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.
The course includes 12+ hours of content and over 150 lessons.
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.
Are you new to Blender?
Or do you just want to solidify the basics of Blender the right way?
Don't forget to add the Blender Launch Pad course as an extra with 20% discount at the checkout page.
This discount is only available at the checkout, at the bottom of the page - tick the box to claim it.
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 currentย Heroes of Bronze CG short film project. Somehow along the way I've also had the opportunity to direct cut scenes for the 2017s acclaimedย RPG Kingdom Come: Deliverance.
Sharing what I've learnedย 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
14 tutorials | ~55 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 | ~1:34 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
Combined Workflow: Arctic
11 tutorials |ย ~56 minutes running time
Chapter 7 will teach you how to utilize A.N.T. to generate a base mesh,ย use texture-based sculpting to add detailsย on it and finally, use the node-based shading methods to create aย snow-ice material blend.
On top of it, I will of course breakdown my final scene, its rendering and compositing. You will also learn how to make a neatย translucent water volume!
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
14 tutorials | ~1:35 hrs 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
6 tutorials | ~22 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
5 tutorials | ~32 minutes running time
Having a library of vegetation and tree assets is extremely important for creating your large-scale scenes quickly.
In this chapter we'll have a look at how to build such library using free tools and addons.
You'll also learn how to convert computational-heavy 3D trees to much lighter 2D planes with 3D properties.
Chapter 15
Weather Effects
5 tutorials | ~24 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
8 tutorials | ~46 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.
Chapter 17
Geometry Nodes: Grassland
11 tutorials | ~1:07 hrs running time
Blender 3.0 created a lot of buzz especially because of its brand-new Geometry Nodes. Everybody was talking about its possibilities, everybody commented the development, and then stared sharing jaw-dropping results achieved with those little nodes.ย
So let's dive deep and include some of the geometry node techniques into our landscape workflows! Apart from GeoNode scattering, landscape displacing and more, you will also learn how to get any models directly from Google Maps into your scenes.
Course Curriculum & Free Preview
Below you can see the full course curriculum. Lessons marked as โPreviewโ can be watch for free.
Example Curriculum
- 3.1 ๐ฅ - Approaches to Terrain Creation (3:39)
- 3.2 - Approach: A.N.T. Landscape (1:28)
- 3.3 - Approach: Node-Based (1:27)
- 3.4 - Approach: Displace Modifier with Height Maps (1:07)
- 3.5 - Approach: GIS Addon (1:13)
- 3.6 - Approach: Geometry Nodes | ๐ [26 Jan, 2022] (2:14)
- 3.7 - Basics: Node Wrangler Operations (3:59)
- 3.8 - Basics: Setting up Lighting with HDRi (3:44)
- 3.9 ๐ - Basics: Camera Clipping Issues (1:02)
- 3.10 ๐ฅ - Basics: Know Your Shader Nodes (17:00)
- 3.11 - Basics: Particle Setup (5:52)
- 3.12 - Basics: Camera Setup (2:31)
- 3.13 ๐ - Rendering Tips for Heavy Scenes (6:36)
- 3.14 ๐ - Tips for Faster Viewport Response (3:02)
