Course Description
Hi and welcome to my newest Blender 2.9 stylized 3D art course. ‘Blender 2.9 Design & Render a Stylized Water Scene’ is a complete guide to creating a 3D diorama of a tropical water scene filled with a variety of assets, each uniquely designed and textured.
‘Blender 2.9 Design & Render a Stylized Water Scene’ will be one of the few 3D modelling courses that will show you how to create trees, plants, and foliage. As with all other course assets, this course’s flora will be perfectly suited for any tropical environment.
One of the most sought-after learning experiences of this course is learning how to create underwater god rays. Exciting course content includes 3D modelling a fishing boat, a fishing line and post, palm trees, foliage, coral, a treasure chest, tentacles, and a variety of scenic rocks – all perfectly suited for the tropics.
‘Blender 2.9 Design & Render a Stylized Water Scene’ brings with it everything I have learned about what makes a 3D modelling course amazing. Taking all the great tools and screen tooltips from 3D Tudor’s huge library of courses, this new course will give you the most comprehensive learning process out there.
You will have access to a full course handbook as part of this course, allowing you to identify which parts of the course you would like to jump ahead to if you are a non-linear 3D modeller. The ‘Blender 2.9 Design & Render a Stylized Water Scene’ course handbook features 24-course sections, each focusing on an asset or set of assets. As such, the course handbook will transform the learning experience for 3D modelers who love to organise their learning process and take the steering wheel into their own hands.
Following the success of my latest course, we will be modelling, texturing, and finalising every individual asset before moving onto the next. Students have said that this has helped them in staying excited throughout the creation process, being able to see how their scene comes closer to the course preview step-by-step.
This course is suited for beginners and intermediate Blender users, taking you through a professional workflow, and by the time you reach the course finish line after over 13 hours of content, you will have a stylized 3D water scene portfolio piece to be proud of.
A large part of ‘Blender 2.9 Design & Render a Stylized Water Scene’ late development stages will involve technical know-how about Blender Cycles rendering. In addition to learning a super-fast industry-standard workflow, you will learn how to continuously assess the quality of your scene, and how to tweak smaller sub-components you want to make better through render reviews.
Despite being a stylized art course, ‘Blender 2.9 Design & Render a Stylized Water Scene’, focuses on ensuring that what you create within your water scene is fully workable in real-life and a realism element is maintained. Within that, we will be modelling an intricate fishing spool that is fully functional and helps you reel in the fishing line that will be featured on the boat’s stern. You will also learn how to use human references to correctly scale your models to average human proportions with the help of a free reference included in the course resource pack.
‘Blender 2.9 Design & Render a Stylized Water Scene’ freebies will include numerous glass textures, an HDRI map, and 23 reference files for every one of the individual scene assets we will be creating.
Because of how versatile every ‘Blender 2.9 Design & Render a Stylized Water Scene’ 3D asset is, this course will show introduce you to interesting functionalities, including new and creative ways of using various Blender 2.9 modifiers and add-ons, including but not limited to:
– Marking Seams, Sharps, and fixing Normals;
– Smoothing and preparing Meshes for Texturing;
– Adding Materials using Blender 2.9’s Node System;
– Mesh deforming and using Booleans;
– Loop cuts;
– Joining Meshes and finishing Seams;
– Fixing Ngons;
– Creating Glass, Sand, Coral, and Rock Materials;
– Creating Collections of Objects and Meshes using a Hierarchy System;
– Creating a simple Armature to move our Tentacles;
– Creating Underwater God Rays using Lightpath Node Set up that Utilises Sunlight and a Water Shader;
– Achieving a Fully Realistic Water Refraction Effect;
– Creating a Fully Lit Sky fit for the Tropics;
– Rendering a Stylized Water Scene.
Modeling
‘Blender 2.9 Design & Render a Stylized Water Scene’ will give you access to one of the most versatile modelling experiences out there. You will be creating a vast number of 3D assets, helping you practice different skills and Blender 2.9 addons, modifiers, and tools.
This course will teach you how to 3D model stylised assets from the ground up, using Blender 2.9. Whether you are a 3D modelling beginner, intermediate, or advanced user, on-screen tooltips and animations will be popping up when you need them to explain what each Blender 2.9 modifier, addon, or functionality do. Learning outcomes from joining this course will also include adding new key commands to your 3D modeller toolkit with key casting allowing you to keep track of every key I press during the course.
