Get Good at Blender - Practical challenges to improve you skills! 

As still a relatively new Blender user, these types of tutorials make for great refreshers…..thanks Grant!

Just spent 40 minutes watching a 11 minute video haha, love this way of teaching, im new to blender and already learned a bunch of techniques i didnt know an hour ago :D great video

PLEASE do more of these videos! this was extremely helpful and easily digestible compared to most other blender videos.

I found your channel during covid and modeled for about 6 months. Just now getting back into it, and I am glad to see you are still doing this type of tutorial! Thanks Grant!

Rather than hiding stuff from the outliner with the eye, it's easier to hit forward slash on the number pad, that will hide everything in one go, and leave the selected geometry to work on, when done just hit forward slash again and everything hidden will be visible again👍

I like the rythme and the tone of your voice 👏 👏 no need backwards or slow-motion ! It is really enjoyable 🙏🙏🙏

I DIDN'T KNOW YOU CAN PRESS NUMBERS TO MOVE STUFF BY THE EXACT METER?!?? Thank you for showing me this lmao, wouldn't even know things like that existed otherwise

challenge-based learning is a definite yes for me. this is great. please keep going with it.

Finally someone has done it! For years I've been trying to improve my knowledge of which tools to use to achieve results. For the same amount of years, I've been asking some people who are good in modelling to help me with things like this, if possible. Every single time the only answers I got were "just follow any beginner tutorial" or "just start modeling", which really doesn't cut it anymore: I may be a pro at modeling cups or glasses from tutorials, but what about other things that use the same tools but aren't really cups or glasses? How could I use said tools? Etc... Anyways, this is pure gold. You're the best of the best, man! Thanks a LOT!!

Grant, sending a heartfelt thank you for these videos. I've been finding so many tutorials that really don't make the UI for Blender any less opaque XD I've worked on and off as a digital artist, using various different painting softwares, for over a decade. I'd put off trying to decipher Blender for way too long, and had a few attempts over the years before giving up after just getting lost in the UI. Your chess piece series was so carefully presented, giving concise and precise steps, time to apply my own interpretations to the challenges, and then learning a more efficient way to do the same thing. It's a fantastic way to learn, try and apply that knowledge then reinforce that information and correct any misconceptions. I'm very glad I found your channel

Grant, I love you. You make modelling so much easier and every word you say is a piece of information and no side quests. fantastic

You are the best, Grant! Almost every RU-vidr creating videos on Blender is showing some over-the-top crazy stuff all the time, but most of us forget that these basics are what will make you a master at any craft. Thank you so much for making such videos that help us build the basics.

Another way of using the inset tool is to hold the [CTRL] key to increase the depth without actually insetting, it'll basically combine extrude/scale.

Thanks learned a lot like i didn't realize there were options to proportional editing.

Thanks. I am a middle / total newbie, so this kind of exercise is well formatted and quite useful.

I watched your video for the first time and I was very surprised how easy and cool you explained using all small commands. I've watched a lot of Blender user videos but I haven't seen anything like what you've explained. Congratulations and may God's blessings be with you always…. 👌👌👌👌👌👌👌

I've really never grasp the "scale" function .. but that move @3:28 was genius! .. Thank you !!

I still feel like a beginner and it's almost a year since I've used Blender.

I really liked this video. Great format! Some stuff I did differently: - you can also extrude along faces using alt+e and then f. - you can isolate instead of hiding the other pillars by pressing forward slash (/). Press it again to exit isolation mode. - I never used the spin tool before so consider my mind blown by how stupid my approach was. I used an empty and an array modifier with object offset to duplicate it around. The other approach is using a curve and following along curve. This I actually learned from you in the character creation course when making the tanks. Edit: For the interior faces you can use “select interior faces” and dissolve them. It’s not needed with just the one face, but I found it invaluable in my hard surface models.

well done Grant! these are a great way to re-enforce learning, which is very similar to the classroom!

Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! This kind of giving of information is the easiest to understand for newbies! Thank you Grant! You're making a very good and helpful stuff! Keep it up! Newbies as me need it indeed!

Nice teaching approach and I really do like your voice! It's soothing to listen to it 😃

Good to see that you use Blender the same way I've learned it from you years ago. There are multiple ways to do things but this specific way you do it reminded me of the early YT texture painting courses. Ideas for the next one: Cut-outs (Booleans) and making sellable assets.

Honestly thought when I got to using the spin tool that I was overthinking it and then you did it that way and was very satisfied with myself. Thanks for the challenge.

Excelent tutorial format and execution! Congrats

I'm real glad You started these videos again. I really like the practical approach of actually making the viewer figure out how to make the object before You explain how. These videos rock!

Completely new to blender, I do not understand all but it works fine. It's really satisfying yet. Thanks.

I'm glad these challenge videos are back - these are the best!

This is a great way to learn you should do more of this with ever more advanced things

How I love practicality and scrambling things together :P Thank you for this exercise.

Nice 👏 Beginning to love and get a hang of Blender really fast thank to you. Although I saw your video about how easy it is to get 3D job opportunities…aking me think twice in a way

Great video as always... I've been using blender professionally for some years now so i think i know it all, but by watching all your tutorials anyway, i usually find something new :)

Always learning something great ! And easy guide and 100 % learning and improve one self! You have our great thank my good sir!

Coming from your courses, I'm loving these tutorials!

I love this series, cause sometimes you just need someone to walk you through the best way to construct odd but common shapes. LIKE ARCHES. I can't tell you how many times I've extruded and extruded and extruded lol

This is a gold mine for beginners like me

This really got me comfortable with modeling things in general. Big thanks my guy 🙌

I love this series and all the videos you make!

So much to learn just from you explaining your steps here, great stuff!

maannnnnn, Grant why are you so good!??

11:15 short cut for Proportional Edit Tool´s pie menu is Shift + O Great video, thank you very much!

Brilliant again Grant- this is a wonderful series.

I did the basic arch a different way. I added a Torus and cut it in half after duplicating the pillar. Worked for me then I went back and did it with your method.

i took your cours online not for the content, because i'm sorry to tell you that but i found your free content better for my need .. i took your course too support you

Thank you, as always, the density of useful information per minute is really good :)

Yeah I like this style. While, I didn't do any of the tasks (Too lazy to open blender right now) I did think through what I'd do, and even learned about moving things by Blender Units.

OMG what would I do without you Grant lol...

another awesome way to make an arch is to use Bridge Faces command to the faces that are located like this _ _ and change the number of cuts in the settings of that command

Finally a simple tutorial i can handle. Thank you Mister Abbit

I'm excited to practice this after work. I purchased the environment course on your website, which had been helpful and fun! Lastly, I like the newer format where I can see you. It's like seeing the wizard behind the curtain! Thanks, Grant!

Great exercise for a lazy Saturday!

I like this sort of challenge, though I'd personally prefer more intermediate ones :). It reminds of these weekly challenges a teacher would issue at the start of each week. All he'd give us was the theme, and then we would make whatever we wanted within its scope.

Good gravy, man! This is just one awesome video. Thanks alot, specially for me, since I lack imagination at the mechanical level and I would have done everything manually by messing with the vertices or going along the longest possible route. This helps me a lot. So thanks again, and I mean it.

Terrific. Thanks for thinking up a new way to teach Blender. Very effective.

absolutely fantastic

Super concept, thanks👍

great content and exercises as always, thanks Grant! :)

I like these challenges. Always learning something new. :)

Now that's a cool tutorial ! Love the format

Thank you for these videos! :)

Super helpful! Thank you

Thanks.

@Grant Abbitt This video was GREAT. I'd love to see even more, and deeper, more intricate modelling challenges. Maybe looking at a random object from a web search and trying to replicate it in 3D in X number of minutes. Like, you pick the object, we all do the challenges and then you go through your own attempt. Perhaps noting things you'd done differently or things that were key to your results.

