Have you ever gone on School Roleplay and looked at all the wacky custom items on the server? Have you always wanted to get into 3d modeling, downloaded block bench, and then screamed in agony at all the complicated options and tools available, not knowing where to start?
WELL LUCKY YOU! This is the guide for you :D
Welcome to a basic rundown of block bench, ill be going over some of the essentials here and performing an example model to show how to use block bench's features!
This thread will be updated with more guides down the line, but for now, we will be sticking to making a simple hat model!
MAKING A BASIC HAT
Booting UP!
So you just booted up block bench for the first time! Difficult I know :O
Upon booting it up, you'll probably be met with this start up screen! (Ignoring my selection of recent models, you probably won't have these with a fresh block bench!)
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Now, as this tutorial is obviously School Roleplay focused, obviously, we will be only touching on the format that SRP uses on its resource pack,
Java Block / Item.
Java Block / Item models are used inside of vanilla java resource packs. In SRP's case, that's exactly what we use, we don't have any fancy optifine or modded stuff here!
This format has some kinks and things that you may want to keep in mind while starting, however, which I will list below!
Rotation size - Probably the most prevalent one! When rotating in a java item model (ill go over rotating in a second) Youll notice your elements will only rotate on one axis and will be locked to only be able to rotate in specific values (22.5 degrees, 45 degrees, etc)
Size Limit - Java Block / Item models also have a set size limit, Block bench will not let you go over the limit of course though! (You can disable this limit, but it is not recommended if you don't know what you're doing)
These limits are unfortunately non negotiable, and all models made for SRP have to adhere to them! (There are workarounds for size limit, but i won't be touching them here)
So! Since we've established that we want to create Java Block / Item models, let's go ahead and give the Java Block / Item button a click!
Upon giving the option a hearty click, youll quickly (probably) be met with this screen!
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WOAH WOAH WOAH HOLD ON- Parent model??? Ambient Occlusion?? UV MODE?? What does all this mean??
Don't worry! you can go ahead and ignore all those options and click on Confirm! (You can also name the model with Filename if you like!)
Upon Hitting Confirm, you'll be met with your editor...
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The first thing you'll see is all the icons and options you can use for making your model! I won't be going into full detail on all of these, but before continuing i HIGHLY recommend reading the tutorial on block benches page for a lot of the tools we will be using!
Blockbench Overview & Tips - Blockbench Wiki
(You can also reply to this thread with any questions, or ask modellers on the discord server as well)
Another thing that I highly recommend reading is the
Minecraft Style Guide - Blockbench Wiki! Obviously, Minecraft already has a set style with vanilla items, blocks, models and etc!
I personally prefer adhering to that style, and while it may seem simple and boring sometimes, it fits better with Minecraft, and are usually much lighter and easier to run in comparison to bigger more realistic models! Their file sizes are also much smaller, which is great considering the school roleplay texture pack is already massive....
The making of a simple hat!
Now that you've soaked up all of this info from our helpful friends over at block bench, let's get started with a simple hat!
The first thing we want to do here is to create an element, Which we will do by going over to the "Add Element button to our right-hand side! It'll look like a little box with a + sign on it) This will create an element on our grid, which we can mess around with.
Now, we want to scale this model up! We can do this by using the scaling tool or the Size numbers to our right! We want to scale it up so X = 10, Y = 4 and z = 10
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(The scaling tool is the second option in the top bar, next to the rotation tool and the movement tool)
Now that we have our element sized to 10 by 4 by 10, we want to duplicate it by clicking on the cube option to our right, and selecting duplicate! (If you can't find this, you can always duplicate it by using ctrl + D). Once we have it duplicated, let's quickly move the element with the blue arrow to the front of the original element. Now we can resize it with the scaling tool or the Size numbers to X = 10, Y= 0, and Z = 4! This will give us a little front piece for our simple hat...
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And that's it for all the elements work for this item! It's all pretty simple since it's a pretty basic cap! For more complex models obviously, this will get harder, but once you've mastered all the tools within block bench, you will have no problem whatsoever making them!
Now that we have our cap, we can move on to the other super important step... Texturing!
The first thing we want to do is perform a CTRL + A! This keybind will select all the elements in your model
Now after we have every single element selected, in our case two, we want to mouse on over to the create a texture button. Once you click on it, you'll be prompted with a create a texture option. We want to ignore all of the options and go to where it says "Blank texture". By clicking on this we will get 3 options, and we want to select Texture Template. Once we've selected that the window will expand, but all we want to do here, for now, is click on confirm!
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After clicking confirm, you'll notice your model has contracted colors on each side! This means that you successfully created the texture and all the faces on your model have been mapped to a texture!
After doing this, we want to get onto actually texturing our little cap here, so lets go up and click on the Paint tab
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You'll see a bunch of new options related to texturing now! If you want to know more about the options here i suggest checking out block bench's own overview for their tools and stuff!
Blockbench Overview & Tips - Blockbench Wiki
With these options, we can essentially draw onto our model. Now we basically just paint on the textures as if we were making a skin! Having knowledge of texturing and tailoring will help you A LOT with this part! I suggest also checking out the Minecraft Style guide as you are texturing!
Minecraft Style Guide - Blockbench Wiki
In my case, I ended up texturing the cap to be Ash Ketchum's cap! (From pokemon, yes!) But I challenge the people who are trying out this simple tutorial to try and make something different and unique! If you ended up successfully texturing your cap, feel free to post it in a reply to this thread or in the #models chat on the discord!
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I wanna beeeee the very best! Like no one ever wassss, to catch them is my big test, to train them is my call!
I will travel across the land, searching far and wide, Teach pokemoooon to understand, THE POWER THATS INSIIIIIDE!!!
Once you've finished this, congrats! You have made your very own Minecraft model! If you're stuck on something and need help, please feel free to reply to this thread or ask us modelers on discord! This thread will continue to get more guides down the line and is also open for other modelers to post their own tutorials and tips, and tricks, feel free to share!
