blender introduction - post tenebras lab · blender is a free, open-source computer graphics suite...

Blender Introductionby Thomas Hauth

What is it all about ?

● Blender is a free, open-source computer graphics suite

● Developed as a commercial product

● Freed by the community as GPL software by a one-time payment of 100.000 EUR in 2002

● Since then, managed and developed by the non-profit Blender Foundation

What can it do ?

● A set of open-source movies have been made, to improve Blenders feature set in certain areas

● The movies are produced by the Blender Foundation with donations from the community

● A professional team of artists gathers in the Blender Institute in Amsterdam for ~5 month

● The movie and all source material (models, textures) are available for free once the production in done

The most recent production● Goal was to improve the

tracking and mixing of rendered and real-film

● http://mango.blender.org/

● Visual Effects Breakdown

● Done with blender alone, almost

they also used GIMP ;)

http://youtu.be/nawbpZOKpD8

Where to get it ?

Easy:

www.blender.org

Linux | Windows | MacOS | Free BSD

Ubuntu:

sudo apt-get install blender

This talk is based on blender 2.64

http://www.blender.org/

What can you use it for ?

● No idea ! → whatever you can imagine

● I used it for content creation for computer games

Pre-rendered 2d images used in-game

3d models & textures exported and loaded in the game engine

What we want to do today

● TalkUser Interface

Modeling Basics & Techniques

Animation Introduction

● Workshop: Model a Mech

Export model to 3d printing software

Whatever is fun ...

User Interface

meet the beast

Meet the User Interface

● For many the first hard challenge

● But not so bad, if you got used to the concepts

● If you get lost, press Spacebar and type

“Load Factory Settings” and press ReturnTada !

My Blender Setup

● Notebook + 3 Button mouse with Scrollwheel

● Left hand on the keyboardfor quick shortcuts during editing

for changing the camera view

● Right hand on the mousefor selecting and moving elements

for free rotations and zoom with the mouse wheel


Timeline Window

3d Window

ButtonsWindow

Info Window


● Pre-configured window setting for some tasks can be selected in the topmost window


● Use the Numpad to navigate in the 3d view

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blender_numpad.png


● On notebooks, the Numpad can be emulated by the regular 0-9 keys

1. Select “User Preferences”

2. Select “Input”

3. Select “Emulate Numpad”4. Save as default

The magic space bar

● No matter in which window you are

● Press the space bar and type a keyword

● All available commands fitting your keyword are listed (emacs 3d mode ?!?)

How to use your mouse

● The following is the general setup of the mouse buttons in blender

● Might be slightly different in some windows

Left Button

ModifyMoveRotate

Right Button

Select ObjectsPress Shift to select

multiple objects

Middle Button

Press & Move mouserotates view

Middle Button & Shift

Press & Move mousemoves view

Mouse WheelZoom In / Out

Modeling

let's build stuff

Triangles & friends

Basic building blocks of meshs

● VertexIndividual point in the model

● EdgeConnecting any two vertices

● FaceAn area which can be spanned between to 3 or 4 points

The only building block that is visible when rendering the model

Modeling Techniques

● Start from a basic objectCube

Cylinder

Sphere

…

● Select object ( right click )

● Enter Edit Mode ( TAB )

Modifying Meshes

● Right click to select vertices, edges or faces

● Use Shift or the B key to select multiple elements

● You can configure which elements you want to select

● Move selected elements: press G

● Rotate selected elements: press R

● Press X,Y or Z to constrain movement and rotation to one axis … veeeery useful

● Press Z to toggle between wireframe or filled mesh

Modeling Techniques

● Extrude FacesShortcut E

Modeling Techniques

● Loop Cut Shortcut CTRL - R

Modeling Techniques

● Knife Topology Tool Shortcut K

Mesh Modifiers

● A list of modifiers can be added to meshes

● The underlying mesh is not changed

Mirror Modifier

● Very useful when modeling symmetric objects

● Only one side of the mesh needs to be modeled, the other one is mirrored

Subsurface Modifier

● A basic mesh is sub-divided into a more complex mesh to allow smooth surfaces

● Keeps the underlying mesh simple but looks great in the render

Animation

keep on movin'

Animation

● Multiple techniques exist in BlenderKey-Frame based

Bone-based ( for example for Characters )

Path-following

Physics-based ( Gravity, Force Fields )

Animation User Interface

Current FrameStart / End Frame Current FrameTimeline

Key-frame based Animation

● Move the current frame to the intended place (default 25 frames / sec)

● Position the objects were they should be in the frame

● Press I and select the keyframe information you intent ( Location, Scale, Rotation )

● Repeat till the end of the animation time span

● Blender will interpolate the movements for all frames

● Press ALT+A to get a preview

More Information

● Blender Wikihttp://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Main_Page

● Reference Manualhttp://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:2.6/Manual/Animation/Techs/Object/Constraint

http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Main_Page

http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:2.6/Manual/Animation/Techs/Object/Constraint

http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:2.6/Manual/Animation/Techs/Object/Constraint

This presentation is licensed underCreative Commons Attribution 3.0

Background Image by(CC) Blender Foundation | mango.blender.orgCreative Commons Attribution 3.0

blender introduction - post tenebras lab · blender is a free, open-source computer graphics suite...

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