Book Image

Blender 3D By Example - Second Edition

By : Oscar Baechler, Xury Greer

Book Image

Blender 3D By Example - Second Edition

By: Oscar Baechler, Xury Greer

Overview of this book

Blender is a powerful 3D creation package that supports every aspect of the 3D pipeline. With this book, you'll learn about modeling, rigging, animation, rendering, and much more with the help of some interesting projects. This practical guide, based on the Blender 2.83 LTS version, starts by helping you brush up on your basic Blender skills and getting you acquainted with the software toolset. You’ll use basic modeling tools to understand the simplest 3D workflow by customizing a Viking themed scene. You'll get a chance to see the 3D modeling process from start to finish by building a time machine based on provided concept art. You will design your first 2D character while exploring the capabilities of the new Grease Pencil tools. The book then guides you in creating a sleek modern kitchen scene using EEVEE, Blender’s new state-of-the-art rendering engine. As you advance, you'll explore a variety of 3D design techniques, such as sculpting, retopologizing, unwrapping, baking, painting, rigging, and animating to bring a baby dragon to life. By the end of this book, you'll have learned how to work with Blender to create impressive computer graphics, art, design, and architecture, and you'll be able to use robust Blender tools for your design projects and video games.

Preface

Who this book is for

What this book covers

To get the most out of this book

Introduction to 3D and the Blender User Interface

Introduction to 3D and the Blender User Interface

Overview of the 3D workflow

Blender's user interface

Basic 3D navigation controls

A brief introduction to the projects in this book

Free Chapter

Editing a Viking Scene with a Basic 3D Workflow

Editing a Viking Scene with a Basic 3D Workflow

Setting up the source files

Using the Outliner to organize a scene

Navigating the 3D Viewport

Using the Toolbar

Basic transformations in Object Mode

Editing the Viking helmet

Rendering the final image

Modeling a Time Machine - Part 1

Modeling a Time Machine - Part 1

Using transformation hotkeys

Setting up the reference images for the time machine

Box modeling the main section of the chair

Destructive editing versus non-destructive editing

Modeling the cushions of the chair

Modeling the sci-fi rings with modifiers

Modeling the armrests

Modeling a Time Machine - Part 2

Modeling a Time Machine - Part 2

Modeling the base of the time machine

Modeling the clock

Modeling the side rails

Modeling the rear assembly

Modeling the front housing

Adding smooth shading to the model

Modern Kitchen - Part 1: Kitbashing

Modern Kitchen - Part 1: Kitbashing

Setting up the source files

Previsualizing the kitchen layout

Creating tables with box modeling

Creating chairs with modifiers and curves

Creating cabinets, islands, and a stove with add-ons

Linking in canned assets

Further reading

Modern Kitchen - Part 2: Materials and Textures

Modern Kitchen - Part 2: Materials and Textures

Simple materials and the nodal workflow

Further reading

Modern Kitchen - Part 3: Lighting and Rendering

Modern Kitchen - Part 3: Lighting and Rendering

Preparing the scene

Daylight rendering

Indirect lighting

Using filters and postprocessing

Further reading

Illustrating an Alien Hero with Grease Pencil

Illustrating an Alien Hero with Grease Pencil

Playing with Grease Pencil objects

Roughing in a character

Inking the alien hero

Adding color with the fills pipeline

Further reading

Animating an Exquisite Corpse in Grease Pencil

Animating an Exquisite Corpse in Grease Pencil

Animating a bouncing ball

Blinking Blender eyes

Building a zooming fight scene

Bringing it all together

Further reading

Animating a Stylish Short with Grease Pencil

Animating a Stylish Short with Grease Pencil

Getting started

Animating the usher's take

The money exchange

The theater, crying, and triumph

Further reading

Creating a Baby Dragon - Part 1: Sculpting

Creating a Baby Dragon - Part 1: Sculpting

The sculpting UI preset

Overview of the sculpting brushes

Creating the starting point of the baby dragon with speed-sculpting

Sculpting intermediate details

Sculpting the fine details

Further reading

Creating a Baby Dragon - Part 2: Retopology

Creating a Baby Dragon - Part 2: Retopology

What is topology?

What are the rules of good topology?

Setting up Blender for the retopology workflow

Retopologizing the baby dragon

Further reading

Creating a Baby Dragon - Part 3: UV Unwrapping

Creating a Baby Dragon - Part 3: UV Unwrapping

Setting up Blender for the UV unwrapping workflow

Marking the seams and UV unwrapping

Laying out the baby dragon's UVs

Creating a Baby Dragon - Part 4: Baking and Painting Textures

Creating a Baby Dragon - Part 4: Baking and Painting Textures

Technical requirements

Getting set up for texture baking

Baking texture maps from high poly to low poly

Texture painting the base color in Blender

Using external programs for image editing

Setting up the remaining BSDF textures

Further reading

Creating a Baby Dragon - Part 5: Rigging and Animation

Creating a Baby Dragon - Part 5: Rigging and Animation

Practicing with a simple tentacle rig

Using the Rigify add-on to rig the baby dragon

Modifying the armature weights

Animating a flying cycle

Further reading

The Wide World of Blender

The Wide World of Blender

Blender skills to learn next

The Blender community

Other Books You May Enjoy

Other Books You May Enjoy

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Basic 3D navigation controls

The first thing you'll need to learn in any 3D software is how to navigate the 3D Viewport.

In Blender, the X-Axis is used for width, the Y-Axis is used for depth, and the Z-Axis is used for height. All 3D applications use the same colors for these axes; red for X, green for Y, and blue for Z.

The X-Axis is always used for width in 3D software. However, some software such as Unity and Maya reverse the other two axes so that the Y-Axis is used for height and the Z-Axis is used for depth.

The 3D Viewport is where you will be spending the majority of your time in any 3D software, and Blender is no exception. We will need a three-button mouse to be able to navigate the 3D Viewport properly (pressing the scroll wheel down acts as a middle mouse button). The Middle Mouse Button (MMB) is used for three fundamental navigation controls:

Rotate (sometimes...