Blender: Shading, Surfacing, and Basic Keyframe Animation

Name: Blender: Shading, Surfacing, and Basic Keyframe Animation
Author: Jay Grewall

Apply color and shading to 3D objects, and learn how to animate objects in 3D space

Preview the first lesson free — get full access to all 5 lessons.

Course: On-Demand

Hello and welcome to another video tutorial on Blender 3D. In this lesson, we are going to start adding colors and surfaces and textures to our 3D objects. I'm gonna go ahead and start with a brand new object here in Blender with our default cube. When I have the cube selected, I'm gonna go down to the bottom right into my Object Properties panel, and I'm gonna select on the Materials Properties tab right here. I'm now gonna click on the button that says New in order to add a new color to this. The base color is what I wanna change, so I'm gonna click on the white bar right here, and I am going to click and drag on the color that I want. I wanna be clear about the color that I'm choosing, so instead of Material 01, I'm simply gonna rename it Light Purple, and you'll see that nothing has really happened. That is because when I am in Solid mode, I don't get to see these types of details. So I'm gonna come over and enter Rendered mode, and you'll notice my object is now the color that I chose and my color wheel. When I move my light around, you see that it affects the highlights on this object. I'm gonna move this object outta the way and I'm gonna create a new UV sphere. With it selected, I'm gonna make sure I have my Materials Properties tab selected down here, I'm going to Add New once again, and this time, I'm gonna make the color of this sphere gold. I'm gonna rename Material 01 to Gold, and I don't wanna see the individual facets that make up my sphere, so I'm gonna right-click and go to Shade Smooth. Let's go ahead and add another object to our scene, let's make this one a cylinder. I'm going to move this sphere outta the way, and with the cylinder selected, I want to make this cylinder the exact color as this purple. Well, instead of having to go to New and creating a new color for it, you'll notice directly to the left of the New button, I have a little dropdown menu. I can simply click on that arrow and go down to Light Purple, and you'll see that I have this light purple cylinder that I copied from this light purple cube. Let's see how I can apply this to a real scene. Here, you can see I've created a very simple backdrop. I'm gonna change the color of this backdrop to this light pink, and I'm going to rename it to Light Pink Backdrop. I'm now going to add a new cube, and I'm going to position it right there, and I want this cube to be the color dark orange. I'm gonna go ahead and rename this object, as well. I'm gonna add another object, I'm gonna add a sphere. I'm going to add color to it, and I'm gonna make this a light blue. Once again, I do not wanna see the facets on my sphere, so I'm gonna click on it, right-click and go to Shade Smooth. Now, when I look at this scene, it does not look very realistic. That is because I wanna make sure I am using the Cycles render engine and Blender, and when I do so, the realism starts to appear. When I move my light, the shadows are affected, as well as the highlight on these objects, and this is how we can apply colored textures to our models in Blender 3D. In the next lesson, we will learn about the different parameters for the textures that we apply to our 3D objects. Thank you for watching.

Beginner Provider : Jay Grewall 5 Lessons · 25m in Arabic, German, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Chinese

Course Description

Once you’re familiar with how objects are constructed in Blender 3D and how to manipulate their geometry, you’re ready to bring those objects to life. Applying color and shading transforms geometric shapes into recognizable real world items, and Blender 3D offers detailed light and shading tools to further render them in space. Explore how changing the surface of your objects can make them even more realistic, adding new dimensions of detail with texture. But the true “bringing to life” step is, of course, making your creations move. Animate your objects with Blender 3D’s user-friendly, flexible timeline.

In this module, we will explore the various coloring, surfacing, and shading options available to us in Blender 3D. You’ll be introduced to keyframe animation, diving into Blender’s timeline and exploring how to animate an object’s position, size, and rotation in 3D space. We’ll go over how to modify the appearance of 3D objects by following the correct process of applying color shading using Blender’s Principled BSDF method, and the differences between viewing in Solid Mode and Rendered Mode. We’ll modify the basic parameters of objects to change their appearances, adding metallic, specular, or rough finishes to surfaces. In the Blender timeline, you’ll learn the methods and principles of keyframe-based animation in 3D space. We will leverage the Transform Tool and automatically add keyframes to keep our workflow easy, and you’ll discover how to animate the color shading of 3D objects.

What You'll Learn

Apply and correctly name color and shading on 3D objects using Blender's Principled BSDF method
Modify surface shader parameters to add metallic, specular, or rough finishes to objects
Distinguish between viewing objects in Solid Mode and Rendered Mode
Apply textures and manage multiple surfaces on a single 3D object
Navigate Blender's flexible timeline to set up keyframe-based animation
Animate an object's position, rotation, and size in 3D space, including animating color shading

Key Takeaways

Applying color and shading transforms geometric shapes into recognizable real-world items in Blender 3D.
Surfacing and texture add new dimensions of detail that make 3D objects more realistic.
Blender's Principled BSDF method is used to apply color shading, with appearance changed through parameters such as metallic, specular, and rough finishes.
Keyframe animation in Blender's timeline lets you animate an object's position, size, and rotation in 3D space.
Using the Transform Tool to automatically add keyframes keeps the animation workflow easy, and color shading itself can be animated.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does this Blender course cover?

It covers the coloring, surfacing, and shading options in Blender 3D, including applying color shading with the Principled BSDF method, modifying surface parameters for metallic, specular, or rough finishes, applying textures, and using multiple surfaces on one object. It also introduces keyframe animation using Blender's timeline to animate an object's position, rotation, size, and color shading.

Who is this course suitable for?

It is suited to learners who are already familiar with how objects are constructed in Blender 3D and how to manipulate their geometry, and who are ready to apply color, shading, surfacing, and basic animation to those objects.

What skills will I gain?

You will gain skills in 3D Animation, Blender 3D (3D Graphics Software), Character Animation, Object Animation, OpenGL Shading Language, and Shading Language.

What lessons are included?

The lessons are Applying Textures to 3D Objects, Modifying Surface Shader Parameters, Multiple Surfaces on One Object, The Timeline, and Understanding Basic Animation.

Will I learn how to animate objects?

Yes. The course introduces keyframe-based animation in 3D space, teaching the methods and principles of keyframing through Blender's timeline and how to animate an object's position, rotation, size, and color shading, including using the Transform Tool to automatically add keyframes.