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*.
General question, I never used a stylus until Tuesday, anyway the jump from the geometric shapes to melvin is too big for me. What are some good things to practice on and am I best off drawing something and then creating a basic mesh and then sculpting. For practicing meshes (week 2) I am just looking for objects around my work area and using them. This has made it easier for me to see the geometric shapes that make up the solid objects and made the mesh modeling easier. Any advice would be appreciated.
BC1-1801 Week 3 Homework Submission
Primitives:
Sculpting ... just the one ...
BC1-1801 Week 3 Homework Submission: " Melvin and the spider "
I wanted to create a little story around melvin and another character and this primitive shapes...
This is the result: (Etherything here was sculpt by myself ^^)
This is my melvin:
https://cgcookie.com/exercise_submissions/10961
Primitive shapes:
The spider:
Pfeeew... This week was harder than the others (in my opinion) but pretty instructive ! :)
BC1-1801 Week 3 Homework Submission
This was a big challenge for me too and taught so much. Thank heavens for the inflate tool and @theluthier walkthroughs! I don't know how many times I scrapped detail and restarted and rewatched. I kept getting crossed up between subdivide collapse, subdivide edges, relative detail, etc. The whole process was pinching and creasing my cerebral cortex! Had to fix some topology issues when I applied decimation. That was eye-opening!
Finally had to call him done due to time.
Here's the link to my Melvin exercise submission for this week and a screenshot.
I'm sorry to say the other parts of this week's homework may be late or missing for me. When I went to jump on my machine to work on the other sculpts this morning I was greeted with a Window's update that left me with only a black screen and blinking mouse arrow. The restore\repair process set me back a little time-wise. We'll see how it goes...
And here's the second part, 7 hrs later. Glad I took the time to do it though it could use more work. Parts of this were harder than Melvin! Going to see if I can get the last part done.
BC1-1801 Week 3 Homework Submission
I finished Melvin a few months ago when I first started sculpting. Since I'm working on a CG Challenge scene at the moment I didn't re-sculpt him. But here is a Sketchfab link and a simple scene I had put together.
As to the primitives, it was one of the deceptive not-really-easy-after-all exercises. I think the cone in particular could have turned better, but - oh, well.
And regarding the extra sculpted objects, I managed to do only two, but I needed to brush up on my texture-painting skills, so I went full way and baked normal maps as well when I was at it. This is a first time I used the MultiRes modifier and I love it! My aim is to create detailed scenes with many organic objects. Having to retopologize every one of them... is fun, but a little impractical. With this workflow I should be able to do more each week :-)
Katerina that is simply magical again and again, congratulations for this scene
Yannis it is great idea combining all the objects to one scene, that is fun :-)
Yes agree this week is harder than the others, respect for everyone who were able to manage the three waves of scuplting with time and everything
If you're going for realism, the nose is a bit big and the eyes aren't quite right, but overall, great job!
Jumping into detail too quickly is one of the biggest mistakes to make because you can get everything looking just right only to zoom out and it doesn't make sense in relation to everything else. Just take it a little at a time. Great job here, though!
I am working on week 4's assignment. I started with a base mesh that had holes for the eye sockets. I tried adding a sphere for the eye but it kind've sits behind or to the side. I can't seem to get it in the socket. What am I doing wrong?
BC1-1801 Week 3 Homework Submission 2 of 3
Here is the link to the sculpt on SketchFab: https://skfb.ly/6vTTx (I tried submitting formally at the end of the course but for whatever reason I could not complete the process so I am just putting the link here.
I'm having a bit of time juggling brush sizes, strengths, relative vs constant, subdivide collapse/edges, etc while attempting to get clean creases. I'm really learning a lot - and plan on doing a lot more sculpting so I can really get comfortable with the tools. Attached below is a screen shot:
@theluthier i don`t know why but it seems like Dyntopo doesn`t work correctly. It doesn`t create additional faces as a result i get bad geometry. When i was making general form of Melvin it was ok, but with mouth it is pretty hard.
BC1-1801 Week 3 Homework Submission Part 3 of 3
It looked better in my head (of course) and I got too far into it try and start with something else before the deadline. I had planned to do the mountain background but Blender started getting very slow, even with decimating all the models. Also, the columns are a combination of push-pull, modifiers, and then sculpt, so it is not a 'pure' sculpt scene.
Perhaps you could consider the ground the third object of the assignment?
Hi Deborah, in Edit mode you could select the edge ring of the eye socket and snap the 3D cursor to selected. Then in Object mode select the "eye" sphere and snap it to the 3D cursor. The center of the sphere will be right in the middle of the hole. Then you can make minor translation and scale adjustments from there.
The City on the Edge of Forever looks totally trashed. Did you use Blender's Obliterate Modifier by accident? ;-)
Love this scene! Great work.
