Want to create large-scale 3D landscapes in Blender but don't know how?

Everything you need to learn in ONE place

In this course, you will learn every important workflow for landscape creation in Blender, without the use of any paid add-ons or assets.

You will learn how to create mountains, oceans, forests, deserts, clouds and weather effects. No need to search for online videos describing particular techniques or workflows - you will learn all the important steps of environment creation in one course.


Suitable for intermediate Blender users

Due to its step-by-step nature, this course is OK to follow even for beginners. Nevertheless, to not get needlessly frustrated, we definitely recommend you to learn the fundamentals of working with Blender first, either with our Free Blender Beginners Course, or with our comprehensive Blender Launch Pad.


Various Workflows

The course will guide you through a series of landscape creation workflows, ranging from using the ANT landscape add-on to displacing mountains and deserts by using shader nodes. To make the course easier to follow, we split it into chapters, with short and fun videos, mostly between 2 and 10 minutes long.


You can rely on us

Even though we try to make our courses as understandable and easy to follow as possible, you still might get stuck along the way. In that case, you can ask for help or share your work in progress in the discussion section under each lecture. The CG Boost team and other students are there to help.


A community on your side

Additionally, you get access to an exclusive students-only community. There you can ask questions, share your renders and give or receive feedback from us or the other students.

Stream

Watch the course online

Download

Watch the course offline

Project Files

All important project files included

Support

Get help from the CG Boost team

Community

Join the student-only community

Certificate

Get a certificate on course completion

Accessibility

All videos have English captions

Free Updates

Get all future course updates for free

No Subscription

Pay once and get lifetime access

This course is currently in Early Access

More content will be added, free for all customers


Get 25% Early Access Discount (pay only $59.25 + VAT)

Use the coupon code "EARLYMOUNTAIN" at the checkout page

Your satisfaction is guaranteed with our 30-day 100% money-back guarantee.

Your Instructor

Martin Klekner is a CG artist and instructor, he will guide you through this course.

"Epic movies and CG game trailers. Two things that made me become a CG Artist.

Throughout my 10+ years journey, I've always loved to jump into huge personal projects, from Star Wars fan films to my current Heroes of Bronze CG short film project. Somehow along the way I've also had the opportunity to direct cut scenes for the 2017s acclaimed RPG Kingdom Come: Deliverance.

Sharing what I've learned was always my passion as well. Under the CG Boost flag, I want to push this skill to a whole new level..."

Course Content

Below you can see what in each chapter is waiting for you to be explored.

Chapter 1 & 2

Theory & Preparation


6 tutorials | ~12 minutes running time


The 1st chapter will get you up and running with Blender, the various tools we will be using, and you will get more info on what to expect from the course.

In the 2nd chapter, we will dive into some theory behind natural environments, different types of landscapes, we will talk about dunes, clouds, erosion and all those wonderful processes happening in the nature, forming the wonderful landscapes we will try to recreate.

 

Chapter 3

Basic Workflows


5 tutorials | ~9 minutes running time


If you aren't too sure about your Blender skill set, you can jump into Chapter 3, where I will explain different methods for landscape creation that we will be using throughout the course.

We will also go through various basic modeling, particle and node-based workflows. Whenever the need arises, you can come back and freshen up your skill set in this chapter.

 

Chapter 4

ANT Landscape: Lone Mountain


16 tutorials | ~1:24 hrs running time


In this first workflow chapter, we will learn how to use the ANT landscape add-on, which comes built into Blender.

We will make use of its displacement, erosion and weight map generating capabilities. Also, we go over some basic shader node creation and texture mapping, and put everything together into a final lake scene, complete with rendering and compositing breakdown.

 

Chapter 5

Node Workflow #1: Desert


18 tutorials | ~1:34 hrs running time


The first node-based displacement workflow will guide you through the creation of a desert environment.

We will combine various Shader Editor node textures, and mix them all together to form a desert vista, complete with dust, cloudy sky, cloud shadows and more.

 

Chapter 6

Node Workflow #2: Mountains


14 tutorials | ~55 minutes running time


The second node-based workflow will expand on the Desert chapter, showing you even more ways to combine your node in the Shader Editor, to produce unique displacement effects.

We will then add clouds, mist and particle snow into the scene.

 

Chapter 7

Node Workflow #3: Arctic


⚠️ This chapter will be added to the final course later. ⚠️


In this third node-based workflow chapter, we'll create a complete environment full of glaciers and a water surface featuring translucency.

We'll learn how to displace frozen landscapes, add snow and ice materials and fill the water surfaces with ice particles.

 

Chapter 8

Displacement Workflow: Highlands


8 tutorials | ~45 minutes running time


If you have your own displacement maps ready, there is nothing easier than using it with the Displace modifier directly on your mesh, no node work needed.

In this chapter, we will use several such displacement textures, to make a misty highlands environment, full of trees and rocky shapes.

 

Chapter 9

GIS Add-on: Scottish Lake


12 tutorials | ~55 minutes running time


This chapter will teach you all about the GIS add-on in Blender, allowing you to get satellite images and elevation directly into your 3D scene.

We will then proceed to dress up the landscape, add particle trees and bushes and finish it up by adding atmospheric effects and some free scanned elements.

 

Chapter 10

Treescape


11 tutorials | ~1:08 hrs running time


Mysterious tundras filled with endless forests, glittering under the thick cover of snow and the light of Aurora Borealis. Such environments always captivated the imagination.

In this lesson, we will learn how to make such an environment, by filling a landscape mesh with both 3d and 2d tree particles. In the process, you will learn how to properly utilize 2d tree cards and make them look more three-dimensional. On top of that, you will learn how to make a starry night sky and Aurora Borealis from scratch.

