Overview

In this first lecture of object manipulation I discuss how to navigate in the 3d viewport. This will be your first step towards learning how to observe and build objects in 3d space. We will cover rotating around a central pivot point, moving left to right and up and down, and finally zooming in and out.

Lecture Timeline

• Rotating around the 3d viewport -- 00:28
• Tracking around the 3d viewport -- 00:45
• Zooming in and out of the 3d viewport -- 01:02
• Using the view menu -- 01:49
• Re-centering your view -- 04:00

Overview

Building out detailed objects and scenes starts with proper selection. You'll see there are many methods for making detailed selections using a combination of mouse and keyboard shortcuts in combination with tools found in the menus for filtering selections.

Lecture Timeline

• Select / Deselect All Command -- 00:30
• Border Select Command -- 01:35
• Circle Select Command -- 02:55
• Random Selections -- 04:18
• Select By Type -- 06:11
• Pattern Selection -- 06:46

Overview

Building more complex objects starts with primitive 3d objects placed in your scene. In this short lecture I discuss how to add and remove these objects.

Lecture Timeline

• The Delete Command -- 00:16
• Adding Objects to the Scene -- 01:12
• The Add Menu -- 02:48

Overview

After you have objects in your scene you can begin to start pushing and pulling them into the shapes you need for your models. In this lecture I'll discuss how to move your objects around, rotate them, and scale them while showing you how to constrain these operations to the x, y, or z axis in 3d.

Lecture Timeline

• The Global Manipulator -- 00:18
• The Move Command -- 02:57
• The Scale and Rotate Commands -- 05:12
• Accurate Object Manipulation -- 06:19
• Object Properties -- 08:39

Overview

The global search menu is one of those unique features that really makes Blender stand out from the crowd among the other 3d suites. It's a nice little feature that's quietly tucked out of the way, but is probably hands down the most useful feature to a beginner for learning how to connect the dots and get things moving. In this lecture I'll discuss how to access this menu and show you the power this little feature packs.

Lecture Timeline

• Accessing the Global Search Menu -- 00:55

Overview

Blender's customization is also one of the things that makes it hard for beginners to learn. There are hundreds of ways to customize the user interface inside Blender to really make the program your own. In this lecture I break down the user preferences menu in all its glory and show you how to harness the power of customization in Blender to speed up your workflow and turn Blender into a 3d suite customized for your desktop.

Lecture Timeline

• The Interface Tab -- 00:25
• The Edit Tab -- 00:40
• The Input Tab -- 02:19
• The Addons Tab -- 08:24
• The Themes Tab -- 13:37
• The File Tab -- 14:40
• The System Tab -- 16:41

Overview

Edit mode and object mode describe the level of detail at which your working in the 3d viewport. In this lecture I show you the differences and teach you how to switch between each mode. Customizing 3d primitives involves manipulating the objects globally in object mode and then tweaking fine details in edit mode. This lecture will bridge the gap between basic object manipulation and detailed modeling inside Blender.

Lecture Timeline

• Explanation of Edit Mode and Object Mode Uses -- 00:37
• Switching Between Edit and Object Mode -- 01:09

Overview

One of the key foundational skills in 3d modeling is the ability to add and manipulate geometry within your objects. In this lecture I break down the key techniques necessary to tweak the geometry of your models in order to mold them into the specific shapes your after.

Lecture Timeline

• The Select Linked Command -- 01:24
• Proportional Editing -- 03:30
• The Extrude Command -- 06:34
• Deleting Geometry -- 09:20
• Building Geometry -- 11:12
• Making Faces / Edges -- 11:54
• Merging Geometry -- 13:23
• The Knife Tool -- 15:34

Overview

In this lecture I'll show you how to group models together as a single object and how to break parts of your models up into other objects. Learning how to combine and separate objects within your scenes is essential for building organizing and even animating objects in 3d space.

Lecture Timeline

• Separating Geometry -- 01:27
• Combining Geometry -- 03:27

Overview

Modifiers are an exciting feature that allow you to add custom properties to objects in the scene. Although we approach modifiers with modeling in mind in this section they can be used throughout Blender for a variety of applications. In this lecture I discuss two of the modifiers I utilize frequently when modeling and show you how to utilize them to build out more advanced objects.

Lecture Timeline

• The Subdivision Surface Modifier -- 02:00
• The Mirror Modifier -- 06:59

Overview

Modeling objects is all about the gradual process of refinement. Blender's menu system is full of useful commands and utilities, but having to wade through the menus searching for these commands can be a waste of time and hinder your ability to model objects quickly. By learning some essential keyboard shortcuts you can exponentially increase your modeling skills. In this lecture I break down the shortcuts I use to model the most complex details in my objects. Learning to use shortcuts in Blender is the key to utilizing the software to its full potential.

