age-level for learning Blender

[dlnw52]

I am a middle school teacher looking for a freeware 3-D animation program for my students. I'm wondering if they could learn at least some basic skills in Blender or would it be over their heads? They are 12 - 13 years old.

Thanks

[jesterKing]

I think it should be more than possible. I'm sure that most concepts should be easy to learn - but that of course depends mostly on how the teacher brings it

I'd say go for it and good luck!

/Nathan

[LetterRip]

12-13 is a fine age to learn blender, people much younger have learned it on their own.

Personally I would teach sculpting, then retopology, then mesh editing, then uv unwrapping, followed by texturing, then move on to rigging, and animating.

LetterRip

[crich70]

You may find the short tutorials here of interest.
http://www.youtube.com/user/super3boy

Don't know how old the user is but he sounds like he's probably not too many yrs older than your students are. He gives good instruction in his short blender tutorials too.

[malCanDo]

I also take a course every year, teaching around that age range.

I find that showing how to model basic shapes, and use them in Blenders built-in Game Engine, helps keep the interest of the students, while still allowing them to model / texture / animate etc.

As part of the Blender Summer of Documentation, I wrote up pretty much most of what I cover in the first half of the weeks course.

http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/BSoD/ ... ame_Engine

At the end of the tutorial above, your students should be able to create a simple game, and have a great grasp of the basics of the Blender UI ( moving and rotating the camera around the scene, adding and moving objects etc ).

The link above also includes a PDF, so you'll be able to print it out and give it to them in the class if required.
Mal

[dlnw52]

I appreciate everyone's feedback. I'm hoping our tech people are able to install this over the summer. Our tech coordinator refused to do it last year because it required the X11 add on (we have Macs). I'm hoping our new tech coordinator will be more cooperative, since we need X11 in order to use Gimp, too. Can anyone recommend any books on learning Blender? I need to spend the summer learning it myself!

[crich70]

"The Essential Blender" is the book I'd start with. I'm also learning how to use it and while the book doesn't cover everything I understand it's a good place to start.

I appreciate everyone's feedback. I'm hoping our tech people are able to install this over the summer. Our tech coordinator refused to do it last year because it required the X11 add on (we have Macs). I'm hoping our new tech coordinator will be more cooperative, since we need X11 in order to use Gimp, too. Can anyone recommend any books on learning Blender? I need to spend the summer learning it myself!

[Dylan Bates Productions]

Im twelve and I am learning this program so I think they could learn it.

[GothicDeveloper(G.D.)]

I'm only 11 years and i taught myself on my own

[3DModelerMan]

I'm only 13 and I taught myself and I'm learning the advanced functions of blender now, so it should'nt be to hard. just don't get into liquid sims until later and when you do try using the bounce tumble and splash book to get your reference material from, I would suggest starting with the
essential blender though.

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Es ... 664/?itm=1

[joeri]

Also depends on how much hours they are going to be busy with this.

Another consideration, and read through my sexism here: Girls like drawing more than boys, but have less spacial insight.
Blender is very much a 3d space oriented program. Made for/by people who are very high 3d space minded.

So... a more "constructive" setup might be good.
Currently blender starts after setup as a professional tool for professionals.
So it might be handy to re-arrange the setup to a more 4 split view.

And although the blender basics ( working with instances of data blocks ) is a boring verbal story, I think its pretty vital to how blender works.

Things like: you make a material data block with material characteristics and then you apply an instance of that to one, some, any or all of your objects is pretty abstract. But blender is far more easy to master if you understand that concept. Specially if you understand this relation between mesh data and an object.

[Blend'n 4 jesus]

I'm fourteen and I taught myself and then worked through the Essential Blender and Introducing Character Animation with Blender. These are good books to start with.

[snifi]

It goes quite good, but you should take with you quite amount of different things to demonstrate mainly the coordinate system: miniatyre cars, footballs, wooden sticks, ropes, modelling material, lamps, different types and colours of paper, etc...

Try to follow the mathematical abstractions behind the 3D-modelling so the children don't get confused and lost in vectorspaces.

[drdespair]

Personally I would teach sculpting, then retopology, then mesh editing, then uv unwrapping, followed by texturing, then move on to rigging, and animating.
LetterRip

I would like to hear a bit more on the different approaches people use to introduce complete beginners to the 3d work.

Not everyone is up for vertex pushing from the start. I think starting with sculpting can be a preaty good idea..

Thought anyone?

[JSCAM]

I´m 44 and learn blender since two years.

Love it !!!