Jacob MorrisWith the CubeSter Addon we can generate easily an abstract background. It does this by converting an image to blocks. The darker the color the lower the heights of the blocks. In this post I show you how the CubeSter addon works and how you can get such an abstract background as shown.
How the CubeSter Addon Works
How the addon works and how you can get the above background is explained in the video. Below the text in short for those who don’t have access to the video or prefer to read it.
This time, the addon is in the T-panel, not the N-panel. Therefore we press T to open the T-panel and there we see the CubeSter Addon. Simply browse to a picture or texture on top of the addon. Here a short explanation of the settings that follows:
- Skip Pixels. See it as pixelizing an image. The lower this value the more pixels will be generated (more details, finer). I like to set it around 32.
- Height. In case you choose for cube: how high the highest cubes will be. I like to put this value around 0.5 meter.
- Grid Size. Size of each object. I like to set it around .25 meter.
- Invert heights. Dark colors (low values) generate blocks with low height and high values (white) create blocks higher blocks (Z-axis). If you select Invert Heights, everything will be calculated to -Z instead of +Z.
- Mesh Type: You can choose Blocks or plane. When you choose for blocks it will generate a mesh consisting of blocks. None of the vertices are merged, so if you go in Edit Mode and select all, you can press Alt+S and individually scale the blocks. When you choose for plane, you get a subdivided plane with heights. (As if a displacement modifier was applied to it).
- Image Sequence seems not to work at the moment.
- Remove Images on Creation. Should remove images to save memory.
Tips on using the CubeSter Addon
The vertices in the generated mesh are not merged. That means we can easily scale the individual blocks by pressing Alt+S in Edit Mode. We can also ad modifiers like Subsurf, Simple Deform, Bevel Etc.
In case you have more idea’s on how to use the addon, don’t hesitate to share it.
Where can I download the CubeSter Addon?
You can download the CubeSter addon on Github. Mind that you only need to install the CubeSter.py file and not the .Zip File. Ofcourse you can download the .zip file, but then you have to extract it first.
For more information about the CubeSter addon, check the CubeSter thread on blenderartists.
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