Lecture Timeline

• Hiding and Unhiding Objects -- 01:50
• The Shading Menu -- 05:06
• Layers -- 05:44
• Duplicating Objects -- 08:12
• Duplicating with Links -- 08:29
• The Repeat Command -- 09:54
• Adding Edge Loops -- 12:29
• Select Edge Loop -- 16:08
• The Edge Slide Command -- 16:21

Overview

In the first demo of this course I show you the entire modeling process from the ground up in action. By building a high resolution model of a fire hydrant I review all of the techniques we learned in this section and show you how to apply them in a real world modeling scenario. This lecture is sped up in order to save time and I will provide in depth commentary regarding key techniques as they are used in the modeling process.

Overview

In this first lecture in the lighting section I discuss the hemisphere lamp and its applications for environment lighting in your scenes. The hemi lamp is the simplest type of lamp and allows you to quickly add a measure of overall ambient lighting in the scene. Combined with other lamp types it can become a powerful tool for making fine tweaks to the shading in your scene.

Lecture Timeline

• Setting Up the Hemi Lamp -- 03:10
• Tweaking the Settings -- 03:42

Overview

In this lecture I discuss how to add sunlight to your scene. The sun lamp mimics the outdoor lighting cast by direct sunlight. Combined with the shadow and atmosphere settings this lamp is the key to adding realistic outdoor lighting to your subjects.

Lecture Timeline

• Adding the Sun Lamp -- 00:39
• Tweaking the Settings -- 01:34
• Sky & Atmosphere Settings -- 02:34
• Shadow Settings -- 05:55
• Sun Lamp Example -- 10:24

Overview

In this lecture I show you how to use the point lamp in your scenes. This light casts light that illuminates in all directions from a single point in space. A common household light bulb casts the same type of light as the point lamp and for interior lighting it will be a very powerful tool in your lighting arsenal.

Lecture Timeline

• Adding a Point Lamp -- 00:10
• Tweaking the Settings -- 01:10
• Setting the Falloff Distance -- 02:56
• Shadow Settings -- 03:54
• Point Lamp Example -- 04:57
• Point Lamp Example #2 -- 05:14

Overview

The spot lamp continues to be used as a staple source of lighting in theatrical and film productions throughout the industry. The spot lamp in Blender mimics this type of shadow falloff that is iconic and typical of the spot lamp in the real world. In this lecture I show you how to control the aspects of the spot lamp to suite your scene's needs.

Lecture Timeline

• Adding a Spot Lamp -- 00:06
• Tweaking the Settings -- 01:00
• Shadow Settings -- 01:31
• Spot Lamp Example -- 05:02
• Spot Lamp Example #2 -- 08:15

Overview

The area lamp is extremely useful in creating a lighting scenario in your scenes that is even and flattering. It's used to cleanly light showcase products and human models. In this lecture I discuss how the area lamp differs from the other lamp types within Blender and how you can harness the lamp to easily add a quick and beautiful lighting setup to your scene.

Lecture Timeline

• Adding an Area Lamp -- 00:08
• Tweaking the Settings -- 01:29
• Distance and Gamma Settings -- 01:41
• Shadow Settings -- 03:11
• Area Lamp Example -- 04:34

Overview

In this second demo for this course I walk you through a basic lighting setup for our fire hydrant as we place it in a street scene. We will utilize a variety of lights throughout the scene building a moonlit lighting scenario with added ambient lighting from the street and the surrounding building.

Overview

In this first lecture of the texturing section I'll go over the materials panel inside Blender and how you can use it to start adding realism to your scene. Materials control how objects interact with light within the scene and allow you to begin to describe what makes up your models. By looking at the different aspects that describe a material I show you how to start building materials of your own.

Lecture Timeline

• Naming Materials -- 00:41
• Material Preview Options -- 01:03
• Diffuse Settings -- 02:52
• Specular Settings -- 03:21
• Shading Settings -- 04:55
• Transparency Settings -- 07:11
• Mirror Settings -- 10:47
• Shadow Settings -- 13:55

Overview

In this lecture I break down the key features in building textures in Blender. Textures will allow you to control fine scale details within your materials and can also be used to mask the effects of other textures within a material. The combination of material and texture settings give you all the control necessary to describe virtually any kind of object surface real or imagined.

