3D design ✹Course™ Curriculum

Section 1:
Section 2:
Section 3:
Section 4:
Section 5:
Section 6:

Blender 101 modeling materials lighting Your turn rendering

3D Design ✹Course™

Learn to create your own scenes

and images in a top-to-bottom
walkthrough of a 3D generalist
workflow in Blender.

3D design is quickly becoming a ubiquitous tool. Image creation,

motion graphics, product modeling, 3D printing, architectural and
interior design renders, AR / VR, creating digital worlds, videogames,
the list goes on! The skills you will learn here have a lot in common
with those workflows. So, if you are interested in getting a head start
familiarizing yourself with professional 3D creation, this course is for
you!

3D Design ✹Course™

“3D software can feel daunting and overly Once you get your first results and start to realize
complicated at the start, but with a little patience, it the potential of 3D tools, the opportunities to learn
starts becoming a really exciting and empowering more and the possibilities to build other worlds
tool. Breaking down the process and finding the become countless.” Alex, Course Instructor and
fun in it is key to keep going! 3D Artist at ilovecreatives
3D Design ✹Course™

W ho is this
I want to get into I want to create I'm an I'm a Product
course for? 3D design, but I Digital Art. Advertising Art Designer.
Hv lw l
don't know how. I have a love for the fine
Director. I’ve always relied on other
arts and am fascinated 3D artists for brand
a e you a ays found 3D too s to be confusing and scary to

l ’w , ’ l v I’m drawn to learning 3D Clients are consistently

with the scope of digital collateral, 3D spaces, and
earn? Don t orry you re at the same p ace e ery 3D designer

lv !I tools and I love the visual asking for more concepts

art. I want an outlet where I product designs. I want to
finds themse es right at the start of their career f you are

interested in graphic , interior and furniture design , and you ’ve

possibilities they allow for, using 3D. While I might not
alw ays w
ondered ho w l wl
to get into 3D s o l,
y but sure y then w e
but every time I download can explore in literally be the final artist, I do have more control of the
got you ! any 3D software I can't get another dimension. Most want to pitch and design process or at least
past the splash screen. 3D artists don’t have the understand 3D be able to go in and iterate
Help! style or materials that I’m capabilities. faster.
interested in.

I'm tired of I’m a Graphic I’m a Motion I work in patial I'm a D

YouTube. Designer. Graphic Design. Designer.
S 2

I've tried to follow YouTube I do brand design and

Designer. I mostly do events, but I’ve Working with type, books,
tutorials and then illustrations. Applying 3D dabbled in industrial motion, web, and
inevitably, I hit a snag and elements to my work, like I have to learn 3D. I’ve design. 3D is at the core environmental graphics, I
there's nobody to ask 3D logos or collateral with been a D animator for
2
of what we do and I feel want to be able to
questions to. I want to 3D rendered elements, too long. It’s ust expected
j
limited with my current visuali e my D sketches
have a structured learning would really expand my nowadays. I don’t really skills. I want to learn from z 2

in 3D form. I am ready to
approach for Blender and skills and help elevate my want to learn from ust any
j
someone that doesn’t get into the 3D space with
a teacher that I can get work. 3D designer, I want to think like a typical events Blender!
1on1 feedback from. learn from someone that person so that I can truly
has style. create new worlds.
3D Design ✹Course™

Instructional
Section 1: Blender 101

Videos

Course Assignments

Section 2: Modeling

Curriculum
Discord Channel

Blender User’s Section 3: Materials

Cheat Sheet

ilovecreatives
Section 4: Lighting

Asset Library

Section 5: Your Turn

Section 6: Rendering
3D Design ✹Course™

Section 1:

Blender 101
This first section will be dedicated to downloading Blender and setting it
up to make our workflow easier. In the meantime, we’ll talk a little bit
about what our end goals will be (producing a 3D scene that you’re
proud of), and then we’ll have an overview of the workspaces available in
the software, which will serve as an excuse to check out what areas of
3D we’ll be focusing on: modeling, materials, lighting, and rendering.

Format: Instructional Videos, Assignments for Submission

Section 1: Blender 101

3D Design ✹Course™

Section 1

Blender 101

Level 1

Installing, Setting Up and Our Goals

We’ll go step by step installing the software and useful free

add-ons that a lot of 3D artists usually install to make their
lives a little bit easier. Don’t panic! The UI looks cluttered at first
glance but we’ll go through everything you need to know to
navigate Blender with confidence.

