Cover image for
Title:
Blender for dummies / by Jason van Gumster.
Author:
Van Gumster, Jason, author.
Publication Information:
Hoboken, New Jersey : John Wiley & Sons, Inc., [2015]

©2015
Call Number:
TR897.7 .V365 2015
Abstract:
"Blender for Dummies is the quick and easy guide to learning 3D modeling and animation using the popular, free, open source Blender software. You'll learn how to create models, animate movement, and render well-lit scenes as you master the powerful features that rival the more expensive professional animation software. This third edition is updated to cover the latest features added in Blender, including digital sculpting with dynamic topology, rendering with the incredibly powerful Cycles renderer, and more advanced simulation tools. You'll learn the shortcuts and tricks that make creating animation a reality for anyone at any level. The companion web site provides access to additional tutorials that give you the confidence you need to start animating quickly. This useful guide blends the functionality of a reference with the hands-on learning that develops your skills and understanding in a flash"-- Publisher's website.
Title Subject:
Edition:
Third Edition.
ISBN:
9781119039532
Series:
For dummies

--For dummies.
Physical Description:
xiv, 500 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.
General Note:
Includes index.
Contents:
Introduction -- About this book -- Foolish assumptions -- Icons used in this book -- Beyond the book -- Where to go from here -- Part 1: Getting Started With Blender: -- Discovering Blender: -- Getting to know Blender: -- Discovering Blender's origins and the strength of the Blender community -- Making open movies and games -- Getting to know the interface: -- Working with an interface that stays out of your way -- Resizing areas -- Maximizing an area -- Menu that is a pie -- Understanding How Blender Thinks: -- Looking at editor types: -- General editors -- Animation editors -- 2D editors -- Utility editors -- Understanding the properties editor -- Customizing Blender to fit you: -- Using screen layout presets -- Setting user preferences -- Using custom event maps -- Navigating in three dimensions: -- Orbiting, panning, and zooming the 3D view -- Changing views -- Selecting objects -- Taking advantage of the 3D cursor -- Extra features in the 3D view: -- Quad view -- Regions -- Don't know how to do something? Hooray for fully integrated search! -- Getting Your Hands Dirty Working In Blender: -- Grabbing, scaling, and rotating -- Differentiating between coordinate systems -- Transforming an object by using the 3D manipulator: -- Switching manipulator modes -- Using the manipulator -- Saving time by using hotkeys: -- Transforming with hotkeys -- Hotkeys and coordinate systems -- Numerical input -- Properties region -- Working In Edit Mode And Object Mode: -- Making changes by using edit mode: -- Distinguishing between object mode and edit mode -- Selecting vertices, edges, and faces -- Working with linked vertices -- Still Blender's no 1 modeling tool: Extrude -- Adding to a scene: -- Adding objects -- Meet Suzanne, the Blender monkey -- Joining and separating objects -- Creating duplicates and links -- Discovering parents, children, and groups -- Saving, opening, and appending -- Part 2: Creating Detailed 3D Scenes: -- Creating Anything You Can An Imagine With Meshes: -- Pushing vertices -- Working with loops and rings: -- Understanding edge loops and face loops -- Selecting edge rings -- Creating new loops -- Cutting edges with the knife -- Simplifying your life as a modeler with modifiers: -- Doing half the work (and still looking good!) with the mirror modifier -- Smoothing things out with the subdivision surface modifier -- Using the power of arrays -- Sculpting in virtual space: -- Sculpting with the multiresolution modifier -- Freeform sculpting with dynamic topology (Dyntopo) -- Sculpting options -- Understanding the basics of retopology -- Using Blender's Non-Mesh Primitives: -- Using curves and surfaces: -- Understanding the different types of curves -- Working with curves -- Understanding the strengths and limitations of Blender's surfaces -- Using meatball objects: -- Meta-wha? -- What meatball objects are useful for -- Adding text: -- Adding and editing text -- Changing fonts -- Deforming text with a curve -- Converting to curves and meshes -- Changing That Boring Gray Default Material: -- Understanding materials and render engines -- Quick n' dirty coloring: -- Setting diffuse colors -- Assigning multiple materials to different parts of a mesh -- Using vertex colors -- Setting up node materials in Cycles: -- Adjusting your layout to work with node materials -- Working with nodes -- Understanding shaders -- Playing with materials in Blender internal: -- Adjusting shader values -- Reflection and transparency -- Controlling how materials handle shadows -- Giving Models Texture: -- Adding textures: -- Working with textures in Blender internal -- Including textures on a Cycles material -- Using procedural textures: -- Understanding Blender internals procedurals -- Discovering procedurals in Cycles -- Understanding texture mapping: -- Applying textures when using Blender internal -- Mapping textures when using cycles -- Unwrapping a mesh: -- Marking seams on a mesh -- Adding a test grid -- Generating and editing UV coordinates -- Painting textures directly on a mesh: -- Preparing to paint -- Working in texture paint mode -- Saving painted textures and exporting UV layouts -- Baking texture maps from your mesh: -- Discovering texture bake options in BI -- Discovering texture bake options in Cycles -- Baking textures -- Using UV textures -- Lighting And Environment: -- Lighting a scene: -- Understanding a basic three-point lighting setup -- Knowing when to use which type of lamp -- Lighting for speedy renders: -- Working with three-point lighting in Blender -- Creating a fake area light with buffered spots -- Dealing with outdoor lighting -- Setting up the world: -- Changing the sky to something other than dull gray -- Modifying the world in Cycles -- Creating sky textures in BI -- Understanding ambient occlusion -- Adding mist in BI --

