hey guys, i’ve decided to write the definitive noob tutorial, ( once i’m finished kicking wu and sagos asses ) and i was wondering if anyone has any ideas for things that could be included. here’s what i have thought of so far:
world buttons ( setting the sky ‘real’, changing x,y,z sizes for realistic clouds, and animating offsets, setting ‘show mist’ in camera buttons )
making terrain ( using ‘noise’ function, using stencil texture, using musgrave texture as a bump map and changing z size )
using set smooth and auto smooth and recalculating normals outside.
I see allot of questions about multiple materials on one mesh.
That would be good to explain because it shows how to set up vert groups.
I hope you write this, from your list of topics even some not so noob users could learn a thing or two.
I like the idea and the topics you cover, I agree with SHR1K that these are topics that are not included elsewhere, or just skimmed over and easy to miss, so it would not be noob only, but helpfull to many.
I wouldn’t mind seeing more working examples of subsurf modelling as that is something I have done very little of.
Also something I just discovered, using softbody as a modelling tool via the ‘apply’ button at the desired frame of the animation.
How about examples of uses of multiple ‘Screens’ and ‘Scenes’
Think every Noob tut from now on should start by explaining where the sub-surf button has gone. Generally the modifier stack should be explained as it doesn’t appear in the old tuts.
Exporting, exporting…how to use Blender with other app’s
Also, clear titles for a noob (as opposed to like, ‘making a snowman’, or super technical on the other hand; ie, ‘separating elements of a mesh object’, as opposed to the technical name of an operation; learn those names inside the idea)
As a rank beginner myself, I don’t have any suggestions for subject matter. But if these are to be truly “noob” instructions, I’d urge you in your approach to keep the absolute beginner fully in mind. Write your tutorial, then turn around a try to follow it yourself doing only and exactly what you’ve written down. That’ll show you very quickly whether a beginner can actually follow it.
Now, I’m not saying that every beginner tutorial has to outline every single step per se; you do, after all, want to start to build up skills and confidence. But a beginner level tutorial that does leave things out or skips steps should always prompt the student to recall previously studied material and provide a link if possible to a place where that material can be reviewed if need be. And if your tutorial assumes certain broad-based, previously learned skills, it should say so right at the outset, again with links to the earlier lessons.
I’m a 42 year old educator who just started learning Blender (with no previous 3D experience) this past weekend, and I had a bit of trouble with the classic Gus tutorial. At first it was because the version printed in the 2.3 Guide I’d bought was just out of date. But even the more up-to-date online version still caused some trouble because it left some crucial information out. (That has since been corrected by a very helpful forum member, mstram/Mike.)
Anyway, if you’re writing for beginners, really write for beginners and with beginners in mind. And I’ve already decided that my contribution to the Blender community, once I figure out what the heck I’m doing, will be to assist with tutorial writing since that pulls from my background.
Request of a bloody noob: a list of shortcuts for the different OSes. It took me lots of time to find out that “rightclick” on an apple means apple+click.
Great ideas! Esp. Matt’s. As a beginner using the Gus tut I had real problems. The 2.4 wiki tut said to use the EKEY and select REGION. Because I wasn’t in wireframe, as I understand after a search here yesterday, REGION wasn’t available. Also, turning a Limit cube off before beginning.
Thanks for all the great help on these posts. I’ve learned a lot here!
Please …User preferences!!!
I know that we often hear the complaint about the default rmb pick. If noobs understand from the beginning how to change some basic preferences, they may strugle a little less.
world buttons
making terrain
using set smooth
using auto smooth
recalculating normals outside.
edge loops
tris and quads
multipul materials per mesh
rigging a cylinder using vertex groups
making a wireframe render
loading image sequences
loading libraries
nodes
user prefs
Subsurf and other modifers
scenes
screens
import/export
softbody
I would suguest that you also include fake objects, to save materials, I got cought out on that one once. Also tree generators, L-system or Gen3, other such scrips like makehuman, partical grass, and let us never forget a background image. Fluid sim would also be a help (for some) as would a Yafray tutorial. Wow long list. I’d be willing to help out as much as I could, and thats not much.
Just to clarify, and maybe you already know this, but not being in wireframe was a secondary reason why REGION was not available for the extrude command. The primary reason was that one or more face(s) had to be selected (3 or 4 connected vertices).
… In case someone reads this thread and only sees “must be in wireframe”
