Hello, ChrisP here!
Perhaps you know me from watching tutorials on my YouTube channel—I’m Chris Prenninger.
Who Am I?
I live and work in Austria and got my degree in computer science from the Johannes Kepler University in Linz. I’ve been a software developer for over 25 years and most often take on the role of senior software architect & engineer.
I’m not really in the 3D/CG/VFX business at all. I’m simply a fan who honed his Blender skills and picked up expertise by watching tutorials of fellow YouTubers as well as putting in countless hours of trial and error. My use of Blender started off as a hobby several years ago due to a fascination with CG and 3D. Occasionally I would render 3D logos in connection with other business ventures I was involved in (e.g., a restaurant franchise). More recently I have found myself creating product and packaging visualizations for a nutritional supplement enterprise.
As an entrepreneur I often encounter situations where visual representation is needed, so I get ample opportunity to tinker with Blender and fine-tune my skills. It gives me great satisfaction to create high quality, polished Blender images and animations like these examples:
Tutorials & Projects
My ongoing project is my YouTube channel and I take pride in the tutorials I create because I put a lot of time, effort and care into the content creation.
I began making tutorials—or, rather, "first look" videos—when Blender 2.8 Alpha and EEVEE were released to showcase some of the features and the progress. Mainly I cover topics that I personally find interesting, but, lately, since my audience is growing, requests have been pouring in that challenge me to figure out new ways to solve certain problems.
When it comes to finished 3D renderings, I am really proud of the product visualizations I have recently done for the nutrition company. Initially, there were supposed to be actual product photos, but I decided to do everything in 3D - and nobody noticed until I told them they were renderings! 😁
Check out more renderings on my homepage!
Areas of Interest
In my opinion, there are many tutorials for beginners available and, although they attract a large audience, I would rather focus on more advanced things like photorealistic material setups, functional approaches (e.g., "Animation Nodes" or the upcoming "everything nodes" currently being developed in the "functions branch"—can't wait!) and realistic visualizations of real-life products. Apart from "animation nodes", I aim to use nothing but 100% Blender in my tutorials—and even animation nodes is a free add-on (see my website for details, Win x64 build and troubleshooting in Blender 2.8x).
The combination of AN and EEVEE is a new and special area of interest, particularly because of the speedy render times. Node-based "programming" the many aspects of object creation and manipulation also appeals to me as a software engineer (while at the same time allowing me to take a break from coding).
My Animation Nodes in Blender 2.8x Playlist:
My audience really seems to enjoy the series of tutorials I have on my channel and, of course, I will keep adding to the playlist!
My Workspace
I produce my tutorials from the same workplace as my self-employed "day job" as a software architect and engineer. I work on a full-spec Dell laptop with an external GTX-1080ti GPU on a 4k 10-bit monitor (see my gear here). My tutorials are almost entirely screen-recordings of Blender; I use Affinity tools for creating assets and do post-production in DaVinci Resolve.
Learning by Doing
My recommendation for those interested in learning any new skill has to be: Use the internet!
It always amazes me how much fantastic, professional content is out there! Specifically, YouTube is an awesome resource and a great place to get inspiration. But there are also great Blender related groups/channels on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter!
My hope is that I can contribute to that a little with my tutorials and I highly appreciate every single subscriber, comment and LIKE! You can find me here.
Check out the realistic material packs for EEVEE+Cycles on BlenderMarket. Note: "Gold Monkey" Patrons get free access to all existing and future material packs!
About the Author
Chris Prenninger, Software Developer
4 Comments
Thank you Chris! I've absolutely enjoyed your tutorials on Animation Nodes. That is a particular interest of mine.
♥ Thank you Andy!
I am very new to Blender but I really appreciate your professional work and detailed descriptions you put in your tutorials. There is a huge difference compared to all other low quality "attempts of work" videos uploaded over there, with all my respects for those authors. But for those of us who have an engineer like education and our brain works in a similar "procedural" way your tutorials are a must.
Keep it up Chris!!
PD: Fun fact: I can't keep my mind out of your living place surroundings... I've been lucky enough to spend some days in Tyrol a couple of years ago, and it's a heaven's place, there are no words to describe it's beauty. Enjoy it for the rest of us!!
Thank you SO much! I also find many "do this for that result" tutorials interesting but not very educational in the sense that you need to learn the WHY first and the HOW is easy to figure out once you have spent some time with a tool. I really try to teach the "why", the theory and the (possible) thoughts of engineers behind that theory because after all it simply is the way MY brain works ;) Oh and yes the landscape here is very beautiful :) Cheers!