Nomad Sculpt for Beginners

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Overview

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Taught by Dave Reed, an experienced 3D artist passionate about making 3D accessible, this Specialization is intended for beginners and intermediate digital artists who want to develop foundational 3D sculpting and lighting skills using Nomad Sculpt. Through three courses, you will explore 3D modeling basics, character design workflows, and advanced lighting techniques to create compelling 3D art. This specialization prepares you to build expressive 3D models and enhance them with realistic lighting for digital art, 3D printing, or animation.

Syllabus

Course 1: Introduction to 3D with Nomad Sculpt
Course 2: 3D Character Design Workshop with Nomad Sculpt
Course 3: 3D Lighting 101 with Nomad Sculpt

Courses

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6 hours 16 minutes
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I'm Dave Reed and welcome to my 3D Character Workshop in Nomad Sculpt! The ability to design characters in 3D has been a game-changer for me and has been a joy to learn with Nomad Sculpt. I’ve been able to export my 3D Sculpts to Blender for more in-depth work, and also create physical art that I can hold in my hands with resin 3D printing. This type of character lends itself well to 3D printing, so it's perfect if you're looking to sculpt things you can print! This class is geared towards those of you who are familiar with the basics of Nomad Sculpt, and are interested in getting better at 3D character design. This little character isn’t too complex, but still has a lot of elements working together to be a good challenge if you’re looking to improve your skills. I’ll go over each step I'm making and why I'm making it.. There are also multiple ways to achieve things when working in 3D, so as you develop your skills, you will find new and creative ways to get the results you want with your own workflow. Here is what we will go over in class: * Opening and preparing our scene for sculpting. * Importing our reference image * Blocking out our character using simple shapes or “primitives” * Tailoring the shapes to exactly what we need * Adding details like teeth, tongue, and fingers * Simple scene lighting and painting techniques * Post Processing to make our art ready for render, or to send to other applications If you have been working in Nomad for a while, you’ll still discover new things to add to your arsenal from my workflow. I continue to learn new aspects of the program and more efficient ways to sculpt with each and every project. So join me, I look forward to seeing you in class! Instructor bio: Dave Reed is a 2D and 3D illustrator and digital creator based in Brooklyn, New York. He holds a BFA in Illustration from the School of Visual Arts in NYC, where he developed his craft in both traditional and digital mediums. With a passion for visual storytelling and design, Dave brings a creative and practical approach to his teaching, helping learners build the skills and confidence to create their own illustrations and digital art.
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6 hours 1 minute
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Welcome to 3D Lighting 101 with Dave Reed, where you’ll learn how to master lighting techniques that bring your 3D models and sculpts to life. Whether you use Nomad Sculpt or any other 3D software, the fundamentals of how light interacts with surfaces remain the same—and that’s what this course focuses on. Lighting can make or break the impact of your artwork, so Dave shares his passion and expertise to help you craft dynamic, realistic lighting setups that showcase your creations in the best possible way. This course is perfect for 3D artists, sculptors, and digital creators who want to deepen their understanding of lighting effects such as roughness, metalness, glow, and color dynamics. By the end of this course, you will be able to confidently apply different lighting techniques to enhance textures, materials, and moods within your scenes. You’ll also get hands-on experience with customizable 3D character and shape files, plus sample environments and background images to practice your skills. To succeed in this course, you should have basic familiarity with 3D sculpting or modeling and a general understanding of your preferred 3D software interface. Join Dave to illuminate your work and take your 3D art to the next level! Instructor hio: Dave Reed is a 2D and 3D illustrator and digital creator based in Brooklyn, New York. He holds a BFA in Illustration from the School of Visual Arts in NYC, where he developed his craft in both traditional and digital mediums. With a passion for visual storytelling and design, Dave brings a creative and practical approach to his teaching, helping learners build the skills and confidence to create their own illustrations and digital art.
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8 hours 39 minutes
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Are you an artist who wants to expand from 2D to 3D art? If you have an iPad or an Android tablet, you’ll be surprised as to what YOU can create! Welcome to Introduction to 3D with Nomad Sculpt! I’m Dave Reed, and I am completely obsessed with creating 3D art. I say 3D art because there are so many different ways to be creative with 3D; you can render your art as images, dive into 3D printing, you can even create a model in Nomad and further develop it in programs like Blender for rigging, animation, or game assets. This class is geared toward absolute beginners that may have little or no experience at all with 3D or art in general. I know it looks complicated and intimidating, but I really take my time giving direction and create an environment that’s easy to learn in at a pace that's easy to follow. Nomad Sculpt version 1.82 or higher Here are some of the things you'll learn in class: * Opening and preparing our scene. Getting familiar with the Nomad Sculpt UI (User Interface, the program) * Adding primitives to our scene. “Primitive” is just a fancy word for a simple shape. * The idea of using primitives to block out a simple character. “Blocking” is like sketching but with shapes! * General overview of tools and other functions that we will use to help form our character * Voxel remeshing: The process of combining shapes together to form one solid piece * Simple scene lighting * Post Process: This will add the final touches to our character and make it ready to render These terms will make sense as we work our way through the course. There are also multiple ways to achieve things when working in 3D, so as you develop your skills, you will find new and creative ways to get the look you want for your 3D sculpts. What you'll need: * iPad, iPad Pro, or Android Tablet (with Apple pencil or pressure sensitive stylus) * Nomad Sculpt application (iOS / Android) * Snacks (optional) Let's get started! Instructor bio: Dave Reed is a 2D and 3D illustrator and digital creator based in Brooklyn, New York. He holds a BFA in Illustration from the School of Visual Arts in NYC, where he developed his craft in both traditional and digital mediums. With a passion for visual storytelling and design, Dave brings a creative and practical approach to his teaching, helping learners build the skills and confidence to create their own illustrations and digital art.