Book Image

Taking Blender to the Next Level

By : Ruan Lotter
Book Image

Taking Blender to the Next Level

By: Ruan Lotter

Overview of this book

If you're ready to start exploring the more advanced workflows and processes in Blender to create intricate 3D models, then Taking Blender to the Next Level is for you. This book focuses on a few different VFX-related workflows such as geometry nodes, organic modeling, 3D camera tracking, photogrammetry, sculpting, compositing, and physics simulations. You’ll learn how to use geometry nodes to create dynamic motion graphic scenes as well as perform 3D scanning of real-world objects using photogrammetry. You’ll also find out how to model, rig, and animate your own 3D characters from scratch. Next, you’ll progress to using simulations to break objects apart and then use cloth and hair simulations to add realism to your 3D creations. Finally, you’ll go over the final render settings and export your 3D animation masterpiece as a video. By the end of this Blender book, you’ll be able to model your own 3D characters, objects, and landscapes; rig, animate, and texture your characters; 3D track live-action footage; and composite your 3D characters into live-action scenes.

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Table of Contents (19 chapters)
Preface
Preface
Who this book is for
What this book covers
To get the most out of this book
Download the example files
Download the color images
Conventions used
Get in touch
Share Your Thoughts
1
Part 1: Modeling, Materials, and Animation Workflows
Part 1: Modeling, Materials, and Animation Workflows
Free Chapter
2
Chapter 1: Using Geometry Nodes to Create Dynamic Scenes
Chapter 1: Using Geometry Nodes to Create Dynamic Scenes
Introduction to Geometry Nodes in Blender
Creating and manipulating geometry using nodes
Using textures to control attributes
Animating with Math nodes
Summary
3
Chapter 2: Creating a Motion Graphics Scene Using Geometry Nodes
Chapter 2: Creating a Motion Graphics Scene Using Geometry Nodes
Creating our base mesh and instance object
Using an empty object to calculate proximity data
Using the proximity data to modify the attributes
Animating our scene
Adding color using materials
Summary
4
Chapter 3: Organic Modeling P1: Creating a Mushroom
Chapter 3: Organic Modeling P1: Creating a Mushroom
Creating our base mesh for the mushroom
UV unwrapping our model
The multiresolution modifier
Sculpting finer details
Using a lattice to shape your overall model
Creating a low-poly and high-poly mesh
Baking the normal map
Summary
5
Chapter 4: Organic Modeling P2: Creating the Landscape around the Mushroom
Chapter 4: Organic Modeling P2: Creating the Landscape around the Mushroom
Creating the landscape
Adding grass using Geometry Nodes
Summary
6
Chapter 5: PBR Materials: Texturing our Mushroom Scene
Chapter 5: PBR Materials: Texturing our Mushroom Scene
Adding materials to the mushroom
Adding materials to the landscape
Creating a procedural grass material
Using an HDRI, Sky Texture, and Sun to light our scene
Summary
7
Chapter 6: 3D Scanning and Photogrammetry: Creating Your Own 3D Scans
Chapter 6: 3D Scanning and Photogrammetry: Creating Your Own 3D Scans
Taking photos for 3D scanning/photogrammetry
Using Meshroom to convert photos into a 3D model
Cleaning up a model using Blender
Optimizing the topology of a model using Instant Meshes
UV unwrapping and texture baking
Summary
8
Chapter 7: Modeling an Alien Cartoon Character
Chapter 7: Modeling an Alien Cartoon Character
Creating reference images of your character
Setting up the reference images in Blender
Modeling an alien cartoon character
Summary
9
Chapter 8: Rigging and Animating Your 3D Cartoon Character
Chapter 8: Rigging and Animating Your 3D Cartoon Character
Installing the Rigify add-on
Importing our character and getting it ready for the rigging process
Rigging the character using Rigify
IK versus FK and rig layers
Animating the walk cycle
Summary
10
Part 2: Let's Do Some Physics
Part 2: Let's Do Some Physics
11
Chapter 9: Rigid Body Simulation: Destroying a Statue Using Physics
Chapter 9: Rigid Body Simulation: Destroying a Statue Using Physics
Installing the required add-ons
Setting up the scene
Using Cell Fracture to break our model into smaller pieces
Fracturing the impact point using the Annotation Pencil
Rigid Body physics
Linking fractured pieces together using Rigid Body Constraints
Animating a Rigid Body impact object
Baking the final physics simulation
Summary
12
Chapter 10: Dynamic Cloth Simulations
Chapter 10: Dynamic Cloth Simulations
Importing our character and walk cycle
Adding a rest pose
Creating clothing for our character
The cloth simulation
Using forces to enhance the simulation
Baking the cloth simulation
Adding final modifiers
Summary
13
Chapter 11: Creating Dynamic Hair Using Particles
Chapter 11: Creating Dynamic Hair Using Particles
Reusing our alien character and walk cycle animation
Creating a Vertex Group
Creating hair particles that interact with physics
Grooming and styling
Baking the hair simulation to cache
Setting up a hair shader for rendering
Summary
14
Part 3: Match Moving and Compositing
Part 3: Match Moving and Compositing
15
Chapter 12: Matching Blender's Camera Movement to Live Action Footage
Chapter 12: Matching Blender's Camera Movement to Live Action Footage
Creating an image sequence from a video
Importing the image sequence into Blender
Camera tracking or match moving
Solving and refining the track and orienting the scene
Testing the camera track with test objects
Summary
16
Chapter 13: Compositing the Alien Cartoon Character onto the Live Action Footage
Chapter 13: Compositing the Alien Cartoon Character onto the Live Action Footage
Importing our alien character and tracked camera into a new Blender project
Matching the lighting to our live-action scene
Configuring View Layers
Compositing using nodes
Summary
17
Chapter 14: The Final Render
Chapter 14: The Final Render
Understanding the render settings
Rendering an animation as an image sequence
Converting the image sequence into an MP4 video
Summary
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18
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Understanding the render settings

In this section, we will open our Compositing Blender project from Chapter 13, Compositing the Alien Cartoon Character onto the Live Action Footage, and configure the final render settings so that we can render or save the final animation to individual image files. Each frame of our animation will be rendered as an image file. Let's get started:

  1. Open the Blender project that you saved in Chapter 13, Compositing the Alien Cartoon Character onto the Live Action Footage.
  2. Click the Layout tab at the top of the interface to switch to the Layout workspace.
  3. Click the Render Properties tab to the right of 3D Viewport to view the render settings.

Blender has two main render engines – Cycles and Eevee. We will make use of the Cycles render engine for our final render as Cycles is Blender's unbiased, realistic render engine.

  1. Under the Render Properties panel, set Render Engine to Cycles.
  2. If you have a dedicated...
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