forked from bartvdbraak/blender
85080f9e3f
* Renaming header to alpha 0. * Some updates for the Python Installation notes.
558 lines
29 KiB
HTML
558 lines
29 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
|
|
<HTML>
|
|
<HEAD>
|
|
<META HTTP-EQUIV="CONTENT-TYPE" CONTENT="text/html; charset=windows-1252">
|
|
<TITLE>A brief introduction to Blender</TITLE>
|
|
<META NAME="GENERATOR" CONTENT="OpenOffice.org 3.1 (Win32)">
|
|
<META NAME="CREATED" CONTENT="0;0">
|
|
<META NAME="CHANGED" CONTENT="20091122;19562400">
|
|
</HEAD>
|
|
<BODY LANG="de-DE" DIR="LTR">
|
|
<H1 LANG="en-US" ALIGN=CENTER><A NAME="top"></A>Blender v2.5 alpha 0</H1>
|
|
<P><BR><BR>
|
|
</P>
|
|
<OL>
|
|
<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm"><SPAN LANG="en-US"><A HREF="#intro">About</A>
|
|
</SPAN>
|
|
</P>
|
|
<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm"><SPAN LANG="en-US"><A HREF="#pack">Package
|
|
Contents and Install</A> </SPAN>
|
|
</P>
|
|
<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm"><SPAN LANG="en-US"><A HREF="#start">Getting
|
|
Started:</A> </SPAN>
|
|
</P>
|
|
<OL>
|
|
<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm"><SPAN LANG="en-US"><A HREF="#start_run">Running</A>
|
|
</SPAN>
|
|
</P>
|
|
<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm"><SPAN LANG="en-US"><A HREF="#start_1st">First
|
|
steps</A>, <A HREF="#start_3dview">The 3d View</A> </SPAN>
|
|
</P>
|
|
</OL>
|
|
<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm"><SPAN LANG="en-US"><A HREF="#resources">Resources</A>
|
|
</SPAN>
|
|
</P>
|
|
<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm"><SPAN LANG="en-US"><A HREF="#trouble">Troubleshooting</A>
|
|
</SPAN>
|
|
</P>
|
|
<LI><P><SPAN LANG="en-US"><A HREF="#faq">(FAQ) A few remarks</A> </SPAN>
|
|
</P>
|
|
</OL>
|
|
<H2 LANG="en-US"><A NAME="intro"></A>1. About</H2>
|
|
<P><SPAN LANG="en-US">Welcome to the world of <A HREF="http://www.blender.org/">Blender</A>!
|
|
The program you have now in your hands is a free and fully functional
|
|
3d modeling, animation, rendering, compositing, video editing and
|
|
game creation suite. It is available for Unix-based (Linux, Mac OS X,
|
|
etc.) and Windows systems and has a large world-wide community.</SPAN></P>
|
|
<P LANG="en-US">Blender is free to be applied for any purpose,
|
|
including commercial usage and distribution. It's free and
|
|
open-source software, released under the GNU GPL licence. The full
|
|
program sources are available on our website.</P>
|
|
<P LANG="en-US">For impatient readers, here the two most important
|
|
links:</P>
|
|
<P><SPAN LANG="en-US"><A HREF="http://www.blender.org/">www.blender.org</A>
|
|
the main website<BR><A HREF="http://wiki.blender.org/">wiki.blender.org</A>
|
|
the documentation website</SPAN></P>
|
|
<P ALIGN=RIGHT><A HREF="#top"><SPAN LANG="en-US">back to top</SPAN></A></P>
|
|
<H2 LANG="en-US"><A NAME="pack"></A>2. Package Contents and Install</H2>
|
|
<P LANG="en-US">This is what you should get from a downloaded Blender
|
|
package:</P>
|
|
<UL>
|
|
<LI><P LANG="en-US" STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">The Blender program
|
|
for some specific platform;
|
|
</P>
|
|
<LI><P LANG="en-US" STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">This text, with links
|
|
and the copyright notice;
|
|
</P>
|
|
<LI><P LANG="en-US">A basic set of scripts, including importers and
|
|
exporters to other 3d formats.
