Blender 3D: Noob to Pro

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[edit] About this book

This book has been brought to you by the efforts of the fine folks listed on the Authors & Contributors page and a few people who just edit anonymously.

[edit] Introduction

This book can be seen as a series of tutorials arranged to help new users achieve expertise in Blender. The tutorials will increase in difficulty but enable intermediate users to quickly advance into whatever tutorial most suits their knowledge and continue along the sequence. We've made concerted efforts to accommodate everyone.

The tutorials should be followed in sequence by Blender beginners; do not skip ahead in tutorials and expect to be able to understand the content, since tutorials build upon the lessons learned in the previous ones.

Sometimes it's good to set goals and write down what you want to achieve in Blender. If you tell yourself, "I want to animate [what you want to animate]," write it down! It'll help you focus on the task at hand.

The latest version of Blender can be downloaded from here.

This book is one of the Blender-related Wikibooks. Have a look at the complementary ones.

Should you find this tutorial insufficient, or in some way uninformative, you can also consult The Blender Wiki. It should be useful, but more technical than this tutorial.

[edit] Contributing to this book

If you would like to contribute to this book, you are strongly encouraged (read as begged) to do so! There are a couple of things you may wish to do.

[edit] Editing a page

Simply click on the edit this page link at the top of whichever page you would like to edit! Your contribution will have to be reviewed before it is officially published, so using these pages to spam, flame or link to a e.g., pornographic site is a waste of time and energy. You can also ask questions and make comments about each page by clicking the discussion tab at the top of the page.

[edit] Adding a page

If you would like to add a page to the book, such as a new tutorial page or a reference page, create a link to it under the Contents section on this very page. Then with that link live, click it to be taken to the new page where you will be able to create content for the page. If you're putting up a tutorial and you don't know where it belongs, put it in the Miscellaneous section for now and we will tweak it and put it in the right spot. For instructions on how to name your pages appropriately, see our team mission statement and vision.

To maintain ease of navigation throughout the book, please be sure to create links to the pages before and after your new page, using the template shown here. Also be sure to update the page before and after your new page with links to your new page. You can skip this step if you think the page you are putting in will likely be moved from where you put it, but in this case you should also ask for an opinion via the discussion tab.

[edit] Adding Images

In Blender tutorials, images are definitely a must-have. They help clarify your point, institute a standard and reference by which a new designer may judge their work, and in essence improve the teaching process of this book at least tenfold. However, there is an especially great problem with incorrect copyright attribution usage in Blender, which is leading to more and more images being removed from the pages and from Wikibooks altogether. These seriously hamper the tutorials, especially if the original author is gone, and can make a once-great tutorial completely invalid and useless. Even if you believe that you know what copyright to use, please check the proper Blender images copyright page and see how you should add copyright and where.

[edit] Guidelines for including images

• Check Wikimedia Commons to see if the image you specifically want to use already exists, as uploading the same image twice is wasteful.
• Make sure to check our image portfolio if you're about to upload a general image (such as icons or buttons) or if you want to use someone else's image as an example. Remember to attribute, if necessary. If you upload an image to the Commons and use it in this Wikibook, please create an entry in the portfolio log. This will help us check its copyright and we will file your image away for safe-keeping and later use.

[edit] What you probably don't want to add

• Noob notes, e.g. questions regarding the text or comments, should not be put on the page itself. The discussion pages are exactly for that.
• External links are normally only helpful to some extent (except the manual of course). If they are not directly related to the article they will probably be deleted, so why add them in the first place?

[edit] Become a member of the team!

If you want to join and work with the team, read our team page for information and advice.

[edit] Table of Contents

Wikibook Development Stages
Under Construction	Sparse text	Developing text	Maturing text	Developed text	Comprehensive text:

[edit] Index

[edit] Blender Help

• Blender FAQ
• Hotkey Reference
• Image Portfolio

[edit] Glossaries

• Glossary of Blender Terms
• Materials Directory: Every Material Known To Man

[edit] Unit 1: Knowing Blender

[edit] Avoiding Headaches: Good Modeling Practices

• Know What You're Doing
• Cheat the 3D
• Performance vs. Quality

[edit] Thinking in 3D

• Orthographic Projections
• Isometric Projections
• Perspective Views
• Coordinate Spaces in Blender

[edit] Learning the Graphical User Interface

• Tutorial Syntax
• Non-standard equipment
• Operating System specific notes
• Become Familiar with the Blender Interface
  • Learn the Blender Windowing System
  • The User Preferences Window
  • The Buttons Window
  • The 3D Viewport Window
  • Other Windows
• Navigation in 3D

[edit] Unit 2: Creation and Development

[edit] Learn to Model

• Introducing Meshes
• Beginning Tips
• Quickie Model
• Quickie Render

[edit] Modeling a Simple Person

• Detailing Your Simple Person I
• Detailing Your Simple Person II
• Creating a Simple Hat
• Putting Hat on Person
• Using Bones

[edit] Beyond Basics

• Mountains Out Of Molehills
• Modeling a Gingerbread Man
• Penguins from Spheres
• Die Another Way (dice modeling)
  • Die Easy revised for 2.44
• Model a Silver Goblet
  • Model a Silver Goblet Another Way
    • Light a Silver Goblet
• Simple Vehicle
  • Simple Vehicle: Wheel
  • Simple Vehicle: Seat
  • Simple Vehicle: Rocket Launcher
  • Simple Vehicle: Body
  • Simple Vehicle: Some Assembly Required
• Modeling a 3D Parachute in Blender
• Model a Low Poly Head
• Building a House
• Pipe joints

