Essential Blender
Chapter Overview:
An Introduction to 3D
Introduces 3D concepts to anyone new to the art form: models, textures, lighting, cameras and animation, and relates them to a real world example.
The Blender Interface
Getting oriented and finding your way around Blender's window- and screen-based interface. Suggestions for how to start thinking about and working in Blender. Navigating within the 3D view, including different methods of visualization. Finding commands, items and information in the toolbox, headers and menus. Changing the working interface by splitting, moving and joining windows, as well as changing window types. Using the file browser and different screens.
Basic Object Manipulation and Animation
Learning to exist in 3D space. Creating, transforming, duplicating and deleting objects. Different methods of keyframe animation and working with the timeline. Using the 3D cursor and Empty objects. Parenting, snapping, constraints and layer management. Working with Ipos and Ipo curves.
Mesh Modeling
Edit mode and mesh objects. Basic vertex, edge and face manipulation, including creation, deletion and extrusion. Different ways of selecting mesh elements. Subdivision using the different subdivide commands, the knife and edge loop tools. The Proportional Editing Tool. Using subsurf, array and mirror modifiers as modeling tools. An introduction to vertex groups.
Multiresolution Sculpting
Explains both multiresolution modeling and the new sculpting tools. An extensive tutorial for modeling a monster's head, from the rough forms down through individual wrinkles and skin texturing. The various sculpting brushes and modes are covered, as well as different techniques and strategies. Different methods of optimizing your system response while sculpting at high resolutions.
Character Animation
The character animation tools are introduced, including bone manipulation and armature posing. Hints for animating with better control and efficiency. Creating animated actions and working with key blocks in the Action Editor. Creating a basic walkcycle. Blending actions in the NLA Editor and using NLA features to alter the way actions are evaluated, including scaling, repetition and offset bone.
Rigging/Skinning
Building an effective armature, and some creative techniques for using IK, constraints and parenting to maximize the armature's responsiveness while minimizing complexity. Bone naming and symmetrical armature creation and editing. Attaching an armature to a mesh using Envelopes. Fine tuning deformation with vertex groups and weight painting.
Shape Keys
The Shape Keys interface demystified. Creating, modifying, deleting and blending Shape Keys. Using vertex groups to create sets of related Shape Keys. The effects of using Shape Keys above and below their normal blending values. Animating with Shape Keys, both from the standard interface, and from within the Action Editor.
Materials and Texturing
An approach to mimicking real world materials in Blender. Managing materials. The color picker. The various shaders, transparency and reflection options explained. Using the texture stack, including Stencil and Warp, to produce believable materials. Texture mapping, and using textures to affect different aspects of the shaders.
UV Mapping and Image Painting
Creating seams and unwrapping mesh objects with Angle Based Flattening. Pinning UV nodes and adjusting the unwrap with Live Transform. Adding texture images and using the built in painting tools to create textures within the Image Editor window, and directly on objects in the 3D view.
Lighting
The different lamps explained, and suggestions on when to use them. Adjusting shadow parameters. Using lamp textures to simulate semi-occluded light sources. An extensive discussion of the effective use of lighting in your scenes, what to avoid, and how to use lighting to enhance, rather than ruin, the hard work you've put into modeling and texturing.
Particles
Creating particle systems, adjusting their motion and setting up deflection objects and force fields. Using the Halo material type. Strand particles for hair and fur, as well as the strand shading options and using Blend textures to enhance Strand appearance.
Rendering and Compositing
Basic renderer configuration, including options, sizes and output types and locations. The compositing section includes an extensive tutorial on Node use, common post-processing effects like motion blur, color correction, bloom and reflection blurring. Using Render Layers to apply different Node trees to different elements of a scene for greater flexibility.
Bonuses
A brief look at rigid body physics, soft body dynamics, fluid simulation and the Python scripting language.