Blender 3D Basics: Second Edition

526 Pages·2014·17.112 MB·English

by  Gordon Fisher

Blender 3D Basics
Beginner's Guide
Second Edition
A quick and easy-to-use guide to create 3D modeling and
animation using Blender 2.7
Gordon Fisher
BIRMINGHAM - MUMBAI
Blender 3D Basics Beginner's Guide
Second Edition
Copyright © 2014 Packt Publishing
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First published: June 2012
Second edition: August 2014
Production reference: 1190814
Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.
Livery Place
35 Livery Street
Birmingham B3 2PB, UK.
ISBN 978-1-78398-490-9
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Cover image by Gordon Fisher ([email protected])
Credits
Author Project Coordinators
Gordon Fisher Sanghamitra Deb
Priyanka Goel
Reviewers
John W. Allie Proofreaders
Olivier Amrein Paul Hindle
Michael Dunn Clyde Jenkins
Jasper van Nieuwenhuizen Bernadette Watkins
Brian Rocz
Indexers
Hemangini Bari
Commissioning Editor
Ashwin Nair Mehreen Deshmukh
Rekha Nair
Acquisition Editor Tejal Soni
Vinay Argekar
Production Coordinator
Content Development Editor Shantanu Zagade
Anila Vincent
Cover Work
Technical Editors Shantanu Zagade
Aman Preet Singh
Nachiket Vartak
Copy Editors
Roshni Banerjee
Sayanee Mukherjee
Karuna Narayanan
Alfida Paiva
About the Author
Gordon Fisher got his start in computer graphics, working with industry pioneers at
Information International, Inc. Since then, he has made 3D animation for clients including
the U.S. Army, Ford Motor Co., the Dallas Cowboys, the Southeastern Conference, Costco,
and Southwest Airlines.
He has been using Blender professionally since 2002, and has given classes on using Blender
and using Python with Blender at Python conferences in Texas and Arkansas. His short film,
Land and Sky, made with Blender, was shown at the Ozark Foothills Film Fest. His work has
been displayed at the National Air and Space Museum.
He is the Creative Director for Point Happy Interactive and spends his spare time as a
bicycling advocate and space activist. He has written articles about 3D modeling and
animation for the American Modeler magazine and Digital Video Producer e-zine.
I would like to thank the people without whom this book would not exist.
I would like to thank the staff at Packt Publishing, Ton Roosendaal, and the
many Blender users around the world.
About the Reviewers
John W. Allie has been using Blender since 1999, when it wasn't even open source.
He lives in New Haven, Connecticut, with his wife. Comics and other artwork can be
found on his website http://www.johnwallie.com.
Olivier Amrein has been working on 3D for over 15 years. He is a CG generalist,
interested in production aspects and workflows. Right now, he is working for RGBprod,
a studio in Switzerland. He is a Blender Foundation Certified Trainer who loves all kinds
of visual experiments.
He has been giving talks and workshops in Switzerland, the Netherlands, Brazil, Venezuela, and
Russia. You can find more information about him at http://www.olivieramrein.com/.
I would like to thank my wife, Qiongyao, and my two kids, Milla and Louis.
Michael Dunn is a Python developer at the University of Notre Dame and an aspiring
3D artist.
A sophisticated 3D studio such as Blender comes with a pretty steep learning curve. When he
started to learn Blender, it was difficult to find good training materials for beginners—which
made the learning process quite disheartening. So, it is with joy that he is able to contribute
as a technical reviewer to Blender 3D Basics Beginner's Guide and hopes that it will help
many other aspiring artists get off to a successful start with Blender.
Jasper van Nieuwenhuizen is a freelance animation professional with a special interest
in the technical side of things. After graduating from an art school in 2004, he picked up
Blender and has been using it ever since. Because he really enjoyed animation and 3D in
particular, and wanted to learn as much as he could about it, he decided to go back to
school. In 2010, he graduated in 3D Computer Animation and Visual Effects from Utrecht
School of the Arts.
After this, he co-started the animation studio Fube, where he played his part in making
commercials and an animated short film. During this time, he picked up Python and slowly
evolved from a CG Generalist to a Technical Director, but still kept in touch with the artistic
side of animation.
At the moment, he freelances under the name Lines of Jasper, and is involved in the startup
of an animation collective. When he's not in front of his computer, he spends time with his
family, grows vegetables on the balcony, and makes paper planes and robots. You can find
more about him and his work at http://www.linesofjasper.com.
Brian Rocz received a BA in English from the University of Colorado, Denver, where he
began studies in Math and Physics before transferring to the more subjective realm of
literature and writing. His interest in 3D art grew out of his traditional art background, which,
he admits, was left uncultivated and even less practiced. He has been using Blender for a
number of years and is largely self-taught, though he cannot get away without saying that he
owes a debt of gratitude to the Blender community for sharing their knowledge. He goes by
the name Rocz3D in the digital space and on his website http://www.3dblenderstuff.
wordpress.com.
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Table of Contents
Preface 1
Chapter 1: Introducing Blender and Animation 7
Welcome to the world of Blender 3D 8
Discovering Blender and animation 9
Learning Blender will literally change how you think 10
Installing Blender 11
Using Blender 13
Time for action – rendering your first scene in Blender 13
Time for action – closing Blender 15
Top 10 reasons to enjoy using Blender 3D 16
Getting a good background in animation 16
Going back to the year 1922 on an animation field trip 17
Time for action – watching Felix Turns the Tide 18
Moving ahead a few years in time, to 1928 19
Time for action – enjoying Plane Crazy 19
Arriving in 1938, the animation industry is at a peak 20
Time for action – sailing to Goonland 20
Animation principles 21
Learning from your animation heroes 22
Time for action – making a folder of your animation heroes 23
Starting to use computers for animation in the 1960s 24
Beginnings of 3D animation in 1963 25
Time for action – meeting Ivan Sutherland and Sketchpad 25
Going to the late 1970s, a few companies are doing 3D animation 26
Time for action – seeing the Triple I demo 1976 – 1979 26
Time for action – watching Triple I's 1982 demo reel 27
Introducing Pixar in 1984, and everything comes together 28