D.A Animations

I make brands look cinematic in 3D 🎬 · Product & Commercial Animator · 3D Generalist @zackdfilms1 · Founder, D.A Animations

[D.A Animations @daanimations101]

@chocobi130 I do as much as possible in Blender, ranging from cloth sims, to geonodes and even fluid simulations💯 What I do is based on whatever project I work on, either commissioned or personal

[D.A Animations @daanimations101]

@pierrick_picaut Proud of you man🙌 Amazing work as always 🔥

[D.A Animations @daanimations101]

@chocobi130 You're definitely speaking my language with these workflow speedups 🏎️💨

[D.A Animations @daanimations101]

Monday Motivation #11: The .blend File Graveyard 🪦📁

We all have it. That one folder on your hard drive filled with files named "Final_Render_V3", "SciFi_Corridor_WIP", or "Fluid_Test_04"—projects you started with massive enthusiasm, only to abandon them the second the pipeline got difficult.

It is incredibly easy to look at that folder of unfinished scenes and feel like a failure. Don't.

Those abandoned files aren't failures; they are the exact stepping stones that built your current skill set. Maybe you abandoned a character because the Auto-Rig Pro setup was too complex for you at the time. Maybe your first FLIP Fluids simulation just kept crashing your PC, so you gave up.

The secret is that you learned something from every single one of those "dead" projects. The node setups you broke, the meshes you ruined, and the rigs you tangled up gave you the specific knowledge you need to actually finish the projects you are working on today.

Stop feeling guilty about the projects you left behind. Take the lessons they taught you, apply them to the scene right in front of you, and keep moving forward. Let's get to work this week 🎬🚀

#MondayMotivation #3DAnimation #b3d #KeepCreating #BlenderCommunity

[D.A Animations @daanimations101]

Monday Motivation #10: Troubleshooting IS the Job 🔧🧩

When you are first learning 3D, it is easy to assume that professional artists just open Blender, effortlessly drop in a few nodes, pose a character perfectly on the first try, and hit render.

Here is the actual reality of the 3D pipeline: 80% of the job is just high-level problem solving.

Why did the fluid simulation explode on frame 24? Why are the normals suddenly flipped? Why is this one specific bone in the rig completely destroying the mesh deformation?

When your scene inevitably breaks this week, it doesn't mean you are a bad artist or that you are falling behind. It means you are doing the actual work of 3D animation. Troubleshooting isn't a distraction from the art, it is the art. Every bug you squash, every weird glitch you figure out, and every crashed project you recover is just adding another permanent tool to your mental arsenal.

Don't let a broken file ruin your momentum today. Diagnose the problem, learn the lesson, and let's get to building this week 🎬🔥

#MondayMotivation #3DAnimation #b3d #KeepCreating #BlenderCommunity

[D.A Animations @daanimations101]

@k70178864 Awesome! It’s one of those hidden gems you can't live without once you start using it ✨

[D.A Animations @daanimations101]

Blender Quick Tip #11: The "Local View" Lifesaver 🔦

When you are deep into a heavy project, like animating a complex character rig or building out dense procedural effects, your viewport can quickly become visually overwhelming and sluggish 🤔

Stop clicking through the Outliner to hide collections or objects one by one ❌

Instead, just select the specific object (or bones) you are actively working on and hit the Numpad Slash (/) key. Blender will instantly isolate your selection, hiding everything else in the scene and giving you a clean, fast, and distraction-free workspace ✨

(Bonus: Once you are in Local View, press the Numpad Period (.) key to instantly center your view perfectly around your isolated selection. When you are done tweaking your animation or nodes, just press Numpad Slash again to bring your entire scene back 💯)

#b3d #BlenderTips #3DAnimation #WorkflowHacks #BlenderCommunity

[D.A Animations @daanimations101]

Blender Quick Tip #10: The 3D Cursor Scaling Hack 🎯

Trying to scale an object or a complex Geometry Nodes setup (like a custom hair system or foliage) and it keeps distorting or scaling from the completely wrong center? Stop trying to manually adjust offset and scale values in your node tree!

Instead of fighting the math, use your 3D cursor as an anchor.

Just move your 3D Cursor exactly to where you want the pivot point to be (like the root of the hair or the base of a model). Then, right-click your object in Object Mode, go to Set Origin > Origin to 3D Cursor. Now, any scaling, rotation, or procedural generation that relies on the object's origin will behave perfectly from that exact spot.

(Bonus: Press Shift + S and choose "Cursor to Selected" to snap the 3D cursor perfectly to any specific vertex or face in Edit Mode before you set your new origin!)

#b3d #BlenderTips #GeometryNodes #WorkflowHacks #BlenderCommunity

[D.A Animations @daanimations101]

@blinkbosss Great🙌

[D.A Animations @daanimations101]

@Pature111 Fire🔥🔥

[D.A Animations @daanimations101]

@Tolucoker3d They'd probably tell us the only way to achieve these kinds of things is to fast and pray for it😂😭

[D.A Animations @daanimations101]

@TonyyRickk Great, glad you found it useful 🙌

[D.A Animations @daanimations101]

Blender Quick Tip #10: The 3D Cursor Scaling Hack 🎯

Trying to scale an object or a complex Geometry Nodes setup (like a custom hair system or foliage) and it keeps distorting or scaling from the completely wrong center? Stop trying to manually adjust offset and scale values in your node tree!

Instead of fighting the math, use your 3D cursor as an anchor.

