Blender for 3d Animators
WITH CARLOS ARANCIBIA
WHAT'S IT ABOUT?
A course for current animators or students familiar with Maya or similar software. It introduces Blender’s UI and tools through basic body mechanics exercises like jumps, run cycles, and throws. The course also includes an intro to the Grease Pencil. By the end, students will be able to animate full shots independently in Blender.
DATES & DURATION
Running July 4th to August 8th 2025, every Friday.
6 Live sessions in total
From 7:00 am - 9:00 am
(Pacific Daylight Time, GMT -7).
TUITION
One Single payment : $385
Benefits of this course:
Learn from an expert
Ask your questions and learn directly from a recognized artist
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Get $10 discount on all licenses
Flexible
Learn at your own pace and from anywhere in the world
Blender for Animators is a 6-session, 12-hour course designed for current animation students and animators already familiar with software like Maya, who are looking to transition into or expand their workflow using Blender. The course offers a hands-on introduction to Blender’s interface, tools, and animation pipeline through a series of fundamental body mechanics exercises. Students will begin by exploring Blender’s UI and essential shortcut keys, then move on to animating pendulum swings, character jumps, a run cycle, and a one-handed throw using provided rigs. Each session builds on the last, guiding students through blocking, polishing, and playblasting their animations. The final session introduces Blender’s Grease Pencil, offering a creative entry point into 2D animation within a 3D environment. By the end of the course, students will feel comfortable using Blender’s animation tools and will be ready to create their own animated shots from start to finish.
Course Breakdown
Session 1: Blender’s UI and Common Shortcuts
● Objective: Using Blenders UI and understanding the different windows and shortcuts while making a simple animation clip.
● Topics Covered:
The 3D Viewer
The Graph Editor
The Timeline
The Properties Window
Creating a Motion Trail
Common Shortcuts and
Creating a playblast.
● Activity: Demo, Animating the Pendulum Swing.
Session 2: Ball And Leg Character Jumping.
● Objective: Animating a slightly more complex rig. Ball and Legs rig provided
● Topics Covered:
Force, Weight
Extension, Compression
Anticipation, Hang Time, Follow Through, Recovery.
Using the Timeline, adding a Motion Trail
Blocking. Polishing
● Activity: Demo of the Jump. Students to follow along.
Session 3: The Run Cycle, Part 1 - Blocking.
● Objective: Animating a full body Character using Blender. Blender character rig to be provided.
● Topics Covered:
Main Poses
Locomotion, Balance,
Force, Gravity, Weight, Momentum and how it applies to the Run Cycle.
Hang Time, Extension, Compression.
Using the Timeline Editor
● Activity: Students will be creating the main Poses of a Run Cycle. Blocking the timing.
Session 4: The Run Cycle, Part 2 - Polish.
● Objective: Follow up to the previous lesson and moving to Polishing the cycle.
● Topics Covered:
Working on the Graph Editor, the cycle function.
Using the Motion Trails for Polishing.
Output Settings for playblasting
Creating a “Playblast”
● Activity: Run Cycle, Polish Stage Demo. Students to follow along.
Session 5: The One Handed Throw
● Objective: Another basic body mechanic using a full body rig.
● Topics Covered:
Torque, Force.
Anticipation, Action, Follow Through and Recovery.
Installing an “add-on” in Blender (the parent constraint script)
Attaching a prop to the character. Detaching the prop and animating it.
Blocking the throw action.
Posing Hands.
● Activity: Blocking the One Handed Throw. Students to follow along.
Session 6: Blender’s Grease Pencil Basics
● Objective: Introduction of the Grease Pencil Section of Blender to students.
● Topics Covered:
Main Grease Pencil Tools
The Menus. Creating Layers and Materials.
Simple drawing, sculpting and using primitives (in 2D)
Bones and Simple Rigging (Pendulum rig)
Using the 3D Cursor
Importing reference material to Blender
● Activity: Importing a reference image and tracing it with the Grease Pencil. Applying colors (materials) to the line drawing.
OVERVIEW
ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR
Carlos Arancibia
For the past 25 years in the animation industry I have worked in many places as an animator in a variety of genres and styles.
After graduating from Sheridan College I began working at Disney Feature Animation in Florida, being part of projects
such as "Mulan" (1998), "Tarzan" (1999), "Lilo And Stitch" (2002) among others, in what became the last few classically animated features.
Jumping to 3D animation, I was part of the crew for films such as "The Wild"(2006), "My Super Ex Girlfriend" and "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch & the Wardrove, Extended Edition".
Video games offer a variety of technical and artistic challenges, so I made a jump to video games to create cinematics for AAA games like "Dragon Age" and "Mass Effect" that made EA Bioware a legendary studio.
After 7 years, and moving back to Toronto, I was back to creating keyframe animation on creatures for live action films
like "Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library" and the Oscar winning movie "Shape of Water" by Guillermo Del Toro.
Vancouver offered a great opportunity for teaching so I became an Animation Instructor at Vanarts for 5 years, where I taught and demonstrated how to apply the animation fundamentals for various exercises.
I continue to animate in features and teaching part time when time allows