Blender 3D Basics Beginner's Guide Second Edition A quick and easy-to-use guide to create 3D modeling and animation using Blender 2.7 Gordon Fisher BIRMINGHAM - MUMBAI Blender 3D Basics Beginner's Guide Second Edition Copyright © 2014 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, and its dealers and distributors will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to be 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. First published: June 2012 Second edition: August 2014 Production reference: 1190814 Published by Packt Publishing Ltd. Livery Place 35 Livery Street Birmingham B3 2PB, UK. ISBN 978-1-78398-490-9 www.packtpub.com Cover image by Gordon Fisher ([email protected]) Credits Author Project Coordinators Gordon Fisher Sanghamitra Deb Priyanka Goel Reviewers John W. Allie Proofreaders Olivier Amrein Paul Hindle Michael Dunn Clyde Jenkins Jasper van Nieuwenhuizen Bernadette Watkins Brian Rocz Indexers Hemangini Bari Commissioning Editor Ashwin Nair Mehreen Deshmukh Rekha Nair Acquisition Editor Tejal Soni Vinay Argekar Production Coordinator Content Development Editor Shantanu Zagade Anila Vincent Cover Work Technical Editors Shantanu Zagade Aman Preet Singh Nachiket Vartak Copy Editors Roshni Banerjee Sayanee Mukherjee Karuna Narayanan Alfida Paiva About the Author Gordon Fisher got his start in computer graphics, working with industry pioneers at Information International, Inc. Since then, he has made 3D animation for clients including the U.S. Army, Ford Motor Co., the Dallas Cowboys, the Southeastern Conference, Costco, and Southwest Airlines. He has been using Blender professionally since 2002, and has given classes on using Blender and using Python with Blender at Python conferences in Texas and Arkansas. His short film, Land and Sky, made with Blender, was shown at the Ozark Foothills Film Fest. His work has been displayed at the National Air and Space Museum. He is the Creative Director for Point Happy Interactive and spends his spare time as a bicycling advocate and space activist. He has written articles about 3D modeling and animation for the American Modeler magazine and Digital Video Producer e-zine. I would like to thank the people without whom this book would not exist. I would like to thank the staff at Packt Publishing, Ton Roosendaal, and the many Blender users around the world. About the Reviewers John W. Allie has been using Blender since 1999, when it wasn't even open source. He lives in New Haven, Connecticut, with his wife. Comics and other artwork can be found on his website http://www.johnwallie.com. Olivier Amrein has been working on 3D for over 15 years. He is a CG generalist, interested in production aspects and workflows. Right now, he is working for RGBprod, a studio in Switzerland. He is a Blender Foundation Certified Trainer who loves all kinds of visual experiments. He has been giving talks and workshops in Switzerland, the Netherlands, Brazil, Venezuela, and Russia. You can find more information about him at http://www.olivieramrein.com/. I would like to thank my wife, Qiongyao, and my two kids, Milla and Louis. Michael Dunn is a Python developer at the University of Notre Dame and an aspiring 3D artist. A sophisticated 3D studio such as Blender comes with a pretty steep learning curve. When he started to learn Blender, it was difficult to find good training materials for beginners—which made the learning process quite disheartening. So, it is with joy that he is able to contribute as a technical reviewer to Blender 3D Basics Beginner's Guide and hopes that it will help many other aspiring artists get off to a successful start with Blender. Jasper van Nieuwenhuizen is a freelance animation professional with a special interest in the technical side of things. After graduating from an art school in 2004, he picked up Blender and has been using it ever since. Because he really enjoyed animation and 3D in particular, and wanted to learn as much as he could about it, he decided to go back to school. In 2010, he graduated in 3D Computer Animation and Visual Effects from Utrecht School of the Arts. After this, he co-started the animation studio Fube, where he played his part in making commercials and an animated short film. During this time, he picked up Python and slowly evolved from a CG Generalist to a Technical Director, but still kept in touch with the artistic side of animation. At the moment, he freelances under the name Lines of Jasper, and is involved in the startup of an animation collective. When he's not in front of his computer, he spends time with his family, grows vegetables on the balcony, and makes paper planes and robots. You can find more about him and his work at http://www.linesofjasper.com. Brian Rocz received a BA in English from the University of Colorado, Denver, where he began studies in Math and Physics before transferring to the more subjective realm of literature and writing. His interest in 3D art grew out of his traditional art background, which, he admits, was left uncultivated and even less practiced. He has been using Blender for a number of years and is largely self-taught, though he cannot get away without saying that he owes a debt of gratitude to the Blender community for sharing their knowledge. He goes by the name Rocz3D in the digital space and on his website http://www.3dblenderstuff. wordpress.com. www.PacktPub.com Support files, eBooks, discount offers, and more You might want to visit www.PacktPub.com for support files and downloads related to your book. 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.PacktPub.com and as a print book customer, you are entitled to a discount on the eBook copy. Get in touch with us at [email protected] for more details. At www.PacktPub.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. TM http://PacktLib.PacktPub.com Do you need instant solutions to your IT questions? PacktLib is Packt's online digital book library. Here, you can access, read and search across Packt's entire library of books. 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Table of Contents Preface 1 Chapter 1: Introducing Blender and Animation 7 Welcome to the world of Blender 3D 8 Discovering Blender and animation 9 Learning Blender will literally change how you think 10 Installing Blender 11 Using Blender 13 Time for action – rendering your first scene in Blender 13 Time for action – closing Blender 15 Top 10 reasons to enjoy using Blender 3D 16 Getting a good background in animation 16 Going back to the year 1922 on an animation field trip 17 Time for action – watching Felix Turns the Tide 18 Moving ahead a few years in time, to 1928 19 Time for action – enjoying Plane Crazy 19 Arriving in 1938, the animation industry is at a peak 20 Time for action – sailing to Goonland 20 Animation principles 21 Learning from your animation heroes 22 Time for action – making a folder of your animation heroes 23 Starting to use computers for animation in the 1960s 24 Beginnings of 3D animation in 1963 25 Time for action – meeting Ivan Sutherland and Sketchpad 25 Going to the late 1970s, a few companies are doing 3D animation 26 Time for action – seeing the Triple I demo 1976 – 1979 26 Time for action – watching Triple I's 1982 demo reel 27 Introducing Pixar in 1984, and everything comes together 28