In this Halloween themed video tutorial for Blender 2.59 we go through the complete process of modeling, texturing, rendering, and post processing a stylized Pumpkin Patch scene.
Our previous Pumpkin tutorial, for Blender 2.4+ can be found here: http://cgcookie.com/blender/2009/10/14/creating-a-pumpkin-day-1/
Wow can’t wait to model this!
But first I’m going to sleep!
Nice work
Second? Ah, well. Can’t wait to try this one out.
Great video =)
but its 1am so later today ill do it =)
Exellent little technique with the array modifier. I’ve not used it like that before. Interesting technique for the DoF blur too.
Thank you big J!
Really nice, and I like the procedural coloring, I’ll be looking closely at this one.
Hey, Jonathan! When will be the next Christmas themed contest?
Next Christmas Themed Contest will be around Christmas.
Other holiday ones though may be really really close.. like Monday close.
Woah, thanks for the info, Wes! I’m gettin’ ready for the contest!
here is mine:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=181309871947985&set=a.178860575526248.45913.132831550129151&type=1&theater
- why cant we blur the plane which has reflections too?
- you are telling a little fast
- the handle texturing is a little long
im new to all of this at around 1:15 he made the sphere see through and he was able to delete not only the top of the spheres vertices but the bottom too, how do u do that? like what button will i press to make it see throught like that
There’s two basic ways you can control selection limits. As a default, limit selection to visible in edit mode is enabled and you can toggle it from the viewport toolbar next to the select mode buttons. Another way is to go to wireframe mode (key z) and then do the selection.
Hopefully you know that this is wrong tutorial to start with. You should be patient and watch at least some of the beginner level tutorials and follow along to really get you started. This tutorial just makes you think blender is hard to use
Jonathan goes through a lot of stuff very quickly in this one and he doesn’t stop to explain tools/modes/concepts for beginners, as this is a intermediate tutorial.
Not only that but as he said, this is not the first time he has done tutorial about creating a pumpkin and purposely does things quite differently this time.
Great tutorial! The shift + T shortcut makes setting up Track Tos quick and painless! I had seen you use the compositional guides prior but wasn’t sure how to enable them myself – so I was happy to see that set up.
It isn’t directly related to this tutorial but does anyone know if you can enable smooth shading to automatically kick in when you render? I generally work in flat shading for modeling but want it smooth for when I do test renders to see how things are progressing. Kind of annoying to select everything and change the shading back and forth while I’m tweaking.
You probably should’ve used your viewport display keys. . . That way you wouldn’t have had to say “Left click, right click, left click, right click”
i watched the tutorials but im more interested in Modeling more then animations and what not and in the tutorials he covered basic tools, i just want to try and actually do a project and see how much i actually know.
if you guys can suggest any videos i can watch to help me more that’ll be great
but i watched the entire video twice and i seem to understand most of it
So you got your feet wet and want more? Good job!
I can tell a bit about what I’ve experienced.
When I wanted to stick my nose in to 3D I tried 3D Max and Maya. I found them extremely hard to use and didn’t learn much about 3D. First modeling that I did in those was a wine glass.
Then couple of years after I dismissed both programs I stumbled upon Blender 2.49 which had an interface so hard to use I couldn’t believe anything could be done with it, yet there were a lot of examples of great results. So I forced myself to find out how to use it. It turned out to be very easy when I got past the point to learn the basics and my head around the configurable interface.
Wine glass quickly out of the way I started modelling a kitchen. I figured that it would be a good exercise. After finishing it I already knew my mistakes and how to do one 10 times faster. Soon after that, I knew enough that I could literally put my nose in to 3D (model)
That’s my suggestion. Try modelling a kitchen. You already have a reference and usually they’re not that hard to model. Although, kitchen is very hard if you decide to go for photorealistic rendering result because everyone is an expert in spotting the mistakes.
Blendercookie have lots of tutorials that support your learning goals but Blenderguru has a 2 part tutorial how to model and render a kitchen (the rendering part is outdated but very much worth watching). One thing I’ve learned with 2.49 was that if something in the workflow feels difficult or slow, there’s better ways to do that. That’s even more true with 2.5x because there’s more options, so you have to recognize such problems and look for a solution.
There’s no substitute for actually doing something and not just watching a tutorial. That way you notice quickly that some tools and stuff are done so often that you just do it instead of trying to remember how. Also, there’s no shame in having to go back to watch beginner level tutorials because Blender is very actively developed and bright people around the world share their techniques with it.
Just my 2 (euro) cents. Happy blending!
http://oi52.tinypic.com/2he8p5j.jpg
So, Ive manage to get this far but can someone help me cus my influence bar seems to be different then his because 17:12 he has a diffuse bar shading and other bars and i don’t, and because of that i cant move on with the tutorial.
Thanks for the great advice btw i think i could do a wine glass, ill give it a shot, tonight
ive just began blending about 2 days ago and now i actually want to try and make stuff
Hi there, actually the sliders you see there area the ones you want. It is just the titles are not shown because your properties panel is too skinny. If you were to drag the left border of the panel towards the 3d view then the titles should show.
-Jonathan
Welcome to 3d Blender, Demetrius. This will eat up all your spare time, rot your brains and leave you wifeless/girlfriendless.
But I guarantee you’ll have a great time.
Blendercookie has an excellent intro to Blender called Get Started With Blender at the top of this page. Check it out.
wow, pumpkin pie for everyone.
This is great! Thank you!, but two questions: why did’t you use an infinite ground plane (shadows only) (I think it was your own tutorial that taught me how to do this), and two: You should apply a random rotation to the pumpkins, the stems have this big white blotch (i personally hate it, I’m sorry) that stands out and you can see that the pumpkins are all the same, just because all the “blotches” are pointing the same direction.
Otherwise awesome tutorial, I’m gonna watch the spider one now, thanks!
That what I was thinking while watching the tutorial – why not just use a infinite ground plane. In the end it doesn’t seem to matter because the scene was going to be filled with pumpkins anyway and DOF & vignetting effects helps too.
Very cool.. can not wait to model one!!!
http://oi52.tinypic.com/2he8p5j.jpg
So, Ive manage to get this far but can someone help me cus my influence bar seems to be different then his because 17:12 he has a diffuse bar shading and other bars and i don’t, and because of that i cant move on with the tutorial.
Great tutorial, as always!
Question: what would be the best way to “carve” a face on this pumpkin so that a light could be put inside? For example, I have made a 2D drawing like you find in the pumpkin carving kits. I want to cut that out of the mesh faces. I’m thinking I can use the solidify modifier after this to create the pumpkin flesh? But I’m open to suggestions.
Is there a simple way to do this?
You could use a shrinkwrap modifier to “punch holes/carve” into the pumpkin quickly. You might want to look at reference images on the lighting inside the pumpkin because there are so many different ways to light it up.
I hope these suggestions helped u out. ^.^
Maybe this tutorial will be of help
http://cgcookie.com/blender/2009/10/30/creating-a-jack-o-lantern/
It is done in 2.49 but the techniques are still the same.
Thanks, for the tip. With a little practice this worked pretty well.
One issue that I could use some help with.. When I added the face, I had to add several new edge loops to accommodate the topology. Where these occur, horizontal or vertical, they tend to flatten the curve of the pumpkin. I understand why this happens, but is there an easy way to make these newly flattened areas match the curve of the pumpkin?
I have several faces that I am working with. In one case, I did a “transform to sphere” on the pumpkin after I added the face, then re-built the pumpkin from the sphere, It worked well, but did distort the face slightly and may not be practical on some of the designs.
Any thoughts?
XP lol if i knew yall were making a pumpkin tutorial i would hace waited, yalls look so much better than mine, and i like how yall twisted the stick thing
I managed to work my way through the tutorial and it turned out pretty good I think. One thing that happened to me though is that when I applied the modifiers my array seams weren’t connected so I manually had to go through and merge them.
Hi Dustin, did you enable Merge and First/Last before applying the array modifiers?
-Jonathan
I thought I did, but didn’t explicitly recheck this before I applied. Does it matter which order the modifiers are applied in? I think I just applied them in a random order (twist, bend, array, etc.)
In most cases modifiers should be applied from top down.
Half of my pumpkins are half underground. . . Any suggestions?
Sounds like you just need to move your ground plane down.
-Jonathan
I actually meant the particle instance. Moving the ground plane down won’t help. If this helps, for every three pumpkins placed, there is one underground pumpkin.
I had this issue, you need to set the origins of the pumpkins to the bottom of each pumpkin
PUMPKINS!!!!!!!!!!!!!, I love pumpkins, thank you for an updated tutorial on pumpkins. Loved the new techniques used this time around.
You rock on modeling
How did the hemi light work for rim lighting when it was underneath the plane?
its my pumpkin
http://img4.hostingpics.net/pics/575347Pumpkin.png
And
http://img4.hostingpics.net/pics/530202Citrouille.png
You had me at “clay render”!
The Cookie is awesome!
An easier way to have make the tip for stem different would be just to assign a new material to it. Then you can unwrap the tip, and assign the spherical gradient blend just for that material.
Doh, of course I had a typo there.
What I mean is that:
-Model the stem as usual
-Create a new material and assign it to the stem
-Box-select the tip of the stem and again, create a new material and assign it only to the tip
-Now you’re free to UV unwrap the tip and create the blend texture for it
Hi jonathan, im interested on modeling product like phone, laptop etc that need precision modeling like your portofolio htc phone that pretty awsome. I have a request tutorial video about that (maybe any type phone) maybe later if you not in busy..
I’m having a heck of a time trying to get the blurring effect towards the end of the video. I have the nodes set up like in the video but can’t get that z mapping technique to work. If I do the blur straight it works but no matter how I adjust the size and offset on the map value node I see no visual difference. Is the stuff in black the objects that stay clear and the ones in white the ones that are suppose to get blurred? I can’t get any part of my image to blur no matter what is white or black with that map node.
