How to Learn Blender 3D from Scratch

Table of Content

• Understanding the Blender Interface Before Anything Else
  
• The Absolute Foundational skills needed for any Blender beginner
  
• Best way to learn Blender: Course or self-taught?
  
• 3D Modelling: Where most beginners should focus first
  
• Blender Tutorial or Beginners: Where to Start
  
• How to build a portfolio whilst learning
  
• Conclusion
  
• FAQs

Blender 3D is one of the best and most powerful pieces of software out there today that is accessible to animators, artists, designers, and all of these at no cost! It can do the modelling of your characters, sculpt them, animate them, do the visual effects and can even do the editing as well. To begin to learn how this all works would be a truly overwhelming experience. There are dozens of panels, hundreds of keyboard shortcuts, and the whole workflow has to be grasped, which is a relatively difficult thing to learn. But thousands of people worldwide have used Blender 3D to learn about 3D modeling and animation with no lessons or background knowledge of the principles and theory behind artistic animation.

This is where Blender really comes into its own and where the community surrounding Blender is the greatest advantage you will get from it. From free tutorials and beginner Blender courses to open source Blender project files and Blender forums, you will be able to find solutions to almost any problem within minutes of seeking out help. The software is also updated periodically, making it that one little bit easier with each new version to accomplish whatever task you are trying to achieve in Blender, no matter whether you are trying to produce some game assets, short animated movies, Architectural visualisations, or even product renders. Blender 3D is capable of it.

Understanding the Blender Interface Before Anything Else

When the very first person opens Blender, the default scene is already populated with a cube, a light, and a camera. There is a reason for this; these three objects compose the foundation of nearly every 3D scene possible: a subject, something to illuminate it with light, and a device to take the final picture.

Important interface sections to become acquainted with first include:

●     The 3D Viewport is the center working region where the user creates and manipulates objects. This section accounts for most of the actual modeling, shaping, and animating work done in Blender.

●     The Outliner, top-right, contains a list of everything present in the scene and organizes them hierarchically.

●     The Properties Panel, right-hand portion of the screen, contains options, settings, and adjustments to any object in the scene, including their material, light source, animation settings, or physics.

●     The Timeline; bottom of the screen, is used solely for animating object actions.

●     The Header: the region above the 3D viewport, which changes from editor to editor and lists options/menus related to the active work environment.

Spending time in the first few sessions simply observing the interface (not actually modeling or animating anything) is time well spent. Knowing what each part does will make later instructions far easier to grasp.

For a more structured learning experience, consider enrolling in a comprehensive AR and VR training course.

The Absolute Foundational skills needed for any Blender beginner

Moving around in 3D space:

This is probably the thing that will feel completely alien for the first week. Thinking about how to move around in 3D on a 2D screen can be confusing at first, but it is a skill that needs to be acquired. The middle mouse button is used extensively. Hold the middle mouse button and move the mouse; the view will rotate. Middle mouse button scroll will zoom in or out.

Hold Shift + Middle Mouse button, and you can pan up/down and left/right. For those of you who do not have a middle mouse button, Blender has an option in its preferences to use Alt + Left mouse button as a middle mouse. You can use your numpad keys to instantly jump the camera into a front/side/top view or to the current camera perspective.

Manipulating an object:

You can translate (move), rotate, and scale any object in 3 d space. In Blender, you use the key press.

●     G = grab. Used to move the object around.

●     R = rotate. Used to rotate the object around.

●     S = scale. Used to resize the object.

After you press one of the above, you can then hit x, y, or z to restrict the action only on that specific axis. This is crucial for many things. You will have to force yourself to use these shortcuts for a while, and they will become second nature in only a few weeks.

Edit mode vs Object mode:

There are different modes you can work in depending on what you are trying to do. Object mode is used for moving entire objects around in the scene, copying them, and deleting them. Edit mode is where you get down and dirty and manipulate the geometry of a specific object, and you will do this thing millions of times. Hit the Tab key to switch back and forth, and it is something that a Blender beginner will end up doing hundreds of times a day. Knowing the purpose of each of these modes early on can save you a lot of confusion.

Best way to learn Blender: Course or self-taught?

There is a lot of debate about whether it is better for an individual to take courses on Blender or to piece together their learning from a collection of individual tutorials. There are very real arguments on both sides, and the best choice relies purely on the individual learner.

Learning Blender from a Course

There are many structured blender courses online to teach people. Structured courses often ensure a person covers every concept required to understand what it is that is being taught. This is where unstructured learning often falls down-you can find yourself skipping between topics and developing holes in your knowledge. A good introductory course will cover:

●     The Blender Interface

●     Basic Modelling Principles

●     Materials & Texturing

●     Lighting & Rendering

●     An overall project that brings together what has been taught

Udemy, Skillshare, and CG Cookie all offer very good courses on Blender. Blender itself offers a series of Blender tutorials for beginners on its website; these short, topic-specific videos are a great introduction to the fundamentals of using the software. For those who prefer not to spend money up front, free blender courses on platforms like YouTube cover much of the same ground and are a perfectly reasonable place to start.

Where can I find free Blender Courses?

Unfortunately, not everybody can afford the payment required for a course. However, there are many quality blender courses that are absolutely free. YouTube channels covering topics on Blender contain thousands of hours worth of tutorials for every skill level.

Where can I find free blender courses?

Blender Guru is likely the best-known and has been running a Blender tutorial series aimed at teaching how to create a donut. This is, seemingly, very simple; it teaches about UV unwrapping, materials, particle systems, and rendering in a step-by-step fashion.

Here are some of the best blender courses available on YouTube:

●     Grant Abbitt also makes very clear tutorials aimed at the game artist, particularly character modelling and creation of game assets.

●     Blender's official YouTube channel regularly releases new tutorial updates with each new release of the software.

●     CGCookie has a free selection of basic content that people are able to access and use without payment.

 A downside to the free options is that it is up to the individual to construct their learning course. If you just learn what is necessary without building it up, you risk finding yourself watching tutorial after tutorial without necessarily progressing.

If you want to explore this topic in more depth, you can check out this AR/VR course for professionals.

3D Modelling: Where most beginners should focus first

Modelling is the term used to define creating a 3D shape out of geometrical components. This is the most basic skill of Blender 3D and one that supports most of what the rest of the software does. An animator will need models to animate, a lighting artist will require objects to light, and even some motion graphic work involves models to begin with. Most blender courses for beginners start with modelling for exactly this reason, as it builds the foundation that every other skill in the software depends on.

Standard modelling types in Blender:

●     Box modelling is the process of starting with a basic primitive model and extruding faces, pushing and pulling vertices, and adjusting edges, etc., until the shape is correct.

●     Subdivision surface modelling is the term used for when a modifier is applied to a low-poly model, which softens it; the resulting model will be smooth and curved in the final render.

●     Sculpting: Unlike polygon modelling, instead of adjusting vertices and edges, a model becomes like clay and can be pushed, pulled, and carved.

Most beginner 3D artists are eager to learn to sculpt, but this creates models that are un-animatable and un-texturable, unless they also learn Retopology, which is another advanced skill and one that beginners should tackle once the basics of polygon modelling have been mastered.

Blender Tutorial or Beginners: Where to Start

The choice of blender tutorial or beginners will influence how quickly your progress will take place. A well-written beginner tutorial won't overwhelm you with too much information all at once. It will teach you a new thing to do one at a time, like how to navigate the viewport, how to model an object, how to make a simple render, and so on.

The best first tutorial series remains the donut series by Blender Guru, which is free, covers an impressive array of skills with one project, and progresses at a pace new users will be comfortable with. Blender Foundation's website has also published short, topic-focused videos that cover a specific tool and function individually without overwhelming a newcomer.

The main thing you need to do is follow through one tutorial and finish it before you start another one. The more you try to tackle different things before you finish, the less knowledge you have to build upon.

How to build a portfolio whilst learning

A key way of cementing the things that you are learning is to finish projects. A common issue for students starting off is watching and watching tutorials, and never actually finishing anything. Having completed work in your portfolio (it doesn't need to be good, just completed), it encourages learning and motivates you to complete further projects.

Here are some basic projects students can undertake:

●     Modeling and rendering a domestic object such as a chair, lamp, or cup.

●     Building a basic room, containing a window and a few pieces of furniture.

●     Animating a bouncing ball. This teaches principles of timing, squash, and stretch.

●     Creating a low-poly character model appropriate for use in a game engine.

●     Re-creating a real product as a 3D render from reference photographs.

These projects all push the student to tackle issues that are unlikely to have been covered in a tutorial, and it is through this process of problem-solving that learning occurs.

Conclusion

To begin learning Blender 3D from the ground up really takes time, but the skills and experience that grow through repeated application can open doors into the game development industry, film production, product design, architecture, and fine art. Blender 3D is where those skills are all accessible with no entry fee at all. Whether that means taking structured blender courses for beginners, following free blender courses, or building up a skill set using the available resources of the larger community, it is the act of creating real projects and not just following tutorials that ultimately allows us to learn the principles and practices of 3D art.

It is by doing that we progress, and that we learn where our mistakes were made, and that we develop a fuller comprehension of the correct application. With no cost for tools, no cost for training resources, and a large, supportive community, what more can a novice to 3D art ask for?

FAQs

1. Realistically how long does it take to learn blender 3D?

A functional beginner in Blender 3D typically takes 3 to 6 months to achieve. 3 to 6 months of practice 5 to 10 hours per week will get you to that level. A professional level requires considerably more time, 2 to 4 years of work to be considered professional quality. What you learn, as models, animation or VFX will each have their own difficulty, the learning period will very much differ between each.

2. Is Blender 3D suitable for someone who has never touched 3D software before?

Yes, however patience will be required, Blender's interface is difficult at first but there is enough online content on tutorials blender for beginners for anyone who puts in the time to achieve results. Completing short, simple tutorials first instead of a huge project will make things much more accessible at the start.

3. What computer specs are needed to run Blender 3D?

Blender's requirements are not very high, however using a dedicated graphics card does make a huge difference to speed and workflow. 8GB ram with a medium range graphics card will generally be sufficient to run for simple modelling and rendering in Eevee. To get more speed for cycles rendering, use a powerful graphics card, 16GB of RAM will be helpful.

4. Is spending money on a Blender course a worthwhile venture when there is free material?

Paid blender courses can provide structure, more detailed information and support. For those that need something to follow to maintain a curriculum, this is usually worthwhile. Otherwise, free material online with the top free blender courses on Youtube covers almost exactly the same topics.

5. Will the skills learnt in Blender 3D be transferable to another 3D program?

To a great extent yes. The concepts behind modeling, materials, lights and animation are very similar across different programs. Anyone who has mastered the basics of Blender 3D will only really need to learn a new interface, not completely new topics.