Sometimes when we're modeling in Blender we may want to create a much more complex scene or object such as a castle. Modeling every individual element is very time consuming for such a large an intricate object. With kit bashing we can cut a lot of the modeling out and get straight to designing the […]

By default when using Cycles or Eevee in Blender, there are no post-processing effects, including glow. This means that no matter how bright an object is it will not radiate that glow effect that we so often see in a regular photograph when a bright object is present. So how do we set it up? […]

Sometimes when we're working on a project in Blender, we may want to composite our shadows separately or isolate them from the object they're being cast onto such as when we're compositing a render over a background. So how do we do that? To make an object a shadow catcher in Blender follow these steps: […]

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 […]

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 […]

By far, the biggest difference between working with Eevee and Cycles is the lighting setup. When I got into Eevee, light probes were a foreign concept to me. Over time, I learned how they worked, but this is the guide I would have wanted back then. There are three kinds of light probes in Eevee. […]

I can’t remember how many times I have accidently saved a Blender render as .png just to realize that it isn’t enough for post-processing. Wasting hours re-rendering because I didn’t save the result correctly. You can render images and animations from the “Render” menu. When the rendering is done, go to “Image->Save” in the image […]

In this article we are going to cover some common questions about GPU rendering in Blender. By default the GPU isn't used for rendering in Blender, so for new artists, they may be missing out on a lot of performance if they don't configure their Blender correctly. In general, the GPU is the preferred device […]

With the EasyFX add-on you can quickly add post-processing effects to your render in Blender without having to set up a compositing node graph manually. I used it for many of my quicker projects when I just need something to show, but it is also great for creating a starting point for further post-processing in […]

Sometimes a scene overflows with geometry thanks to poor use of the subdivision's surface modifier. It's hard to control and can become a performance hog as we work on an increasingly complex scene. Adaptive subdivision surface dynamically changes the subdivision level of objects based on the distance from the camera. We can use it in […]

During recent years, the number of marketplaces for 3D assets has increased and so has the number of artists that try to sell their 3D models online. Either through their own store or through one of these marketplaces. To get started selling your 3D models you need to have an account on at least one […]

The baking system in Blender takes a lot of critiques for being unintuitive, hard to understand and error prone. In this article, I aim to untangle the confusion about baking in Blender with Cycles. To bake from a material to an image texture in Blender, follow these steps: In this article I will start by […]

Rendering is at the heart of what we do in Blender. When you are starting out it is good to understand how it works so that you can actually get some output to show and use. To render in Blender Press F12 for rendering a still image or Ctrl+F12 to render animation. You can also […]

When it comes to rendering large and intensive scenes in Blender, memory optimization becomes critical. I have lost count of how many times Blender crashed for me thanks to using too much memory during rendering. Many times, the statement less is more, is something to really keep in mind. These are the primary ways in […]

A straightforward way to create a simple animation from your scene in Blender is to move the camera through it. This way we need only worry about animating a single object, the camera. To animate the camera in Blender, follow these steps: Set the play head in your timeline to the first frame Select your […]

When talking about backgrounds in Blender, we may mean different things. But the most common is that we want to change the background for our finished render. To change the background in Blender we need to adjust the world material. This is a special material that is only applied to the world background. Let's continue […]

There are many potential problems when it comes to rendering. Here, we cover a few of the common ones that I have come across many times and I am sure you will too. Blender crashing before, during or after rendering The finished render is a black screen Objects are missing in the final render We […]

For quite some time I have encountered forum threads and twitter accounts asking about motion blur in Eevee. With the 2.90 release this is now finally possible. Motion blur can be turned on for Eevee by going to the render settings and check the box on the motion blur section. Motion blur in Eevee is […]

If you have worked with Blender and Cycles for some time, you probably have a good understanding of a few render settings. But I would bet that there are at least a handful of settings you don't know much about. The goal for this article is to explain and explore most of the Cycles render […]