forked from bartvdbraak/blender
517 lines
26 KiB
HTML
517 lines
26 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
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<html>
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<head>
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<title>A brief introduction to Blender</title>
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<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1">
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<meta name="GENERATOR" content="Quanta Plus">
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</head>
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<body>
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<h1 align="center"><a name="top">Blender v2.4x series</a></h1>
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<br>
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<ol>
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<li><a href="#intro">About</a></li>
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<li><a href="#pack">Package Contents and Install</a></li>
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<li><a href="#start">Getting Started:</a></li>
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<ol>
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<li><a href="#start_run">Running</a></li>
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<li><a href="#start_1st">First steps</a>,
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<a href="#start_3dview">The 3d View</a></li>
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</ol>
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<li><a href="#resources">Resources</a></li>
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<li><a href="#trouble">Troubleshooting</a></li>
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<li><a href="#faq">(FAQ) A few remarks</a></li>
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</ol>
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<h2><a name="intro">1. About</a></h2>
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<p>Welcome to the world of <a href="http://www.blender.org">Blender</a>!
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The program you have now in your hands is a free and fully functional 3D
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modeling, animation, rendering, compositing, video editing and game creation suite. It is available for
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Unix-based (Linux, Mac OS X, etc.) and Windows systems and has a large
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world-wide community.</p>
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<p>Blender is free to be applied for any purpose, including commercial usage and
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distribution. It's free and open-source software, released under the GNU GPL
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licence. The full program sources are available on our website.</p>
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<p>For impatient readers, here the two most important links:</p>
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<a href="http://www.blender.org">www.blender.org</a> the main website<br>
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<a href="http://wiki.blender.org">wiki.blender.org</a> the documentation website<br>
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<p align="right"><a href="#top">back to top</a></p>
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<h2><a name="pack">2. Package Contents and Install</a></h2>
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<p>This is what you should get from a downloaded Blender package:</p>
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<ul>
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<li>The Blender program for some specific platform;</li>
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<li>This text, with links and the copyright notice;</li>
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<li>A basic set of scripts, including importers and exporters to other 3d
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formats.</li>
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</ul>
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<p>The latest version for all supported platforms can always be found at the
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main Blender site, along with documentation, sample .blend files, many scripts,
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plugins and more.</p>
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<p>If you are interested in the development of the program, information for
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coders and the CVS repository with the sources can be found at the
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<a href="http://www.blender.org/development/">developer's section of the site.</a></p>
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<h3><a name="start_install">Installation notes:</a></h3>
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<p>Installing is mostly a matter of executing a self-installer package or unpacking it to
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some folder. Blender has a minimum of system dependencies (like OpenGL and SDL), and doesn't
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install by overwriting libraries in your system. There are also some extra
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files needed for a good install, like an antialiased font and standard python scripts, but these
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are optional. Typically these will go to your HOME/.blender/
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directory. Below you find instructions for it per OS.
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</p>
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<p><b>Windows:</b> the .exe installer handles registry of file types for you. The .zip download has
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a .blender directory included, which can be manually copied.<br>
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The directory .blender is located by Blender while checking the following list:<br>
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- whether environment variable HOME exists, <br>
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- or, if environment USERPROFILE exists, and the installer has created there the Application Data\Blender Foundation\Blender\
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directory, <br>
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- or it uses the .blender directory from the installation directory (where blender.exe resides) <br>
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Also note that Blender comes with two dll files, which have to reside next to blender.exe.</p>
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<p><b>Linux, FreeBSD, Irix, Solaris:</b> after unpacking the distribution, you can copy the .blender
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directory from it to your home directory. </p>
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<p><b>OSX:</b> the .blender directory is in Blender.app/Contents/Resources/. This is being located
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by default. If you like to alter some of the files, copy this directory to your home dir.</p>
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<p><b>Other settings:</b><br>
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There are many paths you can set in Blender itself, to tell it where to
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look for your collections of texture and sound files, fonts, plugins and
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additional scripts, besides where it should save rendered images, temporary
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data, etc. If you're only starting, there's no need to worry about this now.
