Hello Blender community!

I’m returning to Blender after a few years away and feel like a total beginner again. This hit home when I watched some of my old animations; I was simultaneously amazed I ever made them, and horrified that I now struggle to remember how to model a decent cube!

What are your top tips for a returning beginner? I’m especially curious about:

  • Must-change settings or preferences?

  • Best free add-ons to install day one?

  • Your favorite short YouTube tutorials for getting back up to speed?

For what it’s worth, I stopped around early 2023/24. Geometry Nodes were out, but they kept changing how the nodes worked, which confused my simple brain beyond belief. It seems they’re more stable now, so any fun projects you know of or advice on picking them up would also be hugely appreciated!

Any helpful advice is greatly appreciated!

  • Eldritch@piefed.worldEnglish
    6·
    4 days ago

    Sadly, not a lot to offer you here myself. I am a bit overwhelmed, daunted, and excited by all the new stuff in 5.0. I was still coming to terms with all the new stuff in 4.x. It’s nothing like the shareware software I learned in the 90s.

    I really want to get deeper into the geometry noded especially with all the new additions in 5.0. It’s just hard to know where to begin.

  • the_grass_trainer@lemmy.world
    3·
    3 days ago

    🤔 i think the biggest change in 4.5.X is that Vulkan is now built-in but not turned on by default. So turn that on in the system settings so your workflow gets a decent boost. If you like to sculpt this is where a lot of processing power gets used up, and Vulkan while lessen the load on your machine especially if it’s older.

  • nicerdicer@feddit.org
    2·
    3 days ago

    What helped me to get into Blender is the Donut Tutorial. Every year or so it is adapted to the latest Blender release. I did mine with Blender 3.x, the most recent one seems to refer to 4.x and is from 2024.

    If you complete the tutorial you’ll have a pretty good understanding about Blender.

  • coolie4@lemmy.world
    3·
    4 days ago

    I finally got to learn blender during covid, think it was late version 2.X, early 3.X. I had gotten pretty decent, and even made a plugin, but haven’t done too much since the world got back to normal.

    I keep seeing new updates in my feed and occasionally watch a video on a new feature, but trying to catch up seems intimidating. I remember learning geometry nodes when if first came out but I’m pretty sure they’ve reworked the whole thing.

    I’m concerned about what I need to learn, relearn, or completely forget, in order to catch up.

    • Eldritch@piefed.worldEnglish
      3·
      4 days ago

      They’ve mostly added and streamlined things with geometry nodes. The basics are all still there. But I’d love to get a handle on nodes myself. Watching cgmatter/default cube tear through tutorial after tutorial. It’s wildly powerful.