"I want to run but I can't even walk yet" - this sentence best sums up the learning process. Thanks for this video! I will follow in your steps and hope to learn something like you.
Hi Brad! The reason your art-hut didn't look as well is the lightning. Just like in painting, you have to find a lightning setup which emphasizes forms and space. (enabling depth of field looks pretty on this style as well) And don't be afraid to post-produce your render in Photoshop!
To add to this: learning photography will teach you a lot about lighting in 3D spaces. Looking for tutorials about lighting in Blender, will only teach you how other people perceive lighting. But if you study photography, you will understand how light works and transfer those skills to Blender.
don't be afraid to use FLOSS versions of programs that are alternative to Adobe ones, including GIMP, Krita, Darktable, Inkscape and many others, Open source is your friend not your enemy.
I've been using max for 20 years and in the meantime I learned many new programs. Recently switched to Blender, but not completely. One thing I realized 10 years ago is that it's best to first just watch tutorials, from beginner's to advanced lessons, without even trying to follow them, just watch and soak in as much as you can. Then you start again, watch a video and then repeat what they did. That's how I learned at least 5 pretty complex programs in pretty short time. Unreal engine is one of them. My first practice project in Unreal engine was actually my first job in UE for which I got payed. 8 years and few more programs later, still living from UE.
Almost same. Good tip. So funny to see you come to Blender Brad. I'm following you since I bought the iPad pro to draw with Procreate essentially. I love your channel. And I almost couldn't believe it was the same Brad talking about Blender, a program I began learned in its 2.49 version. At that time Blender guru was almost the only one to provide good tuts. Hopefully now there are tons of good tutorials about each part of this awesome open source 3D software. One time I read the post of a graphic designer explaining he was learning something new each time he opened Photoshop. Since then I can say I can learn something new each time I open Blender and wayyy more than I would with Photoshop. So my 2 cents would be to learn only what you need when you need it because you could learn for the rest of your life without creating anything if you wait to know each piece of Blender. Moreover it is upgrading with new features so quickly that when you think you know most of it, you can press repeat everytime. Just have a look at geometry nodes, the last big thing that was added to Blender, and mad things we can do with that. By the way I'm glad to watch Brad's Blender tuts now ! :) I also love grease pencil and Dedouze art. Looking forward to seeing your GP creations.
Thanks, I’m yet to start learning (I even moved away from my friends to have more time for studying) but I’m torn whether I should right away buy a good rig with a great gpu that will be even good enough for decent rendering or just first spend at least a month or two just watching tutorials and then get a good pc and keep going.
@@0utder You don't really need a beast of a machine to start. You only need that when you get into fancy materials and lighting. Start with basic modeling, and you'll see how you feel about blender. Start right now, strike while the iron is hot. From experience, waiting to upgrade your setup is just an advanced type of procrastination.
@@ginemginem on I totally ended up getting a beast, it instantly made renders be quick and I need to get good at it in a decent amount of time, already appreciating what I’ve learned
Blender is such a powerful software but it is definitely hard to learn. I've been using it for 6+ years and I still feel like a beginner! I definitely agree with you about the importance of repetition though, once you use a feature a few times, the seemingly infinite amount of buttons and options start to become clear and truly epic things can be created.
I don't know why people say that Blender is hard to learn..I started it last october, and by the end of it I already made a high cuality model, and my skill is still growing day by day through experimenting and tutorials on youtube. Modeling in Blender to me feels like playing a game. Any other software scares me with how over-complicated and scary it looks...
@@almas4663 any 3d software is going to look complicated for noobs, and a lot of people (myself included) want to move quickly and do projects without understanding the basics, or have a short attention span and give up. I'm also trying to learn blender.
@@J-wm4ss There's enough tutorials to learn the basics in at least a few days. You can't just move quickly without basics, it's like going from a bicycle to car without driver's licence. Every good software needs some time to learn, and blender is the easiest and functional. You can't make anything good with an "easy-to-use" apps, like the one from this video - 3D is not a toy.
@@almas4663 Of course. But blender is free (versus a program that costs hundreds of dollars and benefits from the sunk cost fallacy) and there are a lot of videos that are like "i made this really cool thing in just a few days! or months." I'm just stating that's why people have the expectation of magically making something cool and then quit when it doesn't immediately pan out.
yes! I'm 2 years into my blender journey and I'm always amazed how much I still don't know lol. I can usually get the result I want now, but my efficiency is still severely lacking. sometimes it takes weeks for a single model 😵
I'm a teacher who decided to switch my college 3D class from 3dsMax to Blender this semester. My classes started on their donuts back in January and can totally relate with your experience so far. Thanks for sharing.
I am a long time user of MAX (16 years) but havent used it for roughly 4 years. Needless to say i'm rusty. My work started using Maya so i used that for about 8 months, now they are on hard times and have decided to move to Blender. Any tips going from a Max mindset to Blender?
@@eyeprops5422 Yeah And, what's better, is that you can actually look around in literally every different angle possible! As for the artist, they don't have to draw all those angles as well. Win-win, many angles with less hassle (assuming you have experience) Same goes for animation, in 2D you need to redraw everything to get them to move a bit, but in 3D you drag one thingy and move on
I remember watching "Beast Wars" (yeah, i'm that old) that every time one of the characters tranformed the animation was played from different angles. That was the first time i realised the potential of 3d rendering.
"Make a donut!" indeed; it's _the_ tutorial these days, and he's been keeping it updated for major Blender revisions. I love how mine turned out! 😁👍 btw, if you think dedouze's art looks amazing on a monitor, you should see it in _actual 3D!_ One of those scenes was a demo included on the Looking Glass Portrait lightfield display. 🤩
sometimes its hard to do low poly art because you want to add every detail.. but there really is a art to capturing your vision with a few elements as possible!
Oh my god, I'm so glad you mentioned your experience going through the tutorials - having the exact same experience. Sooo long and they make it seem SO easy!
Great Video. I too followed the Donut tut. The one person whose style helped me learn most is Grant Abbitt. His series of low poly tuts are great, and he goes at a great pace, even telling you to pause and go ahead and see if you remember how to do something he's already taught you. I highly recomend his vids.
I have started learning Blender so many times that I've lost track. I get to a certain point, then either get frustrated or bored. I haven't worked with it since the big giant update, so maybe it's time. The fact that you're basically outlining the roadblocks that kept me from moving forward makes me feel like i should try again and not be so hard on myself. Thanks!
I've been using Maya for over 10 years now and Blender is still one of the hardest pieces of software for me to try use. Also in regards to the mouse, I almost exclusively use a pen tablet when doing 3D (top button right click, bottom middle click), I find it way more precise and natural to work with.
I feel the same. Been a Maya and 3Ds Max user for years now. The main problem with blender is that since it's the first contact a lot of people have with 3D, it doesn't care about doing anything "industry standard". That's why it can be more frustrating for industry veterans than beginners.
Glad for your comment because I'm one of the few people who hasn't used a mouse for… Wow, I can't even remember. At least 10 years. Oh yeah, I remember. Since 2005. I use a pen and tablet for everything on the computer. It's much easier on the human hand and wrist. If you draw, and illustrate through Photoshop and illustrator, etc., it's really the only way to go. But there is a lack of awareness of users like us in many tutorials.
O jeez... just found your channel. And without even having seen your material I'm gonna complain, well... not really but a bit, which makes me feel really awkward but it is becoming a thing on youtube these days: may I ask you, and other creators, if it isn't an extra pressure on your end, to make available 720p material without the 60herz thing? Since many of us out in the world still are on limited dataplans, the 720p60 eats data like 1048p and up material. ANyway... gonna watch now :-D Thanks! edit: LOL!!! I had the same thing back in the past.... 3 years ago orso, maybe even longer, but yes! I messed up the same way with the donut topping. Finding the fault was cool though, so... yeah. edit2: well... like the vid. A lot. You should do tutorials 😀
Oh man, the lifetime pet peeve of mine is never having learned to draw… you showed it clearly what a great toolset to have with the art hut, creating a high level concept art-ish sketch gave the whole picture of what’s really needed to be done on the modeling phase. I dig these moments so much… now, onto learning some basic drawing skills.
Loomis books are nice. I don't suggest you have to be good at drawing, but drawing and 3D art are mutually reinforcing skills, it helps if you do it regularly even without the purpose of becoming good at it.
@@SianaGearz That is ABSOLUTELY true. I often model/sculpt my comics characters in Blender to use them as reference models to speed the perspective drawing. As you say, modelling and sculpting is such a neurons demanding task that I find that the actual 3d shapes get engraved in my brain boosting my 2d drawings skills.