- 3.15 ๐ - Rendering Tips for Faster Volumetrics (2:33)
- 4.1 - Mountain Lake Reference (2:05)
- 4.2 ๐ฅ - Using A.N.T. (8:12)
- 4.3 ๐ฅ - Finishing the Terrain Base (4:26)
- 4.4 ๐ฅ - Displacement Modifier with Texture (4:08)
- 4.5 ๐ฅ - Adding Snow Material (3:00)
- 4.6 ๐ฅ - Blending Snow & Rocks (8:40)
- 4.7 - Adding the Second Rock Texture (3:26)
- 4.8 - Blending Rock Materials (7:01)
- 4.9 ๐ฅ - Blending Displacement Textures (4:36)
- 4.10 ๐ฅ - Adding Water & Sky | ๐ [9 Jul, 2021] (8:01)
- 4.11 - Adding More A.N.T. Pieces (6:05)
- 4.12 ๐ฅ - Fog & Atmosphere | ๐ [13 Jul, 2021] (6:57)
- 4.13 ๐ฅ - Trees & Rocks (4:25)
- 4.14 - Creating Ice Particles | ๐ [9 Jul, 2021] (5:26)
- 4.15 ๐ฅ - Final scene and Render setup (10:05)
- 4.16 ๐ฅ - Lone Mountain Compositing (7:03)
- 5.1 - Desert Reference (1:41)
- 5.2 ๐ฅ - Preparing the Scene (3:40)
- 5.3 ๐ฅ - Defining the Desert Base (6:31)
- 5.4 ๐ฅ - Adding Dune Waves (6:07)
- 5.5 ๐ฅ - Mixing Factors (2:19)
- 5.6 ๐ฅ - Adding Smallest Detail (5:50)
- 5.7 ๐ฅ - Creating Desert Shader (5:25)
- 5.8 - Final Desert Setup Overview (4:13)
- 5.9 ๐ฅ - Adding Light & Background Dunes (3:31)
- 5.10 ๐ฅ - Adding Dust Planes (2:54)
- 5.11 - Adding Atmosphere & Sky (6:34)
- 5.12 ๐ฅ - Adding Grass Patches (5:09)
- 5.13 ๐ฅ - Baking the Displacement (3:59)
- 5.14 - Adding Movement to Grass Patches (3:25)
- 5.15 ๐ฅ - Desert Render Layers (11:33)
- 5.16 ๐ฅ - Desert Render Settings (7:21)
- 5.17 ๐ฅ - Desert Basic Compositing (7:25)
- 5.18 ๐ฅ - Desert Compositing Filters and Overlays (5:54)
- 6.1 - Reference Overview (1:15)
- 6.2 ๐ฅ - Setting Up the Displacement Plane (4:51)
- 6.3 ๐ฅ - Adding Base Displacement (3:32)
- 6.4 ๐ฅ - Adding Rocky Detail (4:43)
- 6.5 ๐ฅ - Adding Additional Rocky Detail (3:53)
- 6.6 ๐ฅ - Subtracting from the Displacement (2:05)
- 6.7 ๐ฅ - Distorting the Result (1:55)
- 6.8 - Overview of the final Node Setup (2:31)
- 6.9 ๐ฅ - Adding Snow and Rock Shaders (4:56)
- 6.10 ๐ฅ - Blending Snow and Rocks (2:44)
- 6.11 ๐ฅ - Final Changes (3:23)
- 6.12 - Adding Background Planes and Fog | ๐ [20 Apr, 2021] (6:05)
- 6.13 - Rendering the Mountains | ๐ [20 Apr, 2021] (6:50)
- 6.14 - Compositing the Mountains | ๐ [20 Apr, 2021] (6:33)
- 7.1 - Arctic Chapter Overview & Reference | ๐ [23 May, 2021] (2:12)
- 7.2 ๐ฅ - Creating the Glacier Base | ๐ [23 May, 2021] (6:26)
- 7.3 ๐ฅ - Skewing the Glacier | ๐ [23 May, 2021] (4:39)
- 7.4 ๐ฅ - Sculpting the Glacier | ๐ [23 May, 2021] (6:54)
- 7.5 - Snow Material | ๐ [23 May, 2021] (7:42)
- 7.6 - Ice Material | ๐ [23 May, 2021] (3:32)
- 7.7 - Blending & Transparency | ๐ [23 May, 2021] (5:01)
- 7.8 - Adding Water | ๐ [23 May, 2021] (6:41)
- 7.9 - Finishing the Scene | ๐ [23 May, 2021] (3:56)
- 7.10 - Rendering the Arctic Scene | ๐ [23 May, 2021] (4:51)
- 7.11 - Arctic Scene Compositing | ๐ [23 May, 2021] (4:49)
- 8.1 - Highlands Reference & Sources (4:18)
- 8.2 ๐ฅ - Displace Modifier (3:20)
- 8.3 ๐ฅ - Adding Textures and Lighting (5:51)
- 8.4 ๐ฅ - Making the scene (5:46)
- 8.5 - Adding Sky, VDB Clouds and Particles (8:04)
- 8.6 - Rendering the Highlands (8:05)
- 8.7 - Compositing the Highlands (9:11)
- 8.8 ๐ฅ - More Terrain Pieces (0:58)
- 9.1 ๐ฅ - Looking for Areas with GIS (5:57)
- 9.2 ๐ฅ - Adding Terrain (6:00)
- 9.3 ๐ฅ - Adding Water (3:36)
- 9.4 ๐ฅ - Shading the Scenery (5:13)
- 9.5 ๐ฅ - Adding Fog & HDRi (3:53)
- 9.6 ๐ฅ - Adding Foreground (6:22)
- 9.7 Adding Background and Sky (2:58)
- 9.8 ๐ฅ Adding Particle Trees (6:32)
- 9.9 ๐ฅ - Adding VDB Clouds & Fog (2:29)
- 9.10 - Finalizing the Scene (4:09)
- 9.11 ๐ฅ - Rendering the Scottish Lake | ๐ [23 Apr, 2021] (4:16)
- 9.12 - Compositing the Scottish Lake | ๐ [23 Apr, 2021] (4:00)
- 10.1 - Researching Polar Forest Reference (2:45)
- 10.2 - Building the Landscape Base (7:08)
- 10.3 - Adding Trees (7:48)
- 10.4 ๐ฅ - Making a Polar Sky (6:10)
- 10.5 ๐ฅ - Making 2D Tree Particles (5:57)
- 10.6 ๐ฅ - Shading the 2D Tree Particles (7:23)
- 10.7 ๐ฅ - Using the 2D Particles (3:53)
- 10.8 ๐ฅ - Building Aurora Borealis (8:03)
- 10.9 ๐ฅ - Finishing Aurora Borealis (4:20)
- 10.10 - Finishing the Treescape Scene (8:35)
- 10.11 - Compositing the Treescape Scene (6:21)
- 11.1 ๐ฅ - Normal Water Surface (7:52)
- 11.2 - Animated Ocean: Ocean Displacement Intro (2:31)
- 11.3 ๐ฅ - Animated Ocean: Ocean Modifier (4:24)
- 11.4 ๐ฅ - Animated Ocean: Shader Setup & Foam (1:39)
- 11.5 ๐ฅ - Animated Ocean: Baking Ocean Variations (2:51)
- 11.6 ๐ฅ - Animated Ocean: Plugging in Displacements (8:31)
- 11.7 ๐ฅ - Animated Ocean: Combining Displacements (6:18)
- 11.8 - Animated Ocean: Ocean Network Overview (1:30)
- 11.9 ๐ฅ - Animated Ocean: Adding Foam (7:23)
- 11.10 - Animated Ocean: Final Network Overview (2:38)
- 11.11 - Animated Ocean: Teaser Scene Breakdown (6:15)
- 11.12 - Animated Ocean: Teaser Scene Compositing (1:53)
- 11.13 ๐ฅ - Translucent Water in Cycles (8:52)
- 11.14 - Translucent Water in Eevee (3:34)
- 11.15 - Stormy Waves Base | ๐ [27 Mar, 2022] (10:19)
- 11.16 - Stormy Waves Spray | ๐ [27 Mar, 2022] (7:31)
- 11.17 - Stormy Waves Compositing | ๐ [31 Mar, 2022] (10:58)
- 12.1 ๐ฅ - Creating Clouds in Eevee (5:01)
- 12.2 ๐ฅ - Fading the Cloud Edges (4:27)
- 12.3 ๐ฅ - Rendering Clouds in Cycles (3:28)
- 12.4 - Puffy Clouds Base | ๐ [1 Nov, 2021] (4:41)
- 12.5 - Puffy Clouds Detail | ๐ [1 Nov, 2021] (2:15)
- 12.6 - Puffy Clouds Finish | ๐ [1 Nov, 2021] (4:00)
- 12.7 ๐ฅ - VDB Clouds (3:48)
- 12.8 - Advanced VDB (3:08)
- 12.9 - Cloud Shadows (1:46)
- 14.1 ๐ฅ - GScatter & Free Vegetation Assets | ๐ [16 Jun, 2021] (6:00)
- 14.2 ๐ฅ - MTree | ๐ [16 Jun, 2021] (9:10)
- 14.3 - Making 2D Tree Particles | ๐ [16 Jun, 2021] (6:48)
- 14.4 - Shading 2D Tree Particles | ๐ [16 Jun, 2021] (5:34)
- 14.5 - Shading 2D Tree Particles Advanced | ๐ [16 Jun, 2021] (3:44)
- 17.1 - Geometry Nodes & Grassland Reference | ๐ [27 Jan, 2022] (3:12)
- 17.2 ๐ฅ - Displacing Terrain with Geometry Nodes | ๐ [27 Jan, 2022] (7:36)
- 17.3 ๐ฅ - Scattering Assets with Geometry Nodes | ๐ [27 Jan, 2022] (4:50)
- 17.4 ๐ฅ - Finishing the Geometry Nodes Network | ๐ [27 Jan, 2022] (5:32)
- 17.5 - Adding Background | ๐ [04 Feb, 2022] (6:47)
- 17.6 ๐ฅ - Vertex Group Scattering with Geometry Nodes | ๐ [04 Feb, 2022] (6:05)
- 17.7 ๐ฅ - Adding the City from Google Maps | ๐ [04 Feb, 2022] (4:24)
- 17.8 - Finalizing the Lighting and Shadows | ๐ [04 Feb, 2022] (3:26)
- 17.9 - Scattering with Proximity | ๐ [15 Mar, 2022] (2:26)
- 17.10 - Rendering and Compositing | ๐ [15 Mar, 2022] (7:19)
- 17.11 - Bonus: Fence with Geometry Nodes | ๐ [15 Mar, 2022] (15:13)
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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 to your question? Contact usย 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.ย 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 optimize 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.
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.
Get started now
Your satisfaction is guaranteed with our 30-day 100% money-back guarantee.