THE ''1000'' PROJECT
Building a better bridge between knowledge and creativity
After five long and challenging years, this is my contribution to the 3D and Motion Design Community.
I’ve given all my research, knowledge and assets to whoever wanted a head start into this Industry.
From an uncertain path into building a better bridge between knowledge and creativity.
The Mindset
As an independent artist, the concept of giving away personal research and work with no compensation has always been difficult. I grew up in the days where if you had an idea or a talent, you’d better keep that to yourself so no one could copy you or steal it from you. The last thing you wanted was to give that away to unknown people over the internet.
But since then, communities have been created all over the web, and it felt more convenient for people to provide knowledge to help others, because believe it or not, the satisfaction of helping someone or knowing that you’ve helped in a way or another will always be priceless.
As a community, my job, as yours, is to provide. To provide for future generations, to take away the painful way of learning we had to endure in schools and give out the lessons we gathered throughout those years. To give the chance to anyone wanting to get into this art, a better starting point, a modern starting point.
That’s the philosophy I had when I first started this project, that’s the philosophy I wish someone I knew had when I got into this art. That would have saved me a lot of time trying to figure out stuff by myself, but thankfully, I did learn from the best, and I’m proud to have contributed 1000 open source project files over the last 5 years to the Cinema 4D Community.
This is my Story, this is a part of my legacy, this is what I’m leaving behind.
The Story
Some of the turning points and Obstacles I faced over the years to finish this project.
[11-04-16] - Liquidate Iso Virgin
The First Project File I shared after one of my follower asked me if he could see my setup and settings. On that day I decided to do that everyday. 2 weeks later I had to move to another town and work in a call center full time, I used to come back home in the afternoon and work on my daily project. This was the only thing that made me happy, Just sit down in my empty room and start designing.
[16-07-16] - Voltaic
After working on that call center for 2 months I’ve decided to quit my job one morning and focus on my daily projects full time, with no money and no alternatives, I had to find a way to make a living. Since all my assets are custom made, In July 2016 I released my first Product, The Voltaic Pack, a library of abstract textures. I made my first sell 1 month after.
[05-03-17] - Bounce
In March 2017 I decided to change my aspect ration of my projects to fit in the new update of Instagram. Today this ration has become the default size for almost every piece of work I see online. Might seem like a small change but it totally altered the way of my compositions, a real dilemma and pivot point for me.
[26-06-17] - Renaissance
During mid 2017 and after releasing around 10+ products I realized I had to change my branding, thus the TFMSTYLE website was born, hosting now all my projects and products for easy preview, download and purchase. This is the year where my project files started to bring the community along. That’s also the year I could finally afford to buy my first smart phone and a bed after sleeping on the floor for 1 year.
[14-10-17] - MDC
During those years I had the pleasure to get in touch with many artists around the world and had the pleasure to travel to different places to give speeches about my everyday projects and the mentality of sharing my files publicly. The Motion Designer Community group run by Maxime Hacquard & Sylvain Favre are the people behind those events planning and recommendations. I’ll always be thankful for bringing me along this journey, meeting the people I always admired.
[13-02-18] - Path
After almost 3 years into this everyday project, I went into a big mental breakdown and crossroad in my personal life. I stopped designing for over 6 months, I couldn’t find the aspiration to create visuals anymore. Had to do something else, so I got into music. Taking some time off designing and learning something new has been a crucial decision I’ll always be thankful for. Taking a step back is sometimes the way to go to take 2 steps forward.
[18-05-18] - Leisure
In 2018 TFMSTYLE organized the first 3D & Motion Design Conference in Athens. Had the pleasure to have Beeple as a Special Guest that day, and the best speakers we have in the industry in Greece. Was a blast to be able to bring all these people together.
[19-05-19] - Gem
After getting into music and learning how to record mix/mastering, in May 2019 I released my first music Album and put in place a 6 album project (Mémoires) that will hopefully finish in the next 3-4 years from now. Music has always been in my mind for years but this was the first time I believed I could actually make it happen. that’s what the daily work showed me.
[03-01-20] - Rise
My goal of reaching 1000 projects always seemed so far away, but little by little, step by step, project by project I came closer and closer to the end. The Last 100 projects were the most difficult to create, but I decided to take my time and some breaks in between the different series I was creating.
[26-01-20] - Search
During January 2020 and the first lockdown we had In Greece, I decided to finally move out of my brother’s apartment. I started living on my own in my 30’s, it’s crazy when I think about it. But, I could have never afforded it on my own doing any other regular jobs in Greece, with rent going up like crazy and everything closed down. 2020 has been a great year, and a real revelation to what I had created over the years.
[13-01-21] - Diverge
In 2021 I opened my own little Studio, even tho I’ve never been a freelancer in the 3D space, I needed another place to set up a more viable work environment other than my home. I also created a dedicated Podcast Set and started the official TFMSTYLE Podcast. I decided to do it all in Greek in order to create a community here as well, meet new artists from Greece and share their story.
[31-07-21] - Peace
After dedicating 5 years to this project, I couldn’t be happier with the result of each pieces. It’s been a hard ride for sure, So many little things happened in between, but now I can finally feel at peace knowing that I reached my goal of sharing 1000 projects.
