Blender 2.8 training

#1

Hi all,

I am veteran 3d artist with almost 30 yrs of working in the field. I am looking to make the switch over to blender as my main 3d tool. I have experience with 3ds max and maya ( more max though )

Can anyone recommend blender 2.8 training? I would love to have it in a class room setting but I also want to look into online training. I am looking for production type of training.

Has anyone every went to the Blender Institute for blender training? I toying with the idea of taking that class.

Any info would be great.

Thanks
Alex

#2

Coming here from Maya and Max also(mostly Maya) but not as many years as you…

I have been waiting for 2.8 and finally making the jump learning it. I started with their own tutorials https://www.blender.org/support/tutorials/

There is more and more 2.8 stuff around over at youtube. CG cookie (https://cgcookie.com/course/modeling-texturing-shading-a-treasure-chest-in-blender-2-8?utm_source=youtube&utm_content=modeling-texturing-shading-a-treasure-chest-in-blender-2-8)
has a nice series making a chest. Seems simple, but it has some basic blender info… It works different than AD stuff, but the principles stay the same.

#3

Hi, Fredo. I’ve been doing CG for the same length of time as you. I understand how intimidating it can initially feel to make the switch from one app to the next. I’ve had to do it numerous times over the past 30 years. I get where you’re coming from. That said, here’s my advice to you.

Given the nature of Blender as an open source project, the community itself can sometimes be as decentralized. Pockets and concentrations of users here and there. This is likely to change over time as Blender adoption becomes more widespread. I’m sure that on-site training does exist. However, at the moment, your best bet is probably to go the self-help route, aided by a handful of training videos. Thankfully, there are a number of really good ones out there. Sensibly priced too.

Seeing as how you’re not a newbie, we can skip over an introduction to concepts and move into program operation.

  1. “Blender 2.8 Full Training From Beginner To Pro” - $70
    https://blendermarket.com/products/blender-28-training
    At nearly 34 hours in length, the course is rather comprehensive and tours nearly every major corner of the app. If that doesn’t get you up to speed then nothing will. Here’s the syllabus: https://blendermarket.com/products/blender-28-training/docs

  2. YanSculpts’ YouTube Channel
    https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfjswDVU0XHyBN7UFG0Mi5Q/videos
    Blender artist Yanal Sosak’s focus here is, obviously, character sculpting. He’ll walk you through various pieces from blocking to texturing, demonstrating how Blender can be a viable ZBrush alternative. (I have personally sculpted in Blender at up to ~25mil polys.)

  3. “Bundle Blender3D - Jack Russell+ The Cliff tower” - $69
    https://gumroad.com/discover?query=The%20Cliff%20Tower&rating=3#GddIX
    These two tutorials are recorded around 2.79, but the concepts and much of the execution still apply to 2.80. Both are project-based tutorials. One focuses on the modeling, texturing, and rendering of a fantasy building. The other focuses on the modeling, texturing, rigging, grooming, and animation of a stylized Jack Russell Terrier.

Honestly, the most daunting part of the migration process is simply interface. Terminology is, by and large, universal. As a longtime 3dmax user, all of your skills will be transferable. The recent Blender 2.80 update puts it much closer to Maya and other apps than ever before. Reasonably, with the 34hr video behind you, it shouldn’t take more than a week to become productive and a month or so to become fluent. If you know one app, you pretty much know them all. Not like 25 years ago.

Beyond tutorials, I would suggest few essential add-ons to fill the gaps.

  1. “Hard Ops / Boxcutter Ultimate Bundle” - $38
    https://gumroad.com/masterxeon1001?recommended_by=search#RHyAR
    For hard surface modelers, this pairing of plugins is a must have. It shortens the process of carving out detail down to a series of mouse strokes and keyboard shortcuts. Huge time savers. Here’s an example of a high tech looking grenade made with these tools: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5TknYySBpM

  2. “Speedsculpt” - $15
    https://gumroad.com/discover?query=speedsculpt#xIMAi
    Another time saver. Whereas Hard Ops is about quickly building hard surface models, Speedsculpt is more focused on helping you build and block out organic meshes (eg. characters) more efficiently. Quickly boolean primitives. Streamline the dynamic topology process. Decimate and skin your blocked out base. ETC. Here’s an old video of Speedsculpt in action (running in v2.79): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBcYFq5ta1A

  3. “Smart Select” - $3
    https://gumroad.com/discover?query=smart%20select#xfiS
    Some of the most helpful add-ons are the smallest. Smart Select just makes it quicker and easier to pick out loops and rings in edge, face, and vertex modes.

