# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Part 1 - Preparing the Scene

|previous=Create an animated GIF wallpaper (Blender/GIMP)
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## Start a new scene in Blender

-   Delete the default cube.

## Prepare the individual particles

Go to layer 2 -

!`centre|The layers buttons`.PNG "centre|The layers buttons")

Add a UV Sphere with 8 segments and 6 rings(Go to the toolshelf and
change the values)

!`The Toolshelf`.PNG "The Toolshelf")

Add a new material with any bright color. Change the emit value to 2 or
higher -

!`Material settings`.PNG "Material settings")\
`Note - if you want a single-coloured version, `\
`you can skip a few of the following steps - `

### Duplication of the particles

Duplicate the sphere and move it nearby (
 ). Duplicate the material by
clicking on the \'plus\' button indicated in the picture below. Change
the color to another bright color

`Important note - Not clicking the plus button will change the`\
`color of the previous sphere also.`

!Material
settings.png "Material settings")
!Single-coloured
version.PNG "Single-coloured version") Repeat
this process until you are satisfied with the no. of spheres with
different colours. Now create a group
() Name it anything you like in
the toolshelf ( toggles the toolshelf).

Now you\'re ready to start creating the animation and particles!

## Defining the motion of the particles

Go back to layer 1.

### Creating the path for the particles to follow

If you haven\'t learnt about Bezier
curves
already, go ahead and do so now.

Add a bezier curve, and tab into edit mode. Now you have to model the
path by extruding and subdividing the curve. The shape of the curve
defines the path of the particles. After you are done with the curve,
you can proceed to create the emission object.

### Creating the \'emitter\' of the particles

Add a UV Sphere with 32 segments and 16 rings. This is going to be the
emitter, i.e. the object that gives out those coloured spheres.

This is going to have a completely transparent material since hiding it
hides the whole thing.

So go to material properties, add a new material. Scroll down to the
Transparency panel, check it and change the alpha value to zero, making
it completely transparent. Also change the specular intensity to zero.
Leave everything else as such.

### Making the sphere follow the path

In this part, you are going to make the sphere follow the curve you had
modeled earlier. Select the cube, and add a Follow Path Constraint.
Select the target, i.e. the curve and click on Animate Path. All these
steps speak for themselves, there\'s no need for me to explain. You
could check follow curve, but since this is a sphere this is not needed.
All it does is make the object face the direction it is moving towards.

As for the speed of the object, you can change it by -

-   Select the curve.
-   Go to Object properties -

!`The Object Properties`.PNG "The Object Properties")

-   Scroll down to Path Animation panel.
-   Change Path Animation Frames value to the no. of frames you want the
    animation to last. I prefer it to be 150.

In the end, make a few changes until you are satisfied with the result.
Now you are ready to proceed to part 2.

