What do you get with Print?

Instant access to your digital eBook copy whilst your Print order is Shipped

Paperback book shipped to your preferred address

Download this book in EPUB and PDF formats

Access this title in our online reader with advanced features

DRM FREE - Read whenever, wherever and however you want

Blender 3D Basics

Chapter 2. Getting Comfortable using the 3D View

Well, in the previous chapter you've had a good introduction to animation and computer animation. You learned a little bit about how to make an animation come alive and discovered that the animation principles are the same whether it's made in the old-fashioned way or with a computer. Now it's time to get into Blender itself.

In this chapter, you will:

Learn about the idea behind Blender's windowing system
Investigate how to manipulate and resize the Blender windows
Discover how computers create and use colors
Investigate 3D coordinates and measuring in 3D
Learn how to navigate in the 3D View window

Time for action — toggling the Quad view

The Quad view is a special view with the camera, front, top, and right side views. I especially like it for setting up lighting:

Press the Ctrl key, the Alt key, and the Q key.
Press the Ctrl key, the Alt key, and the Q key again.

What just happened?

When you press the Ctrl key, the Alt key, and the Q key, Blender toggles the Quad view on and off. The Quad view gives you three Orthographic views and the Camera view.

Navigating in the 3D View

Following is a handy reference table that you can use while you practice. You've mastered how to navigate in the 3D View window in Blender. This may have been the toughest chapter. Phew! Well done.

Keys	Navigation

Pan, Zoom, Rotate with the mouse
MMB	Rotate View
Shift+MMB	Pan View
Ctrl+MMB	Zoom View
Ctrl+Alt+Q	Quad View toggle

Pan, Zoom, Rotate with the mouse wheel
Mouse Wheel only	Zoom In/Out
Shift+Mouse Wheel	Pan up and down
Ctrl+Mouse Wheel	Pan right and left
Shift+Alt+Mouse...

Key benefits

The best starter guide for complete newcomers to 3D modeling and animation

Easier learning curve than any other book on Blender

You will learn all the important foundation skills ready to apply to any 3D software

Description

Blender is by far the most popular open source graphics program available. It is a full featured 3D modeling, animation and games development tool used by millions all over the world ñ and it's free! This book is for those looking for an entry into the world of 3D modeling and animation regardless of prior experience. Blender 3D Basics is the entry level book for those without prior experience using 3D tools. It caters for those who may have downloaded Blender in the past but were frustrated by its lack of intuitiveness. Using simple steps it builds, chapter by chapter, into a full foundation in 3D modeling and animation. Using Blender 3D Basics the reader will model a maritime scene complete with boats and water, then add materials, lighting and animation. The book demystifies the Blender interface and explains what each tool does so that you will be left with a thorough understanding of 3D.

What you will learn

How to create 3D objects in blender

How to compose a scene ready for animation

Loading, saving, importing and exporting various file formats

Create a full animation using key-frames on a timeline

Adding simple materials and lighting your scene

Rendering and compositing the final animation sequence

Add stereoscopic 3D effects

What do you get with Print?

