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"Ā at the top of your post.
Keep up the awesome work, Class! So much creativity and hard work being contributed from everyone š¤
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.Ā
- Live Event tomorrow at 2pm EST
- Please submit homework anytime between Jan 8 - Jan 14 with "BC1-1801 Week 2 Homework Submission"Ā 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. Weāve 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 didnāt cry. But the reality is 3D software is daunting. Thereās SO MUCH to digest especially when youāre a beginner.
This first week weāre going to overview Blender and 3D from an absolutely beginner perspective. What is Blender for? What can it do? Wait, this isnāt 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. Weāll discuss the technical art of āpushing and pulling vertsā 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 weāll be mesh-modeling a few objects to demonstrate tools and workflow available with Blender. Itās 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*
Thereās still much more to learn about modeling with Blender. Remember, itās 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, Iām 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*.
For being the least time spent on a submission, it's still a pretty cool image! I like the exaggeration of the waves, and the paper boat of course. I'll give a B+ just because I know you can do more š
"I got to use 3D modeling for my first time this week at my job to show a mock up of a live event space, and we landed the job!"
How cool is this?! Congrats on using 3D for the first time at work and for landing the job! Pretty good reason to not have much time for the homework. I look forward to seeing you in March, 
nathangardunoĀ š¤
"This creature"...you mean Charmander?! Unless I'm blind, I recognized him immediately. Which is a kudos to your sculpting. A-quality work this week ppanagiotis156Ā š
Thanks for the feedback. Ā Honestly, I just followed the lesson plan and I'm taking my time. Ā For the past couple of months, I've focused heavily on form drawing so mixing it with sculpting is helping a ton. Ā Thanks to the videos, tips and guidance provided through this course and Kent, it's made the learning process so much easier!!!
BC1-1801 Week 4 Homework Submission
For this week's homework I chose to practice sculpting. I first started a rock sculpture.
Something that could be used as a floating platform in a game. From this sculpture, I created a low poly mesh, with baked normal maps and AO. The end result was kinda muddy, so I was not really happy with it.
After that I tried sculpting a goomba. To get the really sharp transitions between the body parts,
I sculpted each body part as a separate piece.
I really feel that I have improved my sculpting a bit by doing this exercise. The different sculpting tools start to make more sense and I start to get a feeling which brush to use to get the effect I need.
Below are pictures of the low poly rock and the goomba.
The gumbas are coming! the gumbas are coming! Someone get Mario and Luigi! Quick! Before they get Princess Peach! :D
Great job!
Nice work ssnurker! How big is your rock's baked texture? Seems like it's really low res (512x512 is my guess). Your goomba is pretty spot on. Smooshed a few of those this morning before work š
I really feel that I have improved my sculpting a bit by doing this exercise. The different sculpting tools start to make more sense and I start to get a feeling which brush to use to get the effect I need.
That's a huge win! Great job finishing the class. You've earned an A š
Sorry for the late reply 
csehz, missed this one somehow. The smooth brush often does result in slighting shrinking on convex shapes, but with concave shapes it's the opposite. Also with an extreme pole in the topology, the smooth brush can create a noticeable pinch instead of shrinking. I think an "average of vertices" is the best description of its function, which can result in shrinking if the conditions are right.
If the size of your sculpture is changing noticeably from the smooth brush, I'd say you're using it too much or too strongly. Relying too heavily on the smooth brush can be a negative thing.
Thanks @theluthier for the answer no probs at all. Yes I did not think even that at concave shapes it might behave right opposite.
Going to explore your technique that in which kind of situation/surface from which angle and with which pressure you use the Smooth brush in the tutorials, thanks just again.
Och and also that with which brush size, because presumably those averages calculated from the surface covered by that, plus also factor that with what kind of movements happens the smoothing. For example for me with the mouse that is slightly more tricky :-)
BC1-1801 Week 4 Homework Submission
This sums up what I learned in this awesome month.
Thank you Kent for your dedication and can't wait for March to come around!
BC1-1801 Week 4 Homework Submission
This is what I did this week for the final assignment.
THUS ENDETH THE CLASS
Itās February 1st, meaning this January Class is officially over. Congrats to the Citizens who made it through! I'd like to close out the class with some some commendations.
Most Consistent: Iām quite impressed with the number that completed homework each of the 4 weeks. Out of 45 total members that submitted, 15 completed all 4 weeks according to my records. I want to commend those members:
nathangarduno )
motsuĀ 
galledark )
ullreym )
ninivekha )ljsstudio )csehz )
shiennar )az93 )
mathias67 )
Guinan Award: Grady Pruitt ( gradyp ) was extraordinarily present in the class thread offering critique, advice, and helpful insight. It takes a lot of time and commitment to be there for fellow classmates. Thank you for being such a resource this month š
Volunteer Instructor's Assistant: Zsolt Cseh ( csehz ) voluntarily created a spreadsheet for tracking participants and homework assignment grades: A report card, if you will. If this was not done, I would not have been able to keep a record. Thank you, Zsolt! Feel free to check it out yourself to see how you did.
Highest Grade: Katerina Novakova ( shiennar ) scored the highest grades on her homework with a combined total of 190 XP. BTW I calculated that value for everyone by adding individual grades based on this scale: F = 0, D = 10, C = 20, B = 30, A = 40, + = 5. I'm going to manually add those XP values to everyone's current total.
Most Common Name: We had 3 Matthews this month, all of which were very active and completed the 4 homework assignments. May it be that we all are able to summon the Matthew Power in the future š§āāļø
Honestly, as a first class, this could not have gone better. I'm so impressed with everything I witnessed: The learning, quality of homework, and the it-takes-a-village culture. Thank you for participating! I hope expect to see you in future classes šš»āāļø
Super we got XPs for the homeworks, that is great idea to motivate the members also for the future classes. Thanks!
Regarding my volunteership that was just nothing, I like the statistics so just naturally came. I am so glad that Kent you found it as a good initiation.
Katerina shiennar especially would like congratulate for the Highest Grade, I love those worlds what you create in Blender, being your fan since the first homework and the fourth one is just brilliant.
Kent @theluthier thank you of course for everything, the lot of instructions/motivations/inspirations, it is a good feeling that we can learn the sculpting from the best
Thank you very much, @theluthier . It was a truly enjoyable class - the format proved to be even better than I had expected. Can't wait for the next one. :-)
