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Blender 3D Basics
The complete novice's guide to 3D modeling and animation In Detail Blender is by far the most popular open source graphics program available. It is a full featured 3D modeling, animation and games development tool used by millions all over the world – and it's free! This book is for those looking for an entry into the world of 3D modeling and animation regardless of prior experience. Blender 3D Basics is the entry level book for those without prior experience using 3D tools. It caters for those who may have downloaded Blender in the past but were frustrated by its lack of intuitiveness. Using simple steps it builds, chapter by chapter, into a full foundation in 3D modeling and animation. Using Blender 3D Basics the reader will model a maritime scene complete with boats and water, then add materials, lighting and animation. The book demystifies the Blender interface and explains what each tool does so that you will be left with a thorough understanding of 3D. What you will learn from this book Approach Written in a step by step tutorial style, learning comes as a result of creating the fully animated scene and the explanations that follow each stage. Who this book is written for Blender 3D Basics is great for anyone who is new to Blender or new to 3D.
468 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 27, 2018
Good book for beginners
June 24, 2021
Delivers
November 14, 2014
The first impressions on reading the first edition of this book were that it was well written and the second edition doesn't change that. The writer clearly has thought about how to present the reader with projects that provide a smooth learning curve. No details are left out and animation, not just modeling and rendering, is a focal point from page one.
While reading the book you clearly get the feel you are getting somewhere. Many easy to follow steps guide you through subjects like camera work, animating, rendering a final compositing and the book even touches on that all important point of animation: telling a story. At the end the reader will be able to create a small animated movie (even in anaglyphic 3d!).
It helps of course that for almost every small step sample files are available for download and the pdf version of the ebook is in color, a necessity for books about graphics in my opinion (although the .mobi version read just fine on my Kindle)
The second edition doesn't add much in terms of content but it is updated for Blender 2.7, which is nice. It still doesn't cover character animation, (which is an advanced subject, but something about armatures would have been nice, even for non-character animation), while texturing, especially UV mapping, is still hardly touched upon. Cycles, the Blender's new render engine, gets a little bit more coverage now but not as much as it deserves. I don't think this is a major issue though: thousands of fine animations have been made with Blender's internal renderer and thousands will be.
Conclusion: This is an excellent book for Blender novices. Reading this book gives the aspiring Blender animator the biggest chance of actually finishing something instead of leaving the reader with some boring technical experiments.
While reading the book you clearly get the feel you are getting somewhere. Many easy to follow steps guide you through subjects like camera work, animating, rendering a final compositing and the book even touches on that all important point of animation: telling a story. At the end the reader will be able to create a small animated movie (even in anaglyphic 3d!).
It helps of course that for almost every small step sample files are available for download and the pdf version of the ebook is in color, a necessity for books about graphics in my opinion (although the .mobi version read just fine on my Kindle)
The second edition doesn't add much in terms of content but it is updated for Blender 2.7, which is nice. It still doesn't cover character animation, (which is an advanced subject, but something about armatures would have been nice, even for non-character animation), while texturing, especially UV mapping, is still hardly touched upon. Cycles, the Blender's new render engine, gets a little bit more coverage now but not as much as it deserves. I don't think this is a major issue though: thousands of fine animations have been made with Blender's internal renderer and thousands will be.
Conclusion: This is an excellent book for Blender novices. Reading this book gives the aspiring Blender animator the biggest chance of actually finishing something instead of leaving the reader with some boring technical experiments.
September 24, 2012
I’ve always wanted to tinker with Blender. There’s just something about 3D that’s always interested me. The ability to create a 3D world and move about in it is just fascinating to me. That being said, it’s not as fun as i would have thought. With that in mind, please consider that I come from a development background--not design. I like objects, polymorphism, garbage collection, and debugging code.
That said..
Blender 3D Basics delivers a great introduction to Blender. The author walks you through setting up your environment and configuring the IDE and your multitude of views. Coming from an OOP background, I am not comfortable in this environment at all and was overall frustrated to no end with this book. Like a lot of tools, Blender is something you’ll need to play with more to truly become comfortable in it. Which is no fault of the authors or the book.
