Allan Brito - Blender Quick Start Guide

Copyright 2018 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 or its dealers and distributors, will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to have been 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.

Commissioning Editor: Kunal Chaudhari
Acquisition Editor: Reshma Raman
Content Development Editor: Roshan Kumar
Technical Editor: Jinesh Topiwala
Copy Editor: Safis Editing
Project Coordinator: Hardik Bhinde
Proofreader: Safis Editing
Indexer: Pratik Shirodkar
Graphics: Alishon Mendonsa
Production Coordinator: Shantanu Zagade

First published: September 2018

Production reference: 1280918

Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.
Livery Place
35 Livery Street
Birmingham
B3 2PB, UK.

ISBN 978-1-78961-947-8

www.packtpub.com

Mapt is an online digital library that gives you full access to over 5,000 books and videos, as well as industry leading tools to help you plan your personal development and advance your career. For more information, please visit our website.

• Spend less time learning and more time coding with practical eBooks and videos from over 4,000 industry professionals

• Improve your learning with Skill Plans built especially for you

• Get a free eBook or video every month

• Mapt is fully searchable

• Copy and paste, print, and bookmark content

Did you know that Packt offers eBook versions of every book published, with PDF and ePub files available? You can upgrade to the eBook version at www.packt.com and as a print book customer, you are entitled to a discount on the eBook copy. Get in touch with us at customercare@packtpub.com for more details.

At www.packt.com , you can also read a collection of free technical articles, sign up for a range of free newsletters, and receive exclusive discounts and offers on Packt books and eBooks.

Allan Brito is an a rchitect with a strong background in the use of technology in all phases of project development. His friends used to say that he swapped bricks for pixels.

Besides working in the architecture business, he also has more than 10 years, experience as a college teacher, helping students to create animations, 3D games, and mobile apps.

In the academic field, he was in charge of the e-learning department of one of the largest colleges in Brazil for almost eight years, using technologies such as interactive 3D content, games, and virtual reality as learning tools.

Blender is one of the essential tools in his workflow, and he has used it every day since 2005 with version 2.35.

Fernando Castilhos Melo lives in Toronto, Canada, and works as a software engineer. Since 2009, he has used his spare time to work on 3D modeling using Blender. He has lectured on Blender and 3D modeling at several Brazilian free/open source software events.

Fernando holds a degree in computer science from UCS (Universidade de Caxias do Sul, Brazil), and this is the fourth Blender book that he has worked on. The other ones were Blender Cycles: Lighting and Rendering Cookbook, in 2013; Blender 3D by Example, in 2015; and Blender 3D Printing by Example, in 2017.

Moreover, he has also developed an integration between Blender and Kinect named Kinected Blender to generate 3D animations using body movements captured from Kinect.

Germano Cavalcante de Sousa, with a background in architecture, uses Blender for arch viz work.

He has developed add-ons aimed at architecture, including the snap_utilities_line
add-on, which is officially distributed with Blender. He also helps, when he can, in Blender development, focusing on transformation and snapping capabilities.

If you're interested in becoming an author for Packt, please visit authors.packtpub.com and apply today. We have worked with thousands of developers and tech professionals, just like you, to help them share their insights with the global tech community. You can make a general application, apply for a specific hot topic that we are recruiting an author for, or submit your own idea.

Blender has a long history in the computer graphics industry, but has not always been associated with quality content or ease of use. If you do a quick survey about the software among artists, you would get mixed opinions, with some criticism being aimed at the user interface. People would say it is hard to use or is missing powerful features.

In the last five years, the software has received significant updates on various tools, especially in the user interface. Blender has now been reborn with a brand new batch of software, features that match some multi-million-dollar tools on the market, and an interface that has improved usability.

And all that at no cost! In the era of subscription-based software, Blender is still free and open source. You can download the software at no cost and use it on as many computers as you want.

In this book, you will find a quick introduction to most of the new features of Blender 2.8, such as the fantastic real-time render engine Eevee and the revamped user interface.