Blender Master Class

Blender Master Class

by
Released February 2013
Publisher(s): No Starch Press
ISBN: 9781593274771

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Book description

Blender Master Class is a practical, hands-on guide to the potential of the popular open-source 3D graphics tool. Chapters walk through the steps in the modeling process, from concept art to that final polish.

Table of contents

  1. Dedication
  2. Acknowledgments
  3. About the Author
  4. About the Technical Reviewer
  5. Introduction
    1. Topics Covered
    2. What Isn’t Covered
    3. Requirements
    4. The Projects
      1. The Bat Creature
      2. The Spider Bot
      3. The Jungle Temple
      4. How to Follow the Projects
    5. Resources Accompanying This Book
    6. Let’s Begin
  6. 1. Introduction to Blender
    1. About Blender
    2. The Blender User Interface
      1. Layout and UI Terminology
      2. Switching Editors and Customizing the UI
      3. Multiple Layouts
    3. Editor Types
      1. The 3D Viewport
        1. Navigating the 3D Viewport
        2. Coordinates in 3D and the Grid Floor
      2. The Properties Editor
      3. The Info Editor
      4. The Node Editor
      5. The UV Image Editor
      6. Other Editors
    4. Using Blender
      1. Scenes
      2. The Default .blend File
      3. Adding Objects
      4. The 3D Cursor
      5. Selecting Objects
      6. Manipulating Objects
      7. Other Coordinate Systems
      8. Operators
      9. Datablocks
      10. Naming Datablocks
      11. Modes
      12. Saving and Loading
      13. Appending and Linking
    5. In Review
  7. 2. Introduction to GIMP
    1. About GIMP
    2. Why GIMP?
    3. The GIMP User Interface
      1. The Toolbox
      2. The Canvas
      3. Dialogs
    4. Using GIMP
      1. Creating an Image
      2. Painting and Drawing
      3. Brushes and Brush Dynamics
      4. Filters
      5. Layers
      6. Selections
      7. Saving and Exporting
    5. In Review
  8. 3. Preparation
    1. Concept Art and References
      1. Creating, Finding, and Using References
      2. What to Look for in Reference Material
    2. Composition
      1. The Rule of Thirds
      2. Silhouettes and Negative Space
      3. Simplicity and Focus
      4. Visual Path
    3. Testing Compositions in Blender
    4. Preparing References in GIMP
      1. Creating a Reference Sheet
      2. Aligning Orthographic References
    5. Using Concepts and Reference Images in Blender
      1. UV Image Editor
      2. Background Images
      3. Image Empties
    6. In Review
  9. 4. Blocking In
    1. Basic Modeling Terms
    2. Edit Mode
    3. Other Ways to Model: Curves
    4. Modifiers
    5. Blocking in the Jungle Temple
    6. Snapping
    7. Base Meshes
    8. Building the Bat Creature Base Mesh
      1. Loop Cuts and Face and Edge Loops
      2. Poses for Modeling Characters
      3. Modeling the Hands and Feet
      4. Modeling the Head
      5. Tweaking the Model with Proportional Editing
      6. Creating the Wings
      7. Applying Transforms
    9. Shading Modes
    10. Creating the Spider Bot
    11. In Review
  10. 5. Modeling the Details
    1. Topology
      1. What Is Good Topology?
      2. Dealing with Difficult Topology
    2. Modeling the Details of the Jungle Temple
      1. Walls
      2. Statues
      3. Stone Carvings
        1. Tagging Edges
        2. Sharp Edges and Subdivision
      4. Plants
      5. IvyGen
      6. Ground/Soil
    3. Modeling the Details of the Spider Bot
      1. Joints
      2. Wires
      3. Coupling
      4. Other Parts
    4. Modeling the Details of the Bat Creature
      1. Eyes
      2. Teeth and Nails
    5. In Review
  11. 6. Sculpting
    1. Sculpt Mode
      1. Brush Options
      2. Brush Types
    2. Creating Custom Brushes
      1. Clay Tubes
      2. Rake
      3. Scrape Flat
      4. Crease Lazy
      5. Drag Alpha
      6. Making Brushes Available by Default
    3. Improving Your Sculpting Experience
      1. Optimizing Sculpting Performance
      2. Customizing the 3D Viewport
      3. MatCap Materials
        1. Creating a MatCap Material
        2. Finding MatCap Images
      4. Tweaking OpenGL Shading
      5. The Multires Modifier
        1. Vertex Order
        2. Subdivision and Polycounts
    4. Sculpting Concepts
    5. Sculpting the Bat Creature
      1. Volumes
      2. Planes
      3. Coarse Anatomy
      4. Sculpting Hard-to-Reach Areas Using Shape Keys
      5. Hiding Parts of the Mesh
      6. Sculpting the Wings
      7. Basic Details
      8. Sculpting Around the Eyes
      9. Time to Retopologize
      10. Transferring Sculpted Detail to a New Mesh with a Displacement Map
        1. About Displacement Maps
        2. Applying Displacement to the Sculpt
        3. Controlling Displacement with a Vertex Group
      11. Detailing
        1. Procedural Details
        2. Breaking Symmetry
      12. Posing
      13. Expression
    6. Sculpting the Spider Bot
      1. Body
      2. Head
      3. Legs
    7. Jungle Temple: Creating Incidental Details
    8. Sculpting Natural-Looking Faces
    9. In Review
  12. 7. Retopology
    1. The Basics
      1. Using Snapping to Retopologize
      2. Alternative Methods for Retopology
    2. Retopologizing the Jungle Temple Trees
    3. Retopologizing the Bat Creature
      1. Decimation
      2. Retopologizing the Body
    4. Retopologizing the Spider Bot
      1. Duplicating Groups of Objects
    5. Tips for Retopologizing
    6. Head Topology
      1. Eyes
      2. Mouth
      3. Nose/Nasolabial Fold
      4. Ears
    7. In Review
  13. 8. UV Unwrapping
    1. Other Kinds of Texture Coordinates
    2. Editing UV Coordinates
      1. The UV Grid
      2. Unwrapping Tools
      3. Seams
      4. Pinning Vertices
      5. Packing
      6. Assigning UV Textures
      7. Testing Your UV Coordinates
    3. Unwrapping the Bat Creature
    4. Unwrapping the Jungle Temple
      1. Stone Blocks
      2. Trees
      3. Multiple UV Maps
      4. Sharing UV Space Between Objects
      5. Leaves and Grass
      6. Statue
      7. The Rest of the Elements
    5. Unwrapping the Spider Bot
      1. Applying Modifiers and Duplicates
      2. Sharing UV Space Efficiently
    6. In Review
  14. 9. Hair and Particle Systems
    1. Particles for Hair
      1. Choosing an Object to Add Hair To
        1. Creating a Scalp
      2. Vertex Groups for Hair
      3. Weight Painting
        1. Hair Density
        2. Hair Length
    2. Adding a Particle System
      1. Particle System Properties
      2. Emission Panel
      3. Velocity Panel
      4. Rotation
      5. Render
      6. Display
      7. Children
      8. Vertex Groups
      9. Particle Mode
      10. Shaping Your Hair
      11. Styling Tips
      12. Child Particles
      13. Peach Fuzz
    3. Complex Haircuts
    4. Controlling Particles with Textures
    5. Other Uses for Particle Systems
      1. Grass for the Jungle Temple
        1. Creating a Grass Particle System
        2. Object Rotation and Particle Systems
    6. Hair and Fur Tips
    7. In Review
  15. 10. Texture Baking
    1. Images and Textures
      1. Assigning an Image
      2. Assigning Textures
    2. Texture-Baking Controls
    3. Texture Map Types
    4. Baking Textures for the Bat Creature
      1. Baking Displacement from Sculpt to Final Mesh
      2. Bit Depth and Textures
      3. Applying the Displacement Map
      4. Baking Normal Maps
      5. Baking Ambient Occlusion
    5. Baking Textures for the Spider Bot
      1. Baking Maps for Multiple Objects
      2. Baking Diffuse Colors and Textures
        1. Material Utils Add-On
        2. Baking a Texture Map
    6. Texturing the Jungle Temple
    7. General Tips for Baking Maps
    8. In Review
  16. 11. Texture Painting
    1. Texturing in Blender
      1. Project Paint
      2. Painting in the UV Image Editor
    2. Texturing in GIMP
      1. Creating Brushes for Texturing in GIMP
      2. Adding Variation to a Brush
    3. Texturing the Bat Creature
      1. Materials and UI Setup for Painting
        1. Adding a Light
        2. Laying Out Basic Textures in Blender
        3. Switching to GIMP
      2. Layer Modes and Opacity
        1. Adjusting Colors
        2. Saving and Exporting Back to Blender
        3. Adding Details
        4. Nails and Teeth
      3. Fixing Seams
        1. Reconciling Fixed Seams and Layered Images
      4. Layer Masks
      5. Creating Specular and Hardness Textures
      6. Layer Groups
        1. Specular Map
        2. Hardness Map
      7. Texturing the Eyes
    4. Texturing the Jungle Temple
      1. Hardness vs. Roughness
      2. Creating Seamless Textures with GIMP
        1. Testing the Texture
        2. Creating Additional Textures
      3. Texturing the Ground and Trees
        1. Ground Texture
        2. Tree Textures
      4. Texturing the Statue
      5. Texturing to Camera
      6. Texturing the Leaves
        1. Collecting the Leaf Images
        2. Alpha Map
        3. Diffuse Map
        4. Specular Map
        5. Combining Leaves onto a Single Texture
    5. Texturing the Spider Bot
      1. Creating Three Textures
      2. Adding Decals
    6. In Review
  17. 12. Materials
    1. Render Engines: Blender Internal and Cycles
    2. Reflection
    3. Transmission and Refraction
      1. Z Transparency
    4. Blender Internal Materials
    5. Cycles Materials
      1. Other Inputs in Cycles
      2. Texture Nodes
      3. Nodes in Blender Internal
    6. Materials for the Bat Creature
      1. Skin
        1. Mapping Coordinates
        2. Influence
        3. Further Textures
        4. Adding a Normal Map
        5. Subsurface Scattering
      2. Teeth, Nails, and Eyes
      3. Fur
        1. Strand Coordinates
        2. Peach Fuzz
    7. Materials for the Spider Bot
      1. Editing Node Materials
        1. The Cycles Render Preview
        2. Adding Textures
      2. Socket Types
        1. Roughness Map
        2. Adjusting Inputs
      3. Other Materials
    8. Materials for the Jungle Temple
      1. Ground
      2. Stone Material
        1. Displacement
        2. Statue
      3. Leaves
      4. Foreground Rocks and Soil
      5. Puddles
    9. General Tips for Creating Materials
    10. In Review
  18. 13. Lighting
    1. Blender Internal vs. Cycles Lighting
    2. Lighting in Blender Internal
    3. Shadows in Blender Internal
      1. Ray Tracing
      2. Shadow Buffers
        1. Common Shadow Options
        2. Ray-Traced Shadow Options
        3. Shadow-Buffer Options
    4. Lighting in Cycles
      1. Lamp Objects in Cycles
      2. Mesh-Emitter Objects in Cycles
    5. World Settings and Ambient Light and Occlusion
      1. World Settings in Blender Internal
      2. World Settings in Cycles
    6. Lighting the Bat Creature
      1. Three-Point Lighting
        1. The Key Light
        2. The Fill Light
        3. The Back Light
        4. Positioning the Lights
      2. Clay Renders and Material Override
      3. Shadows and Fur
      4. Lighting the Eyes
      5. Floor Shadows
      6. World Settings for the Bat Creature
    7. Lighting the Spider Bot
    8. Lighting the Jungle Temple
      1. World Background
      2. Temple Entrance Lighting
      3. Fill Lighting
      4. Back Light
      5. A Note on Soft Shadows
    9. General Lighting Tips
    10. In Review
  19. 14. Rendering and Compositing
    1. The Render Tab
      1. Rendering with Blender Internal
        1. Render Panel
        2. Layers Panel
        3. Dimensions
        4. Anti-Aliasing and Motion Blur
        5. Shading
        6. Performance
        7. Post-Processing
        8. Stamp
        9. Output
        10. Bake
      2. Rendering with Cycles
        1. Sampling
        2. Light Paths
        3. Film
        4. Layers
    2. Balancing Render Time and Quality
    3. The Compositor
    4. Rendering and Compositing the Bat Creature
      1. Render Layers
      2. Compositing the Passes
        1. Extra Ambient Occlusion
        2. Combining the Body and Fur
        3. Bloom
        4. Color Correction
        5. Adding a Vignette
      3. Compositing Feedback and Viewer Nodes
      4. Organizing Node Trees with Frames and Node Groups
      5. Frame Nodes
      6. Node Groups
      7. Retouching in GIMP
    5. Rendering and Compositing the Spider Bot
      1. Depth of Field in Cycles
      2. Render Settings for the Spider Bot
      3. Compositing the Spider Bot
    6. Rendering and Compositing the Jungle Temple
      1. Background Required
      2. Painting the Sky in GIMP
      3. Compositing the Temple
        1. Depth of Field
        2. Adding Bloom and Vignetting
        3. Color Grading
    7. In Review
  20. 15. Going Further
    1. Embellishments
      1. Adding to the Jungle Temple
        1. Creating the Branch Object
        2. Duplicating with Face Duplication
        3. Creating Pebbles
      2. Adding to the Bat Creature
        1. Creating the Rock
        2. Adding Clouds
    2. Different Looks
    3. Rigging and Animation
    4. In Review
  21. A.  
  22. B. About the Project Files
  23. Index
  24. About the Author
  25. Copyright

Product information

  • Title: Blender Master Class
  • Author(s):
  • Release date: February 2013
  • Publisher(s): No Starch Press
  • ISBN: 9781593274771