Photomode – JC Eberdt

More RFS

jceberdt — Wed, 07 Oct 2026 18:57:48 +0000

A refinement of the ‘Really Big Tank’, though I don’t think I’m finished with it yet. The ammo box on the rear of the turret is too exposes, which is going to need some work. I think I’ve settled on four or five camo styles for now, and the objective is to get them all working on all the vehicles and also to make the vehicles movable in a rudimentary way so I can make screenshots and animations.

‘A Really Big Tank’

Then some shots to show the articulated gun. The idea is that the range of motion for the gun is so large that the vehicle can fullfill AA and Artillery roles to a far greater extent than a more conventional design. Of course, this thing is also 12m long and 5m wide, weights 300 tonnes and can fly (see emdrives SPOILERS).

Elevation example

Depression example I

Depression example II

I think this vehicle only really starts featuring in book III, so I’ll publish the name and specs when that is out. I’m still struggling with the edit of book one, so don’t hold your breath.

For those who missed the last few posts, this is a screenshot taken with the photomode in my Godot tool. The model was drawn in OpenSCAD and then imported into Godot through Blender, using Claude Code for the drudge work.

Photomode Distractions

jceberdt — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 09:13:29 +0000

My new Godot tool, other than the mapping functions, has a photomode for use with the (so far rudimentary) scenes I’ve generated. Still, it’s already usable to produce some imagery that I think is getting to capturing the ‘feel’ of the tales of Vatan setting.

Alagariel practicing sword forms (I.33 again) at night, with Maiden’s Tower in the background.

The Fire Wraith (pass 3)

jceberdt — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 21:35:54 +0000

Another incremental improvement to a Godot 4.7 photomode render of the Fire Wraith scene out of The Half Elven Orphan. I like grounde settings so the tower is an amalgamation of historical ruins from the period 850-1050. Planet curvature, moonlight etc all derived from the moon and the star system also modelled in Godot. The Wraith herself is Makehuman and Blender, with a historical kirtle-and-chemise outfit. The sword-form pose is from the I.33 manuscript.

I’m doing this because I’m finding it’s very hard for an author to generate promotional material. Walls of text don’t draw people in to a post, pictures and video does. So, this is my solution. Get assets into Godot, make compositions and make stills or animations with them. I’ve used Claude Code to help me make the tools for this (I would never have had the time for it otherwise), but the creative input is my own or the artists I hire. Besides the widespread irrational hatred for generative AI, it’s also just very poor at making the image you want. I’ve experimented with it, but I’d say generating 10,000 images per usable one is about the hit rate. It’s a waste of time, quite aside from the fact that you never know how closely what it flops out is plagiarising someone’s work.

I have more ideas what I might want to do with these 3D assets in the longer term, but I’m a very long way from getting any of that done.