Feeling a little burnt out from all the Java coding assignments this semester, I decided to put reading/writing code aside and try 3d modelling. Now I can’t say I’m a complete newbie when it comes to 3d modelling as I dabbled in 3d studio max back in high school but it’s been eons since then. This time though, instead of following online tutes on the web, I went ahead and acquired an e-learning course called “Vehicle Modelling in Blender” from lynda.com which is essentially 4 hours worth of video lectures that you can follow along while the instructor models the car step by step.

Blender is an open source computer graphics software that’s used for creating animations, art, interactive 3D applications and games. This is an intermediate level course so things like interface overview and navigation are assumed knowledge. Having never used Blender before, I had to google a lot for things like manipulating a model (translation/rotation/scaling) or knowing how to bring up certain menus and find property settings but once you stumble over these initial hurdles, everything starts to fall into place as you get more comfortable with the tool.

Overall, I felt extremely satisfied with the end result and learning 3d modelling was a great and horrible experience at the same time. It’s amazing when you start to see your model turn from a bunch of squares into a car an 8 yr old drew and finally into a realistic looking car.

But on the other hand, I can’t tell you how many times I had to redo part of the car because I failed to spot a minor detail in the blueprint (the pictures are blurry as hell, why can’t they have supplied hi-res?!) or I made the whole model vanish from the viewport by accident. Towards the end of the course, the videos start skipping steps. For example, the instructor shows you how to do the headlight trim and leaves the windshield and side windows for you to do on your own. The technique he taught was quite simple in itself but the challenge was correctly applying it to the windows. The window edges have more complicated geometry than the headlights so it would’ve been better had he shown how to do one of the windows instead. By the end of the course, you’ll not only have a spiffy Aston Martin but you’ll also get proficient at yelling at the monitor as well as OCD. This model took about 2 weeks from start to finish.