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Blender 3D Basics Beginner's Guide Second Edition

By : Gordon Fisher

4.4 (25)

Blender 3D Basics Beginner's Guide Second Edition

4.4 (25)

By: Gordon Fisher

Overview of this book

This book teaches you how to model a nautical scene, complete with boats and water, and then add materials, lighting, and animation. It demystifies the Blender interface and explains what each tool does so that you will be left with a thorough understanding of 3D. This book starts with an introduction to Blender and some background on the principles of animation, how they are applied to computer animation, and how these principles make animation better. Furthermore, the book helps you advance through various aspects of animation design such as modeling, lighting, camera work, and animation through the Blender interface with the help of several simple projects. Each project will help you practice what you have learned and do more advanced work in all areas.

Preface

Preface

What this book covers

What you need for this book

Who this book is for

Conventions

Time for action – heading

Reader feedback

Customer support

Free Chapter

1. Introducing Blender and Animation

1. Introducing Blender and Animation

Welcome to the world of Blender 3D

Discovering Blender and animation

Time for action – rendering your first scene in Blender

Time for action – closing Blender

Top 10 reasons to enjoy using Blender 3D

Getting a good background in animation

Time for action – watching Felix Turns the Tide

Time for action – enjoying Plane Crazy

Time for action – sailing to Goonland

Animation principles

Learning from your animation heroes

Time for action – making a folder of your animation heroes

Starting to use computers for animation in the 1960s

Time for action – meeting Ivan Sutherland and Sketchpad

Time for action – seeing the Triple I demo 1976 – 1979

Time for action – watching Triple I's 1982 demo reel

Time for action – adventuring with André and Wally B

Using your 3D skills, what can you do with them?

Summary

2. Getting Comfortable Using the 3D View

2. Getting Comfortable Using the 3D View

Exploring the Blender 3D interface

Time for action – playing with the Blender windows

Time for action – resizing windows

Time for action – splitting the Blender windows

Time for action – joining the Blender windows

Time for action – maximizing and tiling the window

Time for action – flipping the window header

Exploring the 3D View window – the heart of Blender

Time for action – discovering your tools

Time for action – rotating the scene in 3D View

Time for action – zooming the scene in 3D View

Time for action – panning the scene in 3D View

Time for action – seeing the top view, front view, and right-side view

Time for action – seeing the bottom view, and back view

Time for action – verifying the Camera view

Time for action – rotating the view with the NumPad

Time for action – rotating the view in another direction with the NumPad

Time for action – zooming with the NumPad

Time for action – making the camera see what you do

Time for action – toggling between the Perspective and Orthographic views

Time for action – toggling the Quad view

Summary

3. Controlling the Lamp, the Camera, and Animating Objects

3. Controlling the Lamp, the Camera, and Animating Objects

Placing lamps in the scene

Time for action – moving the lamp

Time for action – moving the lamp close to the cube

Time for action – moving the lamp far away

Time for action – observing how the lighting looks without rendering

Time for action – adding color to Lamp

Time for action – adding a second lamp

Time for action – setting colors

Saving your work

Time for action – saving a file

Always have a backup file

Controlling the camera

Time for action – using the global axis and local axis

Time for action – moving an object in one plane in the global mode

Time for action – moving an object in one plane in the local mode

Time for action – setting up Blender so you can see what the camera sees

Time for action – investigating the camera composition guides

Making an animation

Time for action – loading a file

Time for action – making a simple animation with keyframes

Time for action – rendering the animation

Time for action – exploring Graph Editor

Time for action – working with a Bézier curve

Time for action – adding squash and stretch to the animation

Time for action – refining the use of the Bézier curve handles

Time for action – adding keyframes in Graph Editor

Time for action – controlling the F-Curves with the Channel Selection Panel

Time for action – controlling channel display with the header

Time for action – copying and pasting keyframes

Time for action – keyframes for lights

Revisiting the commands

Summary

4. Modeling with Vertices, Edges, and Faces

4. Modeling with Vertices, Edges, and Faces

Using Object Mode and Edit Mode

Time for action – going into Edit Mode

Investigating vertices, edges, and faces

Time for action – choosing the best display mode

Time for action – working with vertices, edges, or faces

Time for action – pressing A to select all

Time for action – pressing B for border selection

Time for action – pressing C for circle selection

Time for action – pressing Ctrl + LMB for Lasso Selection

Creating Blender's primitives

Time for action – making a primitive object

Making precise selections

Time for action – making back-facing geometry accessible

Time for action – controlling the visibility of vertices

Time for action – selecting vertex by vertex

Time for action – fine-tuning the circle selection tool

Time for action – hiding the vertices you aren't working on

Time for action – modifying objects made by other people

Time for action – fixing Suzanne's eye

Organizing your work by grouping

Time for action – grouping vertices

Time for action – scaling and rotating groups of vertices

Controlling the center of scaling and rotation

Time for action – controlling the center of scaling

Understanding what lies behind vertices, edges, and faces

Building vertices, edges, and faces from scratch

Time for action – making faces out of vertices and edges

Time for action – making a face from an edge

The key-function table

Summary

5. Building a Simple Boat

5. Building a Simple Boat

Turning a cube into a boat with box modeling

Time for action – extruding to make the inside of the hull

Time for action – displaying normals

Time for action – making reference objects

Time for action – making the boat the proper length

Time for action – making the boat the proper width and height

Time for action – adding curves to the boat's lines by subdividing

Time for action – adding a seat to the boat

Time for action – making the other seat

Making modeling easier with Blender's layers function

Time for action – introducing layers

Time for action – using layers for controlling rendering

Coloring the boat to add realism

Time for action – coloring the hull and the gunwale

Time for action – adding a texture to the seats

Time for action – naming objects and joining them

Using basic lighting

The key-function table

Summary

6. Making and Moving the Oars

6. Making and Moving the Oars

Modeling an oar

Time for action – making the shaft of the oar

Time for action – making the grip and guard

Time for action – making the base of the blade of the oar

Time for action – making the blade

Time for action – controlling flat and smooth surfaces

Making the oarlock

Time for action – making the oarlock

Assembling the boat, oars, and oarlocks

Time for action – loading all of the models together

Animating the boat

Time for action – timing a stroke

Time for action – animating the oarlock and oar

Time for action – copying keyframes to make a rowing cycle

Time for action – moving the boat in sync with the oars

Tracking the boat with the camera

Time for action – tracking the boat

Making stereoscopic 3D animation

The key-function table

Summary

7. Planning Your Work, Working Your Plan

7. Planning Your Work, Working Your Plan

Using templates to model

Time for action – adding a template

Time for action – scaling and aligning the template

Time for action – building the mast

Modeling with Bézier Curves

Time for action – making the rudder with a Bézier Curve

Time for action – making the path and cross section for the tiller

Keeping everything organized

Planning your animation

Using animatics to plan the timing of your animation

Using charts and guides to help you plan your animation

Time for action – using Blender's Safe Title/Safe Action guide

Guiding animation production with an audio track

Time for action – adding an audio track to Blender

The key-function table

Summary

8. Making the Sloop

8. Making the Sloop

Modeling with Subdivision Surfaces

Time for action – making a simple Subdivision Surface

Time for action – turning a reference block into a sloop

Time for action – making selection easy with Edge Loops and Edge Rings

Time for action – creating the shape of the sloop from the top

Time for action – giving the hull a hull shape

Time for action – flattening the transom

Time for action – making the bow sharper

Time for action – finishing the hull

Time for action – making the boat simpler

Modeling the hull as a mesh

Time for action – converting the surface to a mesh

Time for action – making the cockpit

Time for action – making the cabin

Time for action – creating objects for use in Boolean operations

Using Boolean modifiers to cut holes in objects

Time for action – detailing the cabin using the Boolean modifier

Time for action – applying the Boolean modifier

Adding materials and textures to the sloop

Time for action – coloring and texturing the sloop hull

Time for action – using the same materials for two objects

Making the ship's wheel with the Spin tool and DupliVerts

Time for action – using the Spin tool to make the rim of the ship's wheel

Time for action – making the hub

Time for action – making the circle

Time for action – making the spoke

Time for action – assembling the ship's wheel

The key-function table

Summary

9. Finishing Your Sloop

9. Finishing Your Sloop

Making sure you have the files you'll need in this chapter

Finishing the sloop's superstructure

Time for action – setting up the boom and gaff so they swing

Time for action – adding the rudder, tiller, and keel

Detailing the sloop

Time for action – adding the ship's wheel

Naming your sloop

Time for action – creating a text object

Time for action – making the second sample

Time for action – making the third sample

Adding the name to the boat

Time for action – adding the boat name

Time for action – using a NURBS surface to make the mainsail

Detailing the sloop, and adding a door and portals

Time for action – adding a line to control the mainsail

Time for action – adding the door and a portal

Time for action – adding the portals

The key-function table

Summary

10. Modeling Organic Forms, Sea, and Terrain

10. Modeling Organic Forms, Sea, and Terrain

Getting ready to make the island

Creating the ocean

Time for action – making a surface for water

Making an island

Time for action – using ANT Landscape to make the island

Time for action – understanding the Proportional Editing control

Time for action – using proportional editing to create the port

Time for action – building the breakwater

Time for action – adding contours to the back side of the island

Time for action – painting the island

Making the island ready for habitation

Time for action – creating the pier frame rails with Bézier curves

Time for action – adding planks to the pier with DupliFrames

Time for action – using arrays to create the pilings for the pier

Time for action – appending the boathouse and building pilings for it

Time for action – assembling a house from a kit

Time for action – adding trees to the landscape

Time for action – using groups to organize your scene

The key-function table

Summary

11. Improving Your Lighting and Camera Work

11. Improving Your Lighting and Camera Work

Getting ready to do lighting and camera work

Using lighting

Time for action – introducing the three-point lighting system

Time for action – using color to separate what you see

Time for action – using cookies

Time for action – preparing to adjust falloff

Time for action – adjusting the falloff

Time for action – using Custom Curve to tailor light

Time for action – zooming the camera versus dollying the camera

Time for action – creating depth of field

Time for action – controlling the center of focus

Time for action – using motion blur

Planning your animation and making sure it comes out right

Time for action – laying out the animation

Time for action – doing a hardware render

Time for action – rendering only a part of the frame

Time for action – reducing render times

Time for action – using the Dope Sheet

The key-function table

Summary

12. Rendering and Compositing

12. Rendering and Compositing

Getting ready

Editing with Video Sequence Editor

Time for action – preparing a scene in Video Sequence Editor

Time for action – dissolving between video strips with Video Sequence Editor

Time for action – editing individual video strips

Time for action – using K and Shift + K to make your trims

Time for action – finishing the video sequence

Time for action – getting ready to render

Making stereographic 3D with the Node Editor

Time for action – creating the red image for the left eye

Time for action – making the right-eye view

Rendering your animations

Time for action – displaying aliasing

Time for action – using subsurface scattering

Time for action – seeing ray tracing

Time for action – exploring the alpha channel

Time for action – using transparency in the Video Sequence Editor

Time for action – selecting render presets

Time for action – seeing what fields look like

Rendering with the Cycles renderer

Time for action – simulating the glow of a kiln

Time for action – creating and applying the Cycles materials

Time for action – making an emission material

The key-function table

Summary

A. Pop Quiz Answers

Chapter 1, Introducing Blender and Animation

Chapter 2, Getting Comfortable Using the 3D View

Chapter 3, Controlling the Lamp, the Camera, and Animating Objects

Chapter 4, Modeling with Vertices, Edges, and Faces

Chapter 5, Building a Simple Boat

Chapter 6, Making and Moving the Oars

Chapter 7, Planning Your Work, Working Your Plan

Chapter 8, Making the Sloop

Chapter 9, Finishing Your Sloop

Chapter 10, Modeling Organic Forms, Sea, and Terrain

Chapter 11, Improving Your Lighting and Camera Work

Chapter 12, Rendering and Compositing

Index

Index

Chapter 1. Introducing Blender and Animation

Welcome! It's a good guess that you are interested in learning how to create 3D animations or model 3D objects, maybe for use in games or 3D printing. You've chosen Blender 3D and you want to learn how to use it. This book is a good choice for learning Blender 3D. We did research on what hurdles new users faced and what were their frustrations with other training methods. So we will go step-by-step, learning how to use Blender comfortably to create animations, and do modeling, lighting, camera work, and much more. We will start out with simple steps and get comfortable at using the Blender interface, making and animating a rowboat and a sloop, and creating our own private island as shown in the following screenshot:

Introducing Blender and Animation

In this chapter, we will cover the following topics:

A small introduction to Blender.
Installing Blender and giving it a quick test.
The top ten reasons to enjoy Blender 3D
General animation and a glance at a few videos. The videos give us a quick introduction to animation.
A few basic principles of animation.
Watching some early computer graphics on how computer animators learned animation.
Uses of 3D.
The inner workings of Blender.

CONTINUE READING

83

Tech Concepts

36

Programming languages

73

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