Learning Blender: A Hands-On Guide to Creating 3D Animated Characters

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Master the Newest Blender Techniques for Creating Amazing 3D Characters: From Design and Modeling to Video Compositing
Now fully updated for Blender 2.78b and beyond, Learning Blender, Second Edition, walks you through every step of creating an outstanding 3D animated character with Blender, and then compositing it in a real video using a professional workflow. This edition covers the powerful new selection and modeling tools, as well as high-efficiency improvements related to other parts of the project such as texture painting, shading, rigging, rendering, and compositing. Still the only Blender tutorial to take you from preproduction to final result, this guide is perfect for both novices and those moving from other software to Blender (open source and free software). Author Oliver Villar provides full-color, hands-on chapters that cover every aspect of character creation: design, modeling, unwrapping, texturing, shading, rigging, animation, and rendering. He also walks you through integrating your animated character into a real-world video, using professional camera tracking, lighting, and compositing techniques. The rich companion website (blendtuts.com/learning-blender-files) will help you quickly master even the most complex techniques with bonus contents like video tutorials. By the time you're done, you'll be ready to create outstanding characters for all media--and you'll have up-to-date skills for any 3D project, whether it involves characters or not.
Learn Blender's updated user interface, navigation, and selection techniques Create your first scene with Blender and the Blender Render and Cycles render engines Organize an efficient, step-by-step pipeline to streamline workflow in any project Master modeling, unwrapping, and texturing Bring your character to life with materials and shading Create your character's skeleton and make it walk Use Camera Tracking to mix 3D objects into a real-world video Transform a raw rendered scene into the final result using Blender's compositing nodes

Author(s): Oliver Villar
Edition: 2
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
Year: 2017

Language: English
Pages: 368

About This E-Book
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication Page
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Part I The Basics of Blender
1 What You Need to Know About Blender
What Is Blender?
Commercial Software Versus Open-Source Software
Commercial Software
Open-Source Software
The History of Blender
The Blender Foundation and Blender Institute
The Blender Community
Summary
Exercises
2 Blender Basics: The User Interface
Downloading and Installing Blender
Using Blender with Recommended Hardware
Navigating the Blender User Interface
Understanding the 3D View Editor
Navigating 3D View
Managing Areas
Working with Editor Types
Selecting Objects
Making an Active Selection
Using the 3D Cursor
Setting Blender’s User Preferences
Summary
Exercises
3 Your First Scene in Blender
Creating Objects
Moving, Rotating, and Scaling
Using Manipulators (Basic Mode)
Using Keyboard Shortcuts (Advanced Mode)
Arranging Objects in Your Scene
Naming Objects and Using Datablocks
Renaming Objects
Managing Datablocks
Naming Your Scene’s Objects
Using Interaction Modes
Applying Flat or Smooth Surfaces
Working with Modifiers
Adding Modifiers
Adding a Subdivision Surface Modifier to Your Object
Using Blender Render and Cycles
Managing Materials
Using Blender Render Materials
Using Cycles Materials
Adding Materials to Your Scene
Turning on the Lights
Light Options in Blender Render
Lights Options in Cycles
Adding Lights to Your Scene
Moving the Camera in Your Scene
Rendering
Rendering in Blender Render
Rendering in Cycles
Saving and Loading Your .blend File
Launching and Saving the Render
Summary
Exercises
Part II Beginning a Project
4 Project Overview
The Three Stages of a Project
Preproduction
Production
Postproduction
Defining the Stages
A Film Without Visual Effects
A Visual-Effects Film
An Animated Film
A Photograph
Making a Character-Creation Plan
Character Preproduction
Character Production
Project Postproduction
Summary
Exercises
5 Character Design
Character Description
Personality
Context
Style
Appearance
Designing the Character
Silhouettes
Base Design
Head
Details
Refined Design
Adding Color
Finalizing the Design
Making Character Reference Images
Using Other Design Methods
Summary
Exercises
Part III Modeling in Blender
6 Blender Modeling Tools
Working with Vertices, Edges, and Faces
Selecting Vertices, Edges, and Faces
Accessing Modeling Tools
Making Selections
Shortest Path
Proportional Editing
Linked Selection
Loops and Rings
Border Selection
Grow and Shrink Selection
Limit Selection to Visible
Select Similar
Select Linked Flat Faces
Select Boundary Loop and Loop Inner-Region
Checker Deselect
Other Selection Methods
Using Mesh Modeling Tools
Bevel
Boolean Operations: Intersect (Boolean) and Intersect (Knife)
Bisect
Bridge Edge Loops
Connect
Delete and Dissolve
Duplicate
Edge Offset
Extrude
Fill and Grid Fill
Inset
Join
Knife
Knife Project
Loop Cut and Slide
Make Edge/Face
Merge
Poke
Remove Doubles
Rip and Rip Fill
Screw
Separate
Shrink/Flatten
Slide
Smooth Vertex
Solidify
Spin
Split
Subdivide
Working with LoopTools
Working with F2
Using Other Interesting Blender Options
AutoMerge
Hide and Reveal
Snapping
Summary
Exercises
7 Character Modeling
What Is Mesh Topology?
Choosing Modeling Methods
Box Modeling
Poly to Poly
Sculpt and Retopologize
Modifiers
The Best Method
Setting Up the Reference Planes
Modeling the Eyes
Creating an Eyeball
Using Lattices to Deform the Eyeballs
Mirroring and Adjusting the Eyes
Modeling the Face
Studying the Face’s Topology
Blocking the Face’s Basic Shape
Defining the Face’s Shapes
Defining the Eyes, Mouth, and Nose
Adding Ears
Building the Inside of the Mouth
Modeling the Torso and Arms
Modeling the Basic Shapes for the Torso and Arms
Defining the Arms and Torso
Detailing the Backpack and Jacket
Finishing the Belt and Adding a Neck to the Jacket
Modeling the Legs
Modeling the Boots
Modeling the Hands
Building the Basic Hand Shape
Adding the Fingers and Wrist
Modeling the Cap
Creating the Base of the Cap
Adding Details to the Cap
Modeling the Hair
Shaping Locks of Hair
Adding Natural Details to the Hair
Modeling the Final Details
Eyebrows
Communicator
Badges
Teeth and Tongue
Other Clothing Details
Summary
Exercises
Part IV Unwrapping, Painting, and Shading
8 Unwrapping and UVs in Blender
Seeing How Unwrapping and UVs Work
Unwrapping in Blender
Using the UV/Image Editor
Navigating the UV/Image Editor
Accessing the Unwrapping Menus
Working with UV Mapping Tools
Defining Seams
Considering Before Unwrapping
Working with UVs in Blender
Marking the Seams
Creating and Displaying a UV Test Grid
Unwrapping Jim’s Face
Using Live Unwrap
Adjusting UVs
Separating and Connecting UVs
Reviewing the Finished Face’s UVs
Unwrapping the Rest of the Character
Packing UVs
Summary
Exercises
9 Painting Textures
Defining the Main Workflow
Painting in Blender
Texture Paint Mode
Before You Start Painting
Conditions for Painting
Paint Slots
Limitations of Blender’s Texture Paint Mode
Creating the Base Texture
Placing Texture Elements
Saving Your Image
Packing Your Images
Texturing in 2D Image Editing Software
Exporting the UVs as an Image
Loading the UVs and Base Elements
Adding Base Colors
Adding Details
Applying the Final Touches
Seeing the Painted Character in Blender
Summary
Exercises
10 Materials and Shaders
Understanding Materials
Materials Application
How Materials Work
Masks and Layers
Channels
Blender Render Materials
Cycles Materials
Procedural Textures
Shading Your Character with Blender Render
Setting Up Blender Render Materials
Applying Textures in Blender Render
Shading Jim in Blender Render
Making Render Tests
Shading Your Character with Cycles
Using Cycles Materials
Using Basic Shaders
Mixing and Adding Shaders
Loading Textures
Shading Jim in Cycles
Running Render Tests
Summary
Exercises
Part V Bringing Your Character to Life
11 Character Rigging
Understanding the Rigging Process
What’s a Rig?
Rigging Process
Working with Armatures
Manipulating Bones
Working in Object, Edit, and Pose Modes
Adding Constraints
Rigging Your Character
Creating the Base Bone Structure
Rigging the Eyes
Rigging the Leg
Rigging the Torso and Head
Rigging the Arm
Rigging the Hand
Mirroring the Rig
Organizing the Rig
Skinning
Understanding Vertex Weights
Setting Up the Model for Skinning
Adding an Armature Modifier
Defining Weights
Creating the Facial Rig
Modeling Shapes
Creating the Face Rig
Using Drivers to Control the Face Shapes
Creating Custom Shapes
Making Final Retouches
Reusing Your Character in Different Scenes
Library Linking
Working with Groups
Protecting Layers
Using Proxies to Animate a Linked Character
Using Dupli Visibility
Summary
Exercises
12 Animating Your Character
Inserting Keyframes
Using the Manual Method
Using the Automatic Method
Using Keying Sets
Animating Properties in the Menus
Working with Animation Editors
Timeline
Dope Sheet
Graph Editor
Non-Linear Animation (NLA)
Common Controls and Tips
Animating a Walk Cycle
Creating an Action
Creating the Poses for the Walk Cycle
Repeating the Animation
Walking Along a Path
Summary
Exercises
Part VI Getting the Final Result
13 Camera Tracking in Blender
Understanding Camera Tracking
Shooting Video for Easy Tracking
Using the Movie Clip Editor
Tracking the Camera
Loading Your Footage
Studying the Anatomy of a Marker
Tracking Features in the Footage
Configuring Camera Settings
Solving Camera Motion
Applying Tracked Motion to the Camera
Adjusting Camera Motion
Testing Camera Tracking
Summary
Exercises
14 Lighting, Compositing, and Rendering
Lighting Your Scene
Analyzing the Real Footage
Creating and Testing Lights
Using the Node Editor
Compositing
Understanding Nodes
Studying the Anatomy of a Node
Using the Node Editor
Previewing the Result
Compositing Your Scene in Blender Render
Setting Up the Scene
Setting Up Render Layers
Compositing Nodes
Compositing Your Scene in Cycles
Setting Up the Scene
Setting Up Render Layers
Node Compositing
Rendering
Render Settings
Output
Final Render
Summary
Exercises
Part VII Keep Learning
15 Other Blender Features
Particles
Hair Simulation
Cloth Simulation
Rigid and Soft Bodies
Fluids Simulation
Fire and Smoke
Grease Pencil
Pie Menus
Game Engine
Freestyle Rendering
Masking, Object Tracking, and Video Stabilization
Sculpting
Retopology
Maps Baking
Included Add-Ons
More Add-Ons
Animation Nodes
Python Scripting
Summary
Index