I. Introduction

Blender is a free, open-source 3D creation suite. It covers the creation process from modeling, sculpting, materials, lighting, animation, simulation, rendering, compositing, and basic video editing.

Blender also supports multiple render engines, which is the way they turn your 3D scene into an animation or photo. The two main ones are:

  • Cycles for photorealistic, ray/path-traced lighting.
  • EEVEE for fast, real-time rendering.

Also because Blender is scriptable with Python and has a huge add-on ecosystem, it can be useful across STEM: engineering visualization, physics demos, data visualization, graphics, and prototyping.

Safety

  • Only open .blend files or add-ons you trust, and keep “Auto Run Python Scripts” off unless you know what you’re doing.

II. Outline

  • Getting comfortable
    • UI layout, navigation, selection, transforms (move/rotate/scale)
    • Object mode vs Edit mode
    • Collections, scene organization, snapping, units
  • Modeling
    • Mesh basics: vertices/edges/faces
    • Extrude, inset, bevel, loop cuts, knife
    • Modifiers workflow (non-destructive modeling)
      • Mirror, Array, Subdivision, Boolean, Solidify, Bevel, etc.
    • Clean topology basics
  • Sculpting
    • Brushes and remesh workflow
    • Sculpt to bake/texture
  • Materials + Texturing
    • Shader nodes
    • UV unwrapping basics
  • Lighting + Rendering
    • Cameras and composition
    • Render engines overview: Cycles vs EEVEE
    • Sampling/noise, denoising, HDRIs, basic color management
    • Output settings: resolution, frame rate, image sequences
  • Animation + Rigging
    • Keyframes, graph editor, interpolation
    • Armatures, weights, constraints
    • Character/robot rigs, mechanical animation
  • Geometry Nodes
    • Build repeatable, parameter-driven geometry
    • Scatter/instancing workflows (rocks, bolts, panels, patterns)
  • Simulation
    • Rigid bodies, cloth, fluids/smoke (Mantaflow), particles
  • Compositing + Video Editor
    • Basic compositing: glare, color correction, render passes
    • Simple edits: cuts, timing, overlays

III. Free Books

IV. Video Series

Youtube tutorials are your best free resource for learning animation online.

V. See Also