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</p>
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<p><b>Python:</b><br>
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Some downloaded scripts may require extra Python modules not shipped with
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Blender. Installing the whole Python distribution is a way to solve this
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issue for most cases except scripts that require extensions (3rd party
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modules), but we are starting to add more modules to Blender itself so that
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most scripts don't depend on full Python installs anymore. This is mostly
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about Windows, in other platforms Python is usually a standard component
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nowadays, so unless there's a version mismatch or an incomplete py
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installation, there should be no problems.</p>
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<p>Even if you do have the right version of Python installed you may need to
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tell the embedded Python interpreter where the installation is. To do that
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it's enough to set a system variable called PYTHON to the full path to the
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stand-alone Python executable (to find out execute "import sys; print
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sys.executable" inside the stand-alone interpreter, not in Blender). To check
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which Python was linked to your Blender binary, execute "import sys; print
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sys.version" at Blender's text editor), it's probably 2.5.something -- only the
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two first numbers should have to match with yours.</p>
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<p align="right"><a href="#top">back to top</a></p>
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<h2><a name="start">3. Getting Started</a></h2>
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<p>Blender's main strength is at modeling, animating and rendering 3d
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scenes, from simple cubes and monkey heads to the complex environments found in
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videogames and movies with computer graphics (CG) art.</p>
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<p><strong>Rendering</strong> is the process of generating 2d images from 3d
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data (basically lit 3d models) as if viewed by a virtual camera. In simple
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terms, rendering is like taking a picture of the scene, but with many more
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ways to influence the results. Blender comes with a very flexible renderer
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and is well integrated with the open source YafRay package. There are also
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scripts to export to other popular third party renderers like Povray and
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Renderman compliant ones. By <strong>animating</strong> the data and rendering
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pictures of each successive frame, movie sequences can be created.</p>
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<p>In <strong>compositing</strong> a set of techniques is used to add effects
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to rendered images and combine these into a single frame. This is how, for
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example, artists add laser beams, glows and dinosaurs to motion
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pictures. Blender also has builtin
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support for video sequence editing and sound synchronization.</p>
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<p>The <strong>game engine</strong> inside Blender lets users create and play
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nifty 3d games, complete with 3d graphics, sound, physics and scripted rules.
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</p>
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<p>Via <strong>scripting</strong> the program's functionality can be automated
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and extended in real-time with important new capabilities. True displacement
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mapping, for example, is now part of the core program, but before that it was
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already possible using scripts. Since they are written in a nice higher-level
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programming language -- <a href="http://www.python.org">Python</a> in our case
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-- development is considerably faster and easier than normal C/C++ coding.
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Naturally, they run slower than compiled code, but still fast enough for
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<em>many</em> purposes or for mixed approaches like some plugins use.</p>
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<h3><a name="start_run">Running:</a></h3>
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<p>Depending on your platform, the installation may have put an icon on your
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desktop and a menu entry for Blender. If not, it's not hard to do that
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yourself for your favorite window manager.</p>
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<p>But for more flexibility, you can execute Blender from a shell window or
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command-line prompt. Try "blender -h" to see all available options.</p>
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<p>Blender saves data in its own custom binary format, using ".blend" as
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extension. The default start-up configuration is saved in a file in your home directory called
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.B.blend. To save your changes to it, click on
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<strong>File->Save Default Settings</strong> or use the Control+u shortcut
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directly.</p>
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<h3><a name="start_1st">First steps:</a></h3>
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<p>This is the point where we stop and warn newcomers that 3d Computer
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Graphics is a vast field and Blender has a lot of packed functionality.
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If you already tried to run it and fell victim to the "too many buttons!"
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syndrome, just relax and <a href="#faq_2">read this part</a> of the F.A.Q. </p>
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<p>Hoping the explanations helped, let's start Blender and take a look at it.
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At the top header you can see the main menu. Under "File" you'll find entries
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to save, load and quit. If <em>someone</em> ever messes with your workspace
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and you can't find your way around: use the menu <strong>File->Load Factory settings</strong>.</p>
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<p>Blender's screen is divided in "areas". Each of them has a top or bottom
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header and can show any of the available builtin applications (called "spaces",
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like the 3d View, the Text Editor, etc). If you started with a default
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configuration, there should now be three areas:
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</p>
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<ul>
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<li>A thin strip at the top where you can see the header of the <strong>User
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Preferences Window</strong> (its header is also Blender's main menu);</li>
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<li>A big one in the middle with the <strong>3d View</strong>, where you
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model and preview your scenes;</li>
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<li>A smaller at the bottom with the <strong>Buttons Window</strong>, where
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you add and configure most of your scene data.</li>
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</ul>
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<p>These are the three most important spaces, at least when you are starting.
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At the left corner of each header you can find the "Window Types" button,
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which is like the "Start" buttom of many desktop environments. Clicking on
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it lets you change what is shown in that area.</p>
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<p><strong>Highly configurable workspace</strong></p>
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<p>Blender's interface has been considerably improved for the 2.3x series.
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Besides the goals of exposing functionality via menus and adding tooltips
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for all buttons, there are even more ways now to change your workspace.</p>
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<p>As before, areas can be resized, subdivided in two or joined; headers can
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be moved to the top or bottom of an area or hidden completely. Just experiment
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to find out how, it's trivial. Hint: the mouse cursor changes to a double arrow
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when it is over the inter-area edges.</p>
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<p>There should be a button with "SCR:" in the top header. It has some preset
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workspaces that can be tried now for a tour of the possibilities. When you
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change your current setup to something worth keeping, that same button has the
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option to save the new screen.</p>
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<p>Since version 2.30 Blender lets users define new color themes that can also
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be shared with others when saved in the default startup .B.blend file.</p>
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<p>The User Preferences space has many options there that you may want to
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tweak, like turning button tooltips on/off, setting paths, etc. Just remember
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to save your configuration if you want to keep it for the next session).
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Since these preferences are not saved in regular .blend files, the presets will
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retain working even when loading files from others. Note however, that the arrangement
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of the UI itself - its screens and windows - are always saved in each file.
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</p>
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<h3><a name="start_3dview">The 3d View:</a></h3>
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<p><strong>Mouse buttons and the toolbox</strong></p>
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<p>Pressing the SPACEBAR or Shift+a while the mouse pointer is inside a 3d
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View space will open up the toolbox. The toolbox gives you faster access to
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many functions, like adding new objects to your scene, editing their properties,
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selecting and so on.</p>
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<p>This is how the mouse buttons work in this space:
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<ul>
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<li>Left button: anchor the 3d cursor in a new location -- it defines where
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your next added object will appear, among other things.</li>
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<li>Right button: selection. If you hold it and move, you can move the
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selected item around.</li>
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<li>Middle button: 3d space rotation or translation -- choose which one in
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one of the User Preferences tabs.</li>
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</ul>
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Combinations of mouse buttons and Shift or Control will give you additional
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options like zooming, panning and restricted movement. 3d scenes can be seen
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from any position and orientation, but there are some default ones you can
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reach with Numpad buttons or the "View" menu in the 3d View's header.</p>
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<p><strong>Edit Mode</strong></p>
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<p>When you want to edit the vertices of a mesh, for example, it's necessary to
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select the object and enter "Edit Mode", either using the 3d View header "Mode"
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button or by pressing TAB on your keyboard (press it again to return to object
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mode).</p>
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<p><strong>And this was only the beginning ...</strong></p>
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<p>The above guidelines should have given new users enough to start playing
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with the interface. The next section lists online references that can actually teach about 3d and this program, but it's a good idea to spend some time just
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playing with Blender, looking at menus and finding what mouse actions do in
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each space.</p>
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<p align="right"><a href="#top">back to top</a></p>
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<h2><a name="resources">4. Resources</a></h2>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="http://www.blender.org">www.blender.org</a> - the general site, with documentation and downloads</li>
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<li><a href="http://www.blenderartists.org">www.blenderartists.org</a> - the main user community web site</li>
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<li><a href="http://projects.blender.org">projects.blender.org</a> - the project's site</li>
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</ul>
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<p>This short presentation is meant to guide newcomers to Blender through their
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<em>very first</em> steps, giving directions to where you can find the
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resources you will need. We can't teach you 3D in these few lines of text,
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that would take a lengthy book.</p>
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<p>Irc users are invited to try #blenderchat on irc.freenode.net .</p>
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<p>There are also local Blender community sites in some countries, that should
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be listed at the Community section of the main site.</p>
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<p>If you are a coder wanting to get in touch with Blender development, a good read
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is the "Get Involved" page at <a href="http://www.blender.org/community/get-involved/">www.blender.org</a>. A
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good way to start is to follow the mailing lists for a while and check bug
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reports, to see if you can fix one. On irc.freenode.net: #blendercoders you'll find many active developers, here also the weekly meetings take place.</p>
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<h3><a name="resources_xtra">Other useful links</a></h3>
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<p>In the realm of open-source cg programs, it's a pleasure to mention other
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great projects that can help you achieve your visions. Note that these
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programs are completely independent from Blender and have their own sites,
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documentation and support channels. Note also that this list is not complete
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and should be updated on future versions of this text.</p>
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<dl>
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<dt><a href="http://www.gimp.org">The Gimp</a></dt>
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<dd>The mighty GNU Image Manipulation Program. In 3d work it is a valuable
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resource to create, convert and, of course, manipulate texture images.
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It is also useful for work with rendered pictures, for example to add 2d text,
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logos or to touch-up, apply factory or hand-made effects and compose with other
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images.</dd>
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</dl>
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<h4>Renderers:</h4>
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<dl>
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<dt><a href="http://www.yafray.org">YafRay</a></dt>
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<dd>A currently inactive but very impressive program. Blender has builtin
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support for it.</dd>
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<dt><a href="http://www.povray.org">Povray</a></dt>
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<dd>One of the best and most popular renderers in the world. There is a
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script to export Blender scenes to be rendered with it.</dd>
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<dt><a href="https://renderman.pixar.com">Renderman-compliant:</a>
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open-source: <a href="http://www.aqsis.org">Aqsis</a>,
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<a href="http://pixie.sf.net">Pixie</a>. Closed-source:
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<a href="http://www.3delight.com">3delight</a>.</dt>
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<dd>The Renderman spec was created by Pixar years ago to define both a
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standard and powerful representation of 3d data for renderers and the expected
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quality of the renderization itself. Think about 3d art from some movie -- it
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was much probably created by Pixar's own Photorealistic Renderman (PRMan)
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renderer. This is a good site to learn more:
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<a href="http://www.rendermanacademy.com">The Renderman Academy</a>. Neither
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Pixar nor its products are affiliated with Blender.</dd>
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</dl>
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<p align="right"><a href="#top">back to top</a></p>
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<h2><a name="trouble">5. Troubleshooting</a></h2>
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<p>If something isn't working, please read this entire section before looking
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for help.</p>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="#trouble_gen">General start-up and usage problems</a></li>
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<li><a href="#trouble_vdo">Video card blues</a></li>
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<li><a href="#trouble_py">Scripts</a></li>
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<li><a href="#trouble_bugt">The Bug Tracker</a></li>
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</ul>
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<h3><a name="trouble_gen">General start-up and usage problems</a></h3>
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<p>If the program crashes or something isn't working properly, try running
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Blender in <strong>debug mode:</strong> execute it as "blender -d" from a
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command prompt. This might give some info about what is wrong. There are also
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other options that might be useful, "blender -h" lists all of them.<br>
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Most likely an immediate crash is due to Blender's need for a compliant and
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stable working OpenGL.</p>
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<h3><a name="trouble_vdo">Video card blues</a></h3>
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<p>Although OpenGL is cherished as an excellent cross platform library, the enormous
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growth of different 3D cards have made this a complicated affair for Blender. Unlike
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other programs - or 3D games - Blender utilizes OpenGL for its entire GUI, including
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buttons and pulldown menus. That means also the 2D options for OpenGL should
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work good, something easily ignored or badly tested by 3D card manufacturors, who
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target more at the latest SFX features for new 3D games.<br>
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In general Blender performs
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very well on 3D cards from renowned brands, such as NVidia, ATI or 3DLabs.</p>
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<h3><a name="trouble_py">Scripts</a></h3>
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<p>To be sure that some functionality is scripted: all scripts in Blender can
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be accessed from the "Scripts" menu in the Scripts Window's header, even if the
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same functionality is also in another menu somewhere. If you see an entry in
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one of the submenus there, it refers to a script. Please don't report problems
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with scripts to the bug tracker or other normal Blender channels. You should
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find the author's site or contact email in the script's text itself, but
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usually the Python & Plugins forum at
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<a href="http://www.blenderartists.org">Blenderartists.org</a> is used for posting
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announcements, questions, suggestions and bug reports related to scripts. It's
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the recommended place to look first, specially if no site was specified at the
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script's window or source file(s).</p>
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<p>If some or all scripts that should appear in menus are not there, running
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Blender in <a href="#trouble_gen">debug mode </a> can possibly inform what is
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wrong. Make sure the reported dir(s) really exist.</p>
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<h3><a name="trouble_bugt">The Bug Tracker</a></h3>
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<p>If you really think you found a new bug in Blender, check the Bug Tracker
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entries at <a href="http://projects.blender.org/tracker/?atid=125&group_id=9&func=browse">the projects site</a> and if
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it was not reported yet, please log in (or register) and fill in detailed
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information about the error. A small .blend file or script (if it is a problem
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with the Blender Python API) showcasing the bug can help a lot.</p>
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<p align="right"><a href="#top">back to top</a></p>
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<h2><a name="faq">6. (FAQ) A few remarks</a></h2>
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<ol>
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<li><a href="#faq_1">Quick tips.</a></li>
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<li><a href="#faq_2">What's up with the interface?</a></li>
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<li><a href="#faq_3">How good is Blender? How does it compare to other 3d
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programs?</a></li>
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<li><a href="#faq_4">Something doesn't work, what do I do?</a></li>
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</ol>
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<h3><a name="faq_1">Quick tips:</a></h3>
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<p><strong>Rendering</strong>: to see something when you render (F12) an image,
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make sure the scene has a camera pointing at your models (camera view is
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NumPad 0) and at least one light properly placed. Otherwise you'll only get a
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black rectangle.</p>
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<p>Setting texture map input to "uv" in the Material Buttons window is not enough
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to assign a texture image and uv data to a mesh. It's necessary to select the mesh,
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|
enter edit mode, indicate face selection mode (modes can be accessed in the 3d view's header), load an
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image in the UV/Image Editor window and then define a mapping (or unwrapping). Only then
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the mesh will have uv data available for exporting.</p>
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|
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<p>If you want the fastest possible access to Blender's functionality, remember
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what a <cite>wise power user</cite> wrote: "keep one hand on the keyboard
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|
and the other on the mouse". Learn and use the shortcuts, configure your
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|
workspace to your needs.</p>
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<h3><a name="faq_2">What's up with the interface?</a></h3>
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|
<p>Blender uses a couple of innovative paradigms in the UI, not following more common, somewhat standard rules for user
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|
interfaces. In the past years several of our interface concepts have been adopted in more programs though,
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especially using a configurable non-overlapping subdivision layout and the paradigm to never block the UI from working by
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|
offering all editors and options in parallel. <br>
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|
Typically free programs offer easy-to-use interfaces for large audiences. Blender however is, like other high-end 3D tools,
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|
meant to be a powerful production tool for professionals and 3D enthusiasts, for people who are dedicated to become 3D artists with enough time
|
|
and motivation to master the software. <br>
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|
This also has its origins in the 90ies, when Blender was born as an in-house studio tool, optimized to speed up daily heavy
|
|
work, and not to please everyone. But it's true that you can consider Blender's interface
|
|
to be not very newbie-friendly. Luckily you only have to learn it once, and once you get the basics it'll feel like 2nd nature!</p>
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|
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|
<p>Blender also has been considerably
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|
improved since the 2.3x series, exposing most functionality via menus, adding
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|
panels, color "themability", tooltips for all buttons and internationalization
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|
support. This is an ongoing effort or, better, a goal to keep the best ideas
|
|
in Blender's design while expanding and making it more user-friendly.</p>
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<p><b>Too many buttons!</b></p>
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|
<p>Again, 3D Computer Graphics is a vast and fun field. If you're only
|
|
starting, Blender can seem daunting, specially because of all its packed
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|
functionality. Don't let that upset you, there is no need to care about
|
|
<em>all</em> those buttons right now -- or ever.</p>
|
|
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|
<p>There are basic things all users should learn early up:</p>
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|
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|
<ul>
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<li>Start the program and access the main menus;</li>
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|
<li>Find and configure user preferences;</li>
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|
<li>Basic scene set-up: how to add and transform (move, scale, rotate)
|
|
lights, cameras and objects;</li>
|
|
<li>Create and link materials to objects, at least to color them;</li>
|
|
<li>Render your scenes.</li>
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|
</ul>
|
|
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|
<p>One hour is enough time to assimilate and practice that before going on
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|
with basic mesh editing and texturing, for example. There are many different
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|
areas to learn about. Taste, interaction with other users and your main
|
|
interests (game art, rendered stills, movies) will guide you and define the
|
|
skills you'll want to master. Then it goes like a spiral: practice something
|
|
for a while, study and find about new tricks or whole new areas, practice a
|
|
little more and so on. Soon you'll become pleased to have all those buttons to
|
|
play with. A few more months and you'll probably be back asking for more ...
|
|
</p>
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|
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|
<h3><a name="faq_3">How good is Blender?</a></h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>If you ever get the impression that it's not possible to create great
|
|
looking or complex works with Blender, rejoice -- you are just plainly
|
|
uninformed, as browsing blender.org galleries and community forums can easily confirm.</p>
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|
|
|
<h3>How does it compare to other 3d programs?</h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>In short: it takes considerable dedication to become good, no matter which
|
|
program you work with, as long as it is good enough not to get in your way.
|
|
Blender has, like the others, its strong and weak points.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Compared to commercial alternatives, Blender misses some features and isn't
|
|
as "newbie-friendly". It doesn't come packed with "one-click" or "wizard"
|
|
functionality, where you get much faster results in detriment of flexibility
|
|
and value. It also isn't bundled with tens of megabytes of sample models,
|
|
texture images, tutorials, etc. (which only partly explains how Blender can fit
|
|
in such a small download).</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Thankfully, these are relatively minor shortcomings. Many of Blender's modeling, animation and
|
|
rendering/compositing features are up-to-par with the industry standards. The pace at which features
|
|
are being added or polished in Blender is impressive, now that it's a well
|
|
stablished open source project. We get daily feedback from professionals and studios using Blender, and
|
|
results from the Blender Foundation's Open Movie/Game projects such as <a href="http://www.bigbuckbunny.org">Big Buck Bunny</a>
|
|
and <a href="http://www.yofrankie.org">Yo Frankie!</a> have set a reference standard for what a program like Blender can achieve.
|
|
More: through plugins and scripting, many
|
|
repetitive or otherwise cumbersome tasks can be made trivial. But plugin and
|
|
script authors go further, teaching Blender new tricks, from importers and
|
|
exporters to more advanced "applications".</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>About goodies, there are many places where you can get them (check
|
|
<a href="#resources">resources</a>). Besides the many available Blender books, the main site and
|
|
blenderartists.org are the best ones to start. For free texture
|
|
images, a simple search for "free textures" should bring many results, just pay
|
|
attention to their licenses if you plan to release your work later.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Commercial packages might make it easier for newbies to produce nice looking
|
|
material, but only another newbie would praise the results. There's a huge
|
|
difference between what a skilled artist and someone poking at buttons and
|
|
using presets can accomplish.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Last but best of all: Blender is open-source, free for all to use, study and
|
|
improve.</p>
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|
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<hr>
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|
<p>Thanks for reading, we hope you enjoy Blender!</p>
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<p><font size=-1>Document version 1.1, Sept 2008</font></p>
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<p align="right"><a href="#top">back to top</a></p>
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</body>
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</html>
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