Blender is a free software suite that can create 3d objects, render scenes, animate sequences and even edit videos.  This incredibly powerful tool can be pretty intimidating for new users.

This short video above is an example of what Blender can do.  It shows the output that the fours sessions were working towards.

Steve H has been using this tool for the last ten years.  He led a set of four “learning sessions”.  Each session was interactive, held in the MakerSpace, free to any interested member and lasted about an hour.  They assumed no prior experience.  The four sessions were:

1. Shapes: 7 pm Thu 10 Feb 2022 – Starting the tool and creating solid shapes
2. Scene: 7 pm Thu 17 Feb 2022 – Using materials and lighting to create pictures
3. Movement: 7 pm Thu 24 Feb 2022 – Animating the scenes using simple movements and physics
4. Video: 7 pm Thu 10 Feb 2022 – Using the video editor to sequence your output and get it ready for publishing

Supporting data files have been made available on the MakerSpace’s shared folder.

The final output of the four sessions is shown in the video above.  This combines the shape defined in the first session, the lighting from the second, the movement out of the third and the video components in the final one.