Lecture Timeline

• Texture Type Filters -- 01:37
• Naming Textures -- 02:41
• Texture Types -- 02:53
• Texture Preview Options -- 03:37
• Colors Options -- 04:21
• Texture Type Options -- 06:21
• Texture Mapping Options -- 08:40
• Texture Influence Options -- 10:15
• Bump Mapping Options -- 14:24

Overview

Procedural texturing is a process used to quickly apply a uniform texture across the surface of an object. It's a great way to add basic textures to models and can be used to very effectively texture objects in the background of your scenes. In this lecture I go over how to generate a procedural texture in Blender and apply it to a basic model.

Lecture Timeline

• Building the Base Material -- 00:34
• Adding the Texture -- 00:45
• Fixing Mapping Issues -- 01:40
• Basic Bump Mapping -- 03:43
• Explanation of Displacement Mapping -- 04:24

Overview

UV mapping is the foundation to complex texturing in 3d. In this lecture I discuss the process of UV mapping and show you how to build a custom UV map on a primitive model. Then I show you how to test the integrity of the UV map and make modifications in order to prepare your model to accept custom textures.

Lecture Timeline

• Automatic UV Unwrapping -- 03:37
• Previewing with a Texture -- 04:33
• Manual UV Unwrapping -- 09:32
• Mark Seams Command -- 09:44
• Advanced UV Software Recommendation -- 13:54

Overview

In this lecture I show you how to take a previously UV mapped model and build a texture from the ground up to fit the UV map which was generated. By using the map as a guide I show you how to assemble a color map in Photoshop and then apply it to our model.

Lecture Timeline

• Exporting a UV Map -- 0013
• Painting Textures in Photoshop -- 01:25
• Importing a Custom UV Texture -- 04:06
• Basic Material Settings -- 04:51

Overview

In the first half of this demo I show you how to apply the process of UV mapping to a complex object by unwrapping our fire hydrant model. We will also begin to generate a red paint material for our fire hydrant. Then in the final part of the demo I'll show you how to use a feature called texture baking to prepare a base texture for our fire hydrant.

Overview

In the second half of the texturing demo I start by demonstrating how I paint a color map texture in Photoshop for our fire hydrant. Then I bring our textures back into Blender and apply them to the fire hydrant to complete our red paint material. By the end of this demo you will have a complete scene lit and textured using all the techniques we've discussed in previous lessons in the course.

Overview

In this first lecture of the rendering section I go over the key settings found within the render panel and show you how they can effect the outcome of your final shot.

Lecture Timeline

• Render Buttons -- 00:43
• Dimensions Settings -- 04:34
• Anti-Aliasing Settings -- 07:22
• Shading Settings -- 10:26
• Performance Settings -- 11:14
• Post Processing Settings -- 12:16
• The Freestyle Renderer - 13:14
• Stamp Settings -- 13:57
• Output Settings -- 15:20

Overview

The world settings panel has several features which change the way your scene's environment reacts to light and materials. In this lecture I break down the options for different methods of lighting calculation and environment settings for your renders and show you how to utilize them to suit your needs.

Lecture Timeline

• Sky Settings -- 00:25
• Ambient Occlusion Settings -- 05:44
• Environment Lighting Settings -- 07:34
• Indirect Lighting Settings -- 08:41
• Combining Environment Settings -- 10:13

Overview

The node editor is a powerful tool that can be used to build custom textures, materials, and composites of your scene. In this section I show you how to use the compositing section of the node editor to modify a completed render and add custom effects such as color correction and depth of field to a shot without having to re render your scene.

Lecture Timeline

• Setting Up the Node Editor for Compositing -- 01:00
• Basic Node Setup -- 01:59
• Basic Color Correction -- 04:12
• Setting Up a Z Pass -- 07:38
• Filtering the Z Pass -- 12:07
• Adding Depth of Field Using the Z Pass-- 13:48

Overview

In the first part of the final demo of this course we take our fire hydrant scene and tweak the final lighting setup before rendering. I also walk you through setting up custom render passes and explain the benefits they provide when stepping into the compositing stage.

Overview

In the second part of the rendering demo I show you how to utilize render passes for our final render to add advanced color correction to specific elements within the scene. I'll also show you how to add depth of field using a depth pass and then add overall color correction before saving our final image. In the last part of the demo I bring our render into Photoshop and show you how to add even more detail by painting in finer details in the scene.

Overview

I want to thank everyone for investing in this course and going on this journey with me. In this final lecture I leave you with five essential tips for becoming a better 3d artist.