Computer graphics has always been an effective tool for product rendering. We'll explore this genre with a tool I'm sure we're all familiar with: 💻

Here's the main things you'll learn:

1. Boolean-based modeling. Modern ultrabook designs are very sleek and minimal, which makes for a great 2-hour project. Booleans allow us to model modularly and non-destructively. Starting from a simple base laptop shape, we can "punch out" the shapes of our keyboard, ports and trackpad without needing to nitpick our topology.
   
   
2. Product rendering. The art of showcasing products is a lot of fun. It's one of the more accessible facets of computer generated realism. Through these lessons we will explore believable materials, appealing studio lighting, and simple animation.
   
   
3. Sequence management. Unlike most sessions projects that feature only one animated sequence - we're going to create a faux ad for our laptop that features four distinct sequences. With multiple shots involved, we need to do a little planning to avoid making a mess. We'll utilize separate Scenes within our .blend file to manage our sequences.

Having trouble keeping up?

Blender has a steep learning curve and it's a lot to keep track of, especially if you're new. Here's some tips for getting the most out of these lessons:

Slow down the playback

Our video player has the ability to slow down play back speed to 0.75x or 0.5x. This can be very useful for catching every detail of the workflow.

Watch each video twice

I highly recommend this approach to get the maximum informational value out of each lesson. Watch once for a broad grasp of the workflow, concepts, and techniques. You don't even need Blender open for this. Great for a commute or while you're prepping dinner.

Then watch through a second time with Blender open to follow along. Having an idea what's going to happen next will enable you to track the information much better.

Depending on how comfortable you are with Blender, you could even watch the entire chapter once before the second viewing.

Optional Pre-requisite Courses

Though this course is designed with Beginners in mind, it still assumes you're at least familiar with Blender's UI and basic concepts about 3D creation.

If this is your very first time opening Blender, it might be best if you watch some of these courses first:

1. Blender Basics 4.0
2. Press Start: Your First Simple Blender Project
3. Fundamentals of Materials and Shading
4. Fundamentals of Digital Lighting
5. Fundamentals of Animation

Learn more like this?

For more bite-sized projects, watch the first SESSIONS course, Minimalism:

The seed that led to SESSIONS was actually planted years ago during livestreams. Kent recorded several projects to fit within a 2-hour streaming window and they're all collected in this Playlist: