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*.
BC1-1801 Week 4 Homework Submission
The challenge I set up for myself this week was to make a fairly realistic fantasy scene - something more detailed than I ever attempted before. It sounded difficult and proved to be even more so. To be able to create assets is one thing, but to fill up a scene in a believable way? Phew.
But I'm glad that I decided to participate in the class - it helped to push me even further than I would've gone normally. I picked up such a good momentum that I felt a bit sad when I heard there was not going to be another class until March. But I'm certainly looking forward to it - I haven't had time to work on characters yet, but I'll need to hone those skills if I want to create all the short movies I have in mind. :-)
(I posted the render to the gallery as well, together with a short story and a progression gif.)
The human body is one of the toughest things to get right. But you're well on your way! Kudos for aiming this high for the final week. I know the kind of effort this requires; you've certainly challenged yourself.
I agree with Grady that the light looks too bright or your material is too white. Either way the blown out highlights distort some areas of your sculpture. Even still, it's a commendable human anatomy sculpt. You've earned an A in my book, Paul.
Thanks for participating each week! You've been a great student all month.
Katerina that is so beautiful again and again..
Amazing, you are the best, brilliant atmosphere is there!
Good one to end the month on 
motsu. Winter scenes are hard to light due to the extreme whites. The image is blown out in spots, particularly the fox, which makes it difficult to make out all the shapes. From what I can tell, it looks good; looks like you challenged yourself.
It's an A in my book! Good job participating each week too 👍
Oh my - the details! So much to look at in this scene. You really went all out this week and it shows. What a fantastic way to end the class. A++ work with all the textures, shaders, lighting, final image, and WIP gif 👏
And the accompanying short story! Garnishing a piece of art with a story makes it that much more appealing. While the image is worth 1000 words, the short story renders those words rich. If you take the March class, one of the assignments is writing your chosen character a story. Right up your alley!
Thanks for sharing. And thanks for participating each week!
BC1-1801 Week 4 Homework Submission
Definetly need more practice on creature sculpts. the concept was drawn by zacharias reinhardt on his sculpt tutorial.
Had fun, since i've done hard surface models for year and half for production, this was something different. :)
the procedural clay texture is there to give it bit more variations.
it didn't come out as cute as i wanted, since the concept was more cute, and attempts to fix it just went bad to worse. so i think i redo it from start at one point since its relatively simple shapes.
Please give me advice how to make bottles in Blender. Saw pretty interesting way here: https://youtu.be/IbNnzZGbm-Q?t=1m25s but as i understand this plugin is not pre-installed in blender. Or to model part of object and Mirror it...
I want to make such bottle with water inside it:
That's a great trick, thank you for sharing the tutorial.
As to your question - which plugin do you mean? I can see the Screw modifier in my version (2.78.5) but it is possible that it came with a plugin I have enabled. Or do you mean the part where he uses vertices to create the profile of the bottle? He is adding Single Vertex, but you can achieve the same thing if you add a plane (or any primitive mesh), go to Edit mode, select everything with A and delete vertices. You will still keep the "container", it just won't have any vertices in it. Then, still in Edit mode, you can Ctrl + click to insert a vertex. Whether it is left or right mouse button depends on your user preferences. I select geometry with the left button, so to insert vertices I need to use the right button.
BC1-1801 Week 4 Homework Submission
As requested for our homework this week I attempted something beyond my current abilities, so I am submitting this bust of... whatever this is. The lips, eyelids, and ears are horrific and show where I need to practice this skill set. But, that's how we learn. :-)
BC1-1801 Week 4 Homework Submission
My submission this week was inspired by a Teotihuacan exhibit we saw at the DeYoung museum. Thought it was a good way to pull together what I'd learned so far in the class. It turned out to be a lot more challenging than I expected and I plan to continue working on it as my skills grow. The "Rays" around the skull were created with an array, mirror, curve, then another mirror modifier. I did that so I could play around with the dimensions on them. I only used a half of one ray as the base. The skull was modeled seperately out of a base cube then mirror modifier and then joined with the outer sculpture. Applied a subdivision surface mod of 2 to the whole thing before starting to sculpt the details.
Oh man! And I got so stressed about getting this posted I forgot add my thanks too @theluthier! It has been an incredible learning experience and you've really motivated me to push myself and make the time. I am hoping to take the March class too but it will depend on my shooting schedule. Rock on!
BC1-1801 Week 4 Homework Submission
I decided to continue with sculpting and plan to mix in mesh modeling. I started the Art of Sculpting and this is my current WIP. I plan to continue this throughout the week until finished.
