today we’re going to look at clever rigging tricks, animation fundamentals, modeling workflows, optimization tips, and even some industry level work that proves once again you don’t need expensive software to create high-end visuals. blender artists keep finding creative ways to bend the tools in directions no one expected, and some of these tricks are definitely worth adding to your own workflow.
thick mario
let’s start off with this super smash bros inspired rig by nanobuds. while the game itself is technically 2d, it’s actually much easier to build something like this inside a 3d application than inside a strict 2d engine. this demo takes us into that world of creating 2d characters in a 3d environment.
to keep the character from looking like a flat card jumping around the screen, nanobuds separates different parts of the character and offsets them slightly along the 3d axis. the game still behaves like a 2d side scroller—you can’t move forward or backward toward the camera—but perspective and parallax still exist in the scene. that tiny bit of depth gives the character volume without actually modeling full geometry, which is a pretty clever trick.
the power of the lattice
the lattice object is one of those tools that just sits there in blender and rarely gets used by probably 90% of users. but every once in a while someone shows what it can really do. here harry heath on twitter demonstrates how powerful it actually is.
you can use lattices to animate fake collisions without complicated simulations, make objects look like they’re being swallowed, create wind animations, or even change a character’s shape without touching the rig. in this demo he’s using the lattice in unreal engine, but honestly all 3d applications are basically the same under the hood—just different interfaces and cosmetics. the core tools and ideas translate almost everywhere.
blurred hdri image
you can easily blur an hdri image in the viewport, but oddly enough that blur usually doesn’t show up in the final render. surprisingly the fix is not that complicated. here’s a quick breakdown from alex martinelli.
the idea is simple: mix white noise with the coordinates of the hdri image and use that factor as the blur strength. this can help smooth out reflections and soften lighting in your scene. if your hdri is the main source of lighting, just save this setup into your material library and you’ll always have a quick way to blur backgrounds.
fundamentals of animation
if you’re getting started with animation in blender, you absolutely have to understand the fundamentals—the famous 12 principles of animation. luckily the framebyframe account has a really nice animated gif that shows them all in one place.
it’s one of those things you can save somewhere or bookmark so you can revisit it whenever you forget how squash and stretch, anticipation, or follow-through work. it’s basically a cheat sheet for good animation.
the power of reference
sometimes reality is more ridiculous—and more entertaining—than fiction. if you watched the animation of this cat character you might think it’s exaggerated or just some funny gag the animator added. but when you see the real-life reference, it’s actually even funnier.
that’s why reference is so important. a lot of classic animations, including many tom and jerry moments, were basically frame-by-frame recreations of real footage. if you hadn’t studied those references, you’d never even think to animate something like that. if you want more examples like this, the framebyframe twitter page is a great place to start.
animation breakdown
if you appreciate the craft behind stylized animation, you’re going to love this breakdown by caroline laville. she shows the full process behind building a stylized character—from blocking, to modeling, to draw-overs and expression exploration.
my favorite part is the draw-over stage. it really shows that stylized art isn’t just switching on line art and calling it a day. line art is a great starting point, but if you want expressive animation, those strokes often need to be drawn by hand. there’s real work behind that style.
braided hair workflow
want to learn how to make braided hair? apparently one minute is all you need. this quick tutorial from jaey3d shows a simple workflow starting with three stacked cylinders forming the braid shape.
the demo is done in maya, but the idea transfers easily to blender. instead of manually extruding, you can use the screw modifier to get a similar result with fewer steps. duplicate the mesh, mirror the copy, move it slightly below the other section, delete extra geometry, and you’re almost done. add a bend modifier, rig the hair, and you’re good to go.
optimization
have you ever wondered why video games with hundreds of models, textures, animations, and effects can run smoothly in real time on a mid-range computer—or even a phone—while the same scene might struggle inside blender on a powerful workstation?
the answer is optimization. game engines structure their scenes very differently. most meshes are instances, and the underlying geometry is rarely meant to be edited, so a lot of data that blender keeps around simply doesn’t exist there. some blender addons try to bring similar optimization tricks into blender, though at a smaller scale. i won’t go too deep into it here, but it’s worth checking out.
there’s modeling from reference… and then there’s this. honestly this feels like someone just flexing on the rest of us. if i could sketch directly in 3d space like this, i’d probably be the best modeler alive.
unfortunately i’m not even that good at drawing in 2d, so when it comes to drawing in 3d i’ll just quietly sit down and admire people who can do it.
cpsketch
but interestingly, there is a blender addon that helps with drawing in 3d. cpsketch works by creating temporary 2d planes in any orientation you want.
so technically you’re still drawing in 2d, but the plane automatically reorients itself in 3d space depending on where you want to draw. that makes it much easier to sketch directly inside your scene, and it’s also great for stylized painted artwork inside blender.
ear modeling
you might think that once you learn how to model, everything becomes easy. surprise surprise—that’s not how it works. some things simply have a better approach than others.
here jan van den hemel shows a very clean workflow for modeling and sculpting an ear, and honestly this is probably the easiest approach you’ll find.
sculpting an eye
once the ears are done, you’ll probably need to sculpt the eyes as well. here’s a quick tutorial from anastas showing how to approach that.
the eyeballs themselves are obviously the easiest part—just two spheres and you’re good to go. after that you can build the surrounding forms and eyelids around them, and suddenly the character starts coming to life.
kpop previz
surprisingly blender’s biggest competition isn’t really traditional 3d software like cinema 4d, maya, or 3ds max. it’s actually unreal engine. what’s funny is that epic games is also one of the major contributors to blender’s development—so in a weird way they’re helping their own competition.
one of the biggest places blender has been used in hollywood is previs. before a movie or animation is fully produced, artists create simple scenes to test timing, camera angles, and composition. unreal has been moving closer to that territory as well. with its own animation tools, rigging, modeling features, and simulation systems like niagara, it’s slowly becoming a full 3d package. still, i wouldn’t worry about unreal replacing blender anytime soon. if anything, the workflows are so similar that switching between them would only take a few days.
cycles vs viewport render
going back to how powerful blender actually is, take a look at this ad done for barclays bank by dani_digital on x. absolutely magnificent. i always love when artists show side-by-side renders like this.
because once you see it, there’s no pretending that you need some expensive software like 3ds max or houdini to pull something like this off. these are the same tools you already have access to. yes the project itself is a big undertaking in terms of time and effort, but technically everything here is achievable with a solid understanding of blender.
speaking of getting paid
here’s alex saytiev again—this time showing the kind of work he’s doing for esports projects. and honestly it looks like a pretty fun niche to work in.
they use blender to create high-energy visuals and promotional renders for esports teams and events. if you’re interested in working in that space, their page is actually a great place to study. you can learn a lot just by observing the style, composition, and visual language that attracts those kinds of clients.
and that’s it for today’s roundup. as always it’s amazing to see the kind of creativity coming out of the blender community every week. from clever rig setups to stylized animation workflows and industry level projects, it just shows how far you can push the software once you understand the tools.
if you want to explore even more workflows like this, you can also check out some of my own projects. the True Image Editor lets you edit textures directly inside blender without constantly jumping between different programs. the Blender Everything Pack is a collection of geometry nodes generators and tools that help you build complex setups quickly without starting everything from scratch.
and if you want to support the channel and get access to even more tools, project files and generators, you can also check out my patreon, where i share new experiments and setups as i build them.
