Introduction to Blender For Beginners
- Description
- Curriculum
- FAQ
- Reviews
Do you wish to create your own animated film one day? Or perhaps make your own game? But don’t how to go about it or where to even start? If so, you may be looking around for cheap (and hopefully free) 3D software.
Blender is one such tool. It is a free, open-source 3D software that can do everything from 3D modeling, animation, rendering and game development. The tool continues to grow with newer and more awesome features being added every so often. Their current feature set is packed and rivals the most expensive 3D software today. One would have to see the awesome projects and quality renderings created by people who have not spent a cent.
In this course, you will learn the basics of (nearly) everything in Blender. Without needing to invest a whole lot of time or money, you will learn how to get started with 3D modeling, lighting, animation, sculpting, rendering, and physics to name a few with exercises spread throughout so that you can get your first experience with the software and gain overall confidence along the way. You will be one step closer to mastering Blender.
What’s in this course?
The course is aimed to provide a gentle, yet thorough, introduction to Blender 3D so that you will go away with the confidence of working on your own dream projects. We won’t just be looking at what each control does and call it done. The course provides a number of exercises (or mini-projects) on all the main components of 3D of which you are strongly encouraged to follow along and get your first experience with Blender.
Specifically,
- You will learn how to navigate through Blender and get comfortable with the user interface.
- You will learn the bare basics of 3D modeling, lighting, animation, materials, texturing, rendering, sculpting, particles and physics.
- You will work on small easy-to-follow exercises to help solidify your learning and gain your first experiences making something with Blender.
- You can ask me for help anytime if you get stuck trying to do something.
By the end of this course, you will have completed your first few mini-projects with Blender. Since we cover nearly everything in Blender, this will raise your confidence
With over 60+ lectures, there is so much to learn. Don’t let this overwhelm you though. The course is designed to make the learning curve as smooth and as easy as possible so that you don’t have to pull out all your hair in frustration in an attempt to learn Blender on your own.
Who is this course for?
This will be perfect for the absolute beginner of Blender and the world of 3D in general. There are no nasty jargon anywhere in this course and everything will be explained in a simple easy-to-understand manner.
You are not expected to know anything about Blender. You can start this course with no prerequisites (as we’ll cover how to download and install Blender). If there was one prerequisite, it would be to have some passion for 3D (or whichever project you would need Blender for). That motivation will help push you to master Blender so that your dream movie or game can come to life.
What is the expected outcome after the course?
By the end of the course, you can expect to have a good understanding of the major components of Blender. You will gain experience and hopefully confidence in being able to pull off your own 3D projects without having to pull out your hair in frustration.
After that, the outcomes are endless. As you continue to work on your projects, you start to gain confidence in learning more advanced stuff. At this stage, making movies and/or game projects becomes a thing of reality. You could even meet one of the requirements for a Blender-related job!
Best of all, the course is designed to be flexible and will continue to expand as new features get added in or if you feel that I haven’t covered an aspect that you would like to learn.
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Course OutlineWelcome to the Introduction to Blender Course! In this video, you will find out what this course entails.
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Those Dreaded Shortcut Keys
In this video, we will look at shortcut keys in Blender and why it shouldn't deter you from leveraging Blender for your 3D projects.
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Downloading and Installing Blender
In this video, you will learn how to setup Blender on your machine. We will cover how to download and install Blender.
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Summary
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Windows
In this video, we will look at the concept of windows in Blender and how they can make working with your 3D projects easier.
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The Blender Interface
In this video, we will look at the Blender user interface. We will briefly outline the default Blender view and what each editor does.
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Screen Layouts
In this video, you will learn about Screen Layouts and how it can optimize your 3D workspace for the best convenience when working on your 3D projects.
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Scene Management
In this video, you will learn about scenes as well as how to create different scenes in the one Blender file. This is most useful if you are working on a film project.
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Summary
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Overview of the Properties Tabs
We will learn about the Properties panel in Blender in this section. In this video, we will get a brief overview of the tabs of the Properties panel.
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Render Settings
In this video, we will cover the Render settings of the Properties window.
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RenderLayer Settings
In this video, we will briefly cover the Render Layer settings of the Properties window.
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Scene Settings
In this video, we will look at the Scene settings tab of the Properties window.
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World Settings
In this video, we will cover the World settings of the Properties window and how it can be used to create our sky and atmosphere.
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Object Settings
In this video, we will take a look at the Object Data tab of the Properties window.
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Modifiers and Constraints
Modifiers and Constraints are 2 popular tools that are used primarily in 3D modeling. In this video, we will briefly cover the Modifier and Constraints settings of the Properties window.
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Materials and Textures
In this video, we will cover the settings that will help bring color and texture to our the 3D models; the Materials and Textures tab of the Properties window.
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Particles and Physics
In this video, we will cover the Particle System and the Physics tab of the Properties window.
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Summary
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The Blender "World"
In this video, you will be introduced to the Blender World. This is the place where you will spend most of your time 3D modeling, animating, lighting, rendering, etc.
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Selecting Objects
In this video, you will learn the different ways of selecting objects.
