Book Image

Blender 3D Basics

Book Image

Blender 3D Basics

Overview of this book

Blender is by far the most popular open source graphics program available. It is a full featured 3D modeling, animation and games development tool used by millions all over the world ñ and it's free! This book is for those looking for an entry into the world of 3D modeling and animation regardless of prior experience. Blender 3D Basics is the entry level book for those without prior experience using 3D tools. It caters for those who may have downloaded Blender in the past but were frustrated by its lack of intuitiveness. Using simple steps it builds, chapter by chapter, into a full foundation in 3D modeling and animation. Using Blender 3D Basics the reader will model a maritime scene complete with boats and water, then add materials, lighting and animation. The book demystifies the Blender interface and explains what each tool does so that you will be left with a thorough understanding of 3D.
Table of Contents (20 chapters)
Blender 3D Basics Beginner's Guide
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
3
Controlling the Lamp, the Camera, and Animating Objects
Index

Time for action — making the circle


The circle is unseen but important. It is the basis for placing all of the spokes for the ship's wheel:

  1. Press Shift+A and create a circle from the Mesh menu.

  2. In the Add Circle subpanel of Tool Shelf, set the Vertices to 8 and the Radius to 0.25.

What just happened

It doesn't look like much, but you will use the circle to control the placement of the spokes of the ship's wheel. There are eight vertices in the circle so your wheel will have eight spokes. Blender has a method called DupliVerts that lets you put a copy of the spoke at each vertex of the circle. These copies are called instances. The difference between regular objects and instances is that whatever change you make to one instance is made to all of them. Next you will be making a spoke for the ship's wheel.