I know Blender community would recommend the donut tutorial bcos it is like the "rite of passage" into Blender, but I oppose that. Donut tutorial is great and all, except that it covers all various aspects and features that a beginner shouldn't know on their first day using Blender. What I'd recommend is the beginner series by Crossmind Studio. He's got accent but the curriculum is imo better: teach beginner about manipulating object in Object Mode, then going into Edit mode, than simple materials, etc. One should understand Object and Edit mode well first, and not being overwhelmed by simulation, particles, etc on first tutorials (donut tutorial does that). Anyway, good luck on your journey! 😀
Crossmind studio has great beginner friendly tutorial. He has Playlist that'll guide you through each and every steps, tools and techniques you can use and optimize. Great tutorials!👍
Oh wow, thanks for the feature Brad, I'm glad you found my video useful! Haven't had much time to make vids due to work commitments atm, but I hope my up coming content helps on your blender journey, good luck 😁🙌
This is excellent advice. I've been using Blender since before TH-cam was much of a thing. Having a good supply of vids and then putting your own spin on it is priceless. I see people who are new to 3D and they're advancing way faster than I ever did. Awesome work.
Watching this is practically watching a replay of what I did to learn blender when I started out, I also tried to do something too big for me at the time and ended up failing... Now it's my hobby, I get paid for it every now and then, and I have an incredible amount of fun every time.
thanks for keeping my excitement and motivation up for continuing my journey learning Blender. I have no art or cg background but i love learning new tech. Your words and energy make me want to get back in there and finish the isometric room i started :)
Thank you!! Finally someone who understands. Ive just started learning blender through watching tutorials and I gotta say it's exciting and overwhelming at the same time. I want to dab on everything, but figured I need to focus on one thing at a time. I am currently learning how to do exterior models of buildings. It's a slow process but I'll manage
I'm right there with you. Almost 20 years as a designer and just now jumping into Blender. My suggestion, watch the video at 2x speed before jumping in to blender. Then watch again as you work using a Pitcher-in-Pitcher extension. Thanks for dropping those links!
I learned Blender and ZBrush at the same time, and from someone who had only done Photoshop/Illustrator work before, everyone said ZBrush would be the most intuitive. It was not. Not even close. Maybe it was because of my experience with 3D sandbox games, or something else, but Blender (even though still confusing) was way easier to pick up. The same thing goes for trying to learn 3Ds Max. Blender just made more sense from an interaction/keybind standpoint. Middle mouse to orbit, mouse wheel to zoom in and out, shift + middle mouse to move around. To this day, the most difficult thing I do in ZBrush is getting the damn camera where I want it. One more thing I love about blender are the node based systems. They are incredible, and I have yet to encounter anything else like them. They give you so much freedom to do what you want, and to make crazy textures, shapes, filters, whatever. I still haven't touched the sculpting or hardcore modeling aspects of blender yet, but my minimal knowledge in those areas is almost completely made up for with my understanding of the node system.
I think the point about redoing something without the tutorial is so good. It really makes you think about what you’re doing instead of just going through the motions
seeing what you have created is quite good progress in a month. I've been using blender for 3 years now and comparing my old projects to the new ones makes me proud of myself, a little bit of patience is require
I tried to learn Blender when I was 18. I was far too impatient and just kinda quit. Now, a decade later, I'm picking it up again, but I'm pretty much starting from square 1. I followed a 20 minute tutorial, which took me 3 hours. And last night, I figured out UV mapping all on my own from the vague memories I have. I'd say there's even more parts of Blender than just modeling, rendering, animation and grease pencil. There's also VFX, video editing, and a lot more I'm forgetting.
Follow Blender Guru's Donut tutorial. It is a 16 part series that will take you probably (if you are going through as fast as possible) like 2-3 days and will take you over the fundementals of blender, and how to actually start using the software. He doesn't go too in depth to any one topic, but he does explain what he's doing, why he's doing it, what's it doing to the model, and how it works which is something most tutorials don't do (As they assume you have basic knowledge). It's great to get you up and running in blender
When i want to make something more complicated I'm always watching someone else doing it basically because there are SO MANY useful tools that you can forget about or just the view that they have on modeling things as more professional artists makes me so much more comfortable when I'm working
Im just a few weeks into my blender journey and I think completing tutorials to your personal satisfaction is great advice. It doesn't have to be perfect, you just have to learn something. Then move on! learn something new! practice what you learned
Have a few recommendations that would suit your fun cartoon/illustrator style, Brad (some well known, some hidden gems). - Southern Shotty - favours a stop-motion/hand-made style so fun with an old school feel - th-cam.com/users/SouthernShotty - Grant Abbitt - really beginner friendly with an emphasis on hand-crafted texture painting (he's the Bob Ross of Blender :) ) - th-cam.com/users/GrantAbbitt - Paul Cageggi - mainly Grease Pencil tutorials (maybe the closest to how you use 2D illustration apps in your vids) - th-cam.com/users/PaulOCaggegi - Imphenzia - low-poly king who does intense 10 min speed modelling challenges - th-cam.com/users/Imphenzia - Pepe School Land - worked directly with Blender Institute to help develop Grease Pencil - th-cam.com/users/PepeSchoolLand - Sketchy Squirrel - losts of really great Grease Pencil tips - th-cam.com/users/SketchySquirrel - Worthikids - mainly cartoon shorts made in Blender but has one live tut that's worth watching - th-cam.com/users/Worthikids - Łukasz Rusinek - amazingly unique Grease Pencil animations (always interesting) - th-cam.com/users/yosifol - Team Miracles - some very decent Grease Pencil tuts - th-cam.com/users/TeamMiracles Non TH-cam: - Grease Pencil Fundamentals - by the creators of Grease Pencil (for an older Blender version but prob the best fundamentals GP tut) - studio.blender.org/training/grease-pencil-fundamentals/ Also check out some of the Blender Studio shorts (all 3D files for these shorts are available to download, inspect and are Creative Commons!). For your style, would recommend: - Caminandes 2 - old school Wyle E. Coyote Warner Bros style - th-cam.com/video/Z4C82eyhwgU/w-d-xo.html - Hereo - 2D animation showing what Grease Pencil is capable of - th-cam.com/video/pKmSdY56VtY/w-d-xo.html - Sprite Fight - Pixar-like but with teeth - th-cam.com/video/_cMxraX_5RE/w-d-xo.html - Spring - has some Hayao Miyazaki/Studio Ghibli vibes - th-cam.com/video/WhWc3b3KhnY/w-d-xo.html - Big Buck Bunny - goofy fun - th-cam.com/video/YE7VzlLtp-4/w-d-xo.html - Agent 327 - comedy spy short (Tintin is maybe the closest I can think of) - th-cam.com/video/mN0zPOpADL4/w-d-xo.html - Cosmos Laundromat - completely out there! - th-cam.com/video/Y-rmzh0PI3c/w-d-xo.html And, if you want to poke about some really decent quality 3D demo scenes files, check out the Blender Demo Files page: www.blender.org/download/demo-files/ Hope that helps! :)
You remind me when I started to learn Maya back in 2008. It was a slow process but I managed. I'm also trying to learn Blender, I think is a better 3D software and you can do anything there (even videoediting)! As I already have a 3D background it wasn't that bad when I began but still is very different than Maya or 3DMax or Cinema4D. I hope to see soon more of your Blender work. Take care man!
I use Blender maybe every 6 months, and everytime I pick it back up I'm amazed at the shortcuts I have unintentially memorized, and then also frustrated with the shortcuts I've forgotten. I"d recommend making yourself a few notes so you don't forget. Also Dedoze is amazing I love watching his Instagram. I also did his tutorial a few months ago but didn't have much patience or luck as he did.
Get Blender Gurus pdf cheat sheet - great free resource for helping with the shortcuts! I did way back when, and it was a sign of how much I had learnt when I created my own cheatsheet with my more commonly used stuff arranged differently
I've been learning modelling so far, basically a variety of content creators who demonstrate how to model a human body. I've also dabbled in rigging the human form too, and I have dabbled in landscaping (basically sculpting a plane). I've produced a number of alright low poly models, but never one I want to make use of for anything XD . I love Imphenzia's tutorials. He does a bunch of low poly models and explains the steps clearly. The models may not always look fantasic, but they are functional, and teach several important shortcuts for modelling. Drawing from a visual reference is easier than drawing from an idea in your head. At least that is the case for me.
Great to see how your experience with Blender went! :D This message to anyone - Feel free to suggest any tutorial ideas that you think might have been hard to track down out there on your initial journey, there are lots of creators willing to share workflows to make it as easy as possible to jump in on any part of Blender. Thanks! :D
to get your building model to look different, play with the camera settings in blender...depth of field, wide angle, etc. and the multiple lights with different lighting temperatures
As some people here have said, every day you can learn something new in Blender, this is a huge program and it's not fully finished, every two or three months an update pops up, some full of new ways to create things in 3d. The Blender community is very active and diverse as is the program itself. Blender is a true Swiss Army knife, illustrators, modelers, game devs, animators, film-makers, vFX, 3d printers, there's something in Blender for everyone. I've been using Blender since version 2.73 and I've done lowpoly modeling, asstes for games, characters for games, today I'm learning to model to create my 3D prints. Welcome to the community and let's create together!
