Building My First 3D Castle: Challenges & Learnings in Blender 3.1

[Dima_Bugaev]

Hi everyone,
Thank you for the course and the clear, engaging explanations! I’d like to briefly share my results and challenges.
Results:
• I created my first 3D model – a castle!

• I was able to follow 80% of the tutorial smoothly.
Challenges:
• Using Blender 3.1, I couldn’t find some commands, like Normals.
• Struggled to flatten the ground (S + Z0).

• Unsure why the ground color looks off.

• Had trouble positioning the camera properly before rendering (F12).
• Found it difficult to set up shadows, Ambient Occlusion, and Screen Space Reflections.

Thanks again for the great course! Please give me the feedback or tips so I can be better next time. Thank you!

[NP5]

Well done a fine castle.

Do not worry over the missing Ambient Occlusion etc Blender removed then from later versions as Eevee had been improved and those faking effects mechanisms were no longer needed.
Now just tick Raytracing.

[NumbNong]

Nice castle layout. A lot of commands in Blender are context sensitive. I have a Blender 3.0 version and the Normals/Flip etc. are found in Mesh menu in the Editor. To see orientation tick the face orientation box in viewport overlays in top right hand corner of the viewport.

Many times shadows are correct even if they look strange. If you have light behind a ridge it will cast a shadow even from indirect light like a HDRI. For Evee make sure your light has shadows ticked. [Contact shadows look good but increase render time]. For ambient occlusion make sure the distance is big enough for the model size.

With refractions and reflections there a number of things you have to do including in the shader tab. Too much to go into here.

Rendering camera positioning is a pain. Make sure viewport View/View Lock/ Lock Camera to View is ticked as appropriate.

The best thing to do is repeat a section of your course and go over it till you get it sorted because there will always be something you missed, trust me! Hope that helps.