Announcement #5: This class has officially come to a close. Please check out the closing post and thank you for joining!
Announcement #4: Week 2 is officially complete! Thank you for submitting your homework on time. Let the grading commence.
Announcement #3: Week 1 is officially complete! I'll be grading 55 homework submissions by my count. Thank you for submitting on time. I'll be busy today :)
Announcement #2: First week's live stream recording is available and I've started filling out the homework roster. Feel free to keep an eye on the Report Card throughout the month if you'd like.
Announcement #1: Class is in session! We're all going to learn a lot and have fun the next 3 weeks. I wrote a kickoff post on page 3. See you tomorrow for the first stream!
Welcome to the CGCookie Class: Get Started Building Stuff with Blender 2.8! If you're interested in computer graphics, 3D modeling, and you're new to Blender or just new to 2.8, this class is where you need to be. Ushering in the modern era of Blender, we will familiarize ourselves with what's new as well as get up to speed with how to build STUFF in 3D.
This "Class" format invites all Citizen members to focus together on a particular topic/skill for a month. Participation looks like this:
WHEN? The class will take place from JULY 29th - AUGUST 20th.
This time the class curriculum is project-based. You will have the opportunity to choose between 3 assets to create throughout the month: A wooden sign, a barrel, a sword or a treasure chest. I chose these assets because they're fun to create but also conducive for teaching fundamental skills.
The goal week 1 is to get familiar with Blender 2.8 and model your chosen asset. If you're brand new to Blender it's very important that you spend time each day of this week getting comfortable with Blender's interface. Once you're comfortable, you will have a more enjoyable experience learning and practicing modeling.
Courses to watch:
Homework:
Plain gray models can be boring. So we paint them with colors! This is where "textures" work their magic. But before we can paint on our 3D models, we have to layout UVs. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, don't worry. After you watch the texturing course and the live event for this week, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.
Course to watch: Treasure Chest Course (Chapter 2)
Homework: Layout UVs and paint textures for your sign, barrel, sword, or treasure chest.
Texturing introduces color to your models but materials make your model appear to be plastic, or wood, or metal, etc. If you're asking yourself "What's the difference", fear not! I will make sure you know the difference by the end of this week.
We will also be exploring the Eevee engine and how it works together with texturing and shading for a realtime workflow.
Pre-recorded courses to watch: Treasure Chest Course (Chapter 3)
Homework: Create materials and establish appealing lighting for your sign, barrel, sword, or treasure chest.
This thread is reserved for CG Cookie Citizens that are participating in the "Get Started Building Stuff with Blender 2.8" class. Its purpose is to serve as central communication for all participating Citizens (excluding Hobby plan Citizens) to ask me and fellow participants questions pertaining to the class. As the instructor of the class, I will be monitoring this thread on a daily basis (especially Mon-Thurs) throughout the month of August.
Free members are welcome to observe the thread but please respect that communication and participation is reserved for Citizens.
llliquido Sorry I didn't make that available. Here it is along with the other objects for anyone that wants:
Seeing all people's thread, with some people doing several models at a time, with a scene, is very intimidating.
otowa There is really no reason to look on it like that.
You know everything is relative, people are in different ages, ambitions, having different life and time what can allocate for Blender. It is natural that 8 hours per day has different output than half an hour per day. The most important is that personally you what take out from the class.
For a beginner I would propose that just start it, open that own thread, do it and do not look so much what others are doing. Or just use them as inspiration to get to the same level once, so just enjoy the community.
The XP's are the same, if the gamification is not your world that is completely okay. Similiar discussions used to be whether grades should be given by Kent or not. Personally I like the grades because would like to see my level objectively, but understanding if that is not comfortable for others and not preferring.
Briefly, it is not that serious at all :-)
csehz Yeah I only have one or two hours of Blender a day if I'm lucky, and I always think man imagine if the 8 to 5 I spend at my regular job I could invest it learning CGI instead, oh the possibilities. So be like Nike and just do it.
otowa Please don't feel intimidated. One of the things we're always trying to understand as instructors is how to get people to apply what they learn. In other words how to DO and not just consume. Some people find competition motivating, or a grade / XP value is motivating/affirming, or seeing the work of others motivating. This is why XP exists and why we encourage people to share their WIP regularly.
On the other hand, those same things can have the opposite effect on other people. If that's you please understand that the only goal in all of this is to learn and APPLY yourself. If you find that you're more productive avoiding other students' homework threads and avoiding grading / XP all together, that's absolutely fine. Let me know and I won't grade your work. I'll still give you feedback if you like but no grading.
As long as you're productive this month - creating stuff - that's all I really care about!
@theluthier I understand, I was not that serious. I just was surprised first when the grading was mentionned.
I'm doing what I can, and enjoying learning, that's what matter I guess.
Please grade me. I need to know. And I'll discover the joys of the american grading system ^^
I believe the gamefication aspect of the site is what gives it the edge up on other sites.. I for one can't stand the look of that graph on my dashboard dipping down, which motivates me to take courses, make exercises, do challenges and improve.. It gives you a challenge and a fixed point when you need to deliver it, I can't count the times I bough courses on Udemy and then just stop quarter/halfway because it all lacked "purpose", even if it's something as silly as "xp".. (it also is a way to follow how much you've improved, now from a lowly lvl1 to a lvl2 ^^, feels like I'm a char in my own rpg )
But in every challenge I would/will push myself, I've always been this way, not to "flex" as @theluthier would call it but to prove to myself I can do it, not just follow tutorials and then get stuck when I make something of my own.. Nobody should ever look at other peoples threads and be discouraged, just try, learn from your mistakes (and other people's) and improve at your own pace
oboshape You know what I really really want... one of those time chambers they have on Dragon Ball were you go in and spend a year training and when you get out, only one day has passed in the real world.
Me trying to catch up on all the submissions is like salmon swimming up a waterfall lol.
silentheart00 Same here! Last time I checked, there were 3 or 4 pages of homework threads!
dostovel Yeah we must've hit a record of some kind this time. I can't imagine it'll be long before VAs will be helping out with the homework, especially if another "basics" class rolls around, they always get the most attention.
Whew I've been grading for 8 of the past 9 hrs! Last I counted we did break the record for most homework submissions in a single week at 55. If it were 60 or 70 I would definitely be hoping on a skype call with VA's to talk through and divy up grading. At 55 I'll just continue them myself.
This week will likely be my busiest grading week, but ultimately I love seeing all this participation!
PS: VA's I see you being very present in these homework threads. Thank you!
BC1-1801 - January Class - Katerina Novakova ( Sshiennar ) - 190 XP
BC2-1803 - March Class - Matthew Ullrey ( ullreym ) - 180 XP
BC3-1806 - June Class - Aaron Rudderham ( thecabbagedetective ) - 178 XP
BC1-1808 - August Class - Miranda van Elst & Aaron Rudderham ( smurfmier1985 & thecabbagedetective ) - 195 XP
BC4-1810 - October Class - Pavel Mazanik ( nekronavt ) - 176 XPMiranda and Aaron are surely with us also this month..
This participation is awesome and scrolling through the homework threads not only Miranda and Aaron, but also Katerina and Matthew with us, so 4 from the best students in before five classes.
Really nice to see that, people already with much more skills having still the motivation to participate in a beginner class like BC1-1908, it can not be accidental this has to be a community :-)
