Godot and Game-Design / -Development. If you are interested, you can find some information on http://www.pixeltrain.net or write me an email: info (at) pixeltrain.net

More information at http://www.pixeltrain.net or write me a message to talk 🙂

Blender Kurse 2025 mit Helge Maus - pixeltrain

The new dates for my next Blender training courses (German and English, remote) have been announced. The German-language courses will be held in collaboration with the Visualisierungs-Akademie Schweiz GmbH:

🇩🇪 Blender Introduction Course, March 27 and 28:

https://visualisierungs-akademie.ch/de/kurs/blender-einfuhrungskurs/21d29c48-ee8a-4549-a500-6f82f7ff7ddc

🇩🇪 Blender Rendering Course, June 12 and 13:

https://visualisierungs-akademie.ch/de/kurs/blender-renderingkurs/98514946-325f-4818-bcdb-4f6b351a490b

🇩🇪 Blender Animation Course, March 3 and 4 July:

https://visualisierungs-akademie.ch/de/kurs/blender-animationskurs/68ff897c-f766-4119-bea3-9f3422704d2f

🇩🇪 Blender Modeling Course, July 24th and 25th:

https://visualisierungs-akademie.ch/de/kurs/blender-modelingkurs/ff1b0321-e948-41c1-bca6-1c23651e75ea

The dates of my English Blender training courses (English, remote) are also available.
These courses are each four half-days long.

More information and all dates can be found on my website:

🇬🇧 https://www.pixeltrain.net/pixeltrains-academy/

Please contact me if you have any questions or specific training requests!

3D & GameDev Trainer Helge Maus in a remote Godot training.

Done – my first German-language “Godot Fundamentals” (“Grundlagen der Game Entwicklung mit der Godot Game Engine”) course took place last week. Further advanced courses are already planned.

More information here: http://www.pixeltrain.net/events/

This marks another milestone in the restructuring of my training offerings towards FOSS:
In addition to “Blender for Production” now also “Indie Game Development with Godot”.

I believe indie productions are important for the creative future!

pixeltrain Blender Academy mit Senior Blender trainer Helge Maus

A quick reminder for all Blender enthusiasts:
Next week I’ll be starting two training courses for BlenderFundamentals:

pixeltrain Blender Academy – Fundamentals (with Senior Blender trainer Helge Maus)
starting from January 20th, remote, in 🇬🇧 English:
👉 shorturl.at/e8NG3

Blender Grundlagen Schulung (mit Senior Blender Trainer Helge Maus)
in collaboration with the Visualisierungs-Akademie Schweiz GmbH
January 23rd + 24th, remote, in 🇩🇪 German:
👉 shorturl.at/cXWj4

There are still seats available in both courses 🙂
I’m looking forward to seeing you,

Helge

Helge Maus with his dog Bailey at the beach.

Let’s talk 2025!

Yesterday was officially my first day at work and I would therefore like to wish you all a healthy, successful and happy year 2025. All the best for you personally and for your creative projects 🎨!

Like last year, I published my annual planning and a few thoughts on my (free) Patreon
👉 https://www.patreon.com/posts/lets-talk-about-119489745?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

Have fun!
Helge