I’ve been working on compiling an animation demo reel recently and I have some really nice video to put in there. Then I got to the Ook Island model. Wow. I did not realize how much better my stuff looks today compared to what I worked on in 2011 and 2012. Looking at it up close, 3D cartoons from 1994 looked better than that, although mostly because I didn’t know how to use textures properly yet and they simply couldn’t use textures enough to misuse them. They also didn’t have pesky shadows.

I had tried Blender’s new render engine(Cycles) once before on this model, but at that time it didn’t have full support for all the lights yet(mostly, things were over-lit) and it was still new to everybody. Blender, Cycles, and my 3D skills have gotten much better since that first try a year ago and they keep on improving.

Click here to see a 360° turnaround view of the island in 1080p resolution, with some more information including where to spot some leftover objects from individual comics.