Because of the ‘Blender 2.9 Design & Render a Stylized Water Scene’ course design, the course handbook will enable you to take a personalised approach to the modelling tasks you chose to focus on next, enabling you to skip ahead to model those assets you cannot wait to get your hands on. By the end of the course, the knowledge you will have learned can be used independent of the direction you take in 3D modeling – following the amateur or the professional path.
Texturing
‘Blender 2.9 Design & Render a Stylized Water Scene’ will teach you how to make complex stylized materials from scratch using Blender 2.9’s node system. We will be taking an in-depth look at all texture maps, like metallic and roughness, for example. As part of this course, you will also be creating procedural sand and rope materials.
Through enrolling in this course, you will also learn how to lay and apply multiple materials to meshes.
Animation
Through modelling every sea voyager’s nightmare – a set of tentacles reaching for you – you will learn basic animation skills. You will learn how to create a basic armature and how to use it to position your red tentacles within our scene to create a sense of fear in our storytelling.
Rendering
‘Blender 2.9 Design & Render a Stylized Water Scene’ will show you how to use Blender 2.9 cycles rendering as part of your quality assurance process. Through rendering our stylised water scene regularly, we will be tweaking its presentation to reach the course finish line in such a way that our scene fully resembles what we aimed for.
Rendering will allow us to present our model professionally and make it stand out in any portfolio. Lighting is one of the key components that tend to be the most overlooked. ‘Blender 2.9 Design & Render a Stylized Water Scene’ will take you a step further, giving you more than a basic introduction to lighting and helping you achieve one of the most desirable lighting conditions – underwater god rays.
The god rays we will have created in the underwater section of our stylized scene will add the wow-factor to the overall design, with every individual asset individually contributing to the scene’s professional 3D modelling quality.
You will come away with renders which you will be proud to show off on your social media. By the time we have finished rendering in Blender 2.9, you will have the knowledge and confidence to create stylised assets that look like they fell out straight out of a game.
Download Pack
Download packs always excite me when I get my hands on a new course. ‘Blender 2.9 Design & Render a Stylized Water Scene’ will include a free download pack with 23 stylized references for all the individual underwater scene assets we will be creating. You will also get access to five glass texture maps free for you to use. The best course navigation tool for ‘Blender 2.9 Design & Render a Stylized Water Scene’ will also be included.
The course handbook will give the control back to you and you will be able to fully streamline your learning process to your needs and wants seamlessly.
So, with all that said, I hope I have whetted your appetite to start your journey into stylised 3D game asset creation. Check out the free introduction and I am sure you won’t be able to put this course down.
Who wouldn’t like mentally transporting themselves into the tropics?
By enrolling in ‘Blender 2.9 Design & Render a Stylized Water Scene’, you will get the full tropical environment experience in which you will be immersed further after every lesson.
‘Blender 2.9 Design & Render a Stylized Water Scene’ is one of the first story-telling Blender 2.9 courses out there, with every asset giving you a piece of the puzzle for a fully tropical sea experience.
I was fully inspired to make this scene something special and I am sure you will too.
Happy modelling everyone!
Neil, 3D Tudor
Section 2 - Creating the boat hull
Section 3 - Creating the boat cabin
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3Lesson 2 Creating the Basic Hull Shape
This lesson will involve creating a plane in the shape of a boat, using our boat reference which is downloadable in the course pack. We will be learning about scaling and using edge loops within Blender 2.9 as part of this lesson.
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4Lesson 3 Creating the Sides of the Hull
In this lesson, we will be turning our 2D plane into a 3D object to get the general proportions for our stylized fishing boat. We will be focusing on creating a stylised look, with key features taught through this lesson including Blender 2.9’s extrusion functionality.
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5Lesson 4 Finalising the Hull Shape
In lesson 4, we will be finishing the overall shape of our boat, adding final details, and making sure it is an accurate representation of everything a realistic boat should include. Key features will include preparing the 3D mesh ready for Blender 2.9 modifiers.
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6Lesson 5 Outlining the Wooden Planks
This lesson will involve learning how to mark seams and sharps to create islands which we will then turn into planks of wood. We will also be learning how to separate different parts of meshes to make smaller sub-parts.
