Practical Blender courses · Tom McDonald
3D printing in Blender — from model to print
Welcome to BlenderZen. Thomas McDonald teaches practical beginner–intermediate Blender courses here—3D printing, architecture, FreeCAD, Python, car modelling and rigging, and video editing—with enrolment on Udemy through instructor links.
150,000+students on Udemy
7core courses
15+ yrsdesigning in 3D
New course · Fix AI 3D models
Fix AI 3D Models in Blender: Repair for 3D Printing & Games
Find and fix reversed faces, holes, bad scale, broken UVs, missing textures and AI script errors before you ship a model.
AI tools can now turn a sentence or a photo into a 3D model in seconds. The model usually looks fine in the preview. Then you put it in a game, send it to a 3D printer or give it to a client, and it breaks. This course teaches you how to check an AI-made model in Blender, find what is wrong with it, and fix it. Each lecture teaches one skill on its own demo model, then you open a challenge file with a broken model in it. At the end you put it all together with a 13-step production checklist and take the final test.
Courses
Start with 3D Printing, or pick your path
Every course is a complete, project-based workflow. Enrolment is on Udemy through my instructor links.
3D Printing from Zero to Hero in Blender
Learn 3D modelling for 3D printing in Blender: FDM, MSLA resin, STL export, slicing, and models you can actually print.
You build real projects end to end (door grip, vase, phone stand, coin, phone case), check them with the 3D-Print Toolbox, and print on filament and resin machines, or send them to a print service.
Architectural Design & Animation in Blender
Model a house in Blender at real-world scale, add Archimesh doors and windows, then animate a walkthrough and a build-sequence reveal.
Interior 3D Modelling & Rendering in Blender
Model and light photorealistic interiors in Blender: PBR materials, stills, animation and 360° views.
Python Scripting for Blender
Learn Python in Blender with real tasks: custom UI panels, bpy, automation, and a CSV data-visualisation project.
Architectural 3D Modeling & Rendering: FreeCAD & Blender
Model in FreeCAD, then clean up and render in Blender and present in Twinmotion.
Model & Rig a Car in Blender for Beginners
Model a car body and wheels, then rig it with drivers and controls for a short drive.
Video Editing in Blender – Beginner to Pro
Edit video in Blender’s Video Sequence Editor: cuts, text, audio, transitions, motion graphics and export.
More courses Unreal, Twinmotion, character rigging and a free intro course
Free tutorials
Latest tutorials
- Light an Interior with One HDRI and a Window: the 10-Minute Setup
Interior lighting is where a lot of people get stuck. They add five lights, the render is still grey andContinue reading “Light an Interior with One HDRI and a Window: the 10-Minute Setup” - How to 3D print something you made in Blender
The route from a finished Blender model to a printed part: millimetre units, apply scale, a 3D Print Toolbox check, the right STL export settings, and a size check in the slicer. - Does your 3D model need unit scale 0.001? STL files have no units
STL has no units, so size problems start in Blender. Here’s when unit scale 0.001 helps, which STL export options to use, and how to check the size.
Short Blender tutorials, now and then
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