Just one year out from earning the same title of Vendor of the Month for February, 2024, is our well-known member, TruForm, Vendor of the Month for February this year!

 A Renderosity member since 2009, he hails from South Africa, and is known to family and friends as Sebastion Govender. He spends his time primarily as a freelance graphic artist.

 TruForm operates as a self-owned company producing graphic works, previously in 2D, but now almost exclusively 3D.

 “I consider Renderosity to be my main work since it takes most of my time, and because I simply love it!” he said.

It’s not well known, but on the side, he does a little music composing, too. “The promo videos for the Lavish home and Cliffside home feature my tracks. So, all round media production!” he said.

We asked TruForm about his interests, aspirations and inspirations, and how he feels about the Renderosity community.

How have things changed in your designs or interests over the past year?

 I think my perspective has broadened in styles and eras as my latest projects reveal. In earlier works, for the most part, I've kept to the same era with different topics. But now I'm looking at environments of the past and even how it could look in the future. This might even branch out into a really different type of design if I can get it right. I've briefly touched on it with the Throne and Temple room products but that's quite tame by comparison to what I have in mind.

Tell us about your early interests in graphic design and developing that into a career?

 I've only ever done graphic work and never explored much in other fields because I started very young. During my childhood, I was drawing non-stop. In my teens I was still drawing like crazy but then began taking computers apart and reassembling them, so I guess that I just progressed deeper into it.

 Doing this kind of thing (freelancing) in South Africa didn't seem all that big at the time, especially when I got into 3D. A lot of people asked me if it was profitable…. It kind of wasn't initially, more like a side income. So, leaning on the PC hardware skills I acquired, I could provide tech support and used that to aid as an income source, and eventually built a PC capable of more advanced 3D design around 15 years ago. I'm currently 36 if you want to calculate dates.

The first big project I recall was the Luxury home, my tenth product. Of course, it's not as complex as what I've created in recent releases, but the scale of where I wanted to go was already hinted there. Since then, I'm fond of the Luxury yacht because that was a really complex one, too. I'm especially proud of it since I didn't know many of the faster workflow processes I know now (and the fantastic advancement of Poser) and yet I managed to see that one through to completion. Now that I know better, the Lavish home/Cliffside home serves as a fun monument of the knowledge gained.

Are there any new techniques or programs you've picked up the past year that you like or even dislike?

 Fortunately for the software I use, the developers are super innovative and keeping up with trends, so I still use the same programs. Thinking back while making the jewellery store in Blender, I had to update the viewport lighting by re-baking light probes with Eevee (Blender's real-time renderer). Though during the project Blender was updated so that the lighting calculates on the fly. I was amazed at how close to PBR (physically based rendering) results one can achieve while working in scene. This allowed much more control of the final product because I could almost instantly see what effect my decisions would have. On the texture-making side with Gimp, there have also been some fantastic updates since 3.0 has been released that makes life easier, but there's the occasional annoying regression where something that worked perfectly is now broken... Veteran Gimp users will know what I'm talking about. For new programs, as indicated earlier, I'm in the process of picking up Unreal engine. That's exciting!

What was it that made you realize you wanted to move up to producing graphic designs to sell as a vendor?

 Describing myself, I'm more passionate than directional, meaning I put all my attention into developing my artistic skill rather than figuring out where I was going with it. First, it was physical drawing, which turned into 2D drawing through MS Paint, and then more advanced imaging software, and finally 3D when coming across Daz 3D and some content for it. They were all linked in my progress before the desire to build content for 3D scenes arrived. It was all for fun at first, but I would say it's being part of Renderosity that made me take designing more seriously and eventually becoming a vendor. If you look at the dates, you'll see my gallery images precede my product uploads.

How did you become a vendor at Renderosity?

It actually wasn't a direction I thought of originally. It sort of just happened. I visited the Renderosity chatroom (when that was a thing) and between myself and those who were already vendors and some who were just having fun creating, we'd often share the projects we were working on. At the time I uploaded a few freebies and slowly it made it all the more attractive to participate.

Where would you like to see your career go in the next few years?

 I have done animations in the past but the scale is small primarily due to the amount of time it takes to get frames rendered. So I'd like to get more serious with that, especially since I already have such a broad number of environments to showcase. I think I have little excuse not to. And then also I'd like break into the gaming side of 3D because the quality of games these days are almost on the same level as prerendered visuals! I like the aesthetics of design first and then mechanics so that's probably why I haven't gotten to it earlier. The advancements in game technologies are hard to ignore now or pass up on the opportunity.

 How has Renderosity made a difference or helped in your growth as a vendor?

In quite a few ways: for starters, one grows much faster when there's feedback and accountability. With messages from buyers on my products, I discover things that could be improved or issues that need fixing and learn better ways of doing things. Then there's fellow vendors who give me useful tips on getting the most out of the software, and user requests that can sometimes become challenges to grow my skills. It’s not just limited to buyers/vendors, but many community members give valuable information.

What products might you be coming out with in the near future?

 I'm playing around with the idea, but the plans are solid enough to mention that I want to make a stylized environment. Starting with nature and its various biomes and then leading to buildings if the interest picks up. Also, the platform by which this type of product is released is something I'm debating.

 What advice do you have for someone who wants to become an artist or vendor?

 As more and more content gets released, whether by artists or AI, it's easy to think that there's less of a place for new works, but actually it's not about being the best but being different. Everybody has a preference, and the style of some individuals will appeal to a certain crowd. So, where one user says 'too much,' another says 'keep it coming!' A crowded room is all the more reason to engage, not shy away.

 With AI making strong inroads into digital art, what are your thoughts on its use?

 I have mixed feelings on it actually. On the one hand, AI is really good at generating visually pleasing imagery, not only the subject that's generated but also the presentation of it. Even when it doesn't fully make sense, it looks good! I've even used it for reference when designing because of how expansive it can be to the imagination. On the other side there's the job replacement side that's not so great where those who had no previous artistic education now enter the field and take away from those who studied/worked hard to get there. Not that I'm knocking those users, art is beautiful in all its forms…just a call to be mindful of the efforts of artists who are actually the fuel of AI. Ultimately it should be an aid and not a replacement.

 Any other comments you have for the community?

 As an artist it can feel like you should only put your best work out there which, sure, if you're making a portfolio, do that. But most of the time you're sharing your work with others who are in the same learning process as you. I certainly have left many projects on the shelf because I felt it wasn't good enough. And I am probably missing out on valuable feedback that would make it develop faster. Even if you believe you are your work's greatest critic, there's an angle to it that you could be missing out on that others can see and provide input. I'm talking to myself here as well.