BLENDER WORKSHOP

FOR REAL-TIME VR APPLICATIONS

Notes on the workshop:
1. Workshop will be beginner centric. Attendees are assumed
to have zero knowledge on Blender, Unity, & 3D modeling
in general.
2. Give list of shortcut keys.
COURSE SYLLABUS
I. Introduction to Blender
A. About Blender
B. Installing Blender
C. Configuring user preferences
1. Emulate numpad
2. Using gradient background color in 3D view
D. Setting render engine to Cycles

WHAT IS
BLENDER?
Blender is the free and
open source 3D creation

II. Blender Basics

A. Understanding the User Interface
1. Info Window
2. 3D View
3. Outliner
4. Properties editor
// 5. Timeline
6. Adding new windows
B. Navigating in 3D Space & transforming objects
1. Panning, zooming, & orbiting
2. Handy zooming options: home & dolly
2. Perspective and Orthographic View
3. Changing views using the numpad
4. Moving, rotating, and scaling objects
C. Basic object tools and techniques
1. Adding new objects
2. Selection tools: A, border, lasso, & circle select
3. Clearing object transforms
4. The 3D Cursor
5. Changing the viewport shading
6. Pivot point
7. Changing transform orientation
8. Transform snapping
9. Exploring the tools & properties shelves

suite. It supports the

entirety of the 3D
pipelinemodeling,
rigging, animation,
simulation, rendering,
compositing and motion
tracking, even video
editing and game
creation. Blender is well
suited to individuals and
small studios who benefit
from its unified pipeline
and responsive
development process.

10. Using the operator: adjusting parameters

11. Mirroring objects
12. Undo and Redo
13. Duplicating objects
14. Parenting, joining, and separating Objects
15. Hiding objects
D. Saving and recovering your model
III. Modelling Exercise 1 (using primitive shapes only)
Model a snowman, a bridge, or a simple room using basic shapes
IV. Blender Beginner Modeling Topics
A. Introduction to Edit Mode
1. Vertex, edge, & face selection mode
2. Note on loop and ring selection
3. Exploring the new tool and properties shelf in edit mode
B. Basic mesh editing tools
1. Transform and deform tools: translate, rotate, scale
2. Add and divide tools: fill, solidify, extrude, subdivide, loop cut, knife, duplicate, inset, bevel
3. Delete and merge tools: delete, dissolve, merge, remove doubles, edge split
4. Vertex, edge, & face specific tools: Ctrl + V, Ctrl + E, & Ctrl + F menus
C. Adding mesh primitives in edit mode
D. Using Modifiers
1. Subdivision Surface modifier
2. Mirror modifier
3. Array modifier
4. Solidify modifier
5. Bevel modifier
E. Setting object origin
F. Smoothing faces
G. Better visualization techniques
1. Using Matcaps and Ambient Occlusion
2. Adding a reference image
H. Example: Modeling a low-poly cartoon house (doors, windows, roof, yard)
V. Modelling Exercise 2
Model a handgun & scene props
VI. Exporting Blender Models to Unity
A. Drag-and-drop to Unity
B. Export as FBX file
1. Adjusting export settings
C. Changing export settings in Unity

Optional Topics
VII. Introduction to Blender Materials and Nodes
A. Overview of the materials tab at the properties editor
B. Assigning materials to objects
1. Assigning materials to entire objects
2. Assigning multiple materials to an object through edit mode
3. Assigning materials to selected faces only
C. Overview of the Node Editor
VIII. UV Mapping (Unwrapping for Image Textures)
A. What is UV Mapping?
B. The UV Image Editor window
C. How to unwrap a cube
1. Adding edge seams
2. Unwrapping options
D. Applying a texture to the cube
E. Exporting the cubes UV Layout
1. Setting the image resolution & Fill opacity
F. Painting the UV Layout in an image editor (Paint, Photoshop, GIMP)
G. Importing the painted UV Layout back to Blender
IX. Exporting the Textured Cube to Unity
A. Importing the diffuse color map
B. Applying the color map to the Albedo in Standard Shader
X. (Optional) Blender Intermediate Modeling Topics
A. More editing tools: shear, to sphere, warp, bend
B. Proportional editing
C. Introduction to curve objects
1. Adding and editing curves: Bezier, Circle, Path
2. Adjusting curve parameters in properties editor
3. Using the Curve modifier
D. Adding and editing text objects