Let me boil the essence of this clip down, for those of us with little patience. This is extremely easy to build. All you need is an artist's mind and a huge, inhumane amount of work! Let's face it! Dudes like this one, right here, are extremely rare because very few of us can display the passion and the stubbornness of putting in so much work to create what usually is done by animation studios. Don't tryto do what this guy does. You'll go insane. Just thank him and enjoy his work. Thank you, mate! Hats off to you!

This was fascinating and you've got some serious skill - thanks for sharing Jake!

I very much wondered. Perhaps the most amazing thing is that you're a one-man operation. I didn't expect that. Terrific work back from the non-video days.

"Jake here, the creator of anime graphs." i've heard this line so many times, i couldn't have guessed how you looked man. i love your voice man

HI, Jake, Nice to see the creator of these. Always appreciate not only the CG but the research, script and narration (also the selection of music) and vast amount of time you put into these.

Video game developer here! Seeing your materials, and the node setups you have for them, makes me indescribably happy. YOU, sir, are the type of artist that I *love* to work with. 🥰 Thanks for this! Super cool breakdown. Your work is really special, and I love watching it. Keep doing what you do!

This was SUCH an awesome video to watch. Thank you for making this!! It is ridiculously impressive how you go about doing all of this

I appreciate you showing this. Not only does it make me appreciate the work you do, but it gives me motivation to continue working on the things I do. I often get overwhelmed in doing 3D or other things because they feel too big. I need to keep realizing that while they are big projects, they just encompass small, simple steps.

Unlike a magician revealing his tricks, my awe of your efforts and abilities are not at all diminished after a glimpse behind the curtain. Just incredible work all around. Bravo!

PLEASE make more videos like these, this was amazing to watch!

Recently, I had the fortune and pleasure to actually see the 4014 Big Boy when it came out to Roseville, CA for it's Westward Bound Tour. Seeing it in person is simply mind-boggling, it is absolutely freaking HUGE. The engine without its tenders is 85 ft. long, that is 15 ft longer than a big rig with its trailer... think about that the next time you're driving next to one. I watched your Big Boy video a few weeks before seeing the real one, I have to tell you, that video helped me a lot, in understanding and comprehending what I was seeing sitting there right before my eyes. It made the experience that much more enjoyable, thank you!! If you ever have the chance to see the Big Boy... do it!! I'm equally blown away with what it took to produce the video... I have no words other than, thank you!!!

Jake! I am a 3D animator since 1991. However my work took a turn away from 3D motion in 2005 only being sporadic through now. What has happened in this field is incredible. The work is amazing. Your candid honesty about our industry and the “smoke and mirrors” to pull off the amazing fire, steam, coals and the nodes it takes to layer it all is so cool. The way you programmed the opacity groups and the scale groups is inspirational. Thank you for your dedication to the craft of 3D and education of how things work.

Your skills are amazing. You should be proud of your talent. Thank you for sharing this!

Thank you for such a great channel. Me and my 5 year old son love your content. I’ve worked on and repaired equipment my whole life and I always learn something new. My son has watched the diesel and steam train videos about 300 times now.

As an aviation enthusiast, I was introduced to Animagraffs by the P-51 Mustang episode showing up in my recommendations when I was watching videos about WW2 planes like the Spitfire. I was blown away by the graphics and just by getting such a deep and intuitive understanding of how all of the moving parts fit and worked together. I immediately binge-watched the rest of your animations and have eagerly awaited every new release since. This channel is one of my absolute favorites on KZfaq. Thank you so much for all the great videos, and keep up the outstanding work Jake!

You have an amazing control and talent over this Blender program. I've been using 2D Drawing programs for 3 decades, but I couldn't understand how to bring my drawings into the 3D realm. The UP Big Boy was always my #1 favorite steam locomotive. Your "How a Steam Locomotive Works" was my attraction in finding and subscribing to your channel. Many Thanx for all the time you've put into all these videos... There's nothing else like them on the InterWeb that I've ever seen... Tremendous work, Sir...

