Blades of Grass Model in Blender

Today we’ll be making a model of blades of grass. I’ll be using the 2.81 version of Blender. In particular, we’ll be using the following tools and techniques :

• merge vertices
• smooth vs flat shading
• mix shader
• translucent shader
• move origin in object mode
• move to collection
• set selection to cursor with offset (keep offset)
• particle system
• hide object or collection in Outliner
• align camera to view
• empty
• depth of field
• camera focus

We want to model something like this:

Here are the steps:

Step 1 – Add a Plane

Delete the default cube and save the file.

Go to top view.

Add a plane and scale it : S Y 5

Go to edit mode.

Add 5 loop cuts : Ctrl + R 5

Step 2 – Add More Loop Cuts

Add two more loop cuts in the upper and lower part plus a vertical one in the middle.

Step 3 – Merge Vertices

Merge the upper 3 vertices : Alt + M -> At Center (or in the Vertex -> Merge Vertices -> At Center menu)

Step 4 – Model the Tip of the Blade

Enable proportional editing with linear falloff.

Select the external two vertices under the topmost one and scale them down.

Step 5 – Scale the Lower Part of the Blade

Select the lower two vertices and scale them down.

Disable proportional editing.

Step 6 – Scale the Blade of Grass

Select all.

Scale the blade of grass : S X 0.4

Step 7 – Make a Crease

Go to perspective view.

Select the vertical line in edge select mode: Alt + RMB

Move the vertices down: G Z -0.06

Step 8 – Shade Smooth

Go to object mode.

Select Shade Smooth in the Object menu.

Step 9 – Unwrapping

Go to the UV Editing workspace.

In the 3D View editor go to top view.

Select all.

Unwrap: U -> Project from View

Step 10 – Open Image

In the UV Editor open the Blade of Grass.png image. You can grab it from Github.

Move and scale the UV appropriately.

Step 11 – Add Material

Go to the Layout workspace.

Go to Rendered shading.

Add material: Mix Shader

Set the first shader to Principled, the second to Translucent.

In both shaders set the color to Image Texture and open the Blade of Grass.png image.

Step 12 – Move the Origin of the Blade Object

Rotate the blade : R X 90

Go to front view.

Open the Properties Panel (N) and go to the Tool tab.

Check Affect Only Origins in the Transform Options. This will let you move the origin of the object without moving the object itself. Move the mesh up so that the origin point is at the bottom of the blade. Use snapping.

This option is not available in older versions of Blender. If you have an older version you can go to edit mode, select all and move it so that the origin is at the bottom.

Step 13 – Make Duplicates

Uncheck Affect Only Origins and close the Properties Panel.

Make two duplicates.

Select each blade one by one. Go to edit mode, enable proportional editing with smooth falloff and grab some of the vertices so that there is some variation.

Disable proportional editing.

Step 14 – Create a Collection of Blades of Grass

Select all the blades of grass and move them into a new collection (RMB -> Move to Collection -> New Collection)

Name the collection blades.

Step 15 – Move the Blades of Grass to World Origin

Center the 3D cursor (Shift + S -> Cursor to World Origin).

Move the selected blades to the cursor (Shift + S -> Selection to Cursor (Keep Offset).

Step 16 – Add the Ground

Select the other collection (the original one, called Collection).

Add a plane and scale it: S 15

Add a material to the plane and set its color to hex 201300.

Step 17 – Add a Particle System

Add a particle system to the plane.

Set the emission’s end frame to 1.

Under Physics select Physics Type: None

Under Render select Render As Selection and select the blades collection.

Check Pick Random so that objects are picked randomly from the collection.

Step 18 – Scale and Randomize the Particles

Turn off the visibility of the blades collection in the Outliner by clicking on the eye icon so that we don’t see the blades.

Under Render set Scale to 0.5 and Scale Randomness to 0.5 as well to introduce some variation.

Set Number of particles to 5000.

Check Rotation and under Rotation set Randomize to 0.2.

Deselect all.

Step 19 – Set the View

Set World color to light blue: hex AAFCFF

Set the view as you like it and align camera to view: View -> Align View -> Align Active Camera to View.

Step 20 – Create an Empty

Create an empty and move it to where the grass begins in front of the camera.

Step 21 – Set Focus

Go to camera view.

Select the camera.

Delete the light in the Outliner so that there are no reflections on the blades of grass.

In Object Data tab check Depth of Field and under Depth of Field set Focus on Object to Empty.

Step 22 – Render the Image

Select Render Image in the Render menu to render the image. You should get something like this: