Tutorial: Making a Mechanical Walking Creature in Blender

I have to say I am truly blown away by all the heartwarming comments. Thank you for all the kind words - I am glad you like my video! This 54 min tutorial became a compromise between a 10 min shallow breakdown, and a 4 hour in-depth course. I am concerned beginners may get annoyed it’s too fast-paced, and experts will be waiting for me to get to the point. However, if you get stuck or need help with your mechanical creature, I can recommend joining the discord server: discord.gg/polyfjord. We just got discord partner, so there is a thriving community of like-minded 3D artists eager to give you some pointers for the right direction, or just have a chat! Welcome to the Polyfjord Viewport Community! (Edit: Fixed link)

This might end up being the best blender tutorial of 2022.

Polyfjord: "I'm not a big fan of modeling" Also Polyfjord - Models like a maniac with unfathomable speed and precision. You're pretty darn good at modeling for someone who doesn't even like it that much haha. Great stuff!

I just watched 5-7 of his blender tutorials just to see him make things, i don't even know how to use the blender. The workflow is just wow.

you know what? the most amazing thing is not the beauty of the model, the precision of the animation. No, it is about how accurate and fast you work. it is mind-blowing. I wish one day I can work just like you. God bless you, man. Please we need more and more of this.

your render cinematic is always amazing. the depht of field and the focal lenght is always chef kiss

You are so wonderfully unique, maybe even a bit weird (in the best way possible)... Your workflows and your creative processes are so chill, and you really go with the flow.. There is never a dull or boring moment with these tutorials, really inspirational... It's an exciting time when a polyfjord video pops up in feed.

If you have problems at 35:00 with the "Follow Path" (leg just flipping straight) just select the curve and press Ctrl+A and apply everything. I saw this solution further down the comments and thaugt to bring it up. Polyfjord thank you so much for this tutorial

After weeks of being afraid to start this one, I finally did it. It was the most valuable ten hours (!) ever. Thank you so much for giving this tutorial to the world. You just gave me a reason to be proud of myself for finishing this. I learned SO much. <3

54:00 That’s insaneeeee!!! I’d love to see a tutorial that explains the making of this robot! All the details look soooo goood!!! I really enjoyed this new video! Thank you for putting some effort into making these amazing “tutorials”!

Amazing tutorial - I really enjoyed watching this and see your process. Looking forward to more videos on your channel😎

You are hesitant to call this a tutorial, but it actually was perfect learning material, fun to watch and you are giving really useful tips. Congratulations man, thank you!

What I really love about this is the demonstration of basic, really good principles that are totally lacking from other videos. The re-use of basic elements to save time, the approximation to make things look "good enough", and the emphasis on good shapes over complex designs is really nice and something other youtubers seem to either completely drop from their tutorials, or sometimes even just lack as skills.

I notice you use a lot of bevel iterations when you set your edges. I have found a solution to sharp corners using the bevel modifier that generates much less geometry and arguably looks even better. When making the bevel modifier, you want to set your segments to 2, then go into the profile dropdown on the bevel modifier. The shape is automatically set to .5; Set it to 1 instead. This preserves the actual angle of the corner being beveled, but adds geometry to either side of that corner. This essentially 'tricks' the smooth shading and preserves flat surfaces while making the corners look rounded. Discovering this has been a godsend for me.

The goPro-ish camera angle on the last robot (with the neon tubes or something) made it look extremely realistic. Just goes to show that camerawork is one of the key things when it comes to "selling" the render.

I am not a total beginner, been using Blender as my retirement hobby and this will be my fourth project. There are a lot of things to learn (and review) in your tutorial, but it all makes perfect sense to me and I have not had much trouble following you. I do things over if they're not right and learn a little more. I don't really care if it takes me awhile. I enjoy the accomplishment of finishing a project but I enjoy the getting there the most. You are nice and chill and your instructions are nice and clear plus the written keystrokes help a lot. I don't think I've bitten off more than I can chew but we'll see. I'm learning new things and having fun. That's what counts. Yes?

I love how even though you were basically done you still kept adding small details, that's how you make a render really amazing, thanks for the great tutorial!

the fact that not only this video is a great tutorial but also that we can see the whole créative process of the final render makes it for me the best blender videoon youtube ! keep up the good work man hope to see your next videos !!!

I'm studying Animation at university. I'm so glad I finally found someone who can explain the logic of IK and FK. You're a great person because you tell it all, you're someone other channels have to emulate. Please keep explaining like this. I think it would be so much better if we could see which key you're pressing. We need teachers like you. Thank you so much.

34:59 for anyone who is having trouble animating the bone to follow path, you have to apply scale and transform to the circle path first or your bone will act weird when you add the bone constraint. Atleast for me, maybe i did something wrong (blender day 17 newbie here) but hope that helps