10 model challenge a beginner should make to learn Blender?

I got a fun idea that can teach a lot of people how to use Blender, instead of just watching tutorials about cups and glasses on youtube, it would be great if someone would make a list of maybe 10 models (from basic to advanced) a person should make in order to learn Blender and to transition from a noob to a at least medium level modeler.

Basically like a school, where instead of just learning (watching tutorials), you also have to take “tests” (make models) and eventually graduate.

These models shouldn’t consist of just one thing per “lesson” (just loop cut, just nurbs or uv), instead they should combine multiple tools, for example a cup (loops) that has a handle (nurbs) and a logo on it (uv).

I’d do this myself, but I am a beginner as well (heck, I just learned about the merge vertices tool), but hopefully someone more experienced can name some good models to make.

It should look like this:

  1. 3 or 4 donuts on top of each other, ranging in size, on top of a box (to learn navigation, moving, scaling and basic shapes)
  2. maybe the cup I mentioned earlier (loop cut, nurbs, uv)
    3, 4, 5. also uv related stuff, maybe bevel, mirror,etc.
    and so on.
  3. ten should maybe be a car, one that combines most of the previous lessons, but nothing too tough, the point is to encourage more people, but by making models too tough, people will just give up.

Also one thing, I tried making a 3d model of a car and it took me 5 different blueprints to find one that is kind of similar in size in all 3 views (front, right, top), so if a car was to be in this 10 step challenge, there should be a blueprint with perfect size and high resolution. The hassle of adjusting the blueprint’s views in photoshop or whatever shouldn’t be here, bad blueprints are for more advanced users that don’t rely on them that much.

As you learn Blender you’ll realize that blueprints are CRUCIAL to good modelling.

That’s why I started this topic, for experienced modelers to give some great easy examples for noobs like me to learn. As I said, from 5 different blueprints I found, on different websites, all had to be changed at least slightly and some even didn’t match (e.g. in front view the mirrors are the widest thing on the car, while in the back view the doors are the widest thing)

Good luck finding perfect free blueprints for anything, unless you have some sort of access to people/places that use them in industry.

So crappy blueprints are the “standard”? I thought that I just had bad luck and ran into a few bad ones… What’s the point of most blueprints then if they aren’t really made for 3d modeling? I thought that was more or less their entire point.

Beside the Blueprint Stuff, the free Blender Book “Blender Noob2Pro” is what you are looking for.
https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro

I am new to Blender and one thing I’ve done to challenge myself (in between all the great tutorials out there) is to model my own house and all the stuff in it. Whenever I’m bored or need a diversion, I jump in and make a new chair or lamp or whatever. In the process, I find myself having to look up info on how to make curtains, or glass or UV map a sofa. I find that working on something you actually know and care about is a lot more interesting than another donut or coffee cup. I figure it’ll take me a year or more to finish, but by the time I have finished, I will have learned a lot. And, I’ll have a cool 3D model of my house! One thing I love about Blender is the community. Thanks, community, for allowing me to learn this awesome app!

The crappy blueprints you will find online are released in order to draw customers to the sites that sell GOOD blueprints. It’s just another money racket in this 21st century world we live in where $$$ comes before anything else.

What a great idea! I’ve only been learning Blender for the past few months, and I’ve set myself a challenge to force me to learn. I’m modeling my own house. Whenever I get bored or need a diversion, I jump back in and model an new chair or lamp. It forces me to use the skills I’ve learned and I find that modeling something you actually care about is a lot more interesting than another donut or coffee cup.

Most blueprints are not really set up for modeling. That is not their purpose. Blueprints are made for manufacturing and/or end user level assembly. And from there of course, as mentioned the quality can be poor unless you have access to industry level engineering blueprints.

A good source for Blueprints is here:

https://www.the-blueprints.com/blueprints/

Make sure you are in the blueprint drawing data base. Not the vector data base. The drawings are free. If you register you can get higher res images. The database is quite extensive.

But you will have to of course set it all up in Photoshop or Gimp and prep it for front and/or back, top and side views that all match. And yes it is typical to have to scale the images and make adjustments.

I like to look at an everyday object and try to deconstruct it. Then figure out ways of creating it, allowing for cheats. For example, just because two pieces of wood are held by a mortice and tenon joint does not mean you have to model it, just suggest it.

If you want nice blueprints for a tutorial, just make a nice model and render out the ortho views yourself.
In the spirit of actually doing things instead of just reading about them, here’s my self-guided “blender tutorial” blend file:
tryop.com/MediaDocs/BlenderTutorial.blend