Realizing 3D Animation in Blender

Realizing 3D Animation in Blender

by Sam Brubaker
Released July 2024
Publisher(s): Packt Publishing
ISBN: 9781801077217

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Book description

Unlock the secrets of Blender animation and leverage advanced techniques to become a 3D animation professional with this illustrated guide

Key Features

  • Master the essentials of 3D animation through engaging step-by-step exercises
  • Go from linking and posing a character to using a nonlinear animation editor
  • Discover unique insights and top tips that you won’t find in the Blender documentation
  • Purchase of the print or Kindle book includes a free PDF eBook

Book Description

Completely free and open source, Blender, with its supportive community and powerful feature set, is an indispensable tool for creating 3D animations. However, learning the software can be a challenge given the complexity of its interface and the intricacies of animation theory.

If you want to venture into 3D animation but don’t know where to start, Realizing 3D Animation in Blender is for you. Adopting a practical approach, this guide simplifies the theory of 3D animation and the many animation workflows specific to Blender. Through detailed exercises and a sharp focus on the animation process, this book equips you with everything you need to set out on your path to becoming a 3D animator. It’s much more than just an introduction; this book covers complex concepts such as F-Curve modifiers, rigid-body physics simulation, and animating with multiple cameras, presented in an easy-to-follow manner to avoid common pitfalls encountered by novice animators.

By the end of this Blender 3D animation book, you’ll have gained the knowledge, experience, and inspiration to start creating impressive 3D animations on your own.

What you will learn

  • Become well-versed with the simple rules of keyframing and interpolation
  • Understand the function and behavior of Blender's animation curves
  • Bring a character to life with Blender 3D character animation
  • Utilize multiple cameras and the video sequence editor for advanced shot composition
  • Get to grips with Blender's mysterious non-linear animation tool
  • Explore advanced features such as physics simulation and camera techniques

Who this book is for

This book is for anyone seeking guidance in the world of 3D animation using Blender. Whether you’re an aspiring 3D animator, a beginner or intermediate-level Blender user, or a visual media producer looking to expand your skill set, this resource will prove invaluable. As long as you have basic familiarity with Blender and have the software already installed on a computer that meets system requirements, you’re ready to dive into this book. While prior experience with Blender’s animation tools is not necessary, having at least modeled a scene, added simple shading and lighting, and rendered a few still images will be beneficial.

