Shawn Olson Creative Arts
Art, Poetry, Photography, Writing and 3D
Greetings Earthling. Welcome to my creative portal. My name is Shawn Olson. I'm a creative jack-of-all trades who has years of experience in 3ds Max, game development, web development, journalism, photography, graphics and parenting. You may know me as a technical artist for Black Mesa or as the developer of Wall Worm if you came here as a game developer. I now also work on USD workflows and capabilities in 3ds Max and Maya at Autodesk. All opinions here are my own.
If you need help with any of these things, then I'm your guy:
- Problem Solving
- 3D Environments
- 3D Assets
- 3ds Max pipelines
- Game Design
- Documentation
- Journalistic Coverage
- Application Education
- Web Application Development
If you must know more about me, feel free to read A Short Biography. But more importantly, enjoy the various photos, poems, editorials and scripts across the site.
I always enjoy feedback from visitors. Feel free to send me an email with any comments, ideas, praise, criticism or corrections. Of course you can always interact with me on the Wall Worm forums or other 3D forums where I haunt.
Latest Articles
Sprite Tools
Sprite Tools is a free MAXScript for working with Sprites in 3ds Max. It can create sprite cards from animated textures or convert sprite sheets into animated textures.
Compare Values with Arbitrary Comparison Operator
JavaScript for comparing values when the operator to use is variable.
JavaScript function and sample code to dynamically compare two values. Accepts numeric and/or alphanumeric values and does a comparison on them based on a comparison parameter.
Material Merger
A free MAXScript utility to combine mutliple materials and maps into single output materials and maps.
Ambush Bugs
Photos of ambush bugs.
Quick Parent Link MAXScript
Pick a hierarchy a little faster
MAXScript function to quickly pick parent/child chains (hierarchies) of objects in 3ds Max. Works a little more efficiently than the native Select and Link function in 3ds Max.
Desktops are not extinct
Editorial discussing the notion that the time of the desktop is over. I argue that the advent of smart phones, tablets and mobile devices do not preclude the value of the desktop.
Hiding in the Cracks
A poem about the illusion of discontinuity; questioning the static.
Amazing Challenge VI
Find your way through this challenging maze.