I've been using Maya for about 4 years now, I find Blender super hard to switch to due to all the differences. But with that said, I'm super grateful for it as it is allowing people to try things without having to put down a load of money to try Maya.
This is the best video ever. I am a graphic designer I used Photoshop and illustrator more than ten years. I mean I have started with photofilter lol. After that I started learning after effects, premiere pro then I found myself working in Elementor and wordpress for clients.. a couple of days ago I saw an amazing Photoshop and I was damn I don't know how to create that. I followed the man in social media and he said he did it in a 3D software. And I was you fool. You lost your path of becoming great at something by trying to do everything at the same time But watching your video made me realize it's alright. I will always have something new to learn. I will always be learning and getting satisfied with the result of what I learn. Thank you for this video. It really means a lot and helps to keep us pushing forward
Welcome to the Blender gang, Brad! Hey, relax, you're going to be here for a looong time! I've been a daily user for well over ten years now and still get excited every time I open it! I still haven't even got my teeth into Grease Pencil yet, but I'm in no rush - here to stay :] If I could give you one bit of advice (you did ask!) - I don't know which option you chose at the start, but I would urge you to PLEASE at least give Right Click to Select a try! For at least a week... or a month... or a year!! Honestly, I'm an old school user and the new kids whined and whined until they put left click up as an 'up front' option, but it's just not right! There's some sort of zen 'click flow' magic that happens with rit=ght click select - something about the way you click through into an object and into edit mode... I don't know, it's unexplainable, but Right Click FTW!! Also, enable Pie Menus! ;D
If I select everything the whole day with left click why should I do the other way around in blender. It’s like forcing lefty’s to use there right hand.
I literally just started learning blender for the past few weeks, saw your video and was like no way!!! Nodding along through the entire video - I found some courses on Skillshare really good as well, along with youtube content. This is the first time I have ever touched 3D and as you said, want to run and make 3D masterpieces but am breaking down the skills into modelling, texturing and lighting and slowly building each of the skills! WOULD LOVE to see more blender work you create!!
I've been using blender for a few years and a long time 3ds max user (1999) My best advice is that you don't need to know everything in blender to use blender well. It's a super deep program.. learn the bits that YOU want to use.
I tried using Blender many, many moons ago but my GPU-less PC I had was more than a little challenged by it, not to mention as it was relatively early in Blender's development there were fundamental interface and layout design choices which I couldn't get on with. In all it was too much hassle and left me feeling the way I usually feel about a fair bit of open source software - grateful for a free version of otherwise prohibitively, hideously expensive software, whilst still feeling as though I were mixing wine and water back to water. For all the stuff I have made I still feel like I've barely grazed a lot of the tools, and in first few days I was always tripping over my own fingers and mind trying to do even the most basic things. I find Andrew Price to be a fellow of good humour and insight when it comes to learning stuff. I find it interesting that everyone goes to that doughnut tutorial, even though it's not necessarily the first thing you'd ever think of making. I can say it was his tutorials that gave me confidence enough to reach into architectural visualisation, which was really a good leap for me in terms of attempting something which felt far beyond my reach at the time, and the results I got inwardly blew my mind. I've learned that there is no shame in going over tutorials time after time, archiving them as a means to remembering a process, no matter how simple - there's just so much to take in and apply that you're always likely to forget how to do something, and simply getting over the ego is usually the best way to save a lot of pain. The only real bug bear I have found is that with some Blender tutorials, just sometimes the tutor takes something for granted - usually a keystroke or quick side process which they're used to, and they fail to actually announce it when going through a step by step guide, though as you say it's also equally easy to simply miss a step when trying to become familiar with the interface and tools. I don't know if you've touched on geometry nodes yet, but in a way you're lucky that you've adopted Blender after the foundation for them has better established itself - I'd say that they probably hold the candle for the biggest recent change in the Blender workflow. Working initially with the particle system as a means to an end, having some of that tool become better suited through geometry nodes, and then having to survive a quick rewrite of how they work (which took out a slew of tutorials in the process, including some of Andrew's).. I think they're finally finding some focus. Some will see geo nodes (myself included) as a bit of a mixed bag. Whilst the system is undeniably powerful it also forces you to adopt a more mathematical, logistical approach, which can be tricky, and not necessarily so instinctive to an artist with a general art approach and no experience of joining art with with logistical methodologies. Either way I've had a great experience thus far learning to develop my inner Blender monologue. I started in June 2020 and here in early 2022 I finally have a portfolio with a slew of 3D work in it, and I'm about a third of the way through my first "proper" animation with a Pixar-esque short film, which is taking form through Blender and Davinci Resolve.. so far, so good. I hope you continue to progress and have fun with it man!
Omg, THAAANK YOU for saying that even though some tutorials are only 30 minutes or so, that it could take an entire afternoon! I thought it was just me and was hard on myself but it's a steep learning curve but ooohh soooo fun! Now, the lighting has me all thrown off. I think i need to slow down and step through a tutorial on that because it was one of the most frustrating things for me.
Hey Brad, thanks for this video, and mostly for your sincerity and enthusiasm. I've also been teaching myself Blender over the past couple weeks. I did make it all the way through the donut to the animation, but don't feel bad about not finishing because the blender guru guy said something like 97% of people don't make it through all the way to the end. I have to laugh a little because it's clear that along with your passion is a bit of impatience, in hopping from project to project without finishing, and then later you admit as much. You want to be good right away. I can relate to this feeling! But I have observed some of this energy across-the-board with tech people, even gamers, who seem these days to enjoy finishing a game as fast as possible. That's never been me, and that's not me. I like to take my time enjoying the entire game universe and I'm in no rush to complete it. I feel I have equal passion for learning blender, but I don't mind the detours; I don't mind stopping the tutorial for even half an hour to work something out, because that is all good learning too. There was someplace in that tutorial where I got off the path and I redid that part of the lesson like five times until I got it. Working through these problems and solving them is extremely important to me (tho not so much aligning with the exact same image at the end, either. I'm with you on that part). It's the repetition & the application of the new methods and tools that are important. But when I stop to work out a problem, I feel like I'm getting an even deeper embedding of that knowledge and process. But everybody works differently. Even if you and I, or 10 other people with 10 other ways of learning, approach it differently, I think the most important part is knowing how you work and working with that. In any case, mostly wanted to thank you for the video. Enjoy your journey!
I started learning blender at the start of the pandemic & the biggest bit of advice I could give is: Make a lot of notes! Now I'm a little all over the place with learning CG animation, Blender 2D system, Modeling, how Blender can work with other software on top of pushing my digital art further. Going back to just lets say modeling after a few months of animation is such a pain trying to remember where everything is. Also I started in Blender 2.8 & it has a bad habit of moving things around between updates, just to make you feel extra crazy.
Regarding the mouse/numpad issue - I found out that remapping the Num 0 and Num Comma to additional mouse buttons was a great time optimization. Also - official tutorials were great to start with.
Welcome to the Blender community. I use a laptop too and you can plug a small graphic tablet instead of a mouse and configure the pen buttons to middle and right click. You'll have to rewire the muscle memory but it's so much more intuitive.
Seems I started learning at the same time as you. Blender is such a strange program, it's so overwhelming and manageable at the same time. I have a longtime goal to do a short animation and I feel it's finally possible with blender
It's quite easy to do away with the numpad if you hold alt while rotating the viewport with the mouse wheel held down. Holding alt will snap your view just as numpad numbers would do. Also alt+ clicking mouse wheel recenters the viewport. Rest of the numpad functionality can easily be remapped to different keys.
Taking 2-4x the time to do a tutorial is what helps you learn. You almost want things to go wrong, as the trouble shooting is what truly gives you a better understanding
I've been using blender for a little over a year now. I've just started into the sculpting tab. There is so much this program can do. Heck, I've even done motion tracking and VFX. It's amazing. Thank the Maker for TH-cam though. No way I'd be here without it.
I’m so excited that you are learning Blender too. I’ve been at it for a month or two. I’ve been a fan of your drawing videos and now I can see your Blender stuff. Cool!
Really interesting to see how you approached learning it. I learned Blender to do vfx for an indie sci fi series, and I think it really helped me learn to have a specific goal. it also helped me to say, "I don't need to know everything right now. If I can just figure out how to make spaceships fly through space, I don't need to overwhelm myself with everything Blender can do."
I've been wanting to get into blender and VFX but have really struggled to even start anything, largely because of that lack of specific goal. I've had a thought to make a short of what I figure real life space combat would ACTUALLY look like in a universe with warp drives but no artificial gravity, and I've got a rough script in my head but haven't actually started it because I have zero confidence in my ability to model and animate a convincing human face, and lack the resources to record people in a convincing zero-g simulation.
I still have my donut file somewhere....i remember I really struggled at the beginning like you did, but i always thought of the day I can look back and say " wow it was all worth it" And this day eventually came, its just a great feeling. Like a door to unlimited Imagination except that you now have the abilities to make it come true..... One final thing, there is always something you can learn and something new. For example recently I found two new shortcuts I never new existed.....And don't be afraid to ask in forums if you're in need of help. The blender community is one of the greatest i know....
I learnt Blender completed the Donut tutorial and now I am just resting for over year and a half Once I achieved the initial goal it was huge relief for me and all my motivation kinda died out, I wanted to do 2D animation in Grease pencil but couldn't understand the tutorial so I just stopped but now I am going to continue doing it again once my exams end
I have tried the blender couple of times in the past and didn't improve myself further because of the sheer frustration i felt tbh. I was doing it one more time due to new version released. I tried the new verion when it came out but didn't continue on that either. For several years i have been watching videos like this or tutorials without following them step by step. Lately i felt that i should dive one more time. By following a tutorial how it should be from the start again. I will try to remember ur experience and try to endure more. Thank you for the video. It was quite relatable.
I’ve been using blender for a couple years and the journey you’ve described was very similar to mine in the beginning! I only wish I had learned earlier what you talk about in the video, that sometimes it can really help to be Ok with it not being “perfect”!
I'm glad I watched this. I've had such a hard time. I've given up many times. I recently got a 3d resin printer, though, and don't want to be stuck making other people's work. I stared altering models. That worked, so I gave it another go to make something from scratch, and it worked! I made a simple mushroom shape, sculpted it a little bit, and printed it, and it actually printed! Now I want to scan sculptures I make (not 3d but by hand) and animate them. I keep learning, and that seems to be the most important lesson I've learned overall.
This was so encouraging! And thank you for providing a roadmap for absolute newbies. I'm currently doing the Blender beginner tutorials on the Blender TH-cam channel, and then occasionally other short and sweet tutorials when I just want to create something. I will definitely be starting the donut one next!
I’m just starting w blender and have been frustrated with the speed of the people making tutorials. I stumbled on your 10 things to know video and it made sense. I going to start over w the donuts. Thanks for the help!
i had started blender, but got too frustrated when nothing was working in the donut part and left it there, but i might even start it again with a new inspiration Thanks a lot Brad!!
Videos like this help me from getting discouraged. I'm trying to learn how to make worlds for my community in VRChat more properly than just in unity with pro-builder but blender has been harder for me to pick up simply because of how powerful it is and just how much it can do. It's easy to get overwhelmed.. There seems to be this weird sort of superiority complex many have in the space that if you cant just pick up and be totally proficient at blender in a few hours you're stupid.. And it makes it hard to keep trying to learn as apparently some people go from having never done anything with 3D software to making fully rigged models from scratch in less than a day. Seeing others have to spend real time learning everything makes me not feel so alone. Thanks for that~
I`ve been using Blender for years now and am still learning new things. Incredible piece of software and FREE. What I would add for new users is that you must have a powerful enough laptop if you don`t have a desktop PC . A dedicated graphics card is a must. Integrated graphics on laptops are no good. I really made progress when I moved away from tutorials and started making my own stuff. You always come across something not covered in tuts that you need to work out and it`s then you start to learn more. Keep up the good work, Blender is just awesome.
Congratulations on your blender journey, thats pretty good going :O) it is a constant learning experience no matter how long you have been doing it a week or 20 years always something, it is fun and we all want to run before we walk so i think we all know exactly how you feel. i love Blender and its community! keep up the great work/learning you are doing great! :O)
I just started learning blender because i want to eventually make games. After trying a game maker tutorial, it lead me to blender for asset making as well as for animations. Im more than half way through the donut videos and have jumped into the 3d modeling for some basic 3d printing work. Its so much fun and its nice to know your first month sounds about how mine is going. It sounds like I'm doing alright. Thanks for this vid as its helped with my own confidence.
This is exactly what I need - a walk-through, with links where helpful, of a "I started here - and now I'm here" process. Thanks a ton. I'm going to follow along with you until I get to that happy 'solo' stage. Roger
Thank you for this. I'm an illustrator, and almost exclusively use Adobe Illustrator. I spent much of the last weeks trying to wrap my head around Blender to possibly expedite some of my process, and it has been an unwieldy beast that netted some models I can use as reference but not show anyone. :D I have had a VERY similar time pecking around various tutorials in hopes of having some breakthroughs, but end up hitting my patience limit and move onto the next tutorial that seems like it may offer a better jump into the ease I have drawing 3-D on a plane. Your video helped me realize I need to finish a tutorial before I move to the next, and offered some great options to work through. I appreciate you sharing your experience.
Must be something in the water! I started seriously exploring Blender about a month ago, and it’s been really cool to see that a bunch of other creators that I follow started learning it around the same time! Awesome progress and great video! Excited to see where you take it next!
Oh man. Didn’t expect to see this video today but am so excited that you’re on the Blender learning train. Would be cool to see some usage of 3D tools on your product review vids. Love your content!
Your picking this up is similar to my journey. I initially sought out blender to push my 2d even further, and Grease pencil also attracted me to blender. I been messing with blender for a few years now, I have a solid grasp of modeling and wanna pick up some sculpting so i have even greater shape control options, but i understand most of the basic modeling tools and i can solve 88% of my modeling problems without tutorials these days. Thanks to udemy and Grant Abbitt, i am fairly familiar with the interface and the basic modeling tools. it took me a while to grasp, but not as long as some people have complained about in comment sections of these videos. I wanna get into comics, and mainly want 3d models for light hints and keeping things on model. Blender is helping me visualize things i wouldnt otherwise be capable of. And its only recently dawned on me, how much information we human beings discard. It only dawned on me when blender was showing all these forms in 3 dimensional space without simplifying or freezing that i realized "holy hell we really do discard alot of information."
There are some add-ons that really enhance your Blender workflow: HardOps + BoxCutter (hard surface modelling), retopoflow (retopology after sculpting), cad transform and 3d print (if you want to do some 3D printing), Powersave (automate versioning and auto-saving). Just to name a few. I'm glad you are going thru this path. I'm looking forward to what you will do in the future with Blender.
thanks so much for sharing! i've been coming at blender over the last week or so purely from the texturing end and it's been sort of a wild adventure of transferring between blender and my preferred art program. i'm about to start in on learning the actual modeling part of the program and this was the perfect video for me to find---keeping your learning experience and tips in mind will help me learn more efficiently. great video!
I used to do a lot of blender a few years ago, but blender guru was key to learning how to do anything the basics. Great video and look forward to your progress.
Blender is named for the effect it has on my brain every time I try to learn it. Kudos for people that are able to pick it up. It’s the interface, I hate navigating it. I would much rather pay to use targeted apps that are built to do specific tasks well than deal with this monster program.
"I want to run but I can't even walk yet" - this sentence best sums up the learning process. Thanks for this video! I will follow in your steps and hope to learn something like you.
I'm currently doing the QWOP stumble trying to run as well. Hope you managed to learn something like he did.
Hi Brad! The reason your art-hut didn't look as well is the lightning. Just like in painting, you have to find a lightning setup which emphasizes forms and space. (enabling depth of field looks pretty on this style as well) And don't be afraid to post-produce your render in Photoshop!
To add to this: learning photography will teach you a lot about lighting in 3D spaces.
Looking for tutorials about lighting in Blender, will only teach you how other people perceive lighting. But if you study photography, you will understand how light works and transfer those skills to Blender.
@@Xgil2Play to build off this blender guru has a great lighting series as well
don't be afraid to use FLOSS versions of programs that are alternative to Adobe ones, including GIMP, Krita, Darktable, Inkscape and many others, Open source is your friend not your enemy.
Yeah, harness the lightning
@@Xgil2Play do you know any resources to start learning lighting photography?
I've been using max for 20 years and in the meantime I learned many new programs. Recently switched to Blender, but not completely. One thing I realized 10 years ago is that it's best to first just watch tutorials, from beginner's to advanced lessons, without even trying to follow them, just watch and soak in as much as you can. Then you start again, watch a video and then repeat what they did. That's how I learned at least 5 pretty complex programs in pretty short time. Unreal engine is one of them. My first practice project in Unreal engine was actually my first job in UE for which I got payed. 8 years and few more programs later, still living from UE.
I love hearing this. People living off of what they enjoy doing.
Almost same. Good tip.
So funny to see you come to Blender Brad. I'm following you since I bought the iPad pro to draw with Procreate essentially. I love your channel.
And I almost couldn't believe it was the same Brad talking about Blender, a program I began learned in its 2.49 version. At that time Blender guru was almost the only one to provide good tuts. Hopefully now there are tons of good tutorials about each part of this awesome open source 3D software.
One time I read the post of a graphic designer explaining he was learning something new each time he opened Photoshop. Since then I can say I can learn something new each time I open Blender and wayyy more than I would with Photoshop. So my 2 cents would be to learn only what you need when you need it because you could learn for the rest of your life without creating anything if you wait to know each piece of Blender. Moreover it is upgrading with new features so quickly that when you think you know most of it, you can press repeat everytime. Just have a look at geometry nodes, the last big thing that was added to Blender, and mad things we can do with that.
