Synopses & Reviews
Create Amazing 3D Characters with Blender: From Design and Modeling to Video Compositing
Learning Blender walks you through every step of creating an outstanding animated character with the free, open source, 3D software Blender, and then compositing it in a real video using a professional workflow. This is the only Blender tutorial to take you from preproduction to final result, and it’s perfect for both 3D novices and those who’ve used other 3D Software.
Focusing on Blender 2.71 and above, 3D-professional Oliver Villar explains all the basics, including Blender’s interface, controls, and how to manipulate objects. Once you’ve mastered the fundamentals, you’ll follow a realistic 3D workflow through a complete project.
You’ll find chapters on every aspect of the character creation: design, modeling, unwrapping, texturing, shading, rigging, and animation. Once your character is ready and animated, you’ll learn how to integrate it into a real video using camera tracking techniques, lighting, and compositing. Each skillset is taught hands on, and available online video tutorials (more than 5 hours) will guide you through Blender’s trickier tasks.
By the time you’re done, you’ll understand how the whole process fits together, and how to use Blender to create outstanding characters for all media. You’ll also build strong Blender skills you can apply in any 3D project, whether it involves characters or not.
Learn How To
- Master Blender’s innovative user interface, navigation, and selection techniques
- Create your first scene with Blender and get comfortable with its core tools
- Prepare for projects so they’ll go as smoothly as possible
- Use modeling tools to create a 3D character
- Bring your character to life with color, textures, and materials
- Create your character’s skeleton and make it walk
- Make the most of Blender’s Camera Tracking tools
- Add lights to your 3D scene
- Render with Blender Internal or the powerful new Cycles render engine
- Composite your 3D character into a real video
- Switch to Blender from 3ds Max, Maya, or XSI
11+ Hours of Video Instruction
Introduction to Blender LiveLessons provides a comprehensive overview of Blender, the professional, free, open source software used to make 3D graphics and animation for animated films, visual effects, art interactive applications, and video games.
Description
Blender Foundation Certified Trainer Oliver Villar starts from scratch, downloading and installing Blender. Then he jumps into the interface and basic controls. Learning how to create and manipulate objects is the next step before creating a simple scene to understand the workflow. After that, he goes a little deeper, explaining how to model your own creations and unwrapping and shading in both Blender Render and Cycles. An introduction to rigging and animation gives designers the ability to deform and animate their models. Finally, the rendering and compositing process is explained to show how to achieve the resulting image or video. The course aims to take beginners in a journey through the main basic Blender features to help them understand how 3D works.
Skill Level
What You Will Learn
- How to install and run Blender
- How to use the interface and navigate in the 3D scene
- How to create your first 3D scene
- How to use Blender’s modeling tools
- How to unwrap, add materials, and apply textures with Blender Render and Cycles
- How to use rigging and basic animation tools
- How to light and render
- How to use the node editor for compositing and taking your render to the next level
Who Should Take This Course
- Designers and artists interested in creating 3D still images or animations for marketing, design, or visual effects
Course Requirements
- Understanding of using an OS, navigating through folders, and basic usage of a computer.
- Having a keyboard and a mouse (preferably a keyboard with a numeric pad and a mouse with a middle mouse button).
- Design and previous 3D knowledge helps, but the course starts from the beginning, so this is not mandatory.
Table of Contents
Lesson 1: Blender Basics
This lesson covers how to download and install Blender, use the main interface elements such as areas and editors, and configure Blender with your custom settings.
Lesson 2: 3D Navigation and Selections
Lesson 2 shows you how to navigate in your 3D scene, use navigation keyboard shortcuts, and configure the 3D View and object selections.
Lesson 3: Creating Your First Scene with Blender
In this lesson you learn the basic workflow to create your first 3D scene with Blender: creating and transforming objects; adding modifiers, materials, and lights; and rendering the final result.
Lesson 4: Advanced Object Manipulation
This lesson explains how to transform (move, rotate, and scale) objects using snapping options. It gives you an understanding of datablocks, duplicating and instancing objects, and using pivot points.
Lesson 5: Using Modifiers
Lesson 5 covers the process of adding modifiers to your objects, and you learn about the most-used modifiers and in which cases you can apply them.
Lesson 6: Modeling in Edit Mode
In this lesson, you see how to access the different interaction modes, and then you dive into the main modeling tools to create your own 3D meshes and adjust their shapes. Finally, there is a practical exercise to put those modeling tools to good use.
Lesson 7: Unwrapping and UVs
Before you can apply textures to a surface, you need to unwrap it and create its UV coordinates. In this lesson, you learn how to use the tools available to do this. You also see how to test those UVs and make sure they work right.
Lesson 8: Materials and Textures
This lesson covers the process of adding materials and textures to 3D objects in both Blender Render and Cycles.
Lesson 9: Introduction to Rigging
In this lesson, you learn about armatures and bones, parenting, and constraints. An armature made of bones is what allows you to create a rig that moves your complex objects in an efficient and comfortable way. Also, you see how to deform a mesh based on the bones’ movement, useful for posing organic models or characters.
