Not for beginner

This is my second Blender tutorial. I did the launch pad rocket thing. 

This IS NOT for beginners. Way too much stuff way too fast. 

  • Kent Trammell replied

    I'm sorry to hear you had a rough experience with this course. Would you be willing to elaborate on what was too difficult for a beginner to understand and what about the course was too fast?

  • Jonathan Lampel replied

    Since it takes a very long time to learn 3D software, 'beginner' is a pretty broad range. You may want to try following the sequence of courses outlined here, which should ramp you up at a gradual pace: Learn Blender 2.8 - your complete tutorial guide - CG Cookie 

    Hope that helps!

  • Michael Smith(nagleria) replied

    Wow. that really helps scaring newbies away.

    Thanks crew

    Spewing misinformation at gullible people, Fresh off the Boat, has always been a strategy, despite having it backfired in all facets of their society.

     If you'd rather stick with America First, stick with CG Cookies. Else Try the Blender cookies from Widhi Muttaquin, Grant Abbitt, and Blender Guru first. They are twice the chocolate and zero fodder. 

    Let me guess, your next move for criticizing you is block me from posting questions on this forum. As long as Blender remains Free as in Freedom, our learning will continue to evolve in blender without your help. All you can do is block yourselves from the rest of the world and stay in the bunker.



  • Hermes Trismegistus(ericjamesmiller1969) replied

    I think Jonathan Lampel (jlampel) is correct, Learn Blender 2.8 - your complete tutorial guide - CG Cookie is a good place to start since he goes over every little detail of Blender. I would especially recommend: "Fundamentals of 3D Modeling". I started learning Blender in 2008 & I'm still learning. I had to go over his tutorials when Blender switched to a whole new GUI with 2.8 & basically had to relearn everything; it changed that radically. I started out learning Photoshop in 1997 at a service bureau in Washington DC & by 2000 I was a Photoshop wizard & was designing & building websites & print material for another service bureau. Blender makes Photoshop look like a cake walk. It is extremely daunting. I remember this one young Brit (I think it was Alex Telford) admitting in one of his tutorials that it broke him & reduced him to tears. He walked away from Blender for several years & then came back & got right back up on that horse. I'd recommend the Blender Guru (Andrew Price) whose tutorials you can find for free on YouTube.


  • Shawn Blanch(blanchsb) replied

    I've tried them all. Blender Guru, Grant Abbit, even some no-namers that people don't advertise.

    I actually got my start watching BlenderForNoobs on youtube and then stumbled upon CGCookie, then Blender Guru, and then Grant Abbit. BlenderForNoobs actually got me hooked on Blender because the dude was slow enough to follow along, but I wanted some more professional training.

    Here's the thing I love about CGCookie: If I feel overwhelmed by a certain course I can take a step back and go for the real absolute beginners content (Introduction to Blender 2.8 and the Fundamentals of Modeling, and Mesh Modeling Bootcamp are a great place to start). That treasure chest course is more for the beginner who knows their way around the interface and has touched things in each of the workspaces. It is challenging for a beginner. But that's where the growing happens.

    The learning flows are guided to teach you skills though. Not just a trick a week like I often see on youtube. The livestreams alone and collaboration are worth every penny of the cost of membership here.

    I'm sorry you got frustrated. micazu I can relate to things going to fast. Often when I watch a tutorial I have to slow the video down to 0.5x's speed just to follow along on new topics. It's painfully slow some days but I have done it time and time again and it has paid off.

    I've been with the cookie for 3 years now. My skills have taken a big big boost since then and I FINALLY MODEL THINGS FROM MY HEAD better without needing to follow a tutorial. Membership worked for me.

    Feel free to reach out for help and ask the instructors questions by @ mentioning them. They are a truly helpful crew.

  • Kent Trammell replied

    The support we're seeing recently is incredible. Thank you, Shawn. You have no idea how humbling and motivating it is. Something like this:

  • Matthew Fricker(frikkr) replied

    I don't have much time at the moment to tell you how awesome and informative CG Cookie has been in my learning journey , but I second everything Shawn says. I was a complete Blender noob when I stumbled across CGC back in 2014 and I learnt about 95% of my Blender skills and knowledge through them. You just gotta stick with it , don't be afraid to ask the crew or community when you get stuck , and be patient as Blender takes a long time to get to grips with - but it is well worth it! Good luck and stick around if you want to master Blender.  

    1 love
  • micazu replied

    Thank you for the response. I'm usually good with software and tech, but learning 3D is like climbing the Mount Everest. 

    Since I'm totally noob here, the most difficult part for me is to keep up with the tutorial.  Because all the shortcuts and menus aren't yet familiar with me, I constantly have to rewind and try to see what buttons are being pressed on the video. I didn't notice there's a button to slow the video, so that might also help abit. 

    Anyways, I've decided to tackle this source. There's no mountain high enough for me.

  • micazu replied

    I thank you for the link!! 

  • micazu replied

    The amount of support is stunning me! Thank you all! 