By the way I'm glad to watch Brad's Blender tuts now ! :)
I also love grease pencil and Dedouze art. Looking forward to seeing your GP creations.
Thanks, I’m yet to start learning (I even moved away from my friends to have more time for studying) but I’m torn whether I should right away buy a good rig with a great gpu that will be even good enough for decent rendering or just first spend at least a month or two just watching tutorials and then get a good pc and keep going.
@@0utder You don't really need a beast of a machine to start. You only need that when you get into fancy materials and lighting. Start with basic modeling, and you'll see how you feel about blender.
Start right now, strike while the iron is hot. From experience, waiting to upgrade your setup is just an advanced type of procrastination.
@@ginemginem on I totally ended up getting a beast, it instantly made renders be quick and
I need to get good at it in a decent amount of time, already appreciating what I’ve learned
Blender is such a powerful software but it is definitely hard to learn. I've been using it for 6+ years and I still feel like a beginner! I definitely agree with you about the importance of repetition though, once you use a feature a few times, the seemingly infinite amount of buttons and options start to become clear and truly epic things can be created.
I don't know why people say that Blender is hard to learn..I started it last october, and by the end of it I already made a high cuality model, and my skill is still growing day by day through experimenting and tutorials on youtube.
Modeling in Blender to me feels like playing a game.
Any other software scares me with how over-complicated and scary it looks...
@@almas4663 any 3d software is going to look complicated for noobs, and a lot of people (myself included) want to move quickly and do projects without understanding the basics, or have a short attention span and give up. I'm also trying to learn blender.
@@J-wm4ss There's enough tutorials to learn the basics in at least a few days.
You can't just move quickly without basics, it's like going from a bicycle to car without driver's licence.
Every good software needs some time to learn, and blender is the easiest and functional.
You can't make anything good with an "easy-to-use" apps, like the one from this video - 3D is not a toy.
@@almas4663 Of course. But blender is free (versus a program that costs hundreds of dollars and benefits from the sunk cost fallacy) and there are a lot of videos that are like "i made this really cool thing in just a few days! or months." I'm just stating that's why people have the expectation of magically making something cool and then quit when it doesn't immediately pan out.
yes! I'm 2 years into my blender journey and I'm always amazed how much I still don't know lol. I can usually get the result I want now, but my efficiency is still severely lacking. sometimes it takes weeks for a single model 😵
I'm a teacher who decided to switch my college 3D class from 3dsMax to Blender this semester. My classes started on their donuts back in January and can totally relate with your experience so far. Thanks for sharing.
I am a long time user of MAX (16 years) but havent used it for roughly 4 years. Needless to say i'm rusty. My work started using Maya so i used that for about 8 months, now they are on hard times and have decided to move to Blender. Any tips going from a Max mindset to Blender?
What I love about 3d is the ability to render your art at different angles.
And don't forget that you also don't have to start from scratch if you wanna adjust some shape, or lighting, or material etc
@@tiagotiagot Exactly.
@@eyeprops5422 Yeah
And, what's better, is that you can actually look around in literally every different angle possible!
As for the artist, they don't have to draw all those angles as well.
Win-win, many angles with less hassle (assuming you have experience)
Same goes for animation, in 2D you need to redraw everything to get them to move a bit,
but in 3D you drag one thingy and move on
I remember watching "Beast Wars" (yeah, i'm that old) that every time one of the characters tranformed the animation was played from different angles. That was the first time i realised the potential of 3d rendering.
@@julianverdier7166 i loved that show! i used to pretend it was a videogame
ANOTHER PRO TIP: Use 2 monitors. This SAVED me!!
"Make a donut!" indeed; it's _the_ tutorial these days, and he's been keeping it updated for major Blender revisions. I love how mine turned out! 😁👍 btw, if you think dedouze's art looks amazing on a monitor, you should see it in _actual 3D!_ One of those scenes was a demo included on the Looking Glass Portrait lightfield display. 🤩
sometimes its hard to do low poly art because you want to add every detail.. but there really is a art to capturing your vision with a few elements as possible!
Oh my god, I'm so glad you mentioned your experience going through the tutorials - having the exact same experience. Sooo long and they make it seem SO easy!
Great Video. I too followed the Donut tut. The one person whose style helped me learn most is Grant Abbitt. His series of low poly tuts are great, and he goes at a great pace, even telling you to pause and go ahead and see if you remember how to do something he's already taught you. I highly recomend his vids.
he also has a full course on udemy. I highly recommend it
I have started learning Blender so many times that I've lost track. I get to a certain point, then either get frustrated or bored. I haven't worked with it since the big giant update, so maybe it's time. The fact that you're basically outlining the roadblocks that kept me from moving forward makes me feel like i should try again and not be so hard on myself. Thanks!
I was the same way, but with 2.8 it’s became much easier to learn. I use it every day now and have done whole sequences in grease pencil.
Wait did I type this comment? This sounds like me
I've been using Maya for over 10 years now and Blender is still one of the hardest pieces of software for me to try use.
Also in regards to the mouse, I almost exclusively use a pen tablet when doing 3D (top button right click, bottom middle click), I find it way more precise and natural to work with.
I feel the same. Been a Maya and 3Ds Max user for years now. The main problem with blender is that since it's the first contact a lot of people have with 3D, it doesn't care about doing anything "industry standard". That's why it can be more frustrating for industry veterans than beginners.
Glad for your comment because I'm one of the few people who hasn't used a mouse for… Wow, I can't even remember. At least 10 years. Oh yeah, I remember. Since 2005. I use a pen and tablet for everything on the computer. It's much easier on the human hand and wrist. If you draw, and illustrate through Photoshop and illustrator, etc., it's really the only way to go. But there is a lack of awareness of users like us in many tutorials.
Just about to dive into blender and found all this very helpful, Thankyou!
good luck
welcome
Same here.
O jeez... just found your channel. And without even having seen your material I'm gonna complain, well... not really but a bit, which makes me feel really awkward but it is becoming a thing on youtube these days: may I ask you, and other creators, if it isn't an extra pressure on your end, to make available 720p material without the 60herz thing? Since many of us out in the world still are on limited dataplans, the 720p60 eats data like 1048p and up material.
ANyway... gonna watch now :-D
Thanks!
edit: LOL!!! I had the same thing back in the past.... 3 years ago orso, maybe even longer, but yes! I messed up the same way with the donut topping. Finding the fault was cool though, so... yeah.
edit2: well... like the vid. A lot. You should do tutorials 😀
Oh man, the lifetime pet peeve of mine is never having learned to draw… you showed it clearly what a great toolset to have with the art hut, creating a high level concept art-ish sketch gave the whole picture of what’s really needed to be done on the modeling phase.
I dig these moments so much… now, onto learning some basic drawing skills.
Loomis books are nice. I don't suggest you have to be good at drawing, but drawing and 3D art are mutually reinforcing skills, it helps if you do it regularly even without the purpose of becoming good at it.
@@SianaGearz That is ABSOLUTELY true. I often model/sculpt my comics characters in Blender to use them as reference models to speed the perspective drawing. As you say, modelling and sculpting is such a neurons demanding task that I find that the actual 3d shapes get engraved in my brain boosting my 2d drawings skills.
I know Blender community would recommend the donut tutorial bcos it is like the "rite of passage" into Blender, but I oppose that.
Donut tutorial is great and all, except that it covers all various aspects and features that a beginner shouldn't know on their first day using Blender.
What I'd recommend is the beginner series by Crossmind Studio. He's got accent but the curriculum is imo better: teach beginner about manipulating object in Object Mode, then going into Edit mode, than simple materials, etc.
One should understand Object and Edit mode well first, and not being overwhelmed by simulation, particles, etc on first tutorials (donut tutorial does that).
Anyway, good luck on your journey! 😀
That's totally your opinion.
@@egretfx ofc it is, I said "imo" already 😁
Crossmind studio has great beginner friendly tutorial. He has Playlist that'll guide you through each and every steps, tools and techniques you can use and optimize. Great tutorials!👍
Oh wow, thanks for the feature Brad, I'm glad you found my video useful! Haven't had much time to make vids due to work commitments atm, but I hope my up coming content helps on your blender journey, good luck 😁🙌
This is excellent advice.
I've been using Blender since before TH-cam was much of a thing. Having a good supply of vids and then putting your own spin on it is priceless. I see people who are new to 3D and they're advancing way faster than I ever did. Awesome work.
