I started 2018 with many goals – one of them was to learn how to design and create 3D models. This decision came after struggling with ThreeJS to create an art piece for Firstborn Art Show in 2017. My initial idea was to create an interactive 3D stimulation with a Leap Motion controller. It was frustrating because the struggle was not caused by using ThreeJS or the code, but by creating a more complicated 3D model that is not a cube or sphere. After spending many hours on trying to create a 3D model myself, I created a 2D art project called Bokeh Project using Canvas 2D API instead.

Fast forward to January in 2018, I decided to take a 3D design course called 3D for Designers by Devon Ko to learn 3D basics before jumping right into the code.

I highly recommend this course for 3D beginners. It covers the basics – Shapes, Deformers, Lighting, Materials, and Texture. Purchasing Cinema 4D is not required as long as you have After Effects CC which has a FREE version of Cinema 4D called Cinema 4D Lite. It's a good place to start on learning 3D basics. The lighting and material lessons were especially helpful to me later on for ThreeJS projects.

Below are some of my works.

Devon provides a step-by-step guide for each lesson. At the end of each lesson, she encourages her students to create something on their own by applying what they have learned so far in the course. I highly recommend doing that and share it on Twitter. Devon sometimes picks it up and shares it with the entire 3D for Designers community ;).

What's more fun than creating a static 3D model? Creating a moving 3D model... There were many "Oops" moments when I applied animations to my 3D models. It looked great from one angle but then looked completely off once I started rotating the model for animations. I recommend implementing animations or test it well enough to make sure that the model looks good from all angles (Hello, QA!).

The end result for "Shape II – Animating with Shapes and Deformers". I used the succulent on my desk as a model. Below is my step by step process.