To kick off the course, participants will dive into the foundational concepts of 3D design — the building blocks of every model, animation, and interactive experience they’ll create. This first step sets the tone for the rest of the journey, focusing on understanding the interface and core terminologies in industry-standard 3D modeling software such as Autodesk Maya or Blender.

At first glance, a 3D workspace might seem overwhelming, but once you get comfortable with it, it becomes your creative playground. Students will learn to navigate the 3D Viewport, use tools like the Outliner, and manage scenes through layers and collections. They’ll understand how to pan, orbit, and zoom around objects using various camera controls — a crucial skill for modeling, animating, and staging scenes effectively.

Next, we’ll break down key components of 3D geometry. Vertices are the individual points in space that define a shape. When connected, they form edges, and when multiple edges connect, they create faces — the flat surfaces that make up the visible skin of 3D models. A collection of these elements forms a mesh, which is essentially any 3D object in a scene, whether it’s a simple cube or a complex character.

An essential concept in 3D modeling is topology — the layout and flow of polygons (mainly quads or triangles) that make up a model. Clean topology ensures better deformations during animation, smoother shading, and optimized performance in game engines like Unreal Engine.

By the end of this session, participants won’t just recognize these terms — they’ll begin using them fluently as they create and manipulate basic shapes. This hands-on approach helps demystify 3D software early on, laying a confident foundation for advanced techniques ahead.