A_P_TPC_Vol11_2015_

LEARN THE BASICS OF 3D MODELLING IN BLENDER AND HOW

TO CREATE A LOWPOLY ILLUSTRATION

DESIGN A LOW

POLY PLANET

G

raphics are becoming much more

complicated by the day. Ten years ago a

model of an object with a few thousand

polygons was considered technically

advanced. Nowadays we can see billions of

polygons, unbelievable light and shadow,

technologies on the edge of possibilities.

In the time of super-powered graphic cards,

low-poly graphics are born. This genre uses as few

polygons as possible to make artwork look classic

• a bit old-fashioned but still fresh and awesome. It
  looks simple, but low-poly art requires a huge

LEARN THE BASICS

SET UP THE SCENE AND CREATE THE MODEL

amount of work. It’s somewhat similar to jewellery

making, because every polygon needs to be in the

correct place to really make the artwork shine.

In this tutorial we will learn how to create a

low-poly illustration using Blender and Photoshop –

from the basics of 3D modelling, to the final polishing

of the image. Blender is absolutely free to use

software and you can download the latest version for

your system here http://www.Blender.org.

Once you have installed it, you are ready to start

this tutorial and create your first 3D low-poly

illustration by following our step-by-step guide.

01

SET UP THE SCENE

Launch Blender and adjust the render

parameters: change the render type to Cycles at

the top of the screen, then change the render

resolution on the right to 1200x1500 pixels. Don’t

forget to set to 100% in the window below. To

reduce the noise, go to Sampling inset below,

and make at least 500 samples.

02

CREATE THE BASE MESH

Now we are ready to create the planet.

First, delete the cube from the scene: right-click

and press Delete. Then press Shift+A>Mesh> Ico

Sphere, and immediately change its subdivisions

to three, at the left bottom of the screen. You will

see a faceted sphere – this is going to be the base

mesh for the planet. Go to View> Camera, to

change the point of view.

03

FORM THE LANDSCAPE

The buttons you will need are: G for Grab, S

for Scale, and R for Rotate. Use them to position the

sphere. After this, press TAB to switch to the Edit

mode. Change selection type to Face select below,

and then holding Shift select all the polygons you

want to make land or mountains by right-clicking.

Press E to extrude polygons, and press the left

mouse button. Use Scale to adjust the height.

FROM SPHERE TO YOUR

OWN TINY WORLD

WORK IN

PROGRESS

Progress 1: Create the

basic mesh

Progress 2: Add materials

Progress 3: Post-process

ALEKSEI PUSHILIN

http://www.be.net/plannit

@plann_it

OUR EXPERT

Aleksei Pushilin is a 25-year-old

graphic designer from Chelyabinsk,

Russia. Now working in the

biggest bank in the region during

the day, and freelancing during the

night, his true passion is to make

low-poly 3D models for games, UI,

maps and navigation.

SOURCE FILES

On FileSilo you will find a pack of

small environment models, ready

to use in your scene.

DESIGN A LOWPOLY PLANET