Blain John M. - The Complete Guide to Blender Graphics

SIXTH EDITION

SIXTH EDITION

JOHN M. BLAIN

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The Book The Complete Guide to Blender Graphics - 6th Edition

The Complete Guide to Blender Graphics - 6th Edition provides instruction in the use of the Computer Graphics 3D Program Blender. The current version of the program is 2.82. The manual is for those who wish to undertake a learning experience and discover a wonderful creative new world of computer graphics. The book also serves as a reference for established operators.

Instructions throughout the book introduce Blenders features with examples and diagrams referenced to the Graphical User Interface (GUI).

The Complete Guide to Blender Graphics originated when Blenders Graphical User Interface was transformed with the release of Blender version 2.50. Subsequent editions of the book have kept pace with developments to the program and have included new material. With the release of Blender 2.82 and its new interface and operational philosophy, the Sixth Edition of The Complete Guide to Blender Graphics provides current instruction.

For new users this book provides a fantastic learning experience in Computer Graphics using Blender, by introducing the operation of the Blender program through the use of its Graphical user Interface. The book is intended to be read in conjunction with having the program in operation, with the interface displayed on a computer monitor screen.

Instruction is presented using the tools displayed in the Graphical User Interface, with basic examples demonstrating results. Understanding where tools are located, their uses and how they are implemented will allow the reader to more easily follow detailed instruction in the many written and video tutorials available on the internet.

The Program - Blender

Blender is a 3D Computer Graphics Program with tools for modeling and animating objects and characters and creating background scenes. Scenes may be made into still images. Animated sequences may be used for video production. Models and Scenes are enhanced with color and texture producing brilliant realistic effects. The still images and video may be for artistic appreciation or employed as architectural or scientific presentations. There are also tools for 2D animation production. Stand alone models may be used for 3D Printing.

The Blender program is maintained by the Blender Foundation and released as Open Source Software which is available for download and FREE to be used for any purpose.

The program may be downloaded from:

www.blender.org

Blender Features

A comprehensive display of the Blender features is available at:

www.blender.org/features/

Blender Platforms

A computing platform or digital platform is the environment in which a piece of software is executed. It may be the hardware or the operating system (OS)

Blender is a cross platform application for Windows Vista and above, Linux and Mac OSX 10.6 and above operating systems.

The operation of Blender in this manual is applicable to all operating platforms but operations ancillary to the program, such as, saving work to the computers hard drive, have been described exclusively using a Windows operating system.

System Requirements

Graphics

Blender 2.82 requires OpenGL 3.3 or above, with recent graphics drivers from your graphics card manufacturer.

Hardware

Minimum (basic usage) hardware

64-bit dual core 2Ghz CPU with SSE2 support.

4 GB RAM

1280768 display

Mouse or Trackpad

Graphics Card with 1 GB RAM, OpenGL 3.3

Recommended hardware

64-bit quad core CPU

16 GB RAM

Full HD display

Three button mouse or pen+tablet

Graphics card with 4 GB RAM

Optimal (production-grade) hardware

64-bit eight core CPU

32 GB RAM

Full HD displays

Three button mouse and pen+tablet

Graphics card with +12 GB RAM

Supported Graphics Cards

NVIDIA: GeForce 200 and newer, Quadro Tesla architecture and newer, with NVIDIA drivers (list of all GeForce and Quadro GPUs)

AMD: GCN 1 1st gen and newer (list of all AMD GPUs )

Intel: Haswell and newer (list of all Intel GPUs)

macOS: version 10.12 or newer with supported hardware

Program Evolution

Blender is continually evolving. New versions of the program are released as additions and changes are incorporated, therefore, it is advisable to check the Blender website, from time to time.