CLASS ANNOUNCEMENT #5 (Feb 1, 2018): The class is officially closed! Thanks to all who participated. Be sure to check page 43 for the closing "statement" and commendations.
CLASS ANNOUNCEMENT #4 (Jan 30, 2018): The timing worked out where this week's homework stretch is 10 days instead of the usual 7. So you've got extra time to complete the assignment! I'll look for submission through tomorrow, the 31st, and then I'll do a final post to close out the class.
BTW week 4's live event is archived if you missed it.
CLASS ANNOUNCEMENT #3 (Jan 15, 2018): Week 2 is done - We're halfway through the class! Today WEEK 3 begins where the focus is digital sculpting. This is a far more artistic method of shaping 3D models, so if you struggled in week 2, week 3 should be refreshing.
- Only 1 course to watch this week: Fundamentals of Digital Sculpting
- Live Event tomorrow at 2pm EST
- Please submit homework anytime between Jan 15 - Jan 21 with "BC1-1801 Week 3 Homework Submission" at the top of your post.
Keep up the awesome work, Class! So much creativity and hard work being contributed from everyone 🤘
CLASS ANNOUNCEMENT #2 (Jan 8, 2018): Week one is accomplished! Today WEEK 2 begins. We're moving forward from basic viewport interaction and into mesh modeling; into Edit Mode and the modifier stack.
- Reminder that you have 2 courses to watch this week: Mesh Modeling Fundamentals and Modeling with Modifiers.
- Live Event tomorrow at 2pm EST
- Please submit homework anytime between Jan 8 - Jan 14 with "BC1-1801 Week 2 Homework Submission" at the top of your post.
As always, don't hesitate to ask questions in this thread!
CLASS ANNOUNCEMENT #1 (Jan 2, 2018): The class has officially started! Today we held the first live event to kick things off. The recording will be published by tomorrow at the latest is now available in "Past Events".
That means it's now up to you to watch the Blender Basics Course and submit your homework to this thread. Please add a big, bold title to your homework submission reply so I can easily tell. Like this:
"BC1-1801 Week 1 Homework Submission"Also don't hesitate to ask questions along the way. I'll be checking this thread daily to answer questions, give advice, check homework.
This thread is for CG Cookie Citizens that are participating in the "Getting Started with 3D Modeling and Blender" class! Its purpose is to serve as central communication for all participating Citizens (excluding Hobby plan Citizens) to ask me and each other questions and to post homework. As the instructor of the class, I will be monitoring this thread on a daily basis (especially Mon-Thurs) throughout the month of January to review homework and answer questions.
This thread is intended only for Citizens who are participating in the class. Free members are welcome to observe the thread but please respect that communication is reserved for Citizens.
Welcome to the CGCookie Class: Getting Started with 3D Modeling & Blender! This is the first "Class" format where Citizen members are invited to focus together on a particular topic/skill together for a month. Participation is this:
It will take place from January 2nd through January 31st and the topic is for beginners that want to get into 3D modeling. The class is based on pre-recorded courses that students are expected to watch each week along with weekly Live Events.
Download the latest official version of Blender and watch the Blender Basics course. The goal this week is to simply get familiar with the application. We’ve all been there: Opening Blender (or any 3D package), gazing at all the crazy UI, trying to orbit in the viewport, crying...Ok, maybe you were stronger than me and didn’t cry. But the reality is 3D software is daunting. There’s SO MUCH to digest especially when you’re a beginner.
This first week we’re going to overview Blender and 3D from an absolutely beginner perspective. What is Blender for? What can it do? Wait, this isn’t a juicing seminar?
During the Live Event we're also going to open the floor, ask me anything (AMA) style, so I can answer all your questions about getting started with Blender.
HOMEWORK: Create a scene out of primitive shapes. It can be anything from a landscape to a spaceship to a character. Just get comfortable with creating and positioning mesh objects. Here's an example:
Take a screenshot of your scene and post it in a reply to this thread *during the week of Jan 1-6*.
Enter the world of mesh modeling! The oldest form of building objects in 3D, in the computer. We’ll discuss the technical art of “pushing and pulling verts” as modelers often call it. First, watch the Mesh Modeling Fundamentals and Modeling with Modifiers courses to be introduced to this wild, geometric world.
Practice makes perfect here and during this week's Live Event we’ll be mesh-modeling a few objects to demonstrate tools and workflow available with Blender. It’s ideal if you practice along with me!
HOMEWORK: Model either 1, 2, or 3 unique objects using mesh-modeling techniques. They can be as simple or as complex as you like, but they can't be primitives. I want to see that you've used mesh tools to significantly customize your shapes. For example, you could model a hammer, a cell phone, a keyboard, a game controller, a picture frame, a coffee cup - choose something fun!
Take a screenshot of your shaded model + wireframe-over shaded (as pictured above) and post it in a reply to this thread *during the week of Jan 7-14*.
Digital sculpting is the more artistically intuitive method of 3D modeling. If pushing and pulling verts felt like the hard way of doing things, sculpting will be a welcomed alternative! Watch the Fundamentals of Digital Sculpting course this week.
During the Live Event, we'll discuss the pros and cons of digital sculpting as well as how it compares to mesh modeling. Again, practice makes perfect with any craft, and we will also practice sculpting. Be sure to have your pen and tablet ready!
HOMEWORK: *Submit during the week of Jan 15-21*
There’s still much more to learn about modeling with Blender. Remember, it’s a craft. Time + practice is the only way to develop your modeling skills.
This week your challenge is to dive into the Modeling in Blender Learning Flow. While the class gives you a boost, the Flow takes you further into intermediate and advanced modeling techniques/workflows. Test the waters and see how far you can go this week.
