Synopses & Reviews
FROM CONCEPTS TO FULLY RIGGED CHARACTERS
Companion WebSite
Find source files for the tutorials in the book, useful Blender links, and much more on the companion website.
www.sybex.com/go/introducingblender
Tap the power of Blender, blend in your creativity, and build memorable animated characters with this practical guide from Blender guru Tony Mullen. Covering the new Blender 2.5, this book offers clear, step-by-step tutorials, a complete discussion of all tools, and illustrations that will both enlighten and inspire you.
Follow all the projects and you'll soon have the skills you need to build and animate a well-modeled, fully-rigged character of your own. A full-color insert presents dazzling examples from some of the most talented artists in the Blender community.
Get up to speed on Blender 2.5's extensively redesigned user interface
Master organic mesh modeling tools and build a complex character mesh
Fashion skin, hair, and clothing with material shaders, textures, and slots
Use Blender's new Rigify add-on to create complete, professional-quality character rigs with ease
Learn to sync lip movements with a sound file
Understand function curves, keyframes, and the basics of animating
Learn to link assets and use Armature proxies to organize your productions
Analyze the Blender short film, Sintel, and read what its creators have to say
Animate a rigged character to get him running
Use particles and subsurface scattering to create hair and skin
Explore open content from the Blender Foundation Open Movie Projects
Synopsis
Let this in-depth professional book be your guide to Blender, the powerful open-source 3D modeling and animation software that will bring your ideas to life. Using clear step-by-step instruction and pages of real-world examples, expert animator Tony Mullen walks you through the complexities of modeling and animating, with a special focus on characters. From Blender basics to creating facial expressions and emotion to rendering, you'll jump right into the process and learn valuable techniques that will transform your movies.
Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.
Synopsis
Introducing Character Animation with Blender, 2nd Edition is written in a friendly but professional tone, with clear descriptions and numerous illustrative screenshots. Throughout the book, tutorials focus on how to accomplish actual animation goals, while illustrating the necessary technical methods along the way. These are reinforced by clear descriptions of how each specific aspect of Blender works and fits together with the rest of the package. By following all the tutorials, the reader will gain all the skills necessary to build and animate a well-modeled, fully-rigged character of their own. The character built over the course of the tutorials is included as a .blend file on the companion website, for the reader to experiment with and learn from.
Introducing Character Animation with Blender, 2nd Edition is inspiring as well as educational. A color insert includes sample characters and frames from animations by many of the Blender community's most talented artists, which help to illustrate the impressive potential of the software.
About the Author
Tony Mullen, PhD, has a broad background in CG-related work. He teaches at Tsuda College and Musashino Art University, where his courses have included modeling and animation with Blender and programming with Python. Mullen has been a cartoonist and an illustrator; his screen credits include writer, codirector, and lead animator on several short films, including the award-winning, live-action/stop-motion film Gustav Braustache and the Auto-Debilitator. He is the author of Blender Studio Projects: Digital Movie-Making; Mastering Blender; and Bounce, Tumble and Splash!: Simulating the Physical World with Blender 3D, all from Sybex.
Table of Contents
PART I: CREATING A CHARACTER WITH BLENDER.Chapter 1: Blender Basics: Interface and Objects.
Chapter 2: Working with Meshes.
Chapter 3: Completing the Model with Materials, Textures, and Particles.
Chapter 4: Armatures and Rigging.
Chapter 5: Shape Keys and Facial Rigging.
PART II: BRINGING IT TO LIFE: ANIMATION.
Chapter 6: Basics of Animation.
Chapter 7: Armature Animation.
Chapter 8: Facial Animation and Lip Sync.
Chapter 9: Nonlinear Animation.
Chapter 10: Further Issues in Character Animation.
Chapter 11: Lighting, Rendering, and Editing Your Animation.
Chapter 12: Using Python Scripts.
PART III: BLENDER IN PRODUCTION.
Chapter 13: Blender Institute.
Chapter 14: A Look Inside Blender Open Movies.
Chapter 15: Behind the Scenes at Sintel.
Chapter 16: Plumiferos.
PART IV: BLENDER AND BEYOND.
Chapter 17: Other Software and Formats.
Chapter 18: Resources for Further Learning.