  4. “Garment Tool” - $36
    https://gumroad.com/discover?query=garment%20tool#MAnWP
    Think of this as a poor man’s Marvelous Designer. Create clothing from patterns. Supports pinning, pockets, sewing, cloth sim and baking, symmetry, libraries, and so on.

  5. “Auto-Rig Pro” - $40
    https://blendermarket.com/products/auto-rig-pro
    Quick character rig/control creation and binding. Support for Unreal Engine and Unity.

  6. “Layer Painter” - $20
    https://blendermarket.com/products/layerpainter
    Enhance Blender’s native texture painting tools with support for layers and PBR painting/baking.

I was also going to recommend a remesher to replace Blender 2.80’s native one, which produces mixed results. HOWEVER, Blender 2.81 comes out next month. That comes with an updated and MUCH better set of remeshing tools. Not quite as cool or efficient as ZBrush’s ZRemesher or 3D-Coat’s spline guided remesher, but still great for quadification of those dense or unevenly populated sculpts that can result from long dynamic topology sessions. Again, Blender 2.81 is scheduled for sometime next month.

As with any app, you can overload yourself on cool plugins. I’ve got tons worth mentioning. However, what you need or find helpful is all up to you. Head over to Blender Market or Gumroad to see what’s for sale. Also, check out the Blender Artists forum (www.blenderartists.org) for a lists of free add-ons, of which there are many.

Learning Blender isn’t all that big of a deal. It’s not like the days of 2.4x. Not nearly the same experience of slamming your head against the wall. Blender 2.80 is FAR more accessible. Seriously. If you’ve already mastered another modern app like 3dsmax, Maya, or Cinema4D then moving over to Blender should be a piece of cake. Getting it to play along with your other apps (ZBrush, Substance, Unreal, and so on) isn’t all that complicated. Again that 34hr training video should sort you out over the course of a week.

#4

Thanks so much for the detail response. I appreciate it.

Great info and links. I will defiantly look into that first training link.

I have been working a little in Blender the last week or so on and off. I feel very comfortable in it. I tried in 2.79 but when I heard about 2.8 I stopped and waited for 2.8 to come out.

I am finding that with my current pipeline of substance painter, UE4 and even twin-motion blender fits in seamlessly.

The one thing I am still trying to work out is how to network render and use the gpu’s on my network farm.

Again thanks so much!

Cheers
Alex

#5

Thanks so much! Appreciate all the good information.

How are you liking 2.8? What type of work do you use with Blender?

Alex

#6

On a professional level, I use Blender for real-time work (ie. games). I now use it across the bulk of the 3D pipeline. Changing to Blender has allowed me to eliminate a bunch of other tools because it is so robust and capable.

A few adjustments and lifestyle tweaks have had to be made over the course of the transition, but not having the hop from one app to another has made my life infinitely easier and less maddening. (My shop is in the middle of a 3rd person open world commercial game. Blender is the tool of choice.)

On a personal level, I use Blender for all manner of art. Characters. Hard surface. Real-time. High poly rendered. Archvis. Concept. ETC.

Over the past 30 years, I’ve used any number of apps. DesignCAD. trueSpace. Cinema4D. Maya. LightWave. 3dsmax. Rhino3D. ZBrush. Substance. Marvelous. World Machine. Blah blah blah. I’ve probably used and owned something like 50 apps over the past 3 decades. Some for personal use. Some in a professional capacity. Still, others were gifted, learned, and used for the purposes of published review. As you well know, 30 years buys you a lot of time to learn a lot about a lot. :stuck_out_tongue:

#7

Learning Blender 2.80… Easy peasy. SO much easier than learning the older pre-2.5x version. That was like pulling teeth. I equate learning Blender 2.80 to learning Cinema4D or Maya. Somewhere in-between. About as easy to learn as C4D, but closer in complexity to Maya or MODO.

#8

A couple more resources to explore:

#9

  1. I know that 2.80 has improved dramatically from previous builds, but I’m wondering how customizable it is? Do we still need to memorize a bunch of keyboard shortcuts and are these hard coded or customizable?

  2. What is the best quick start (short) tutorials online? As much as I appreciate detailed, dense tutorials, I much prefer shorter tutorials that can get me up and running quickly.

#10

  1. yes, keyboard shortcuts are necessary if you want to get things done quickly (double press G to slide edges, S midle button drag and type -1 to mirror for example), but many (not all) tools are available via right click menu and also in the interface. I havent found where is To circularize in menus, but if there is a command you need, you can press F3 and type the name.

  2. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrXMyWVRmiXdMTpxxCsPuCQ

these are very fast tutorials

also you can assign commands to a Quick menu, and yes you can change your shortcuts, but I advise against it because you are learning, and tutors use standard shortcuts.