***BLENDER*** Help, forum links, tutorials, etc.

We get a lot of Blender questions around here, and while I don't use the program myself I thought I'd post a few things that may be helpful for those that do:

Documentation
[link=http://download.blender.org/documentation/html/]Blender Documentation[/link]

Downloads & Links
[link=http://projects.blender.org/]Blender Projects[/link]
[link=http://www.blender3d.org/cms/Blender.31.0.html]Official Download Page[/link]
[link=http://download.blender.org/demo/]Demo Downloads[/link]

Forums
[link=http://p097.ezboard.com/bblenderrender]Blender Render[/link]
[link=http://www.upperfold.com/cgi-bin/index1.cgi]Blender 3D Discussion Forum[/link]
[link=http://www.dmnforums.com/cgi-bin/displaywwugindex.fcgi?forum=blender&dire=3]DMN Blender Forum[/link]

Tutorials
[link=http://www.tutorialguide.net/3d_software/blender/]Tutorial Guide - Blender[/link]


I just threw this together in about 10 minutes last night but hopefully it'll be a start for people. If you have other helpful resources for Blender toss 'em in - keeping most of the Blender links in here will hopefully clean up the main area of the forum a bit. Plus there are lots of forums targeted specifically at Blender so many of the questions are probably answered in these links somewhere.

Hope it helps!

 

DVeditor - the ever-helpful future mod.






Great thread, while I also use 3ds max instead of Blender.

 

Does this mean that any questions we have about blender should be posted in here? Because I have a couple to do with lighting and conversions.
Chris

 

More Blender Forums:

[link=http://www.elysiun.com]Elysiun[/link]
Hosts some of the best images made with Blender, and has excellent forums dedicated to Blender.

[link=http://www.cgtalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=91]CGTalk Blender[/link]
Mostly newbies to Blender and 3d, but a few veteran users can answer questions.


Tutorials:

[link=http://www.cogfilms.com/]Cog[/link]
Has tutorials on a few advanced effects, including softbodies, ocean simulation, and animated textures.


Downloads:

[link=http://www.yafray.org/]Yafray[/link]
An excellent raytracer that integrates well into blender. Can be used to achieve caustics, and other effects.

 

If it'll stop all the Blender threads yea... put it all in here. I'll try to make it a sticky.

 

Joek1010: BLENDER STARFIELDS

For a starfield in blender:

There a two ways of making a starfield blender. You can map an image of one (from the scifi3d) to a sphere, or you can use the internal starfield engine. I think you want info on the internal engine.

Go to shading (F5, or just click on the ball)

A new menu bar will appear on the right. Click on WORLD BUTTONS

A new tab will appear called Mist/Star/Physics

Under this tab, enable (click) STARS.

You should have a starfield in the background when you render.

You can also fiddle around with other settings under Star which should be pretty self explanitory. To get the best starfield, I recommend using very small star size (but not 0) and a somewhat small distance between stars.

Hope this helps!

 

I figured you might appreciate the topic, Zoo. Thanks for the sticky-ing it - hopefully it'll help get people started.

 

Another link:

http://www.blenderwars.com
Great SW models, and some tutorials

 

Um any body got a simpler download link or the offical website? I can't find it. I would realy like to try it out for my self. By the way do any of you know if you can do fur like effects with blender?

 

The official site appears to be down (best I can tell) however if you follow [link=http://www.softpedia.com/progDownload/Blender-Download-16817.html]this link[/link] you can download version 2.37 for Windows.

Hope that helps!



EDIT: Here's [link=http://mac.softpedia.com/get/Graphics/Blender.shtml]version 2.36 for Mac[/link] as well.

 

Hey,
Im looking for an X-wing and a Tie Fighter Cockpit model for blender. I know that there was a tie-fighter cockpit on blenderwars.com, but when i went to download it, it simply wasnt there. If anyone could help me, e-mail me at grantchris@btinternet.com, or contact me on the forum.
Thanks
Chris

 

I can't figure out how to texture objects in blender. Help I am about to go mad. Can you also tell me how to make fur looking surfeces? I was wanting to render some anmials.

 

Just in case anyone can't find the link - [link=http://www.blender3d.org/cms/Blender.31.0.html]here's the download page for Blender[/link]. This site seems to be off and on but it's up right now so I wanted to make sure it was noted.

Enjoy!

 

I've been asked several times lately about the newest version of Blender, so if anyone wants more information on v2.37a you can find a detailed description of the changes tracking from older versions to the current one [link=http://www.blender3d.org/cms/Blender_2_37a.496.0.html]here[/link].

Hope that helps!

 

Another quick starfield is to create a big sphere (big enough to surround your entire scene), and add a new material and a texture to it. Under the textures tab, click the drop box and make it a noise texture. Click the colors tab, and dial down brightness to, like .3, and Control to around 1.47, then play around with those to get your look down. Go back to material, and make the material itself pitch black, and click on the 'shadeless' button. Click on the Map To button (far right, w/ Textures and Map Input). Make that hideous purple color a pure white.

Presto!

Okay, know I have a question. How the HECK do I convert 3ds to .blend?

 

[blockquote]Jacen13 posted on 8/4/05 9:47am

---

[hr][/blockquote] I'm not sure how you'd go about converting the files themselves, however there are a number of scripts that will allow .3ds files to be imported. [link=http://www.blender3d.org/cms/Import___Export.5.0.html]Check this page[/link] for more information. :)

Hope that helps!
>

 

You can use the import/export python script, but I've found that its still in pretty early stage of development. A better way (albeit, limited) is to download the trial of 3ds max and export to something like dxf, which blender has native support for.

Texturing -

1. Select Object (Right Click)

2. Select Shading Panel (The Ball, F5)

COL - Changes Color
Spec- Specularity
A- Alpha

To Apply an Image as a Texture

1. Above steps

2. Select Texture Tab on right

3. Select Add New, to create a texture

4. Select Texture Button (F6)

5. Press Load Image - Select Image File

6. Select Shading (Ball, F5)

7. Select MAP TO tab (by texture tab)

Col - Color
Nor - Bump
Csp - Specularity
Ref - Reflectivity
Spec - Specularity

(For detailed descriptions, hover over button)


FUR -

You can achieve fur several different ways.

- Static Particles

1. Select Object, go into edit mode
2. Select Object
3. On right, select Effects tab
4. Select New Effect
5. Click on BUILD dropdown menu
6. Select Particles
7. Select green STATIC

- Script

Currently down, called Fiber 2.

- Texture Map

[link=http://pages.zoom.co.uk/nick.towers/tutorials/fur_tutorial/fur_tutorial.html]http://pages.zoom.co.uk/nick.towers/tutorials/fur_tutorial/fur_tutorial.html[/link]

 

How do I move an object from one layer to another.

 

Select the object in object mode, and select OBJECT -> Move To Layer (or press m).

A dialog box will appear. Select the layer, then press ok.





Edit: Just caught an error in the fur post. The link should be:

"http://pages.zoom.co.uk/nick.towers/tutorials/fur_tutorial/fur_tutorial.html "

(Quotes were the only way it would link the entire line).

 

More Blender Tutorials:

Obvious, but sometimes difficult to find on Blender3d.org:

[blockquote][link=http://www.blender3d.org/cms/Tutorials.243.0.html]Blender Tutorial Compilation[/link]

[link=http://www.blender3d.org/cms/Video_Tutorials.396.0.html]Video Tutorials[/link][/blockquote]
Blender 3d: Noob to Pro, Wikibook


[blockquote][link=http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro]Noob to Pro[/link][/blockquote]
Realistic Planets in Blender
[blockquote][link=http://www.enricovalenza.com/realplan.html]Realistic Planets[/link][/blockquote]
Detailing a Ship's Hull in Blender (Requires Scifimeshes Registration, free, easy, worth the awesome tutorial)
[blockquote][link=http://www.scifi-meshes.com/forums/articles.php?action=viewarticle&artid=57]Hull Tutorial[/link][/blockquote]


TIPS: Things that I couldn't find when I was a noob.

Meshsmoothing


[blockquote]Smooths Entire Object:

1. Select Object in EDIT MODE
2. Press the EDITING button (F9)
3. Under the MESH tab, select SubSur, and then change the drop down box next to it to Catmul-Clark
4. Your Object should now contain more vertices, and look smoother.[/blockquote]


- OR -


[blockquote]Smooths Selected Faces:

1. Steps 1-2 Above
2. Select Faces you want to smooth
3. Press W, and then select smooth (you might need to use W -> subdivide first)
[/blockquote]


Set Smooth


[blockquote]If you render a straight cylinder primitive from the ADD menu, you'll notice that the smooth circle part isn't smooth. To fix/change this (sometimes you'll want to keep it that way):

1. Select Object in EDIT MODE
2. Select Faces you would like to look smooth
a. You can use "b" (the keyboard key) to select faces using a selection box
b. You can use SHIFT to select multiple faces
3. Press the EDITING button (F9)
4. Under the LINKS AND MATERIALS tab, select SET SMOOTH (bottom middle)
IMPORTANT! You won't see anything change in the viewport until you exit edit mode; then the faces will look smooth.[/blockquote]


Making Objects Reflect and Changing Alpha Values


[blockquote]This took me forever to figure out. It requires raytracing, so renders will take longer (could be significantly depending on the scene).

1. Select Object to make Reflective/Translucent (Object Mode)
2. Press SHADING button (F5)
3. Go to the MIRROR TRANSP tab (middle tab)
4. For Reflections: Select RAY MIRROR button, and then change RAY MIRROR slider
5. For Alpha/Translucency: Select RAY TRANSP (middle) and then change the A slider on the MATERIAL tab
6. Finally, press SCENE button (F10), and select RAY in RENDER tab
7. Press Render to view results[/blockquote]



Important Buttons


[blockquote]When you first look at the Blender Graphical interface, it will look confusing. However this GUI hides a rather intutive, and fast UI that once you master, will make you wonder why other programs aren't like blender. The trick is having one hand on the mouse, and the other on the keyboard to use the shortcut keys. Here are a few that you will probably use the most.

E (Edit Mode): Extrude, use with X,Y,Z to constrict movement
X (Whenever Transforming/Moving Something): Constricts movement to X Axis
Y (Whenever Transforming/Moving Something): Constricts movement to Y Axis
Z (Whenever Transforming/Moving Something): Constricts movement to Z Axis
W (Edit Mode): Specials Menu, You can SMOOTH, SUBDIVIDE, BEVEL, and do several other things
K (Edit Mode): Face Loop Cut, Useful for head modeling, or just adding verts/edges
G (Any Mode): Move Object, use with X,Y,Z to constrict movement
S (Any Mode): Scale Object, use with X,Y,Z to constrict movement
R (Any Mode): Rotate Object, use with X

 

Awesome - thanks joek!

 

No problem!

 

On the blender web sight I found something that would alow me to make a person. I am completly lost on how to use it. Any help, cause theres alot of what I am asuming are scripts that I don't understand.

 

Are you talking about the MakeHuman script?

[link=http://www.dedalo-3d.com/]Make Human[/link]

To use, you have to open the script in a text window, in blender, and then execute it. Change the window type to text (on the bottom of the window's bar, to the far left is a drop down menu with window types), load the file, then select execute script (or control-p, I think). It should open the interface.

I'm not sure though how alpha make human is. Last time I downloaded it, there was only a pre alpha release availble. You couldn't do much with it (though the results from earlier versions looked incredible).


Hope this helps!

 

[link=http://www.blender3d.com/cms/Python_Scripts.3.0.html]this[/link] is the link I have. Its at the bottom. I'll try yours.

Edit: Your link dosn't have a download for makeing a human.