3D Modeling - Monkey Project

In the beginning of my 3D Modeling class, students use Blender to make monkeys. For their project, they are asked to make a hat for a monkey.  There is a monkey mesh built-in to Blender, so it's a great place to start.  All they have to do is add the monkey to their work space, and then use shapes to construct a hat for the monkey.  It's a great way to get them comfortable with the 3D work space and it teaches them how to move, rotate, and resize their meshes.

For more advanced students, I show them how to add materials and textures and invite them to put their own spin on the project.  It's a great place to start because it's very scale-able to individual student abilities.  I have some students that do not have a great handle on the technology, and so they will really struggle with just the basic task of making the hat.  For students with prior experience working in 3D, I show them how to break apart their mesh so that they can apply different materials and textures to the parts.  With the standard monkey mesh in Blender, if you apply a texture to the monkey, it will apply it to the entire shape because it is one solid shape.  Students can learn how to use the separate command to break their monkey apart so that they can give different colors to the eyes, nose, etc.  The above image shows an example of this.

Later, students will work to create a body for their monkey head.

Below are some examples from this project.