Complete Blender Creator: Learn 3D Modelling for Beginners

• Michael is a IT tutor and 3D artist.
• Ben is one of Udemy's top instructors.

• You'll learn to make assets for games, 3D printing, home design and more.

• You will start by mastering Blender's interface, move onto basic block modelling. We'll then make a bowling set, a chess set, a lamp, a bunny and more.

• (Updated 04/11/2017)

(Unique Video Reference: 0_IS_CBC)

• We’re excited because we get to see you change
• Mikey’s your main instructor, Ben supporting
• Section notes are on Google Slides, link attached
• Section assets are downloadable
• Mikey’s got a challenge for you.
• You will find resources you need for this section against this lecture.
• Please ensure you download these now.
• Store them in a project folder on the computer.
• They will be referred to in various lectures.
• Updated (16/10/2017)

(Unique Video Reference: 1_IS_CBC)

Michael goes through what you are to expect in the upcoming section and how the course is structured.

Course Structure

• This first section is designed for complete beginners. 
• If you already have experience you might still find some of this beginning content useful.
• You can speed up and slow down videos

Learning Journey

• Aim to give you a breath of knowledge
• Every lesson will focus on one key area of Blender.
• Lessons will build on one another.
• Skipping lectures isn’t recommended.

More Than One Way

• Multiple paths to the same outcome.
• Not a right way.
• My way isn’t necessarily the quickest.
• If you have another route, share with everyone your experience!

• Where to download Blender from.
• Installing Blender.
• Check which version you have
• Version 2.77 or Later

Help Others to Help You

• We have a supportive community.
• Start the conversation.
• As you become more experienced help others too.
• Finally I am always around to help, but it may take some time.

Ask Good Questions

• Be specific about your Issue.
• Tell us what you have tried so far.
• Remember you can edit the discussion to add further things you have tried.
• Include a picture of the issue.
• [Question] Prefix to Discussion Title.

Have An Answer?

• If you have solved your issue, let us know.
• Tell us how you overcame the challenge.
• [Solved] Prefix to Discussion Title.

Example:

• If you have solved your issue, let us know.
• Tell us how you overcame the challenge.
• [Solved] Prefix to Discussion Title.

• Blender looks the same on same on all platforms.
• How to switch and change layouts.
• The main sections of the Blender interface.
• How to move and change Blender's layout.
• Updated: 10/10/2017

(Unique Video Reference: 4_IS_CBC)

• Re-enforce Layout behaviour.
• How to effortlessly switch between layouts.
• How to use Blender on two screens.
• Learn Shortcuts for editor types.

Check your understanding of the install process, and how to navigate the interface.

Keyboards

• F-Keys on a Mac - Fn Key required.
• Other laptops also require the Fn Key.
• On Linux Alt is a system Key, hold the windows key down at the same time…
• No NumberPad.

Mice

• Using Blender without a 3 button mouse: Using a trackpad or stylus
• …still highly recommend a 3 button mouse and full size keyboard wherever possible.
• Later on a stylus for artwork.

Blender's Visuals

• You can change the appearance of Blender.
• Personalise the interface.
• Make it easier for you to see.

(Unique Video Reference: 6_IS_CBC)

This Quiz is designed to test your knowledge and understanding of Section 1

• Basic how to render using Open GL rendering
• How to Save a render
• We can add basic shapes, transform them
• Limited knowledge usually inspires creativity
• Placeholders and rough Mockups
• You will see there are limitations to doing this.
• Updated (16/10/2017)

(Unique Video Reference: 10_IS_CBC)

Michael goes through a really easy way of moving around your model and viewing it from different angles

• We're excited to see how you will change.
• We'll be exploring the fundamentals of Blender.
• Vertices: points in space.
• Edges: lines between vertices.
• Faces: closed polygons of edges.
• By the end you'll be making simple placeholder assets.
• What's coming up in this section
• Updated 17/10/2017

(Unique Video Reference: 1_BM_CBC)

• This is the Lecture where you will find all of file you will need to complete the Section.
• Please Download your Asset Pack now.
• Your files will come in a Zip file ready for extraction to your computer.

Michael goes through some basic modelling concepts on a whiteboard.

