Blender 3D By Example - Second Edition

Blender 3D By Example - Second Edition

by Oscar Baechler, Xury Greer
Released May 2020
Publisher(s): Packt Publishing
ISBN: 9781789612561

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Book description

Get up and running with Blender 3D through a series of practical projects that will help you learn core concepts of 3D design like modeling, sculpting, materials, textures, lighting, and rigging using the latest features of Blender 2.83

Key Features

  • Learn the basics of 3D design and navigate your way around the Blender interface
  • Understand how 3D components work and how to create 3D content for your games
  • Familiarize yourself with 3D Modeling, Texturing, Lighting, Rendering and Sculpting with Blender

Book Description

Blender is a powerful 3D creation package that supports every aspect of the 3D pipeline. With this book, you'll learn about modeling, rigging, animation, rendering, and much more with the help of some interesting projects.

This practical guide, based on the Blender 2.83 LTS version, starts by helping you brush up on your basic Blender skills and getting you acquainted with the software toolset. You’ll use basic modeling tools to understand the simplest 3D workflow by customizing a Viking themed scene. You'll get a chance to see the 3D modeling process from start to finish by building a time machine based on provided concept art. You will design your first 2D character while exploring the capabilities of the new Grease Pencil tools. The book then guides you in creating a sleek modern kitchen scene using EEVEE, Blender’s new state-of-the-art rendering engine. As you advance, you'll explore a variety of 3D design techniques, such as sculpting, retopologizing, unwrapping, baking, painting, rigging, and animating to bring a baby dragon to life.

By the end of this book, you'll have learned how to work with Blender to create impressive computer graphics, art, design, and architecture, and you'll be able to use robust Blender tools for your design projects and video games.

What you will learn

  • Explore core 3D modeling tools in Blender such as extrude, bevel, and loop cut
  • Understand Blender's Outliner hierarchy, collections, and modifiers
  • Find solutions to common problems in modeling 3D characters and designs
  • Implement lighting and probes to liven up an architectural scene using EEVEE
  • Produce a final rendered image complete with lighting and post-processing effects
  • Learn character concept art workflows and how to use the basics of Grease Pencil
  • Learn how to use Blender's built-in texture painting tools

Who this book is for

Whether you're completely new to Blender, or an animation veteran enticed by Blender's newest features, this book will have something for you.

Table of contents

  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright and Credits
    1. Blender 3D By Example Second Edition
  3. About Packt
    1. Why subscribe?
  4. Contributors
    1. About the authors
    2. About the reviewers
    3. Packt is searching for authors like you
  5. Preface
    1. Who this book is for
    2. What this book covers
    3. To get the most out of this book
      1. Download the example code files
      2. Download the color images
      3. Conventions used
    4. Get in touch
      1. Reviews
  6. Introduction to 3D and the Blender User Interface
    1. Overview of the 3D workflow
      1. The 3D coordinate system
      2. 3D objects
      3. Components of a mesh
      4. Materials and textures
      5. Perspective view versus Orthographic view
    2. Blender's user interface
      1. A brief history of Blender's user interface
      2. Blender 2.8's user interface
    3. Basic 3D navigation controls
    4. A brief introduction to the projects in this book
      1. Setting up the source files
    5. Summary
  7. Editing a Viking Scene with a Basic 3D Workflow
    1. Setting up the source files
    2. Using the Outliner to organize a scene
    3. Navigating the 3D Viewport
    4. Using the Toolbar
    5. Basic transformations in Object Mode
    6. Editing the Viking helmet
      1. Preparing to work on the helmet
      2. Making changes to components in Edit Mode
      3. Adding the nose guard
      4. Adding the horns
      5. Adding the studs
      6. Returning to Object Mode to finish
    7. Rendering the final image
    8. Summary
  8. Modeling a Time Machine - Part 1
    1. Using transformation hotkeys
    2. Setting up the reference images for the time machine
    3. Box modeling the main section of the chair
    4. Destructive editing versus non-destructive editing
    5. Modeling the cushions of the chair
    6. Modeling the sci-fi rings with modifiers
    7. Modeling the armrests
    8. Summary
    9. Questions
  9. Modeling a Time Machine - Part 2
    1. Modeling the base of the time machine
    2. Modeling the clock
    3. Modeling the side rails
    4. Modeling the rear assembly
    5. Modeling the front housing
    6. Adding smooth shading to the model
    7. Summary
    8. Questions
  10. Modern Kitchen - Part 1: Kitbashing
    1. Setting up the source files
    2. Previsualizing the kitchen layout
      1. Creating a floor plan
      2. Creating previz objects
      3. Laying out the kitchen composition
    3. Creating tables with box modeling
      1. Appending or linking the tables to the scene
    4. Creating chairs with modifiers and curves
      1. Chair 1 – a wooden slat deck chair
      2. Chair 2 – a perforated plastic bar stool
      3. Chair 3 – cushioned coffee table chairs
      4. Chair 4 – a plastic chair with air slits
      5. Chair 5 – wooden layers with Booleans
      6. Appending, linking, and instancing the chairs
    5. Creating cabinets, islands, and a stove with add-ons
      1. Enabling our add-ons
      2. An Archimesh kitchen island
      3. Boolean modeling a sink with Bool Tool
      4. Doors and windows with Archipack
      5. Adding other decorations with Extra Objects
    6. Linking in canned assets
    7. Summary
    8. Questions
    9. Further reading
  11. Modern Kitchen - Part 2: Materials and Textures
    1. Simple materials and the nodal workflow
      1. Navigating nodes with a test material
      2. The Principled BSDF material
      3. Simple metals
      4. Simple non-metals
      5. Wood
      6. Tiled backsplash
      7. Granite counters
      8. Plant alpha cards
      9. Wall art texture atlas
    2. Summary
    3. Questions
    4. Further reading
  12. Modern Kitchen - Part 3: Lighting and Rendering
    1. Preparing the scene
    2. Daylight rendering
      1. Preliminary lighting with a sun object
      2. World lighting
    3. Indirect lighting
      1. Irradiance volume
      2. Addressing artifacts
      3. Reflection probes
    4. Using filters and postprocessing
      1. Screen space reflections
      2. Bloom
      3. Ambient occlusion
      4. Color management
      5. Camera settings
      6. Rendering with indoor lighting
    5. Summary
    6. Questions
    7. Further reading
  13. Illustrating an Alien Hero with Grease Pencil
    1. Playing with Grease Pencil objects
      1. Setting up a tablet and stylus
      2. Annotating with Grease Pencil
      3. Testing in the default Grease Pencil scene
      4. The Edit and Sculpt modes
      5. Adjusting the brush tool for calligraphy
      6. Customizing Grease Pencil materials
      7. Stippling over a photo with a dots material
    2. Roughing in a character
      1. Thumbnailing with layers and keyframes
      2. Sketching rounded forms in Pencil
      3. Construction drawing
    3. Inking the alien hero
      1. The starting ink
    4. Adding color with the fills pipeline
      1. Silhouette and local color
      2. The background
      3. Lighting and texture
    5. Summary
    6. Questions
    7. Further reading
  14. Animating an Exquisite Corpse in Grease Pencil
    1. Animating a bouncing ball
      1. Pose to pose beginnings
      2. Arcs, timing, and squash and stretch
      3. Adding a visual style
      4. Adding an ease-in, ease-out anticipation starting take
      5. Reusing and reworking frames with Multiframe
    2. Blinking Blender eyes
      1. Reusing frames for the Blender blinking animation
      2. A field of eyeballs
      3. Returning to the start frame
    3. Building a zooming fight scene
      1. The lines layer
      2. The fighters
      3. Adding color
    4. Bringing it all together
      1. Rendering to external files
      2. Editing the scenes together
    5. Summary
    6. Questions
    7. Further reading
  15. Animating a Stylish Short with Grease Pencil
    1. Getting started
      1. Preproduction
      2. Navigating this chapter's files
    2. The walk cycle
      1. The pencil test
      2. The head and pelvis
      3. Footfalls
      4. Finalizing the walk cycle with loop and pizzazz
    3. The background
      1. The city skyline
      2. The theater and usher
    4. Animating the usher's take
      1. The theater approach
      2. The first take
    5. The money exchange
      1. Setting up the scene
      2. Animating the characters
    6. The theater, crying, and triumph
      1. Reusing the walk with the concession stand
      2. The popcorn
      3. The change of heart
    7. The ending
      1. Entering the theater
      2. Animating the girl's eating and the popcorn's death
      3. End credits
      4. Rendering the finished animation
    8. Summary
    9. Questions
    10. Further reading
  16. Creating a Baby Dragon - Part 1: Sculpting
    1. The sculpting UI preset
      1. Viewport shading and MatCaps
      2. Low poly versus high poly
    2. Overview of the sculpting brushes
      1. The Draw brush
      2. Smooth, Slide Relax, and Simplify brushes
      3. The Clay and Clay strips brushes
      4. The Snake Hook, Grab, and Elastic Deform brushes
      5. Mask brushes
      6. The Inflate and Blob brushes
      7. The Crease and Pinch brushes
      8. The Scrape and Flatten brushes
      9. The Nudge and Thumb brushes
      10. The Layer brush
      11. The Rotate and IK Pose brushes
      12. Utility brushes
    3. Creating the starting point of the baby dragon with speed-sculpting
      1. Approach 1: Dynamic topology – head, jaw, and horns
      2. Approach 2: Skin modifier – wings, arms, and legs
      3. Approach 3: Metaballs – torso and tail
      4. Approach 4: Meshes – eyes, teeth, claws, and horns
      5. Brute-force sculpting
    4. Sculpting intermediate details
      1. Chiseling with the Scrape, Pinch, and Smooth brushes
      2. Bulging seams
      3. Overlapping muscles via masking
    5. Sculpting the fine details
      1. Stenciling in scales
      2. Stamping ridges along the wing and spine
      3. Refining the details
    6. Summary
    7. Questions
    8. Further reading
  17. Creating a Baby Dragon - Part 2: Retopology
    1. What is topology?
    2. What are the rules of good topology?
      1. Polygon density
      2. Edge loops
      3. Face loops
      4. Poles
    3. Setting up Blender for the retopology workflow
      1. Downloading the source files
      2. Linking the sculpture to a new scene
      3. Setting up viewport shading
      4. Setting up the snap settings
      5. Setting up the retopology object
      6. Subdivision-shrinkwrap method (optional)
      7. Enabling add-ons
    4. Retopologizing the baby dragon
      1. Method 1 – the Poly Build tool
      2. Method 2 – Manual extrusion and F2
      3. Method 3 – Shrinkwrap
      4. Method 4 – Bsurfaces
      5. Method 5 – QuadriFlow remeshing
    5. Finishing up
    6. Summary
    7. Questions
    8. Further reading
  18. Creating a Baby Dragon - Part 3: UV Unwrapping
    1. What are UVs?
    2. Setting up Blender for the UV unwrapping workflow
      1. Downloading the source files
      2. Setting up the interface
      3. Setting up the preview checker pattern
    3. Marking the seams and UV unwrapping
      1. Marking the first seams
      2. Visualizing the distortion
      3. Fixing texel density issues
    4. Laying out the baby dragon's UVs
    5. Summary
    6. Questions
  19. Creating a Baby Dragon - Part 4: Baking and Painting Textures
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Getting set up for texture baking
      1. Preparing the scene for baking
      2. Material baking setup
    3. Baking texture maps from high poly to low poly
      1. Your first bake – AO
      2. Normals
      3. Cavity and displacement
      4. Convexity
      5. Subsurface
      6. Top lighting, soft lighting, and facing maps
    4. Texture painting the base color in Blender
      1. Painting the base color
      2. Creating stencils in the image editor
      3. Normal maps and sculpting with a bump map
    5. Using external programs for image editing
      1. Setting up an external program
      2. Image edit projection painting
    6. Setting up the remaining BSDF textures
      1. Making specular and roughness maps from a master file
      2. Subsurface scattering
      3. Rune magic with object projection
      4. Painting the eye
    7. Summary
    8. Questions
    9. Further reading
  20. Creating a Baby Dragon - Part 5: Rigging and Animation
    1. What is a rig?
      1. Armatures and bones in Edit Mode
    2. Practicing with a simple tentacle rig
      1. Setting up the tentacle rig's controls
      2. Finishing the tentacle rig
    3. Using the Rigify add-on to rig the baby dragon
      1. Setting up the baby dragon's meta-rig
      2. Creating and modifying the Rigify rig
    4. Modifying the armature weights
      1. Parenting (everything) with automatic weights
      2. Parenting to bones (eyes and stencil)
      3. Assigning weights manually (to the horns, claws, and teeth)
      4. Weighting the animation
      5. Painting weights
    5. Animating a flying cycle
      1. Understanding the rig controls
      2. Blocking in keyframes
    6. Summary
    7. Questions
    8. Further reading
  21. The Wide World of Blender
    1. Blender skills to learn next
      1. Photogrammetry
      2. Physics
      3. Volumetrics
      4. Hair and fur
      5. Recording a macro in Python
    2. The Blender community
      1. The Blender Foundation and Blender Institute
      2. Blender user groups
      3. Online Blender communities
    3. Summary
    4. Questions
  22. Other Books You May Enjoy
    1. Leave a review - let other readers know what you think

Product information

  • Title: Blender 3D By Example - Second Edition
  • Author(s): Oscar Baechler, Xury Greer
  • Release date: May 2020
  • Publisher(s): Packt Publishing
  • ISBN: 9781789612561