Blender Basics · scottaferguson.org

Lesson 16: Stylized animal checkpoint

About 15 minutes · Blender 5.2.1 LTS · Mac Mini + Magic Mouse

What this checkpoint shows

This is your first finished animal. You will use every skill from this unit: loop cuts, extrude, Mirror, and Subdivision. The render proves the model reads as an animal from a distance, which is the real test.

Steps

  1. Tool Open animal-parts.blend from Lesson 15.
  2. Mouse Click each part and press G to move it into place. Place the head on top of the body, the ears on the head, the snout forward, and the legs under the body.
  3. Check Use the view from the side (rotate with Cmd + drag). The animal should read as an animal: head, body, four legs.
  4. Menu Click the body. In the wrench tab, click Add Modifier > Generate > Subdivision Surface, then set Levels Viewport to 2, as in Lesson 5.
  5. Check The body is smooth. The sharp corners are softened.
  6. Key Press 0 for camera view, as in Lesson 6. Adjust the camera with G until the whole animal is in view. unverified on your Mac
  7. Menu Choose Render > Render Image, the same as Lesson 6. Save the image as stylized-animal.png. unverified menu names
  8. Check You can see a clear animal shape in the render, not just a pile of blocks.
If it doesn't read as an animal: that's a useful result. Compare your render with a side-view reference. Adjust one part at a time, usually the head or legs, then render again.

Checkpoint project

A stylized animal with a smooth body, saved as stylized-animal.blend and rendered as stylized-animal.png. Compare the two renders from Lessons 6 and 16 to see what changed.