This is unbelievable. The amount of work you put into this as an indie and the level of knowledge you demonstrate in each field of 3D/animation is outstanding. It showcases not just your talent but how intricate and complicated this field is while you also introduce the concepts and building blocks of this profession in a way even a layman can understand!

One of the few channels I hit the bell for. It's almost incomprehensible how much time and effort must go into each video, even knowing broadly how you do it.

The engineering that went into the making of the Big Boy Engine was engeaneous. The way you were able to produce this video and present so perfectly was just as amazing!!! Thank you for your great work👍👍👍

I've been doing 3D professionally for about 25 years now. I am seriously impressed by this (and I get how incredibly difficult it is to do what you have pulled off). Kudos!

I just discovered you, saw the SR-71 video, and this. Rarely does one think, " This person I want to be my role model," but you convinced me in 90 minutes of watching. I admire your dedication, expertise, and clear vision.

Amazing work and patience. As a "flat" corporate designer I often forget how important cross-section referenceing is. You are next level.

WOW!!! I have only recently found Animagraffs with the SR-71 video. I was and continue to be absolutely blown away at the quality of your productions. And now with this, to have a glimpse at what it takes to make the graphical content makes it that much more impressive. I would like to say thank you so very much for what you do. This is the kind of content that provides real value to this platform.

Jake, You truly have a talent that is rarely seen or experienced. When I first watched a video you had made, How a Formula 1 Race Car Works, I was mezmerized by your commentary, detail and above all the fluidity of the animation. I have been following your work for sometime now and appreciate it as a teacher myself to be truly an education. Please keep your work and dedication going as it would be such a great loss to the world if you stopped. Finally hats off to you for working as an individual on these projects. Thankyou.

We appreciate your selfless efforts for making these videos

Incredible dedication to your craft. Amazing work Jake!

the Big Boy video will forever be ingrained in my mind as a work of ungodly effort, genius, and artisanal skill in the way of animation/blender/explanation. Animagraffs is the best out there in this regard!

This is so extremely cool! It's awesome to hear you geek out about shaders and stuff while still making it all approachable. What an impressive show of skill and artistry and hard work this is. Thank you for sharing :)

I had to do a lot of research on locomotives when I researched my book (called The Locomotive). These machines are nothing less than a work of art, and your work is greatly appreciated by countless people. This was one of my favourite videos on your channel!

Wow amazing, as a person who works with mechanisms in SOLIDWORKS i know how hard and time consuming that process is specially when you don't have the right dimensions like in a drawing to create a thing.👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

The quality and attention to detail in your work is on another level, but what struck me the most is how proud and passionate you are about your work, it was palpable from the way you talk and react about the little details in your work! Would love to see something about Fusion reactors next.

epic! thank you for the behind-the-curtains look. love all your videos!

Providing research sources is much appreciated. Learning python code and making videos is madness thanks for everything. I am considering you as a mentor!

I am speechless. The passion for these projects I can see and hear in your voice as you explain what is involved making these machines come to life. Thanks for sharing. When I saw the locomotive its design - I had new respect of the people that designed and built these machines. Personally I would place you there with them.......

Your work on this locomotive is absolutely insane. Not only you managed to show everything there is in enough detail to explain a complete basics of operation, but also you did it about something that is far gone I history. I’m absolutely amazed that I finally learned everything I ever wanted about locomotives

I will never take one of your videos for granted ever again.

I absolutely loved the episode on the big boy steam engine. A topic very close to my heart. So a very deep thankyou. I have a suggestion for another amazing piece of mechanical wizardry. The combine harvester. Some how it manages to cut the crop, feeds it into the machine itself, opens up the pods, takes the seeds and saves them and at the same time discards the rest of the plant and at certain intervals when the hoppers are nearly full are able to dump the produce into a tractor and trailer running along side. And doing all this virtually non stop at about 10 - 15 mph. A seriously clever piece of machinery!!

Glad you take "shortcuts" like buying the exterior. Proof you are in fact human. So much work!

I congratulate you not on your talent, but on your hard work and work ethic.

Wow, what an enthusiasm ! Never would have enough patience to create such an artwork !

