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- Herausgeber: Packt Publishing
- Kategorie: Fachliteratur
- Sprache: Englisch
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.
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Seitenzahl: 654
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2012
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Table of Contents
Blender 3D Basics Beginner's Guide
Blender 3D Basics Beginner's Guide
Copyright © 2012 Packt Publishing
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.
Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the author, nor Packt Publishing, and its dealers and distributors will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this book.
Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.
First published: June 2012
Production Reference: 1130612
Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.
Livery Place
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Birmingham B3 2PB, UK.
ISBN 978-1-84951-690-7
www.packtpub.com
Cover Image by Gordon C. Fisher ( <[email protected]>)
Credits
Author
Gordon C. Fisher
Reviewers
John W. Allie
Allan Brito
Matt Campbell
Roberto Roch
Bryan Tenorio
Willem Verwey
Acquisition Editor
Robin de Jongh
Lead Technical Editor
Dayan Hyames
Technical Editors
Joyslita D'Souza
Vishal D'Souza
Lubna Shaikh
Project Coordinator
Leena Purkait
Proofreader
Bernadette Watkins
Indexer
Rekha Nair
Graphics
Manu Joseph
Production Coordinator
Aparna Bhagat
Cover Work
Aparna Bhagat
About the Author
Gordon C. Fisher got his start in Computer Graphics working with industry pioneers at Information International, Inc. At University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) he was the first student to display computer-generated artwork, interactive computer graphics, and computer animation at the UCSB Gallery. Since then, he has made 3D animation for clients including the U.S. Army, Ford Motor Co. the Dallas Cowboys, the Southeastern Conference, and Costco and Southwest Airlines.
He has been using Blender professionally since 2002 and has given classes on using Blender and using Python with Blender at Python conferences in Texas and Arkansas. His short, Land and Sky, made with Blender was shown at the Ozark Foothills Film Fest.
He has garnered two ADDY Citations of Excellence for an animation and an interactive CD. He has been a speaker at Siggraph, describing his work in VRML. His work has been displayed at the National Air and Space Museum.
He is the Creative Director for Point Happy Interactive and spends his spare time as a Bicycling Advocate and Space Activist.
He was the co-author and editor for Love and Oil, his grandfather's memoirs of traveling throughout Mexico, prospecting for oil during the Mexican Revolution. He has written articles about 3D modeling and animation for the American Modeler magazine and Digital Video Producer ezine.
I would like to thank the people without whom this book would not exist.
The staff at Packt; Rachel Gottsch, my English teacher in ninth, tenth, and tenth grades; Gary Demos who encouraged me; Jeffrey Marcus and Gary Brown of UCSB who gave me the access and freedom to do computer graphics; Ton Roosendaal for Blender and Betsy Brown, puppeteer extraordinaire, who got me started in this direction.
About the Reviewers
John W. Allie is an illustrator and writer. He has been using Blender since 1999, when it wasn't even open source. Blender is an important part of his personal and professional work, which includes everything from games to animations. He lives in New Haven, Connecticut, where he is currently working on a graphic novel.
Allan Brito is a Brazilian Architect and a specialist in information visualization, who lives and works in Recife, Brazil. He works with Blender 3D to produce animations and still images for visualization and instructional material. Besides his work with Blender as an artist, he also has a wide experience in teaching and researching about 3D modeling, animation, and multimedia.
He is an active member of the community of Blender users and writes about Blender 3D and its development for websites in Brazilian Portuguese (http://www.allanbrito.com) and English (http://www.blender3darchitect.com and http://www.blendernation.com). Besides his two blogs, he has managed to write three books about Blender in both English and Brazilian Portuguese, covering topics such as architectural visualization, mechanical modeling, and general Blender guides.
To find out more about him visit the website http://www.blender3darchitect.com, where he covers the use of Blender and other tools for architectural visualization.
I want to thank my wife Erica for her support during the review of this book.
Matt Campbell graduated from Conestoga College with a diploma in Mechanical Technology. He has worked in the 3D modeling world since 2007, working mostly with CAD packages. Recently, he has become interested in creating immersive 3D movies.
I would like to thank my wife Emma and my son Ethan for always being supportive.
Bryan Tenorio studied 3D animation in both high school and in college. He specializes in using Blender as his main tool, and Gimp for most 2D work. He has worked on various freelance jobs. He was on a small team that did previz work for the film 0000, by Eddie Alcazar. He also worked on a few Indie games with (Subli)minal Gaming. Currently he's employed at Rival Theory, a software company that specializes in artificial intelligence for video games.
Willem Verwey is the founder and Chairman of the 3D Animation Network www.3danim8.net. The 3D Animation Network introduced children to animation using Blender since 2007.
He has also served on the Blender Foundation Certification Review Board since 2007.
He is the co-owner of Metagon Games and is currently working on Hidden Object Adventure Games distributed by Big Fish Games.
He technically reviewed Material Cookbook.
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Preface
When researching in preparation to write this book, we discovered that some Blender users try to learn Blender three times and give up twice before they become comfortable with Blender's effective, if unusual, interface. The editors at Packt and I decided that this was a problem that could be solved. The answer is to explain the basics in depth, give you practice so that your hands can learn Blender just as your mind does, and then you build on what you have learned. This isn't just a subject-by-subject reference book. It's a workbook to give you experience.
The theory behind Blender 3D Basics Beginner's Guide is to start out simply and delve deeper and deeper into Blender in gradual stages. This book will start with an introduction to Blender and some background on the principles of animation, how they are applied to computer animation, and how these principles make animation better. Then you will be gently guided through the Blender interface, and introduced to using Blender with simple projects that cover the full process of modeling, lighting, camera work, and animation. Then you will continue to practice what you have learned and do more advanced work in all areas. Finally, you will bring it all together with an advanced project covering these subjects and edit animations made in this book; creating a video and a stereoscopic 3D animation.
This may be a workbook, but it's a fun workbook with surprises, humor, and the projects build on each other, so it's not just a random series of exercises. When you are finished, you'll be prepared to show the world your skills.
Let's go!
What this book covers
Chapter 1, Introducing Blender and Animation, will help you to get your first hands-on use of Blender, a brief but very relevant bit of history of animation and computer animation and an overview of the basic principles of animation.
Chapter 2, Getting Comfortable using the 3D View, includes some fun exercises that explore using the Blender window system and the basic elements that are found in the 3D View window.
Chapter 3, Controlling the Lamp, the Camera, and Animating Objects, explains the basics of lights in Blender, good use of the camera, and making your first animation.
Chapter 4, Modeling with Vertices, Edges, and Faces, teaches you the fundamentals of 3D modeling, using Vertices, Edges, and Faces. You'll be introduced to Blender's library of pre-made objects and have fun bending and distorting Blender's lovely mascot, Suzanne.
Chapter 5, Building a Simple Boat, will teach you Box Modeling techniques. You will learn how to use them to make a small johnboat, give it a color, and make wooden seats. Then you will study the different lights that Blender has.
Chapter 6, Making and Moving the Oars, focuses on the oars for the boat. You will use more advanced modeling and animation techniques and discover how to create more complex keyframe animations.
Chapter 7, Planning your Work, Working your Plan, teaches you to create templates to help you plan your modeling. You will get an introduction to modeling with Bezier Curves; take a look at storyboarding and planning an animation as well being introduced to some charts and guides that help you plan your work.
Chapter 8, Making the Sloop, helps you to make the hull of the sloop using Box Modeling and Subdivision Surfaces. You will learn to make holes in objects with Boolean operations and create the Ship's Wheel with Spin Tools and DupliVerts.
Chapter 9, Finishing your Sloop, explains how to use text and fonts in naming your sloop. Then you will assemble all the objects you made in this and the previous chapter, build some sails using NURBS surfaces, and add a few extras that have been provided in your download pack.
Chapter 10, Modeling Organic Forms, Sea, and Terrain, helps you to build and paint an island and the ocean. You make trees for it, and assemble some pre-fab buildings, as well as make a pier from four simple parts.
Chapter 11, Improving your Lighting and Camera Work, focuses on professional lighting and camera techniques. You will also learn more about animation and ways to speed up performing test renders and improve the final rendering quality.
Chapter 12, Rendering and Compositing, covers assembling strips of animated sequences in the Video Sequence Editor to create a completed and edited animation with sound. You will use the Node Editor to assemble a 3D Stereoscopic animation and get introduced to the Cycles renderer, which adds even more realism and possibilities to a Blender scene.
What you need for this book
Of course you need to download a copy of Blender available at http://www.blender.org/download/get-blender/. This book was written and tested on Blender 2.63a. It should work with later versions of Blender as well, but we cannot guarantee it.
Who this book is for
This book was written to reduce the frustration that beginning Blender users face, by offering a thorough introduction to the unique Blender interface; starting with simple projects and working up to more complex scenes and animations. It's intended to provide plenty of practice in using Blender, advice on things to keep in mind when doing 3D animation, and an exploration of Blender so that the student, when they finish the book, will have a solid background in using Blender and know enough that they can confidently participate in the world wide Blender community.
This book also takes a peek into some arcane subjects such as the Cycles render engine, so that the reader will not be afraid, and will have a start on how to understand them. The student will have a solid enough basis in using Blender that they can continue and learn all of the higher functions of Blender including the physics engine, game engine, particles, armatures for character modeling, and more.
Conventions
In this book, you will find several headings appearing frequently.
To give clear instructions on how to complete a procedure or task, we use:
Time for action — heading
Instructions often need some extra explanation so that they make sense, so they are followed with:
What just happened?
This heading explains the working of tasks or instructions that you have just completed.
You will also find some other learning aids in the book, including:
Pop quiz— heading
These are short multiple choice questions intended to help you test your own understanding.
Have a go hero — heading
These set practical challenges and give you ideas for experimenting with what you have learned.
You will also find a number of styles of text that distinguish between different kinds of information. Here are some examples of these styles, and an explanation of their meaning.
Code words in text are shown as follows: "For your reference, the file 6907_07_sloop_mast.blend has the mast started".
New terms and important words are shown in bold. Words that you see on the screen, in menus or dialog boxes for example, appear in the text like this: "Click on the Add Image button with the LMB".
Note
Warnings or important notes appear in a box like this.
Note
Tips and tricks appear like this.
Reader feedback
Feedback from our readers is always welcome. Let us know what you think about this book—what you liked or may have disliked. Reader feedback is important for us to develop titles that you really get the most out of.
To send us general feedback, simply send an e-mail to <[email protected]>, and mention the book title through the subject of your message.
If there is a topic that you have expertise in and you are interested in either writing or contributing to a book, see our author guide on www.packtpub.com/authors.
Customer support
Now that you are the proud owner of a Packt book, we have a number of things to help you to get the most from your purchase.
Downloading the example code
You can download the example code files for all Packt books you have purchased from your account at http://www.packtpub.com. If you purchased this book elsewhere, you can visit http://www.packtpub.com/support and register to have the files e-mailed directly to you.
Errata
Although we have taken every care to ensure the accuracy of our content, mistakes do happen. If you find a mistake in one of our books—maybe a mistake in the text or the code—we would be grateful if you would report this to us. By doing so, you can save other readers from frustration and help us improve subsequent versions of this book. If you find any errata, please report them by visiting http://www.packtpub.com/support, selecting your book, clicking on the errata submission form link, and entering the details of your errata. Once your errata are verified, your submission will be accepted and the errata will be uploaded to our website, or added to any list of existing errata, under the Errata section of that title.
Piracy
Piracy of copyright material on the Internet is an ongoing problem across all media. At Packt, we take the protection of our copyright and licenses very seriously. If you come across any illegal copies of our works, in any form, on the Internet, please provide us with the location address or website name immediately so that we can pursue a remedy.
Please contact us at <[email protected]>with a link to the suspected pirated material.
We appreciate your help in protecting our authors, and our ability to bring you valuable content.
Questions
You can contact us at <[email protected]>if you are having a problem with any aspect of the book, and we will do our best to address it.
Chapter 1. Introducing Blender and Animation
Welcome, it's a good guess that you are interested in learning how to do 3D animation. You've chosen Blender 3D and you want to learn how to use it. This book is a good choice. We did research on what hurdles new users faced and what their frustrations with other training methods were. So we will go step-by-step, learning how to use Blender comfortably to create animations, do modeling, lighting, camera work, and much more. You will start out with simple steps, get comfortable using the Blender interface, make and animate a rowboat, then a sloop, and create your own private island as shown in the following screenshot:
This first chapter will get us gently into Blender:
Welcome to the world of Blender 3D
The following is a screenshot made using Blender:
The world of Blender is not an animated world as seen in films like Big Buck Bunny as shown previously, or Sintel that was made in Blender. It's the amazing community of people all over the world who use Blender. Artists, programmers, professionals, amateurs, teens, and retirees all use Blender and you are one of the newest members of our community.
One thing that makes this community remarkable is the concept that Blender is free, you pay for it by helping out the Blender community. There are many ways to give back. You can recommend Blender to your friends; have fun helping other Blender users at websites such as www.blenderartists.org by critiquing their works or passing along tips that you have learned. Blender is open source. Once you have mastered Blender, you can help create new functions for Blender itself or work with the Blender foundation team to make new cutting edge examples of what Blender can do, such as Sintel. There are as many ways to help as there are Blender users and most important, helping others helps you as a Blender user. Blender is not a solo sport, so join in.
Tip
Big Buck Bunny and Sintel are animated films created by the Blender Institute.
They were made with the dual purposes of improving Blender by bringing the best Blender users in the world together to push Blender to its limits, using its full capacity and demonstrating to people what Blender is capable of. You can download Big Buck Bunny and Sintel, or watch them at these locations:
Sintel can be seen at http://www.sintel.org/.
Big Buck Bunny can be seen at http://www.bigbuckbunny.org/.
Discovering Blender and animation
As Sintel, shown in the following screenshot, learned about her little Dragon, you will be learning a lot about how to use Blender. We will start out with some quick exercises to introduce you to the basics, and as you progress, you will be able to do more and more. As you study and practice, your hands will learn the Blender commands, freeing your mind to let it concentrate on modeling, animation, lights, and camera.
This book is about using Blender 3D, but there is more to animation than knowing which buttons to push while using Blender. Animators who are skilled at using the software, but do not have a broader understanding of animation, do not get the full use of the tools. They don't understand the culture or the history of animation or how animation principles have been used by masters such as Ub Iwerks, Chuck Jones, and Hayao Miyazaki, and therefore cannot profit from them.
So, in this chapter, we will look at animation in general, and then computer animation specifically. After that, we will get a bit closer and apply what we have learned to Blender. As you go through this book, you'll start by making some simple animations, moving the lights and camera in Blender. Once you are confident with this, you'll study the fundamentals of modeling and complete a simple modeling and animation project; and finally, you will work on a more complex scene to expand your skills and get comfortable with the whole Blender production cycle.
There are many excellent books showing how to animate. In this book, we will focus on Blender and include pointers about animation that will help you educate yourself about animation in general and get the most from Blender.
Repetition is important when learning a skill. It takes repeated usage before your arms know what to do when the mind says "Scale this box." So be patient with yourself. Play, learn, and have fun.
