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Blender v1.5 Manual 75

Posted by CmdrTaco from the cool-book-with-lots-of-info dept.
This book is the a great introduction for 3D newbies and a great resource for any 3D artist who would like to become intimately familiar with Blender. The book is is a work of art by itself and I highly recommend it. Read below for the full review.
Blender v1.5 Manual
author Ton Roosendaal
pages
publisher Not a Number
rating 9/10
reviewer Del Simmons
ISBN 90-76519-01-3
summary A great book for Linux fans who want to get started with 3D graphics or for 3D artists who want to get to know Blender better. A wealth of information for experts and newbies alike, put together like a work of art itself.

I have always been interested in 3D modeling and rendering but never took the time to learn the interface for any of the popular modellers. I wanted to play around with animation without spending a bundle on software. And most importantly, I wanted a sophisticated product that ran on my Linux box. So I was thrilled when I first came across Blender. Blender is a professional modelling and animation environment. As with any sophisticated 3D program, the interface can at first seem rather complex. This book was the key to unlocking the power of the Blender interface for me.

Ton really gives you what you need to get started. In Part 1 he describes how to install Blender for Linux, FreeBSD or SGI and then jumps right in to a description of the Object Hierarchy of the data structures and then a hands on tutorial of basic editing commands. Luckily he has made the install very easy, so all you need to do is download, uncompress and set one environment variable. You have to love that.

In the Basic Editing section you will find information on all the standard 3D operations. You'll learn how to move, rotate and scale objects within your scene. How to apply materials and textures to your objects. You'll also be taught how to save and load your data files. If you're already an experienced 3D artist then this will be a handy chapter for learning how to translate these basic functions into the Blender way of doing things. Blender's interface is definately unique in many ways and might take a small amount of getting used to. Once you familiarize yourself with the basic functions, though, I think you'll find it to be a very efficient interface for design work. If you're a newbie like me, then this section also serves as a nice introduction to these basic modelling concepts as well.

The second section of the book is called "Do it yourself" and is where the real power of Blender starts to become apparent to the reader. Topics covered inlude things such as View Modes and Presets working with Layers, 3D View Maipulation and many other useful items. This section also contains a Coffeecup Tutorial and a Flying Logo Tutorial that gave me a true sense of accomplishment when I finished. For an experienced artist, these might be laughable but I really enjoyed doing them and it taught me alot about Blender and 3D in general.

Flying Logo Tutorial Results ~ 69K

In part three you really start to get into the guts of the application and you can really tell that Ton was involved heavily in the development of this application. He conveys an understanding of not only design of the application but also why it was designed that way. He goes into detail about the data structure that Blender uses and explains the relationships between Objects, ObData and Materials. He also goes into a much more complete discussion of the interface of the program and the structure of the many available menus. This is a section that makes you glad that this book was written by someone who understands what goes on under Blender's hood.

Part four goes into a higher level of detail in discussing diferent types of objects including The Mesh, Curves and Surfaces, including Bezier, Nurbs and how to model with curves. He also covers Metaballs, Font usage, Lattice usage. I really enjoyed this section because it allowed me to start creating scenes that didn't look like diagrams out of a geometry textbook. (Spheres and cubes get old real quick!). Again, this section will be a valuable reference for experienced artist, and it also serves as a great introduction to these concepts to us newbies.

In the next few sections of the book there are chapters on Animation and using Ika's to create skeletons for your objects, enabling complicated motion in animation sequences. He also covers some Special Animation Techniques including the use of Motion Paths, and Object Tracking. This section allows you to bring your objects to life. After reading these sections I was able to create this humble creation. I thought it was pretty good for someone with literally three evenings reading this manual and no previous 3D experience at all. Please keep the flames to a minimum. :-)

Del's Flower Fly-by

The rest of the book is an incredible Reference to every option, every menu and every button in Blender. I can't see any rock that Ton has left unturned when documenting Blender's interface. Since he was so heavily involved in the development, he definately knows what features are available.

The last thing I want to make sure you know about this book is that it is a work of art itself. It is beatifully decorated with artwork on almost every page and the design of the book is such that reading it is really a pleasure. I commend Ton and his team on a job well done and I highly recommed this title for anyone interested in Blender specifically or for someone who would like to get started with 3D design.

Purchase this book at the Blender Shop and help support the continued development of this incredible program.
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Blender v1.5 Manual More

Blender v1.5 Manual

Comments Filter:
  • ftp ftp.redhat.com binary hash get /pub/linux/Redhat-5.2/images/boot rawrite boot a: format c: (just to be safe) ctrl-alt-del select network install X-workstation re boot Then try again... (Note: I'm not responsible for the accuracy of these commands, since I'm just kidding...)
  • ftp ftp.redhat.com
    binary
    hash
    get /pub/linux/Redhat-5.2/images/boot
    rawrite boot a:
    format c: (just to be safe)
    ctrl-alt-del
    select network install
    X-workstation
    re boot

    Then try again...

    (Note: I'm not responsible for the accuracy of these commands, since I'm just kidding...)

  • You probably need to set the gpm to use the PnP
    mouse driver. This was the case for my old 2.01
    version of the Microsoft serial mouse.
  • Looking at the Blender Shop page, the price is quoted as 89.00 NLG. Anyone know how much that is in American money?
    --
  • Posted by Mojoski:

    Could some kind soul mirror my empegs listed above? I'm afraid my server won't stand up very well if many people want to see my humble creations..

    Thanks,
    Del
  • Posted by Mojoski:

    It's just a way to make a living on a free product. He needs mindshare so he allows people to use. If someone wants to really get good at it and make excellent stuff then they can purchase the extra level of knowledge through the manual. I think this is a great model to use.
  • Posted by Mojoski:

    Once I worked through the manual I found it very well organised and intuitive, but an understanding of the object model is important to understanding the interface. That is one of the reasons I enjoyed the book so much..
  • Posted by Surzer:

    A book can't hide it's source code, it can't hide it's contentes. It can't crash like a computer program, so it is kinda free. A book is much more free than a proprietary computer program, since you have the "source code" for the book. And people can sell free software, but not get very much money from each copy, so selling books about the software is IMHO a good way of making money.
  • It works very well on Linux and even better on an SGI. Very nice program. I'll probably pick up the manual sometime in the near future! (it is really nice - and supports the Blender folks)
  • blenders are fun. they make stuff better... err batter... okay... not funny...

  • wow (Score:1)

    by nostromo ( 1709 )
    I've just got the manual today and I must say it's really a piece of art. Can't wait to try it out on my linux box at home! If you've got blender, buy it, it's worth it.
  • >now that /. runs on a much faster machine, why not add a module that runs every article through 'ispell'

    I see English English/American English flamewars on the horizon...

    :-)

  • now that /. runs on a much faster machine, why not add a module that runs every article through 'ispell'? 'Definately' gets old very quick.

    ^D
  • If you think AutoCAD is good software, you haven't used it much. After R12, they removed the IGES import/export (to put it into a more expensive package), screwed up their DXF output so it was incompatible with older software (like AutoDesk's own 3D Studio R3 at the time). Properly designed code can handle the changes, but not always.

    Then with R14, the AutoLisp was modified such that I had to change every routine I wrote - to make it imcompatible with R13. The plot-to-file option outputs 'correct' code, but such a way that Win/DOS can't shove it through the comm port properly. I had to reboot to Linux to get that file to work - 'cat filename /dev/ttyS1'.

    I which I could help with a free 3D CAD program, but I am working on related projects.
  • At the console, that is, while gpm is running. Do you see a cursor on screen? If no, kill gpm and try re-running it with "gpm -t msdos". If you see a cursor now, then your mouse works okay, and you need to start looking at your X config file, and (like the other poster said) make sure you kill gpm before running X.

    If you DON'T see a cursor when you move the mouse at the console, (while running "gpm -t msdos") then you need to check the mouse itself, cable, connections and whatnot, or try other mouse types ("gpm -t ps2").

    If you can get your mouse to work at the console with gpm, then you should be able to get it to go with X.

    Good luck!
  • I'm inspired!

    I've got Blender loaded, but have been TOTALLY intimidated by the interface. I might just have to pay off my credit card and order me that book!
  • Moron! How are you going to give away a manual that's printed on non-free paper and printed on a REALLY non-free Heidelberg. However, it's trivial to provide binaries of software, especially if you've already got the dedicated bandwidth for some other reason. But I guarantee you, International Paper, etc. will not give away paper.
    Low Volume manuals like this one are $$EXPENSIVE$$ to produce and ~$50 is cheap for one.
    These people use this software in Their work, they have no reason to goof it up!

    Use your head for a doorstop. That's what it seems capable of.
  • At the moment, you cannot benefit from 3Dfx acceleration in Blender or any other app that uses in-window OpenGL rendering.

    Reasons for this:
    1. 3Dfx Voodoo and Voodoo2 chips cannot render into a window. This is a *hardware limitation* and cannot be circumvented. There is the "mesa window hack" which copies the 3Dfx frame buffer into the X frame buffer, which is slower than pure hardware but faster than pure software. However, myself and others have been 100% UNsucessful in getting this to work with Blender.

    2. 3Dfx hardware, including the upcoming Voodoo3, use 16-bit Z buffers. Blender needs 24 bits. It remains to be seen if this problem can be worked around, due to #1 above.

    MoNsTeR
  • Dutch postal services are extremely expensive... It costs about $30 to ship 1 kg of goods. And that is by boat. Telephone services are also very expensive. These things have been state-monopolies and have only recently been privatised. Alternatives would be DHL or UPS, who are even more (but not that much considering speed of delivery) expensive. So, 'not a number' cannot help this extra charge. Computer (or any other) books are expensive too around here. If a book says $50 on the cover, and $1 == f2,- the bookstore charges f150,- for it. Same story for cd's, children cloths, and some other stuff. There are cartels around here.
    ------------------------------------------- -------------
    UNIX isn't dead, it just smells funny...
  • $1 is about 2 NLG (Dutch guilders). So it's about $45.
  • $44.

    By the way, a VERY USEFUL SITE:
    http://www.cnn.com/TRAVEL/ESSENTIALS/ [cnn.com]

    This includes the currency converter I used. -matt
    ---
    Wha? TV & Movie Theme Songs? Oh yeah....

  • Do you have one of those PS2/serial switchable mice? If so, you might have it on the wrong setting. I've observed similar behavior in that circumstance. Flicking the switch on the bottom of the mouse fixed it instantly.
  • That's it, I'm gonna have to scrape together $47 and get this thing.

    --Bitscape

  • The whole principle behind free software is that you should be free to do with it as you will - that is, if you find an exasperating bug that's been knawing at you for centuries, you have the freedom to go through the source and fix it.

    This doesn't really apply to books, since errors in books don't affect your ability to get stuff done in the way software bugs do.

    (Real-world example: I found several errors in a book I bought; I was able to change my code accordingly and move on).

    D

    ----
  • Heh, I bought two manuals, one for my brother :)
    and four T shirts. And if/when blender cost money
    I'll buy that too.

  • He doesn't have run articles through 'ispell' for every access. Just run them through when posting.
  • I've got to take off my hat to this one (well, I don't wear a hat, so I'll take off my figurative hat): even if it is a closed-source program, it's among the best I've seen. It also runs on decent platforms--and it DOESN'T run on Windows! Yippee!

    It's free as in beer, but not free as in speech. But, it is some pretty good technology, and I can understand the author's fears. While I personally am not into 3D, I am going to buy my brother a nice birthday present. =) He's been loving playing around with the Gimp, and this will give him some serious power toys.

    Hmm. Maybe I should get in touch with him and start work on an OS/2 port?

    Cheers,
    Joshua.

  • While I believe removing Anonymous Coward posting would be an asset to this site, mandating any kind of filtering, even ispell, would only serve to hurt. I believe that one's spelling/grammer tells you something about that person. Its up to him/her to decide whether to present ideas in a coherent manner.

    A spell checker would be a really nice _option_ though.
  • Running NT4 (sp3) and I get and error telling me that ActiveMovie won't work because the video stream "falls outside the constrained standard"?! What the hell is that about? I can play the logo video but not this one. What gives?
  • Thanx for the suggestion :)
  • I will read it again and again...

    --C
  • Keyboard commands are natural to me-I use AutoCAD (probably the best piece of win32 software I've ever used.)

    Good point on blender. It's beautiful. I thought I was nuts when I saw the size of the download. This is what free software is all about, no?

  • Actually, that reminds me of something I was wondering, and it seems on topic, so here goes: why don't hardware manufacturers offer open sources of their drivers? I mean, I understand closed source software where the software is the product, but you've already bought the freakin' hardware, why do they bother to keep the drivers secret? Seems to me they only stand to gain, because if they make some kickass hardware, and then let people port the drivers to other OSes and work bugs out, it should be all good.

    Write your hardware vendor today!

  • Sweet! You did that after 3 days? I'm sold.

    Now if I could only get my damn M$ serial mouse to work w/ X11. Hey, anybody know anything about that?

    kmj

  • think I've tried that. Think I've tried nearly everything. And I've asked all the local linux pseudo-gurus. It actually sees my mouse and technically it works, but when I move the mouse 1 millimeter, it flies all the the way over to the other side of the virtual desktop. ( I still have Fwvm2? 'cuz it was default.) I'm relatively new, so I don't really know what to do except try another mouse.

    kmj

  • I think I've tried that, but I'll try it again.

    kmj


  • I think we should declare that any use of the
    word definitely be spelt "definately"!

    It makes me laugh when I see it spelt definately.
    This happens so often it's hilarious.
  • Regarding reason 1, Voodoo Rush actually can render into a window.
  • The manual is well worth the investment plus it helps a great product get better. Since I've used Blender there have been 4 releases with more cool stuff added each time. This is only in a 4 month period. Why pay $500 or $2000 or more for Windows crashable software? The other great thing is the program is amazingly small.

    For exWindows users you will understand what the middle mouse was used for, and that the mouse and keyboard work together (not this or that usage).

    Granted the learning curve for blender is very steep for newbies, but the manual makes a steep hill a very quick sprint.
  • Compaired to the (M$)alternitive, it sounds fair.





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