Part 3: Get Animated: -- Animating Objects: -- Working with animation curves: -- Customizing your screen layout for animation -- Working in the graph editor -- Inserting keys -- Working with keying sets -- Editing motion curves -- Using F-curve modifiers -- Using constraints effectively: -- All-powerful empty! -- Adjusting the influence of constraint -- Using vertex groups in constraints -- Copying the movement of another object -- Putting limits on an object -- Tracking the motion of another object -- Discovering The Tools Used In Rigging: -- Creating shape keys: -- Creating new shapes -- Mixing shapes -- Knowing where shape keys are helpful -- Adding hooks: -- Creating new hooks -- Knowing where hooks are helpful -- Using armatures: skeletons in the mesh: -- Editing armatures -- Putting skin on your skeleton -- Animating Object Deformations: -- Working with the dope sheet -- Animating with armatures: -- Principles of animation worth remembering -- Making sense of quaternions (or, why are there four rotation curves?!) -- Copying mirrored poses -- Seeing the big picture with ghosting -- Visualizing motion with paths -- Doing nonlinear animation: -- Mixing actions to create complex animation -- Taking advantage of looped animation -- Letting Blend Do The Work For You: -- Using particles in Blender: -- Knowing what particle systems are good for -- Using force fields and collisions -- Using particles for hair and fur -- Giving objects some jiggle and bounce -- Dropping objects in a scene with rigid body dynamics -- Simulating cloth -- Splashing fluids in your scene -- Smoking without hurting your lungs: smoke simulation in Blender: -- Rendering smoke using Blender internal -- Rendering smoke using Cycles -- Part 4: Sharing Your Work With The World: -- Exporting And Rendering Scenes: -- Exporting to external formats -- Rendering a scene: -- Creating a still image -- Creating a sequence of still images for editing or compositing -- Compositing And Editing: -- Comparing editing to compositing -- Working with the video sequence editor: -- Adding and editing strips -- Adding effects -- Rendering from the video sequence editor -- Working with the node-based compositor: -- Understanding the benefits of rendering in passes and layers -- Working with nodes -- Discovering the nodes available to you -- Rendering from the node compositor -- Part 5: Part Of Tens: -- Ten Problems (And Solutions) For Newbies: -- Blender's interface is weird or glitch -- Notorious black stripe appears on models -- Objects go missing -- Edge loop select doesn't work -- Background image disappears -- Zooming has its limits -- Lost simulation data -- Objects don't appear when rendering -- No GPU rendering for cycles -- Funky deformations in animation rigs -- Ten Tips For Working More Effectively In Blender: -- Use tooltips and integrated search -- Look at models from different views -- Lock a camera to an animated character -- Don't forget about add-ons -- Name everything -- Use scene layers effectively -- Do low-resolution test renders -- Mind your mouse -- Use grease pencil to plan -- Have fun, but take breaks -- Ten Excellent Community Resources: -- Blender-org -- BlenderArtists-org -- BlenderNation -- BlenderBasics-com -- blender-stackexchange-com -- BlenderCookie-com -- Blendswap -- Blenderart magazine -- builder-blender-org -- Blender IRC channels on freenode-net -- Index.
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