Complete newbie

Hello!

I just started an online course of 3D modelling with a blender 2.79 (I am not even sure I downloaded the correct one) and I have no clue how to start - there’s an overwhelming amount of information and I am getting more frustrated as I try to grasp any information. In addition to that, my gaming PC crashed on me and I have no clue what was the cause of it. Currently using my laptop and hope it will suit the blender program. The course has suggested joining this community so I hope to get any help.

Any help would be appreciated.

  • Maya

Hey, welcome to BA!
Is it Maja or Maya? Anyways, the creator of the tutorial sent you to right place. We most certainly will find a solution for your problems.
Blender ( and 3D/ GFX/ VFX) is a vast field and it is absolutely normal to be overwhelmed as a newcomer. I am one of the more ‘techy’ users and want to help you at first with your machine related problems. Would you mind, telling us a bit more about your hardware in that crashing box? Then we can work something out.

Edit: I also move your thread over to a more appropriate section since this one is more dedicated to actual announcements of new material out there.
Edit 1: For following readers: This was first created in the tutorials section. Therefore the remark in edit 0.

1 Like

Hello and thank you for the warm welcome, Markus/chalybeum!

It’s pronounced as Maya in English, so I prefer that spelling.
They do seem like a vast subject, I have only acquired an HTC Vive with full body and this summer my PC started to crash while I played VRChat or Google Earth.
My dad built me the PC without a case and with small memory. I don’t know if that causes the crash/causing the PC to restart. This is how much I know about my gaming PC:

image
image

Some people suggested me to get a case and a better hard drive (which apparently is not same as memory?), but others tell me that it is not the issue. Thus I am at a loss what to do.

Ah, thank you for moving my thread to a correct place! I haven’t noticed that. Really appreciate it!

OK, cool! All in all this doesn’t look too bad. Not a ‘top of the line’ machine but certainly something we can work with.
A case would be a good thing, if you don’t know what you’re doing, yet not a necessity. I had systems in operation which are mounted to wooden breakfast plates.
If that 250 GB SSD is the only drive it will soon be disireble to get more storage, but a 860 EVO is definitely not a bad drive.
Now I talked about storage, and you’re right that it is different from memory. Memory aka. RAM is what your computer uses while operating. The machine loads data from storage, which is persistent when turning of the computer, into RAM, which is volatile aka. deleted when the data is not in use. Your computer does this because RAM is much faster than what storage can give you.
Anyways we have to investigate a bit more. Somewhere in the Windows settings there is something like a system overview (sorry to be a bit vague, I am a Linux only type of guy for some time now) that shows how large your RAM is.
The next thing is to check your drivers for the GPU. Best bet is to just visit the AMD site and look into the support/driver tab and download/ install the latest Radeon software, compatible to your card.

I can’t help you much with your PC’s issues, but I can say that learning 3D is quite hard at first.
You can look for BlenderGuru’s tutorials to start learning blender, especially the donuts one.

When I started, at first I tried many tutorials, none of which I could finish . Eventually, as you learn you can go back to them once in a while and you’ll find them more easy to follow and to complete.
At some point you’ll be also able to take what you’ve learn and make something personal with it.

All in all , it’s a long road to take but it can be quite pleasing and fun once you know the basics.
In fact doing something in 3D always involve many basics notions and until you don’t know them you’ll may find stuck even when trying to do something quite simple.
It’s something we all experienced but with time eventually things will get simple and you’ll be good at it.

Welcome from me, too. So can we now officially say that Maya likes Blender? :slight_smile:

About your computer issues, it is unlikely that it is caused by your hardware being too weak, n particular as it already crashes on very light workloads. It’s difficult to diagnose. Graphics driver (as @chalybeum already mentioned) is a hot suspect on the software side. It could also be a broken component, which would be more unfortunate, as it usually isn’t figured out without changing stuff. Mainboard or memory modules are typical candidates for defect components.

For starts, don’t think to much about building an expensive system, though. If you have something that runs stable, it’s fine for now. Am more powerful computer just means you can create larger, more complex scenes (or just be more wasteful with resources).

About learning do things, it doesn’t really matter where you start. CG has a lot of depth, both technically as artistically. There are endless possibilities to learn new things. To me, that’s a big reason, why it is fun. And yes, Blender has a lot of features, which are certainly overwhelming when you try to understand everything at once.

Take it as a learning by doing thing. Find out what is most enjoyable to you and start with that. Learning more will come by itself. Piecewise, but that is normal and okay.

Hello everyone!

Thank you so much for the replies, I really appreciate it!

Firstly, I want to deeply apologise for such a delayed respond; - I have been caught into intense studies and, unfortunately, due to that I had to cancel the 3D-modelling course at school, as I had no time, which is really unfortunate. However! I will start learning blender as soon as my Christmas Holidays start and happily try to learn it with baby steps, as @omgold and @sozap have suggested. Thank you guys!

@chalybeum Thank you for explaining everything for me and having the patience and interest to assist me! I understand that Linux is a different system and will try to answer to your questions as much as I can.
Did you mean this one?

Friends of mine also suspected my memory being too small, but I will first test how my PC will be working with a case, which is under way.

It would be unfortunate if there are major issues in my PC as I purchased it for the purpose of playing VRChat and other VR games. I know it is disadvantageous of me for not knowing a lot about PC and computers and programming much, however, this won’t stop me loving VR or any for of XR-technology; - and this is why I want to learn blender and contribute into VR industry.

Thank you again for the advice and hope to talk to you guys more about blender very soon!

Most crashes and bsod are caused by faulty drivers so I suggest you do a clean install of at least graphic divers with DDU:


I think this video might come in handy so you might want to save it in your phone before trying anything ^

I recommend every newbie start with low poly work. It’s incredibly simple to wrap your head around. There’s no fretting over textures, materials, shading, topology, UV mapping, baking, or any of the other busy work and minutiae inherent to 3D work. It’s just simple shapes and colors.

It’s this simplicity that makes it such a good teaching tool, because you don’t have to slowly hone your skills over time before you’re able to make something you can be proud of, and it serves as an excellent foundation for learning even more.

Polygon Runway is a great low poly art source. You can start out with something simple, like this:

…and eventually work your way up to something a little more complicated, like this: