Cover image for Learning Blender, 3rd Edition

Learning Blender, 3rd Edition

Release Date: 2021/04/01
ISBN: 9780136411741
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Master the Newest Blender Techniques for Creating Amazing 3D Characters: From Design and Modeling to Video Compositing

Now fully updated for Blender 2.83 LTS (Long-Term Support) and beyond, Learning Blender, Third Edition, walks you through every step of creating an outstanding 3D animated character with Blender, and then compositing it in a real video using a professional workflow. This edition covers the extensive interface changes of the software, as well as many improvements and some almost fully rewritten chapters to showcase more modern workflows.

Still the only Blender tutorial to take you from preproduction to final result, this guide is perfect for both novices and those moving from other software to Blender (open source and free software). Author Oliver Villar provides full-color, hands-on chapters that cover every aspect of character creation: design, modeling, unwrapping, texturing, shading, rigging, animation, and rendering. He also walks you through integrating your animated character into a real-world video, using professional camera tracking, lighting, and compositing techniques.

The rich companion website (blendtuts.com/learning-blender-files) will help you quickly master even the most complex techniques with bonus contents like video tutorials. By the time you're done, you'll be ready to create outstanding characters for all media -- and you'll have up-to-date skills for any 3D project, whether it involves characters or not.

  • Learn Blender's updated user interface and navigation

  • Create your first scene with Blender and the Blender Render and Cycles render engines

  • Organize an efficient, step-by-step pipeline to streamline workflow in any project

  • Master modeling, unwrapping, and texturing

  • Bring your character to life with materials and shading in both Cycles and EEVEE (the new real-time render engine included in Blender)

  • Create your character's skeleton and make it walk

  • Use Camera Tracking to mix 3D objects into a real-world video

  • Transform a raw rendered scene into the final result using Blender's compositing nodes

Register your book for convenient access to downloads, updates, and/or corrections as they become available. See inside book for details.

Table of Contents

  1. Cover Page
  2. About This eBook
  3. Title Page
  4. Copyright Page
  5. Dedication Page
  6. Contents at a Glance
  7. Contents
  8. Preface
    1. Welcome to Learning Blender!
    2. Do You Come from Other 3D Software?
    3. How to Use This Book
    4. What’s New in This Edition
  9. Acknowledgments
  10. About the Author
  11. I: The Basics of Blender
    1. 1. What You Need to Know About Blender
    2. What Is Blender?
    3. Commercial Software Versus Open-Source Software
    4. History of Blender
    5. Blender Foundation and Blender Development
    6. Who Pays for Blender’s Development?
    7. The Blender Community
    8. Summary
    9. Exercises
    10. 2. Blender Basics: The User Interface
    11. Downloading and Installing Blender
    12. Using Blender with Recommended Hardware
    13. Using Blender’s User Interface
    14. Understanding Areas and Editors
    15. Using Workspaces
    16. Getting to Know Blender’s Interface Elements
    17. Understanding the 3D Viewport
    18. Navigating the 3D Scene
    19. Selecting Objects
    20. Understanding the 3D Cursor
    21. Understanding Blender’s User Preferences
    22. Creating Your Own Startup File
    23. Summary
    24. Exercises
    25. 3. Your First Scene in Blender
    26. Creating Objects
    27. Moving, Rotating, and Scaling
    28. Arranging Objects in Your Scene
    29. Naming Objects and Using Datablocks
    30. Using Interaction Modes
    31. Applying Flat or Smooth Surfaces
    32. Working with Modifiers
    33. Using Workbench, EEVEE, and Cycles
    34. Turning On the Lights
    35. Moving the Camera in Your Scene
    36. Rendering
    37. Summary
    38. Exercises
  12. II: Beginning a Project
    1. 4. Project Overview
    2. Three Stages of a Project
    3. Defining the Stages
    4. Making a Character-Creation Plan
    5. Summary
    6. Exercises
    7. 5. Character Design
    8. Character Description
    9. Designing the Character
    10. Adding Color
    11. Finalizing the Design
    12. Making Character Reference Images
    13. Using Other Design Methods
    14. Summary
    15. Exercises
  13. III: Modeling in Blender
    1. 6. Blender Modeling Tools
    2. Working with Vertices, Edges, and Faces
    3. Making Selections
    4. Using Mesh Modeling Tools
    5. Using Modeling Add-Ons
    6. Using Other Useful Blender Options and Tools
    7. Summary
    8. Exercises
    9. 7. Character Modeling
    10. What Is Mesh Topology?
    11. Choosing Modeling Methods
    12. Setting up the Reference Images
    13. Modeling the Eyes
    14. Modeling the Face
    15. Modeling the Torso and Arms
    16. Modeling the Legs
    17. Modeling the Boots
    18. Modeling the Hands
    19. Modeling the Cap
    20. Modeling the Hair
    21. Modeling the Final Details
    22. Summary
    23. Exercises
  14. IV: Unwrapping, Painting, and Shading
    1. 8. Unwrapping and UVs in Blender
    2. Seeing How Unwrapping and UVs Work
    3. Unwrapping in Blender
    4. Considering Before Unwrapping
    5. Working with UVs in Blender
    6. Unwrapping the Rest of the Character
    7. Packing UVs
    8. Summary
    9. Exercises
    10. 9. Painting Textures
    11. Defining the Main Workflow
    12. Texture Painting in Blender
    13. Creating the Base Texture
    14. Understanding the Elements of a Texture
    15. Texturing in Other Software
    16. Seeing the Painted Character in Blender
    17. Summary
    18. Exercises
    19. 10. Materials and Shaders
    20. Understanding Materials
    21. Masks and Layers
    22. Channels
    23. Shading Your Character
    24. Running Render Tests
    25. Summary
    26. Exercises
  15. V: Bringing Your Character to Life
    1. 11. Character Rigging
    2. Understanding the Rigging Process
    3. Working with Armatures
    4. Rigging Your Character
    5. Skinning
    6. Creating Custom Shapes
    7. Making Final Retouches
    8. Reusing Your Character in Different Scenes
    9. Summary
    10. Exercises
    11. 12. Animating Your Character
    12. Using the Character’s Rig
    13. Posing the Character
    14. Working with Animation Editors
    15. Animating a Walk Cycle
    16. Summary
    17. Exercises
  16. VI: Getting the Final Result
    1. 13. Camera Tracking in Blender
    2. Understanding Camera Tracking
    3. Shooting Video for Easy Tracking
    4. Using the Movie Clip Editor
    5. Tracking the Camera Motion
    6. Testing Camera Tracking
    7. Summary
    8. Exercises
    9. 14. Lighting, Compositing, and Rendering
    10. Lighting Your Scene
    11. Rendering and Compositing Your Scene in Cycles
    12. Rendering and Compositing Your Scene with EEVEE
    13. Exporting the Final Render
    14. Summary
    15. Exercises
  17. VII: Keep Learning
    1. 15. Other Blender Features
    2. Simulations
    3. 2D Animation
    4. VFX: Masking, Object Tracking, and Video Stabilization
    5. Video Editing
    6. Sculpting
    7. Retopology
    8. Maps Baking
    9. Add-Ons
    10. Python Scripting
    11. Summary
  18. Index
  19. Code Snippets
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