I gave this whole thing a try for the 5th time now. EVERY few seconds, I am pausing the video for average a complete hour, because something does not work at all like in this video and I am busy writing questions and searching for solutions online. I have re-done the whole thing - hoping to make the beveling work, but then suddenly edge looping simply does not work either. I feel so frustratingly stupid - this is insane and this cannot be normal. I managed to do the donut tutorials, but here I run into major problems every few seconds, so I am only few minutes in and I simply cannot progress. I was really hoping to pay for those other structured courses and finally get a grip on this peace of software... but with this here I can only feel downright stupid, lose tons of time, while learning NOTHING.
All we can say is, welcome to the club, Lol. The club of frustrating Blender experiences. That's how we all start, you're not doing anything out of the ordinary. We see a LOT of that here, we went through it ourselves, so much frustration at first, nothing seems to work and it feels like you have to learn black magic and voodoo to get Blender to work right. But it passes with time and effort, Blender is not doing anything wrong, it's just a stationary software, it was us all the time, we were doing it all wrong, it's just that 3D is hard and there are so many so so many gotcha's at every corner.
I'll say it again, Press Start is not a beginner friendly course, it's a tech demo, it goes into deep principles of modeling just for the purpose of showcasing them. Here's how the order for beginners goes. First The Blender Basics:
https://cgcookie.mavenseed.com/courses/blender-basics-an-introduction-to-blender-4-x
Then the CORE series with the Fundamentals of Mesh Modeling, it's a walkthrough and deep dive of Blender functionalities :
https://cgcookie.mavenseed.com/p/core
Then you head into courses and tutorials that are meant to create a final visualization, these have a goal and you start simple and slow with these ones in this order:
https://cgcookie.com/courses/rev-model-a-low-poly-muscle-car
https://cgcookie.com/courses/build-and-animate-a-low-poly-rocket-in-blender-for-beginners
https://cgcookie.com/courses/cubicity-creating-and-utilizing-asset-libraries-with-blender
https://cgcookie.com/courses/creating-a-stylized-3d-forest-environment-with-blender-2-9
https://cgcookie.com/courses/modeling-texturing-and-shading-a-treasure-chest-in-blender-2-8
https://cgcookie.com/courses/sessions-minimalism
https://cgcookie.com/courses/sessions-macro
https://cgcookie.com/courses/catch-creating-a-pokeball-in-blender
https://cgcookie.com/courses/press-start-your-simple-first-blender-project
https://cgcookie.com/courses/create-realistic-industrial-environments-with-blender-and-eevee
https://cgcookie.com/courses/astray
https://cgcookie.com/courses/pothead-create-a-hard-surface-character-in-blender
https://cgcookie.com/courses/bake-texture-baking-with-blender
https://cgcookie.com/courses/relic-game-asset-creation-fundamentals-in-blender
I don't think you need to do all of those courses Omar list before doing press start. I would definitely recommend Blender basic and CORE mesh modeling. Then one of the projects under sessions or the treasure chest. Note: Sessions is different from other courses on here. Each chapter is a self contained project and is roughly 2 hours of video on each chapter/project. Then move on to press start. I would also probably put pothead last. on Omar's list.
Hey Mo! Blender is one of the harder to learn 3D softwares out there according to the internet. Apparently it has the steepest learning curve. I understand your frustrations! It’s a challenge to learn a new skill regardless what it is: I think the fact that you are here stating your having a hard time is proof that you have a real desire to learn: you should give it another try and if you are still having trouble, try some other courses and come back to it:
Getting a membership here would be very beneficial for you. (I’m not being paid or asked to tell you this btw) it’s been about a month for me now and I can say that I have learned so much in the past month. Much more than you would learn from searching random YouTube tutorials. (Not that they aren’t good, it’s just a bit scattered and less in depth).
Go through the core course and maybe some try a couple of modeling courses in between days. You WILL learn the software and you WILL make great artwork. Just give it time and also completely immerse yourself in 3D.
Not at the PC using blender? Look at 3D pictures. Not able to look at pictures? Pic a random chapter in the blender manual and just start reading it. This has worked well for me.
Also everyone here is super helpful and very supportive. We are all here to learn and grow together. The only bad question is the one that was never asked. I hope you don’t give up on Blender or your Art.
Good luck!
MoFlow You are in great company here! I've told the story many times of my early days learning 3D, filled with frustration. But I'll spare you of that. Just understand that ever blender/3d artist goes through what you're going through.
Ok so practical advice: It sounds like the blender version might be the crux of the frustration at this point. Most folks assume that using the for latest version of blender is always the wise choice. But it's often a terrible idea for learning.
Blender updates so fast that video education simply can't keep up with the pace. So learners do themselves a huge favor by sticking to the version taught in a given video / course. Blender makes every release available to download here. You just have to look in the bottom right corner of a tutorial to see the Blender version, download, and follow along without any version inconsistencies!
If you're asking yourself "use old blender versions....but won't I be behind the curve?" No, you absolutely will not. Blender updates in tiny ways all the time. But the foundations of Blender (and 3D abroad) has barely evolved in 20 years. The important thing at this point in your journey is to understand the foundations of each skillset. The good news is the foundations can be learned with any version of Blender! Once you understand the concepts, adapting to the small changes of each blender update is a minor inconvenience.
Think about how small your pool of relevant education becomes when you're exclusively using the latest version. Now think about how gargantuan the pool becomes when you're willing to use any and all versions!
You got this 💪
Thanks to all of you! Omar thank you for this comprehensive list too! I will try to setup a robust and structured timetable for myself and sort those courses in a way, that hopefully works for me in my available time. I want to give this another try then. I have two longterm goals, while one is more important than then other: Goal 1 is to produce product ads. Goal 2 is to create short films. From what I understood so far is that Blender is better for creating assets, while Unreal Engine 5 is better and smashing assets together, in order to render videos. I know there are assets for free and for purchase, but I don't want to limit myself with pre-made assets only (especially not for product ads).
First, I'm not a salesman. Yes, I realize that I'm about to sound like I'm trying to sale Blender, but I'm just providing information.
Second, I'm not trying to convince you not to use UE 5. Professionals use a wide range of software. All software has it's strengths and it's weaknesses. It's a mater of how many pieces of software you want to study/learn.
Now for some info that you may already know. Blender is almost a one stop shop for what you're looking to do. Blender can do modeling, sculpting, texturing, shading, rigging, animating, rendering, compositing, and video editing. Blender also has camera and object tracking if you want to combine live action with 3D. Blender also has a complete 2D animation system. Note: If someone was just wanting to do video editing I wouldn't recommend Blender, but if someone is already learning Blender and getting use to the Blender way(AKA Blender mentality) then I would recommend using it.
Additional information you didn't ask for. As for UE and Unity, their power is more in VFX and Virtual Productions. All of them can be used for building scenes/sets. UE handles asset management better in my opinion. Unity integrates better with blender since it can handle Blend file. With Blender and a sound editing software like Audacity or DaVinci Resolve you have 90% of what you need. Note: DaVinci Resolve is also a VFX, Video editing, and color grading software. Yes, DaVinci Resolve is more known for video editing and color grading, but it's sound design and sound editing tools are on par with a lot of DAWs(Digital Audio Workstations). Like Cubase, Adour, and Adobe Audition. Side Note: I've only worked with Audacity, DaVinci Resolve, and an old version of Cubase when it first started moving from a Midi software to a midi based DAW.
I knew most of what you wrote, but I sincerely like another point of view about all of what you told me now! So thanks for that :) It actually does help me to become a little more certain, when it comes to choosing between Blender und Unreal. Luckily, I pretty much already use almost all other software pieces, like Davinci or Audacity for example :) Looks like the Blender community really IS a nice place to be^^