Lesson 10: Introduction to Animation
After seeing what the different animation editors do, you learn how to set keyframes, add timing to an animation, use animation curves and interpolation, and mix or manage different animations using the NLA Editor.
Lesson 11: Rendering in Blender Render
This lesson shows you how to reach the final resulting image from your 3D scene through the rendering process in Blender Render. For that, you learn how to add lights and configure the render settings.
Lesson 12: Rendering in Cycles
Rendering in Cycles is similar to Blender Render, but there are some substantial changes, and that’s why in this lesson you learn about the rendering process and settings for Cycles.
Lesson 13: Introduction to Compositing
In this lesson, you learn how to use the Node Editor for compositing. Using nodes, you add the final touches to your render. Things such as color correction, mixing different render layers, and adding effects like a vignette are all possible during nodes compositing, before exporting the final output.
About LiveLessons Video Training
The LiveLessons Video Training series publishes hundreds of hands-on, expert-led video tutorials covering a wide selection of technology topics designed to teach you the skills you need to succeed. This professional and personal technology video series features world-leading author instructors published by your trusted technology brands: Addison-Wesley, Cisco Press, IBM Press, Pearson IT Certification, Prentice Hall, Sams, and Que. Topics include: IT Certification, Programming, Web Development, Mobile Development, Home and Office Technologies, Business and Management, and more. View all LiveLessons on InformIT at: http://www.informit.com/livelessons
Review
“Villar has captured the excitement of Blender as a 3D modeling, animation, and motion graphics tool in one straightforward, easy-to-follow textbook. The Blender software is growing in popularity and now more than ever is considered one of the must-have tools in the tool shed for 3D.”
–Dr. Tim J. Harrington, Solution Manager, Academic IT
“Learning Blender is a great introduction for anyone wanting to learn how to create and edit in 3D using Blender, the free open-source application. Learning to work in 3D can be tough, and Villar uses characters to teach many different techniques, including modeling, lighting, shading, rigging, and animation. The book is filled with great tips and tricks, and can help anyone learn how to work in 3D.”
–Mike Kaltschnee, Danbury Hackerspace Inc.
“Learning Blender: A Hands-On Guide to Creating 3D Animated Characters by Oliver Villar is definitely a valuable addition to your library of golden resources! It doesn’t simply show you the hows and whats, but the whys.
The emphasis on fundamentals is something this book is very strong at. I highly recommend this to anyone wanting to know more about the modernized Blender and character creation in general.
Simple, intuitive, and very refreshing!”
–Reynante M. Martinez, Blender Guru
Synopsis
Blender, the free open source 3D software is liberating millions of creative professionals to create projects that would never have been possible before. Many are turning to Blender to create realistic 3D characters for today's huge markets in gaming and video. Learning Blender is the first tutorial that walks you through every step of creating an outstanding animated character and then composing it in a professional-quality video.
Covering the newest version of Blender (2.70), this tutorial is perfect for both 3D novices and those who've worked with expensive competing programs. Working Blender designer and trainer Oliver Villar first explains all the basics, including Blender's interface, controls, and tools. Once you've mastered these core techniques, you'll follow a realistic 3D workflow through a complete, book-length project.
You'll find complete chapters on every aspect of character creation: design, modeling, unwrapping, texturing, shading, rigging, animating, lighting, and rendering. Next, you'll walk through various techniques to complete your project: camera tracking, adjusting lighting, creating render layers, scene integration, advanced compositing, and more. Each skillset is taught hands-on, and online web videos guide you through many of Blender's trickier tasks.
By the time you're done, you'll understand how the whole process fits together -- and how to use it to create professional-quality characters for all media and any creative requirement. Along the way, you'll also build deep Blender skills you can apply in any 3D project, whether it involves characters or not.
This book covers:
· Blender's user interface, controls and tools
· The entire workflow a professional 3D project goes through
· Designing, modelling, texturing, rigging, and animating characters
· Compositing 3D objects into real video footage
· Other Blender features, like simulations, particles, and smoke and fire...
Synopsis
Create Amazing 3D Characters with Blender: From Design and Modeling to Video Compositing
Learning Blender walks you through every step of creating an outstanding animated character with the free, open source, 3D software Blender, and then compositing it in a real video using a professional workflow. This is the only Blender tutorial to take you from preproduction to final result, and it’s perfect for both 3D novices and those who’ve used other 3D Software.
Introduction to Blender LiveLessons provides a comprehensive overview of Blender with 10+ hours of video instruction. Blender Foundation Certified Trainer Oliver Villar starts from scratch, downloading and installing Blender. Then he jumps into the interface and basic controls. Learning how to create and manipulate objects is the next step before creating a simple scene to understand the workflow. After that, he goes a little deeper, explaining how to model your own creations and unwrapping and shading in both Blender Render and Cycles. An introduction to rigging and animation gives designers the ability to deform and animate their models. Finally, the rendering and compositing process is explained to show how to achieve the resulting image or video. The course aims to take beginners in a journey through the main basic Blender features to help them understand how 3D works.
About the Author
Oliver Villar has been working as a 3D designer since 2007, and since 2010 has run www.blendtuts.com, a website that teaches people how to use Blender. He is in the process of becoming a Blender Foundation Certified Trainer (BFCT). Currently, apart from dedicating himself to his website and the production of training material, Oliver is working as the Co-Director of Luke's Escape – a short film made with Blender, where he handles project organization and workflow supervision, and also participates actively in several steps of the production: modelling, texturing, compositing, etc.
Table of Contents
Preface xxiii
Acknowledgments xxix
About the Author xxxi
Learning Blender Ancillaries xxxiii
Part I: The Basics of Blender 1
Chapter 1: What You Need to Know about Blender 3
What Is Blender? 3
Commercial Software versus Open-Source Software 4
The History of Blender 5
The Blender Foundation and the Blender Institute 7
The Blender Community 9
Summary 9
Exercises 10
Chapter 2: Blender Basics: The User Interface 11
Downloading and Installing Blender 11
Blender User Interface 12
Understanding the 3D View 13
Navigating the 3D View 17
Managing Areas 19
Editor Types 20
Selecting Objects 23
Using the 3D Cursor 24
Blender User Preferences 26
Summary 28
Exercises 28
Chapter 3: Your First Scene in Blender 29
Creating Objects 29
Moving, Rotating, and Scaling 30
Naming Objects and Datablocks 33
Interaction Modes 36
Applying Flat or Smooth Surfaces 37
Modifiers 38
Blender Render and Cycles 41
Materials 42
Turning on the Lights 44
Moving the Camera in Your Scene 45
Rendering 46
Summary 48
Exercises 48
Part II: Beginning a Project 49
Chapters 4: Project Overview 51
The Three Stages of a Project 51
Defining the Stages 53
A Character-Creation Plan 55
Summary 56
Exercises 56
Chapter 5: Character Design 57
Character Description 57
Designing the Character 60
Adding Color 66
Final Design 67
Character Reference Images 68
Other Design Methods 69
Summary 70
Exercises 70
Part III: Modeling in Blender 71
Chapter 6: Blender Modeling Tools 73
Working with Vertices, Edges, and Faces 73
Selecting Vertices, Edges, and Faces 74
Accessing Modeling Tools 74
Selections 75
Mesh Modeling Tools 78
LoopTools 94
Tips and Tricks 95
Summary 96
Exercises 96
Chapter 7: Character Modeling 97
What Is Mesh Topology? 97
Modeling Methods 99
Setting Up the Reference Planes 101
Modeling the Eyes 103
Modeling the Face 107
Modeling the Torso and Arms 116
Modeling the Legs 125
Modeling the Boots 127
Modeling the Hands 129
Modeling the Cap 133
Modeling the Hair 136
Modeling the Final Details 140
Summary 144
Exercises 144
Part IV: Unwrapping, Painting, and Shading 145
Chapter 8: Unwrapping and UVs in Blender 147
How Unwrapping and UVs Work 147
Unwrapping in Blender 148
Things to Consider before Unwrapping 155
Working with UVs in Blender 156
Unwrapping the Rest of the Character 162
Packing UVs 163
Summary 165
Exercises 166
Chapter 9: Painting Textures 167
Main Workflow 167
Painting in Blender 167
Creating the Base Texture 170
Texturing in 2D Image Editing Software 172
Seeing the Painted Character in Blender 176
Summary 177
Exercises 178
Chapter 10: Materials and Shaders 179
Understanding Materials 179
Shading Your Character with Blender Render 183
Shading Your Character with Cycles 197
Summary 205
Exercises 205
Part V: Bringing Your Character to Life 207
Chapter 11: Character Rigging 209
Understanding the Rigging Process 209
Working with Armatures 210
Rigging Your Character 215
Rig Organization 225
Skinning 228
Creating the Facial Rig 235
Creating Custom Shapes 241
Applying Final Touches to the Rig 242
Summary 243
Exercises 244
Chapter 12: Animating Your Character 245
Inserting Keyframes 245
Animation Editors 246
Animating a Walk Cycle 251
Summary 257
Exercises 257
Part VI: Getting the Final Result 259
Chapter 13: Camera Tracking in Blender 261
Understanding Camera Tracking 261
Things to Consider before Filming 262
The Movie Clip Editor 263
Tracking the Camera 264
Testing Camera Tracking 270
Summary 271
Exercises 271
Chapter 14: Lighting, Compositing, and Rendering 273
Lighting Your Scene 273
The Node Editor 275
Compositing Your Scene in Blender Render 281
Compositing Your Scene in Cycles 287
Rendering 290
Summary 292
Exercises 292
Chapter 15: Other Blender Features 293
Particles 293
Hair Simulation 293
Cloth Simulation 294
Rigid and Soft Bodies 294
Fluids Simulation 294
Fire and Smoke 295
Game Engine 295
Masking, Object Tracking, and Video Stabilization 295
Sculpting 295
Retopology 296
Maps Baking 296
Python Scripting 297
Summary 297
Index 299