|
|
</P>
|
|
</UL>
|
|
<P LANG="en-US">The latest version for all supported platforms can
|
|
always be found at the main Blender site, along with documentation,
|
|
sample .blend files, many scripts, plugins and more.</P>
|
|
<P><SPAN LANG="en-US">If you are interested in the development of the
|
|
program, information for coders and the SVN repository with the
|
|
sources can be found at the <A HREF="http://www.blender.org/development/">developer's
|
|
section of the site.</A></SPAN></P>
|
|
<H3 LANG="en-US"><A NAME="start_install"></A>Installation notes:</H3>
|
|
<P LANG="en-US">Installing is mostly a matter of executing a
|
|
self-installer package or unpacking it to some folder. Blender has a
|
|
minimum of system dependencies (like OpenGL and SDL), and doesn't
|
|
install by overwriting libraries in your system. There are also some
|
|
extra files needed for a good install, like standard python scripts,
|
|
but these are optional. Typically these will go to your
|
|
HOME/.blender/ directory. Below you find instructions for it per OS.
|
|
</P>
|
|
<P LANG="en-US"><B>Windows:</B> The .zip download has a .blender
|
|
directory included, which can be manually copied.<BR>Also note that
|
|
Blender comes with some dll files, which have to reside next to
|
|
blender.exe.</P>
|
|
<P LANG="en-US"><B>Linux, FreeBSD, Irix, Solaris:</B> after unpacking
|
|
the distribution, you can copy the .blender directory from it to your
|
|
home directory.
|
|
</P>
|
|
<P LANG="en-US"><B>OSX:</B> the .blender directory is in
|
|
Blender.app/Contents/Resources/. This is being located by default. If
|
|
you like to alter some of the files, copy this directory to your home
|
|
dir.</P>
|
|
<P LANG="en-US"><B>Other settings:</B><BR>There are many paths you
|
|
can set in Blender itself, to tell it where to look for your
|
|
collections of texture and sound files, fonts, plugins and additional
|
|
scripts, besides where it should save rendered images, temporary
|
|
data, etc. If you're only starting, there's no need to worry about
|
|
this now.
|
|
</P>
|
|
<P LANG="en-US"><B>Python:</B><BR>Blender 2.5x use Python 3.1 as
|
|
scripting language for im/exporters, UI buttons layout and other
|
|
areas like presets. On Windows, Python 3.1 is included in the zip
|
|
package from blender.org.
|
|
</P>
|
|
<P LANG="en-US">On other platforms Python is usually a standard
|
|
component nowadays, so unless there's a version mismatch or an
|
|
incomplete Python installation, there should be no problems.</P>
|
|
<P LANG="en-US">Even if you do have the right version of Python
|
|
installed you may need to tell the embedded Python interpreter where
|
|
the installation is. To do that it's enough to set a system variable
|
|
called PYTHON to the full path to the stand-alone Python executable
|
|
(to find out execute "import sys; print (sys.executable)"
|
|
inside the stand-alone interpreter, not in Blender). In Blender 2.5
|
|
alpha 0, Python 3.1 is linked to your Blender binary, so you have
|
|
to use a Python 3.1.x version.
|
|
</P>
|
|
<P ALIGN=RIGHT><A HREF="#top"><SPAN LANG="en-US">back to top</SPAN></A></P>
|
|
<H2 LANG="en-US"><A NAME="start"></A>3. Getting Started</H2>
|
|
<P LANG="en-US">Blender's main strength is at modeling, animating and
|
|
rendering 3d scenes, from simple cubes and monkey heads to the
|
|
complex environments found in videogames and movies with computer
|
|
graphics (CG) art.</P>
|
|
<P><STRONG><SPAN LANG="en-US">Rendering</SPAN></STRONG> <SPAN LANG="en-US">is
|
|
the process of generating 2d images from 3d data (basically lit 3d
|
|
models) as if viewed by a virtual camera. In simple terms, rendering
|
|
is like taking a picture of the scene, but with many more ways to
|
|
influence the results. Blender comes with a very flexible renderer
|
|
and a Povray Render Exporter script. By </SPAN><STRONG><SPAN LANG="en-US">animating</SPAN></STRONG>
|
|
<SPAN LANG="en-US">the data and rendering pictures of each successive
|
|
frame, movie sequences can be created.</SPAN></P>
|
|
<P><SPAN LANG="en-US">In </SPAN><STRONG><SPAN LANG="en-US">compositing</SPAN></STRONG>
|
|
<SPAN LANG="en-US">a set of techniques is used to add effects to
|
|
rendered images and combine these into a single frame. This is how,
|
|
for example, artists add laser beams, glows and dinosaurs to motion
|
|
pictures. Blender also has builtin support for video sequence editing
|
|
and sound synchronization.</SPAN></P>
|
|
