r/blender

been stuck lately but the everyday hasn't stopped... currently on day 2318, six years grinding and tbh i still feel lost so hahah i guess i gotta keep blender-ing

I just finished my very first 3d animation after a month of learning from youtube

I do have some background of 2d animation, but its still hard to animate in 3d lol.
There is a lot of stuff to improve, especially that running and falling part

But honestly, i'm really happy to see my own OC come to life! really proud of this piece :D

Just look at all that detail in the fur particles it manages to maintain

Hope you'll like!! ^^

Link to source

My best VFX work so far
Works with EEVEE and Cycles, EEVEE is shown here, Cycles has a slightly brighter tone for some reason
Also first time utilizing all Node systems in the 7 years I've been working with Blender

Geometry Nodes:

• Vertex wobble
• Backface culling
  • Supports multiple cameras
• Random fracturing
• Convex Hull "wrapper"
• Fake vertices
  • Size stays relative to the distance from the active camera
• Attributes assigned to each part for Shaderwork

Shader Nodes:

• Shaders based on Attributes assigned by GeoNodes
• Scanlines
• "Refresh" waves
• Wireframe glow
• Hexagonal RGB pattern when viewed up-close
  • Inspired by the screens in Slime Rancher
• AOV output for Compositing

Compositor Nodes:

• All effects stay within the bounds of the mesh via AOV
• Tearing effect
• RGB channels glitching
• Occasional pixelation wave

Just sharing my progress from December 2023 (left) to my latest character (right).

When I made that first sculpt, I was completely stuck. Like a lot of beginners, I thought the secret was to watch more tutorials, buy more courses, and memorize complex anatomy and medical names. I was basically prepping for a medical exam just to make a character in Blender.

It was slow, boring, and incredibly overwhelming. It led to so much frustration and delayed my progress because I kept overcomplicating things.

I was stuck in tutorial hell.
I got good results while following along with tutorials/courses, but when I tried things on my own, it sucked.

The breakthrough happened when I changed my mindset: I am an artist, not a doctor.

Instead of trying to learn every hidden bone and fiber, I shifted my focus entirely to primary shapes and forms. I only learned the few muscle groups that we can actually see on the surface. And instead of burning out with massive tutorial marathons, I committed to just 1 hour a day of deliberate practice.

I found focus in my practice. Instead of randomly sculpting references from Pinterest, I deliberately worked on areas I knew I sucked at. I stopped lighting, rendering, and posting my work, as I realized it didn't make me a better sculptor. All my focus was on what I could see in the viewport, and how to make that better.

Learning this way made my progress 10x faster. It brought back the clarity, consistency, and progress that made learning and growing fun.

If anyone here is currently stuck trying to memorize 600 muscle names and feeling demotivated, I highly recommend stepping back and focusing purely on your base shapes first.

Best skin detail on a shitty base = a shitty sculpt.

If you suck at sculpting right now, you're not a bad artist. You're just early in the process. It will suck, so get used to the suck !

Focus on little improvements every day.

If you didn't know anything, but now can block out a face, THAT IS PROGRESS.

The next day if you only learn where to place the eyes, THAT IT PROGRESS !

Don't try to learn everything in the same day, but breakdown every day into little doable steps that move your further.

(P.S. I actually put together a FREE step-by-step course on this exact shape-first approach to help artists skip the medical overwhelm. If anyone is stuck in tutorial hell and wants the link, let me know. Otherwise, happy to answer any workflow questions below!)

i am very confused on from who should i study

Inspired by Megan Fox's post

"Hey everyone~This is my latest environment project, 'The Crimson Citadel'. I spent a ton of time dialing in the atmosphere and scale.🔥

Was trying to put a picture of the sun in the sky, and I was messing around with the mapping node and then just out of nowhere I accidentally made a nuke, which worked out perfect because I needed to make a nuclear scene anyways, which is why I just went with it and finished it.

Mind Splitter - Laser Beam

Out of all the subreddits, I think this is the one that would appreciate this song the most. I started this song 5 years ago and about the time I was getting ready to release it, Ray Volpe dropped his song Laser Beam that went stupid viral haha so I decided to hold onto mine. I never planned to release it, but thankfully Local Void Records picked it out to be a part of my first EP that just dropped last friday! Glad it's finally out there.

Inspired by Grant Abbitt’s courses.
Made in Blender and rendered in EEVEE/Cycles.

Original concept by Himesh Anand

My focus is primarily on practicing the product animation. Especially the movements that involve multiple linked and unlinked objects.

I am trying to understand how to make the diamonds more realistic, as they look bit "Clouded" in this render. I am not sure which render setting is triggering the issue.

I am using EEVEE with 64 samples with Denoising. Ray tracing is enabled. Shadows is enabled, with Rays at 1 and number of steps is 6.

The ring and the diamond itself came from Jewelcraft Addon.

Edit 1:

Thanks for all your feedback. Upgraded version of the animation with 30 FPS at

https://www.reddit.com/r/blender/comments/1pupbuj/upgraded_diamond_ring_animation/