If you’re not a 3D modeler, you can ignore this link-of-the-week.

This class is now closed. There will be another one in October.

I’m working on switching to Blender(a free open-source 3D modeling program that’s actually very powerful, although w/ a high learning curve), and this class for intermediate/advanced users(not me, yet) looks very useful. It’s called The Nature Academy, and is created by the guy at BlenderGuru.com(home of many great free tutorials). I was amazed at how realistic everything was in the previews. The preview tutorial for building mountains(just for his newsletter subscribers, & I think it’s offline now) was great, and even though my computer had troubles halfway through, at that point the mountains already looked realistic, even without having the ground showing through in spots.

Other tutorials in the class show how to make rippling water, flowers, grass, trees, and more. The video showed some VERY realistic scenes with movement. These are very in-depth tutorials & will have you creating realistic nature scenes in Blender within 9 weeks. In addition to the tutorials, it also comes with 138 royalty-free 3d nature models and 636 nature textures(created by the guru himself). The models alone are worth the cost. I’ve seen models like these for sale on sites like TurboSquid and the value he came up with sounds realistic to me. I’ve seen single BOAT models sell for more than the cost of this class! It’s very useful to have a library of plant models on hand to fill in a scene. One person made an entire forest with just the 9 free nature models the newsletter subscribers got.

Signup ends on July 12, so if you’re comfortable using Blender(i.e. not a complete noobie like me) and would like to learn how to create very convincing nature in 3D, go to thenatureacademy.blenderguru.com to find out more information. This info is essential if you do this stuff for a living. I look forward to becoming experienced enough to understand that compositing tool.

There will be another series of classes in October, but the price WILL go up, because he’ll be adding some more tutorials for it. Current students will get free updates.

Oh, and if you’re just curious about what Blender can actually do, see the site and scroll down to the screenshots. They are breathtaking.