3D Design ✹Course™

Section 2:

Modeling
Section 2 is all about modeling: understanding what an Object’s Mesh is
composed of and how to change it, and applying Blender’s Modifiers, a
set of filters that are applied to an object and help generating and
defining shapes. We’ll also see more kinds of Objects other than
Meshes that can help us a lot too, and some modeling workflows that I
use everyday at my job.

Format: Instructional Videos, Assignments for Submission

Section 2: Modeling
3D Design ✹Course™

Section 2

Modeling
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Level 5
Level 6

Object Mode
Edit Mode Modifiers
Other kinds of Objects.
Other kinds of Objects II
Boolean Operations

In this section we’ll learn about adding This section covers the Edit Mode: the Now we’re getting to one of the most Up until now, we’ve been using In this level, we’ll keep exploring We can’t talk about Modifiers in
objects to the scene, and what kinds OG way of modeling things in 3D powerful features of Blender: meshes (that is, objects composed of modeling tools other than Meshes. Blender without going over Boolean
of objects we can use in Blender. software. We’ll learn about what in 3D Modifiers. They are layers of geometry such as faces, edges and We’ll use another feature in Curves, operations. These are a way to
These are the building blocks that will we call geometry: vertices, edges and operations that you can apply to your vertices) to model stuff in our scene. the Draw tool, and make use of combine or subtract shapes to one
make up everything we’ll do later in our faces. We’ll see that we can move, objects in order to change them: You But there are other kinds of Objects Metaball Objects, which will both allow another, and they allow us to develop
scene. We’ll also learn how to make scale and rotate them, same as if they can smooth the geometry, subdivide it, that can add a lot of variety to our us to model more organic shapes, complex shapes while modeling. Once
basic transformations to objects, and were Objects. Then we’ll see some of repeat it in an array, deform it, make it shape repertoire, such as curves, outside of some of the constraints of we understand them, we’ll learn to use
how to navigate the 3D workspace of the most common tools inside Edit attach to a surface of another Object… which will allow us to make more Mesh-based modeling. With these the Bool Tool add-on, which will speed
the software.
mode: beveling, loop cuts, extruding, and a long list of other manipulations. organic shapes. We’ll also reconvert tools, we’ll model the surface of a up the process and unlock some
using the knife tool, bridging edge Best part is that you can always hide them to meshes to work in their finer coffee table, and a table lamp.
interesting boolean possibilities.

loops, etc., as well as some basic these effects and go back to your details. With those tools, we’ll learn
geometry theory to better understand original geometry, or edit them down how to model a design sofa.

the basis of 3D modeling. Then we will the line to better suit what you need
model a basic chair with the tools them to do. That’s why we call them
we’ve learnt.
non-destructive! We’ll take our chair
and use modifiers to spice it up a little.

3D Design ✹Course™

Section 3:

Materials
This section covers how to apply surface Materials to an Object, and
how to control the visual look that those Materials give. We’ll go over
some Materials basic notions: Roughness, Transmission, Subsurface
Scattering, Clearcoating, Normals, etc., in order to understand how
objects with a surface Material interact with light and with an
environment, and how we can get them to look exactly as we want. We’ll
also learn how to apply Procedural and realistic Textures to them.

Format: Instructional Videos, Assignments for Submission

Section 3: Materials
3D Design ✹Course™

Section 3

Materials
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3

The Principled BSDF

Procedural Materials
Realistic Materials

We’ll head to the Shading Workspace and create a material In this Level, we’ll learn how to make procedural patterns for Procedural materials are totally fine if you want to make
for our chair. Here we’ll focus on the Principled BSDF shader, our Materials, and go over the concept of normals, a powerful stylised looking scenes, but if you want them to look realistic,
an all-in-one material originally designed by Pixar, with fine- way to give extra detail to an object without actually touching they start getting really complex really fast! Sometimes it’s
grained controls over how it looks.

its geometry.
easier to just download a material from online resources. Poly
Haven contains a library of free-to-use materials: cloth, dirt,
We’ll also learn how to make procedural patterns for our rock, concrete, grass, bricks… We’ll go over the process of
materials, and go over the concept of normals, a powerful way downloading the components we need for a material, and
to give extra detail to an object without actually touching its then importing them to Blender so we can use them in our
geometry.
objects.

3D Design ✹Course™

Section 4:

Lighting
This section goes over how we can light our scenes in different ways:
Light Objects, Ambient Lighting, HDRIs and Emission Shaders.