I downloaded the source files, but when I unzipped it, the folder was empty? What should be in there, the video and the finished .blend? And has anyone else had this problem?
Hi Adam,
I was able to download it no problem just now. It sounds like your download either didn’t complete or perhaps your extraction application is having trouble? If you’re on Windows then I would recommend trying PeaZip: http://peazip.com
LOVE this tutorial. As always, Jonathan, you ROCK!! I’ve got my result posted here: http://fav.me/d4dk702
Nice tutorial! Thank you!
Thanks super great tutorial. I like the way you deal with camera blur. More control than a simple defocus filter.
Yeah the defocus filter is pretty good if you’re going for an animation; but for still shots I like the extra control doing it manually gives.
-Jonathan
Hi Jonathan. In the emitter, when your pumpkins were on their sides. It seems that when the Emitter Geometry is set to 0, they all sit up as normal.
it wasn’t a glitch. I tried it and all I did was change the 1 to 0 and they worked.
Great tutorial Jonathan ! Amazing result. Right in time for Halloween as well ! Keep up the good work.
Nice Pumpkins! They look great! hey anyone that see’s this should watch my video I made for a video contest. I made it all in blender. Its not the best but I think its good in the time I had to make it. Here is the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMXyuQLLnsc&feature=feedu
WOW !!! Those are all some Excellent looking Guards(pumpkins)..
Make me craving pumpkin pie now lol
thank you Mr. Jonathan, you Rock sir!!!!
You’re very welcome!
Let’s see some carvings now
-Jonathan
Happy new year all.
Jon, thanks for this very good tutorial.
I have one problem with the procedural noise texture. I wanted the ground glossier than in your tut and I noticed that the reflection of the pumpkin on the ground was displaying a huge “à la Frankenstein” scar. It has nothing to do with the topology of the pumpkin, you can actually replicate that with a simple uvsphere with smooth shading. You can’t see any scar on the sphere itself, but only on the reflection of the ground. Spooky! That could actually be a cool effect if I understood what is causing it.
Do you have any idea on this???
JPN
Hi there,
Do you have a screenshot showing the scar? I am not totally sure what you’re referring to…
-Jonathan
Hi Jon, sorry for the delay, can’t upload anything from work.
Here it is : http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=2zxm5oj&s=5
The textures on the pumpkin are more or less the same as in your tut.
The uvsphere is the default one, with smooth shading enabled, the default material enabled, and a cloud texture with the default parameters except :
under influence : color unchecked, geometry normal checked value 0.5 (the higher the value the more visible the scar)
under clouds : size=0.75, depth=6
Looking forward to your answer.
Cheers,
JPN
scar tissue that I wish you saw…
hi jonathan,
great tuttorial… but you’re speedy gonzales… you’re talking and doing it really for me… i missed several shunks of this tutotorial… and even if i pause and rewind several times it’s very difficult for me to follow you… you also do shorcuts or specific options without explaining where to find these options. i’m lost in the dust… too bad for me.
i’ve try to do my best but i’ve been lost in the middle… really too fast (oh and my first language is french by the way… but who care).
Cheers
j.
Great Tutorial!
But i can’t seem to get past the part in 4:14 when you make that circle to flatten the ends in after you set the preportional editing to sharp…. any helpful suggestions for me?
Perfect!
what is the lighting used?
I had so much fun doing this and i just love my results! hope you like it to. =)
http://s1154.photobucket.com/albums/p536/TGamer1447/?action=view¤t=Pumpkins.png
Using Blender 2.63 on windows XP
Tutorial went great with the exception that my group would never display all three pumpkins. I even renamed the pumpkins and the emitter stil only displays one pumpkin. Using object as an emitter the other resized pumkins will not display correctly. However using the “whole group” check mark shows the entire group of three but the emitter refuses to randomize and break them apart.
Creating a group out of a cube and a shere seems to work fine.
I was trying to model the stem of the pumpkin, but it was always getting a crease in it every time. I did at least six times already and it is still giving me problems :\.
This was excellent, as all of your tutorials are. Thanks.
I did notice a possible bug in Blender 2.64 (and 2.64.9) when I tried to make the edge loops in the sphere in the beginning. The edge loop doesn’t go all the way to the center for some reason. Can anyone else verify?
you may need to recalculate normals.
-Alex
Thanks for the reply, Alex. I gave that a try but it made no difference. It does the same thing on a brand new unmodified sphere as well.
Can you upload a screenshot of your problem?
-Alex
I’m not sure how to upload an image in this forum but basically when I try to create a vertical edge loop on a sphere using the ctrl+R shortcut the loop stops at the top and bottom horizontal edge loops rather than going all the way to the top and bottom center vertex of the sphere.
You can upload a screenshot to pasteall.org
you could also upload a blend to the same site.
-Alex
After I initially left a comment I seem to have clicked on the -Notify me when new comments are added- checkbox and from now on whenever a comment is added I recieve four emails with the exact same comment. Is there a means you can remove me from that service? Kudos!