Alien Creature Animation in Blender

Today we’ll be making an alien creature animation. I’ll be using the 2.81 version of Blender. We’ll be making use of the following tools and yechniques:

• pivot point : individual origins, median point
• apply all transforms
• array modifier with object offset
• bump node
• noise texture
• texture coordinate node
• insert keyframe

Our alien creature will look like this:

And here are the steps to follow:

Step 1 – Create the Body of the Alien Creature

Delete the default cube and save the file.

Add a UV sphere. Set segments to 16.

Rename the sphere ‘body’ in the Outliner.

Rotate the sphere: R Y 90

Scale the sphere: S Y 0.6 and then S Z 0.4

Step 2 – Scale Loops

Go to edit mode, front view.

Select the 4th loop on the left and the fourth loop on the right from the center.

Scale the loops: S 0.9

Step 3 – Start Extruding the Legs of the Alien Creature

First in right view, then in left view: circle select the central faces (they form a circle).

Change the pivot point to individual origins.

Extrude both sides and scale them down: E S 0.2 – These will be the legs.

Step 4 – Continue Modeling the Legs of the Alien Creature

Extrude the legs : E 0.5

Make the leg ends pointed : S 0

Reset the pivot point back to median point.

Go to object mode.

Apply all transforms on the sphere: Object -> Apply -> All Transforms

Smooth the body out : Object -> Shade Smooth

Step 5 – Twist the Body of the Alien Creature

Add an empty: Add Empty -> Plain Axes

Select the body and add an array modifier :

Count : 200

Relative Offset: off

Object Offset: on, value: Empty

Select the empty.

Twist the body :

In the Properties panel (N to open) set the location and rotation:

• location : Y : 0.6, Z : 0.4

• rotation : Y : 10

Step 6 – Set the Camera

Go to front view, perspective.

Align the active camera to view: View -> Align View -> Align Active Camera to View

Lock camera to view.

Move the camera so that you can see the whole coil in it.

Uncheck Lock camera to view.

Step 7 – Add Material

Go to the Shading workspace.

Add a new material.

Go to Rendered shading.

Move the light in front of the camera.

Go to front view, perspective in the 3D View editor.

Step 8 – Set the Material

Set the Principled shader:

• base color: hex e7a145

• subsurface: 0.5

• roughness: 0.3

Step 9 – Add Bumps and Noise

Add a bump node: Shift+A -> Vector -> Bump and plug its normal to Principled’s normal.

Add a noise texture node: Shift+A -> Texture -> Noise and plug its factor to bump’s height.

Set the noise texture node:

• Scale: 2
• Detail: 4
• Distortion: 3

Add texture coordinate node: Shift+A -> Input -> Texture Coordinate and plug its UV to noise texture’s vector.

Step 10 – Insert Keyframes

Go to the Layout workspace.

Select empty.

In timeline set end to 240. At 24 fps it’ll be 10 seconds.

Open the Properties panel.

Insert keyframes:

frame 1:

Location, Rotation

frame 240 (last):

as above

frame 20:

Location Y:0.2

frame 40:

Rotation Y: 13

frame 60:

Rotation Y: 9

frame 120:

Location Y:1

Rotation Y: 10

frame 140:

Location Y:0.2

Rotation Y: 15

frame 160:

Rotation X: 3

Rotation Y: 13

frame 180:

Rotation X: 3.3

Rotation Y: 9

Rotation Z: -1

Set World color to black.

Play the animation.

Step 11 – Get Ready to Render the Animation of the Alien Creature

In the Output tab select an output folder and name the file aliencreature.

Set the file format to FFmpeg video.

Set the encoding to MPEG-4

Step 12 – Render the Animation

Make a test render: Render -> Render Image

Render the animation.