hellenys

Since I always receive lots of questions about Blender, I decided to make a list of some useful tutorials and resources.
If you want me to add/make a tutorial about something which is not in the list below, just let me know in the comments or send me a note, if you prefer.
In case you're not familiar with Blender/have a different software background, you could find this post useful. I'll try to help you, because I perfectly know how much it sucks to deal with jerks who don't want to teach you anything as they fear you could be better than them perhaps? Also I've always been and I still am scared of asking, because I don't want to bother. Please, don't be afraid of asking questions to me, instead. LOL I'm trying to learn more and more about this 3D programme, so whoever reads this and wants to contribute to this reference, it'd be appreciated.

• Useful links

  Blender.org
  Download Blender 2.49b + mesh.ascii import/export script
  Blender Guru (AWESOME!) | Youtube channel
  BlenderNation

- XPS/XNALara
 Download  XPS - Core Design or
  Download  XPS - XNALaraItalia or
  Download  XPS - XNALara Home Forum (Thanks to XNAaraL!)
 XPS to Blender 2.7x | More help by johnzero7
 XPS modding by aydean
 XNALara and Blender tutorials by xxximnotokayxxx (these were the very first tutorials I followed!)
 XNALara\XPS and Blender tutorials by padme4000
 Blender Cycles 2.74 tutorial (XNALara to Blender) by g1pno (includes a video and a pack of materials)

Before getting so excited about downloading and using amazing resources, here's a recommendation I want to make: using pre-made stuff like material bundles or whatever is okay, but, depending on what you want to achieve, this can be good or not, at a certain point. What I want to say is that, if you want to learn how to use Blender and if you want to improve your skills, try not to be static or rely too much on someone else's resources. You know, it's good to understand the reason of a process, the functionality of a feature, and so on, yes? Instead, if you do not care about this, well at least remember to put credits, which is a way to say thanks to whoever helped you create your piece. 

• Resources

(I have looked for most of this stuff on the internet while making this list and I didn't have time to "test" it all. If something is obsolete or somehow useless tell me please)

 3D/2D resources on Sharecg (Thanks to XNAaraL!)
 Simple skin shader | Subsurface Scattering (SSS) by GawdIsInYou
 Blender Cycles Material Bundle by Hiddenus - Download
 Metal and Fabric materials by elbrujodelatribu
 Free material pack from BlenderNation
 Blender 2.6 online material library
 Blender 2.6 tutorials
 Cycles material studies (just to get some inspiration) and tutorials by Reynante Martinez 
 Styling and rendering long hair with Blender and Cycles
 Making Grass in Cycles by DeargRuadher
 Particles tutorial by Hafunui
 A small list with Blender tutorials suggested by XNAaraL:
   - Amazing book (download it!) with all Blender hotkeys!
   - A list with all you always wanted to know, but you can't find!
   - Blender 3D: Noob to Pro many other languages

- YouTube channels
 Blender
 Alimayo Arango
 CGCookie
 Blender HD
 Blender Nerd
 Blender Designs
 BlenderForNoobs
 fisicomolon English
 Francesco Milanese (Italiano)
 Oliver Villar
 Gleb Alexandrov
 Sardi Pax 
 Thornton Strolia
 Cubix
 Matt Jones
 Blender Diplom
 The CGBros
 the d-dub show / ward7299
 BornCG
 Darrin Lile
 Paul Hädicke (Deutsch)
 coloremblem (Deutsch)
 lovetoplay94
 InterwebUK
 Mikeycal Meyers
 SAM123
 3DMacDaddy
 Jay Weston
 Computer tutorials
 Zach Hixson
 Tahseen Jamal
 Blender free tutorials by ianscott888
 masterxeon1001
 Wireheadking
 Image Lucidity
 Haneen Dawod
 Rob Tuytel
 DragonFire360Media
 Fossgrafis

Tagged by berserker79 

 STATISTICS

 Total number of submissions:  55 (most of them are fanart, commissions or requests; a few are original pieces)

 Fandoms: Dragon Age and Mass Effect

 Most depicted fandom: Dragon Age
 Most depicted characters: Cullen Rutherford, Inquisitor Trevelyan/Lavellan
 Most depicted pairings: Cullen Rutherford x Inquisitor

 QUESTIONS

 Looking back, did you create more pictures than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you'd predicted?
I created more pictures than I thought I would. I sacrificed many hours of sleep to practice with rendering and digital  painting, but I think it's totally worth it. There are even dozens of pictures I never submitted LOL

 What pairing/genre/fandom did you depict that you would never have predicted in January?
Actually I planned to depict characters from Dragon Age, but I didn't imagine I would create such a large number of pieces of that fandom during the year.

