Creating 3D Environments
**The course has been expanded with a new scene, specifically designed for Blender 4.1 **
This fresh, new Blender 3.2 course update (Version 3.0) contains valuable information for anyone looking to build 3D Environments. If you are new to Blender, it explains all the basics, teaching everything from grass to building creation, from scratch. If you’ve used Blender 2.81, this brand-new course highlights all the new Blender 3.2 features you can use to create amazing 3D environments.
Create beautiful 3D environments
Creating 3D environments is now more popular than ever, with a growing number of people mastering the skill of 3D crafting. Whether you are just starting out or already quite experienced, creating 3D environments can be a time-consuming and complex craft. During my 15 years creating these environments, I have faced and overcome many challenges. Having discovered the beauty and joy of 3D crafting, I now love nothing more than sharing my passion and wealth of experience with others. I hope this course sets you on the path to designing your own dream environment entirely in 3D.
Learn everything from A to Z
When I started 3D modeling, the only learning source I had was a printed book on random modeling. For me, it was enough to learn the basics, but without guidance, it’s easy to get lost. Today, there are many online learning resources that offer a swifter path to success in this field. However, not all offer a complete A to Z on 3D crafting. That’s why this 3D environment course is especially designed to cover everything you need to know to create stunning environments.
Step-by-step guidance
Discover everything you need to know to create your own 3D environments. Even if you have never touched Blender before, this course offers step-by-step guidance to help you with the basics so that you can feel comfortable using the software.
With 32+ hours of video content, this course takes you from complete beginner to proficiency.
Best of all, it’s completely up to date. I developed the first version of this course in 2015 and I continually update and improve the content. In 2020, Version 2.0 covered the new Blender 2.8 UI, but the latest Blender 3.2 update meant it was time for another major overhaul. Version 3.0 has fully updated course material recorded in Blender 3.2, so you can follow along with ease.
What will you learn in this course?
- Blender basics, just enough to follow this course (fully documented)
- Creating grass (Geometry nodes )
- Creating trees (Geometry nodes )
- Building a ruined landscape
- Blending displaced materials
- Creating a river scene
- Creating a procedural sky with clouds
- Working with photo scanned structures
And much more!
What included in this course?
As always, I offer a course full of content, this time it’s bigger than ever. The course uses free content from the Polyhaven CC0 platform, which I started with Greg Zahl in 2018 to provide textures, models and HDRi’s for everyone to use. Simply go and pick the assets you like. A selection of 4K textures and models are included in the course, but feel free to download up to 16K from the Polyhaven platform.
You’ll also receive exclusive content you won’t find on Polyhaven:
- Photo-scanned rocks, tree barks, wooden beams, plants, ruins and a castle
- Photo references (landscapes, buildings, flowers)
- 4K slow motion video reference for environment study (35 minutes)
- 125 pages of documentation for the introductory chapter
- All Blender scene files (Blender 3.2).
Chapter overview
Chapter 1: Course introduction
A short introduction what you will learn in each chapter. Also, some explanation about workflow and organization, motivation and inspiration and course related questions.
Chapter 2: Blender basics
This chapter learns you the Blender fundamentals. If you are new to Blender, this chapter helps you on track with a quick introduction of the interface and viewport and some of the most used tools. We also build a simple table/chair scene and build a dice scene with geometry nodes. This chapter comes with 125 pages of documentation.
Chapter 3: Creating a grass scene
In this chapter we start with making grass strands. We pack the strands in Geometry nodes and build a simple but realistic grass scene with the geometry Nodes system. We use proxy models to speed up the viewport and add some variation by modeling some flowers. In the end of this chapter, we animate the grass so you can render the scene in motion
Chapter 4: Creating a forest path scene
Big topic in chapter 4 is tree creation. We use photo-scanned barks in combination with generated branches. We add twigs on the branches with the geometry nodes and provide this with an animation. We upgrade the grass template by adding a path generator so you can simply adjust the scene by drawing a path
Chapter 5: Creating a ruined scene
In this chapter we use the grass template and trees from the previous chapter and spend most of the time on the ruin structure. We build an advance material node to blend a brick and plaster material. We also model some bricks and scatter these on the structure with Geometry nodes.
Chapter 6: Farmhouse river scene
This course comes with lots of scanned rocks, this chapter is the ultimate scene to blend all the rocks to make a river scene. First we shape the terrain so we have a river bed. Most of the lectures cover the creation of the farmhouse. , this is the main structure of the scene. In the end of the chapter we scatter the river with rocks and animate the river
Chapter 7: Sunset castle scene
This time we use a photo-scanned castle and blend the structure with the terrain. We build a sky with volumetric clouds and use the Nishita skylight to blend the sky to create a sunset.
Chapter 8: mountain ruin scene
This large landscape combines all the best from all chapters. We use the grass, trees and path to create a mountain path. We fill the scene with scanned ruin structures and blend the sky with distance mountains.
Chapter 9: Extra snow scene created for Blender 4.1 ( Bundle only)
Crafting a Frozen River Scene Embark on the creation of a serene frozen river set within a dense forest. Master the art of blending materials to achieve a seamless transition between rocks and water. Add life to your scene with realistic trees, finishing with snow and mist effects for a breathtaking result.
Course bundle
I also provide a course bundle for an extra of $15.
This bundle includes all of the above, plus:
- A 3-hour ‘Secrets of creating 3D environments’ mini course, which covers personal environment design combined with a tips in tricks related to environment modeling
- Super focuse-book (15 years’ worth of experiences working with Blender)
- Character & animal pack to populate your environment.
- You can also access this course on the Teachable platform, which offers a user-friendly video interface. Just use the key included in the zip file for chapter 01 to access this platform.
- Extra snow environment chapter for Blender 4.1
All textures come from Polyhaven and are included in the course.
What students say about previous course version:
About me
My name is Rob Tuytel and I have been a environment designer for the past 15 years. I have a huge passion for the Dutch 17th century and mainly focus on medieval architecture. I am Co-Founder of Polyhaven together with Greg Zahl. I love to study old environment paintings and use these as an inspiration for my work. You might know me from the Tears of Steel open Blender movie or from my previous environment course for Blender 2.81.
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