Create a DRAGON in Blender (for 3D Printing)

⇨ Get the Mastering Sculpting Course for Blender: academy.cgboost.com/p/masteri...
⇨ Become my Patreon: / zreinhardt
⇨ Free Blender Sculpting Cheat Sheet: cgboost.com/resources/
⇨ Support Blender's Development: fund.blender.org/
⇨ High resolution renders of the dragon: www.artstation.com/artwork/9e...
CONTENT
In this video you will learn how to create a dragon in Blender 2.79 for 3d printing. Additionally, we will take a quick look on how to create a procedural material for the EEVEE realtime render engine in Blender 2.8. This video is a mixture of tutorial and timelapse parts. The original dragon creation took about 30 hrs.
CHAPTERS
00:00 - Introduction
04:10 - 01 Collecting References
05:50 - 02 Creating the Base Mesh
07:14 - 03 Base Mesh Techniques
10:37 - 04 Preparing Base Mesh for Sculpting
11:42 - 05 Separating Meshes
12:58 - 06 Basic Sculpting Setup
13:44 - 07 Sculpting the Main Shapes
18:31 - 08 Separating Parts of the Sculpting
22:05 - 09 Colorize Separated Parts
22:37 - 10 Trial and Error
26:30 - 11 Finalizing the Main Shapes
27:50 - 12 Creating the Wings
29:45 - 13 Automatic Retopology
33:07 - 14 Use Masks for Creating Details
37:43 - 15 Creating the Scales
40:48 - 16 Adding Details
42:58 - 17 Brush Texture Setup
44:45 - 18 Preparation for 3D Printing
47:30 - 19 Separating the Mesh for 3D Printing
50:09 - 20 Blender 2.8 EEVEE Material
53:49 - Outro
SOFTWARE
⇨ Download Blender: www.blender.org/download/
⇨ Download Blender 2.8: builder.blender.org/download/
RESOURCES
⇨ Danny's KZbin channel: / @3dprintedtabletop
⇨ Lost Dragon Kickstarter campaign: kck.st/2MHls9i
⇨ PurRef (Reference collecting tool): www.pureref.com/
⇨ Free Alphas (Brush Textures): pixologic.com/zbrush/download...
⇨ 50 Dragon Alphas (paid but cheap): gumroad.com/l/oAjLg
⇨ SculptJanuary: weeklycgchallenge.com/sculptja...
TUTORIALS
⇨ Blender 2.8 EEVEE Autofocus fun: • Blender 2.8 EEVEE Auto...
⇨ Tips for symmetry sculpting: • Improving Asymmetrical...
⇨ Tips for high resolution sculpting in Blender: • Create High Resolution...
⇨ Solving sculpting problems in Blender: • How to Solve Common Sc...
MY SYSTEM
⇨ Windows 10 PC
⇨ 32 GB RAM
⇨ Intel Core i7-7700K CPU
⇨ NVIDEA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti graphics card
⇨ Wacom Intuos Pro M graphics tablet
CONNECT
⇨ Website: zachariasreinhardt.com
⇨ Facebook: / artofzachariasreinhardt
⇨ Twitter: / zreinhardt3d
⇨ Artstation: www.artstation.com/artist/zre...
⇨ Instagram: / zacharias_reinhardt
⇨ Pinterest: / zachariasreinhardt
⇨ Mailing List: zachariasreinhardt.com/mailing...
MUSIC
Various tracks from epidemicsound.com and premiumbeat.com
#b3d #dragon #sculpting #tutorial

[@kaizokuonii51]

As someone who is trying to learn Blender and sculpting in a week while trying to deliver an interesting dragon inspired sculpt for 3D printing by the end of it I CANNOT stress enough how helpful this was. You pretty much zoomed in on the exact parts I needed most, everything was clear, the pacing was perfect, basically a perfect tutorial (for me atm). Thank you so much, this video and your channel deserve more recognition.

[@GradyPruitt]

I love this video! I love how you didn't just show a timelapse but explained what you were doing during the timelapse and your thought processes behind it. I can even appreciate the fact that you tried many different things and in the end wound up using a mixture and how even if you didn't use something in the final version, you discovered things you can use in future projects. Best of all, I like how you showed how you prepped it for printing. Great video!

[@maieoid]

That is a beautiful dragon! Am half way thru (optimisticaly) sculpting my own dragon sculpt and wish I'd seen this a week ago before manual retop and armture posing. Loved your posing technique, allows for so much freedom, and so many other helpful ideas. The masking, your base mesh curves, boolean posing and many other great tips. This is literally the best timed and most useful video I've seen, thank you sooo much

[@PeranMe]

Oh wow, thanks so much for expanding/extending the Mastering Sculpting course with this! Keep being awesome! ...and thank you for sharing this!

[@Tasarran]

I love that you kept in all the parts where you decided to smooth out everything you just did. Keepin it real!

[@Fe7Ace]

I can't overstate how much I appreciate the pacing of your videos. The selections of timelapse and demonstrations along with the near-constant commentary make every minute of it interesting and valuable. Many tutorials get dull in parts; The person talks too slow, there's too much timelapse that is too fast to follow, they get hung up explaining absolute beginner tips when it's not about a beginner subject, and so on.. You avoid all of that, I'm loving the format you use. Great music during the timelapses as well.

[@TheCalcaholic]

I fully agree; he's doing an amazing job at these

[@Flandelacasa]

Watched the whole thing. My favorite tips: simplified dragon joined by booleans, the bag separator shapes for the wings and head, remeshing to turn it to multiresolution to maintain the polycount high without killing your resources, and I had no idea about the sample bias. I will definitely come back to this video and look at all the tips again. This tutorial is exactly what I needed for the stage I am right now in a sculpt I’m working on.

[@roxonogueira]

Why am I not using blender???? everything you've shown, every workflow looks better and faster than any other program I use

[@ChristinaMcKay]

Blender is awesome. I used Maya, Cinema4D and Mudbox before. Ditched them all and only use Blender now for modeling and sculpting. Maybe you should give it a try.

[@daan3898]

@@ChristinaMcKay with 2.8 around the corner, Eevee's going to be epic Fap Fap

[@xxerbexx]

@@daan3898 not just eevee blender will also get (eventually) optix support wich is used by octane and stuff. it boosts up ray tracing like insane

[@Tasarran]

Having recently come to Blender from Maya, I have to say; I may never use Maya again

[@S-I-T]

My thoughts exactly

[@Geostationary0rbit]

this is by far the most informative blender sculpting pipeline process video I've ever seen on youtube thank you sooo much, actually makes me consider using it as my primary tool!

[@robdallachiesa]

The layout of this video is fantastic. The showing and then explaining later kept interest and let me know how powerful what you doing was before hearing the how. This emphasized need of the topic. Removed a lot of the feeling of do I really need to know this.

[@venytonizidoro]

Love the skin modifier technique. Simply amazing.

[@ralpholynyk5321]

i agree with the others comments about "AWESOME"..not only your creation, but how clear and inspiring your tutorial is...watching this makes me understand the workflow way better and am about to jump into my own sculpting projects with more confidence..I like that you mention how many times you 'redo' stuff...i see that as a normal part of my own process currently, even though i struggled with it initially (thinking i was lacking cause i had to redo stuff..hehe) thanks for your insights and explanations on so many aspects of 3d work!!! ...

[@ArtPomelo]

Thumbs up for adding the blender dev fund at the end!

[@SuperWhatever1979]

Thanks so much for posting this, to a beginner it was a great overview. You have found a fantastic cadence between the content provided and time to reflect on what you've just taught. The time just flew by.

[@richietwinz6824]

Awesome video, many thanks. I'm very new to 3D modelling and am currently in the process of learning. I plan to design, model and print my own creations (mainly OC's and lightsabers) and this video has been a big help.

[@mwheth]

This video answered so many of the questions I was struggling to put into words to google. Thank you, your videos are always so helpful.

[@Usucito]

How elegant your workflow is. Amazing work.

[@dennistang6459]

"Struggling" parts were the best thing LOL. Other videos sometimes works pretty perfect ALL THE TIME which didn't tell newbies like me how to think and adjust things around. Those way of thinking really helps a lot when stuck somewhere in the sculpting. Really awesome video!

[@oliverizzard8751]

30 hours for a beast of that beauty is good time man. Well done.

[@tyholbrook7664]

This is mind blowing! As a render, beautiful, but there's so much detail that unless the patreons have a resin printer, I'm uncertain if they'll be able to see all the effort you put into this

[@BradUSMCVETrider]

Artist: "Yes! You see? Easy!" Me: *brain explodes*

[@cgboost]

:D

[@waffleratta2861]

:0

[@benedictdourlens]

Thank you a lot. I really like this kind of vidéo, because often i want to do something, but don't know how doing it step by step and i mess a lot. I watch the all vidéo and make pause to try the new trick you provide to me, this is really helpfull !

[@Kimera_Alternate_Realities]

I said it before and I'll say it again, I really love your tutorials, I watch them the day you release them and then over and over after months and possibly, years after first release, thank you for this.

[@alexandreancel6423]

Awesome work Zach', with tons of great tips, thanks for your work !

[@Yazidn]

You really are something else! The dragon and the video are both unbelievably awesome! Thanks a lot.

[@thomandy]

Made it to the end yes, very informative! Love that you give solution to potential issues too. Well done.

[@cgboost]

Glad you enjoyed it :) ~ Daniel

[@fabbrobbaf]

Thanks thank thanks Zach! I also bought your course "mastering sculpting in Blender" and let me say that it's a super tutorial!

[@BlenderBurst]

Nice computer specs! Yeah, the most important thing for sculpting is that you have a lot of Ram. And you have 32GB of ram, so that's pretty good.

[@TonjuwelenDeAgentur]

Like always. Great work. The Material is simple but looks really amazing. The dragon is Mr. Style in person :) Thanks a lot for sharing.

[@sSPACEoNE]

Great work! Great Tutor! Even me, didn't know english - understand everything. Great Thanks! & in final u got very charismatic Dragon which deserve be a main hero of some epic story!

[@Jeffrey400]

Great video! It's inspired me to start sculpting in Blender. I already use it to produce lithophanes but I use other programs such as Maya and ZBrush to sculpt. Blender seems a lot easier to use for quickly fleshing out a design. I am definitely considering the mastering sculpting course as well. Amazing stuff!

[@SapphFire]

I made it through the whole video! :D Great work! Really relaxing to watch. It must have taken a long time to not only make the model but also add the voice-overs and tutorials.

[@SapphFire]

+1 for mentioning the development fund at the end.

[@wojt3d415]

everything is amazing in Your tutorials!

[@marcinmaczewski3540]

Always amazed with the quality of your content!

[@louxie6367]

This was really helpful!! Thank you so much for sharing this, and great job on the sculpture!

[@briliandaimam6203]

this is so helpful for me, thanks dude! u made so many awesome stuff! keep inspiring others, cheers!

[@felathar1985]

You are without a doubt the best Blender Instructor on the internet.

[@ralphedenbag4552]

Very instructing tutorial. Thanks, Zach !

[@rajakaz4075]

You are amazing! After these years still so much to learn and try! Thank you!

thank you, within 20 seconds he actually tells us how he does it without the "ums and uhs "and humble-bragging about himself for 20+ minutes.... CGB and Grant abbottt are the only blender tutorials worth watching thank you cgb! you showed me the next step in making my own dragon!

[@metalraptor-palsa]

Awesome tutorial, I really enjoyed watching it, and I also feel motivated to sculpt something now. :D

[@christianlennertz5780]

Great tutorial! I really learned a lot from this! 👍

[@softwarelivre2389]

12:20 As of blender 2.81+, it is possible to join meshes by just using the voxel remesher, which makes the proccess simpler, faster and more reliable for sculpting. 20:30 As of blender 2.82+, it is possible to use the pose brush to make those kind of tweaks aswell.

[@oneeyeddragonstudio]

Could I ask, wouldnt it be easier to sculpt something in a keyshot pose, finish up all the detaild with X mirroring so you only need to detail one side, then pose using an armature?

[@softwarelivre2389]

@@oneeyeddragonstudio It depends on your goal actually. Both workflows are fine, but if you'll be using a still shot, then there's no need to create a T-Pose, srt all the IK and FK, armature and such just to get everything to the final position. If you want to get other poses, then yes, using an armature system will help a lot.

[@somefurryguy1811]

as someone who cant use blender 2.8(shit computer) this tutorial is straight from heaven :D taught me a bunch of things i can use in 2.79

[@norson1753]

Amazing Job Zach! I wish I have powerfull enaugh hardware to be capable of creating such scales without freezing. I can't wait for my update and looking forward for your future videos.

[@adamfoster142]

Amazing video man. I generally can't keep focused on long tutoriala but yours was fantastic. Cant wait to give this a shot! How did the 3D print of the dragon turn out?

[@michaelsmusicinstruments9980]

Great tutorial. Very much learned, very helpful. The Dragon and the Material looks great. 22:22 After a few months with 2.8 I also learned that you can add random vieport colors for diffrent object just with 1 button now :-) .

[@drowsy5384]

Your videos deserve a whole series of YGS

[@fabianoperes2155]

AMAZING work man! Keep it up!

[@flamingomtn]

You are my favorite tutorial artist for Blender, bar none. Question. After you boolean the parts together and then clay strips brush over them, are they manifold? I seem to have an unusual amount of trouble, getting things that I've booleaned to be manifold, especially at the seams. Thanks for any hints.

[@BeatMax2023]

Man that was amazing. Awesome details and again nice tips along ;)

[@arkham79]

Beautiful work Zach! nice dragon!

[@DarkDiaspora]

Beautiful work Zach

[@philippeichermuller4987]

Great Videos. I hope one Day i will be able to do something like this.

[@TheJobCompany]

This is quite awesome! Great work!

[@AngelCnderDreamer]

Omg this came in recommended in a perfect timing! I been planning to make 3D prints for my etsy shop but I still needed a tutorial or a guide on more detail and behold this showed up. :D I look forward to watching this when I"m free. I notice this was made in 2018 but it shouldn't be hard to follow in the newer version of Blender. ^ ^

[@cgboost]

We have a new sculpting course at cgboost.com. You can check it. ~Egon

[@ScottVanKirk]

Awesome stuff Zach!

[@karlfimm]

A long video, but a good one. Picked up quite a few tricks. Subscribed.

[@daan3898]

thanks the tip @29:30! getting a graphics tablet for x-mas so I can practise making these awesome pieces of art! BLENDER POWER!!!!

[@daan3898]

Finished watching, Danny must be very happy recieving this.

[@raz8536]

that was amazing and you are a very talented person although i am super furious that we did not get a cycles render, because its already looking great in eevee so i wonder how it would look like in cycles

[@badrahmed9591]

I watched it all , 100% usful , you always creat the perfect videos & design . I want to be like you .

[@animatingtherealm1683]

Thank you for this awesome video. Can you explain your texturing process for your sculpted creatures in a tutorial/course too, if it isn’t too much to ask?

[@jacobwalker2250]

Crazy how good you are at blender

[@bohdan_lvov]

Absolutely love it! Fantastic tutorial.

[@PapaBellic]

I needed this to make that one video

[@MagoRola]

I just love your videos!!... thanks a lot!

[@Stormwinddragon]

I really would like to learn Blender and this is so freaking amazing! thank you so much for this really nice tips! damn, i love it

[@krishnavamsi3803]

Awesome work.Btw atlast you multiplied two maps or texture for roughness and kept factor for 1 then what is the use of first one.

[@3DIYOriginal]

Awesome Work.... Great Tutorial.... Subscribed to your channel !!!

[@mobilephone6087]

It's vary nice .awesome creativity

[@vivektyagi6848]

Thanks for a great tutorial. Would you do a video for rigging a dragon that has animatable eyes and mouth. Also which graphic card are you using.

[@mattcowling]

very well done- thank you!

[@Rohit-ld6rr]

If you want to center the origin of geometry to it's center just do ctrl + shift + alt + C

[@TheMCDStudio]

I watched the whole thing. Thank you.

[@iAnony]

that was fantastic. thank you!

[@aleemmohammed7794]

What do you have to keep in mind and do in order to have a model that can be printed without supports?

[@tazounettedu69]

thanks you! I learn so much im happy :D

[@LaszloIvanyi]

Nice video, I liked it. Might need a Blender 2.9 update, a couple of the techniques are updated since it was made, as far as I know nowadays remesh is the sculpting way, not dynatopo for example. Also if this was made for 3D printing at the end you could have shown a bit of the printing process as well. :-)

[@Raaampage]

Great vid :) That was very informative and very easy to stay concentrated during the whole process :) I want to go back to Blender back again now :) (but I know me too well and I know I will give up too fast) Thanks

[@Raaampage]

@@cgboost Yeah 100%. But you see, you just pin pointed my problem here, I do too many different things and so I am mediocre everywhere :/

[@natarajan_s7796]

hi nice work i like it , that head mesh u rotate some value then how sculpting look like symmetry feel, can u explain pls

[@galinaperestan]

Hey man! First of all, thank you a lot for your videos! And can you please tell me, why I can't use the multires modifier from the beginning of sculpting without activating the dyntopo? Why must there always be two steps (dyntopo and then multires)?

[@khazretshafiev592]

This is golden.

[@TechTORA]

Awesome just as always ❤️❤️❤️

[@3dvfxprofessor]

Wonderful work and video. I just passed it to my content hungry students.

[@Noximous]

This video was great. included hopefully a couple solutions to problems i've been having. The last issue is that when I boolean stuff together it often creates non-manifold meshes, which can't be 3D printed. any tip on how to deal with that?

[@bortuda]

very nice. thanks

[@sway71]

Oh my goodness! So many gems of information! Is there going to be a Sculpt January for 2019 so I can give them a try? ^___^

[@vmartme]

Thanky you so much Zacharias :)

[@megamaster7667]

Why didn't you use the slice function from bool tool, when separating the legs into different pieces?

[@user-hk1gs9em7v]

Thanx for video! How did you set the light for this scene in Eevee?

[@killivalavan5075]

Nice bro i loved it

[@manosgr433]

Thank you!

[@Forkbird]

Zack, you rock as always! :)

[@14Blackspirit]

Very nice video ... i just tryed Blender today and wanted to see what you can do there ... it would be interesting if its possible to convert it into unity file? Edit: 2 seconds of google told me already. I think i want to get into that program. Makes me all excited

[@brookgoodbye]

So after I sculpted a head and used an alpha brush it didn't carry over even saved to an stl. What am I doing wrong?

[@antonwinter630]

fantastic amount of detail on your model. you should sell your STLs

[@chrisprenn]

Wahnsinn super danke!

[@roadstar499]

I want to learn this? does having drawing or sculpting skills using paper or clay help one to learn this faster? thax

[@robert.von.l]

Just amazing....