Welcome to 3 D Animation 12 

In this course, we’ll dive into the world of animation and explore the creative and technical skills used to bring characters, objects, and stories to life.

Most of our time will be spent working in 3D, using Blender to learn everything from modelling, meshing, and sculpting to rigging, animation, cameras, lighting, and dope sheets. You’ll gradually build the skills needed to take an idea from the early stages of a model all the way to an animated scene.

There is definitely a learning curve at the beginning, especially as you get familiar with Blender and the 3D environment. But don’t let that intimidate you! We’ll take things step by step, start with manageable projects, and build your skills as you go. Once you get past those first few hurdles, the creative possibilities really start to open up.

Along the way, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to experiment, solve problems, and create your own projects. By the end of the course, you’ll have a strong foundation in 3D animation and skills that can help prepare you for future studies in animation, film, game design, and other creative technology fields.

Most importantly, be patient, keep experimenting, and have fun — you’ll be surprised by what you can create once you learn how to control the tools!

Vancouver Film Festival 2026 (depreciated - will load 2027 info as soon as it is available!) 

Final Submission Deadline

Vancouver Film Festival 2026- Animation 3D / Categories  / Rules for Entry

Animation 12 - Hand - In-Box  / Alternate - drop box

If you can't make up links for the spreadsheet, then create a folder with your full name on it and drag and drop all your files into this ONE folder only!

Create a one Drive share link - create an 'on line' spreadsheet for sharing course assignments 

Create and Share links in ONE drive - A 'how to' guide

Example - T Linburg - (using Google Sheets - but you could use your Microsoft version of Excel) 

T Linburg - grade and assessment link spreadsheet (adjust the share permissions to allow Mr. Linburg to edit) 

Please make share links that can be opened JUST by Mr Linburg ONLY .(to find me for sharing - start typing in tel... (and my name should pop up!) 

Utility Links 

• An Excellent Materials site ' HDRI Haven ' - for material textures

• Blender 6 - release - please upgrade or install

Module 1 - Introduction to 3D Animation with Blender

Welcome to Blender! In this first module, you’ll learn the basics of the Blender interface and start creating your first 3D scenes.

Blender can seem overwhelming at first, but we’ll take it one step at a time. The goal is to become comfortable with the basic tools so you can start creating your own ideas.

Important: When something goes wrong, remember:

Ctrl + Z = Undo

Part 1 — Getting to Know Blender

Start by exploring the Blender interface and learning how to navigate the 3D workspace.

Activity 1 — Blender Interface

Watch the Blender Fundamentals: First Steps tutorials covering:

• Viewport navigation

• Interface overview

• Selecting and transforming objects

• Adding, duplicating and deleting objects

• Saving

• Workspaces

Blender Fundamentals — First Steps

Create a one-page Blender Cheat Sheet using screenshots and short explanations. Identify the major areas of the interface and explain what they are used for.

Part 2 — Objects and Meshes

Now it's time to start building!

Learn how to add and manipulate basic mesh primitives such as cubes, spheres, cylinders, cones and toruses.

Blender — Mesh Primitives / Create a Blender Scene with Primative Objects (this tutorial creates a variety of 'scenes' 

Activity 2 — Build Something!

Create a small 3D scene using primitive objects.

You could make:

• 🏠 A house

• 🚀 A spaceship

• 🏰 A castle

• 🌲 A forest

• 🤖 A robot

• 🍦 An ice cream shop

Think of the primitives as a box of digital building blocks. How creative can you be?

Your scene should demonstrate that you can:

• Add objects

• Move, rotate and scale objects

• Duplicate objects

• Rename objects

• Arrange objects into a scene

Part 3 — Edit Your Objects

So far, we've been moving objects around. Now we're going to start changing the objects themselves.

Learn the difference between Object Mode and Edit Mode, and experiment with vertices, edges and faces.

Blender — Object & Edit Modes

Activity 3 — Modify a Primitive

Take one of your objects and transform it into something new.

For example:

Cube → House

Sphere → Character

Cylinder → Tree

Cone → Rocket

Experiment with moving, extruding, scaling and reshaping the geometry.

Activity 4 - Add in image texture to the scene 

See if you can experiment with adding an inmage texture to your scene. You would find a png file on the web / import it / add it to your specific primative object (scene) 

This is a good link that discusses the process 

Part 4 — Try Sculpting

Now let's try something completely different!

Sculpt Mode lets you work with a model more like digital clay, using brushes to push, pull and reshape the surface.

Blender — Sculpting Introduction

Activity 4 — Make Something Weird!

Start with a sphere and use Sculpt Mode to create a creature, character, rock, alien, or anything else you can imagine.

Don't worry about making it perfect. Experiment!

Extending Challenge — Your First 3D Scene (extra course points) 

Bring everything together by creating a more detailed 3D scene.

Your final scene should include:

• Multiple objects

• Different primitive shapes

• At least one edited mesh

• Some basic materials or colours

• An interesting composition

• A clear theme or idea

Skills covered in this unit: 

✓ Navigate the interface
✓ Create and manipulate objects
✓ Work in Object and Edit Mode
✓ Edit basic mesh geometry
✓ Experiment with Sculpt Mode
✓ Build and organize a simple 3D scene

Resources 

Student Blender production showcase - take a look at what fellow animators have created in Blender!