Format: Instructional Videos, Assignments for Submission

Section 4: Lighting
3D Design ✹Course™

Section 4

Lighting
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3

Light Objects

Ambient Lighting
The Emission Material

Let’s make our scene shine! Quite literally. We’ll add light In this Level, we’ll learn about Ambient Lighting, aka how the Light objects are super useful in that they provide light to a
objects to our scene and learn what types of lights we can use light coming from the surroundings of our Scene is scene but yet they don’t take up any space in it or require us to
in Blender: Point, Sun, Spot, and Area lights. All of them cast accounted for by the render engine as environmental light model anything in order to do so. But, what if you want to have
light differently and will help illuminate your scene. We’ll also that feeds into the final look of materials. We’ll also learn how a visible shape that emits light? That’s what The Emissive
learn how to adjust settings in every type of light object in to download free Environment Textures, called HDRIs, and material allows us to do. We’ll model a squiggly neon lamp to
order to achieve the lighting and mood we need for every how to use them to alter the look of the Ambient Lighting demonstrate.

scene, and go over a couple lighting tips to make your models inside of Blender.

pop.

3D Design ✹Course™

Section 5:

Your Turn
You’ll be a little bit more on your own in this one! In this section, you’ll

learn some more secret techniques that I’ve picked up over the years.

Then you’ll be set free to experiment with these workflows in order to

model something of your liking.

Format: Instructional Videos, Assignments for Submission

Section 5: Your Turn

3D Design ✹Course™

Section 5

Your Turn
Level 1
Level 2

Rug Making

A Wobbly Drawer and a Vase

This level will be a showcase of some more techniques that I This level, I continue the showcase of techniques for
find very useful to introduce more shape variety in my renders. introducing shape variety in my renders. In this case, we’ll
In this case, we’ll use the Draw Curve tool and Physics learn about the Remesh Modifier and use the Sculpting Mode
Simulations to make rugs that deform around other solid to have even more modeling resources. We’ll also learn how
objects, and use particle systems to give them hair / make to model cables with the Curve Tool.

them look like textiles.

3D Design ✹Course™

Section 6:

Rendering
Okay, let’s grab our virtual cameras because it’s time to take some

photos of the scene that we modeled! Or as the 3D connoisseurs would

say, let’s render the scene. And on top of that, We’ll learn some tips to

control noise and color output in our renders. In order to do all of that, we

need to get to know some more objects and options in Blender: The

Camera object, the Output tab, Color Management and the

Compositing workspace.

Format: Instructional Videos, Assignments for Submission

Section 6: Rendering
3D Design ✹Course™

Section 6

Rendering
Level 1
Level 2

Framing and Composing your Shot

Color Management and Denoising

Let’s learn about the Camera object, which is another object Now that we have our scene and camera set up, the only step
that we can place anywhere in the scene, just like any mesh or left for us to do is to hit the render button! But before that, we’ll
light. With the camera object we’ll get a preview of how we’ll learn how to apply different color profiles in our image, as well
frame the render, and from there we can adjust the final as control its brightness and saturation. Then we’ll learn about
camera and object positioning in order to get a nice noise in render engines, and what we can do to mitigate it or
composition. We’ll also go over camera settings such as use it as an artistic choice! With that, our scene will be
orthographic and perspective modes, focal length, and depth complete and rendered.

of field, and go over some tips to compose the final Render of

our Scene.

3D Design ✹Course™
3D Design ✹Course™

About 

Your Instructor
Alex

Course Instructor and 3D Artist at

ilovecreatives

“I got introduced to 3D five years ago in a short lesson at university, and

from then on I was hooked. I spent my evenings trying random stuff in
Blender, and watching Youtube tutorials to get me where I wanted to be. I’ve
always been super drawn to crafting visual worlds, and being able to see
them on the screen and out of my head was a really nice feeling! Then I
started posting all my stuff online, and it wasn’t long before some clients
started to get interested. This was four years ago, and since then I’ve been
working for ilovecreatives and other clients as a 3D Artist.

3D is quite the novelty right now, and it’s more accessible than ever! I
believe that if you try to craft images in this medium from a place of honesty
and passion, with constant work and a bit of luck you could start freelancing
as a 3D Artist in no time. And hopefully, with this course you’ll save hours of
hunting for tutorials in the process!”

 Enroll Today at
3D Design ✹Course™ ilovecreatives.com/blender-
course

Email us at
[email protected]
with questions.