How to make a BobbyBroccoli video
Summary
TLDRIn this video, Bobby Brockley explains how he creates his unique 3D animated videos, inspired by sports writer and filmmaker John Boyce. Bobby uses Blender, a free, open-source software, to bring his projects to life. He covers his entire process, from planning, scripting, and animating, to the importance of locking in the script early. The tutorial is filled with practical tips, including camera movements, using keyframes, and importing images. Bobby also highlights useful Blender resources, add-ons, and automation tricks to simplify complex animations. Lastly, he promotes Nebula, a creator-owned streaming platform, offering additional resources and tutorials.
Takeaways
- 😀 Bobby Brockley uses Blender for 3D animation after initially trying Google Earth, inspired by John Boyce.
- 📚 Blender is free, open-source, and has a wealth of online tutorials, making it accessible for self-taught learning.
- 📝 Planning and writing the script are the most time-consuming parts of video creation, and Bobby recommends experimenting to develop a feel for it.
- 📅 Bobby's videos often use calendars or timelines as visual anchors, with a focus on critical elements and layouts in 3D space.
- 🎥 Locking in the script early is essential, as animations are done in chronological order, making mid-edit changes difficult.
- 🎧 Bobby edits his script into a continuous take, using Blender to sync the animation to his narration.
- 🎵 Music selection is often done early, particularly for intros, outros, and pivotal moments, to sync animations with the audio.
- 🎬 The camera object is crucial in Blender videos, with keyframes used to animate its movements, which is repeated throughout the animation process.
- 🖼️ Adding objects and images into scenes involves keyframing to animate their appearances, using tools like 'import images as planes'.
- 💡 Blender has procedural animation features, allowing for automation and advanced techniques like using data for graphs and maps.
Q & A
What inspired Bobby Brockley's 3D animation style?
-Bobby Brockley's 3D animation style is inspired by sports writer and filmmaker John Boyce, who has been using Google Earth for years. Bobby initially used Google Earth but later switched to Blender for its versatility.
Why does Bobby prefer using Blender for his videos?
-Bobby prefers Blender because it is free, open-source, and has thousands of tutorials available online. He learned it through self-teaching on YouTube, advice from friends, and experimentation.
What is the most time-consuming part of Bobby's video creation process?
-The most time-consuming part of Bobby's video creation process is planning and writing the script. He emphasizes the importance of sketching ideas and developing a feel for the structure of the video.
Why is locking in the script early important for Bobby's animation process?
-Locking in the script early is crucial because Bobby's animations exist in a single 3D space, making mid-way changes difficult and leading to continuity errors. Once the animation process begins, altering the script would require adding new objects and can disrupt the flow.
How does Bobby synchronize his narration with his animations in Blender?
-Bobby records his script and edits it into one continuous take. He imports the audio files into Blender and syncs the animations to the narration. Timing is essential, and he suggests making necessary edits in the original video editor to ensure everything stays in sync.
What is Bobby's approach to choosing music for his videos?
-Bobby typically selects music during the early stages, especially for intro, outro, or pivotal moments. He uses royalty-free music from sources like the YouTube Audio Library and Epidemic Sound, timing his animations to the selected songs.
What are some key features of Bobby's Blender workspace setup?
-Bobby's Blender workspace includes two 3D viewport windows (one larger for interaction and one smaller for camera perspective) and two timelines (a dope sheet for keyframes and a timeline for syncing animation to narration).
How does Bobby utilize keyframes in his animations?
-Bobby uses keyframes extensively to animate camera movements and object properties like location, rotation, and scale. By setting keyframes at specific moments, he can control the progression of these properties, ensuring smooth transitions in the animation.
What is Bobby's method for animating images in Blender?
-Bobby frequently uses the 'Import Images as Planes' add-on in Blender. He uses keyframes to control the appearance of images, scaling them from zero to create the effect of objects appearing from nowhere or moving onto the screen in creative ways.
What are some advanced techniques Bobby uses in Blender?
-Some advanced techniques Bobby uses include procedural animation (e.g., noise patterns for textures), Python scripting (e.g., generating mesh objects from CSV data), and Blender add-ons like 'Blender OSM' for creating 3D maps. He also uses Geonodes for automating graph creation based on data.
