iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jordan Cain @oddenough.art · 19/09/2026

I was getting depressed on twitter because of both the pro-AI and the anti-AI posters. I'm very much the latter, but all those posts do is make me grumpy. I recently realized that it's more important than ever to keep creating and teaching artists, so I've leaned back into that. Much happier now!

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Reposted by Jordan Cain

Sheena Duquette @sheenaduquette.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Marmoset Toolbag viewport preview of the current bake test for PBR rendering. 🌟 She's definitely come a long way!

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Jordan Cain @oddenough.art · 19/08/2026

Yeah it's incredibly useful! I'm tempted to redo older projects now that I can actually work on large projects without splitting up files.

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Jordan Cain @oddenough.art · 19/08/2026

Pausing tiles makes this scene with 9 8K UDIMs actually manageable to work with. I'm thankful these controls exist to ease the pain I inflict on my VRAM 🙃

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Jordan Cain @oddenough.art · 13/08/2026

If you do, lemme know how it goes :)

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Jordan Cain @oddenough.art · 13/08/2026

I also really like that I can use symmetry on text. There's probably a more practical use case for this, but I'm feeling punchy today 🙃

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Jordan Cain @oddenough.art · 13/08/2026

More scatter layer shenanigans! You can make VU audio meters using some gradients and masks to control the levels 😁

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Jordan Cain @oddenough.art · 13/08/2026

With spacemouse support in @marmoset3d.bsky.social 5.03, you can control both your cameras and your lights in yours scenes, making setup even easier. Plus you can make flying noises while you do it. Or is that just me? "pew pew"

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Jordan Cain @oddenough.art · 13/08/2026

The new scatter layer feature in the @marmoset3d.bsky.social 5.03 update gives me yet another way to add knurling to my models 😆

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Jordan Cain @oddenough.art · 12/08/2026

Yay, I'm in the credits now!

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Reposted by Jordan Cain

Marmoset @marmoset3d.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Marmoset Toolbag 5.03 is officially out! It introduces brand-new features & significant improvements to Toolbag's baking, texturing, and rendering systems, such as: ✅ Text Layers ✅ Scatter Layers ✅ Pause Tiles ✅ SVG Vector Import ✅ SpaceMouse Support & much more!

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Jordan Cain @oddenough.art · 12/07/2026

If you want to avoid the C-loop, I'd suggest doing this (again, terminate that top edge someplace safe

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Jordan Cain @oddenough.art · 12/07/2026

I'd be very careful about where you add C-loops like the one I marked in yellow. I try to avoid those at all costs because they introduce higher density in areas that don't need it (and can make things worse) But also try to extend the edge I marked in red to a flatter area.

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Jordan Cain @oddenough.art · 10/07/2026

Yeah how you used them on the columns are perfect. I don't see much wrong with the others, but how do the reflections look? Like can you show a shinier matcap?

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Jordan Cain @oddenough.art · 08/07/2026

When first starting, it's a trial and error thing until you start to understand when something will work or not. But I suggest trying different things out first, and if they don't work, lemme know and we can work through them.

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Jordan Cain @oddenough.art · 08/07/2026

Gotcha. It's best to place ngons in natural convergence points. Like if you find yourself creating quad intersections with 5-point poles, then it's a good indicator that you can make those areas with ngons. Mostly, if there's a situation where quadding it seems too difficult, then just don't.

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Jordan Cain @oddenough.art · 08/07/2026

Hey! Sorry I don't check bsky as often, but did you still want help on this? Can you highlight the areas you want help with?

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Jordan Cain @oddenough.art · 11/06/2026

Big braining it over here. Used a single path with radial symmetry to make a Cool S vector decal in @marmoset3d.bsky.social 😆

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Jordan Cain @oddenough.art · 08/02/2026

Also this was my first time using an ngon config tip for my bullets, and I think it worked out nicely

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Jordan Cain @oddenough.art · 08/02/2026

Leveraging creased subdiv + bevel shader for the ammo strip

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Jordan Cain @oddenough.art · 07/02/2026

Previewing the highpoly visdev before starting the lowpoly 👀

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Jordan Cain @oddenough.art · 05/02/2026

Ah yes, the age old "what if I bump up my rust project to 8K?"

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Jordan Cain @oddenough.art · 04/02/2026

Here it is side by side in the same image. Left is with oxides filling in grey values, and right is just a rust to steel transition without the intermediate steps.