Watching this is practically watching a replay of what I did to learn blender when I started out, I also tried to do something too big for me at the time and ended up failing... Now it's my hobby, I get paid for it every now and then, and I have an incredible amount of fun every time.
thanks for keeping my excitement and motivation up for continuing my journey learning Blender. I have no art or cg background but i love learning new tech. Your words and energy make me want to get back in there and finish the isometric room i started :)
just getting back into blender and watching this video definitely helps me a lot not to stress out if I mess up or miss a step
Thank you!! Finally someone who understands. Ive just started learning blender through watching tutorials and I gotta say it's exciting and overwhelming at the
same time. I want to dab on everything, but figured I need to focus on one thing at a time. I am currently learning how to do exterior models of buildings. It's a slow process but I'll manage
I'm right there with you. Almost 20 years as a designer and just now jumping into Blender.
My suggestion, watch the video at 2x speed before jumping in to blender. Then watch again as you work using a Pitcher-in-Pitcher extension.
Thanks for dropping those links!
I learned Blender and ZBrush at the same time, and from someone who had only done Photoshop/Illustrator work before, everyone said ZBrush would be the most intuitive. It was not. Not even close. Maybe it was because of my experience with 3D sandbox games, or something else, but Blender (even though still confusing) was way easier to pick up. The same thing goes for trying to learn 3Ds Max. Blender just made more sense from an interaction/keybind standpoint. Middle mouse to orbit, mouse wheel to zoom in and out, shift + middle mouse to move around. To this day, the most difficult thing I do in ZBrush is getting the damn camera where I want it.
One more thing I love about blender are the node based systems. They are incredible, and I have yet to encounter anything else like them. They give you so much freedom to do what you want, and to make crazy textures, shapes, filters, whatever. I still haven't touched the sculpting or hardcore modeling aspects of blender yet, but my minimal knowledge in those areas is almost completely made up for with my understanding of the node system.
I think the point about redoing something without the tutorial is so good. It really makes you think about what you’re doing instead of just going through the motions
seeing what you have created is quite good progress in a month.
I've been using blender for 3 years now and comparing my old projects to the new ones makes me proud of myself, a little bit of patience is require
I tried to learn Blender when I was 18. I was far too impatient and just kinda quit.
Now, a decade later, I'm picking it up again, but I'm pretty much starting from square 1. I followed a 20 minute tutorial, which took me 3 hours. And last night, I figured out UV mapping all on my own from the vague memories I have.
I'd say there's even more parts of Blender than just modeling, rendering, animation and grease pencil. There's also VFX, video editing, and a lot more I'm forgetting.
Follow Blender Guru's Donut tutorial. It is a 16 part series that will take you probably (if you are going through as fast as possible) like 2-3 days and will take you over the fundementals of blender, and how to actually start using the software. He doesn't go too in depth to any one topic, but he does explain what he's doing, why he's doing it, what's it doing to the model, and how it works which is something most tutorials don't do (As they assume you have basic knowledge). It's great to get you up and running in blender
When i want to make something more complicated I'm always watching someone else doing it basically because there are SO MANY useful tools that you can forget about or just the view that they have on modeling things as more professional artists makes me so much more comfortable when I'm working
I have an iPad and a Mac studio, I liked the guru’s tutorials because he also covered the mistakes you might make and he is slow paced which helps
Im just a few weeks into my blender journey and I think completing tutorials to your personal satisfaction is great advice. It doesn't have to be perfect, you just have to learn something. Then move on! learn something new! practice what you learned
Have a few recommendations that would suit your fun cartoon/illustrator style, Brad (some well known, some hidden gems).
- Southern Shotty - favours a stop-motion/hand-made style so fun with an old school feel - th-cam.com/users/SouthernShotty
- Grant Abbitt - really beginner friendly with an emphasis on hand-crafted texture painting (he's the Bob Ross of Blender :) ) - th-cam.com/users/GrantAbbitt
- Paul Cageggi - mainly Grease Pencil tutorials (maybe the closest to how you use 2D illustration apps in your vids) - th-cam.com/users/PaulOCaggegi
- Imphenzia - low-poly king who does intense 10 min speed modelling challenges - th-cam.com/users/Imphenzia
- Pepe School Land - worked directly with Blender Institute to help develop Grease Pencil - th-cam.com/users/PepeSchoolLand
- Sketchy Squirrel - losts of really great Grease Pencil tips - th-cam.com/users/SketchySquirrel
- Worthikids - mainly cartoon shorts made in Blender but has one live tut that's worth watching - th-cam.com/users/Worthikids
- Łukasz Rusinek - amazingly unique Grease Pencil animations (always interesting) - th-cam.com/users/yosifol
- Team Miracles - some very decent Grease Pencil tuts - th-cam.com/users/TeamMiracles
Non TH-cam:
- Grease Pencil Fundamentals - by the creators of Grease Pencil (for an older Blender version but prob the best fundamentals GP tut) - studio.blender.org/training/grease-pencil-fundamentals/
Also check out some of the Blender Studio shorts (all 3D files for these shorts are available to download, inspect and are Creative Commons!). For your style, would recommend:
- Caminandes 2 - old school Wyle E. Coyote Warner Bros style - th-cam.com/video/Z4C82eyhwgU/w-d-xo.html
- Hereo - 2D animation showing what Grease Pencil is capable of - th-cam.com/video/pKmSdY56VtY/w-d-xo.html
- Sprite Fight - Pixar-like but with teeth - th-cam.com/video/_cMxraX_5RE/w-d-xo.html
- Spring - has some Hayao Miyazaki/Studio Ghibli vibes - th-cam.com/video/WhWc3b3KhnY/w-d-xo.html
- Big Buck Bunny - goofy fun - th-cam.com/video/YE7VzlLtp-4/w-d-xo.html
- Agent 327 - comedy spy short (Tintin is maybe the closest I can think of) - th-cam.com/video/mN0zPOpADL4/w-d-xo.html
- Cosmos Laundromat - completely out there! - th-cam.com/video/Y-rmzh0PI3c/w-d-xo.html
And, if you want to poke about some really decent quality 3D demo scenes files, check out the Blender Demo Files page:
www.blender.org/download/demo-files/
Hope that helps! :)
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Thank you!!!
You remind me when I started to learn Maya back in 2008. It was a slow process but I managed. I'm also trying to learn Blender, I think is a better 3D software and you can do anything there (even videoediting)! As I already have a 3D background it wasn't that bad when I began but still is very different than Maya or 3DMax or Cinema4D.
I hope to see soon more of your Blender work. Take care man!
i'm so happy to find this. i'm so excited to start learning and making stuff
Kevindram's voice is soooo soothing, I don't use blender, but i listen to his grease pencil tutorials when I have trouble sleeping.
I use Blender maybe every 6 months, and everytime I pick it back up I'm amazed at the shortcuts I have unintentially memorized, and then also frustrated with the shortcuts I've forgotten. I"d recommend making yourself a few notes so you don't forget.
Also Dedoze is amazing I love watching his Instagram. I also did his tutorial a few months ago but didn't have much patience or luck as he did.
Get Blender Gurus pdf cheat sheet - great free resource for helping with the shortcuts! I did way back when, and it was a sign of how much I had learnt when I created my own cheatsheet with my more commonly used stuff arranged differently
I've been learning modelling so far, basically a variety of content creators who demonstrate how to model a human body. I've also dabbled in rigging the human form too, and I have dabbled in landscaping (basically sculpting a plane). I've produced a number of alright low poly models, but never one I want to make use of for anything XD .
I love Imphenzia's tutorials. He does a bunch of low poly models and explains the steps clearly. The models may not always look fantasic, but they are functional, and teach several important shortcuts for modelling.
Drawing from a visual reference is easier than drawing from an idea in your head. At least that is the case for me.
Great to see how your experience with Blender went! :D This message to anyone - Feel free to suggest any tutorial ideas that you think might have been hard to track down out there on your initial journey, there are lots of creators willing to share workflows to make it as easy as possible to jump in on any part of Blender. Thanks! :D
Loving your tutorials Aidy! Creative Shrimp.
@@michaelwsheeler :D Thanks so much! :D
to get your building model to look different, play with the camera settings in blender...depth of field, wide angle, etc. and the multiple lights with different lighting temperatures
As some people here have said, every day you can learn something new in Blender, this is a huge program and it's not fully finished, every two or three months an update pops up, some full of new ways to create things in 3d. The Blender community is very active and diverse as is the program itself. Blender is a true Swiss Army knife, illustrators, modelers, game devs, animators, film-makers, vFX, 3d printers, there's something in Blender for everyone. I've been using Blender since version 2.73 and I've done lowpoly modeling, asstes for games, characters for games, today I'm learning to model to create my 3D prints. Welcome to the community and let's create together!
I've been using Maya for about 4 years now, I find Blender super hard to switch to due to all the differences. But with that said, I'm super grateful for it as it is allowing people to try things without having to put down a load of money to try Maya.
This is the best video ever.