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Transforming Objects
In this video, you will learn how to move, rotate and scale 3D objects.
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Transforming the View
In this video, you will learn how to manipulate the 3D viewport. In particular, you will learn how to move, rotate, zoom in/out of your current view and also how to focus the 3D viewport on selected 3D objects.
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The Toolbars
In this video, you will learn about the Toolbars in Blender. These toolbars can be opened by pressing 'N' and/or 'T' in the 3D viewport. These tools can help make your 3D modeling life easier.
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Shortcut Keys
In this video, you will learn about Blender's shortcut keys and why you shouldn't dread them. We also look at what to do, if you can't remember an important Blender shortcut key.
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Summary
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Objects in Blender
In this video, we take a closer look at the different types of objects in Blender.
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The 3D Cursor
In this short video, you will learn about the 3D cursor in the 3D viewport.
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The Edit Mode
So far, we've been doing basic 3D modeling by moving, rotating and scaling our 3D objects. The Edit Mode allows us to do some advanced modeling and actually change the shape and form of our 3D model in exactly the way we want it. In this video, you will be introduced to the Edit Mode.
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Vertices, Edges and Faces
In this video, we will step away from Blender a bit, and look at some basic 3D modeling concepts. We will look at what vertices, edges and faces are. You will also learn how to manipulate vertices/edges/faces in Blender.
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Loop cuts, Subdivision and Extrusion
In this video, you will be introduced to the 3D modeling concepts of loop cuts, subdivision and extrusion. We then look at how to pull this off in Blender.
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Modifiers
In this video, we will look at modifiers and how they can be used to quickly model objects in a non-destructive manner.
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Exercise: Creating a Vase
Using the tools in the previous videos can make our modeling life easier. But you may come across a stumbling block when you want to model objects that have curves in them. In this video, we will learn about curve modeling. You will also get hands-on experience as we will create a glass vase.
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Summary
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The Cycles Rendering Engine
In this video, we will briefly look at the Cycles rendering engine and how it can be used to make your renders look awesome!
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Cycles Shaders
In this video, we will cover the main shader types of the Cycles rendering engine.
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The Powerful Shader System
The secret behind complex shaders like skin or rocky surfaces, are through mixing a number of Cycles shaders. The Node Editor allows us to mix and match shaders and textures. In this video, you will learn all about the Node Editor to create advanced textures and shaders.
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Texturing
In this video, we will look at the different types of texturing (procedural vs. image) and how to work with textures in Blender.
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UV Mapping
In this video, you will be introduced to UV mapping and how it can be used to map your image texture to your 3D object.
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Exercise: Leaf Texturing
In this follow-along video, we will be modeling and texturing a leaf that can be rendered in the Cycles rendering engine.
You will need a PNG transparent leaf image for this tutorial. You can download leaf images from this website: http://www.textures.com/search?q=leaf
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Summary
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Lighting Types in Blender
In this video, we will look closely at the different types of lights in Blender.
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Creating Awesome Lighting
In this video, you will learn how to create awesome lighting setups for your scenes. In particular, we learn about the famous 3-point lighting setup as well as outdoor lighting in Blender.
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Exercise: Lighting up a Simple Interior Room
In this follow-along tutorial, you will light up a room with windows and render it in Cycles.
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Summary
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The Sculpt Mode
In this video, you will be introduced to the Sculpt Mode in Blender.
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The Basics of Sculpting
In this video, you will learn about the basic sculpt settings that will assist you when sculpting objects in Blender.
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Dynamic Sculpting in Blender
In this video, you will learn about DynaTopo, and how it is FAR better and more powerful than the normal sculpting method of Blender. With DynaTopo, you, the artist, have power and freedom to create and shape the models that you have dreamed of!
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Summary
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The Concept of Timeline and Keyframes
In this video, you will learn about the timeline and the concept of keyframes in regards to animation.
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2 ways to animate in Blender
In this video, you will learn two different ways of animating in Blender.
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Animate everything in Blender
It is possible to animate (nearly) everything in Blender. In this video, you will learn how to do exactly that.
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Summary
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What are particles?
In this short video, you will be introduced to the concept of particles and the cool effects you can create with it.
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Using Blender's particle system
In this video, you will learn how to use Blender's particle system.
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Exercise: Creating hair
In this follow along video, you will be creating hair in Blender and animating it using Blender's particle system.
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Exercise: Making it rain
In this extra follow along video, we will be using the particle system in Blender to create rain and render it using the Cycles rendering engine.
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Summary
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Types of Physics in Blender
In this video, we briefly look at all the cool physics effects that we can play with while working on our projects. Best of all, we don't need to be a physics expert to work with physics in Blender.
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Exercise: Simulating a Pinball Machine
In this follow-along video, we will create a simulation of a Pinball Machine. We will make our Pinball bump through hurdles and obstacles and make its way to the ground. We will be using the Rigid Body tools in the Physics tab.
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Exercise: Simulating a Waving Flag
In this extra follow-along video, we will simulate the waving of a flag in the wind. We will use the Cloth Simulation and the Wind force field to achieve this.
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Summary
