Blender For Dummies®, 2nd Edition

Table of contents

1. Cover Page
2. Title Page
3. Copyright
4. About the Author
5. Dedication
6. Acknowledgments
7. Publisher's Acknowledgments
8. Contents
9. Introduction
   1. About This Book
   2. Conventions Used in This Book
   3. Foolish Assumptions
   4. How This Book Is Organized
   5. Icons Used in This Book
   6. Where to Go from Here
10. Part I: Wrapping Your Brain Around Blender
    1. Chapter 1: Discovering Blender
       1. Getting to Know Blender
       2. Discovering Blender's Beginnings
       3. Making Open Movies and Games
       4. Getting to Know the Interface
    2. Chapter 2: Understanding How Blender Thinks
       1. Looking at Editor Types
       2. Working with the Properties Editor
       3. Customizing Blender to Fit You
       4. Navigating in Three Dimensions
       5. New Features in Blender's 3D View Since 2.5
    3. Chapter 3: Getting Your Hands Dirty Working in Blender
       1. Grabbing, Scaling, and Rotating
       2. Differentiating Between Coordinate Systems
       3. Transforming an Object by Using the 3D Manipulator
       4. Saving Time by Using Hotkeys
    4. Chapter 4: Working in Edit Mode and Object Mode
       1. Making Changes by Using Edit Mode
       2. Adding to a Scene
11. Part II: Creating Detailed 3D Scenes
    1. Chapter 5: Creating Anything You Can Imagine with Meshes
       1. Pushing Vertices
       2. Working with Loops and Rings
       3. Simplifying Your Life As a Modeler with Modifiers
       4. Sculpting Multiresolution Meshes
       5. Practical Example: Modeling an Eye
    2. Chapter 6: Using Blender's Nonmesh Primitives
       1. Using Curves and Surfaces
       2. Using Meta Objects
       3. Adding Text
    3. Chapter 7: Changing That Boring Gray Default Material
       1. Playing with Materials
       2. Coloring Vertices with Vertex Paint
       3. Practical Example: Coloring the Eye
    4. Chapter 8: Giving Models Texture
       1. Adding Textures
       2. Using Procedural Textures
       3. Understanding Texture Mapping
       4. Unwrapping a Mesh
       5. Painting Textures Directly on a Mesh
       6. Baking Texture Maps from Your Mesh
       7. Using UV Textures
       8. Practical Example: Unwrapping Your Eye and Painting a Detailed Texture
    5. Chapter 9: Lighting and Environment
       1. Lighting a Scene
       2. Lighting for Speedy Renders
       3. Setting Up the World
12. Part III: Get Animated!
    1. Chapter 10: Animating Objects
       1. Working with Animation Curves
       2. Using Constraints Effectively
       3. Practical Example: Building and Animating a Simple Eye Rig
    2. Chapter 11: Rigging: The Art of Building an Animatable Puppet
       1. Creating Shape Keys
       2. Adding Hooks
       3. Using Armatures: Skeletons in the Mesh
       4. Practical Example: Rigging Stickman
    3. Chapter 12: Animating Object Deformations
       1. Working with the Dopesheet
       2. Animating with Armatures
       3. Doing Nonlinear Animation
    4. Chapter 13: Letting Blender Do the Work for You
       1. Using Particles in Blender
       2. Giving Objects Some Jiggle and Bounce
       3. Dropping Objects in a Scene with Rigid Body Dynamics
       4. Simulating Cloth
       5. Splashing Fluids in Your Scene
13. Part IV: Sharing Your Work with the World
    1. Chapter 14: Exporting and Rendering Scenes
       1. Exporting to External Formats
       2. Rendering a Scene
    2. Chapter 15: Compositing and Editing
       1. Comparing Editing to Compositing
       2. Working with the Video Sequence Editor
       3. Working with the Node-Based Compositor
14. Part V: The Part of Tens
    1. Chapter 16: Ten Problems for New Users in Blender (And Ways Around Them)
       1. Auto Saves and Session Recovery Don't Work
       2. Blender's Interface Is Weird or Glitchy
       3. A Notorious Black Stripe Appears on Models
       4. Objects Go Missing
       5. Edge Loop Select Doesn't Work
       6. A Background Image Disappears
       7. Zooming Has Its Limits
       8. Lost Simulation Data
       9. Blender Doesn't Create Faces As Expected
       10. Disorientation in the 3D View
    2. Chapter 17: Ten Tips for Working More Effectively in Blender
       1. Use Tooltips and Integrated Search
       2. Look at Models from Different Views
       3. Lock a Camera to an Animated Character
       4. Don't Forget about Add-Ons
       5. Name Everything
       6. Use Layers Effectively
       7. Do Low-Resolution Test Renders
       8. Mind Your Mouse
       9. Use Grease Pencil to Plan
       10. Have Fun, but Take Breaks
    3. Chapter 18: Ten Excellent Community Resources
       1. Blender.org
       2. BlenderArtists.org
       3. BlenderNation
       4. BlenderBasics.com
       5. BlenderNewbies
       6. BlenderCookie.com
       7. Blendswap
       8. Blenderart Magazine
       9. Graphicall.org
       10. Blender IRC Channels on freenode.net
15. Appendix: About the DVD
    1. System Requirements
    2. Using the DVD
    3. What You'll Find on the DVD
    4. Troubleshooting
    5. Customer Care
16. Index