<P><SPAN LANG="en-US">The </SPAN><STRONG><SPAN LANG="en-US">game
|
|
engine</SPAN></STRONG> <SPAN LANG="en-US">inside Blender lets users
|
|
create and play nifty 3d games, complete with 3d graphics, sound,
|
|
physics and scripted rules. </SPAN>
|
|
</P>
|
|
<P><SPAN LANG="en-US">Via </SPAN><STRONG><SPAN LANG="en-US">scripting</SPAN></STRONG>
|
|
<SPAN LANG="en-US">the program's functionality can be automated and
|
|
extended in real-time with important new capabilities. True
|
|
displacement mapping, for example, is now part of the core program,
|
|
but before that it was already possible using scripts. Since they are
|
|
written in a nice higher-level programming language -- <A HREF="http://www.python.org/">Python</A>
|
|
in our case -- development is considerably faster and easier than
|
|
normal C/C++ coding. Naturally, they run slower than compiled code,
|
|
but still fast enough for </SPAN><EM><SPAN LANG="en-US">many</SPAN></EM>
|
|
<SPAN LANG="en-US">purposes or for mixed approaches like some plugins
|
|
use.</SPAN></P>
|
|
<H3 LANG="en-US"><A NAME="start_run"></A>Running:</H3>
|
|
<P LANG="en-US">Depending on your platform, the installation may have
|
|
put an icon on your desktop and a menu entry for Blender. If not,
|
|
it's not hard to do that yourself for your favorite window manager.</P>
|
|
<P LANG="en-US">But for more flexibility, you can execute Blender
|
|
from a shell window or command-line prompt. Try "blender -h"
|
|
to see all available options.</P>
|
|
<P><SPAN LANG="en-US">Blender saves data in its own custom binary
|
|
format, using ".blend" as extension. The default start-up
|
|
configuration is saved in a file in your home directory called
|
|
.B.blend. To save your changes to it, click on </SPAN><STRONG><SPAN LANG="en-US">File->User
|
|
Preferences->Save as Default</SPAN></STRONG> <SPAN LANG="en-US">or
|
|
use the Control+U shortcut directly.</SPAN></P>
|
|
<H3 LANG="en-US"><A NAME="start_1st"></A>First steps:</H3>
|
|
<P><SPAN LANG="en-US">This is the point where we stop and warn
|
|
newcomers that 3d Computer Graphics is a vast field and Blender has a
|
|
lot of packed functionality. If you already tried to run it and fell
|
|
victim to the "too many buttons!" syndrome, just relax and
|
|
<A HREF="#faq_2">read this part</A> of the F.A.Q. </SPAN>
|
|
</P>
|
|
<P><SPAN LANG="en-US">Hoping the explanations helped, let's start
|
|
Blender and take a look at it. At the top header you can see the main
|
|
menu. Under "File" you'll find entries to save, load and
|
|
quit. If </SPAN><EM><SPAN LANG="en-US">someone</SPAN></EM> <SPAN LANG="en-US">ever
|
|
messes with your workspace and you can't find your way around: use
|
|
the menu </SPAN><STRONG><SPAN LANG="en-US">File->New</SPAN></STRONG><SPAN LANG="en-US">.</SPAN></P>
|
|
<P LANG="en-US">Blender's screen is divided in "areas".
|
|
Each of them has a top or bottom header and can show any of the
|
|
available built in applications (called "spaces", like the
|
|
3d View, the Text Editor, etc). If you started with a default
|
|
configuration, there should now be five areas:
|
|
</P>
|
|
<UL>
|
|
<LI><P LANG="en-US" STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">A thin strip at the
|
|
top where you can see the main menus and some important basic
|
|
functions like search and the new Engine drop down menu;
|
|
</P>
|
|
<LI><P LANG="en-US" STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">On the left:</P>
|
|
<UL>
|
|
<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm"><SPAN LANG="en-US">A big one, the
|
|
</SPAN><STRONG><SPAN LANG="en-US">3d View</SPAN></STRONG><SPAN LANG="en-US">,
|
|
where you model and preview your scenes and the new toolbar on the
|
|
left; </SPAN>
|
|
</P>
|
|
<LI><P><SPAN LANG="en-US">A smaller one at the bottom, the
|
|
</SPAN><STRONG><SPAN LANG="en-US">Timeline</SPAN></STRONG><SPAN LANG="en-US">,
|
|
where you can playback your animations and change basic animation
|
|
settings.</SPAN></P>
|
|
</UL>
|
|
<LI><P LANG="en-US" STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">On the right:</P>
|
|
<UL>
|
|
<LI><P LANG="en-US" STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">A small one on top,
|
|
the O<B>utliner</B>, which gives you access over your objects and
|
|
it's underlying data.</P>
|
|
<LI><P LANG="en-US" STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">Beneath that, the
|
|
<B>Properties Window</B>, which contains most buttons and settings.
