Blender tutorials: 20 ways to create cool 3D effects

Want to try something new with Blender, the open source, cross platform suite of tools for 3D creation? Then this is for you!

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In this article, we've rounded up the best step-by-step Blender tutorials from around the web. Improve your modelling, animating, rendering and compositing skills as you follow the projects and pick up tips from leading 3D designs.

We hope you find something here that tickles your fancy - and don't forget to let us know how you get on in the comments below...

Also read:

• Cinema 4D tutorials: 25 projects to up your 3D skills
• ZBrush tutorials: 20 ways to sculpt and paint in 3D
• Maya tutorials: 30 awesome CG projects you should try today
• After Effects tutorials: 40 amazing projects from around the web!

Enhance your environments

01. Create a realistic off-road scene

Tasks that not so long ago would have taken a long time to learn are becoming much easier to administer with a single click or a dedicated plug-in as 3D software becomes more advanced. One of these is moving a car along a predefined surface geometry. In this amazing Blender tutorial, Mike Griggs demonstrates how to create a realistically rough terrain for rallying.

02. How to enhance a game level environment

In this video-based Blender tutorial, 3D expert Christopher Plush shows how to create low-overhead in-game effects that won't tax your players' machines.

03. How to distribute rocks across a plane

This Blender tutorial covers how to generate multiple objects very quickly and to put them in a scene auto-magically. Andrew Price shows you how to use the particle system to create a realistic desert scene strewn with thousands of random-looking rocks.

Realistic renders

04. How to create a realistic earth

This tutorial uses several textures from NASA to create a realistic earth. Master the complex terrain, ocean, clouds, atmospheres and tweak materials to create realistic shaders for this project.

05. Create a realistic head

This complete tutorial series explains the process of creating a realistic human portrait with Blender 2.6, covering base mesh modeling, detail sculpting, texture painting, hair growing and styling, sub-surface scatter shading, and compositing.

06. How to create a photo-real render using Cycles

In this series of six in-depth video-based Blender tutorials, pro 3D artist Alex Telford shows you how to create a realistic render of some jewellery. Watch as he takes you from concept to final image with the software's Cycles render engine.

• Photo or 3D quiz - can you spot the difference?

07. Create a spaceship

In this two-part video-based Blender tutorial you'll learn how to model a concept spaceship; how to use your own sketches as reference; and how a combination of modifiers can aid you in modelling.

08. Modelling a building

This Blender 2.5 video tutorial takes you through how to model a building from a single reference. By the end you'll be left with a model that could easily be used as a game asset or as a base for much more highly detailed building.

Amazing animations

09. How to animate a circular swipe in Blender

Bassam Kurdali's video explains how to set up a clock face-style swiping action using the popular open-source 3D package. You can also download the accompanying project files for this tutorial.

10. How to create a Tron-inspired light cycle effect

Tron: Legacy reignited an interest in the original, ground breaking 1982 movie, which saw geeks everywhere wowed by Tron's CG light cycle sequences. Filmmaker, animator and all-round Blender tutorials supremo Bassam Kurdali shows you how to create your very own light cycle effect in this walkthrough.

11. How to animate a flame using materials in Blender

In this superb Blender tutorial, Bassam Kurdali shows how procedural materials and the software's compositing tools can create movement.

12. How to create an energetic fire and water scene

Blender tutorial guru Andrew Price returns to show you how to simulate real-world flame and fluid effects. His digital weapons of choice? Enter Blender's fluid and smoke simulators...

13. How to roll a 3D object on its edge

This is one of the quicker Blender tutorials in this list, where you can learn how to roll objects on their edge using the curve editor. Bassam Kurdali talks you through the technique in 10 easy steps.

14. Create a classy fluid simulation

This Blender tutorial by Andrew Price shows you how to create realistic fluid effects and render it using the new Cycles rendering engine.

Blender techniques

15. How to make metallic text

3D typography has a big place in the industry. In this tutorial, discover how to create a big, bold, attention-grabbing title.

16. Introduction to rigging

Lee Salvemini is kind of a big deal in the Blender community. He worked on Sintel, Elephants dream and spent two years on Star Wars video game titles for LucasArts. Here, he presents a complete beginner’s introduction to rigging.

17. How to box model a sperm whale in 3D

Box modelling is a staple technique for every 3D artist. Learn how to model a sperm whale suitable for use in animation or games work in this simple step-by-step guide.

18. How to build and use a phoneme library

3D expert Alex Telford explains how to create a library of mouth shapes and other expression components. This Blender tutorial is a big one and spans 14 videos.

19. Introduction to camera-tracking

Blender comes bundled with an awesome new feature called Camera Tracking. This tutorial gives you a complete beginners introduction to what it is and how to start using it right now.

20. 13 brilliant Blender tips from the pros

Make Blender part of your professional pipeline with this set of workflow tips and tricks from the experts. Ian Hubert (Project London), James Neal (Red Cartel), Jason van Gumster (Hand Turkey Studios), William Reynish (an animator on Big Buck Bunny and Sintel) and Nathan Vegdahl (freelance), all spill the beans.

Let us know how you get on with these Blender tutorials in the comments below!