I am a graphic designer I used Photoshop and illustrator more than ten years. I mean I have started with photofilter lol. After that I started learning after effects, premiere pro then I found myself working in Elementor and wordpress for clients.. a couple of days ago I saw an amazing Photoshop and I was damn I don't know how to create that. I followed the man in social media and he said he did it in a 3D software. And I was you fool. You lost your path of becoming great at something by trying to do everything at the same time
But watching your video made me realize it's alright. I will always have something new to learn. I will always be learning and getting satisfied with the result of what I learn. Thank you for this video. It really means a lot and helps to keep us pushing forward
Good luck for everyone that just started learning blender! 🙌 it's hard but it's gonna be fun and worth the effort
Thanks for sharing your journey! I'm learning blender as well and I relate to everything you said lol.
SIR!!! Your transparent, clear communicative, humble approach of this was so encouraging! Earned my subscription!
Thank you for walking us thorough your experience Brad! Really useful!
Of course you gotta make the donut, IT'S A TRADITION!
Welcome to the Blender gang, Brad! Hey, relax, you're going to be here for a looong time! I've been a daily user for well over ten years now and still get excited every time I open it! I still haven't even got my teeth into Grease Pencil yet, but I'm in no rush - here to stay :]
If I could give you one bit of advice (you did ask!) - I don't know which option you chose at the start, but I would urge you to PLEASE at least give Right Click to Select a try! For at least a week... or a month... or a year!! Honestly, I'm an old school user and the new kids whined and whined until they put left click up as an 'up front' option, but it's just not right! There's some sort of zen 'click flow' magic that happens with rit=ght click select - something about the way you click through into an object and into edit mode... I don't know, it's unexplainable, but Right Click FTW!!
Also, enable Pie Menus! ;D
Fellow Right Click user! But I’ve been using Blender since 1998 so it’s in my muscle memory. Can’t teach an old dog new tricks, I guess. 🐶
My daughter loves your videos! Thank you for what you do! I also use blender (learning 3D animation for film)
Gang? you mean cult?
@@bimisikocheng We’ll, yeah.
If I select everything the whole day with left click why should I do the other way around in blender. It’s like forcing lefty’s to use there right hand.
Blender with Apple's Magic Mouse is absolutely amazing! NO joke. They really made efforts to make Blender work with the Magic Mouse super well.
Great job on the Loom ad. First sponsor section I've ever voluntarily listened to completely.
I literally just started learning blender for the past few weeks, saw your video and was like no way!!! Nodding along through the entire video - I found some courses on Skillshare really good as well, along with youtube content. This is the first time I have ever touched 3D and as you said, want to run and make 3D masterpieces but am breaking down the skills into modelling, texturing and lighting and slowly building each of the skills! WOULD LOVE to see more blender work you create!!
I've been using blender for a few years and a long time 3ds max user (1999)
My best advice is that you don't need to know everything in blender to use blender well.
It's a super deep program.. learn the bits that YOU want to use.
I tried using Blender many, many moons ago but my GPU-less PC I had was more than a little challenged by it, not to mention as it was relatively early in Blender's development there were fundamental interface and layout design choices which I couldn't get on with. In all it was too much hassle and left me feeling the way I usually feel about a fair bit of open source software - grateful for a free version of otherwise prohibitively, hideously expensive software, whilst still feeling as though I were mixing wine and water back to water.
For all the stuff I have made I still feel like I've barely grazed a lot of the tools, and in first few days I was always tripping over my own fingers and mind trying to do even the most basic things. I find Andrew Price to be a fellow of good humour and insight when it comes to learning stuff. I find it interesting that everyone goes to that doughnut tutorial, even though it's not necessarily the first thing you'd ever think of making. I can say it was his tutorials that gave me confidence enough to reach into architectural visualisation, which was really a good leap for me in terms of attempting something which felt far beyond my reach at the time, and the results I got inwardly blew my mind. I've learned that there is no shame in going over tutorials time after time, archiving them as a means to remembering a process, no matter how simple - there's just so much to take in and apply that you're always likely to forget how to do something, and simply getting over the ego is usually the best way to save a lot of pain. The only real bug bear I have found is that with some Blender tutorials, just sometimes the tutor takes something for granted - usually a keystroke or quick side process which they're used to, and they fail to actually announce it when going through a step by step guide, though as you say it's also equally easy to simply miss a step when trying to become familiar with the interface and tools.
I don't know if you've touched on geometry nodes yet, but in a way you're lucky that you've adopted Blender after the foundation for them has better established itself - I'd say that they probably hold the candle for the biggest recent change in the Blender workflow. Working initially with the particle system as a means to an end, having some of that tool become better suited through geometry nodes, and then having to survive a quick rewrite of how they work (which took out a slew of tutorials in the process, including some of Andrew's).. I think they're finally finding some focus. Some will see geo nodes (myself included) as a bit of a mixed bag. Whilst the system is undeniably powerful it also forces you to adopt a more mathematical, logistical approach, which can be tricky, and not necessarily so instinctive to an artist with a general art approach and no experience of joining art with with logistical methodologies.
Either way I've had a great experience thus far learning to develop my inner Blender monologue. I started in June 2020 and here in early 2022 I finally have a portfolio with a slew of 3D work in it, and I'm about a third of the way through my first "proper" animation with a Pixar-esque short film, which is taking form through Blender and Davinci Resolve.. so far, so good. I hope you continue to progress and have fun with it man!
Omg, THAAANK YOU for saying that even though some tutorials are only 30 minutes or so, that it could take an entire afternoon! I thought it was just me and was hard on myself but it's a steep learning curve but ooohh soooo fun! Now, the lighting has me all thrown off. I think i need to slow down and step through a tutorial on that because it was one of the most frustrating things for me.
Hey Brad, thanks for this video, and mostly for your sincerity and enthusiasm. I've also been teaching myself Blender over the past couple weeks. I did make it all the way through the donut to the animation, but don't feel bad about not finishing because the blender guru guy said something like 97% of people don't make it through all the way to the end.
I have to laugh a little because it's clear that along with your passion is a bit of impatience, in hopping from project to project without finishing, and then later you admit as much. You want to be good right away. I can relate to this feeling! But I have observed some of this energy across-the-board with tech people, even gamers, who seem these days to enjoy finishing a game as fast as possible. That's never been me, and that's not me. I like to take my time enjoying the entire game universe and I'm in no rush to complete it.
I feel I have equal passion for learning blender, but I don't mind the detours; I don't mind stopping the tutorial for even half an hour to work something out, because that is all good learning too. There was someplace in that tutorial where I got off the path and I redid that part of the lesson like five times until I got it. Working through these problems and solving them is extremely important to me (tho not so much aligning with the exact same image at the end, either. I'm with you on that part). It's the repetition & the application of the new methods and tools that are important. But when I stop to work out a problem, I feel like I'm getting an even deeper embedding of that knowledge and process. But everybody works differently. Even if you and I, or 10 other people with 10 other ways of learning, approach it differently, I think the most important part is knowing how you work and working with that.
In any case, mostly wanted to thank you for the video. Enjoy your journey!
I started learning blender at the start of the pandemic & the biggest bit of advice I could give is: Make a lot of notes!
Now I'm a little all over the place with learning CG animation, Blender 2D system, Modeling, how Blender can work with other software on top of pushing my digital art further. Going back to just lets say modeling after a few months of animation is such a pain trying to remember where everything is.
Also I started in Blender 2.8 & it has a bad habit of moving things around between updates, just to make you feel extra crazy.
Regarding the mouse/numpad issue - I found out that remapping the Num 0 and Num Comma to additional mouse buttons was a great time optimization.
Also - official tutorials were great to start with.
Welcome to the Blender community. I use a laptop too and you can plug a small graphic tablet instead of a mouse and configure the pen buttons to middle and right click. You'll have to rewire the muscle memory but it's so much more intuitive.
Wonderful video! Clear, concise, comprehensive, organized, informative. No music to compete with. Thank you Brad…
That tip with redoing the tutorial in a new doc is gold. I was thinking about how I'd retain all the info i think ill do that now too!
Seems I started learning at the same time as you. Blender is such a strange program, it's so overwhelming and manageable at the same time. I have a longtime goal to do a short animation and I feel it's finally possible with blender
It's quite easy to do away with the numpad if you hold alt while rotating the viewport with the mouse wheel held down. Holding alt will snap your view just as numpad numbers would do. Also alt+ clicking mouse wheel recenters the viewport. Rest of the numpad functionality can easily be remapped to different keys.
You can also press "~" to bring up the navigation pie menu, it's much better than numpad imo
Taking 2-4x the time to do a tutorial is what helps you learn. You almost want things to go wrong, as the trouble shooting is what truly gives you a better understanding
I've been using blender for a little over a year now. I've just started into the sculpting tab. There is so much this program can do. Heck, I've even done motion tracking and VFX. It's amazing. Thank the Maker for TH-cam though. No way I'd be here without it.
I’m so excited that you are learning Blender too. I’ve been at it for a month or two. I’ve been a fan of your drawing videos and now I can see your Blender stuff. Cool!
