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Comment by mortenjorck | Hacker News Reader

I tried to learn Blender about ten years ago and just couldn’t get past the UI. I tried again this past week, and have already modeled and rendered a proof-of-concept for what I was hoping to do with it.

The 2.8 UI redesign was nothing short of a game-changer.

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Do you think it would be simple enough for an 11 year old to learn without getting too lost? My nephew is into claymation and is generally artistically inclined (but otherwise not very into school, even in the best of times). I’m looking for something to help him learn remotely, so anyone’s tips or resources would be appreciated.

Exciting development! ZBrush has just released a stripped-down free version of their app: ZBrush Core

https://zbrushcore.com/mini/

For any young person interested in digital clay, this is tops! ZBrush is the market leader in digital sculpting.

If the regular Blender UI is the problem (which I don't think it will be, you can do a lot with a few simple commands and as soon as the interest is sparked there is no turning back) you could also try https://www.bforartists.de/ it's blender but with an interface more tailored to those who don't like the regular one

There are some child-freindly 3D apps out there, but 11 is probably old enough to start. The community is very helpfull and there is a ton of good learning material. The key thing, as with all apps, will be to demonsnste that 90 % of what they need to learn can be covered with 10% of the UI.

For 3D sculpting there are lots of specialized apps which make the process reasonably close to actual clay modeling, commercial and free alike. Here is a WebGL-based one made by Stéphane Ginier: https://stephaneginier.com/sculptgl/

A tiny 3D modeling tool that also includes this sculpting technique is Art of Illusion: http://artofillusion.org/

My son is 12, learned it over the past few months, as they had little to do for school. Started simple, with basically rendering some squished spheres and cubes, then followed a few YouTube video tutorials (desk with some random stuff on it). Next, he experimented with sculpting, but still has trouble with it. I was fascinated how he took an old photo of some ship, created the outline (extruded?) then added detail. Beats computer games :)

Edit: one recommendation is to avoid books. YouTube and documentation are great.

My friends and I became obsessed with Blender when I was around 13 or 14. This was around 10 years ago and the interface was definitely idiosyncratic back then, but we didn't find any difficulties learning it, and we were able to make some amazing things. Blender made up a lot of my GCSE* in art and gave me some great times working on Blender projects with my friends on Google Hangouts way past our bedtimes.

I'd fully recommend it to your nephew.

*a qualification taken at 16 in the UK

Absolutely. I’m just going through it with my 9yo at the moment (we’re both learning at the same time). We’re using the Blender Guru donut tutorial series. It’s pretty long, but by just doing a little each night you get through it quickly enough. It’s child friendly and he’s got a good dose of humour that keeps my ones engaged.

https://youtu.be/TPrnSACiTJ4

There are a ton of tutorials available, I’d suggest watching a few yourself, make sure it’s for the same version or one that’s similar to the one you’re going to use and that it shows modeling something a bit interesting.

3D modeling is a lot of fun and really not that hard to get started in as long as you get past the initial hurdle.

My son, eight years old, and I spent the whole lockdown learning Blender. He is learning 2d in school; I found Blender a great tool to improve his math learning. He dreams about creating a game.

I'd have more confidence an 11-year-old could learn it than a 30-year-old. It's amazing thinking back at how quickly and absolutely I could immerse myself in things back then.

Wings3d or anim8or would be a better choice for kids to get started.

Agree. The usability is a dream. Light on the fingers, thoughtfully designed, and easy on the eye. In max, you can smell the age of the code base.

I had to reinstall 2.79 yesterday because I couldn't find anything in 2.8 :/ I still prefer the 2.49 interface.

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