Learning Blender will literally change how you think
You'll be able to look at an object and think of several ways to make it. You will perceive everything differently; as you walk down a street you will be imagining how you might model it or render it in Blender.
One thing to remember, there are no buttons in Blender that say "Don't touch".
As long as you back up your files and use the Ctrl+Z keys to undo any mistakes, not much is likely to go too wrong.
Now it's time to begin our discovery of Blender. Using Blender is as simple or complex as you want it to be.
Let's begin simply. To start, we will open Blender up and render out a scene. Rendering is like taking a picture in Blender. When you take a picture in real life, you have a camera, some light, and something or someone you are taking a picture of.
In a Blender scene, there is also a camera, lights, and something to render. When you render, Blender scans the scene from the camera's point of view. It notes which objects are where, and what lights are available. It then figures out how each object will be lit, what the surface of the object looks like, what part of the object the camera can see, how big it should appear to the camera, and other factors, and then Blender creates a picture. It's pretty amazing.
We'll dip our toe into Blender, just so you can see that using Blender is not difficult and that you can do it. Then we will get a little background on animation so you will understand what animators are trying to accomplish in Blender. Then using what you have learned, you'll be ready to learn more about Blender.
Installing Blender
Go to http://www.blender.org/ to download Blender for free. There is a Download button on the main menu, which will direct you to where you can download Blender for your system. Blender runs on Windows, Mac, Linux, and FreeBSD. Follow the instructions and you should have Blender up and running quickly.
To use Blender, you need to first check that your machine has certain minimum system specifications, so that it is capable of running Blender. Here's where to find your system information:
The following is what Blender needs in order to be able to run:
Tip
Using a three-button mouse and the numeric keypad
In looking at the hardware specs, you may have noticed that Blender is designed to be used with a three-button mouse. Whether you are running a Mac and using a single-button mouse; or you have a laptop with a touchpad or trackpad, this is a great time to go to the store and buy a three-button mouse optical mouse with a mouse wheel. They are not expensive. You shouldn't need anything special. I took one from a PC, plugged it into the USB port of a MacBook Air, running Snow Leopard, and it worked fine. I polled a number of Blender users and they all said that using the three-button mouse was faster and easier than other devices.
If you are using a tablet with a higher end system, check your tablet documentation on how to reproduce right, middle, and left mouse button clicks.
Also, if your computer does not have a numeric keypad built in, treat yourself to an external one. They are not expensive and will add a lot to your enjoyment of Blender, as well as improving your productivity.
Using Blender
Now that you have the latest version of Blender on your system, it's time to try it out.
Time for action — rendering your first scene in Blender
Although Blender is very powerful and has a lot of features, it's easy to get started using it. Blender has a default scene all set up for you to render.
First, start your copy of Blender. You can either click on the Blender.exe icon in the directory that you have installed it in, or use a shortcut if you have created one. Blender will even run from a data stick, so you don't need to have it installed on a particular computer.
When you've started it, you should see something like the following screen, but you will also see a splash screen (depending on the version of Blender installed), consisting of an attractive image made in Blender and some links.
Move the mouse over the big central window. Click the mouse to remove the splash screen.
Then, if you are running Windows or Linux, press the F12 button on your keyboard.
If you have a Mac, click on where it says Render to the left, above the large 3D View window. Select Render Image from the drop-down menu. This is because Macs often have the F1-F12 function keys already mapped to specific functions.
The following are the changes you should make to optimize your Mac for Blender. When you have made these changes, you will be able to use Blender in the same manner as Windows and Linux users, and you will be able to press the F12 button to start rendering:
What just happened?
Congratulations, you've now rendered your first scene in Blender. You can see the scene to be rendered in the preceding image. The cube is easy to guess. The dot surrounded by dashed lines is the light. The four-sided cone with a triangle on top is the camera, and there is a reference grid beneath the cube.
When the scene is rendered, as seen in the following screenshot, Blender shows you what the camera would see. The cube is colored gray because you haven't chosen a color. There is only one light in the scene and Blender calculates where the light is, and where the sides of the cube are. The light is not an object like a light bulb, so it is not seen in the rendered image, but its light is used to set the brightness of the scene.
While it's rendering, Blender figures out what portion of the light would bounce off of a particular side of the cube and into the camera. As some sides point away from the light, they appear darker. The sides facing toward the light appear to be brighter. Blender even does a trick that you don't see at all. Blender figures out which parts of the cube the camera does not see and to save itself from additional work, it doesn't render what cannot be seen.
Rendering this image was simple for you to do. Blender doesn't get any more difficult to use, you just learn more things to do with Blender. In future chapters, we will break down using Blender into easy-to-do steps.
Mac users, thank you for making changes to the interface of your Mac. Now you can use the standard Blender commands. This will this pay off by making Blendering much easier and fun. You can still access the Dashboard via the Mac menu bar.
Time for action — closing Blender
Now let's close Blender and study some basics of animation:
What just happened?
When Blender renders a scene, it brings up a special render window over the 3D window. Pressing the Esc button closes this window, returning you to the 3D window. Ctrl+Q closes Blender 3D down completely. Congratulations! Everything else about learning Blender is just an elaboration on this.
Top 10 reasons to enjoy using Blender 3D
We all have our reasons for wanting to use Blender. My initial reason was that I wanted to teach a class on 3D animation at my local parks and recreation center. I needed a 3D system that would fit the budget and that students could take home to use. Since then, I've also used it professionally, creating animations for an airline, a national football league team, banks, and more. I made the first animated entry ever into the Film in 48 Hours contest with Blender and one Blender animation of mine was also accepted into the Ozark Foothills Film Festival. So you never know how Blender will come in handy.
Here are the top 10 reasons to enjoy using Blender 3D:
10
It's a fun hobby that will last all of your life.
9
You can use it to make a portfolio to get a job in games, films, advertising, and other fields.
8
You can start a home-based graphics, animation, or game business.
7
Blender has the largest user base and a great world-wide community.
6
You can express your artistic side and make things the way they should be.
5
It's fun to build your own worlds and have God-like power over them.
4
You can make games with the Blender Game Engine and make assets for them.
3
You can learn how to do computer programming with Python.
2
You can impress your friends making animations for your civic social group or favorite team.
1
You can get coffee, a snack, or take a nap while it's rendering and still be productive.
Learning from your animation heros
One of the best ways to learn is to study what others have done; that is no surprise. If you wanted to be a soccer (football) star as a child, maybe you watched Pelé on TV and imagined yourself scoring goals the same way.
Animation is the same. So for the rest of the chapter, we will be looking at what animators learned and what you can learn from them to make lively animation. You will see their early crude animations and how the animations quickly became more dynamic and entertaining. If you know about the 12 principles of animation, and are in a hurry to learn more about using Blender, you can proceed onto the next chapter. But then again, as an animator, you'll probably enjoy watching these animations anyway.
Have a go hero — making a folder of your animation heroes
Think of who your animation heroes are, and make a bookmarks folder in your web browser to store the addresses of websites about your favorite animators, or animations that you have seen. Now go online and look at some works that you know, whether it's Disney's Fantasia, South Park, or Plumiferos (Free Birds), which is the first feature length film made entirely in Blender (you can find out more at http://www.plumiferos.com/). Add a link to your folder whenever you find something you like. You can find quite a number of interesting animations by just looking around on the web. These are some that I found, Nina Paley's "Sita Sings the Blues" is a feature animation done by one person in Flash. It's pretty amazing. I also found "Snow-bo" by Vera Brosgol and Jenn Kluska, and "Kenya" on the Weebl's Stuff website. There are many great Blender animations at www.blenderartists.org.
Your list will be different from mine of course.
