Book Image

Low Poly 3D Modeling in Blender

By : Samuel Sullins
Book Image

Low Poly 3D Modeling in Blender

By: Samuel Sullins

Overview of this book

Step into the world of low poly 3D art with Low Poly 3D Modeling in Blender—your entry point into Blender and mastering the fundamentals of 3D art. This beginner-friendly guide ensures that you’re fully prepared for the creative adventure that follows. Through a step-by-step learning process starting with the principles of low poly art, this book gradually immerses you in the intricacies of modeling. As you progress, you’ll gain hands-on experience creating diverse projects ranging from designing a simple 3D crate to rendering complete low poly scenes. The book covers a wide spectrum of topics as you navigate Blender's interface, mastering essential modeling tools and exploring both basic and advanced modeling techniques. Advancing to the final chapters, you’ll find ways to breathe life into your models with material creation and gain practical insights into modeling a variety of low poly objects. From end-to-end scene construction to configuring Blender for rendering high-quality images, you’ll be equipped with the foundational skills to propel your career in 3D modeling and explore the boundless creative possibilities that Blender offers. By the end of this book, you'll have a solid understanding of Blender, 3D modeling, low poly methodologies, material design, 3D rendering techniques, and the broader world of 3D art.
Table of Contents (22 chapters)
1
Part 1:Getting Started with Low Poly Modeling
5
Part 2:Modeling and Shading for Low Poly
9
Part 3:Creating Your Own Assets
15
Part 4:Building a Complete Low Poly Scene

The Solidify modifier

The Solidify modifier is a bit like the Extrude tool in Edit Mode. It simply adds thickness to the mesh it is applied to. This can be useful when you have an object (for example, a cup) that is only made of faces (and is thin, such as a plane). The Solidify modifier adds some quick thickness for you.

Let’s test out the Solidify modifier on a plane so you can see how it works:

  1. Delete the default cube in your scene.
  2. Press Shift + A and add a new plane instead. A plane is just a single, square face; it is infinitely thin—a great test subject for the Solidify modifier.
  3. Open the Modifier tab, click the Add New button, and choose Solidify.

Here’s what the Solidify modifier looks like:

Figure 4.20 – The Solidify modifier

Figure 4.20 – The Solidify modifier

This modifier has one important setting: Thickness. This simply adjusts how thick it is. Negative values will simply make the extrusion happen in the opposite direction...