I love to see the smile as you explain to all of us, your craft. You are a genius and you look really happy making this video.

This is stunning! Thanks you so much for this behind the scene view!!

So cool man! I really enjoy watching people do what they enjoy. Whether it's this, welding, gardening, sports, teaching, robotics etc...Really cool behind the scenes look at something i know nothing about. Good stuff man!

Absolutely insane amount of work and dedication just so we can nerd out. Fascinating and so wonderful

hey brother, you are loved. by the insanely obsessed members of the mechanical world. i once was a mechanical illustrator, by hand back then, truly understand the amount of dedication you have... im sure i speak for many, when i say, we look forward to every rendering you create...and thank you! keep it up... much love from Texas

Thank you for sharing your time , talent, and expertise.

One of the coolest videos I've seen in a while. It's incredible to see just one person doing such an amazing job of creating educational content. What's more incredible is seeing that the secret sauce behind the accuracy is just lots and lots and lots of hard work and dedicated research. Browsing old forums for 1930s magazines might be one of the coolest research processes I've ever seen.

Getting the valve gear right is hard. Probably the hardest part for both models and real engines. Getting the valve gear right WITH the reverser having full range of motion that's just amazing!

You have no idea how much I admire your work! I do explainer animations myself, but I think I’d go mad with this complexity.

Yup...IMMENSE amount of work. 99% of the time, there's WAY more work behind KZfaq than people think and this is a SHINING example of that. Keep up the fantastic work, man. And...MOAR BTS!! 😁

Im blown away on how amazing Blender really is

No wonder you need few months for only one video. What really big effort for impressive content quality. Please dont stop, i always wait your new video.

Why am I watching this with a huge grin on my face??? I know it’s said for sufficiently advanced technology but we can very well extend the quote to a insanely talented and hardworking artist to say ‘a sufficiently sophisticated artwork done by a master can be indistinguishable from magic’ :)

I just watched your Big Boy vid and was blown away. Then I found this vid. I'm speechless.

Let me tell ya. I love your site and the graphics are fantastic!! That's why I subscribed.

Love it - thanks for sharing your workflow. It's really cool to see how proud you are of your custom tools and clever hacks. I find that to be a very satisfying element of my not-entirely-dissimilar career in 3D too. I'm not an animator, though, and I feel excited when I can rig things that are super basic compared to what you're doing. Inspiring work, and great content.

I LOVE this so much!!!!!! Thank you for those of us that lov getting down to every nut and bolt. I cannot appreciate tour research, time, effort and amazing results enough.

The amount of work and skill that goes into your videos is truly incredible. Class act.

inspiring content. love that you went into how annoying purchased models can be. sometimes it feels like im losing time having to fix them but in your case it makes total sense.

OMG . The amount of work and talent here is off the scale. You are the GOAT. You are the Blenderdaddy for engineers ... I feel humbled and inspired. AnimaGOAT. 🚀🚀🚀

Halfway through the video and already amazed to discover you combine Blender + Python. Not many people in the world are able to do it; you are a special talent in helping us learn incredible machines and facts. Thanks for sharing man

Wonderful, thank God KZfaq algorithm suggest me that, so much inspiration filled inside that I can do whatever I wanted in blender, rather to rely on 5-6 different programs that create syncing problem. You have to push your limits and you have also done scripting by yourself for that. Your video will set a milestone for other educator as well that want to utilize blender to demonstrate their work. Visualization simplified....

oh my goodness! This is amazing! I too have stopped trying to mess with simulation, it is just too processor heavy and I've learned to fake things but make it look good. This is an exceptional behind the scenes, and very inspiring!

Seeing this feels like Christmas! I really appreciate the work you do, and knowing you also use Blender is super inspiring for other creators. Thanks!

There is a man who loves what he does!!! Awesome to see how proud he is of his accomplishments... and they are amazing!!!

This is really valuable stuff! Considering that Blender is free, you're possibly enabling other passionate people to create whole videos almost entirely in Blender (Like Project Zero does, I suspect). I love the sneaky tricks used for shaders (like using the flow of the UVs to pan a texture). You might really enjoy seeing how Bethesda did many of their particle effects. Lots of meshes with panning textures, and an extensive use of UV colors to control transparency or effects (something you can also do in Blender using the color node to grab vertex painted color info). Thanks for going into as much detail as you did, including the nodes. Other Blender nerds will be able to freeze-frame and learn exactly what you've done. 👍

I don't intend to watch the whole vid...until I DID, curiosity had me. Thanks for this in-depth explanation Mr. Animagraffs! 😉👍

Love it! This time learning about digital processes instead of physical mechanisms. Please don't stop, you're making the world better through your work

That texture map for the fire just blew my mind, might use this concept instead of simulation for some of my blender hobby projects

Jake, this was a fantastic video. So nice to put a voice to a face - finally! You are a genius amongst us and the Mozart of Blender. Thanks for making this and sharing your knowledge and enthusiasm. More than a million of enjoy your one-man shows!

The complex engineering in this machine is mind blowing for its time

Super nerdy, super awesome, hardest work that results in relatively short video, OMG YT you’re the best.

Absolutely astounding, every one of your creations I have seen so far. Thanks for doing this so well and so in depth with your research.

Your videos are amazing !!! I love the clarity, how you make complex machines seem simple by breaking them down in to parts, showing how the parts work, and then showing how the whole works. And such high quality.

I love the old Locomotive Cyclopedias! They are the gold standard for my own modeling projects. Only have a few (none from the 1930's yet 😢), but I have learned a lot from them.

I am not working in the modeling field (nor I am planning to), but even I can see how much work you had to put into recreating such a complex object. Enjoyed the video a lot, wish you the best and thank you for presenting such a beautiful piece of work in a simplistic way :)

Great breakdown!

Keep up the good work! I allways thought its a big team behind this, cause I thought its just way too complex for a single person to do it! Not just animation but also research and all that. This is so amazing! Well done! Wow!

This is amazing. Thank you for sharing!

absolutely love this, an explanation of how you went about while making the video helps visualize the process incredibly well and where to follow if youd wish to create similar projects like i do, instead of getting lost in more minute details or pretty but overall counterproductive parts of the program haha very nice explanations too, having some prior knowledge of blender before helps but i feel like i could tackle the topic of making materials for example more bravely now that i have a bit more of an idea of what to actually do LOL either way, lovely video, certainly didnt expect you to look like you do but im glad you have such a pleasant voice !

I can attest to the difficulty of rigging the waelschertz valve gear. I haven't gotten mine to work yet and I'm only doing that because I want a more hands-on way to learn how the linkages interact with eachother. I find it absolutely insane that you pulled that off so beautifully. Respect, man.

Amazing work, Jake, definitely something to be proud of! Documenting amazing machines and teaching people in depth about how they work is very noble!

I just discovered this guy channel (came from the video "how engine works") , and after watching this video I am totally convinced that Jake is the real Blender guru , just wow! such an inspiring channel , thank you sir 🤩

Waiting for Captain Disillusion to drop a thumbs up here. The ultimate stamp of approval. You should be proud. This is excellent.

Phenomenal research and artistry. Kudos and thanks to you.

The magician behind the curtain! I enjoy every video you post, thank you

Dude this work is straight up beautiful I am legitimately in awe.

Dude, you are AMAZING!! Please keep doing what you're doing! Your technique for the boiler fire was awesome :D Also, i was really glad you consulted/worked with Hyce on this to attain as much accuracy as possible. Perfect partner choice right there. Peace and love. You're awesome!

I just started learning Blender about a month ago. I'm really struggling with the learning curve, but seeing how you make your incredible models in Blender is inspiring.

Very, very interesting. Superb work. We love Animagraffs.