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7Lesson 6 Finalising Planks Using Modifiers
In this lesson, we will be turning our 2D planks into 3D objects, complete with gaps for realism. As part of this process, we will be using the first Blender 2.9 modifier in this course: the bevel modifier. Learning outcomes will also include learning more information about sharp edges.
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8Lesson 7 Creating the Bow & Mirror Modifier
In lesson 7, we will be creating the two halves of our boat using the Blender 2.9 mirror modifier technique. We will also be creating the rear and bow of our stylised fishing boat using the techniques learned in previous lessons.
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9Lesson 8 Creating the Plank Cover using Solidify
This lesson will focus on creating the top sides of our stylized fishing boat using the solidify modifier. Part of this lesson will also involve learning about clipping and its uses.
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10Lesson 9 Creating the Rear of the Hull
In this lesson, we will be creating the rear of our stylised fishing boat, combining the previous skills learned, including mirror, solidify, and bevel modifiers within Blender 2.9.
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11Lesson 10 Importing OBJ's And Scaling our Hull
In lesson 10, we will be looking at how to scale 3D models to a real-world scale and how to import .objs and FBXs. Our modeling process will continue as part of this lesson, seeing us start work on the decking of our boat, creating a stable environment to build upon.
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12Lesson 11 Creating the Floor of the Hull
This lesson will be finishing the decking of our stylized fishing boat, and we will be taking a deep dive into how the cycles and eevee rendering systems work within Blender 2.9.
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13Lesson 12 Creating our First Materials & Sunlight
In this lesson, we will be creating our first materials within Blender 2.9. This lesson will give you a good grounding into how to set up and apply materials with the principled shader. We will be looking at how to contrast different colours using colour theory as well.
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14Lesson 13 Understanding Collections & Fake Users
In lesson 13, we will be finishing adding all the materials to our stylised fishing boat with the main focus of this lesson being lighting our underwater scene. We will be focusing on sunlight to create an effective sky effect, and we will also take a brief look at how to hide objects using the scene collection in Blender 2.9.
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15Lesson 14 Creating the Hull Handrail Using Pipes
This lesson will focus on the Blender 2.9 pipe addon to quickly and easily create our handrail for the side of the stylised fishing boat we are building. You will also learn about proportional editing and bridge edge loops.
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16Lesson 15 Finishing the Handrail & Joining Meshes
In this lesson, we will be finishing off our stylised fishing boat’s handrail. You will also be adding in metallic materials. Finally, we will be making a start on our fishing boat’s cabin base.
Section 4 - Anchor point and boat wheel
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17Lesson 16 Creating the Cabin Posts & Roof
In lesson 16, we will be creating the main part of our cabin complete with planks and wooden struts. Throughout the Blender 2.9 modeling process, we will be making sure to keep with the stylized theme of our water scene.
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18Lesson 17 Creating Stylized Planks for the Cabin
This lesson will involve turning our stylized fishing boat cabin into a complete 3D object using many Blender 2.9 modifiers. We will also be preparing the cabin for the materials we will be adding in the next lessons.
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19Lesson 18 Modeling Handles & Hinges
In this lesson, we will be creating hinges and handles to complete our stylized fishing boat cabin door. The main part of this lesson will focus on creating the base for our cabin to sit on.
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20Lesson 19 Creating Cabin Materials & Scaling
In lesson 19, we will be creating all the materials for our cabin within Blender 2.9, drawing from all the skills we have learned from creating our stylised fishing boat.
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21Lesson 20 Node Wrangler Addon & Shader Tab
This lesson will focus on using the Blender 2.9 node wrangler addon to quickly and easily set up our glass shader. We will also be taking an in-depth look at all texture maps, like metallic and roughness, for example.
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22Lesson 21 Setting up the Glass Material
In this lesson, we will be continuing on with our glass shader within Blender 2.9. You will also be adding in a fairly simplistic node system to create transparency and refraction while giving you a lot of control over your shader.
Section 5 - Fish storage box
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23Lesson 22 Creating the Life Ring & Anchor
In lesson 22, we will be creating our life ring using a Taurus primitive within Blender 2.9. We will be discussing how to reduce polygon counts and, finally, we will be making a start on our anchor chain entrance apparatus.
