HomeAuthor InterviewsInterview with Siemen Lens

Interview with Siemen Lens

Siemen Lens is the author of Procedural 3D Modeling Using Geometry Nodes in Blender; we got the chance to sit down and find out more about his experience of writing with Packt.

Q: What are your specialist tech areas?

Siemen: I am mostly experienced in working with any nodes in Blender. On top of that, I’m also quite great with product design, which I definitely want to pursue.

Q: How did you become an author for Packt? Tell us about your journey. What was your motivation for writing this book?

Siemen: I became a Packt author when a Packt representative contacted me asking if I wanted to write a book for them. Making the book together with the Packt team was a very smooth ride with back-and-forth feedback. My motivation for writing the book is that I wanted to learn people how to use Geometry Nodes since it’s such an amazing tool that everyone should know how to use.

Q: What kind of research did you do, and how long did you spend researching before beginning the book?

Siemen: I was already very experienced with Geometry Nodes before working on the book. Most of my research involved looking for fun exercises that involved all the factors that I teach in said chapter.

Q: Did you face any challenges during the writing process? How did you overcome them?

Siemen: While I was in the process of writing my book, I faced a minor setback during exam periods. However, I made sure to plan ahead by working diligently in advance to create a buffer of time where I could pause my writing without any negative impact. By doing so, I could fully focus on my exams and achieve the best results, while also ensuring that my writing schedule wasn’t disrupted.

Q: What’s your take on the technologies discussed in the book? Where do you see these technologies heading in the future?

Siemen: Geometry Nodes is a rapidly evolving subject within Blender that continues to offer endless possibilities with each new update. One notable addition to the toolset is Geometry Nodes simulations, which allow users to create custom simulations using the intuitive Geometry Nodes editor.

Q: Why should readers choose this book over others already on the market? How would you differentiate your book from its competition?

Siemen: This book covers the intermediate aspects of the Geometry Nodes editor while still being easy to follow. The book starts off slow and catches you at the level of expertise that you’re at while gradually building up the difficulty. On top of that, the book is filled with fun exercises that will reiterate what you have learned in the chapter.

Q: What are the key takeaways you want readers to come away with from the book?

Siemen: Firstly; Develop creative mathematical thinking of the modeling workflow. Second; Understand how Blender and geometry nodes store and manage the data that you are handling. And last; Learn different scatter methods and how to utilize them.

Q. What advice would you give to readers jumping into this technology? Do you have any top tips?

Siemen: I’d say it’s definitely important to keep your Geometry Nodes node tree organized to not cause any confusion. This will make it easier for you to look back at your node tree and change items as you want.

Q. Do you have a blog that readers can follow?

Siemen: Readers can definitely follow any updates I post on my LinkedIn, which can be found HERE.

Q: Can you share any blogs, websites, and forums to help readers gain a holistic view of the tech they are learning? What are the key takeaways you want readers to come away with from the book?

Siemen: The Blender Discord can definitely be a great place to get help with anything Blender-related, but also for Geometry Nodes.

Q. How would you describe your author’s journey with Packt? Would you recommend Packt to aspiring authors?

Siemen: My journey with Packt was very smooth, they were very helpful in guiding me with all aspects of writing, correcting, and publishing the book. I would definitely recommend Packt to aspiring authors.

Q. Do you belong to any tech community groups?

Siemen: No

Q. What are your favorite tech journals? How do you keep yourself up to date on tech?

Siemen: I mostly keep myself up-to-date following tech corporations like Xiaomi, Tesla, Blender, and others on LinkedIn.

Q. How did you organize, plan, and prioritize your work and write the book?

Siemen: I mainly worked during the weekdays, and prioritized my book on the weekend. In the span of an entire weekend, I’d write a chapter, design the images, and check it. Using this routine allowed us to publish the book way earlier than foreseen.

Q. What is that one writing tip that you found most crucial and would like to share with aspiring authors?

Siemen: I definitely found my routine the most important part to be motivated to push out a chapter every week. It allows me to not worry about my work during the weekdays and it allows me to follow an easy flow during the week-end

Q. Would you like to share your social handles? If so, please share.

Siemen: LinkedIn

You can find Siemen’s book on Amazon by following this link: Please click here

Procedural 3D Modeling Using Geometry Nodes in Blender is available on Amazon.com