  • Shawn Blanch(blanchsb) replied

    Blender is a BIG COOKIE. Don't suffer in silence. Make sure to @ mention instructors for help. They may not get back to you instantly but theluthier and Jlampel are active instructors and support their peeps. Spikey is also on the prowl here in the forums a lot. You'll find him answering questions from time to time (he's just a cool dude).

    Questions always work best when adding a pic or two and highlighting a problem area and submitting a link to dropbox of a blend file (or similar uploading service).

    Keep it up man we are rooting for you to see this thing through to completion!

  • Kent Trammell replied

    learning 3D is like climbing the Mount Everest.

    It really is! So much of 3D art is recreating reality and reality is extremely complex. You're in good company because we all had to learn 3D the only way: the hard way.

    I admit that the further I progress in my journey the harder it is for me to teach Blender / 3D from a true beginner's perspective. It's easy to take for granted how many shortcuts and concepts have become second nature to me and thus assumed the viewer knows them too.

    Thankfully we have other courses that are better equipped to train true beginners. I recommend starting where Lampel linked you below. After you get a few of those under your belt I've no doubt you will tackle this treasure chest course.

    There's no mountain high enough for me.

    THAT'S the spirit! That will take you far 🚀

  • demidog replied

    I'm also a complete noob, but what I realized with this particular set of lessons is that they're VERY good...but with 3-D modeling, you may need to make a couple of tries at the chest before you get the hang of it.  My first attempt was a complete disaster...I'd make a mistake or misunderstand an instruction, and I ended up with a complete mess of accidental duplicates z-fighting, 'wear and tear' that I'd made too complex, and just a nightmare of a model that couldn't be properly textured.

    After 2 failed attempts I did most of the Fundamentals lessons, and when I came back to this (3rd times the charm), I just...get it.  Now everything is going smoothly and makes a whole lot more sense.  

    So  I guess the best advice I can give to other noobs is... don't be afraid to start over a few times or scrap everything if it's a total disaster.  Making mistakes is good...you'll learn from them what to do and especially what NOT to do.  Pause the video and rewind parts several times if you need.  Wireframe is your friend.  Keep at it...you'll be surprised at how fast it suddenly all makes sense.

  • adrian replied

    My advice in learning 3D is learn the software first. Then go on to tackle a Treasure Chest

    Start at the beginning. Installing and setting up Blender, and follow each lesson in turn in Learn Blender 2.8 - Your Complete Tutorial Guide , you will get to the treasure chest, but remember, the real treasure is in the knowledge. 

    I often watch a new course on CGCookie from start to finish without even opening Blender. Then start again at the beginning and follow along in Blender. 

    I spent so long watching free content on YouTube, mainly Andrew Price AKA BlenderGuru, (I do like to listen to his podcast, some good discussion topics), and others including Grant Abbitt who I do like to watch occasionally still. But.... now I look back I learnt how to model a donut, it turned out great, but I found I didn't learn the fundamentals, the why. I like to watch the live streams on CGCookie, because you can watch professionals at work, Creating simple EEVEE environments in Blender is one of my favourite series, I have watched the complete series twice without even following in Blender, you get to watch Kent make adjustments to values and see the result as it happens, with an explanation. But not only that, when things don't go to plan, the problem solving is all part of the process and helpful to watch, and it's entertaining, especially reading the chat.  We can all follow, press this button enter this value, hey presto a donut, but when we want to take the next step and model our own ideas, there's the blank, how do I start. I want to model a house, but not a gingerbread house with icing and sprinkles. Look beyond the donut, what is the donut tutorial about? It's about building a brand, gaining a following. Think of the revenue from YouTube, I mean 24 Videos on making a donut and a cup of coffee, really. Fair play to the guy, but it's less about education than it is about the branding. 24 lessons on CGCookie and you will have a complete set of animated game assets ready for Unity, with an understanding and knowledge of how it all works, and that is the value for any student anywhere.

    I'm into my second year on CGCookie, and it has been invaluable to my progress in 3D. In my opinion @theluthier , @jlampel and others on CGCookie are the best of the best. And the CGCookie community, you won't find a better place for support and advice. And there is the CGCookie YouTube channel, loads of tips and tricks and entertainment and it's all free.

    So..... 

    Start at the beginning, If you find something hard to follow and don't understand you can do two things,

    1. Ask a question, don't be afraid to ask, you may feel it makes you look stupid, but remember we all started at the beginning and probably had the same questions.

    2. Take a step back, maybe you are getting ahead of yourself. Imagine a curve, or draw a curve on a piece of paper if you are suffering creators block, this is your learning curve, you need to stick to this curve, you maybe eager to get further ahead on this curve, but if you try taking a detour you are probably going to get lost, and miss out on fundamentals and run into problems later on.

    And as a bonus,

    3.  Enjoy it, get involved in the collaborations and you will make some friends. Eat cookies and carry on.

  • Kent Trammell replied

    I often watch a new course on CGCookie from start to finish without even opening Blender. Then start again at the beginning and follow along in Blender. 

    @adrian2301  I think this is great advice. I'm going to remember this and suggest it in the future.

    PS: I speak for all of CGC Crew when I say...