For many beginner Blender artists, normals can be hard to understand. What effect do they have on our 3D models? How do we control them and what kinds of normals are there that we need to worry about? A normal is a perpendicular vector of an object. In Blender, the object is usually a vertex […]
In Blender you can mark edges, which can be used for several reasons, allowing you to give special treatment to these edges in various ways. These are the edge markings available in Blender: Seams Crease Bevel weight Sharp Freestyle To mark an edge, enter edit mode, select an edge. Then click Ctrl+E to open the […]
N-gons can be a very useful tool when creating a model, they can speed up the process of creating our topology quite a bit and can help us resolve the details of our model, but at some point we'll likely want to fix them as they can cause problems for our topology and may not […]
When importing and exporting models in Blender there are many formats to choose from, sometimes the format that you'll need to use is DAE also known as collada. Whether you're looking to import or export, here is how to do it. To Import a .dae file first navigate to file > import > dae select […]
When creating art in Blender there are many cases where we may need a glass shader. Glass can add a lot of realism to our scenes and getting a glass shader right can be key to lighting our scenes in a convincing way. We will explore glass shaders for both Cycles and Eevee. To create […]
The poly build tool in Blender helps the artist with polygon modeling and retopology. We can use it on its own or combine it with other tools in Blender to get the most out of it. Poly build is an edit mode tool. We primarily use it with snapping when doing retopology. Enable it in […]
Rigid body simulation is probably the most common type of physics simulation. It is extensively used in games, and it allows objects to fall, collide, slide or bounce without deformation to any involved object. A rigid body object is a solid geometry that has no deformation, or a deformation small enough to be ignored. To […]
When I first started out using Blender, empties were a completely foreign topic to me. I had no idea why they would be useful. Today, I can't remember when I last did a project that didn't involve empties. An empty object is often just called an empty in Blender or empties for multiple empty objects. […]
When we start to learn modeling in Blender, we will come across multiple problems with our mesh. Anything from inverted normals, making our shading look off to lose geometry and gaping holes in the mesh. Here is a list of the most common problems that you may come across. Inverted normal Zero area faces Unconnected […]
When you 3D model in Blender, you will soon realize that your edges are very sharp. To round them of, we can use a bevel. A bevel will add more geometry on the edges, giving us an angled area where light can interact more naturally. In most cases this improves the look and realism of […]
Sometimes we need a way to group objects so that they can work as a single unit when we transform them. In those cases, parenting can be a great option. You can parent one object to another by following these steps: Select multiple objects. The last selected object will be the active object. Press Ctrl+P […]
Selections is an essential topic to master for any 3D artist. It can speed up your modeling workflow tremendously if you learn how to select properly with the right tools. But that is only the second-best part, the best part is that with selections out of the way you will enjoy 3D modeling so much […]
Plenty of artists and enthusiasts have begun dabbling with the prospect of creating their own projects utilizing various tools and 3D technology. Choosing the right software can become quite tricky, taking so many factors and features into account. So, would Blender or Source Filmmaker benefit you most? Blender offers limitless potential for projects in a […]
Plenty of artists and enthusiasts have begun dabbling with the prospect of creating their projects utilizing various tools and 3D technology. Choosing the right software can become quite tricky, taking so many factors and features into account. So, would Blender or KeyShot benefit you most? Blender allows artists to create custom models, assets, and animations […]
The creative field has expanded with digitization, resulting in numerous artists and enthusiasts experimenting with the idea of creating their projects using 3D technology. Choosing the right software can become problematic considering so many influential factors and features. So, would Blender or iClone benefit you most? Blender allows the creation of custom models, assets, and […]
Metaballs are one of those subjects that are often overlooked as an obscure and niche part of Blender. However, they do have some interesting use cases and can help us quickly create shapes and formations that are otherwise hard to produce or takes a lot of time. To add a metaball, press Shift+A, go to […]
The simple deform modifier is not as simple as it wants to make you think. But there are definitely some situations it can help. As you learn how it works you are likely to find yourself coming across more than one happy little accident. To use a simple, deform modifier, select your object, go to […]
It took a while for me to realize that Blender sometimes kept a second file saved when working on a project, the blend1 file. When I realized I got curious and had to find out why that was. A blend1 file is a backup file automatically saved by Blender in the same directory as the […]
In this top 10 list we explore the best add-ons for Blender to use when creating nature environments. All of these add-ons have high quality and comes at different price ranges. This is the list of add-ons we will take a closer look at. These are the add-ons we are going to cover in this […]
When modeling in Blender or any other 3D software, you are highly likely to use the loop cut tool. In fact, I can't recall a single modeling session when I did not use it. The loop cut tool creates a loop of one or more edges along a ring of quad faces. Press Ctrl+R, hover […]