BlenderNewbies is a resource for learning Blender 3D. There are Blender 3D video tutorials, PDFs, tests, tools, and .blend files. Our goal is to cover a wide range of subjects while maintaining a presentation style that allows even beginners to keep up when things get to be more advanced. Also, be sure to check out our active forum for Blender users. Thanks for visiting!
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The Feng Zhu Design School provides valuable video lessons on composition, color design, lighting, digital painting techniques, and more. These lessons are packed with extremely insightful information that's very relevant to what we do in Blender.
The lessons are free and given by Feng Zhu, himself! Feng Zhu is one of the most in-demand concept artists in the game and feature film industry.
Here's the first "episode". I recommend going through them in order because some of the content is progressive.
The information in these videos, if studied and applied, will greatly improve the final results you get in your 3d graphics work. A lot of important issues are addressed in these videos that are rarely adequately covered in a "3d" tutorial.
It's easy to forget that what we do in Blender is built upon real techniques and concepts from the real world. Oftentimes, when trying to learn how to do something in Blender, the first instinct can be to look for a "Blender" tutorial on the subject. That can be fine for a quick fix, but don't forget to dig a little deeper on the subject when you have more time.
Figure out where you can get richer information about the real-world practices for the subject, and bring that knowledge back to Blender.
For lighting techniques, I think photography is a great place to start. Oil paintings (done by the Masters) are a great way to study the artistic application of the techniques. Of course, oil paintings precede photography on the timeline of history, but photography is where you'll find descriptions of lighting techniques that directly relate to what you'll be doing in Blender.
The following videos are good examples of the kind of info that's out there just waiting to illuminate your mind (sorry, couldn't resist). The three videos on 3-point lighting compliment each other with subtle, overlapping details. The fourth video is an example of a painting technique (Chiaroscuro) applied to real-world lighting.
Experiment with these techniques in Blender and watch your confidence increase as you have a new level of understanding based on real-world practices.
I'm very happy to announce that I've begun production on my next Blender Training DVD!
This DVD will cover Blender 2.5 exclusively and will contain many hours of new and unpublished tutorials. There won't be any 2.5 versions of any of my existing tutorials so this will be fresh new content!
The training will be mostly small project-based tutorials so that what you learn is in the context of a real project scenario. This helps you understand not only How to do something, but also helps you have a better understanding of Why and When. Also, the project-based tutorials will allow you to repeatedly experience the full workflow so you develop a better understanding of how things work together.
In addition to the project-based tutorials, there will be several quick tips and technical demonstrations.
All of the tutorials will be broken up into sections lasting no more than 30 minutes so you can always have time to sit down and complete a lesson (no long tests of endurance and patience).
The level of the training will be for Beginner- to Intermediate-level users. Keystrokes will be shown as needed. If you're just getting started with Blender or 3d graphics, this DVD will be of tremendous value to you. However, no one really likes their results to look like beginner stuff, right? So, the lessons will be taught so that the results you get will be something you'll be confident in sharing with others. Bad lighting and crazy texturing will not be taught. :)
As a Blender Foundation Certified Trainer, I'm very serious about the tutorials I create, so the attention to detail and quality will be high (content, product materials, packaging, and delivery). The focus will be on teaching, instead of merely demonstrating. Also, there will be skill-building elements included such as exercise files, puzzles (crosswords, word finds, etc.), and short tests.
So, what will the DVD cover?
and more!
(In no specific order at this point)
Interface tour QuickStart videos for the user interface
Easiest approach to learning how to model a human head with good topology
Rendering tips
Lighting tips
Several short modeling exercises (with texturing)
Animation basics
Animating a bouncing ball
Modeling and animating a spacecraft
Sculpting basics
Basic Video Editing
Using text in Blender
Smoke basics
Cloth basics
Particles basics
Hair basics
Composite Nodes basics
also
Plenty of links to helpful resources within the Blender Community
HTML interface for the disc contents
This list will likely change to some degree based on Blender's development. However, I will be sure to post information throughout the DVD's development to provide sneak previews, updates, and specific tutorial titles. A lot of smaller details (modifiers, interface elements and tools, etc.) will be covered within the context of the projects and in Reference videos.
What will the DVD not cover?
In-depth rigging
Game engine
Python programming
In-depth character animation
every aspect of Blender
The DVD will cost a modest $35 USD plus shipping. It will consist of twoFOUR DVD-ROM discs.
NOTE: Due to the increase in the number of discs provided (from 2 discs to 4 discs), the cost will increase to $50 USD plus shipping after May 13, 2011.
I'm really excited to finally get started on this project and I look forward to creating a top-quality resource for getting you up to speed with Blender 2.5!
Thank you for support! Please feel free to ask any questions or comment.
Here's a text-based tutorial that I created to help you spice up your scenes with textured lighting. We’ll take a look at how simple it is to drastically effect the look and feel of your renders by applying textures to lighting. Applying a texture to a light is generally the same as applying a texture to an object. The only difference is that we’ll be projecting the texture into the scene based on the light settings.
Although not a lighting tutorial that goes into great details of the lighting setups, we will take a look at the basic function of the lights within the different scenes. We’ll also cover how to create your own simple textures for the lighting. The last example will show how simple it is to use a video as a light texture.
These techniques will allow you to create interesting light and shadow patterns that can help frame the "story" and context of your scene; thus helping you to create scenes that no longer appear to exist within the all too common CG vacuum. They will also allow you to add subtle variations to your lighting instead of the ultra-clean lighting often seen when using very basic lighting techniques.
This tutorial requires a knowledge of the basics of applying a texture to an object in Blender.