[edit] Creating Models With Photo Assistance

• 2D Image (logo) to a 3D Model
  • 2D Image (logo) to a 3D Model Part 2

[edit] Curve and Path Modeling

• Intro to Bezier Curves
• Curves in 3d
• Deforming Meshes using the Curve Modifier
• MetaObjects

[edit] Materials and Textures

• Quickie Material
• Quickie Texture
• Halo Materials
• Procedural Textures
• Image Textures

[edit] Utilizing Materials and Textures

• Using Textures
• Using a texture to make a material partially transparent
• Creating Basic Seawater
  • Texturing Basic Seawater
• Mountains Out Of Molehills 2
• Basic Carpet Texture
• The Rusty Ball
• Procedural Eyeball
• Creating Pixar-looking eyes

[edit] UV Maps

• UV Map Basics
• Realistic Eyes In Blender

[edit] Unit 3: Broadening Horizons

[edit] Lighting

• Beginning Lighting
• Understanding Real Lights
• Adding Lamps
• Faked Global Illumination with Blender internal

[edit] Rendering

• Output Format Options
  • OSA
• Looking All Around - Panorama Settings
• Other Important Render Options
• Yafray Render Options
• Stamping

[edit] Basic Animation

• Screen Layout
• Lattice Modifier
• Bouncing Ball with Lattice
• Creating Basic Water animation
• Flying Through A Canyon
• Using the sequencer to compile frames into an animation

[edit] Particle Systems

• Fire
• Fur
• Fireworks
• Particles forming Shapes
• Billboard Animation

[edit] Soft Bodies

• Soft Body Animation
  • Simple Cloth Animation
• Soft Body with wind

[edit] Blender Game Engine Basics

• Platformer: Controls and Movement
• Maze: Force and Multiple Levels
• Platformer: Improving the Physics
• How to make an executable
• Build a skybox
• Basic mouse pointer
• Text in BGE
• Platformer: Creating the Engine with Python

[edit] Unit 4: Taking Off with Advanced Tutorials

[edit] Python Scripting

• Introduction
• Export scripts
• Import scripts
• Procedural object creation
• Scripts for modifying meshes
• Creating a GUI for your script

[edit] Advanced Modeling

• High Dynamic Range imaging (HDRi)
  • Creating a Light Probe
• Landscape Modeling with Heightmaps
  • Landscape Modeling I: Basic Terrain
  • Landscape Modeling II: Texture Stenciling
  • Landscape Modeling III: Exporting as a Heightmap
• Realistic Water using Fluid Sim and Yafray

[edit] Advanced Materials and Textures

• Bump Mapping
• Normal Mapping
  • Texture Normals
  • Color Map Normals
• Nodes|Nodes: An Introduction

[edit] Advanced Animation

• Introduction
• Guided tour:
  • Armature Object
    • Armature Object in Object Mode
    • Armature Object in Edit Mode
    • Armature Object in Pose mode
  • Mesh Object
    • Connection between Armature and Mesh
    • Envelope
    • Vertex Groups & Weight Paint
    • Shape Keys
      • Lip-Sync with Shape Keys
  • Constraints
    • Copy Location
    • Copy Rotation
    • Track-To
    • Floor
    • Locked Track
    • Follow Path
    • Stretch-To
    • IK Solver
  • Timeline Window
  • IPO Window
    • Data Type
  • NLA Window
    • Introduction To NLA Editor
    • The Stride feature
• Working example: Bob
• Working example: Piston, Rod and Crank
• Working example: Cutting Through Steel

[edit] Advanced Game Engine

• Advanced Game Engine Techniques (GUI)
  • Creating Pop-Up Menus
  • Creating Dropping Menus
  • The "5-Layer" Button
  • Creating Object Outlines
• Advanced Game Engine Techniques (Python)

[edit] Miscellaneous Tutorials

This is our attic, mostly tutorials that could be useful to some extent if they would be revamped completely, but are of little use at the moment. If you can contribute to some of them, go ahead and rewrite them to your liking!

• modelling tips
• Modeling and Texturing a Bottle
• Creating Weapons based on 2D Images
• Match Moving
• Match Moving/Motion Tracking with Icarus and Blender
• Create a Clayman
• Organic Modeling
• Free Blender Samples
• Understanding the Fluid Simulator
• Creating a jewel in Blender
• General Advice on Modeling Realistically
• Modeling a picture
• Modeling with the Spin Tool
  • Spin Tool Introduction
  • Illustrative Example: Model a Wine Glass
  • Illustrative Example: Model a Mug
  • Oops: Spin Tool Problems and Solutions
• Creating Ogg-Theora movies using Blender Should this page be moved here?
• Creating animated GIFs using Blender and Gimp Should this page be moved here?
• 3D Tiling Backgrounds For The Web Should this page be moved here?
• Cool Things That Aren't That Obvious in Blender Should this page be moved here?
• Troubleshooting Common Technical Issues and What to do About Them Should this page be moved here?
• Creating Blender Libraries Should this page be moved here?
• All Blender Tutorial Links – tutorials from all over the Web
• Add some depth with stereo
• Ways to create a "fluffy" effect [materials and lights) (under construction)
• Human Body
• Rendering Informations
• Using Blender Libraries
• Beginning Modeling Final Project

• Modeling Textures
• Light Mapping
• Modeling techniques and Workflow (to be constructed)
  • Polygonal Modeling
    • Box Modeling
    • Polygon by Polygon modeling
    • Blocking with Primitives/ (to be constructed)

[edit] Resource Directories

• All Blueprints Links – blueprints from all over the Web