Master Blender - Skill Building Exercises - lvl 4 - Axe

Introduction

This tutorial is designed to help you master Blender through skill-building exercises. In this session, we'll focus on creating a low poly stylized axe, perfect for game development and honing your 3D modeling skills. This exercise will challenge your abilities and introduce new techniques to enhance your Blender expertise.

Step 1: Setting Up Your Workspace

• Open Blender and create a new project.
• Ensure you are in the default layout with the 3D viewport visible.
• Familiarize yourself with the basic navigation controls:
  • Use the middle mouse button to rotate.
  • Scroll to zoom in and out.
  • Shift + middle mouse button to pan.

Step 2: Creating the Axe Blade

• Start by adding a new mesh:
  • Press Shift + A and select Mesh > Cube.
• Scale the cube to form the basic shape of the axe blade:
  • Press S to scale, and adjust the dimensions to make it flat and wide.
• Enter Edit Mode:
  • Press Tab to toggle between Object and Edit modes.
• Select the top face and extrude it to create the blade:
  • Select the top face.
  • Press E to extrude and move it upwards slightly.

Step 3: Shaping the Axe Handle

• Add another cube for the handle:
  • Press Shift + A and select Mesh > Cube again.
• Scale it down to create a long, narrow shape:
  • Use S to scale and adjust the height and width to resemble a handle.
• Position the handle below the axe blade by moving it in the Z-axis:
  • Select the handle, press G, then Z, and drag it down to position it.

Step 4: Adding Details

• To create the axe's cutting edge:
  • Select the front face of the blade.
  • Use the Loop Cut tool (Ctrl + R) to add a loop and adjust it to create a sharp edge.
• Create some bevels for a stylized look:
  • Select the edges of the blade and right-click to select "Bevel."
  • Adjust the width and segments to soften the edges.

Step 5: Applying Materials

• Switch to the Material Properties tab:
  • Click on the sphere icon in the Properties panel.
• Add a new material:
  • Click the New button.
• Adjust the Base Color:
  • Choose a color that fits your style (e.g., metallic for the blade, wooden for the handle).
• Experiment with the Roughness value to give the axe a more realistic texture.

Step 6: Finalizing Your Model

• Review your model for any additional details or adjustments.
• Use the viewport shading options to inspect your model in different lighting:
  • Switch to Material Preview mode to see how your materials look.
• Save your work regularly by clicking File > Save As.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, you successfully created a low poly stylized axe using Blender. You learned to set up your workspace, create and refine the axe blade and handle, add details, and apply materials. Continue practicing these techniques and consider exploring more complex models as you progress. For further skill enhancement, check out the full playlist of exercises and additional resources provided by the channel. Happy blending!