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.
@theluthier hehe, yaarrr matey! :) its legit copy no fears there, as for using it. i'd say i'm not beginner on it anymore, somewhere between intermediate and advanced maybe, though not anywhere near those substance gurus out there that can make plane in to a landscape. :D
Remember you can check the report card any time if you wish. The final tally is 60 submissions (1 is a weird one though, so maybe 59). Highest submission count in CGC Class history. Excellent work everyone 👏
@theluthier Kent do you think it could be a good idea for a class to try and model some of those objects with shapes that can drive anyone crazy? one of these things that need to smartly apply modifiers etc. I know CG Cookie has focused in the basics for years now but, hey it could be challenging?
That weird one must be the monkey.
dostovel haha no! concrescence is talking about drugs for some reason. If they don't sober up it'll be 59 submissions.
I've not thought to do a complex (baroque) style model before but I have thought of modeling an construction vehicle as an ongoing (endless maybe?) stream series:
Since they're full of complex shapes with tons of pieces, I've wondered if that would be a cool topic to tackle in a series. Probably not a sequential series like the tropical eevee environment. But maybe I'd do 2 streams modeling however much I could, take a break for a few streams, then pick it up again. It would always give me something to do for a stream..
I think that's in the same spirit as of what you're asking. What do you think?
@theluthier The construction vehicle is a cool idea as well, every time I see one of those things I have to cover my ears and walk faster because it always screams, model me! model me! Though for that you have to really really commit several livestreams to pull it off. It could work if one stream is focused on one or two particular pieces, put them in collections and link them in a file and start assembling it like a jigsaw puzzle, add a piece every time one is completed.
On the other hand, a decorative ornament that has tricky modeling topology could be done in what would be a month of class maybe? What I like about it, is the smart approach it requires with several modifiers. That top white part is probably a flat plane with the designs contours punched through them, with a solidify modifier for the thickness and a simple deform to twist it 360 degrees?
The other parts start to get trickier, where one shape morphs into another, like the bottom left picture. The flappy things that branch out of the steam feels more like Bezier curves with 3d thickness maybe? Or the base that has a repetitive patters that could be pulled off with tiny piece and an array and a rotated empty?
Anyways, cool ideas that in the meantime can stay in the mental oven, until one day they could be ready to serve.
@theluthier that is cool idea. and with that you can address the thing i see pretty often beginners to ask and question, when todo separate parts and when to connect them. i know its high dependant on what is needed, but it seems to be common theme i've noticed. also some misconceptions that you should not use floaters and connect everything to make them water tight, which basically onyl applies if you are makin prints. but i digress, this would be nice, so much different good stuf to show from different techniques on modeling different pieces.
dostovel I'm kinda envisioning several projects that I tinker on for streams: A construction vehicle, a highly ornamental candle holder or piece of furniture, a fantasy character or creature of some kind, etc. It'd be nice to have those all as an option for streaming. "Today let's continue working on the decorative furniture for a couple hours".
I don't know that I could fit these topics into a consice 4-week class. They'd likely each be a long series. Like spanning a year or more with 10+ streams or something. And they wouldn't be rehearsed just a very realtime workflow demo including planning, research, mistakes, successes. It sounds like you all might be interested in that topic for streams.
Anyway I don't mean to derail this Class thread anymore haha. Maybe I'll start a new thread about this, list some potential projects and get votes from the People.
@theluthier Something's wrong with the audio of the week 2 live stream recording. It randomly cuts out and I have to skip a few seconds ahead to fix it.
@theluthier Do you know if there is a way to un-link the viewports like before? I want to split my window in two, so I have two viewports, and in one I want to have displayed one collection and in the another viewport I want to have displayed a different collection. And also I would like to option to have different viewport shading options in each one... but right now the viewports are linked, one change I make in one reflects in the other.
dostovel Sorry to answer before my turn, but, there is a 'hack':
if you go to Window > New Main Window, then in that New Window, at the right side of where it says Scene, create a Linked Copy.
Then both Windows have the same Scene, but changes like disabling Collections, or changing the shading or whatever, only affect the one where you make the changes.
Proof of concept:
Maybe there is another way, but this is all I know.
spikeyxxx That's a bummer that is only through a hack. Thanks Spikey.
williamatics I scanned through the video and it's playing normal for me. Can you point me to a specific part of the video that you experience the issue?
Thanks for answering Omar, spikeyxxx. I learned something new!
ggregkachu Hello! Kent provided some images at the top of page 5 of this thread. (I would add a link, but I don't remember how to link something like that now.)
