From modeling a sci-fi helmet to shading a pancake hobo, we have produced many flashy tutorials over the years. But our most popular course is the most elementary one: Blender Basics, a 6-lesson course that introduces Blender to absolute beginners.
Earlier this month, it hit a huge milestone, clocking over 1,000,000 views from CG Cookie users. Not bad for a course that's just about to turn 2 years old!
A Course That Everyone Can Follow
The author of Blender Basics is Jonathan Williamson, who remembers why he decided to create the course.
"People kept saying to me, 'Blender is too hard, the learning curve is brutal, the UI is awful'. I don't find any of those things to be true," he says.
"Sure, Blender's interface has its quirks, but it's easy to overcome them and use them to your advantage."
Read: "A Good Mesh Is Like a Good Brew", Says Jonathan Williamson
Covering The Basics in 36 Minutes
Jonathan set out to create Blender Basics for learners with no previous experience in 3D after he noticed that many Blender tutorials assume that learners already know the basics.
"I always had beef with that," he laughs, "that is why in all of my courses, but this one in particular, I do my best to make zero assumptions about what the student knows or does not know," he explains. "I think this approach is what has helped the course do so well and to stay so relevant. Practically anyone can follow it."
"A good tip for Blender beginners is changing to Left Mouse Select from File > User Preferences > Input"
In a little over half an hour, Jonathan goes over the key concepts of Blender, focusing on the viewport and covering the technique for adding and manipulating objects.
Our user Nightchangers is one of many to confirm that he was successful: "Jonathan picks up the Basics and explains each step thorough explanation of function and short key. I ended making a very basic portfolio in the first month of CG Cookie citizenship," he says.
That's awesome to hear, we are so glad that you found the course so helpful! I especially love the "you won't get stuck halfway through a project" bit, you hit the nail on the head about what makes a really valuable training course.
Yeah, this is definitely the way to get started with Blender.
What Jonathan teaches you here is going to prove very useful as
you go along and it might be smart to take a few notes as he explains
stuff. I've watched a lot of Blender tutorials now and a lot of people
will jump over vital steps that are really important. Jonathan never does
that, so, he is not going to get you stuck when you're halfway through a
project and that, you will find, is a golden quality.
Great course, may it has a long life !
It's true! Jonathan has an intuitive sense of what is a difficult task that needs to be broken down and which tips to give to give a beginner to give them a boost to success.
Because of his course, I decided to sign up for a subscription to become MASTER OF BLENDER - Moouuuuaaaaaa ha aha ha!!
Seriously, thank you Jonathan for getting me into it. Your course made it really easy to dip my toe in the water, and then wade in. I'm about 50% through the Introduction to Blender flow, and it gets complicated really fast - and I hope they give you an opportunity to update other courses in that flow.
Blender has become an unstoppable juggernaut and Jonathan's beginners course is an excellent starting point.
Thanks Jonathan ! From CGcookie I really learned the most about Blender! For me the best site around where you really can learn from A to Z how Blender works, in such easy way!
After watching 142 hours and seven minutes of CG Cookie videos, I am convinced this is the premier place to learn computer graphics. I have to provide my own cookies though.
Congrats on the millionth view!
Yaaaay! I love the course, it really helped me out, Jonathan!
Congrats! CGCookie was my "lifeline" for Blender as I learned the ropes... Regards, Jim
I'm in the million...
Exercise accomplished Jonathan! :))
Compliments!