James Arndt
@jamesarndt.bsky.social
Senior Technical Artist (former Unity & NASA)
https://www.jamesarndt3d.com/
https://www.jamesarndt3d.com/
This is a 3D configurator built in a day using AI. This wasn't about replacing tech artists. It was about augmenting my strengths. My expertise drives the decisions & AI accelerates the execution. The tech stack uses ThreeJS, HTML, CSS & a GLB asset.
Link to video -> www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxVY...
Link to video -> www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxVY...
3D Configurator Development (ThreeJS Prototype)
YouTube video by James Arndt
www.youtube.com
November 24, 2025 at 6:02 PM
This is a 3D configurator built in a day using AI. This wasn't about replacing tech artists. It was about augmenting my strengths. My expertise drives the decisions & AI accelerates the execution. The tech stack uses ThreeJS, HTML, CSS & a GLB asset.
Link to video -> www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxVY...
Link to video -> www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxVY...
A walk around this little sandbox interior. It's not much visually, but I'm laying the foundations for building out the game's mechanics and features. I'm happy for now to have solid locomotion, a working camera and interactable objects. #NowPlaying
October 17, 2025 at 10:14 PM
A walk around this little sandbox interior. It's not much visually, but I'm laying the foundations for building out the game's mechanics and features. I'm happy for now to have solid locomotion, a working camera and interactable objects. #NowPlaying
𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗕𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗯𝗮𝗹𝗹 I feel good about this sand & chalk line materialization and I'm going to move on to other parts of the stadium. I've added chalk lines and a layered detail map to the custom shader. This allows me to now add "wear and tear" to the grass and the sand.
youtu.be/wEdWZG5-OjY
youtu.be/wEdWZG5-OjY
September 28, 2025 at 5:44 PM
𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗕𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗯𝗮𝗹𝗹 I feel good about this sand & chalk line materialization and I'm going to move on to other parts of the stadium. I've added chalk lines and a layered detail map to the custom shader. This allows me to now add "wear and tear" to the grass and the sand.
youtu.be/wEdWZG5-OjY
youtu.be/wEdWZG5-OjY
𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗕𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗯𝗮𝗹𝗹 I created a mesh decal to provide a transition between where grass and dirt meet. Doing this with a decal can be tricky in regard to normalizing shading between the grass, dirt & decal surfaces. Have no fear. Weighted vertex normals to the rescue. youtu.be/00Q2rCRwm9U
Baseball Project Weighted Normals
YouTube video by James Arndt
youtu.be
September 27, 2025 at 4:15 PM
𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗕𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗯𝗮𝗹𝗹 I created a mesh decal to provide a transition between where grass and dirt meet. Doing this with a decal can be tricky in regard to normalizing shading between the grass, dirt & decal surfaces. Have no fear. Weighted vertex normals to the rescue. youtu.be/00Q2rCRwm9U
I installed Unity's Visual Effects Graph to see if I could instantiate a bunch of particle-based grass and how that may look. Not abysmal, but not great either. It's definitely a bit overgrown.
September 26, 2025 at 12:43 AM
I installed Unity's Visual Effects Graph to see if I could instantiate a bunch of particle-based grass and how that may look. Not abysmal, but not great either. It's definitely a bit overgrown.
After I wrapped work with the team this afternoon, I moved on to pretending to be a horse for my youngest. After that I managed to sneak in about an hour on the baseball stadium project. I created high-resolution geometry for the infield grass and dirt, and authored PBR materials for both.
September 25, 2025 at 1:14 AM
After I wrapped work with the team this afternoon, I moved on to pretending to be a horse for my youngest. After that I managed to sneak in about an hour on the baseball stadium project. I created high-resolution geometry for the infield grass and dirt, and authored PBR materials for both.
Created a fresh Unity URP project tonight, picked out an MLB stadium (Busch Stadium in St. Louis, MO). I've imported a GLB from the web and I'm going to materialize/texture this when I have downtime. I'm using the Unity glTFast, HBAO and Umbra Soft Shadows packages.