I have been using Blender for YEARS, and only now learned about the fact that you can manipulate the origins of objects like in Maya. What. I always did this with the 3D cursor 😂

Grant have you been working out? You look good man

I did learn a few things I did not know. Good job.

I really love this video thank you so much ❤

First tanks for the video, I being having problem on how to use the spin tool, thanks for the excellent explanation.

Great format, would love to see more

this is a great way to do tutorials! nice :)

Great tutorial! thanks.

I absolutely LOVE the way you teach, I've bought a few courses recently from Polygon runway and others, and my biggest frustration is that they're 'follow my actions' type of courses, and don't really teach you fundamentals. Whereas you build understanding of why you should do things, give challenges and help people experiment, learn, fail etc.. It's such a fabulous teaching method. Would love to see more of these challenges!

This was wonderful! Thanks for the great video.

Best video ever..thank you so much

I'm currently in my final year of university who has been using Autodesk Maya for four years now. I am currently on a student licence which will likely expire by September. Gotta get my blender skills up now lmao.

Amazing. thank you Grant!

Currently finishing his Udemy course. Looking forward to the animation part of the course.

please make these daily

THESE ARE GREAT!!!!!!

Useful tutorial

i I love this video i finally found out how to do that but now when i did it the first turn it worked but when i tried to do it a second time for fun on the same object it just keep clamping both sides

Grant, please make little lobbing(in good way) words about one very minor thing that should be default out of box by developers: Status bar should by default display scene statistic not impractical version number. Yes it can be changed by user itself, but by default should be more practical. Thank you, wish you best.

I absolutely loved this video!! Thx so much

Best tutorial

for the scaling up all of them up, I just put my 3d cursor to the bottom of one of my objects corners then scaled by 3d cursor on z by 1.5. Idk if this was smart or stupid 😂

big thx for u my man :)

Excellent. On my iMAC, i click twice on an edge and it selects the loop. Option (alt) click, doesn't do it. If you want to select a face loop, click twice on the face closest to the direction you want the loop. If it's to the right, click farthest to the right. If it's up, click farthest up on the face as possible. Always watch your work. Very informative.

this rocks

how about the shape at 10:00 , it can be useful for an array of arches

I've been is blender for 5 yrs and I am still a beginner

Always something important.. 🤩

ty for the vid.

Excellent!

lol i never know this. 1 year in blender already ahahaha

Thanks this was great for my current pace. If you continue on these.. can I ask for one about adding decals, raised surfaces from decals..is Decal Machine the best option for idk the word- but where the image moves and is non destructive. Thank you !

If only blender was beginner friendly

I like the presentation, nice and easy for beginners' step by step, but 'and that looks about right" for the Top and Bottom is not right as also here the dimensions are important. But just my opinion no worries 😉

Hey Grant, and to all other peeps out there, I am dabbling for the first time in my life into modding assets for videogames (Elden Ring is this case) and I heard a lot of conflicting information about Subdivision Surface and the Multiresolution modifier. My question is: Should I skip altogether on Multiresolution if I am not actively sculpting, and just use Subdiv or skip subdiv and go for Multires? And how do you add details without ballooning up your poly count? My first project was a bone sword covered in vines and the little bulbs and vines alone ended up being over 600k polys. The entire project amounted to 6 million polygons (I know, I know it was pretty damn stupid of me lol) so, just curious on your take and advice. Thanks for your time.

Thanks for this vid, Grant. Arches have been my nemesis for too long. I think I knew most of what to do but just seem to mess it up somewhere along the line. Also, I'd really like to do that type that (I think) starts with an inset face and then bevels the corner. Can I make that work? No. And does anyone slow down enough to see what they do? No. Onwards and sideways...

Awesome! Thank you very much! As an old student, I would say you look much more handsome when you explain with your smile! I guess it's the first time I see you introducing with a little bit of frown. Just sayin :)