Jason van Gumster - Blender For Dummies

Blender For Dummies, 3rd Edition

Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-54, www.wiley.com

Copyright 2015 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Media and software compilation copyright 2015 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2014957118

ISBN 978-1-119-03953-2 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-119-04713-1 (epub); 978-1-119-04700-1 (epdf)

1. Table of Contents

Welcome to Blender For Dummies, 3rd Edition, your introduction to one of the most well-known free programs for creating 3D computer graphics. With Blender, you can create characters, props, environments, and nearly anything else your imagination can generate. And it's not just about creating objects. You can set them in motion, too. Tell a story in an animation, entertain people in a video game, or add a special effect to some video footage. It's all possible. They still havent quite designed a way for Blender to give you a foot massage if youve had a bad day, but in all seriousness, its difficult to imagine a task in computer animation that you cant do with Blender. And just think: the developers of Blender have included all these features in a package you can download for free and run on nearly any computer. Crazy!

Blender sits at a very unique position in the world of 3D computer graphics. In the past, to get into 3D modeling and animation, you had only a few options, and most of them were too expensive, too limiting, or ahem too illegal for people just trying to see what this whole 3D thing was all about. Blender circumvents all those issues because its free. And not just zero-cost free, but freedom Free. Blender is open source. A world full of developers and users regularly contribute code and documentation, adding enhancements and improvements at a mind-boggling pace.

Of course, 3D computer graphics is a complex topic, and all software of this type is dense with buttons, options, settings, and unique ways of working. Perhaps more than any other program like it, Blender carries a pretty heavy reputation for being difficult to understand. Blender isnt typically viewed as software for beginners. But, if Ive done my job right, this book will help simplify things. Blender For Dummies, 3rd Edition is not just a book on using Blender. Sure, I explain why things in Blender work in their peculiar Blenderish ways, but I also make a point to explain core principles of 3D computer graphics as they are relevant. Theres no use in being able to find a button if youre not really sure what it does or how it works. My hope is that with this combined knowledge, you can actually take advantage of Blenders unique traits to create your own high-quality 3D art as quickly and efficiently as possible. Perhaps you can even become as addicted to it as I am!

Blender is an extremely complex program used for the even more complex task of producing high-quality 3D models and animations. As such, I cant cover every single feature and button in Blender. For a more comprehensive manual, refer to the excellent online documentation available through Blenders website at http://www.blender.org/manual .

Because I want to bring you up to speed on working in 3D space with Blender so that you can start bringing your ideas to life as soon as possible, I focus on introducing you to the fundamental Blender way of working. Not only do I show you how something is done in Blender, but I also often take the time to explain why things are done a certain way. This approach should hopefully put you on the fast track to making awesome work and also allow you to figure out new parts of Blender on your own when you come across them.

Throughout the book, I refer to the Blender community. Blenders user community is probably one of its most valuable assets, and I would be remiss to neglect bringing it up. Not only do many members of the community create great work, but they also write new code for Blender, write and edit documentation, and help each other improve. And understand that when I make reference to the Blender community, I include you in that community as well. As of right now, you are a Blenderhead