Just move your 3D Cursor exactly to where you want the pivot point to be (like the root of the hair or the base of a model). Then, right-click your object in Object Mode, go to Set Origin > Origin to 3D Cursor. Now, any scaling, rotation, or procedural generation that relies on the object's origin will behave perfectly from that exact spot.

(Bonus: Press Shift + S and choose "Cursor to Selected" to snap the 3D cursor perfectly to any specific vertex or face in Edit Mode before you set your new origin!)

#b3d #BlenderTips #GeometryNodes #WorkflowHacks #BlenderCommunity

[D.A Animations @daanimations101]

Blender Quick Tip #9: The "Safe" Node Removal 🧩

Ever need to remove a node from the middle of a complex Shader or Geometry Nodes setup, but deleting it breaks the entire chain and forces you to manually reconnect everything?🤔

Stop deleting and rebuilding your noodles❌

Instead, simply hold down the Alt key, then click and drag the node away from the connection. Blender will safely detach the node while automatically bridging the gap between the nodes on either side of it✨

(Bonus: If you just want to temporarily disable a node without moving it at all, select it and press 'M' to Mute it. It will pass the data straight through as if it isn't there, an absolute lifesaver for quickly A/B testing procedural setups or complex materials💯)

#b3d #BlenderTips #GeometryNodes #WorkflowHacks #BlenderCommunity

[D.A Animations @daanimations101]

Monday Motivation #10: Troubleshooting IS the Job 🔧🧩

When you are first learning 3D, it is easy to assume that professional artists just open Blender, effortlessly drop in a few nodes, pose a character perfectly on the first try, and hit render.

Here is the actual reality of the 3D pipeline: 80% of the job is just high-level problem solving.

Why did the fluid simulation explode on frame 24? Why are the normals suddenly flipped? Why is this one specific bone in the rig completely destroying the mesh deformation?

When your scene inevitably breaks this week, it doesn't mean you are a bad artist or that you are falling behind. It means you are doing the actual work of 3D animation. Troubleshooting isn't a distraction from the art, it is the art. Every bug you squash, every weird glitch you figure out, and every crashed project you recover is just adding another permanent tool to your mental arsenal.

Don't let a broken file ruin your momentum today. Diagnose the problem, learn the lesson, and let's get to building this week 🎬🔥

#MondayMotivation #3DAnimation #b3d #KeepCreating #BlenderCommunity

[D.A Animations @daanimations101]

Monday Motivation #9: The Generalist's Trap 🪤🎨

When you open Blender, you aren't just opening a piece of software, you are stepping into an entire virtual studio. You are expected to be the modeler, the rigger, the lighting director, the materials expert, and the compositor all at once.

It is incredibly easy to feel like you are falling behind because you haven't mastered complex procedural nodes, while simultaneously trying to learn fluid simulations and perfect your character animation.

Give yourself some grace this week. You are doing the job of an entire production department. You don't need to master every single workspace tab at the top of the screen today. Pick your focus for your current project, rely on assets or tools for the rest, and build your skills one discipline at a time.

You are handling more complexity than you realize. Keep pushing, and let's get to work 🎬✨

#MondayMotivation #3DAnimation #b3d #KeepCreating #BlenderCommunity

[D.A Animations @daanimations101]

Join my Telegram channel for more tips like this👇

https://t.co/OYlNXZ3aSH

[D.A Animations @daanimations101]

Totally get what you mean. Silhouette is everything in 3D. Even just varying the chassis proportions/wheelbase height, or slapping on distinct props like police lightbars and taxi signs, will break that 'same parent' feel immediately.

They already look super clean for stylized low-poly traffic though👌

[D.A Animations @daanimations101]

Setting up modular customization assets for these two characters with 60+ interchangeable pieces. Was low-key kind of fun 😌💯

#b3d #3dcharacter

[D.A Animations @daanimations101]

@k70178864 That’s smart💯 Swapping parts and colors on background vehicles saves so much memory while keeping things from looking copy-pasted. What part are you trying to iron out?

[D.A Animations @daanimations101]

@k70178864 Thank you💪

[D.A Animations @daanimations101]

Breaking down the render passes of ArcForge, my procedural Geometry Nodes lightning generator for Blender⚡

Final Composite ➡️ Raw ➡️ Viewport ➡️ The Math.

#b3d #blender3d #geometrynodes

[D.A Animations @daanimations101]

@k70178864 Thank you 🙌

What did you use yours for. This one I did is for the customization screen for a game💯

[Tolúlọpẹ́ (COMMISSIONS OPENED) @ToluAkinyotun]

My general thoughts on AI as an artist living with the realities of being Nigerian.

We might be the last generation of Nigerians with the opportunity to cement our identity in games and animation before this AI craze sweeps us all up.

We have a chance to build our own visual languages, tell our own stories, develop our own techniques, and establish what African creativity looks like on the global stage. But that requires us to actually CREATE. Not outsource the creative process to generative AI and call ourselves creators simply because we can prompt a machine. I'm not saying we should ignore HELPFUL technology. I'm saying we need to build a foundation before anything else.

If you're an artist, animator, or game developer, make things. Experiment. Get better. Develop your own visual identity. Build the skills and creative infrastructure that future generations can inherit. Because if we surrender this opportunity, we risk leaving behind an industry where our only contribution is prompting, curating, and consuming outputs from systems trained to reproduce everyone else's ideas of what creativity should look like.

We cannot afford to automate our way out of the very industries in which we are yet to establish ourselves.

I beg of you ...CREATE.