• Learn about Object Mode and Edit Mode.
• Naming your meshes.
• Manipulate Vertices, Edges and Faces.
• Understand their relationship.

Here Michael shows you how to make a basic wedge shape.

• How to control your model with more precision.
• Blender's co-ordinate system.
• Co-ordinates are always listed as (X,Y,Z).

In This Video…

• We’ll take a closer look at pivot points.
• How to change them.
• Things to watch out for.

(Unique Video Reference: 7b_BM_CBC)

• Learn about Duplication.
• Create one mesh from multiple objects.

• What is Version Control?
• Why you would want to do this.
• How to change Blender's Save Versions.
• Your Other Options

• Explore Wireframe Mode.
• How to merge 2 vertices into one.
• Why you would want to do this.
• How to control the sensitivity of the merge.

• "Normal" means 90-degrees
• Normals are vectors at 90-degrees to the faces.
• Think of them like hairs.
• Hairs should grow outwards!

• Learn about Normals.
• Why they're are important.
• How to fix them if they have gone wrong.

This will test your knowledge up to this point.

• What exuding is.
• Planning your model.
• How it applies to Faces, Edges and Vertices.

• Learn how to use the Inset Tool.
• Using the Outset Option. 

(Unique Video Reference: 13_BM_CBC)

• What edge loops are.
• How to select an edge loop.
• Show the power of loop cut.
• How to control the slide function.

• Learn more ways to select your geometry.
• Border select.
• Circle select.
• Updated 25/10/2017

(Unique Video Reference: 15_BM_CBC)

• Learn another way to constrain movement.
• Using the Snapping Tool.
• How to snap objects into place.
• Control whether or not you merge vertices.

Here we combine the knowledge we have learnt so far to complete an extra challenge.

• Your first modifier: The Array Modifier
• They're non destructive… Until you apply them!
• How to separate your geometry.
• Updated (15/09/2017)

(Unique Video Reference: 18_BM_CBC)

• Build on your knowledge of Loop Cutting.
• How Face Loops are similar to Edge Loops.

• What subdivision is.
• The dangers of subdivision.

• A useful export checklist.
• Introducing left and right handed coordinates.
• Demonstrating an import into Unity.
• Where do you want to export to first?

• Editing an object and transforming an object can look the same.
• Transforms aren’t applied by default.
• Not applying transforms can impact animation, particles systems, physics, bevelling, modifiers….
• (Updated 31/12/2017)

(Unique Video Reference: 22_BM_CBC)

End of Section 2 Quiz

• We now have a lot of basic modelling tools to hand.
• It’s time to re-enforce our modelling knowledge.

• Well done getting this far.
• Please remember to share in the Discussions.
• Try making your own boat, house and tree.
• Start the next section now!

• Introduction to Section 3
• Michael and Ben introduce you to the section
• Overview of what is coming next in the section
• This is the Lecture where you will find all of the files you will need to complete the Section.
• Please Download your Asset Pack now.
• Your files will come in a Zip file ready for extraction to your computer.

(Unique Video Reference: 1_BP_CBC)

• Introducing lean production / rapid prototyping.
• NOT pre-production, production, post-production.
• Imagine these assets are for a bowling game.
• Knowing how fast / how many iterations to do.
• Knowing when to stop iterating!

• Eliminates waste created through overburden and unevenness in work loads.
• Maximises flow of value (anything that a customer would be willing to pay for).
• Maximises quality by discovering the 20% of gold.
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lean_manufacturing

• Teacher challenges class.
• One half on quality, other on quantity.
• At the end of the term, which wins?
• Both from the quantity side.
• Moral… quality follows quantity.

• Understanding your subject.
• Planning your model.
• Know the importance of research.

• Has it’s own units called Blender Units (BU)
• You can define a Blender unit as several units.
• Works well between 0.01 - 100 BU
• Rule of thumb: Use the Grid Floor as a stage.

• Order of magnitude suitable for the Level of Detail

• Updated 27/09/2017

Scale, Level of Detail and Models

• One model doesn't have to contain it all!
• Use multiple models if necessary.
• Imagine zooming in from space to a bacteria.
• You would make multiple models for each level of detail.

(Unique Video Reference: 07_BP_CBC)

• There are 2 ways of importing reference material.
• Background images and textured planes.
• We'll be using background images.

• What are are Bézier curves.
• Why we're using them for our pin.
• Drawing your first Bézier curve.

• Convert the curve to a mesh object.
• Learn that a curve is still editable.
• Using the spin tool we will make our pin.

• Introduce the material properties panel.
• How to create & name a material.
• About users of materials & “deleting” materials.
• How to assign a material to a face.

• How a .blend file may appear elsewhere.
• How to export as a .fbx file with materials.
• How using .blend is “leaner”.
• About smooth shading & normals.
• Why you may want multiple levels of detail.

• How to control the number of vertices.
• Creating a Convex Hull.
• Introducing the Decimate modifier.

• Learn that the sphere is the defining shape.
• The mesh topology can vary greatly.
• UV sphere, ico sphere and cube!
• Brief look at subdivision modifier.

• Use the Subdivision tool to add edge geometry.
• Use 'to sphere' to create a circular hole.

• Change the axis for extrusion for finer control.

(Unique Video Reference: 17_BP_CBC )

• Showing you how to import multiple Blender files into a scene.
• Learning the difference between append and linked.
• Understanding that a composited scene can exist with both types.

• When making an object of components.
• You have no control over the models position, scale etc.
• You still cannot edit the model, done at source.
• e.g. An anotomical model…

Using the assets we have just created we will combine them in Blender into one scene and compose the bowling balls so they are looking dynamic and awesome!

• Use basic Physics to have the bowling ball hit the pin
• Introduction to passive and active rigid body physics

(Unique Video Reference: 20_BP_CBC)

A final lecture concluding this section.

We hope you have enjoyed in and will see you in the next section.

• Mikey and Ben introduce this section.
• Mike walks you through what is coming up in this section.

(Unique Video Reference: 1_CS_CBC)

• This is the Lecture where you will find all of the files you will need to complete the Section.
• Please Download your Asset Pack now.
• Your files will come in a Zip file ready for extraction to your computer.

• Learn how to manage a larger project.
• Store your files for quick recall.
• This is just a suggested workflow.

• Check out the design specs of a chess board.
• Design our chess board using that info.
• Decide on a working scale.
• Play about in Blender to get it feeling right.

• Start creating our chess board.
• Take over the cube object.

• Use the grid mesh to create the grid.

• Start creating our chess board

• Replace a cube mesh object’s mesh data
• Demonstrate the grid mesh option too
• Updated 27/09/2017

(Unique Video Reference: 06_CS_CBC)

• How to centre your model in the view.
• Learn how to control an objects origin.

• Chose a style of chess set.
• Decide on construction method.
• Start creating our asset.

• Box model the chess piece base.
• Using the bevel tool to round off our sharp edges.

(Unique Video Reference: 09_CS_CBC)

• Learn when you would duplicate an asset model.
• Choose when appending would be better.

Duplicating Vs Appending

• Appending picks out key parts of a blend file.
• Other Scene data would have to be appended separately.
• Duplicating would be exactly the same as the original file with everything intact.

• Learning the power of bridging edge loops.
• Opps our pawn is lovely but has too many polygons!

• Open up the new LowPoly base piece.
• Make sure you are working on the new Blend file.
• Be mindful to keep the top sphere 8 segments.

• Decide how we can manage our materials.
• Creating materials in one blend file.
• Each project will have a different way of handling materials depending on it's size and scope.
• Updated (1/1/2018)

Materials In Our Project

• 32 Pieces: Black & White
• Board: Black & White & Wooden Surround
• 5 Materials in the project.
• We're going to assign materials in a Chess Scene Blend file.

(Unique Video Reference: 13_CS_CBC)

• Looking for commonality to use again
• Speeds up our workflow no having to repeat ourselves. (New Lecture 28/02/2018)

(Unique Video Reference: 14a_CS_CBC)

• Take another look at our reference pieces.
• Look for commonality to save us time with modelling.
• Use the 3D Cursor and Origin to accurately control our piece. (New Lecture 28/02/2018)

(Unique Video Reference: 14b_CS_CBC)

• Learn how to select geometry that isn’t visible.
• Two straight forward ways,
• Switch view port shading to wireframe.
• Toggle ‘Limit selection to visible’.
• Build the rest of the Bishop. (New Lecture 28/02/2018)

(Unique Video Reference: 15_CS_CBC)

• Experiment with a boolean modifier.
• Understand how to apply it to our model.
• Can been used constructively and destructively.
• It can work in edit mode.
• Real time and live! (New Lecture 28/02/2018)

(Unique Video Reference: 16_CS_CBC)

A quick Mid-Section quiz to assess your understanding of what you have just learnt.

