Teach blender?

[Apollux]

I´m not expert, but as far as I know the short answer is NO. You don´t need an special license to teach any software already available to the public.

Now, if you where issuing "Certifated Blender User" title to the people finishing the course then you must get in contat with the BF for a definition of what "certicated" entitles.

Your main worry should be what will be your answer when your potential students ask you "what are your qualifications to teach Blender?"

[thondal]

lol, yes, i was thinking of an answer for that one, but that is kinda the reason for why i'm doing a basic course..

oh well. thanks for the answer

-thondal-

[harkyman]

There is no such thing as official certifications for Blender. If you come up with a good set of criteria for certification, and can back it up, then you would issue a "certified user" thing. All that other companies that offer certs for other software have done is to get their criteria approved by the software company and paid them some $$$.

[Howitzer]

I´m not expert, but as far as I know the short answer is NO. You don´t need an special license to teach any software already available to the public.

Now, if you where issuing "Certifated Blender User" title to the people finishing the course then you must get in contat with the BF for a definition of what "certicated" entitles.

Your main worry should be what will be your answer when your potential students ask you "what are your qualifications to teach Blender?"

Those that want to teach Blender, should be able to demonstrate that they know the program well enough to use it to effeciently create works of art. Simply teaching-out-of-the book will not be enough with Blender, because the information is so open, it is available to all for little or no cost.

Then you have the question of what exactly is a certified Blender user. I've never heard of a certified Maya or Max user (though... I wouldn't be suprised if there were such a thing). When it comes to skilled professions such as this, certification will be in the form of a demo reel and portfolio, not some piece of paper.

Just my 2 cents.

[FreakyDude]

I think you can do it, I'd make sure I have enough stuff to back up my claim that I can teach them.
I'm just curious though, what kind of lessons were you thinking about? 3-5 days, one or more hours a day? A while ago I was wondering about the same thing, just something small during the weekend, through a local computer parts dealer.
I didn't go through with it because I haven't enough insight of art in general ( light composition color profile etc) and blender in general to fancy myself a teacher. I tought a friend of mine to use blender via msn though.

Then again: I've seen people teach max who were being paid for it and didn't know shit about that either. They just knew enough to get you started with the interface and could show you the demos that came with the app. One of em was from an official max dealer.

But I'd make sure I'd have some more experience with the whole blender/art thing.
Still I'm curious what you are planning.

[thondal]

Thanks. Well, currently working on how to pull it trough. Thinking of a 2 days course, to learn people the basic of modeling, texturing and a quicky animation. Trying to figure out something people might be able to pull through. First day 5 hours, learning blender, second day 6 hours, 30-60 min making an idea (if they can't find out some thing they can make in blender then I will have some backup "art" that they can do). Then the next 4 hours making it and 1 hour to show off and to help people.

That is what i've got so far. But i'm not sure what to do yet. As I said, still working on it.
And I guess i have to do some stuff to show off that i'm able to teach them.


-thondal-

[malCanDo]

Hi Thondal,

I taught a week long course in Blender last year in Northern Ireland ( am doing the same this year also ) - with the relatively short timescale, and having to cover the basics of UI usage as well as modelling / texturing, I used the GameEngine as a way to allow users to see their work very quickly, and to keep their interest high.

I then recreated what I had taught as part of the Blender Summer of Documentation, which you can see here...
http://mediawiki.blender.org/index.php/BSoD/Introduction_to_the_Game_Engine


It is aimed at teaching Blender to users who haven't had any experience with it previously - hopefully you'll find it of use.

After they have had fun modelling simple objects for a game, you can then expand on this by teaching them how to export a movie - waiting for rendering can of course be a very time consuming process.

Regards...
Mal

[thondal]

hi, thanks for that. I´ve read you tutorial. Actually very good. If you would allow it, then I might use some of the ideas in your tutorial for my course... I´m planning on keeping it within 2-3 months. So i´m hoping to get all ready. Searching for a place with some machines that can handle blender. And within a certain price limit. Btw, what was the fee for you course and time you used when teaching people? 1 - 2 days?

Thanks

-thondal-

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