So interesting, such patience. You had such a problem with the valve gear - can you imagine the work Walsheart did to design this on paper without computers, just a slide rule. Not only that he had to calculate the modifications as a result of the mechanical movements of the parts to make the gear. Beautifuly done except for one thing. IT IS NOT A TRAIN. It is a LOCOMOTIVE. And it is beautifully done, telling the layman something they can not learn even watching the real LOCOMOTIVE in operation as it pulls a TRAIN. Thanks not only for this, but all the other astounding projects you have undertaken. But do remember, names do have meaning and correct names are vital to educating, which is what you are doing - Big Time. Even with your explanations, I don't think most viewers can comprehend the amount of work, imagination and creativity you put forth to accomplish this amazing illustration.

I agree and appreciate what this guy does. Blender takes a huge amount of study in and of itself to master because its complexity offers so much flexibility, which makes all the menus like learning mathematical engineering or something. Then once you master that to make a complex video of this nature require a ton of research on the model and to explain it in such a way this guy does is remarkeable. Very nice job, and big thanks for the inspiration you provide others.

the materials are SO SICK

I am as well "blenderer", but now, after I watched this video, I feel like a donut-maker - you know :D. So good, modeling, rigging, and that simplicity yet efficiency in materials... perfect! Hats off, man!

this is immensely impressive. absolutely loved seeing behind the scenes. keep up the great work

I could've used this rigging tutorial about 2 years ago. Figured it out but this would have been nice. Great Work.

Jake you are awesome! Your creations are artfully science and amazing! The 1st I seen was P51 mustang at 11pm I was hooked till 1am and shared many of ur videos to my friends. Excellent work that are classroom grade material

Great format. It takes my appreciation of your content to another level. The intense dedication shows. Thank you for continuing to put out some of the best content on KZfaq.

Wow!!! Mind blown how you completely sidestep physics simulations... brilliant

Hello! I'm a small amateur developer who does a bit of development for video games, and right now I'm having a blast! It's fascinating! But at the same time, I'm also learning from my own experience, especially the hours of research into all kinds of information about the model you want to reproduce, which can take a lot of time and energy. Then, when you get a 3D creation off the net, or one that's been sent to you, and once you've opened it, you realize that it's not going to work, because too many things need to be reworked, with too many polygons, and that just redoing it is going to take you weeks. And in the end, it's better to create as much as possible yourself, because our way of doing things isn't necessarily that of others. But that's where the comparison ends, because I can't match the level of this developer. Nor even the speed of execution! Laughs. His mastery of Blender is far ahead of mine. But at the same time, it's not a problem, because there's always someone better than us. But thank you also for all the advice given in this video, especially for those who then have to publish their creations on a simulation game platform, with imperative rules regarding the number of polygons, texture or particle quality, work on LODS levels, so that the element developed is as light as possible, for fluidity, while remaining credible in the eyes of users. The information given here can help! Thanks for sharing! Stéph. Bonjour! Je suis un petit développeur amateur qui développe un peu pour le jeu vidéo, et là, je prends une claque! C'est fascinant! Mais en même temps je retrouve aussi une partie de ma propre expérience, notamment sur les heures de recherches de tout types d'informations sur le modèle que l'on veut reproduire, et cela peut prendre beaucoup de temps et d'énergie. Puis lorsque l'on récupère une création 3D sur le net, ou que l'on vous a envoyé, et que une fois ouvert, on s'aperçoit que ça ne va pas matcher, car trop de choses sont à reprendre, avec trop de polygones et que rien que d'y refaire va vous prendre des semaines. Et que finalement, il vaut mieux créer soit même le plus possible, car notre façon de faire n'est pas forcément celle des autres. Mais la comparaison s'arrête là, car je n'est pas le niveau de ce développeur. Ni même la rapidité d'exécution! Rires. Sa maîtrise de Blender est loin devant la mienne. Mais en même temps ce n'est pas un problème, car il y a toujours meilleur que nous. Mais merci aussi pour tous les conseils donnés dans cette vidéo, surtout pour ceux qui doivent ensuite publier leurs créations sur une plateforme de jeu de simulations, avec des règles impératifs au niveaux du nombre de polygones, de qualité de texture ou des particules, de travail sur les niveaux de LODS, pour que l'élément développé soit le plus léger possible, pour la fluidité, tout en restant crédible aux yeux des utilisateurs. Les informations données ici peuvent aider! Merci du partage! Stéph.