• Introducing the concept of an empty.
• An empty is a null object, and has no geometry.
• They can be used as a handle to control objects.
• Used as a parent object for a group of objects.
• Many other uses.

• Append the bishop into our chess scene.
• Check everything is right proportion wise.
• Start filling up our board, creating the white pawns.
• Link duplicate our bishop and pawns.
• Managing our models in this scene.

• See how parents can group together objects, their children.
• Create a hierarchy which is easy to navigate.
• We'll be using this to logically group our pieces.
• Parent>Child>Grand Child>Great Grand Child!

• Great for working around more complex scenes.
• We're changing the user preferences.
• Demonstrate both zoom to mouse and rotate around selection.
• Other view options available.

• View>View Selected (NumberPad .)
• View Dolly: Ctrl + Shift + Middle-Mouse / Ctrl+ Shift + +/-.
• Walk/Fly Mode: Shift + F.

• Understand that lamps apply to Blender Render.
• Light is handled differently in Cycles.
• Adjusting lamps properties and seeing it's affect.
• We will switch to rendered mode in the viewport shading options to see this effect.

Further Reading on Blender Render Lighting: + http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:2.4/Manual/Lighting/Lights/Light_Attenuation (Updated 28/3/2018)

(Unique Video Reference: 20_CS_CBC)

• Discover it is useful when working on larger and more complex assemblies or scenes.
• Control whether you are hiding groups of objects as well as individuals.

• Need to understand these for getting rendering right.
• Looking at the two in isolation.
• Combining them to see the effect.
• Still using Blender Render.

Diffuse vs Specular Reflections

• Both are types of reflection.
• Diffuse is when Light scatters as it hits a surface.
• Specular is direct reflection of the light to the viewer.
• Materials are often a mix of the two.

• Show you how to add a texture to your material.
• Reinforce the defuse and specular settings.
• Model the board surround.
• Apply a texture to the board surround.
• (Updated 26/09/2017)

(Unique Video Reference: 23_CS_CBC)

• Introduce procedural textures.
• Apply some to the chequers on the board.

• Better overall to make models using quads.
• Explain what they are.
• Whatever you use- it is being converted back to triangles in the background.
• Watch out making things non planer…
• (Updated 1/1/2018)

(Unique Video Reference: 25_CS_CBC)

• Only happens with quads and NGons.
• Rendering & Exporting always converts geometry into triangles.- Lose control over the rendering.
• You cannot always see this in the 3D window.
• Makes a huge difference with flat models and flat shading.

Triangles and NGons

• If your model comes to a point you might need a triangle.
• When sub dividing part of you model you are likely to create an NGon elsewhere.
• You will break loops when doing this.

Solutions

• Good mesh topology from the beginning.
• Be lean and check your model through.
• Turn on mesh analysis (not 100%).
• Manually make face(s) Planar again. Normal, SZZ0.

• Learn about edge rings.
• How they help you manage your geometry.
• Definition: A series of edges which are not directly connected, but share faces.

• How to setup and use the Mirror modifier.
• Start creating our Knight.

• Focus on creating a free form model.
• Ensuring faces are not triangulated when being created to keep with our style.
• Introduce the edge split modifier.
• This is the basis of organic modelling.

• Start the Rook from the “LP Chess Piece Base” we made earlier.
• Remember to use the reference material for a rough scale and shape guide.

• Suggest using the queen as a starting point.
• To make the King the right size by out specs, a base of 4 > 4.5 is a scale of 1.125.
• Make the king your own, and have fun.

• Learn about camera placement.
• They're a directional object.
• Overview of the camera settings.
• You can have more than one camera, but only one active camera.

• Tidy our folders for future access.
• Export your model(s) as an FBX.
• Import .FBX into Unreal and Unity game engines.
• Opening Blender models in Unity 5.
• About exporting textures and materials.