During the Live Event we'll discuss the journey of becoming a skilled modeler as well as the potential for turning it into a career. Finally, I’m going to sift through homework submissions to commend my favorites and offer critiques!
HOMEWORK: Model and/or sculpt something challenging this week! Try tackling a character or a complex vehicle, etc. Show me what you've learned; what you're capable of!
Take a screenshot of your shaded model and post it in a reply to this thread *during the week of Jan 21-31*.
I have heard of theaters that have their own machines that carve large blocks of styrofoam with computer driven routers. What a neat job!
My copy of "Fantasy Characters..." by Bernadette Cuxart's book should be arriving today. Thanks for fun tip!
That's a really interesting video, 
gradyp , thanks for sharing it. I have used the Wireframe modifier like this before but I never realized it could create such elaborate patterns. I must remember to use it in one of my future projects :-)
Thanks for the replies and feedback. @ScottMcClellan, I didn't use a lattice modifier, I still have a ton of work to do with modifiers.
Thank you guys for your kind words, I really appreciate it!
@theluthier I'm really glad you feel that way. Personally, the dream of mastering 3d art feels more real after taking this class!
ullreym I'd be really happy! Willy Wonka is such an inspiration :)
I watched the sculpting course and did melvin over the weekend since i didn't know how much free time i would have this week, but then the snow storm gave me the day off, and consequently, plenty of free time to jump right in today. So here is the homework. The question I have after doing it is how to know when a sculpt is done (or done enough). Finding the balance between "it needs appeal" and "that can be fixed in retopo." It's probably something that just comes with practice, but if anyone has any rules of thumb, I'd be happy to hear them. Both Melvin and the frog are far from perfect, but I feel like if I were to take them to fully animation-ready characters, it may be a time sink to go much beyond this point before retopo.
I moddel in blender (I think that I am totally not good at all). Then I will divide the files into blocks with Rhino 3D and generate the G code. This then goes to a large CNC machine. Where everything is made in faom. The separate parts are then nicely made back together.
Like any artwork it is never "done" per se. There is always room for improvement, you have to make the call when you think it is finished.
I found that:
Shortcuts for Sculpting Brushes
https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/7310/switch-between-sculpting-brushes
Sorry I wasn't there yesterday during stream, but to Omar's question about videos of someone sculpting something cool...
I can't think of a YouTuber off hand. But I do have several Twitch streamers I watch that usually do cool stuff, though they use ZBrush. The tools might be a bit different, but the process is more or less the same (or can be modified with some thought). The ones I can think of offhand are UnicornDev, Layna_Lazar & HazardousArts of IHazToys.com, and MeowSparky are just a few of the ones I watch. Pixologic (the makers of ZBrush) has a channel as well that they rotate who they have on there. While some of the tools they use aren't in Blender, most of the core sculpting tools (grab, clay, smooth, crease, pinch, etc) are, and I get ideas of how to do things in Blender watching them. There are some who do use Blender, but more the stuff like we were doing last week. There's a lot more in the Creative channel... I'm just barely scratching the surface of what is in there, and if you're in the US, some of these might be late at night. Sometimes, some of these might play games, but more often than not, they're doing creative.
One thing to keep in mind, particularly in doing the first and last assignment, is not jumping to detail too quickly. Several years ago, I did a personal challenge to sculpt something every day, but only for 15-30 minutes. This short time frame did 2 things for me. First, I'd gotten to where I wasn't using Blender in general as much as I wanted, and so 15-30 minutes was a "doable" amount of time to commit to working on something every day (ie overcoming the "I don't have time" objection). More importantly, though, it forced me to work on the general forms of the sculpts, because while 15-30 minutes is plenty of time to get in at least the idea of a sculpt, it's not enough time to spend loads of time on any one detail. Several of my favorite models that I use in testing different things, particularly materials, came from the exercises I did that month.
And I'm a big fan of experimentation (which shouldn't be a surprise if you remember what I said last week). That month of sculpting gave me lots of opportunities to explore the different tools and features of sculpting that has made my sculpting that I've done since be so much better.
Don't be afraid to try asymmetrical sculpting, either! While it is challenging, you can wind up with more dynamic and interesting sculpts.
(I consider myself a little slow at sculpting... I see some do "speed sculpts" in an hour and get as much detail as it would take me hours of work to get to. Don't let that deter you... They've probably just had more practice!)
Man, that was quick pprocyonlotor! Great submission. The personality of the frog is 👌 . And your Melvin exercise already passed. Sculpting seems to come naturally to you! A-grade work here.
Thanks for sharing those resources gradyp. What kind of teacher am I to not suggest anyone....lol
dostovel Digging into my memory I did come up with some sculpting videos that inspired me in the past. This one was the first time I'd seen hard surface sculpting (before zbrush had a bunch of special tools) way back in 2009:
And this one (along with several Roberto Roch's vids) changed the way I thought about sculpting with Blender and dynamic topology. His quick, gestural approach challenged me because I tend to be rigid and precise. With his approach it feels like the sculpture creates itself in a way, with Roberto kinda "discovering":
Max Puliero is as pro as they come. His timelapses mesmerize me:
Kfir Merlaub also sculpts gesturally. But he's a master at presenting his sculptures with viewport lighting instead of rendering. It's inspiring to see his entire process from sculpt to presentation:
BRILLIANT advice gradyp. I'm definitely going to incorporate the 15 minute exercise into a class at some point. Thanks for sharing!
"BC1-1801 Week 3 Homework Submission (Part 1)"
This is just a first try of the primitive shapes.
I havn't sculpt melvin yet.
I don't know if i'm good enough or not (I know i need to practice more, but i love to sculpt ^^)
