Let's Learn Blender: Getting Started for Beginners

1. Wellcome!: Hi. I'm Eveling Salazar, and today I'm bringing you an interesting class about Blender I want to share with you some of the first steps I did to learn how to use the blender interface and some tips I learned about this amazing program If you have knowledge of other 3D programs and you want to start developing new skills with Blender Or if you don't have knowledge, about 3d programs yet This course is special from you We will start with the navigation and I will simply explain to you how to use the interface Then we will work with the camera and objects in a very easy way. You will understand the use of materials and finally, how to set up the render. You will learn Blender in only few steps that will help you to develop new skills and get unexpected results. In this class, you don't need any prior knowledge or experience It is especially for anyone who already has experience in other 3D software and wants to experiment with new design with Blender. Or if you're a complete beginner, I think that you can enjoy this class and discovers something new. In my career as a 3D designer, I have had the opportunity to use different software. In general, I find that learning a new program can be very entertaining and challenging. At the same time, it is also a great way to try new ways to create and new techniques to implement. Let's start a new way to increase our creativity with Blender I can't wait to have you in class. 2. Working with the Navigation: I usually work with different 3D programs, and one of the things that catch my attention is that each of the programs has a little different interface, Although being 3d programs they have a similarity, but their way of working on shortcuts are different. I made a transition from Cinema 4D to Blender and it was a little difficult to adapt for me. So for this reason, I have created this class for everyone who wants to start in Blender. or already has knowledge in other programs and wants to learn the interface in a fast and practical way. These lesson we'll be very helpful for you Let's start discovering Blender. To begin with, we will see the panels of the interface. This is the main panel where, the modeling and all, the scene creation are done by default, blender has a camera that is this rectangle, a light, and a cube. Every time we open the program. It is a type of list that allows you to organize all the objects that makeup the scene as you add elements to the scene they will appear in this section. It contains a great amount of grouped and very well organized functions, that facilitate the work of changing, the behavior and attributes of each element inside the scene. This vary according to the selected elements among them are materials and modifiers. There is the option menu, which is located in these upper part. Now that we know how to locate each of the sections of the Blender interface. I will explain how to navigate This was the first thing we want to know when I opened a Blender for first time. and now I will specify it because it is important to know it beforehand. The navigation in its entirety is with the wheel. Orbit: Wheel (MMB) Pan: Shift + Wheel Control wheel. For some in and zoom out. For move object. Use G for a scale object. Use S for rotate object use R If we get lost in 3D space two keys can help Home changes the view so that all objects can be seen View, frame all while, numpad period, adjusts the view. zoom to the currently selected objects. This is the main thing you need to know to start navigating the interface. Now we will see some keywords shortcuts that will help to navigate more precisely. Orbit, always MMB. And to change the angle of view in discrete increments, it is done with Numpad 8 and Numpad 2. Or by Numpad4 Numpad 6 to rotate the scene around that Z-axis from the current viewpoint Finally, Numpad 9 switches to the opposite side of the view. Next, Roll shift plus Numpad 4 and shift plus Numpad 6. Rotates the view around its local Z-axis in 15 degrees increments. Pan, with shift and MMB, moves the view up, down, left and right to pan the view. Shift is held down, while dragging with an MMB. In the 3D View. For discrete increments use control and Numpad 8 control Numpad 2 control Numpad 4 and control Numpad 6 keys as when orbiting And finally, Zoom In/Out With Control + MMB, you moves the camera forward and backward. You can zoom in and out by holding control and dragging MMB To zoom in increments the Numpad Plus and minus keys can be used. If you have a mouse wheel you can zoom by rotating the Wheel. Knowing this information helped me a lot to navigate and start creating with Blender. I hope it's helped you. In the next, we will see a little more about the interface. 3. Working with the Interface: When I started my exploration in Blender, the first time I wanted to go through and recognize each of the interface options intuitively and quickly Some options, I recognized but others I did not. For these reasons Here I will summarize that help you to know and recognize to shorten your time learning the interface The first one is top bar. The top bar is divided into the following sections, File, Edit, Render, Window and Help. Under files, you can open new files, open recent files, saved, import and export files, and other options. The next is edit menu, you find the options of undo and redo, history, menu search, and preferences The next is render menu, Render, image, animation and audio options, and more. And the last one, window menu there are options to create a new window in the workspace itself, this option is very useful when you want to try things out on work on several scenes at once. You can also switch to the next workspace with the next workspace option. And also this option, that I love is the save Screenshot option. Workspaces are essentially predefined window layouts. Blender's flexibility with areas lets you create customized workspaces for different tasks such as modelling animating, and scripting. Blender also has several more workspace added by default, modeling for modifying geometry, with modeling tools. Sculpting. For modifying meshes with sculpting tools. UV Editing mapping of image texture coordinates to 3D surfaces. Texture Paint, tools for coloring textures in the 3D Viewport. Shading, tools for specifying material properties for rendering Animation, tools to make object properties time-dependent. Rendering for visualizing and analyzing rendering results compositing to combine and post-process images and render information. Geometry Nodes For procedural modeling using Geometry Nodes. Scripting Programming workspace for writing scripts. The blender window is divided up into several rectangles called areas. Areas reserve screen space for editor size, such as the 3D Viewport or the Outliner. Areas can be customized to match specific tasks called workspace, you can resize areas by dragging their borders with LMB. Move your mouse cursor over the border between two areas so that the cursor changes to a double-headed arrow and then click and drag. Each mode is designed to edit one aspect of the selected object. Blender modes, Object mode and Edit mode The Object mode, the default mode, available for all object types. Edit mode, a mode is available that focuses on editing shapes, vertices, edges, faces for meshes control points for curves surfaces and more. Now that we know the basic to understand and manage the Blender interface let's review the camera in the next lesson. 4. Working with the Camera: A camera is an object that provides a means for rendering Blender images. It is defines which part of a scene is visible in the render image, the camera view shows the current scene as seen from the viewpoint of the currently active camera. It can be activated by pressing Numpad 0 The camera view can be used to virtually compose shots. and preview how the scene will look when rendered. Align active Camera to View control plus alt plus numpad 0. This feature allows you to position and orient the active camera to match the current view. Select a camera and then move around in the 3D view to a desired position and direction for your camera so that you are seeing what you want the camera to see Now, press control. alt, numpad 0 and your selected camera is positioned to match the view To control the camera use the middle mouse button. Press it and move the mouse to rotate the camera If you also hold down the Shift button, the camera will move instead of rotating. If you will hold down the Control button. instead, the scene will zoom in or out with the mouse movement. 5. Working with Objects: In this lesson, we will see how to work with objects and also a little bit about the modeling. You can add objects by Shift + A or by using the add button at the top. Or go to add, mesh add the object you need. Blender has a few modes. For basic modeling purposes Let's review two of them. In object mode, you can select an object or a few. and in edit mode, you can edit it. Use the tap key to switch to edit mode. The vertices and edges together form a surface. In edit mode, you can press one, two, or three. o switch to vertices, edges, and surfaces accordingly. Sometimes it is easier to edit an object when it is transparent for that, press Shift plus z. Here you can also move, rotate and scale, any vertex edges or surface using G, R and S, buttons and the axis button. Or use the corresponding buttons on the left panel. Check the extrusion press three to switch to surface mode and press "E" to squeeze the object. To delete the object, press tab Exit edit mode, and go to object mode, Then simply press Delete. If you are in edit mode, You can also press a to select all, and then press delete. If you need more geometry, select the object and press Control plus R in edit mode. This command will make a cut and add geometry. That combination of Control plus r and a scroll allows you to add more segments to the object When you add an object, for example a torus, an object configuration panel, will appear It is important to set parameters in it right away. Otherwise, if you make other modifications the panel will disappear and the changes will not be saved. How to make a donut-shaped object. Place a torus Switch to the top view Select half of all vertices. To do that. Make that object transparent with shift plus z. Otherwise only the top vertices will be selected, delete them Use shift plus z to cancel the transparent mode. And you will see that now have half a torus. In the next lesson, we will see the next steps that would have helped you understand the blender interface. Working with materials. 