We're happy to announce the next big update for our Master 3D Sculpting in Blender course.

This time, we added a full new chapter about rigging the epic creature, which we created in the previous chapters.

Check this video for a quick overview:

This chapter comes with 12 new videos and over 2 hours of content.

You will learn how to...

• Bake complex materials into simple texture maps
• Use the free Rigify add-on to quickly create a fully-featured rig
• Use the Rigify building blocks (samples) to extend the rig to our needs
• Adjust the Rigify Rig Layers menu, to have full control over our rig
• Using the Weight Paint mode to fix deformation issues when posing the creature

In the end, you will have a fully rigged creature, ready to be posed and animated. And you will be able to rig nearly any creature or character you can imagine.

If you own the course already, click here to jump right in (it's free for all course owners).

If you haven't joined yet...

Join the course here

We updated our Blender Hotkey Sheet PDF to reflect the changes in the new stable version of Blender 3.4. 🧾

It includes a colored version and a grayscale version, optimized for printing.

You can now download it here, without the need to sign up or login. Enjoy!

We updated our Blender Hotkey Sheet PDF to reflect the changes in the new stable version of Blender 3.3. 🧾

You can sign up here for free to get it (email required), or just login to your CG Boost Academy account if you have signed up already, and download it.

We added the first full chapter of Part 3 "Scene Breakdowns" to our Cubic Worlds course, with 12 new video lessons and a running time of ~1:40 hours.

In this chapter, we have a look behind the scenes, on how the "Family Trip" animation was created.

We will have a general look at how the scene was assembled, how the car rig and animation was created, but we will also learn some new workflows on how to create uneven terrain, animated water, a flock of birds and more.

Here are the newlessons of chapter 10:

• 10.1 - Chapter Introduction
• 10.2 - Scene Overview
• 10.3 - Storytelling Analysis
• 10.4 - Terrain Creation
• 10.5 - Water Animation
• 10.6 - Water Splashes
• 10.7 - Tree Animation
• 10.8 - Birds (Particles)
• 10.9 - Car Rig Analysis
• 10.10 - Car Animation Analysis
• 10.11 - Character Animation Analysis
• 10.12 - Finalization Analysis

We also UPDATEDthe Download Section of the course, where the new chapter is now included:

• Download the new chapter

We updated our Blender Hotkey Sheet PDF to reflect the changes in the new stable version of Blender 3.2. 🧾

You can sign up here for free to get it (email required), or just login to your CG Boost Academy account if you have signed up already, and download it.

We added the third full chapter of the "Epic Creature" sculpting exercise, with 21 new videos and a running time of ~3.5 hours, to our Master 3D Sculpting in Blender course.

In this new chapter, you will learn how to texture the creature. We will UV unwrap the model, bake different texture maps, texture paint the base color and add fine details to the skin in the shader editor.

Additionally, we will make use of UDIMs to increase the texture resolution and create semi-realistic eyes for the creature.

Here are the newlessons of chapter 10:

• 10.1 - Chapter Introduction
• 10.2 - Retopology using Bsurfaces
• 10.3 - Retopology Tips
• 10.4 - UV Unwrapping Workflow
• 10.5 - UV Unwrapping the Creature
• 10.6 - UV Packing and UDIMs
• 10.7 - Baking Preparations
• 10.8 - Normal Map Baking
• 10.9 - Displacement Map Baking
• 10.10 - Curvature Map Baking
• 10.11 - Texture Painting Workflow
• 10.12 - Painting Color Map - Part 1
• 10.13 - Painting Color Map - Part 2
• 10.14 - Color Details - Part 1
• 10.15 - Color Details - Part 2
• 10.16 - Emission Details
• 10.17 - Roughness Map
• 10.18 - Bump Map
• 10.19 - Subsurface Scattering
• 10.20 - Eyes - Part 1
• 10.21 - Eyes - Part 2

We also Updatedthe Download Section of the course, where the new chapter is now included:

• Download the new chapter

Next we will work on the "Epic Creature Presentation" chapter, where you will learn how to add a simple rig to the creature, and create some nice renders. We don't have a release date yet, but it will be at some point in 2022. Stay tuned!

One of the most requested tutorial topics for the Master 3D Environments in Blender course was how to add lightning to your shots. In this free tutorial on our YouTube channel, we go deep into how to do just that!

You will learn how to use Grease Pencil to add animated lightning, light up your scene with it, and then composite it into your rendered footage.

Simultaneously, we added similar lessons to the course's Chapter 15 that focuses on weather effects:

Here are the 2 new lessons of chapter 15:

• Lightning
• Lightning Compositing

We added a new section about creating a stormy ocean to the Master 3D Environments in Blender course.

The first part of this section uses the Ocean modifier to simulate the stormy waves. Then we employ Dynamic Paint to capture proximity data and allow spray particles to be emitted only from the highest portions of the waves.

The last lesson breaks down the rendering and compositing process.

These new lessons added almost 30 minutes of new content to chapter 11!

Here are the 3 new lessons of chapter 11:

• Stormy Ocean Waves
• Stormy Ocean Spray
• Stormy Ocean Compositing

We added the second full chapter of the "Epic Creature" sculpting exercise, with 11 new videos and a running time of ~1.5 hours, to our Master 3D Sculpting in Blender course.

In this new chapter, you will learn how to add the fine details to the creature. Here we will use the default sculpting tools, masking techniques but also brush textures to add high resolution details like scales and skin.

Additionally, you will learn how to create your own custom brush textures from 3D data and 2D photos.

Check out the chapter introduction video to learn more.

Here are the NEW lessons of chapter 9:

• 9.1 - Chapter Introduction
• 9.2 - Preparation
• 9.3 - Basic Head Details
• 9.4 - Basic Body Details
• 9.5 - Scales with Masks
• 9.6 - Scales with Alphas
• 9.7 - Skin Details - Part 1
• 9.8 - Skin Details - Part 2
• 9.9 - Tongue
• 9.10 - Custom Alphas from 3D Objects
• 9.11 - Custom Alphas from 2D Photos

We also UPDATED the Download Section of the course, where the new chapter is now included:

• Download the new chapter

Next we will work on the "Epic Creature Shading" chapter, where you will learn how to color the creature. We don't have a release date yet, but it will be at some point in 2022. Stay tuned!

Time to finish up the new Geometry Nodes chapter of the Master 3D Environments in Blender course! In the last few videos, you will learn some extra Geometry Node techniques, including creating a dynamic fence, using proximity data to scale nearby objects and more. Rendering and compositing lesson is of course a must!

With that, Chapter 17 is now complete, featuring 1 hour of new content!

Here are the 3 new lessons of chapter 17:

• 17.9 - Proximity Scattering
• 17.10 - Rendering and Compositing
• 17.11 - Bonus: Dynamic Fence