September 24, 2025 at 1:52 AM
Created a fresh Unity URP project tonight, picked out an MLB stadium (Busch Stadium in St. Louis, MO). I've imported a GLB from the web and I'm going to materialize/texture this when I have downtime. I'm using the Unity glTFast, HBAO and Umbra Soft Shadows packages.
I’ve added some late 1980s cars to the parking lot. It’s been a slow project. For more than a year I chipped away at building them. Fun little detail: none of the cars use texture maps; they’re all colored with vertex colors. The game takes place in a video rental store tucked in a shopping plaza.
September 20, 2025 at 8:33 PM
I’ve added some late 1980s cars to the parking lot. It’s been a slow project. For more than a year I chipped away at building them. Fun little detail: none of the cars use texture maps; they’re all colored with vertex colors. The game takes place in a video rental store tucked in a shopping plaza.
Realized I hadn't fired this one up in a long while. Gameplay actually holds up.
September 13, 2025 at 6:55 PM
Realized I hadn't fired this one up in a long while. Gameplay actually holds up.
Got to meet this guy at the local fall festival this weekend.
September 9, 2025 at 12:17 AM
Got to meet this guy at the local fall festival this weekend.
I'm still blocking out areas with large shapes, but I've started vertex coloring geometry faces to get a better idea of how things feel within context (no textures). Its always amazing how a little color can make things start to feel more cohesive.
September 7, 2025 at 4:13 PM
I'm still blocking out areas with large shapes, but I've started vertex coloring geometry faces to get a better idea of how things feel within context (no textures). Its always amazing how a little color can make things start to feel more cohesive.
It's that time of year.
September 1, 2025 at 8:31 PM
It's that time of year.
These fonts hold a special place in my heart. Open source license and high quality.
www.keshikan.net/fonts-e.html
www.keshikan.net/fonts-e.html
August 6, 2025 at 2:06 PM
These fonts hold a special place in my heart. Open source license and high quality.
www.keshikan.net/fonts-e.html
www.keshikan.net/fonts-e.html
When I was a child in school I remember these serving as storage. We'd write bits of Basic code, make simple programs and then save it to one of these 5.25" diskettes. They weren't this tiny. These are Mini Brands toys you can buy in most retail stores.
July 31, 2025 at 11:38 PM
When I was a child in school I remember these serving as storage. We'd write bits of Basic code, make simple programs and then save it to one of these 5.25" diskettes. They weren't this tiny. These are Mini Brands toys you can buy in most retail stores.
Neil Blevins reminding artists of one very important facet to getting your renders to look good. This applies to both offline and real-time renders.
www.neilblevins.com/art_lessons/...
www.neilblevins.com/art_lessons/...
July 29, 2025 at 2:16 PM
Neil Blevins reminding artists of one very important facet to getting your renders to look good. This applies to both offline and real-time renders.
www.neilblevins.com/art_lessons/...
www.neilblevins.com/art_lessons/...
Had a bit of fun last night materializing an old vehicle model. I remembered a PS2-era game called Auto Modellista an was wondering what an updated version of that could look like. I don't want to be tempted.
youtu.be/JkmzDeiMiVk
youtu.be/JkmzDeiMiVk
Unity Toon Shader Test - Auto Modellista style
YouTube video by James Arndt
youtu.be
July 26, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Had a bit of fun last night materializing an old vehicle model. I remembered a PS2-era game called Auto Modellista an was wondering what an updated version of that could look like. I don't want to be tempted.
youtu.be/JkmzDeiMiVk
youtu.be/JkmzDeiMiVk
Caught this in the 'Shader Graph improvements in Unity 6.3' notes in the Unity forum. Graph Templates - As with VFX Graph, you can now create new shader graphs from templates. There are other great improvements and additions, but having boilerplate graphs is a great thing.
July 25, 2025 at 12:38 AM
Caught this in the 'Shader Graph improvements in Unity 6.3' notes in the Unity forum. Graph Templates - As with VFX Graph, you can now create new shader graphs from templates. There are other great improvements and additions, but having boilerplate graphs is a great thing.
Meta Quest Runtime Optimizer
Meta Quest Runtime Optimizer is standalone package that surfaces performance bottlenecks in Quest VR frames. This tool doesn’t depend on any Meta SDKs and works within any Unity project!
assetstore.unity.com/packages/too...
Meta Quest Runtime Optimizer is standalone package that surfaces performance bottlenecks in Quest VR frames. This tool doesn’t depend on any Meta SDKs and works within any Unity project!
assetstore.unity.com/packages/too...
Meta Quest Runtime Optimizer | Integration | Unity Asset Store
Use the Meta Quest Runtime Optimizer from Meta on your next project. Find this integration tool & more on the Unity Asset Store.
assetstore.unity.com
July 17, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Meta Quest Runtime Optimizer
Meta Quest Runtime Optimizer is standalone package that surfaces performance bottlenecks in Quest VR frames. This tool doesn’t depend on any Meta SDKs and works within any Unity project!
assetstore.unity.com/packages/too...
Meta Quest Runtime Optimizer is standalone package that surfaces performance bottlenecks in Quest VR frames. This tool doesn’t depend on any Meta SDKs and works within any Unity project!
assetstore.unity.com/packages/too...
Unity listened to feedback & we’re seeing the impact in our daily workflows. This is how you build goodwill, trust, & move the platform forward. Context: Unity updated the beta version of Unity Hub with some excellent quality-of-life improvements, including the ability to hide unused columns.
July 16, 2025 at 12:43 PM
Unity listened to feedback & we’re seeing the impact in our daily workflows. This is how you build goodwill, trust, & move the platform forward. Context: Unity updated the beta version of Unity Hub with some excellent quality-of-life improvements, including the ability to hide unused columns.
Acquired a battle-damaged version of the McFarlane figure. Pretty good likeness for a 7" figure.
July 3, 2025 at 11:47 PM
Acquired a battle-damaged version of the McFarlane figure. Pretty good likeness for a 7" figure.
This cartridge sits on my work desk It's a reminder of where I've come from. I wasn't one of the developers of Atari's 2600 Asteroids game - that would've been really cool. It's an original cartridge from a time when I was first introduced to video games - some time around 1987.
July 2, 2025 at 5:29 PM
This cartridge sits on my work desk It's a reminder of where I've come from. I wasn't one of the developers of Atari's 2600 Asteroids game - that would've been really cool. It's an original cartridge from a time when I was first introduced to video games - some time around 1987.
This is rendering nicely under Unity's URP, but I’m still not sold on how the hotspots behave. I’ll keep refining the user interaction aspect. Modeling, texturing, and materials are all still a work in progress. I still need to model the circuit traces.
July 1, 2025 at 4:37 PM
This is rendering nicely under Unity's URP, but I’m still not sold on how the hotspots behave. I’ll keep refining the user interaction aspect. Modeling, texturing, and materials are all still a work in progress. I still need to model the circuit traces.
It's a moment shy of July, but the Fall and Halloween decor is already out (I'm in the US). I'm not exactly hating what retailer's are doing, but I do hope things ramp up by August and Halloween is out in full force.
June 29, 2025 at 11:14 PM
It's a moment shy of July, but the Fall and Halloween decor is already out (I'm in the US). I'm not exactly hating what retailer's are doing, but I do hope things ramp up by August and Halloween is out in full force.
Started work on a wide view of Earth, the Sun & eventually the moon. This isn't realistic, but it isn't a bad foundation for a day of fiddling around. In this scenario I've found I have to try to reign in HDRP more to get exactly what I want in regard to light and reflections. #NASA #Artemis #Unity
June 29, 2025 at 9:29 PM