The Epilogue
The amount of gratitude and support I’ve gotten from the community over the years has been heartwarming, I receive every now and then a thank you email from someone who learned something new by digging inside my projects, from new beginners creating their first render to teachers using my assets in their classes. From students getting into freelancing to artists selling their NFT’s using these assets. I’ve never really expected anything from what I was doing, for me it was just something I had to provide.
This simple task of creating something new everyday and sharing it for free, got me far more than I could ever anticipate, I found a way to live from doing only what I love, and that’s the dream of every artist.
That’s the vision I always wanted to create and share. To everyone struggling, to every artist still thinking if they should follow their dreams, please do, it’s all up to you. It’s a difficult path for everyone, I had to let go of so many things, stay inside every single day years before lockdown was a mandatory thing. Personal relationships became very sparse, time and days started blending into the same thing. I got lost many times, had issues resurfacing every now and then, but I made it through the struggle and proved something valuable to every ‘‘friend’’ I had, to every person not believing in my ambitions.
I created what I wanted to create, and it worked!
Create what you wish you had when you first started and give value for others to follow. It’s as simple as that, but it might take you 5 years to do so.
I’ve tried during those years to diversify my styles as much as I can, to provide assets using different techniques, color combinations, software and render engines. I’ve been all over the place with this project creatively. As an artist, it’s been hard to stay on top, and showcase the best I could do, but my goal as a 3D generalist has always been to provide something different, something that might be useful to someone else.
This is the end of this project. This was my entry and contribution to the 3D Community. I finally feel confident enough to take on bigger projects, and finally showcase my evolution in this space.
The best has yet to come.
The Credits
Collaborators
This piece wouldn’t be what it is without the help and contribution of these artists below, who took part in the collective weeks I’ve put in place over the years, to share their projects files, assets and knowledge with the community. It’s been a pleasure to have collaborated with so many artists.
Arben Vllasaliu, Leonardo Fonseca. Andrew Dageek, Rui Machado, Hugo Day, Jaime Flores, Cem Guney, Siskaenota, Yannick Boix (Renderhead), Andreas Tripos (ObserverDoel), Cipher Graphics, Philipp Bokatius (vonPB), Jesse Bafia (Bafia.Design), Namleday, Motionsquared, Lav Krstitelj, Perry Cooper, Blunt Action, Fabian Oberhammer (Dizzy Viper), Stuart Lippincott (Stuz0r), Philip Lueck, Aaron Westwood (Chromadojo), Gabriel Punsalang (GvokerArt), Cornelius Dammrich (Zomax), Fahmi Galih (What Man Made), Catelloo, Nick Scarcella (NSCR), Eugene Golovanchuk (Skeeva), Francisco León (RawPuzzle), Luca Genovese, Pedro Custódio, Josh Hodges (The Inky), Rusted Pixels, Jeff Holsted (thepixelrocket), Petr Lahodny, liam Pannier, Youssef Gamal (Rabbit Hole Renders), Sergi Rodriguez (Sergistamp), Gregory milovi, Martin Vokatý (Murryous), Ismail Amir (Amr Render), Darío Vilanova (Oxeegeno), Stu Ballinger, Jeroen Vos (DaJeroen), Abel Chan Arce (Polygonatic), Florian DKS, Alex Ness, Frédéric Duquette (FvckRender), Uche Eze (Impact), Augusto Solis, Damon Milstead (CCIDgfx), Jean-Marc Denis, Beau Wright (AspenExcel), Mitch Myers, Christos Lianopoulos (Tookeeeee), Roman Bratschi, Yvan Feusi, Maxime Hacquard, Evain Titouan (Walk’N)
Special Thanks
There’re so many people I would like to thank for helping me out over the years, either directly by directing me on different projects and giving me their thoughts and impressions, or indirectly by sharing knowledge in tutorials and other mediums. They are the ones who kept me on going forward.
Nick Campbell & Chad Ashley from GreyscaleGorilla (Tutorials & Inspiration), Beeple (Project Files & Inspiration), Greg Zaal from PolyHaven (open source HDRI’s), Raphael Rau from SilverWing VFX (Tutorials), Andrew Kramer from Videocopilot (Tutorials & Inspiration), Dave Koss & Matt Milstead from Mograph (Podcast), David Brodeur (Tutorials), Andrey Lebrov (Tutorials), Maxime Hacquard & Sylvain Favre from Motion Designers Community (Tutorials & Support), Moritz & Manuel from Entagma (Tutorials), Andrew Price from Blender Guru (Inspiration), Chris Do from The Future (Inspiration), Fabio Palvelli (Tutorials & Support), Travis Davids (Tutorials), Carey Smith from Division05 (Tutorials & Inspiration), EJ from Eyedesyn (Tutorials), David Ariew (Tutorials & Inspiration), Deaudmau5 (Support & Inspiration), Jules Urbach from Otoy (Support), Billelis (Support & Inspiration), Angelo Ferretti (Support & Inspiration), Ash Thorp (Inspiration), Adam Martinakis (Support & Inspiration), Marios Zdragas (Support)
and many more…
To every person who believed in me, to every Patreon who supported me over the years and trusted my projects, To every artist who found a good use for my products and recommended them.
Thank you!
Keep on Rendering
Constantin Paschou (The French Monkey)