Outlines
🎬 Introduction and Acknowledgments
Bobby Brockley starts by thanking Nebula for sponsoring the video. He explains how he makes his 3D animation videos, mentioning that he didn't invent the style but was inspired by John Boyce, a sports writer and filmmaker who uses Google Earth. Bobby shares that he initially used Google Earth but now primarily uses Blender due to its open-source nature, accessibility, and a vast amount of available tutorials. He highlights that his learning process involved YouTube tutorials, advice from friends, and experimentation, making Blender a powerful tool for creating 3D stories.
📝 Planning and Writing Your Script
Bobby emphasizes the importance of the planning and writing phase, which he considers the most time-consuming. He advises beginners to start with anything and gradually develop a feel for video structure. He often uses calendars and timelines in his videos as visual anchors and encourages sketching possible layouts on paper. The style he uses requires locking in the script early because changes midway are challenging due to the chronological order of animation in a 3D space. Once the script is ready, it's time to move on to the next phase.
🎙️ Recording and Editing the Script
The next step is recording the script and editing it into a continuous audio take. Bobby likes to break his scripts into chapters to animate small sections at a time. The audio files are then imported into Blender, and the animation is synced with the narration. He stresses the importance of timing, suggesting that once the audio is set, it's difficult to adjust. However, adjustments can be made in the original editor to maintain synchronization during animation.
🎶 Music Selection and Blender Setup
Bobby discusses the importance of selecting music, particularly for key moments like intros and pivotal scenes. He shares that he uses royalty-free music from various sources and prefers syncing his animations to the music. Bobby then explains his personal Blender setup, with two 3D viewport windows—one for interacting with the scene and the other for camera perspective. He also uses two timelines: one to manage keyframes and another to sync narration and animation.
📷 Animating the Camera in Blender
In this step, Bobby explains how to animate the camera in Blender, emphasizing that it is the backbone of the video. By using the walk mode, similar to navigating in Minecraft, he positions the camera and keyframes its location, rotation, and scale. He describes this as a repetitive process that becomes second nature with practice. Moving and keyframing the camera hundreds of times allows for smooth camera motion across the 3D scene.
🖼️ Adding Objects and Animating Their Appearance
Bobby introduces the process of adding objects to the Blender scene, from mesh and curve objects to images. He frequently uses an add-on called 'Import Images as Planes,' allowing him to manipulate images within the 3D environment. He demonstrates how to animate objects' appearance and disappearance by keyframing their scale to create smooth transitions. This flexibility lets creators decide how objects enter and exit the frame, enhancing their animation style.
💻 Rendering and Advanced Tips
In the final basic step, Bobby covers rendering. He recommends rendering as an image sequence to avoid losing progress in case of a crash. Once rendered, the image sequence can be imported back into a video editor for final synchronization with the voiceover. Bobby also shares advanced tips, such as using Blender's procedural animation tools, exploring online tutorials for specific techniques, and leveraging Blender’s rendering engines (Eevee and Cycles) to achieve different visual styles.
🧑🏫 Learning Blender Through Tutorials and Pre-Made Assets
Bobby advises viewers to rely on Blender tutorials for various challenges, from creating textures to animating specific effects. He highlights the Blender community’s helpfulness and encourages the use of free and paid assets from online sources to speed up production. He shares examples of how using pre-made assets saved him time in past projects. Additionally, Bobby introduces procedural animation in Blender, such as generating complex textures or importing real-world maps, which he uses to enhance his videos.
📈 Python Scripting and Geonodes for Complex Animations
For more complex animations, Bobby dives into Python scripting within Blender, sharing examples where he used scripts to automate tasks like generating 3D objects based on data from CSV files. He also discusses Geonodes, a powerful tool that allows for efficient data-driven animations, like creating bar graphs from CSV files. Bobby acknowledges the contributions of other creators in his journey, including his viewer Chris Hannel, who helped him implement advanced techniques in his sports videos.
🎓 Nebula and Exclusive Resources
To wrap up, Bobby introduces Nebula, a creator-owned streaming service where viewers can access his videos ad-free, two weeks early, along with exclusive content and pre-made Blender files. He recommends Nebula Classes for those interested in learning different aspects of video production. Bobby shares his favorite classes, including ones on research, storytelling with data, and improving audio quality. He emphasizes that Nebula provides significant value for aspiring creators and offers a discount for subscribers, allowing fans to support him directly.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Blender
💡Google Earth
💡Keyframes
💡Camera object
💡3D Space
💡Script Locking
💡Mesh Objects
💡Royalty-Free Music
💡Procedural Animation
💡Nebula
Highlights
Bobby Brockley credits sports writer and filmmaker John Boyce for the 3D animation style that uses Google Earth.
Blender, a free and open-source software, is the main tool Bobby uses for creating 3D videos, along with self-taught knowledge from YouTube and advice from friends.
Bobby emphasizes that Blender has a learning curve, but once mastered, it becomes a powerful tool for storytelling through 3D animations.
The key to Bobby’s storytelling approach is locking the script early on because everything is animated in chronological order, making mid-project changes difficult.
Bobby prefers to write scripts in chapters, which allows him to animate in smaller sections and sync the audio to the animation.
Bobby’s method heavily relies on using visual anchors such as calendars and timelines to structure his videos in 3D space.
A critical part of Bobby’s workflow is using the camera object in Blender to create smooth animations by keyframing its location, rotation, and scale.
For visuals, Bobby frequently uses images imported as planes in Blender, allowing him to scale, rotate, and animate them with ease.
Bobby discusses the importance of choosing music early in the process to sync animations with pivotal moments in the script.
Blender’s two main rendering engines, Eevee and Cycles, offer different trade-offs in terms of performance and visual quality, with Eevee being faster but Cycles offering more realistic results.
Using procedural animation tools in Blender, Bobby automates complex tasks, such as generating textures, maps, and graphs from CSV data.
Bobby frequently relies on royalty-free music from sources like Epidemic Sound and YouTube’s Audio Library.
Blender's support for Python scripting allows Bobby to create large, data-driven animations, like in his element video where he visualized thousands of objects.
Bobby also recommends using resources such as Nebula for learning, sharing pre-made Blender files, and accessing educational content from other creators.
Bobby offers practical tips for beginners, encouraging them to search for Blender tutorials on YouTube and experiment with Blender’s numerous add-ons.
Transcripts
big thank you to nebula for sponsoring
this
video hi I'm Bobby Brockley and I'm
going to explain how I make my videos
the first thing I should mention is that
I am not the inventor of the 3D
animation style that I use that was
created by sports writer and filmmaker
John Boyce he's been using Google Earth
for years and he's a wizard at what he
does I used Google Earth exactly once
for one video series and since then I've
been using the program blender why do I
use blender well it's free open source
and has thousands of tutorials available
for it all of my blender knowledge was
self-taught through YouTube advice from
friends and experimentation there is a
bit of a learning curve but once you get
past the initial hump I think blender is
a super powerful tool for making 3D
story videos but here's the thing as
long as you can move a camera in 3D
space you can use whatever program you
like Maya Unity Unreal Engine whatever
you're most comfortable with this is
completely different than how I to make
videos and most people's reactions when
I explain how I do this is that's nuts
it is not intuitive by any means but it
is the best way I found to do what I do
I want to be clear this is not an intro
to blender video I've linked some good
ones down below rather this is
specifically how I make my
videos step one planning and writing
frankly this is the most timeconsuming
part and my best advice if this is your
first video is to just try anything
you'll see what works and what doesn't
and gradually develop a feel for how to
write this sort of video a lot of my
videos use calendars or timelines as a
visual anchor so start there figure out
what years or months are the most
critical and sketch out possible layouts
on paper I go through so many sketches
before I settle on anything your video
will likely have a rectangular frame so
try and build a layout that fills that
frame nicely from a fully zoomed out
angle
because this style uses 3D space I often
brainstorm some sort of variable that
can take advantage of the Z axis in my
element video it's the Half Lives of the
elements in the Nell video it's the
immense size of the stock price both
critical parts of the story being told
and I sort of build the rest of the
layout working backwards from that
critical element filling in empty space
around it I've done this a lot now and
it comes naturally but if you're making
your first ever video just write
anything and worry about the animation
later the part that really throws people
off is that when you make a video like
this you have to lock in your script
really early everything is animated in
chronological order as opposed to
traditional editing that can be done in
pretty much any order since everything
exists in one 3D space it is really hard
to make changes to the script Midway
because now you have to add an object
and you've got a weird continuity error
it's not impossible to make changes but
it is very annoying so you really want
to make sure that you're happy with your
script and then lock it in now on to
step two record your script and edit it
down into one continuous take in
whatever video editor you use personally
I like to write in chapters so that I
can animate small bits of the script at
a time what we're going to do next is
take these audio files into blender and
we're going to animate in sync to your
narration here's the critical part
though once you export an audio file the
timing is more or less set in stone
because I've done this enough I have a
sense for how long I want certain pauses
to be you're not going to get this right
on your first try though so if you bring
an audio file into blender and you
decide to add a couple extra seconds or
maybe you cut a line just make sure you
copy that change in your original video
editor so your animation will stay in
sync when you render it out later step
three
at this stage I like to start picking
out music but you could do this much
later at a minimum I definitely choose
the music for my intro outro or any
pivotal moments because I like to time
my animations to those songs I use
royalty-free music from the YouTube
audio library epidemic sound and a
handful of other musicians who make
their songs free to use step four
setting up your blender window this is
all my personal preference so feel free
to tweak this to your like
on the top I have two 3D viewport
Windows one of them is bigger and
usually set to material preview mode
this is the window I actually interact
with moving images around and clicking
on things the other 3dv Port is smaller
and is always showing the perspective of
my camera object with the final render
preview if you click a camera object and
hit zero on your numpad you'll always
jump to what the camera is seeing down
below are two two separate timelines the
top one is called the dope sheet anytime
you click on an object it will show you
any key frames associated with that
object key frames store any properties
you might care about most of the key
frames you'll be concerned with will be
things like location rotation and scale
you can drag them around freely here and
I often use it to adjust the speed the
camera moves
at and finally down below that is the
timeline this is where we're going to
see your narration and it helps you sync
your animation to your voice step five
we're going to bring in your audio files
at the top of the window is a video
editing tab simply find the audio file
you want and drag and drop onto the
timeline here make sure to select view
waveform on the right here so you can
see the Peaks I like to keep the music
and narration as separate tracks but
that's up to you this isn't going to be
the final audio anyway just make sure
you click playback and select sync to
audio step six the camera object is the
backbone of your entire video you're
going to be moving it around your scene
and key framing its location if you hit
zero on your numpad you'll see the
perspective of the camera and if you go
under View and then navigation you enter
into walk mode you basically get to
control the camera like you're playing
Minecraft I use this feature often
enough that I assigned it to the
shortcut shift F so go ahead and move
the camera to where you want it to be
then with the camera object selected
you're going to hit the I key this is
the key frame menu you're going to hit
location rotation and scale and that's
going to save the camera's properties on
a given frame to animate a camera
movement change the frame you're on move
the camera again and then set a
different key frame if you hit space bar
to play you've got a nice camera motion
you're going to do this hundreds of
times so the key framing menu will
become second nature to
you step seven next is to actually add
objects to your scene blender has dozens
of mesh curve and text objects right at
your disposal buil built into the
interface and you can make pretty much
anything you can imagine with all of
those but the bread and butter of my
videos tends to be images I use one
blender add-on more than any other and
that is import images as planes which
you can turn on in your preferences menu
simply go to file import images as
planes first you choose the image file
then you choose one of three lighting
properties principled means it takes on
the lighting of the scene shadeless will
make it ignore the scene lighting and
emit will make it produce its own light
click okay and your image will be in the
scene as a plane you can do whatever you
want with this scale it using the S
key rotate it using the r
key and move it using the G
key just make whatever collage of images
you want Step n you may want to animate
the images appearing and disappearing
this is really easy just select the
image and move to the frame you want it
to appear on hit the I key and key frame
it next use the left Arrow key to move
back exactly one frame hit s for scale
then zero then enter the object now has
zero size and is invisible effectively
hit I again and key frame it now the
object appears as if out of nowhere
exactly when you want it to you can play
with this however you want maybe you
want it to come in from offscreen maybe
you want it to appear slowly growing
whatever you want key framing is your
friend and finally rendering your
animation that's essentially all the
basics go to the scene Tab and set
things like your resolution frame rate
and save location I recommend rendering
as an image sequence that way if your
render crashes for some reason you don't
lose all your progress you can now
import that image sequence back into
your original video editor and because
you animate it in sync to your voice
there's very little work left it'll
probably be around 95% accurate and you
just need to make a few tweaks here and
there you're basically done now all of
that that you just heard those are the
basics there are a lot of ways to
upgrade what I just showed you here are
some of my Advanced tips tip number one
how do I do something just search
YouTube for it and add the word blender
I cannot stress this enough all of my
videos are a collage of other people's
tutorials for example how do I make a
corkboard texture how do I make a neon
grid animation how do I make a cool
Sunset everyone in the blender Community
is extremely helpful and friendly and
more more often than not someone has had
your exact question before tip number
two the render engine blender has two
main render engines the first is Eevee
this is the low Performance Engine that
the average computer can run it's what I
use to make all of my previous blender
videos lighting effects and textures are
all really simple and your scenes should
render reasonably quickly the other
engine is Cycles Cycles is much more
demanding on your hardware and you want
a good GPU to do this it has realistic
lighting and textures and pretty much
every scene looks amazing in Cycles with
very little effort the trade-off is
render times are immense tip number
three vectors if you have a nice smooth
Vector icon blender has built-in support
for SVG files I use this all the time
instead of image files if the icon just
needs to be one color because vectors
scale perfectly you can import them as a
curve but they can then be converted
into mesh objects and you can apply
whatever modifiers to them you
want don't be afraid to use royalty free
assets there are tons of websites where
3D artists share their assets many of
them free but even the paid ones are
super affordable the poker table and
chips in my cloning video were paid
assets and even though I probably could
have made them myself it saved me a few
days of work and they probably looked
better and finally tip number five
blender is a procedural animation
software meaning you can automate a lot
of cool things here are some examples
this corkboard material uses a noise
pattern to create an endless procedural
texture the map of waah hatchee in my
superg glider series was actually made
using a free add-on called blender osm
you just select a section of the earth
and then it does all the work for you it
Imports a mesh object of the entire map
genuinely astounding how easy it is all
I did was make it a rainbow blender is
also fully compatible with python
scripting the nucleo C in the Neno video
was made using a script I wrote I made a
CSV file of all the element sizes names
and their half lives and I made a for
Loop that creates a separate mesh object
and labels for each of them I even had
them assign a different material color
based on their height there was no way
I'd ever have been able to do this
manually because it was thousands of
objects blender also has a relatively
new feature called Geon noes which are
crazy powerful and I've just barely
scratched the surface with there how I
made the animated graph segments in my
Nortel video it can take a CSV file of
data and generate a bar graph far more
efficiently than making a separate Cube
for each data point that one I got a lot
of help with from one of my viewers
Chris hannel who also does sports videos
you should definitely check out his
stuff still feeling pretty intimidated
well the good news is that I have a
bunch of pre-made blender files to get
you started and you can get access to
them through nebula nebula is the
creator own streaming service I'm a part
of alongside some of the best thoughtful
creators on the internet there you can
watch my videos and many more completely
ad free not only do I post my videos 2
weeks early there but you can also find
dozens of nebula originals not found
anywhere else for those of you who are
eager to start making your own videos I
can't recommend nebula classes enough
each class is hosted by a fellow nebula
Creator and there's one for every part
of the video making pipeline if you want
more tips on effective research skills
this class by Tom Nicholas is a must I
often have to track down really old
clips or articles behind pay walls and
this class has great advice for
navigating academic databases if you
love the graphs of my videos maybe check
out this class by Simon Clark on turning
data into stories it's easy enough to
plot a bunch of points but Simon breaks
down how to craft a comping narrative
from something as simple as a pie chart
on the other hand audio has never been
my strong suit so this class by Graham
herther was a huge help to me I live in
an extremely noisy apartment and this
class had great advice for fixing both
my recording environment and my
postprocessing I know that the hardest
part of making a video is taking that
first step and so I've prepared a set of
blender project Files free to play
around with do you want to mess around
with periodic table or a model of a
super Collider
well now you can you get access to all
this and more by signing up with my link
with it you get a 40% discount on an
annual subscription all for just 250 a
month and a significant chunk of that
money goes directly to me for as long as
you're subscribed which will help me
make bigger and better brentar support
me and many others by signing up for
nebula today as always thanks for
watching
[Music]
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