Make Low Poly Characters in Blender!

[@ThomasPotter]

I've gotten way to many comments about this - I've fixed the auto generated captions to correct it. At 2:03, its add an edge loop. Just press ctrl + R Also the reference image is media.discordapp.net/attachments/876838975573196830/889817487984689182/00bfc0086811dae54c0f2b4a177b9d75.jpg?ex=66ad5add&is=66ac095d&hm=6d6b0bed52a8289b46a9a039c5580ab44f60e5dff80d3f41f146ba75d4c0385b&=&format=webp

[@Huntaurz]

Thank you so much can't wait for the videos that come next

[@maister_kapli8184]

it says the image is no longer avialable

[@dunderguy]

@@maister_kapli8184 just look up ideal proportion male reference and it will pop up

[@maister_kapli8184]

@@physicssimulator2656 it was i just wanted to point that out just in case

[@_ErlGrey]

media is no longer available, could you repost the reference image? Or under what names should I look for turnarounds like this?

[@kacpergrzywacz4629]

Low poly character speedrun

[@grandpatolkien]

"Today I'm going to walk you through." Proceeds to run through.

[@702mrshadow702]

I found your tutorial after never opening blender before. Alot of people complain about your speed but man I feel like I was learning at lightspeed. It took me around 4 hours to get through the video pausing, rewinding, trial and error. But at the end of it, I had a really solid first template to work with because of you. Personally, I enjoyed the pace, no beating around the bush straight down to business. So thank you for this awesome tutorial.

[@ThomasPotter]

Thanks!

[@lazality]

bro PLEASE slow down jesus

[@jaxonwooton8540]

“Make low poly characters”: proceeds to give one tip at the beginning and just does his own thing, at the speed of light, for the rest of the video

[@Pvydrow]

this is not a class on how to use blender, if you don't know how to get around blender, then obviously this tutorial won't be of much help cuz you'll be lacking a lot of other knowledge.

[@SnowheadBlitz]

@@Pvydrow Not gonna lie, if you know blender, you can probably *already* make low poly characters, because "use references and go from there" is a pretty all-encompassing tip, spanning modeling and art in general. So... the fact that the video *exists* implies that it's a tutorial on how to use blender... to make low poly characters. It's not that, though, it's basically just a dude making a thing, so...

[@hotdogusplagiarizes8434]

@@SnowheadBlitz I think the point of the video is to show his workflow, I think it was helpful to see how he went about doing certain parts like the collar bone and the legs. Either way, it’s more of a subjective thing whether or not the walkthrough was helpful.

[@Pvydrow]

@@SnowheadBlitz you can know blender's shortcuts and tools and still be confused/overwhelmed when having to put them into practice, you don't learn to loopcut and then immediately get the knowledge on how to make good topology or how to operate in 3d space in a straightforward way, stuff like the workflow used in the video helps a lot for a person who's aware of the shortcuts used and how the tools work but that haven't made a more """""complex""""" model (not really complex since it's just a low poly character, but more in depth than static object) again, the title of the video is how to make a low poly character, not how to use blender.

[@rainyjay8672]

I can see where you are coming from, as someone who is pretty new to blender, tutorials can sometimes be extremely frustrating to follow or even understand what you are looking at. What helped me a lot was looking for videos on "hard surface modeling" witch are really really helpful for teaching how to navigate and use blender properly/ to its full potential

[@castilonn]

This is amazing! I personally love low poly aesthetic and enjoy going on sketchfab and studying and admiring low poly characters. Low poly + hand painted textures = perfection

[@ThomasPotter]

Yeah I'm a fan of low poly + pixel art

[@cryptogam3r69]

Really wish you had the hot keys on screen every time you used them, kinda harder for noobs like me to follow along not having memorized all the shortcuts yet on blender, otherwise great video

[@ThomasPotter]

Yeah sorry I forget to put them on when I record sometimes

[@DD-cv1ro]

Really good tutorial ! Thanks for including the shortcut addon, it really helps to see what keys you press. I aspire to have a worflow as efficient as you in the future ! Have a good day mate

[@ThomasPotter]

Glad it helped!

[@sainmanstanding]

Such a great tutorial. I feel so much more competent in blender after following along. Thank you so much!

[@ThomasPotter]

Glad it was helpful!

[@justcallmeavi3255]

I've seen loads of comments relating to the mirror modifier not working or showing up, to fix this, you need to make sure your axis are the same as Thomas, his mirror is set to X because of the position of his reference images, if you've set yours on the Y then the mirror will look as if it isn't there, follow the green (Y) and red (X) to make sure your images are in the right place, another tip, Thomas is going quite fast, this tutorial is more for those with a base knowledge of blender but if you're still struggling, pause and repeat the section your on using the left arrow key to jump back 5 seconds, no-one is going to judge you for trying to get it right first time but it's ok to make mistakes, CTRL Z is your best friend here!

[@Jorendo]

This video is also a year old, they changed the menu's a bit since. You need to go to the modifier menu (blue wrench icon when clicking any object), then add modifier, followed by Generate and then mirror. In case people can't find the modifiers at all anymore with the new version of Blender.

[@HanchDev]

Nice tutorial! New artists should beware the topology of the shoulders, hips, knees and elbows. If you plan to rig and animate this mesh you will have problems making those areas bend properly with the topology used here. I spent quite some time trying to figure it out as a novice myself, thought I'd warn other novices.

[@summonfish]

Any tutorials for specifically these aspects you might recommend?

[@HanchDev]

@@summonfish Yes! Check these out: wiki.polycount.com/wiki/Limb_Topology www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1218697/FULLTEXT01.pdf

[@malapropia]

@@summonfish The value of this particular tutorial is to generate your initial model with a natural workflow. He has another tutorial on retopologizing for animation. kzbin.info/www/bejne/jKixhoB_p6t2e6Msi=sIXEFc6p1Jy291Tq

[@KidsInBasementXD]

Thx but it too fast, have to rewatch every 5 second 5 times

[@finnoliver655]

same here, i gave up on trying to follow along not even a minute into the video

[@wacktv_]

@@finnoliver655 turn the video speed down to 0.5x in the settings

[@halowrktheartist2304]

You are so underrated, you have helped me do my own charactes, I hope in the future you have more views.

[@malapropia]

me too! Your tutorials are the most helpful I’ve found. I’m finally, finally making characters.

[@TheMusicjunkie1995]

Thank you for making the video Thomas it was very helpful indeed . The introduction of the reference image is a great help and splitting the screen as well. Your general knowledge of blender is awesome and I appreciate you taking the time to make this tutorial. My only downside with the video is that some of the steps were not explained and I had to do extra research to get to the finish line with your project. When I say this I mainly mean what buttons to press to do certain actions. For ex. the knife tool and not explaining how to move from one point the next without it sticking and making 4 cuts instead of 2(which is double click or press E for anyone reading this), or sliding things by double clicking G. Which ironically I had to look up other videos for the info. All in all , still a very informative video but if your going to take the time to make the tutorial you might as well review yourself to make sure it wont be confusing at any point . You were a bit fast as well , had to stop and rewind to grasp what you were doing at some points sometimes to no avail. Keep making your tutorials, keep being awesome , and remember to self - analyze to improve the quality of your lessons. Respectfully, TMJ

[@sugoidxth]

Generally not against the consensus of this comment. However, there are other tutorials, and whilst some quite crucial things are skipped out on, this tutorial falls into the more enthusiastic side of tutorial videos. What I mean by that, is that it glides along with a theme that other videos might've taken half an hour or even more to cover, with emphasis being on you, the viewer, being enthusiastic enough to either already know the majority of the things done in the video, or at least be knowledgeable enough to look things up. One simply does not, under normal circumstances, launch up blender and decide that one wants to model a humanoid character without some fraction of extensive knowledge about the program. So yes, good point. However, my point, and the point of many commenters alike myself, is that this is not the kind of tutorial that takes it slow. And many of us, appreciate exactly that. Since there are plenty of other tutorials out there, that do exactly what you wished this video had done. For example, the famous donut tutorial is great, however for someone that already has some basic knowledge about the program, it would be considered way too lengthy by them. For a newcomer however, which the tutorial is aimed at, the tutorial covers great basis and does it at a fitting pace. Edit: To expand further, you'd actually have better performance approaching these kinds of *very* specific tutorials with the preconcieved knowledge about modeling. These kinds of videos are more so meant as guidance for someone who already understands a fair bit of modeling, to model something more specific. To make a metaphor, before joining life as an adult, you are meant to take study tests, sometimes with extreme and weird conditions. That is meant to prepare you for "everything" (in quotation marks cause the education system in many parts of the globe sucks) so that you may eventually, even in situations wildly differing from the ones you encountered in the test, may be able to tackle the problem head on with knowledge you have gathered before hand. Redundancy, that's the word for it. Before anything, (I know that it's time consuming and you may be lazy) always try to learn everything about a certain topic. A real life scenario for this is that you can program a whole game with code leeched from tutorials, however you may at some point come across a scenario/thing you may want to create, and there will be no tutorial for such a thing. That's why it is heavily encouraged, and especially required in workplaces, to have gone through a study course of a programming language before you may start to try and make anything with it.

[@oranplan1630]

if you look in the corner of the plane screen, you'll see it shows the keys he's pressing. Ik it's been five months since this comment, but hopefully someone else will need this info

[@iputsoapinmyeyes]

@@oranplan1630 ty bro

[@isaaccontee]

I did this tutorial in 2-3h but after this one I feel like I know everything 🤣 thanks, I ve learned a lot. (it took me this much because I struggled with my sketch then I left the sketch and did it from the eye :D it looks good).

[@mybrainhurts3727]

Holy shit. I have no idea wtf I'm doing. Way too fast for me, plus I don't understand the technical language.

[@OplikZPrahy]

Well it is a good idea to learn the basics of blender and then you will understand the language plus you can turn down the video speed. In my perspective its not meant as like an in depth tutorial but just like a good way to do it tutorial or guide

[@Jorendo]

Even if he goes slow, if you don't know the basics, then you won't understand it anyway. Best to learn the basics first, how blender operates before trying to make anything more then a staircase with blender.

[@RonneB.Official]

Thanks. The reason i wanted to make a somewhat low poly model of my avatar is because a low poly model might help me not have performance issues on my PC.

[@paulshelkov7956]

I like how you didn't put music in the background so I can choose my own!

[@staxie]

I hope to make shapes as fast as this one day lol

[@yaguarnecro]

XD so simple, i never thought of rotating the ref image in A pose to do the arms

[@keeyuhl]

i thought i had to use planes and one i extrude the body i had to round it out using only the poly builder but thanks to you i learned how to just do it simpler, thank you man. +1 sub

[@ThomasPotter]

You're welcome. Glad it was useful.

[@kante1e]

This is how you make a tutorial! Most ones out there frustrate me, they go over simply useless stuff and have you do things you don't even want to use. Not to mention, they make multiple parts and long videos for a simple model. You'll learn more with this than any other blender tutorial out there

[@katokianimation]

I laughed my ass off when youtube shorts tutorial came out first, and people were able to show the same features in 1 minutes that took like 10 hours to the Blender guru to tell.

[@subtokazte]

yo thanks for such a slow and understantable turorial

[@devanmauch7843]

I'd love it if you could do more of these! The custom character ones are cool but the basemeshjes are the biggest thing I struggle with

[@ebx]

14 min video made me learn lol thanks dude! For a recommendation, add those things that show the keys you are pressing, so it's easier to see what you are doing without being too verbosey haha

[@ThomasPotter]

yeah i forget to add it on some videos, my last character video i use a different method and should have screen cast keys on

[@ebx]

@@ThomasPotter still, you made me learn to use blender and make models in a day!!! Ofc im no pro but I can do something decent using references ^_^

[@nelyud]

Good guide. Those who write negative comments need to better understand the program.

[@tuckerwoollard2613]

for those using the knife tool, you press k and left click and drag from a spot you want to another and then enter to apply

[@Deadeye34845]

It’s such a good inspiration for more

[@alexjohnson1547]

Thank you for this. I'm new to Blender and I learned a lot!

[@ThomasPotter]

Great to hear!

[@DeffoSpaniel]

Really loving your channel, you’ve got a good editing style for your vids. Are you gonna continue or recreate the series on how to make low-poly anime characters?

[@TeD_D0]

Good video 👍🏽 I found your going a little to fast .

[@OT_Lake]

I'm sorry for askin, but for 2:04 of the video you day "Lets add two or three __" I know you are adding vertices, but what button did you use? (I saw the comment with the scroll up part) Thank you for the tut btw

[@ThomasPotter]

When you do the loop cut, scroll up and that adds multiple edges

[@jasutasu]

CTRL+R use mouse scroll up and down to increase/decrease the number of cuts

[@molanggomez9297]

This is the only tutorial that has helped me ty

[@jrgdrawing4189]

Least helpful walkthrough i've yet to encounter thanks

[@ImBoutToClum]

i am finally able to use blender, thank you

[@guneyylmaz3957]

Cool tutorial man! Thank you

[@Inf4mousKidGames]

a little fast in the beginning but holy shit... forget blender guru you're a blender masta!

[@potatoman5953]

you talked a bit too fast and mumbled a lot, but otherwise great video

[@thecapivaralover]

Bro are you speedrunning a Blender tutorial?

[@nefariousryder3336]

Right lmao .5 felt like normal speaking speed🤣

[@RokeJulianLockhart.s13ouq]

The image you linked isn't available at that URI anymore. However, it does exist online.

[@scottgerloffs6148]

Do you have the link?

[@RokeJulianLockhart.s13ouq]

@@scottgerloffs6148 Unfortunately, most URIs can't be posted to KZbin comments. However, Pinterest pin 14566398776169239 or the search term "ideal proportion male" in Google should provide examples.

[@ohfacts]

I am looking at the comments lol. This has easily been the most helpful tutorial. for me. Its weird how some people have been trashing on it. The title doesn't say "for beginners" or even "tutorial". Its a walkthrough, and it delivers that perfectly.

[@Ribulose15diphosphat]

Descent Players here ? I just realized, that the Medium Hulk/Super Hulk is basically a floating male chest. Add spikes to the shoulders and you get the Fusion Hulk. I bet Paralax used some manequins for the objects.

[@averageforestfish]

instructions unclear, cube turned into eldritch horror, low poly character not achieved, blender crashed, good tutorial

[@Nasengold]

Wow, how long I took to understand that you said press G and then Y to drag it back at 0:32 is ridiculous.

[@UntitledBeanie195]

had to play this video at 0.5 speed slow down bro

[@Unknown15897]

Well the outcome is great, but it would be better if you would not skip some steps like adjustments in 2:10 and would explain more about the keys you are pressing. I had to go back multiple times and even in 0.5 sec speed that was way to fast for someone who isnt familiar with all keybindings and somehow you swaped from wireframe to solid multiple times which is only confusing Edit: for real this video is less learning step by step but more like you just rush every step explaining it with "thats goes there" "this goes here" and change 5 vertices in 2 seconds while switiching repeadly between wireframe and solid and give no time at all to actually watch what you just did..way too fast and hard to follow. You know your stuff, but pls do it slower and dont rush it. We are idiots, so pls just say what keybindings you are clicking and dont click it and do it where it belongs and go to another step in 2 seconds, we need 5 seconds to understand and follow. You are good but i really cant recommend this video to anyone who doesnt want to take 5 hours for a 15 min video because he has to go back multiple times and the creator just SKIPS STEPS and does not explain what he is doing.

[@MilkCrate801]

really wished i could see what keys you press

[@Interestinggirl-in2ne]

it writes at the bottom right

[@AndrewMilesMurphy]

Nice, great explanation :) I've only created some very basic rigged chars so far. I have a problem though.... With heads, where the eyes are set into the head, if I zoom out - the eye lids disappear which doesn't look good. How can I fix this?

[@ThomasPotter]

Hey, I'm not 100% sure what you're talking about, do you want to put a screenshot in the blender chat on discord? discord.com/invite/s8pXegzDXZ

[@royfeldman447]

Great tutorial ! I have a question, is this the best topology for animating low poly characters ? the edge/faces loops especially in the chest-arms-shoulder area. i see many versions of how the topology should be, dont know which is better.

[@ThomasPotter]

Check my this destroys 83% of game characters. I go over there the best ways to make topology

[@royfeldman447]

@@ThomasPotter great ! ill check it out. Thank you

[@banbod_official]

Cerberus ULTRAKILL real [I'm sorry, I need mental help-]

[@adanVRgames]

Well i should Model my murder drones OC Like this cuz i like 2D styled motion and low poly

[@abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzsus]

I don't understand the people who say this is too fast. It's the perfect speed! He never stops, but always tells you which shortcuts and options he's using. You can watch the first few episodes of the donut tutorial and already have enough knowledge to follow him.

[@etykespeer2230]

Got to watch it in 0.25 speed but thank You so much

[@gamingwithgeko7377]

2:15 what are you saying here? "G" to grab but then you also use twath? I have watched this bit a dozen times cant figure it out lol

[@ThomasPotter]

twice

[@b.8127]

@@ThomasPotter looks like the ref image link is expired just wanted to let you know

[@tocvb232]

Bro, watch it in 2x and get all what he saying, do more this content, its good (try to say some things louder, all i beg) I just find good part of the BUTT EDGE LOOP

[@andererg8059]

I would reccomend that tutorial for ppl that do know all of the basics bec im really new to blender and bro it felt like a race XD welp I gave up after 5 mins but nice tutorial tho

[@Mahier_theguy]

we found cerberus

[@bogviking8783]

this is the best thanks king!

[@lamecucharas99]

the model you made looks like cerberus from ultrakill, anyway thanks for the tutorial

[@ArtfulRascal8]

good tutorial but i had to slow it down to .50, you talk lightening fast while doing things so for me to follow there is constant pauses and rewinds to try and understand what you say as you do it. and this is coming from a beginner so to speak, so. ya. but great tutorial.

[@SelketRuaThePirate]

i got lost on what to do its too fast😭😭

[@jaysonc6998]

at 2:05 i cant tell what key he is using to add the extra point on the body, and its holding me back, can anyone tell me what keys to use and what that is called? amazing videos btw so knowledgeable and helpful

[@jaysonc6998]

hey i just figured out the answer to my own comment, it is (CTRL + R) allows me to add segments like he did

[@_Thevoidcalls]

What happens if you shade the final product smooth?

[@ThomasPotter]

Idk, I don't really do it, it would look smoother

[@katokianimation]

Easy just creat a highly defined mesh, and dissolve 9999 vertices per square inch by hand.

[@LeonhartTryhard]

You should make it slower, Im begginner and wanna learn, english is not my native language since Im from Spain (Europe) so this tutorial is hard to plp like me. My written english is decent. my spoken english not so decent LOL. Edit: I could learn nothing, it was a complete waste of time, im deleting the projetct and looking for someone more

[@Musikinstrumenter]

I have a question pls answer anyone, in the captions at 2:15 to 2:20 you say g1 but it doesnt work pls answer

[@ThomasPotter]

If you listen to the audio is says g twice (gx2)

[@RubyRoks]

@@ThomasPotter As far as i could hear, you said "G twa" or "G to R". Even after reading this comment, it doesn't sound like "G twice".

[@2D_TOAD]

AHHHH SLOW DOWN

[@cadenchristiansen3553]

dude i really needed this im so happy im subbed!

[@ThomasPotter]

Thanks!

[@Tork789]

Yer an artist Thomas.

[@KatePetao]

Sorry if this is a noob question, but can this character be rigged?

[@thatonekid702]

Yeah, you can but you would have to make a few extra loop cuts where you want things to bend, and alter some things to your liking.😁 Edit: I've tried it and it worked pretty ok, for a game I'm working on. You can also make clothes off of this.

[@TermanidResearch-Center]

so this may seem futile of asking, but you got or know any tutorials on making a underground enviorment, trying to make a mine sort of thing that opens to a tyranid hive within the planets crust. and am having trouble making a effective way for the tunnel walls.

[@jacko1486]

why does he not seem to care how far back the reference is does the reference picture not get a different size when they are not both the same distance from the model or am i just getting confused here ?

[@ThomasPotter]

yes, when in an orthographic view(no perspective in front side top etc) you can have your image 1000m back and would still be the same size

[@jacko1486]

@@ThomasPotter oh thx for the reply this was confusing me alot

[@QuadMachine09]

How do I bring those down like you did? I ended up with two empty legs and the whole side of the chest moving out with the arms

[@robogemp7075]

Hey man could you tell me what hot key you used at 2:03

[@robogemp7075]

Nvm I figured it out, its ctr + R (atleast I think thats what you did)

[@ThomasPotter]

Yeah it's adding an edge loop, you can also scroll up on your mouse to add multiple lines at once

[@sipofliquid]

at 2:04 you add three.. something and you don't say what to press to do it lol. been stuck on it for 15 minutes now trying to figure out how you did that

[@ThomasPotter]

you scroll up

[@ThomasPotter]

Well I assumed he knew how to add an edge loop but didn't know how to add multiple at once

[@ThomasPotter]

Scrolling up is how you make more at once

[@mubarakalabere4186]

GREAT VIDEO, pls how did you learn blender

[@ThomasPotter]

I just watched as many videos as possible

[@yfjliydskiu2864]

This might be because I'm using a later version of blender but every time I follow the steps at 9:10-9:18 the following happens I get two cubes and both cubes act as a child cube and inherit the properties of the original mesh. Leaving this comment here, hoping somebody better than me can help Edit: after about 20 minutes of messing around I found out that the issue was duet to me being in edit mode instead of object mode!

[@frakker901]

I just started using the blender, so i have a question. should i use low poly objects? why i shouldn't use high poly object? i'm sorry for my english

[@ThomasPotter]

It's just an art style. It's up to you what you like more

[@frakker901]

@@ThomasPotter ok thank you❤️, so i can use high poly but i think it's more difficult. I have to watch many video on topology. (I think My english is very bad, sorry, i'm italian)

[@UltimateGattai]

Nice tutorial, thank you for taking the time to make it, but can you speak slower, more clearly? Or at least keep the button presses displayed? In some places, I can't understand what you're saying, like here: 2:15, sounds like you're saying "G to R2", which drives me nuts because I still can't understand despite replaying the video. Might be nice to see a 2.0 video of this in the future, I also worked out what you were saying via other comments, it's "double G to slide it"... I think.

[@ThomasPotter]

i understands i pronounced it wierdly but the second time i said g twice. i also do have a second video i made recently where i took longer and had screen cast keys on

[@LV7agent]

That was nice and fast

[@МаріяБербеничук-о9ю]

Hello, could someone help or explain how he was able to split his legs? 3:19 Modifier Mirror Clipping doesn`t work

[@johnscosplaycorner628]

2:00 you kinda forgot to mention how to do this. Edit: The captions don't even help because they say to add "Air Troops"

[@ThomasPotter]

Edge loops, its ctrl+r, a very basic tool in blender

[@teo2805]

This video was way too fast

[@GAMOLER]

how did you transparent the cube?

[@peter7147]

lm having trouble adding ONLY a modifier to teh cube sine it takes the poly body as well in consideration once applied the subdivision

[@ToxicGooner]

bruh. 25 seconds into the video and i get a massive tool to use, i didnt know that was there lmao (the image reference thing)

[@ThomasPotter]

lol really?

[@ToxicGooner]

@@ThomasPotter yeah my learning of blender is pretty touch and go but now im gonna use the hell outta that, massive W video

[@sabakunoxs7182]

i cannot bevel it, is it something about addons ? its working fine with edges but with dots it not working :(

[@ThomasPotter]

you have to click v to bevel vertices

[@auralunae1796]

A1 tutorial my dude TY!

[@FnafFz2010]

hey nice video! but what are you doing at 3:19 to get the legs to have the other side? because when I make the legs one side of the leg isnt connected

[@reallyman6502]

he made them as an extension of torso While torso has a mirror modifier turned on

[@oakcobra7814]

hes moving so fast i cant keep up

[@iplayedagame4486]

how do you open those options to go to different views? like these little squares popped up around your curser and you clicked top view, how did you do that

[@ThomasPotter]

by default its the key under the escape key

[@Ver2ion]

you explain how to do each thing youre doing, but not why youre doing each thing.

[@Shashlichnuy]

Thanks, very helpfull

[@TheSuperHeroAlex1]

i want the model pls

[@YeetoTheYeetafic]

The last name is very intresting

[@moopshock]

Frog

[@LeenardRapSa]

Im new to blender and this part 2:06 what did you click?

[@ThomasPotter]

to do what, adding more loops, moving or selecting?

[@LeenardRapSa]

@@ThomasPotter the thing where you divided the cube

[@ThomasPotter]

Ctrl r to add edge loop

[@notthings6443]

유익한 정보 감사합니다.

[@shaynecadman4320]

Cool dude