 What's your own favorite picture of the year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you happiest?


 Did you take any artistic risks this year? What did you learn from them?
Not really. I only experimented a lot and also tried to paint in different styles from mine just for fun, but I wouldn't call it an artistic risk.

 Do you have any picture-goals for the New Year?
Since I haven't got the opportunity to attend art schools/courses, I'll do my best to learn as much as possible somehow, like I did in 2015. In general I really want to improve my skills at drawing and 3D graphics. 


 From my past year of rendering, what was ...

 My best picture


 My most popular picture

Views: 10.291
Favourites: 305
Comments: 41

 Picture of mine most under-appreciated 


 Most fun to do


 Sexiest picture


 Picture depicting the cutest scene


 Funniest picture
Ouch. There are no funny pictures in my gallery LMAO Maybe this one...?


 Most romantic picture
There are many :0 I'll go with this one (which is also beautifully tragic):



 Picture that shifted my own perceptions of the characters 


 Hardest to make


 Most unintentional picture


 Small collection of pictures I really enjoyed to create
       

Tagging:    

Hi everyone!

I’m planning on making a Mass Effect film. I’ll be working with 3D programs (such as Blender) but I can’t do anything if I don’t have a sort of team. I’m writing the story right now. Anyway I need someone to help me (english’s not my native tongue).

I’m looking for:

Voice actors, writers and someone who’s able to work with 3D programs.

Actually I can work with 3D programs (if you don’t believe me, check out my gallery) but doing it with other people is way easier than doing it alone. Moreover my graphic card is a little too old for video editing programs such as Sony Vegas. It’s more difficult than you think LOL I’m also surching for writers because I may need someone to correct my mistakes - and good advice is appreciated too.

Please, message me or leave a comment if you’re interested and spread the voice, thank you!

- - - - - -
UPDATE (23 Sept. 2014)
Yayyy, our team is growing up (slowly, but it's a start)!
Me and ( thank you for your constant support!) agreed upon a title for this project: "Mass Effect: Journal of a Soldier". I won't tell much - you know, it's top secret . I can only say that the story's about Mass Effect Multiplayer's characters and it will be divided into many episodes.
- - - - - -
UPDATE (25 Sept. 2014)
WRITERS PROPOSITIONS ARE NOW CLOSED! Thank you
- - - - - -
UPDATE (24 Oct. 2014)
As our team is now composed of more italian members than english ones, I decided to publish this project in italian first.
I still need 3D artists! Above all I need animators.
We already wrote a plot and we're writing the sequences. But since we abandoned the idea of rendering diary entries (they're difficult to animate), we also had to change the title - we haven't decided it yet.
I'm the only one who works on animations right now - I need help, yes. D: So I thought we could publish this story first as a 3D comic (in italian and english too), then in the form of animation, because this process takes a lot of time.
- - - - - -
UPDATE (23 Feb. 2015)
I've got bad and good news. The bad news is that this Mass Effect project failed at last. I've got a lot of commissions and university and driving licence keep me busy. Moreover our plot seems not to be interesting and everyone is just so into Dragon Age: Inquisition right now..
The good news is that I'm working on a new (and far less ambitious) project about Dragon Age: Inquisition. I'm not revealing anything though, sorry lol It's been written in english - a very talented writer accepted to help me - and it seems to work well.

Check out on Youtube my first face animation test rendered in Blender Cycles 2.66a: www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4kgqU…
I used a default female Shepard model I downloaded from HatOfAss (Thank you!). You can also look at my latest deviations of this model: