A new workshop series on NE Campus is teaching students how to build visual worlds using Blender, a free, industry-relevant CGI and 3D animation software.
Seth Small, an instructor in the radio, TV and film department, led the first workshop on Feb. 6, focusing on the basics of the program. The series will ultimately give students the tools to create Hollywood-level visuals with a low budget.
“Professionals are using it in the field for film and video game making, so it’s relevant to teach,” Small said.
Blender can be used alongside live-action footage to construct different environments and settings. It was used to create the film “Flow,” winner of Best Animated Feature at last year’s Oscars. Blender was also used for both CGI and compositing in the 2015 movie “Hardcore Henry,” generally considered visually groundbreaking for its time.
“I want us to stay innovative, and I think doing stuff like this is a way we stay innovative,” Small said.
Some colleges, such as the University of Michigan, have made Blender a primary software that is widely available in campus laboratories. It is also used by NASA to animate and render many publicly available 3D models and interactive web applications, such as the Mars rover simulation.
Small began the first workshop with a discussion about the key aspects of immersive world-building and visual storytelling. Director Ridley Scott was used as an example, with Small citing Scott’s masterful use of techniques like overwhelming environmental detail that allows audiences to suspend their disbelief in the films “Blade Runner,” “Kingdom of Heaven” and “Alien.”
He went as far back as Fritz Lang’s 1927 silent science-fiction film “Metropolis” to emphasize that modern filmmakers have no excuses for poor visuals. Small also showed examples of his own work, demonstrating how low-cost materials combined with digital tools like Blender can produce high-level results.
He praised indie filmmaker Ian Hubert, known for his use of Blender. Hubert was also the VFX supervisor for the 2018 science-fiction film “Prospect” starring Pedro Pascal.
“A lot of it is just a green screen and a dream,” Small said.
Small has been teaching himself Blender for the past five years after wanting more out of his personal projects.
“I’m a huge science-fiction person, fantasy person, and I hit this wall. I couldn’t make these fantastic landscapes,” he said. “I wanted to make an audience look at a shot and think, ‘Wow, I believe this. I believe that I’m here in this world.’”
Small holds a master’s degree in art and technology, with an emphasis on media production and AI ethical tool usage. His thesis asserted that low-budget, indie filmmakers with current tools are capable of competing with big-budget Hollywood projects, so he bought just one item before shooting his master’s thesis project.
“I needed to make a spaceship, and I needed him to sit somewhere that was real … so I spent $50 on a very cheap racing chair for a car,” he said.
NE student Gabe Coley said he struggled to learn the software on his own, but Small’s in-person instruction made a significant difference compared to other tutorials.
“I’m already learning like 100 times more than I did from just trying to figure it out on my own or watching tutorials,” Coley said.
Small demonstrated aspects of the software on Suzanne, a 3D model of a monkey’s head included in Blender, often used as a quick way to test animations, textures and lighting setups. It was named Suzanne after the orangutan in the film “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.”
NE student Cameron Wilcox attended because he wanted to learn how to use a new application.
“I’m just trying to figure out all the aspects of being a creative, being an artist,” Wilcox said.
