[...]... forums at http://blenderartists.org n There are many free resources available online for tutorials, including http://blendercookie.com, http://blenderguru.com, and http://blendernewbies.com 3 4 Chapter 1 n The Interface and Navigation Starting out, you may find Blender frustrating A common complaint with Blender is its lack of a standard interface Most users from other 3D applications find it to be backwards... This includes box modeling, poly-by-poly modeling, sculpting, retopologizing, and normal mapping, among others Once everything is said and done, you should be well on your way to becoming an accomplished character modeler and Blender artist System Requirements At the time of writing, this book references the Blender version 2.57 This version is included on the DVD or can be downloaded from http:/ /blender. org... love for all things technology and art This reason, among many others, is why I have written this book xiii xiv Introduction The Purpose of This Book This book is set out to provide an introduction to both Blender and character modeling It is not intended to cover every corner of Blender and character modeling, but it is intended to give you a running head start while getting started in the world of... around in 3D, manipulating your scene from any angle It allows you a much more versatile working environment Navigating Blender s Viewport includes panning the view from left to right, up and down; rotating around an axis to change the viewing angle; and zooming your view in and out to adjust the viewing distance You may also define specific viewing angles: top, front, left, camera, and more n Panning:... functionality Following up part two, in part three I move in to the real focus of the book— modeling the character Starting out I keep things simple and give you step-bystep instructions through the process As you go along, I continue to provide the reasoning behind each decision, but I begin to focus more on the workflow and various techniques rather than the step-by-step instruction After the character is... feel at ease with Blender and its interface The First Five Minutes with the Interface In order to make you comfortable as quickly as possible, this section will take a few minutes before getting down to the nitty gritty in order to introduce Blender s interface and cover the way it works Blender s interface, by default, consists of several primary elements: the Viewport, the Outliner, the Properties... Blender, giving you an understanding of how Blender s interface works and how you can manipulate objects in 3D space I go on to demonstrate a few methods by which you can customize your Blender experience Moving on to the second section, I begin to introduce you to some of the modeling features of Blender and show you how to manipulate meshes with Blender s various modeling tools, modifiers, and sculpting functionality... created in part three This book is not intended to cover everything, and has a strong emphasis on modeling, but it should give you a thorough introduction to both Blender and character modeling The Target Audience This book is not intended for everyone You will not learn anything about animation or special effects through this book What you will get is a thorough introduction to most of Blender s modeling... I dove in headfirst and spent roughly eight hours a day in Blender After a year or two I had become familiar enough with the toolset to begin producing tutorials to help fill the void that previously existed for training material This book is a continuation of that effort, to help provide high-quality training materials to the Blender Community as a whole Through my years of learning and teaching, I... properties: These settings affect everything from your final image size to the individual render options Most of these settings will not be in use until later on in your project, in Part IV n Other properties: If you look at the header of the properties panel, shown in Figure 1.12, you will find a series of icons linking to each of the other properties, such as: Object, Modifiers, Shading, and so on You’ll . 978-1-4 354 -5 6 25 -9 ISBN-10: 1-4 354 -5 6 25 -4 Course Technology, a part of Cen gage Learning 20 Channel Center Street Boston, MA 022 10 USA Cengage Learning is a leading provider of customized learning. alt="" Character Development in Blender 2. 5 Jonathan Williamson Course Technology PTR A part of Cengage Learning Australia . Brazil . Japan . Korea . Mexico . Singapore . Spain . United Kingdom . United. your lifelong learning solutions, visit courseptr.com Visit our corporate website at cengage.com Printed in the United States of America 123 456 713 121 1 eISBN-10: 1-4 354 -5 626 -2 I would like to dedicate