Learning Blender by Oliver Villar

Learning Blender walks you through every step of creating an outstanding animated character with the free, open source, 3D software Blender, and then compositing it in a real video using a professional workflow. This is the only Blender tutorial to take you from preproduction to final result, and it’s perfect for both 3D novices and those who’ve used other 3D Software.

Focusing on Blender 2.71 and above, 3D-professional Oliver Villar explains all the basics, including Blender’s interface, controls, and how to manipulate objects. Once you’ve mastered the fundamentals, you’ll follow a realistic 3D workflow through a complete project.

You’ll find chapters on every aspect of the character creation: design, modeling, unwrapping, texturing, shading, rigging, and animation. Once your character is ready and animated, you’ll learn how to integrate it into a real video using camera tracking techniques, lighting, and compositing. Each skillset is taught hands on, and available online video tutorials (more than 5 hours) will guide you through Blender’s trickier tasks.

By the time you’re done, you’ll understand how the whole process fits together, and how to use Blender to create outstanding characters for all media. You’ll also build strong Blender skills you can apply in any 3D project, whether it involves characters or not.

Learn How To
Master Blender’s innovative user interface, navigation, and selection techniques
Create your first scene with Blender and get comfortable with its core tools
Prepare for projects so they’ll go as smoothly as possible
Use modeling tools to create a 3D character
Bring your character to life with color, textures, and materials
Create your character’s skeleton and make it walk
Make the most of Blender’s Camera Tracking tools
Add lights to your 3D scene
Render with Blender Internal or the powerful new Cycles render engine
Composite your 3D character into a real video
Switch to Blender from 3ds Max, Maya, or XSI

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