10 Lessons Learnt Making The Most Complex 3D Model I've Ever Made
Howdy peeps.
Another week, another cry in my bedroom as a freelancer.
That’s of course a sad, January blues kind of joke, but if you’re feeling a lil’ blue, this email is meant to lighten the old mood.
The run of play today:
Webflow Community Platform!
ThreeJs, Blender and Vercel madness (The sickest portfolio website I’ve ever seen)
10 Lessons Learnt Making The Most Complex Model I’ve Ever Made
January Webflow London Meetup
Let the games begin
Webflow Community Platform
You guys may know that Webflow is my preferred tool.
It’s not just that I think it’s cracking to build websites on but it’s actually been pretty fundamental to shaping me as person - I’ve literally met hundreds of other people simply because we all use this tool.
And so I’m insanely excited to partner with Webflow to share that the community I love has just got a massive upgrade making it easier than ever to connect with others.
Here’s the scoop:
New Webflow Community Platform
Join discussions, compete in challenges connect with Webflow team members
2. Webflow Collective Fund
Setting up an educational program or creating an app? Receive funding and support here!
3. Webflow Network Groups
Join in-person local meetups and online events!
Excited for new generations of Webflowers to receive this support to build, learn and grow together!
Jump in to the new community platform here!
ThreeJs, Blender and Vercel madness (The sickest portfolio website I’ve ever seen)
Just had a cracking chat with Mael Ruffini about plans for the new Rhumb Studio website.
It's a futuristic house where each room is a different page of the website.
Home page? The whole house
Work page? A gallery living room
Contact page? A light office
If at all interested how he made this madness, click the video below for an informal chat where I asked him all about Blender, Threejs and more.
ps. I’ve just joined Rhumb Studio so super excited!
10 Lessons Learnt Making The Most Complex Model I’ve Ever Made
I’ve spent the last few days building this. A lot of painfully slow progress but moving in the right direction. Anyway, here’s a few lessons and tidbits from this build process.
Lock the image on the canvas
Label everything
Export SVGs from Figma and then extrude (download from Noun project
Clone tool is your friend
Textures - light. Physical.
Save colours for re-use
Smooth and edit for more precise shapes
Complex shapes - use sculpt tools
9. Helix to get screws
10. Pen Tool change the shape using this
January Webflow Meetup!
Helluva meetup last night!
Exceptional talks by Liam McCabe all about harnessing Claude Code and using it in Webflow code components.
Then Rachel Ilan Simpson stepped up and delivered a fascinating talk about how to scale design and implement design system at startups and scale-ups.
Some tidbits I learnt:
1) We're in a bit of a funny time where anything you complex in code isn't actually complex anymore. Or at least the complexity is being handled by a robot so you're abstracted from anything complicated. You can almost build anything with enough prompting as a result but having a clear idea of what and why you're building is now even more vital.
2) Claude + Webflow is better than a McDonalds after a marathon. Still visual designer and client control in Webflow but complex functionality in claude.
3) Design systems are vital regardless of team size and things can get messy quickly as more team members join without a coherent, documented system.
4) Developers are more likely to follow design systems if they are very much actively part of making the design system
Massive thanks to Chris Skitch for excellent hosting and organisation as always and Jimmy Elphick and Abdussalam Popoola on the tech!
Next week, more tidbits from the world of interactive web shizzle.
Abrazos fuertes,
Jack