3D Modelling Course

Lesson 1 • Understanding 3D Space and Coordinates

Covers X, Y, Z axes, world vs. local space, and grid systems. Establishes spatial reasoning needed for all subsequent modelling tasks.

Lesson 2 • Basic Object Transformations

Teaches translate, rotate, and scale operations with precision input. Accurate transformations underpin every modelling workflow covered later.

Lesson 3 • Overview of 3D Modelling Software

Introduces industry-standard software interfaces and workflow paradigms. Connects tool familiarity to efficient modelling practice throughout the course.

Lesson 4 • Core Object Types and Primitives

Explains meshes, curves, lights, and cameras as scene building blocks. Learners manipulate primitives to understand object properties.

Lesson 1 • Topology Best Practices

Explains quads, triangles, n-gons, and pole management for clean meshes. Clean topology prevents artefacts in subdivision and animation.

Lesson 2 • Mesh Components: Vertices, Edges, Faces

Defines the three mesh components and their selection modes. Understanding components is prerequisite to all polygon editing operations.

Lesson 3 • Essential Mesh Editing Tools

Covers extrude, inset, bevel, bridge, and merge operations. These tools form the core vocabulary of polygon modelling workflows.

Lesson 4 • Modelling a Hard-Surface Object

Applies polygon tools to build a complete hard-surface prop from reference. Reinforces tool combinations and clean geometry habits.

Lesson 1 • Introduction to Digital Sculpting

Introduces sculpting mode, brush types, and pressure sensitivity settings. Establishes the sculpting mindset distinct from polygon box modelling.

Lesson 2 • Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Forms

Teaches a three-pass sculpting approach from large masses to fine surface detail. Structured passes produce professional, readable organic shapes.

Lesson 3 • Sculpting a Character Head

Guides learners through sculpting a human head using anatomical landmarks. Applies all brush and form skills in a single cohesive project.

Lesson 4 • Dynamic Topology and Remeshing

Covers dynamic subdivision and voxel remeshing for freeform sculpting. These tools allow detail addition without pre-planned mesh density.

Lesson 1 • Modelling a Product Design Object

Applies curve-based tools to model a consumer product with smooth surfaces. Reinforces parametric thinking and precision measurement habits.

Lesson 2 • Surface Generation from Curves

Covers loft, revolve, sweep, and extrude-along-path surface methods. Each method suits different industrial and product design scenarios.

Lesson 3 • Converting NURBS to Polygons

Explains tessellation settings and conversion workflows for game or render pipelines. Bridges parametric modelling with polygon-based downstream tools.

Lesson 4 • Editing NURBS Surfaces

Teaches control point editing, knot insertion, and surface trimming. Precise surface editing is essential for professional product modelling.

Lesson 1 • Applying and Testing Texture Maps

Applies checker and reference textures to validate UV quality before texturing. Validation catches distortion and stretching before the texturing stage.

Lesson 2 • UV Layout Optimisation

Covers packing UV islands, scaling for texel density, and avoiding overlaps. Optimised layouts maximise texture resolution across the entire model.

Lesson 3 • Seam Placement Strategies

Covers marking seams on edges to control how meshes unfold. Strategic seam placement minimises distortion and hides seams on final assets.

Lesson 4 • Understanding UV Space

Explains UV coordinates, UV space boundaries, and their relationship to textures. Foundational UV literacy prevents texturing errors downstream.

Lesson 1 • Lighting Setups for Rendering

Teaches three-point lighting, HDRI environment lighting, and area lights. Proper lighting reveals material quality and model form effectively.

Lesson 2 • Physically Based Rendering Principles

Explains PBR theory including energy conservation, roughness, and metalness. PBR knowledge ensures materials behave correctly across lighting conditions.

Lesson 3 • Texture Map Types and Connections

Covers albedo, normal, roughness, metalness, AO, and emission maps. Correct map connections produce accurate surface appearance in renders.

Lesson 4 • Render Settings and Output

Configures render engines, sampling, resolution, and output formats. Optimised settings balance render quality with production time constraints.

Lesson 1 • Keyframe Animation Basics

Teaches inserting keyframes, using the timeline, and editing the graph editor. Keyframe fundamentals apply to all animation types in 3D software.

Lesson 2 • Armature and Bone Fundamentals

Introduces armatures, bone hierarchy, and naming conventions for rigs. Correct bone structure is the foundation of all character animation workflows.

Lesson 3 • Inverse Kinematics and Constraints

Explains IK chains, pole targets, and bone constraints for animator-friendly rigs. IK dramatically speeds up posing limbs compared to forward kinematics.

Lesson 4 • Skinning and Weight Painting

Covers mesh-to-armature binding and weight painting for smooth deformation. Accurate weights prevent mesh pinching and collapsing during animation.

Lesson 1 • Asset Baking Workflows

Covers high-to-low poly baking for normal, AO, and curvature maps. Baking transfers sculpted detail to optimised meshes for real-time rendering.

Lesson 2 • Boolean and Procedural Modelling

Covers Boolean operations and non-destructive modifier stacks for complex forms. Procedural workflows enable rapid iteration without destructive geometry edits.

Lesson 3 • Level of Detail and Optimisation

Explains LOD creation, polygon budgets, and mesh decimation for real-time assets. Optimised assets meet technical requirements for games and interactive media.

Lesson 4 • Subdivision Surface Modelling

Teaches control loop placement and crease weighting for subdivision-ready meshes. Subdivision modelling produces smooth, high-quality surfaces from low-poly cages.