If you want to get a good start into the world of 3D, i would recommend this book as it provides a solid foundation to using Blender. For me, this book was a sign that my place is with a command prompt and a compiler. ;)
That said..
Blender 3D Basics delivers a great introduction to Blender. The author walks you through setting up your environment and configuring the IDE and your multitude of views. Coming from an OOP background, I am not comfortable in this environment at all and was overall frustrated to no end with this book. Like a lot of tools, Blender is something you’ll need to play with more to truly become comfortable in it. Which is no fault of the authors or the book.
If you want to get a good start into the world of 3D, i would recommend this book as it provides a solid foundation to using Blender. For me, this book was a sign that my place is with a command prompt and a compiler. ;)
February 3, 2015
I have been a “student” of Blender for 6+ years. I say student, because I have never been able to master the basics. I have watched videos of very knowledgeable folks presenting blender lessons and examples and have always managed to pick up a nugget or two, but I was always frustrated that these presentations seemed to presuppose a certain level of understanding – particular regarding navigating the controls.
Oh that I had had this book years ago! In my estimation, this is the ideal book for Blender beginners. There are no assumptions of knowledge and the reader is taken a step at a time to the point that he or she is very ably “Blender-conversant” by the end of the book. This book would have saved me hours of frustration, stops and starts. It is simplifying a great number of things that I still have trouble with even after trying to 'self-learn' for several years.
For those who have been wanting to learn Blender but found it too intimidating, here is the place to start. Even if you have already started learning Blender, this is a great way to fill in the gaps and supplement your learning.
Oh that I had had this book years ago! In my estimation, this is the ideal book for Blender beginners. There are no assumptions of knowledge and the reader is taken a step at a time to the point that he or she is very ably “Blender-conversant” by the end of the book. This book would have saved me hours of frustration, stops and starts. It is simplifying a great number of things that I still have trouble with even after trying to 'self-learn' for several years.
For those who have been wanting to learn Blender but found it too intimidating, here is the place to start. Even if you have already started learning Blender, this is a great way to fill in the gaps and supplement your learning.
February 11, 2015
I am pleasantly surprised by this book. I attempted to learn to animate with Blender a few years ago but quickly gave up due to the steep learning curve and lack of a good teacher on the subject. I recently thought i would give it another go and discovered this book and am now doing things with Blender that i never thought i would be able to. I find the author to be a great teacher and i found the early chapter on the history of animation to be very interesting and a good foundation to kick things off from.
This time around i have found that the learning curve is not so steep with Blender after all and this is mainly thanks to this book. I like the structure, the pace and the depth of information is just right for me.
I really recommend Blender 3D Basics (2nd edition) for anyone else who is looking to start learning the wonderful world of blender!
This time around i have found that the learning curve is not so steep with Blender after all and this is mainly thanks to this book. I like the structure, the pace and the depth of information is just right for me.
I really recommend Blender 3D Basics (2nd edition) for anyone else who is looking to start learning the wonderful world of blender!
January 19, 2015
I recently received an e-copy of Blender 3D Basics Beginner's Guide Second Edition by Gordon Fisher from a representative at Packt Publishing. This is the book I've been searching for. It has a casual take you by the hand methodology that'll help you get to know Blender's interface and get up to speed as fast as it is expected.
Starts from the very basics and will have you seamlessly working through the software to the end.
This is a great book for Blender learners. Reading this book gives the yearning Blender animators the greatest possibility of really getting done with something as opposed to leaving the reader with some exhausting specialized experiments. I prescribe this book for anybody, who wants to get their hands on the software.
Starts from the very basics and will have you seamlessly working through the software to the end.
This is a great book for Blender learners. Reading this book gives the yearning Blender animators the greatest possibility of really getting done with something as opposed to leaving the reader with some exhausting specialized experiments. I prescribe this book for anybody, who wants to get their hands on the software.
April 4, 2017
Just wow! What an amazing book! This is what I wanted to really learn Blender...really hands on...well explained and you get to design a lot of things and get in touch with a lot of Blender features that I didn't even knew that existed! Ok...I'm a newbie so everything is pretty much new to me...but still! Blender is a complete whole world! And this book is really your guide to improve your knowledge and become better and better!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews