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Foundation: Blender for Visual Investigation

COURSE SYLLABUSBEGINNER
📖5 min read

Foundation is the baseline course of the BVI sequence: the parts of Blender that investigative work actually uses. You will learn to read a 3D scene the way an investigator does, organize and document source data, model simple evidence-grade geometry, and leave with a reusable Blender template of your own. Every other course assumes this one.

At a glance​

Course Description

The baseline course for Blender in visual investigation: Thinking in 3D, data & methodology, the modeling skills, and the Blender setup investigative work actually uses. By the end you'll have a clean, reusable Blender template of your own.

Prerequisites & Corequisites

None. Course 00 is the starting point. A basic sense of what an investigation or reconstruction case looks like helps, but the course establishes the context in Module 01 (Thinking in 3D).

Measurable Learning Outcomes (SLOs)

Explain why 3D reconstruction is a methodological tool; read a 3D scene (perspective, spatial relationships); document source data and decisions; model simple evidence-grade geometry; build your own reusable Blender template.

Course Description​

Full description​

This is Course 00 — the baseline. It makes you fluent in the parts of Blender that investigative work actually uses: reading a 3D scene the way an investigator does, organizing source data, and setting up Blender the way an investigator needs it. By the end, you'll have built your own clean, reusable Blender template.

It is built by composing the KB reference library: the course owns the prerequisite layer (Thinking in 3D, data & methodology, Blender) as its own content, and points you to canonical reference pages — camera & perspective, measurements, and the modeling workflows — whenever applied depth is needed.

Prerequisites​

None. This is the starting point. A basic understanding of what an investigation or reconstruction case looks like helps, but the course establishes the context in Module 01 (Thinking in 3D).

Learning Objectives​

By the end of this course you will be able to:

  1. Explain why spatial reconstruction is a methodological tool — not a visualization garnish
  2. Navigate a Blender scene confidently (object mode, viewport, cameras, collections)
  3. Read a 3D scene the way an investigator does: vanishing points, perspective, spatial relationships
  4. Document your process: organize source data, log decisions, propagate errors honestly
  5. Model simple evidence-grade geometry from reference material
  6. Build your own reusable Blender template (clean, organized default scene) by following the Blender course videos

How to Use This Course​

  • Work through the numbered modules in order. Each assumes the ones before it.
  • A module opens on its own front door — the Module Syllabus — and then holds its pages.
  • A page is one page. Read it and move on. It has no Module Syllabus and no nested items.
  • Modules embed the corresponding video walkthrough from the BVI series where present; watch the video, then read the module notes.
  • The Blender module ends in a capstone built inside its own pages: as you work through them, you assemble your own reusable Blender template — a clean, organized default scene you'll carry into every case.

Module Map & Progress Flow​

The four modules in order. Each one assumes the ones before it. Every module below names its type, its time budget, the fundamental concepts it applies, and its outcome.

01 · Thinking in 3D

Module · Foundations · 45 min

  • Give the minimal understanding of 3D: the logic of space, core paradigms (volumetric, point cloud, solid, NURBS, polygonal), anatomy of a model, and file formats.
  • Concepts: Camera & Perspective
  • Outcome: you can read a 3D scene's geometry, topology, normals, and poly-count, and choose a paradigm for a task.

02 · Methodology & Data

Module · Methodology · 30 min

  • Install the research lifecycle: define, collect, preserve, verify, analyze, process, validate & report, collaborate.
  • Concepts: Measurements, Scale & Dimension
  • Outcome: a documented source registry and a defensible analysis workflow.

03 · Modeling

Module · Skill · 60 min

  • Bridge into the reference modeling layer: the investigator's modeling workflow and the key techniques.
  • Concepts: Scale Estimation & Source Reliability
  • Outcome: you can model simple evidence-grade geometry from reference material.

04 · Blender

Module · Skill · 90 min

  • Meet the instrument: install, workspaces, object mode, shortcuts, extending functionality.
  • Concepts: Geometric Reconstruction
  • Outcome: you can navigate object mode, the viewport, collections, and cameras — and you hold your own reusable .blend template, built across the module's pages.

Total estimated time: ~3.8 hours

How it builds: Module 01 gives you the 3D language (geometry, paradigms, file formats); 02 adds the research discipline (the data lifecycle); 03 the modeling skill; 04 the instrument (Blender), where the pages themselves build your own working template as you go.

Fundamental Concepts Used​

These are the concepts the course teaches you to apply, with the page that covers each one in depth.

ConceptWhere you use it
Camera and Perspective01
Measurements, Scale & Dimension02
Scale Estimation & Source Reliability03
Polygonal Modeling03
Geometric Reconstruction04 (extension)

Resources​

Sources​

  1. Blender System Requirements: official minimum and recommended hardware specs
  2. Berkeley Protocol (UNODC): international standards for digital open-source investigations