9. Animating the Character | Blender 3D Cookbook

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Blender 3D Cookbook

By : Valenza

4.7 (9)

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Blender 3D Cookbook

4.7 (9)

By: Valenza

Buy this Book

Overview of this book

This book is aimed at the professionals that already have good 3D CGI experience with commercial packages and have now decided to try the open source Blender and want to experiment with something more complex than the average tutorials on the web. However, it's also aimed at the intermediate Blender users who simply want to go some steps further. It's taken for granted that you already know how to move inside the Blender interface, that you already have 3D modeling knowledge, and also that of basic 3D modeling and rendering concepts, for example, edge-loops, n-gons, or samples. In any case, it's also possible for a keen beginner to follow this book, by combining it with the manual on the BlenderWiki or preceding it with a basic Blender UI tutorial on the web. The keyboard/mouse shortcuts for the operations in the recipes are, at least in all the more relevant cases, indicated in brackets.

Preface

What this book covers

What you need for this book

Who this book is for

Sections

Conventions

Reader feedback

Customer support

Free Chapter

1. Modeling the Character's Base Mesh

Introduction

Setting templates with the Images as Planes add-on

Setting templates with the Image Empties method

Setting templates with the Background Images tool

Building the character's base mesh with the Skin modifier

2. Sculpting the Character's Base Mesh

Introduction

Using the Skin modifier's Armature option

Editing the mesh

Preparing the base mesh for sculpting

Using the Multiresolution modifier and the Dynamic topology feature

Sculpting the character's base mesh

3. Polygonal Modeling of the Character's Accessories

Introduction

Preparing the scene for polygonal modeling

Modeling the eye

Modeling the armor plates

Using the Mesh to Curve technique to add details

4. Re-topology of the High Resolution Sculpted Character's Mesh

Introduction

Using the Grease Pencil tool to plan the edge-loops flow

Using the Snap tool to re-topologize the mesh

Using the Shrinkwrap modifier to re-topologize the mesh

Using the LoopTools add-on to re-topologize the mesh

Concluding the re-topologized mesh

5. Unwrapping the Low Resolution Mesh

Introduction

Preparing the low resolution mesh for unwrapping

UV unwrapping the mesh

Editing the UV islands

Using the Smart UV Project tool

Modifying the mesh and the UV islands

Setting up additional UV layers

Exporting the UV Map layout

6. Rigging the Low Resolution Mesh

Introduction

Building the character's Armature from scratch

Perfecting the Armature to also function as a rig for the Armor

Building the character's Armature through the Human Meta-Rig

Building the animation controls and the Inverse Kinematic

Generating the character's Armature by using the Rigify add-on

7. Skinning the Low Resolution Mesh

Introduction

Parenting the Armature and Mesh using the Automatic Weights tool

Assigning Weight Groups by hand

Editing Weight Groups using the Weight Paint tool

Using the Mesh Deform modifier to skin the character

Using the Laplacian Deform modifier and Hooks

8. Finalizing the Model

Introduction

Creating shape keys

Assigning drivers to the shape keys

Setting movement limit constraints

Transferring the eyeball rotation to the eyelids

Detailing the Armor by using the Curve from Mesh tool

9. Animating the Character

Introduction

Linking the character and making a proxy

Creating a simple walk cycle for the character by assigning keys to the bones

Tweaking the actions in Graph Editor

Using the Non Linear Action Editor to mix different actions

10. Creating the Textures

Introduction

Making a tileable scales image in Blender Internal

Preparing the model to use the UDIM UV tiles

Baking the tileable scales texture into the UV tiles

Painting to fix the seams and to modify the baked scales image maps

Painting the color maps in Blender Internal

Painting the color maps in Cycles

11. Refining the Textures

Introduction

Sculpting more details on the high resolution mesh

Baking the normals of the sculpted mesh on the low resolution one

The Armor textures

Adding a dirty Vertex Colors layer and baking it to an image texture

The Quick Edit tool

12. Creating the Materials in Cycles

Introduction

Building the reptile skin shaders in Cycles

Making a node group of the skin shader to reuse it

Building the eyes' shaders in Cycles

Building the armor shaders in Cycles

13. Creating the Materials in Blender Internal

Introduction

Building the reptile skin shaders in Blender Internal

Building the eyes' shaders in Blender Internal

Building the armor shaders in Blender Internal

14. Lighting, Rendering, and a Little Bit of Compositing

Introduction

Setting the library and the 3D scene layout

Setting image based lighting (IBL)

Setting a three-point lighting rig in Blender Internal

Rendering an OpenGL playblast of the animation

Obtaining a noise-free and faster rendering in Cycles

Compositing the render layers

Index

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Blender 3D Cookbook

By : Valenza

Blender 3D Cookbook

By: Valenza

Overview of this book

Introduction

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