This post is part of our Summer of Digital Love series, where we chill by the pool while chatting about our favourite hardware, magazines, websites, creative assets and digital esoteria!
If you enjoyed our VR explainer series, you know we’re big fans of the low-poly aesthetic…
So, what’s a voxel?
Think of it as a 3d pixel (a ‘volumetric pixel’) or a basic 3d building block and you’re most of the way there! We like this primer on VOXELS from makeuseof.com.
This online voxelizer imports an existing 3d object and voxelizes it! You could use it to create low-poly assets from high resolution models, models for 3d printing or just to enjoy the reductive process of rendering Sonic the Hedgehog down to a few blocks 🙂
To demonstrate the Voxelizer, we’ve started by downloading this FREE Sonic model. Here’s our hedgehog friend, opened in the default Windows 3d object viewer:
And here he is, voxelized! You can use the main slider below the model to increase or decrease the voxel/block count and so the apparent resolution of the model:
Here’s a ‘higher resolution’ example:
Try increasing the space between individual voxels (using the slider at the bottom right) to create sketch-like or ‘transparent’ models:
Don’t forget to save your voxelized model for later use!
TIP: You can also import a regular 2d image, for a quick way to create pixel-art style images and mosaics:
As always, links and files are included in good faith. You are responsible for ensuring your device has appropriate security / virus software installed.
This post is part of our Summer of Digital Love series. Watch for more as we raid our archives (and attics) to celebrate the best in past and present digital creativity!