Really interesting to see how you approached learning it. I learned Blender to do vfx for an indie sci fi series, and I think it really helped me learn to have a specific goal. it also helped me to say, "I don't need to know everything right now. If I can just figure out how to make spaceships fly through space, I don't need to overwhelm myself with everything Blender can do."
I've been wanting to get into blender and VFX but have really struggled to even start anything, largely because of that lack of specific goal. I've had a thought to make a short of what I figure real life space combat would ACTUALLY look like in a universe with warp drives but no artificial gravity, and I've got a rough script in my head but haven't actually started it because I have zero confidence in my ability to model and animate a convincing human face, and lack the resources to record people in a convincing zero-g simulation.
I still have my donut file somewhere....i remember I really struggled at the beginning like you did, but i always thought of the day I can look back and say " wow it was all worth it" And this day eventually came, its just a great feeling. Like a door to unlimited Imagination except that you now have the abilities to make it come true.....
One final thing, there is always something you can learn and something new. For example recently I found two new shortcuts I never new existed.....And don't be afraid to ask in forums if you're in need of help. The blender community is one of the greatest i know....
I learnt Blender completed the Donut tutorial and now I am just resting for over year and a half
Once I achieved the initial goal it was huge relief for me and all my motivation kinda died out, I wanted to do 2D animation in Grease pencil but couldn't understand the tutorial so I just stopped but now I am going to continue doing it again once my exams end
I am so happy this video came out, THANK YOU
Downloaded blender last week and I'm pretty intimidated. Been looking for tutorials like crazy and man it's crazy all you can do.
I have tried the blender couple of times in the past and didn't improve myself further because of the sheer frustration i felt tbh. I was doing it one more time due to new version released. I tried the new verion when it came out but didn't continue on that either. For several years i have been watching videos like this or tutorials without following them step by step. Lately i felt that i should dive one more time. By following a tutorial how it should be from the start again. I will try to remember ur experience and try to endure more. Thank you for the video. It was quite relatable.
I’ve been using blender for a couple years and the journey you’ve described was very similar to mine in the beginning!
I only wish I had learned earlier what you talk about in the video, that sometimes it can really help to be Ok with it not being “perfect”!
It's frightening how your experience is so relatable ❤
I'm glad I watched this. I've had such a hard time. I've given up many times. I recently got a 3d resin printer, though, and don't want to be stuck making other people's work. I stared altering models. That worked, so I gave it another go to make something from scratch, and it worked! I made a simple mushroom shape, sculpted it a little bit, and printed it, and it actually printed! Now I want to scan sculptures I make (not 3d but by hand) and animate them. I keep learning, and that seems to be the most important lesson I've learned overall.
I also started pretty recently...around mid January. I'm rooting for you!
This was so encouraging! And thank you for providing a roadmap for absolute newbies. I'm currently doing the Blender beginner tutorials on the Blender TH-cam channel, and then occasionally other short and sweet tutorials when I just want to create something. I will definitely be starting the donut one next!
I’m just starting w blender and have been frustrated with the speed of the people making tutorials. I stumbled on your 10 things to know video and it made sense. I going to start over w the donuts. Thanks for the help!
Thank you for this list. I just started learning Blender myself and I can't wait to dive into these tutorials.
i had started blender, but got too frustrated when nothing was working in the donut part and left it there, but i might even start it again with a new inspiration
Thanks a lot Brad!!
Videos like this help me from getting discouraged.
I'm trying to learn how to make worlds for my community in VRChat more properly than just in unity with pro-builder but blender has been harder for me to pick up simply because of how powerful it is and just how much it can do. It's easy to get overwhelmed..
There seems to be this weird sort of superiority complex many have in the space that if you cant just pick up and be totally proficient at blender in a few hours you're stupid.. And it makes it hard to keep trying to learn as apparently some people go from having never done anything with 3D software to making fully rigged models from scratch in less than a day.
Seeing others have to spend real time learning everything makes me not feel so alone. Thanks for that~
It’s okay to feel that why. I felt like that sowhat at the beginning. Just use the love you have for making soft to overpower that feeling
I`ve been using Blender for years now and am still learning new things. Incredible piece of software and FREE. What I would add for new users is that you must have a powerful enough laptop if you don`t have a desktop PC . A dedicated graphics card is a must. Integrated graphics on laptops are no good.
I really made progress when I moved away from tutorials and started making my own stuff. You always come across something not covered in tuts that you need to work out and it`s then you start to learn more.
Keep up the good work, Blender is just awesome.
He is using a laptop here, and it all looks fine to me.
I have always used a laptop with Blender as well. Just bought a Dell Inspiron 16 Plus and its great. @@Tekkenandgaming
Congratulations on your blender journey, thats pretty good going :O) it is a constant learning experience no matter how long you have been doing it a week or 20 years always something, it is fun and we all want to run before we walk so i think we all know exactly how you feel. i love Blender and its community! keep up the great work/learning you are doing great! :O)
THANK YOU FOR THE ROAD MAP, I WAS NOT ABLE TO UNDERSTAND LIKE JUST WHERE TO START! THANK YOU BRAD!
I just started learning blender because i want to eventually make games. After trying a game maker tutorial, it lead me to blender for asset making as well as for animations. Im more than half way through the donut videos and have jumped into the 3d modeling for some basic 3d printing work. Its so much fun and its nice to know your first month sounds about how mine is going. It sounds like I'm doing alright. Thanks for this vid as its helped with my own confidence.
This is exactly what I need - a walk-through, with links where helpful, of a "I started here - and now I'm here" process. Thanks a ton. I'm going to follow along with you until I get to that happy 'solo' stage.
Roger
I am learning blender myself. I am starting with the grease pencil. Then modeling, and finally sculpting. It is the best thing I have ever found.
Thank you for this. I'm an illustrator, and almost exclusively use Adobe Illustrator. I spent much of the last weeks trying to wrap my head around Blender to possibly expedite some of my process, and it has been an unwieldy beast that netted some models I can use as reference but not show anyone. :D I have had a VERY similar time pecking around various tutorials in hopes of having some breakthroughs, but end up hitting my patience limit and move onto the next tutorial that seems like it may offer a better jump into the ease I have drawing 3-D on a plane. Your video helped me realize I need to finish a tutorial before I move to the next, and offered some great options to work through. I appreciate you sharing your experience.
Must be something in the water! I started seriously exploring Blender about a month ago, and it’s been really cool to see that a bunch of other creators that I follow started learning it around the same time! Awesome progress and great video! Excited to see where you take it next!
Brad, thank you. I've learn a lot from your videos and never say thank you. Thank you, Brad.
Love your response bro im just now getting into blender myself WISH ME LUCK BRO!!!
Very cool video. Started on a donut yesterday. I'm on my 3rd retry getting stuck but starting to understand slowly but surely.
a vine boom plays in my head with every fast rotation/camera position change/character movement
Oh man. Didn’t expect to see this video today but am so excited that you’re on the Blender learning train. Would be cool to see some usage of 3D tools on your product review vids. Love your content!
Your picking this up is similar to my journey. I initially sought out blender to push my 2d even further, and Grease pencil also attracted me to blender. I been messing with blender for a few years now, I have a solid grasp of modeling and wanna pick up some sculpting so i have even greater shape control options, but i understand most of the basic modeling tools and i can solve 88% of my modeling problems without tutorials these days. Thanks to udemy and Grant Abbitt, i am fairly familiar with the interface and the basic modeling tools. it took me a while to grasp, but not as long as some people have complained about in comment sections of these videos.
I wanna get into comics, and mainly want 3d models for light hints and keeping things on model. Blender is helping me visualize things i wouldnt otherwise be capable of. And its only recently dawned on me, how much information we human beings discard. It only dawned on me when blender was showing all these forms in 3 dimensional space without simplifying or freezing that i realized "holy hell we really do discard alot of information."
There are some add-ons that really enhance your Blender workflow: HardOps + BoxCutter (hard surface modelling), retopoflow (retopology after sculpting), cad transform and 3d print (if you want to do some 3D printing), Powersave (automate versioning and auto-saving). Just to name a few. I'm glad you are going thru this path. I'm looking forward to what you will do in the future with Blender.
Welcome to the club!
thanks so much for sharing! i've been coming at blender over the last week or so purely from the texturing end and it's been sort of a wild adventure of transferring between blender and my preferred art program. i'm about to start in on learning the actual modeling part of the program and this was the perfect video for me to find---keeping your learning experience and tips in mind will help me learn more efficiently. great video!
I used to do a lot of blender a few years ago, but blender guru was key to learning how to do anything the basics. Great video and look forward to your progress.
Your stuff really isn't that bad for someone who just started. It took me longer than I care to admit to be able to do anything half way as decent.
Blender is named for the effect it has on my brain every time I try to learn it. Kudos for people that are able to pick it up. It’s the interface, I hate navigating it. I would much rather pay to use targeted apps that are built to do specific tasks well than deal with this monster program.
Yeah the interface is pretty rough 😬