Blender Basics

From installing Blender through modeling, materials, texture, lighting, and rendering.
Build a single coffee cup and follow the steps through to a finished image.
Work through the articles from top to bottom to learn the basics of Blender from start to finish.

Articles

2026.07.11

What Is Blender? The Free 3D Creation Suite Worth Learning in the AI Era

Blender is free 3D software for building models, illustration backgrounds, animation, and video — and for finishing the work yourself.
2026.07.18

How to Install Blender and Change the Interface Language

Download, install, and switch the interface language in about 15 minutes, with the common pitfalls flagged as you go.
2026.07.25

Blender Modeling Basics: Move, Rotate, Scale, Extrude, and Modifiers

Build a coffee cup, and learn the core modeling operations, from viewport navigation to move, rotate, scale, and modifiers.
2026.08.01

Blender Material Basics: Base Color, Roughness, and Metallic

Give a coffee cup its finish, and learn the basics of material settings, including Base Color, Roughness, and Metallic.
2026.08.08

Blender Material Nodes Explained: Building a Glass Material in EEVEE

Build a glass tumbler in EEVEE and see how material nodes handle color, roughness, and transmission.
2026.08.15

Blender Texture Basics: Base Color, Roughness, and Normal Maps

Build a wooden table under a coffee cup, and learn the basics of texturing: using images to create the look of a real surface.
2026.08.22

Blender UV Unwrapping Basics: Seams, Smart UV Project, and Placing a Logo

Place a logo on the front of a coffee cup, and learn the basics of UV unwrapping: controlling where the image sits and which way it faces.
2026.09.05

Blender Lighting Basics: Placing Your First Light Without an HDRI

Place lights around a coffee cup one at a time, and learn the basics of lighting, from how the light falls to where each light goes.
2026.09.19

Blender Rendering Basics: Reducing Noise and Shortening Render Time

Turn a coffee cup into a finished image, and learn the basic settings for clean renders with less noise.