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Jordan Cain @oddenough.art · 04/02/2026

Yup! Transitions from metallic to non metallic are rarely ever binary unless you're dealing with something like chipped paint. But faded paint, dust, oils, oxidation, etc should all have grey transitional values

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Jordan Cain @oddenough.art · 04/02/2026

This is what you'd get without those oxidation layers, which is a common problem in metalness workflows, and is the result of strictly sticking to 0 or 1 metal values. It's also wrong, which is why you should be using grey values in your metal maps.

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Jordan Cain @oddenough.art · 04/02/2026

This feels like the texturing version of spinning around my model. Playing with carve groups in @marmoset3d.bsky.social to get grey metalness values through intermediate oxidation.

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Reposted by Jordan Cain

Xavier @xavierck.com · 25/01/2026

This latest ref pack is a love letter to all my hard surface artist friends It contains 400+ (3.1GB) photos from the CAF SoCal airplane museum, including 100+ shots of tiny details from the cockpit of a MiG-21MF Use them for anything, just make sure to credit me! drive.google.com/file/d/1nsib...

A closeup from the cockpit of a MiG-21MF

A closeup of a propeller from a large bomber

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Jordan Cain @oddenough.art · 31/01/2026

You are unhinged in the best possible ways, xav 😁

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Jordan Cain @oddenough.art · 30/01/2026

Ah in reading the rest of the replies I see you recognized that 😁

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Jordan Cain @oddenough.art · 30/01/2026

This is unfortunately an issue with creasing a base mesh that isn't dense enough to support the tightness of that edge. My recommendation is to increase the density of the surrounding geo and also introduce the use of an ngon like Xavier suggests. But the geo density is 100% the core issue here.

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Jordan Cain @oddenough.art · 30/01/2026

Yeah exactly! So fast and just works 😁

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Jordan Cain @oddenough.art · 25/01/2026

The wireframe view is the unsubdivided version of both models.

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Jordan Cain @oddenough.art · 25/01/2026

In terms of amount of work/time needed compared against the result, pure subdiv can't compete with the bevel shader workflow. Not to mention the time it takes for edits. Top is subdiv w/ sharp creasing + bevel shader and bottom is subdiv. The top could be used as the low poly with fewer changes

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marina @parinamais.bsky.social · 13/01/2026

I have finally finished CATCHING FISHES, and here's the trailer! This is my first solo game, and it’s a short story about… taking a bath when you’re very tired : ) Hope to see you back for release day, on January 20! #indiedev #gamedev #indiegame #unity #catchingfishes

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Jordan Cain @oddenough.art · 13/01/2026

That's usually my go-to as well 😆

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Jordan Cain @oddenough.art · 13/01/2026

Hehe interestingly, I just told a mentee that there is such a thing as having too much reference 😆 (though they were searching for more versions of the same thing)

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Jordan Cain @oddenough.art · 13/01/2026

Trying something, anything, even if you think it won't work is 10,000,000,000x better and more productive than doing nothing at all. Overthinking, perfection, and the idea that you need to get it right the first try is how you kill momentum and learning.

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Jordan Cain @oddenough.art · 13/01/2026

I used to see so many artists surpass me in speed and the only difference between me and them was they were doing things and I just kept staring at my models not knowing what to do. Thing is, I still don't know what to do most of the time, but that's why you need to try.

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Jordan Cain @oddenough.art · 13/01/2026

To all the artists out there who are suffering from analysis paralysis (overthinking), I empathize fully. The solution to your problem is the hardest thing to overcome. You need to just start doing. Push through and try things *especially* if you think it won't work.

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Jordan Cain @oddenough.art · 10/01/2026

This past week has been rough trying to get back into work and being a normal functioning human after the holidays. I feel like I deal with this more and more as I get older. 🙃

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Jordan Cain @oddenough.art · 10/01/2026

Hopefully you're able to apply similar techniques :D

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Jordan Cain @oddenough.art · 05/01/2026

Posted this on the other site since someone was asking about Maya UV equivalents in Blender (via ZenUV addon): Along with what's in the image below, shell snapping via pivot is G to move, then press B, select the vert, and then move to the vert you want to snap to. Hopefully this helps others!

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Jordan Cain @oddenough.art · 03/01/2026

To make blockouts easier, I map out element separation with paintovers before starting the modeling. I often have a hard time keeping track of elements, and having a map like this to refer to helps break it down into manageable chunks. Thanks to @peachmarzi.bsky.social for the ref

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