Table of contents

  1. Realizing 3D Animation in Blender
  2. Contributors
  3. About the author
  4. About the reviewer
  5. Preface
    1. Who this book is for
    2. What you need to get started
      1. Your animation workstation
      2. Prerequisite knowledge
      3. Blender
    3. What this book covers
    4. Getting the most out of this book
    5. Share your thoughts
    6. Download a free PDF copy of this book
  6. Part 1: Introduction to Blender and the Fundamentals of Animation
  7. Chapter 1: Basic Keyframes in the Timeline
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Navigating the Timeline
      1. Moving through time
      2. Setting the frame range
      3. Adjusting the Timeline view
      4. Animation playback
    3. Creating simple movement with keyframes
      1. Keying the initial location
      2. The keyed property
      3. Keying the second location
      4. Principles of keying
      5. Keying rotation
    4. Editing keyframes in the Timeline
      1. Basic keyframe editing
      2. Duplicating keyframes
      3. Holding a position
      4. Editing the timing of your animation
    5. Animating nearly any property in Blender
      1. Other keying methods
      2. Keying the material color
    6. Summary
    7. Questions
  8. Chapter 2: The Graph Editor
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Getting the ball rolling
    3. Navigating the Graph Editor
      1. Bringing up the Graph Editor
      2. The X and Y axes in the Graph Editor
      3. Animation channels
      4. Adjusting the Graph Editor view
    4. Interpolation and easing
      1. Setting the interpolation mode
      2. Setting the easing type
    5. Making the ball bounce
      1. Linear interpolation for objects in mid-air
      2. Adding bouncing keyframes in the Graph Editor
    6. F-curve extrapolation
      1. Linear extrapolation
      2. Cyclic extrapolation
    7. Summary
    8. Questions
  9. Chapter 3: Bezier Keyframes
    1. Technical requirements
    2. One tired animator
      1. The connected parts of our unicycle
      2. keying the course checkpoints
      3. A novel method for inserting keyframes in the Graph Editor
    3. Bezier handle types
      1. Exposing keyframe handles
      2. Overview of Bezier handle types
      3. Automatic and Auto Clamped Bezier handles
      4. Vector and Aligned handles
      5. Combining Vector and Aligned handles
    4. Editing Bezier handles
      1. Smooth movement with Aligned handles
      2. Bounces with Free handles
    5. Heading, weight, and balance
      1. Motion paths as a visual guide
      2. Tilting while turning
      3. Leaning into it
    6. Copying keyframes to another channel
      1. Copying keyframes
      2. Keying a single property
      3. Pasting keyframes
      4. Scaling keyframe values
    7. Summary
    8. Questions
  10. Chapter 4: Looking into Object Relationships
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Understanding object origins
      1. The truth about objects and origins
      2. Centering the origin
      3. Grabbing the origin
    3. Parenting objects
      1. The parent/child relationship
    4. Understanding constraints
      1. Adding a constraint
      2. World space versus local space
      3. Copying constraints
    5. Following a path
      1. Editing the animation path
      2. Adding a Follow Path constraint
      3. Animating the path
    6. Drivers
      1. Adding a driver
      2. Editing a driver
      3. Driver F-curves
      4. The final chart of object relationships
    7. Summary
    8. Questions
  11. Chapter 5: Rendering an Animation
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Setting up the camera
      1. Adding a camera to the scene
      2. Camera view-finding
      3. The animated camera
    3. Rendering basics
      1. What is rendering, really?
      2. Controls for rendering
      3. Setting up our scene for rendering
      4. Predicting and managing render performance
    4. Rendering an image sequence
      1. Why output an image sequence and not a video?
      2. Output settings
      3. Pre-render checklist
      4. Rendering the animation
      5. Viewing the rendered frames
    5. Converting an image sequence to a video
      1. The Video Sequence Editor
      2. Output settings for video export
      3. Outputting a video
    6. Summary
    7. Questions
  12. Part 2: Character Animation
  13. Chapter 6: Linking and Posing a Character
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Linking a character in a new scene
      1. Linked libraries
      2. Making a library override
    3. Understanding Rain’s armature
      1. The art of rigging Rain
      2. The CloudRig interface
    4. Posing an armature
      1. Pose mode
      2. IK bones
      3. FK bones
      4. Fingers, faces, and other accessories
    5. Creating a library of poses
      1. The Asset Browser
      2. Creating a pose asset
      3. Practicing poses
    6. Summary
    7. Questions
  14. Chapter 7: Basic Character Animation
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Preparing Rain in a new scene
      1. A brief recap on linking Rain into a new project
      2. Using a pose asset
      3. Setting bone relationships for an animation
      4. Hiding bones
    3. Keying pose bones
      1. Blocking or roughing the animation
      2. Reviewing our key poses
    4. The Dope Sheet
      1. Introduction to the Dope Sheet
      2. Organizing the Dope Sheet
    5. Going further into animating this character
      1. Two more in-between poses
      2. In-between operators for posing
      3. Waving
    6. Polishing the animation
      1. Using the Graph Editor on bones
      2. Animating Rain’s accessories
    7. Summary
    8. Questions
  15. Chapter 8: The Walk Cycle
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Preparing the walk cycle scene
      1. The timeline of a walk cycle
      2. Timeline markers
      3. Getting Rain ready to walk
    3. Moving forward on the Y axis
      1. Establishing the stride length
      2. Looping the animation
      3. Putting Rain on a treadmill
      4. Using a preview playback range
    4. Adding more periodic motion
      1. Torso movement
      2. Swaying from side to side
      3. The Action Editor
      4. More torso animation with sine waves
    5. Advanced footwork
      1. Rolling the foot
      2. Picking up the feet
      3. Correcting the motion of the legs
      4. Copying animation from the left foot to the right foot
    6. Finishing the walk cycle
      1. FK toes
      2. FK arms
      3. Final touches?
    7. Summary
    8. Questions
  16. Chapter 9: Sound and Lip-Syncing
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Using sound in Blender
      1. Importing audio files into the Video Sequencer
      2. Using sound strips
      3. Timeline settings for working with sound
    3. Acting without speaking
      1. Key facial expressions
      2. Automatic keyframing and keying sets
    4. The science of lip-syncing
      1. Phonetics for animators
      2. Animating the mouth
    5. Summary
    6. Questions
  17. Chapter 10: Prop Interaction with Dynamic Constraints
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Touching the object
      1. Setting up the shot
      2. Reaching for an object
    3. Setting up an object-to-bone relationship
      1. Dummy bones – a smarter way to rig
      2. The Copy Transforms constraint
    4. Constraints with animated influence
      1. Keying the influence of a constraint
    5. Releasing the ball
      1. Animating a throwing/tossing motion
      2. Animating the ball being thrown
    6. Summary
    7. Questions
  18. Part 3: Advanced Tools and Techniques
  19. Chapter 11: F-Curve Modifiers
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Where to find F-curve modifiers
      1. Adding our first F-curve modifier
    3. Getting fancy with F-curve modifiers
      1. The Stepped Interpolation modifier
      2. The Built-In Function modifier
      3. Setting the clock with math
    4. Using the Noise modifier
      1. Adding the Noise modifier
      2. Copying modifiers
    5. More fun with Noise modifiers
      1. Using a Noise modifier to simulate an explosion
      2. Restricting the frame range of a modifier
    6. Summary
    7. Questions
  20. Chapter 12: Rigid Body Physics
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Creating a rigid body world
      1. Our first rigid body simulation
      2. Active and passive rigid bodies
    3. Rigid body collision
      1. The smashing-junk-together algorithm
      2. Collision shapes
      3. Selecting rigid body collision shapes
    4. Destroying a wall
      1. Building a wall
      2. Destroying the wall
      3. Baking the simulation
    5. Summary
    6. Questions
  21. Chapter 13: Animating with Multiple Cameras
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Ready camera two
      1. Setting up multiple cameras
      2. The active camera
      3. Switching cameras in the Timeline
    3. Camera overrides
      1. Viewing with a local camera
      2. Using multiple cameras in the Video Sequencer
    4. Summary
    5. Questions
  22. Chapter 14: Nonlinear Animation
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Reusing actions
      1. Appending the walk cycle
      2. Assigning an action in the Action Editor
      3. A hard lesson in forgotten settings
    3. The action strip
      1. Introduction to the Nonlinear Animation editor
      2. Actions in the NLA
    4. Layering actions
      1. Appending the second action
    5. Animated Strip Time
      1. The Strip Time property
    6. Summary
    7. Questions
  23. Index
    1. Why subscribe?
  24. Other Books You May Enjoy
    1. Packt is searching for authors like you
    2. Download a free PDF copy of this book

Product information

  • Title: Realizing 3D Animation in Blender
  • Author(s): Sam Brubaker
  • Release date: July 2024
  • Publisher(s): Packt Publishing
  • ISBN: 9781801077217