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24Lesson 23 Creating the Anchor Chain
This lesson will have us creating the anchor chain for our stylised fishing boat. We will also be looking at aspects of our water scene such as how duplication and global gizmo movement can give us a cutting edge as 3D modellers.
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25Lesson 24 Starting the Wheel Creation
In this lesson, we will be creating the boat wheel, looking at how a cylinder’s structural composition, such as its sides, is important for 3D design. We will also be looking at the sub-division modifier within Blender 2.9.
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26Lesson 25 Finishing the Ship Wheel
In lesson 25, we will be completing our stylised fishing boat ship wheel and securing it within the safety of our wooden cabin. You will learn all about how to create the special shape of a ship wheel using Blender 2.9 extrusion and insert functionalities.
Section 6 - Creating the chimney
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27Lesson 26 Creating the Storage Doors
This lesson will involve the beginning of the creating process for our fish storage box. You will be using and refining skills similar to what you used to create our stylized fishing boat’s cabin in the previous section.
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28Lesson 27 Refining our Skills: Storage Box
In this lesson, we will finish modeling our stylised fishing boat’s storage box. By this point in this course, you will be getting to grasp the main principles around creating stylized 3D objects within Blender 2.9.
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29Lesson 28 Finishing the Storage Box: Adding Materials
In lesson 28, we will complete the storage box design process. This will involve adding materials, handles and hinges, and always aiming to keep the stylised style of the boat throughout the modeling process.
Section 7 - Creating the netting
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30Lesson 29 Using Curves to Create the Chimney
This lesson will be our first introduction to using and learning about curves. We will be creating our cabin chimney and learning how to convert curves to mesh within Blender 2.9.
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31Lesson 30 Learning about Snapping & Perspective View
In this lesson, we will finish our cabin chimney, complete with ridges, rivets, and materials for added realism. We also make a start on our netting which we will place on top of our stylised fishing boat.
Section 8 - Creating the fishing post
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32Lesson 31 Marking Seams: An Introduction
In lesson 31, we will be modeling the rope and learning how to make a cloth storage bag for our stylized fishing boat’s netting.
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33Lesson 32 Creating our First Procedural Material
This lesson will see us creating our first procedural material – the rope. We will be looking at how to combine nodes within Blender 2.9 to give us a rope effect. You will also be creating various colour shades within the rope using the colour ramp node.
Section 9 - Creating the fishing line
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34Lesson 33 Windscreen Wiper & Fishing Pole Base
In this lesson, we will be creating our stylized fishing boat’s fishing post, making sure that the scaling and stylisation follow the rest of our water scene.
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35Lesson 34 Creating the Fishing Post Wheels & Handles
In lesson 34, we will be modeling the fishing post spool, ready for adding our fishing line to it. We are trying to create a fishing post which would be fully functional in real life, complete with handles and turning devices.
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36Lesson 35 Finishing the Fishing Post & Preparing for Materials
This lesson will see us finishing the fishing post and preparing it for having materials added to it within Blender 2.9. By this point in our ‘Blender 2.9 Design & Render a Stylized Water Scene’ course, you should be up-to-date with marking seams, marking sharps, and beveling as a 3D modeler.
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37Lesson 36 Creating the Fishing Line Spool & Adding Materials
In this lesson, we will be adding our fishing line to our fishing spool. We will also be completing all other preparations for our fishing post. Finally, we will make a start on adding our simple principled materials within Blender 2.9.
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38Lesson 37 Completing the Fishing Post
In lesson 37, we will be finishing the fishing post. This process will involve adding all the materials that are required for it to have the stylized style of the rest of our water scene.
Section 10 - Collections & layers
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39Lesson 38 Simple Deform Modifier & Creating The Fishing Pole
This lesson will see us creating the fishing line using a combination of point-of-origin and simple deform Blender 2.9 modifiers. This helps us to create the fishing line arc that we are looking for.
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40Lesson 39 Understanding how to use Curves
In this lesson, we add seams and sharps to our fishing line. This will enable us to apply materials to it. Finally, we will be creating the fishing line itself using the bezier curve primitive in Blender 2.9.
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41Lesson 40 Finishing the Fishing Pole & Line
In lesson 40, we complete our fishing line build. We will be adding our line to the spool and down to the ocean floor of our stylized water scene.
Section 11 - Creating the motor & propeller
Section 12 - Setting up the HDRI & camera
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43Lesson 42 Creating our Propeller & Motor
In this lesson, we create the full engine and propeller model. We will also start to pick up the pace of modeling within Blender 2.9, now that you are up to a mid-range level. You will also be introduced to the bisect tool.
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44Lesson 43 Applying Sharps, Seams & Materials to our Motor
In lesson 43, following the same workflow that we have learned thus far, we continue with our engine and propeller. We will be marking seams and sharps. Afterwards, near the end of this lesson, we will be applying our materials to this 3D asset.
Section 13 - Creating the sand material
Section 14 - Creating the ocean
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46Lesson 45 Creating the Base Alcove & Sand Material
In this lesson, we will make a start on our ‘Blender 2.9 Design & Render a Stylized Water Scene’ environment. We will be making our sandbanks. You will also learn how to create the procedural sand material as part of this lesson.
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47Lesson 46 Creating the Sea Floor
In lesson 46, we will build the seafloor for our stylised water scene diorama. We will be using the re-mesh and displacement modifier within Blender 2.9.
Section 15 - Creating the environment rocks
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48Lesson 47 Navigating the Render Option & Planes to Oceans
This lesson will involve creating the ocean mesh for our ‘Blender 2.9 Design & Render a Stylized Water Scene’. To achieve this, we will be using a mixture of sub-division and ocean modifiers in Blender 2.9. We will be looking to establish calm and rough seas.
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49Lesson 48 Creating the Ocean Material
In this lesson, we will be undertaking the overwhelming effort of creating the central aspect of our scene. You will be creating effects such as beautiful sun rays shining through the ocean. This lesson will also involve making caustics on the ocean floor using Blender 2.9’s complex ocean shader.
Section 16 - Creating the foliage
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50Lesson 49 Rock Generator Rock Creation
In lesson 49, we will be using the rock generator addon to make creating rocks and pebbles a breeze. We will then be creating a shader to add depth and realism to our stylized rocks.
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51Lesson 50 Environment Creation Start
This lesson will involve learning about a creative and fast workflow to place our rocks around our underwater oceanic environment, realistically and sensibly. Throughout this lesson, we will be focusing on how an ocean floor would look like in real life.
Section 17 - Creating the anchor
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52Lesson 51 Creating our Palm Leaves
In this lesson, we will cover creating palm leaves through an in-depth introduction to the topic. To achieve this, we will be using a simple but effective technique that utilises Blender 2.9’s knife tool.
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53Lesson 52 New Ways to Work with Curve & Bend Modifiers
In lesson 52, we will be creating our palm tree’s tree trunk in a stylized but realistic manner. We will be combining both curves and simple deform modifier to achieve this within Blender 2.9 exclusively.
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54Lesson 53 Creating Palm Trees Materials
This lesson focuses on creating our palm tree material shader using a mixture of everything we have learned to do with the Blender 2.9 node system so far.
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55Lesson 54 Placing Trees and Fixing Refraction
In this lesson, we will be setting up a camera and placing our palm trees within our ‘Blender 2.9 Design & Render a Stylized Water Scene’ tropical environment. We will be learning about positioning cameras in such a way to make a good shot and end up with a crisp render.
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56Lesson 55 Creating the Foliage
In lesson 55, you will be learning how to create plants and foliage. All the flora we will be working on as part of this ‘Blender 2.9 Design & Render a Stylized Water Scene’ course will include plants you would typically encounter in the tropics.
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57Lesson 56 Foliage Materials & Placement
This lesson is about putting materials on our plants and foliage. Asset placement is also integral to this lesson, whereby we will be ensuring that all plants and foliage are placed in a realistic place and well-proportioned around our ‘Blender 2.9 Design & Render a Stylized Water Scene’.
Section 18 - Creating wildlife
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58Lesson 57 Starting the Anchor Creation
In this lesson, we will be creating the anchor based on a reference supplied as a freebie within the resource pack of ‘Blender 2.9 Design & Render a Stylized Water Scene’. You will learn how to triangulate faces and you will decipher the meaning of n-gons.
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59Lesson 58 Finalizing the Anchor & Adding Materials
In lesson 58, we will be finishing our stylized fishing boat’s anchor, complete with seams, sharps, and materials in Blender 2.9.
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60Lesson 59 Creating the Anchor Chain
This lesson will include modeling the anchor chain and repositioning our boat to create the perfect render. We will also be looking at refraction in the water.
Section 19 - Creating Procedural coral
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61Lesson 60 Turning a Wildlife Reference into a 3D Model
In this lesson, we will be looking at how to create marine animals from references. We will be working on developing a clownfish design and how to speed up our workflow to achieve this.
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62Lesson 61 Finalizing our Fish Shape & Adding Materials
In lesson 61, we will finish creating the first half of our clownfish, complete with colours and materials. We will also be preparing our mesh, ready to change it into a 3D object within Blender 2.9.
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63Lesson 62 Fixing Refraction & Placing our Fish
This lesson will involve completing the clownfish 3D asset design. It will now resemble a living breathing fish. As part of this lesson, we will also learn how to create variations within our wildlife.
Section 20 - Modelling the hook & boot
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64Lesson 63 Creating the Procedural Coral Displacement
In this lesson, we will be creating the coral shader in Blender 2.9. This is perhaps one of the most exciting lessons as far as procedural materials go. We will be going over an in-depth overview of the displacement modifier.
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65Lesson 64 Procedural Coral Colour
In lesson 64, we will be working on the colour part of our coral shader. You will learn how to create different variations of the coral to bring together a fully stylized water scene with the help of this asset. Finally, we will be placing the coral in a realistic fashion around the underwater environment.
Section 21 - Creating the mask, spear and coconuts
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66Lesson 65 Finalizing the Coral and Fish & Starting the Boot
This lesson will involve creating the boot and hook which will be hanging from our fishing line. It is always unfortunate for fishermen to catch this sort of prize, and this element of our stylized water scene will add a comical aspect to our work. You will learn how to 3D model a boot and hook from a rudimentary 2D drawing within Blender 2.9.
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67Lesson 66 Boolean & Finishing Boot Modeling
In this lesson, we will be looking at the Blender 2.9 boolean modifier and its functions. You will also learn how to fix meshes using the boolean modifier. As part of the modelling process, we will be creating holes in our boot for its laces to go in.
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68Lesson 67 Creating the Hook & Boot Materials
In lesson 67 we will be hooking our boot onto the fishing line hook. We will be creating the materials for the hook and boot. From this point in the course, we will be making numerous renders to keep up with how our ‘Blender 2.9 Design & Render a Stylized Water Scene’ is progressing, and to establish whether any assets need to be moved to make it better.
Section 22 - Modelling the treasure chest
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69Lesson 68 Creating the Mask & Emission Mode
This lesson will see us creating a humanoid mask. The entire lesson will focus on the 3D modeling process, and at the end of the lesson, you will come away with the entire mask build. We will also be going over emission nodes and their uses within the Blender 2.9 software interface.
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70Lesson 69 Finishing the Mask & Spear
In this lesson, we will create the coconuts that will go at the side of our humanoid mask placed within the stylized water scene’s foliage. We will be adding materials to the mask and spear which we will also create as part of this lesson.
Section 23 - Creating the tentacles & armature
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71Lesson 70 Modeling the Treasure Chest
In lesson 70, we will be creating planks and the bottom of a treasure chest to go in the bottom of the sea in our ‘Blender 2.9 Design & Render a Stylized Water Scene’. We will be utilising skills and techniques we have learned throughout the course to create an additional unique asset that will add value to our stylized scene.
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72Lesson 71 Finishing the Treasure Chest Modeling
This lesson will involve finishing them modeling process of the treasure chest by building its top compartment and lid. We will also be preparing the mesh for having materials added to it in the next lesson.
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73Lesson 72 Creating the Treasure Chest & Gold Coin Materials
In this lesson, we will be adding all the materials to the treasure chest using pre-existing materials that we made earlier in the course using the Blender 2.9 node system. We will also start modelling the overflowing gold content of the chest which will be spilling over from inside the treasure chest.
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74Lesson 73 Gold Coin Materials
In lesson 73, we will be creating the gold material to go onto the overflowing contents of our treasure chest. We will be utilising the coral material that we made earlier in the course, and we will be adapting it to turn it into gold coins using Blender 2.9 functionalities exclusively.