Instant access to your digital eBook copy whilst your Print order is Shipped

Paperback book shipped to your preferred address

Download this book in EPUB and PDF formats

Access this title in our online reader with advanced features

DRM FREE - Read whenever, wherever and however you want

Frequently bought together

Blender 2.6 Cycles: Materials and Textures Cookbook

₹3649.99

₹4096.99

Blender 2.5 Character Animation Cookbook

₹3649.99

Total ₹ 11,396.97

Filter reviews by

All

Amazon verified reviews

alfred l hunt Jun 04, 2016

good product exactly what I ordered

Amazon Verified review

M. J. Anders Aug 20, 2012

The first impressions on reading this book are that is well written. The writer clearly has thought about how to present the reader with projects that provide a smooth learning curve. No details are left out and animation, not just modeling an rendering, is a focal point from page one.While reading the book you clearly get the feel you are getting somewhere. Many easy to follow steps guide you through subjects like camera work, animating, rendering a final compositing and even touches on that all important point of animation: telling a story. At the end the reader will be able to create a small animated movie (even in anaglyphic 3d!).It helps of course that for almost every small step sample files are available for download and the pdf version of the ebook is in color, a necessity for books about graphics in my opinion (although the .mobi version read just fine on my Kindle)Of course there are some things it doesn't cover : character animation, (which is advanced, but something about armatures would have been nice, even for non-character animation), while texturing, especially UV mapping, is only touched upon. Cycles, the new Blender render engine, is only covered as an addendum but that I think is hardly a problem: thousands of fine animations have been made with Blender's internal renderer and thousands will be.Conclusion: I am impressed. This is an excellent book for Blender novices. Reading this book gives the aspiring Blender animator the biggest chance of actually finishing something instead of leaving the reader with some boring technical experiments.

TJ Koker Jan 25, 2013

Gordon has done something that few technical writers ever do - connect. Through the animation examples of yesteryear and a conversationl style, I was able to develop and learn techniques that will help me for years to come. Good stuff!

Bryhima Johnson Jun 23, 2015

good

Franz Lanzinger Aug 19, 2012

So I thought I knew Blender pretty well, with some gaps, of course. Then I got a chance to review Gordon Fisher's "Blender 3D Basics: The complete novice's guide to 3D modeling and animation". In summary, this is a great book and definitely lives up to the billing as the best starter guide for complete newcomers to 3D modeling and animation. Having seen quite a few Blender books, video tutorials, and written documentation, I'd have to say that working through this book is the best first step before going on to other more advanced topics.I'll even go further and recommend this book to somewhat more experienced Blender users such as myself. Blender isn't exactly easy to learn on your own, so this book is a great way to tackle the initial learning curve.As an indie game developer, programmer, artist and musician, this book is a great resource both for improving my Blender skills and also for learning some great things about 3D graphics and animation.Blender's user interface isn't exactly standard. It's famous for driving people nuts and stumping newcomers. Version 2.6 is a vast improvement over the earlier 2.4 versions, but it's still a bit wonky. On the other hand, the user interface is very keyboard oriented, which is just how I like it. There's just the slight problem of learning the keys and enough of the basics to learn the rest on your own.This isn't some cursory review. I actually worked through the first 330 pages of this 430 page book. I plan to work through the rest in the coming weeks, but I thought that I'd share my impressions so far.The step-by-step approach of the book is great. Just follow the steps and slowly but surely you'll learn how to use Blender. Anyone can do it. There's no artistic talent required, just an eye for detail. The downside of this way of learning is that if you happen to skip a step or do something slightly differently you might find yourself looking at something very different from the screenshots a few steps later. Never fear, the author did a really great job providing a whole bunch of .blend files to load to get you back on track.The whole experience of working through the steps was truly educational for me, as I'm sure it will be for you as well. My only real criticism is that on occasion I felt that I would have liked an explanation of the steps as I was doing them rather than in the "What just happened" section after completing the section.Technically, this book is pretty good, though it's not perfect. There are a few typos and, strangely, the occasional confusion of RMB and LMB (right mouse button and left mouse button). In Blender you select layers with LMB, but the book instructs you to use the RMB I a few places. Not a big deal, really. Also, a few of the screen shots don't match exactly what I was seeing when working through the steps, but over 95% of the time they were right on. In all cases I was able to work through the steps and follow along.So who am I, and why am I writing this? Well, I'm Franz Lanzinger and I received a free copy of the book for the purposes of writing a review both here and on my blog franzgameblog dot com. That being said, I'm not a professional reviewer but a veteran independent game developer with a long track record spanning Atari's coinop Crystal Castles (1983), Tengen Ms. Pacman, and Gubble HD. I'm always happy to discover hidden gems such as this book and share my discoveries.In conclusion this book is awesome. If you're interested in learning the basics of Blender this is a great way to do it.

Blender 3D Basics: The complete novice's guide to 3D modeling and animation

What do you get with Print?

Contact Details

Shipping Address

Billing Address

Key benefits

Description

Who is this book for?

What you will learn

Product Details

What do you get with Print?

Contact Details

Shipping Address

Billing Address

Product Details

Packt Subscriptions

Frequently bought together

Table of Contents

Recommendations for you

Customer reviews

Filter reviews by

People who bought this also bought

FAQs