 

Chapter 11

Water Types


11 tutorials | ~54 minutes running time


In this chapter we will focus on creating various types of water elements, from simple reflective water surfaces to complex ocean waves and animated ripples.

We will also learn a bit about translucent water types for your shallow-water environments.

 

Chapter 12

Cloud Types


5 tutorials | ~19 minutes running time


What would be an environment course without a chapter about clouds?

This chapter will teach you how to quickly and easily add various types of node-generated clouds into your shots, as well as how to utilize the power of VDB volumes.

 

Chapter 13

Atmospheric Effects


3 tutorials | ~9 minutes running time


To make your environments believable, you don't need just good textures, great displacement maps and lots of details. You also need a layer of atmosphere, covering your scene, the further away from the camera you get.

In this chapter, we will learn various ways to achieve this, both by using volumes and 2D elements.

 

Chapter 14

Custom Trees and Vegetation


⚠️ This chapter will be added to the final course later. ⚠️


After you learned all the nuts and bolts of environment creation, we will have a look at how you can create your own 3D assets to fill them with.

Trees and plants are a necessity when making large scale 3d environments, and even though the internet is filled with assets to download, it never hurts to know how to construct these yourself.

 

Chapter 15

Weather Effects


3 tutorials | ~18 minutes running time


Snow and pouring rain, lightning and hailstorm, all these are going to be the topic of this chapter.

We will learn how to utilize particle effects and dynamics to achieve such effects.

 

Chapter 16

Add-ons


1 tutorial | ~8 minutes running time


Blender is well known for amazing free and paid add-ons that can boost your workflows and save time.

And even though the base course is not dependent on paid add-ons, I will introduce some of the products I use all the time in this chapter. Most of these are paid tools, nevertheless, these have a potential to streamline your work substantially.

 

Course Curriculum & Free Preview

Below you can see the full course curriculum. Lessons marked as “Preview” can be watch for free.

Example Curriculum

  Updates
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  1.0 - Getting Started (8:38)
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  2.0 - Theory & Reference (3:41)
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  3.0 - Basic Workflows (8:56)
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  4.0 - A.N.T. Landscape: Lone Mountain (1:23:50)
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  5.0 - Node-Based Approach #1: Desert (1:33:40)
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  6.0 - Node-based Approach #2: Mountains (55:24)
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  7.0 - Node-based Approach #3: Arctic [Final Course]
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  8.0 - Displacement Approach: Highlands (45:32)
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  9.0 - GIS: Scottish Lake (55:31)
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  10.0 - Tree-scape (1:08:01)
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  11.0 - Water Types (54:04)
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  12.0 - Cloud Types (18:32)
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  13.0 - Atmospheric Effects (9:08)
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  14.0 - Custom Vegetation and Trees [Final Course]
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  15.0 - Weather Effects (17:55)
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  16. - Add-ons (8:43)
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This course is currently in Early Access

More content will be added, free for all customers


Get 25% Early Access Discount (pay only $59.25 + VAT)

Use the coupon code "EARLYMOUNTAIN" at the checkout page

Your satisfaction is guaranteed with our 30-day 100% money-back guarantee.

What our students say about this course...


Student Results

Below you can see some final course results of our students.

Result by Tushar

Result by Malte

Result by Polina

Result by Polina

Result by Ian Watts

Result by Keith Talbot

Frequently Asked Questions

Can't find the answer for your question? Contact us here.

When does the course start and finish?

The course starts now and never ends! It is a completely self-paced online course - you decide when you start and when you finish.


How long do I have access to the course?

How does lifetime access sound? After enrolling, you have unlimited access to this course for as long as you like - across any and all devices you own.


What if I am unhappy with the course?

We would never want you to be unhappy! If you are unsatisfied with your purchase, contact us in the first 30 days, and we will give you a full refund.


Is this course suitable for Beginners?

Due to its step-by-step nature, this course is OK to follow even for beginners. However, it is mainly designed for intermediate users, meaning understanding the fundamentals of Blender is required, to be able to follow this course (and have fun while doing so). We recommend watching our free Blender Beginners Course or our comprehensive Blender Launch Pad Course first.


Will I learn how to created detailed environments for close up shots?

The course mainly focuses on large-scale environments, that we can enjoy from far away. However, we might add more chapters in the future where we cover more detailed close up shots.


Do you need high-end computer for the course?

I used a mid-spec PC setup when making the course:

  • CPU: Intel Core i7-7700K 4,2 Ghz
  • RAM: 32 GB
  • GPU: NVIDIA Geforce GTX 1070 Ti

You might have to optimiz render settings here and there, but no need for a super high-end machine.


Are the course results rendered in Eevee?

No, majority of the scenes will rely on final render in Cycles. That means slower rendering, but much better looking results than in Eevee.


Is the course applicable for game environments e.g. exporting to Unreal or Unity?

While you can bake all the resulting terrain textures and displacements to work in game engines, the particles, atmosphere, fog and other elements are tailored for Blender only.


How long is the Early Access vs the expected length of the Final Course?

Currently the Early Access provides 5 hours of content. The Final Course is planned to have 10+ hours of lessons. Of course, all the content is divided into short lessons.


Can I get single chapters independently without buying the whole course?

Sorry, this is not possible.

Learning how to make good-looking large-scale environments in Blender has been part of my 3D journey for several years now.

I have learned so much about how the program works, how I can utilize its various editors and tools to achieve the results I wanted.

Now, I am so excited to share all the knowledge I gathered with you, and boost your Blender knowledge, to make this difficult area of 3D art much more accessible for you.

This course is currently in Early Access

More content will be added, free for all customers


Get 25% Early Access Discount (pay only $59.25 + VAT)

Use the coupon code "EARLYMOUNTAIN" at the checkout page

Your satisfaction is guaranteed with our 30-day 100% money-back guarantee.