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3D Topographical Earth in Blender
Rating: 4.6 out of 5(58 ratings)
258 students

3D Topographical Earth in Blender

Learn Advanced Techniques in Blender while Building a 3d Topographical Earth Model
Created bySean Bradley
Last updated 2/2025
English

What you'll learn

  • Displacement Modifier
  • Simple Deform Modifier
  • Subdivision Modifier
  • Import/Export of common OBJ Formats
  • Apply and Undo Modifiers
  • Import Textures and Modify Material Properties
  • UV Editor

Course content

1 section • 15 lectures • 1h 6m total length

  • Introduction2:03

    Welcome to my course on Blender 2.8

  • Create a Plane1:31

    We create a new Mesh-->Plane

  • Add a Subdivision Modifier2:03

    We add a subdivision modifier.

  • Add a Displacement Modifier3:09

    We add a displacement modifier and import the SRTM data as an image.

  • Add a Second Subdivision Modifier3:03

    We add a second subdivision modifier to increase the resolution of the height displacement.

  • Add a Simple Deform Modifier4:53

    We begin to spherise our plane by adding simple deform modifier along the x-axis

  • Add a Second Simple Deform Modifier2:51

    We continue to spherise our plane by adding a second simple deform modifier along the z-axis.

  • Import the Blue Marble Texture2:57

    We import the high resolution Blue Marble texture and see that it is instantly correctly aligned to the height map.

  • Experiment with Renderer Colours and Apply/Undo Modifiers3:54

    We experiment with the material colours in the Material Preview viewport.

    We also apply the modifiers, demonstrate editing some of the vertices manually, and then undo the application of modifiers.

  • Export/Import OBJ Format and Continue Experimenting3:42

    We export, and then reimport the model, ensuring 'apply modifiers' is selected and experiment further with the colours in the Rendered viewport.

    The finished model is now yours to share, or use in your 3d games or presentations.

  • Using the UV Editor to add a Moon Texture7:22

    We learn about the UV Editor by adding a moon texture.

  • Add a Moon Heightmap4:08

    Now we add a moon heightmap that matches the moon texture.

  • Adding GEBCO Bathymetry Information6:58

    We can also show the sea floor heights by using images created from GEBCO data.

    I demonstrate the difference between using images with 8bit values versus 16bit bit values for displacement textures.

  • Using Higher Resolution Textures and Heightmaps7:40

    Requiring higher resolution models requires higher resolution textures and heightmaps, with a compromise of them covering smaller areas. In this video I show a way to achieve a higher resolution model using higher resolution resources while adjusting the boundaries of the model.

  • Using 1 Pixel per Minute Textures and Zooming with the UV Editor9:54

    We import 1 minute per pixel textures and heightmaps, and I show you how to zoom into the heightmaps even further by using the UV Editor to zoom into the texture and heightmaps concurrently.

Requirements

  • Installed Blender Version 2.8 or above
  • All required assets are supplied as resources along side the video.

Description

Welcome to my course teaching you how to create a topographical 3D model of the earth in Blender.

In this course, you will learn how to build a very complicated 3d model using advanced modelling techniques, but presented to you in a way, which is accessible for beginners.

At the end of the course, you would have learned how to convert a minimal 4 vertices 3d object, all the way up to an object with millions of vertices, faces and textures, gradually applying modifiers along the way, until you produce a high quality 3d topological model of the earth using data provided by Nasa.

At the end of the course, these techniques will become easy for you to understand and implement for yourself,

You will also have your own 3d model, which you can use as an asset in a game or any further presentations, and you will also have the skills to reproduce and re generate your model in order to cover any other further use cases where needing a 3d topological model of the earth would apply.

So, this course would be suitable for you, if you are a complete beginner at blender, and you want to jump right in and produce a high quality 3d model, and you want to learn sophisticated modelling techniques, but presented to you in a way which is accessible from a beginners point of view.

Thanks for taking part if my course and I'll see you there.

Sean

Who this course is for:

  • Blender Artists
  • 3D Modellers
  • Geologists or Astronomers who like 3d Modelling
  • 3D Game Asset Creators
  • Actually anybody who wants to learn Blender, and more specifically Blender 2.8

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