Chapter 3. Controlling the Lamp, the Camera, and Animating Objects

You have learned how to use the Blender window and the 3D View window. Now, you will use the principles you have learned about animation, and make use of what you know about modifying windows and navigating in 3D View.

In this chapter, we will cover the following topics:

• Study how light affects the scene
• Practice placing lights in different locations
• Change the light's colors
• Use multiple lights
• Learn about using global and local coordinates
• Discuss composing an image with the camera
• Move, rotate, and scale the camera
• Make keyframes for an animation
• Preview your first animation and render it
• Use Graph Editor to improve the animation
• Learn how to save files and use backup files

This chapter introduces you to using Blender as your own movie studio. We will start with a simple project, and in further chapters, expand on this so you will be comfortable doing animation or just lighting your models to show them off to their...