6. Working with Materials: You can use materials to show the substance an object is made of or to paint the object with different colors. Usually, the substance is represented by its surface qualities like color, brightness, reflectance, etcetera. Example. Firts, let's create a via shift plus a, mesh. Then enable the soft tone via right mouse-click to display it. When in the graphic Windows you can hold down. Z button to see the solid display or press shift plus Z to switch to wireframe. Click on world a red button with a red planet on the right side of the interface. Note that the color will be seen only in rendered mode. So you may want to split the screen to see the render and a perspective of the object in the same time. Click on the sphere and, in the lower right corner you will find a menu with a ball icon. This refers to the material properties. Click on New. Then in that list of parameters choose a contrast color so that the object can be visible. There are many more parameters to count set. It is a very good idea to give your materials clear names so you can keep track of them, especially when they are linked to multiple objects Try to make your names descriptive of the material. Not its function. For example, I put yellow painted. Now that we have a basic introduction to materials I invite you to see the last step to get to know the blender interface. and start creating your designs. 7. Render Time: Now we will see the last step to get to know the Blender interface Let's explore the rendering section. Blender has two engines, cycles, and eevee. The benefit of Cycles is that it allows you to have a photorealistic rendering and result although the rendering time is longer because of the additional resources it uses for processing. In contrast, the eevee render engine is a real-time render engine It can render the the 3D modeling in blender while you are still working on it. It is a foster render engine because it consumes less processing resources of the PC, but its result will be less realistic than Cycles. To choose which rendering engine will be ideal for your project you should consider the type of result you want to obtain. Also, take into account the time in which you need it. Now let's move on to the rendering section. I have a scene open I will use it to know the Render Settings. In this top section, blender has four options for scene view you can choose one according to your need. The first one is the viewport shading wireframe. Display, the objects as wire edges. The next one is Viewport Shading. Solid. Display the object in solid modes. The third one is material preview display the material preview mode. And the last option is a render preview. This option helps to visualize an approximation of what will be the final render. For the Render Settings, go to Render properties and choose the render engine you need. The important thing for a high-quality result is the amount of sampling you add the more you add the less noise you will get in the image. Also, keep in in mind that the more sampling you add the longer it will take to render. In the cycles. engine there is a denoising option use it to add more quality to your renders and eliminate noise. Now let's look at output properties In that section add the the dimensions for the render as well as where to save it and choose the format Maybe PNG, JPEG, Tiff, and more. With those simple steps you can get the rendering done in Blender Now, just press F12 and rendering will start. 8. Class Project: Thank you very much for joining me in this class I am very excited to have you here. Your project is to explore each of the steps followed in and create your first render with Blender, You can use the file attached in in the projects & resources section or create a new composition using the options Add, mesh, and add, the shapes you want to use for your render. Please, publish your 3D composition in the Project & Resources Gallery Share it. I would love to see the result of the renders. To publish your Class Project, you must do the following: Go to the Project and Resource section, locate the Create a Project button on the right side, Click on it. And once you're there, you can select a cover photo and a title. In the project description you can add some comments about your process Something about what you enjoyed about the class, or if you want something about yourself. and share your social media links To upload your work, click on Image, and then you can upload a as many images as you want to share. After it's ready, hit Publish and your project will be shared. If you share it through Instagram or stories you can tag me @eve__3d I will be very excited to see each project. If you have any questions or need extra guidance during your process, feel free to contact me using the discussion boards. I can't wait to see your project. 9. Keep Learning!: Please, leave a review if you found this class helpful and learned a new skill. All of your comments will be very valuable to me. If you want to get notified about my upcoming classes. Follow me. And you will be notified when my new class is out. You can follow me on Instagram and see what other projects I'm working on. I also invite you to follow in my YouTube channel where I publish some tips about different 3D software. If you post your art don't forget to tag me. So I can take a look at what you have created. If you want to learn more about how to create 3D compositions, I invite you to follow my other classes on Cinema 4D, and Adobe Dimension or Substance 3D Stager I hope you enjoyed this class and learn something new. I hope to see you soon.