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*.
Kent, you mentioned in class yesterday (if I remember correctly) something about your workflow being to start sculpting with dynamic topology, then a retopo, then using a multirez modifier for detail. (Am I remembering that right?)
My question is, do you have any tutorials that show that workflow? Sculpting is really new to me but I can already see how this technique can get me to build characters and models relatively quickly compared with push-pull; so now I want to see how I can turn my sculpts into animation-ready models.
Yes that's right. And yes, the Modeling Realistic Characters course covers the whole workflow.
Kent, you mentioned pie menus in yesterdays stream. I was wondering what exactly are pie menus?
Hey Matt, they are bundled with Blender in the User Preferences/ Add-ons/ Pie Menu: UI Pie Menu Official
Here is some info about them.
I use them a lot. It's basically a "quick" way to access various features. For example, with just a press of the z key and a move to the upper right, you can go into rendered view mode or by pulling down with the mouse, you can go to solid shading mode. Or after you press the Z key, you can wait and see which view mode you want to be in. Same thing with the tab key and switching between Edit, Sculpt, Object, etc. There are others, but these are the two I use the most.
Hi...
Finally I watched recorded video to the last. Next, course videos.
By the way, I have two questions.
1.
Kent encouraged using a pen-tablet.
But, when I use my pen-tablet, I cannot use my mouse at the same time.
So, I don't understand whether to use pen-tablet or to use mouse at that time.
2.
I noticed that I don't know about "User Preferences -> System" precisely.
So probably I cannot do best settings for the graphics board.
I searched name of my board and "blender", "System", "User Preferences" and etc..
But I didn't find them.
Where is the trustworthy information ?
Just a minor tip related to changing the detail size. Someone mentioned the shortcut is Shift + D. Once you press it, you can either slide the pen / mouse to find an approximate value, or you can input an exact number (on NumPad). Also works with the brush size and strength.
I haven't found shortcuts for Detail Refine Method and Detail Type Method, though. Are there any, or can you set them up in Preferences?
1.) As far as sculpting, typically, you want to use the tablet for most things. The only place where Kent recommends using a mouse (and I agree) is doing something like the grab because a lot of tablets read the lifting of the pen off the tablet and skew the result at the end. This isn't an issue with a mouse.
BTW, when you say you can't use both at the same time, are you saying you can only have one plugged in or just can't hold both at the same time? Hopefully it's just the latter, in which case, you can set the pen down and reach over to the mouse. If it is the former, though, and they plug into USB, if you only have the one USB port available, you might look into getting a USB hub which will give you more slots.
2.) If you're in 3D view, if you click on the box icon in the lower left, you can switch it between different window types. One of the options is User Preferences. Even easier is simply to press CTRL-ALT-U (I think that would be Command+Option+U on the Mac?) and it will pop up a window with the User Preferences in it. It's got all sorts of options in there for controlling how Blender works. It isn't necessary to change much there, except in certain cases, but can be a way to customize how you use Blender.
az93 In addition to Matthew and Grady's replies, here's a video that's a good introduction to pie menus:
Good tip shiennar - that's one I definitely would want to input an exact number. Thanks for sharing.
Just to add to Katerina's note, brush size can be accessed with F, and strength with SHIFT-F.
As for the hot keys, I don't see one in the list of predefined ones. I think, in theory, you should be able to add one, but don't know enough about how to get at that specific attribute and that would probably be a more advanced topic.
Actually sculpting Melvin and going inside of the mesh, at the left leg there is some mesh which were somehow cumulated there. Is that an issue which should be removed? Presumably when the base was shaped by the skin modifier, that genereated it
It's not a tumor! I would say if it isn't creating any visual problems externally, it doesn't "need" to be fixed, though that may change if you continue to edit the area.
Sometimes I piece of the mesh gets inverted. It can be smoothed out, but it's a pain to work with.
Thanks, could I please ask a second one, actually having 186357 vertices which is evidently too lot of, what is the tactic to decrease the density of some areas?
Subdivide collapse probably but so with the Inflate brush with slight strength and with big radius?
To John's point, if this inside the sculpt and not hurting the exterior appearance, there's no dire reason to fix it. But it can be fixed if need be.
In short, I would retesselate that area with big polygons by touching the area with a very low-strength brush (like Inflate) and subdivide collapse as the method. The retesselation should get rid of the artifact. Once gone, you can go back to smaller polygons and polish up the area.
If that didn't make sense, please link me to your .blend and I'll download it to demo the fix during next week's stream.
BC1-1801 Week 3 Homework Submission part 1 of 3.
As much as I'd like to keep futzing with this and get the shapes better formed and the creases sharper, if I am to submit the primitives, Melvin (which I have half-finished at this point) and creation(s) of my own, I will call this finished for now.
I work two jobs during the week so I have to steal what time I can afterward and cram all my creative time into the weekends, so I apologize in advance for submitting the bulk of my homework last-minute.
