A few weeks ago, I talked how about I wanted to try using Blender during my summer. Now, several weeks into my summer, I now feel confident showing what I have accomplished and my thoughts on the program.
For those who don’t know, Blender is a 3D modeling program. Since I don’t have any other experience with another program, I can’t exactly take about differences. However, I will say as someone who has never touched a 3D modeling program, the number of shortcuts is mind-blowing. Even after practicing on Blender for almost every day, I still forget what some of the shortcuts do, and I don’t even know all of them yet. For example, the Z key does so many things… Like activate wireframe mode, lock an object on the Z-axis, undo, and a bunch of other things I’m probably forgetting right now. I realize when I finally remember what all of the shortcuts do, I’ll be more productive, but it’s still a slow process learning all the shortcuts.
Besides the shortcuts, I find actually creating 3d objects quite fun. Usually, I try creating different kinds of household objects on my free time. For example, I’ve created a plate, mug, and vase so far. Making symmetrical roundish objects are the easiest while making things like the mug is a bit harder. A big part of this is me still getting the hang on extruding. I have to extrude, then rotate, and then sometimes even scale. I haven’t tried creating anything organic and I probably won’t in a while. Still, I find it quite fun making the objects. My proudest creation is probably the plate since it’s the first object I created all by myself. No tutorials, no guides, just me and what I’ve learned. I guess that was the first step in actually putting the program to use.
However, the easiest feature to understand so far was likely the node system, at least so far. Basically, it’s just connect the dots with different materials. Although, the tutorial guy didn’t go into much detail and he made it sound quite complicated… Still, I found it quite fun messing around with the different shaders, especially the glass one. There are also textures, though I haven’t learned it yet. But supposedly the next tutorial is on textures, so I guess that will be quite interesting. Unfortunately, this basic understanding of the side system only applies to my laptop. For some reason, the PC has a completely different node system. All the shaders are different and if you don’t plan on using diffuses, life gets really hard. Instead of preset options, you need to manually type in every setting. Gloss, transparency, noise, all of it… I guess that the primary reason I prefer using my laptop over the PC when modeling. Still, maybe I’ve just been looking in the wrong place and the shaders are somewhere else. Either way, it just goes to show I still have a lot to learn.
Overall, I’m having a lot of fun with Blender. Like I’ve said before, I’ve already made a plate, vase, mug, and doughnut. I originally started Blender with the intentions of creating full-blown animations. Unfortunately, that seems that’s not going to happen for a long time. Still, it’s really fun and I can’t wait to learn more about the program.