|
|
</P>
|
|
</UL>
|
|
</UL>
|
|
<P LANG="en-US">These are the five most important spaces, at least
|
|
when you are starting. At the left corner of each header you can find
|
|
the "Window Types" button, which is like the "Start"
|
|
buttom of many desktop environments. Clicking on it lets you change
|
|
what is shown in that area.</P>
|
|
<P><STRONG><SPAN LANG="en-US">Highly configurable workspace</SPAN></STRONG></P>
|
|
<P LANG="en-US">Blender's interface has been considerably improved
|
|
for the 2.5x series. Besides the goals of exposing functionality via
|
|
menus and adding tooltips for all buttons, there are even more ways
|
|
now to change your workspace.</P>
|
|
<P LANG="en-US">Editor areas can be split and joined with the new
|
|
window split action zone. Dragging the zone inside the editor area
|
|
with LMB interactively splits a new window in between, dragging the
|
|
zone into another editor area joins it. Alt-LMB dragging the zone
|
|
swaps the area with another.
|
|
</P>
|
|
<P LANG="en-US">There should be a button with "Default" in
|
|
the top header. It has some preset workspaces that can be tried now
|
|
for a tour of the possibilities. When you change your current setup
|
|
to something worth keeping, that same button has the option to save
|
|
the new screen.</P>
|
|
<P LANG="en-US">The User Preferences space has many options there
|
|
that you may want to tweak, like turning button tooltips on/off,
|
|
setting paths, etc. Just remember to save your configuration if you
|
|
want to keep it for the next session). Since these preferences are
|
|
not saved in regular .blend files, the presets will retain working
|
|
even when loading files from others. Note however, that the
|
|
arrangement of the UI itself - its screens and windows - are always
|
|
saved in each file.
|
|
</P>
|
|
<H3 LANG="en-US"><A NAME="start_3dview"></A>The 3d View:</H3>
|
|
<P><STRONG><SPAN LANG="en-US">Mouse buttons and the toolbox</SPAN></STRONG></P>
|
|
<P LANG="en-US">Pressing Shift+A while the mouse pointer is inside a
|
|
3d View space will open up the Add menu, where you can add new
|
|
objects to your scene.</P>
|
|
<P LANG="en-US">This is how the mouse buttons work in this space:
|
|
</P>
|
|
<UL>
|
|
<LI><P LANG="en-US" STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">Left button: anchor
|
|
the 3d cursor in a new location -- it defines where your next added
|
|
object will appear, among other things.
|
|
</P>
|
|
<LI><P LANG="en-US" STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">Right button:
|
|
selection. If you hold it and move, you can move the selected item
|
|
around.
|
|
</P>
|
|
<LI><P LANG="en-US">Middle button: 3d space rotation or translation
|
|
-- choose which one in one of the User Preferences tabs.
|
|
</P>
|
|
</UL>
|
|
<P LANG="en-US">Combinations of mouse buttons and Shift or Control
|
|
will give you additional options like zooming, panning and restricted
|
|
movement. 3d scenes can be seen from any position and orientation,
|
|
but there are some default ones you can reach with Numpad buttons or
|
|
the "View" menu in the 3d View's header.</P>
|
|
<P><STRONG><SPAN LANG="en-US">Edit Mode</SPAN></STRONG></P>
|
|
<P LANG="en-US">When you want to edit the vertices of a mesh, for
|
|
example, it's necessary to select the object and enter "Edit
|
|
Mode", either using the 3d View header "Mode" button
|
|
or by pressing TAB on your keyboard (press it again to return to
|
|
object mode).</P>
|
|
<P><STRONG><SPAN LANG="en-US">And this was only the beginning ...</SPAN></STRONG></P>
|
|
<P LANG="en-US">The above guidelines should have given new users
|
|
enough to start playing 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 playing with Blender,
|
|
looking at menus and finding what mouse actions do in each space.</P>
|
|
<P ALIGN=RIGHT><A HREF="#top"><SPAN LANG="en-US">back to top</SPAN></A></P>
|
|
<H2 LANG="en-US"><A NAME="resources"></A>4. Resources</H2>
|
|
<UL>
|
|
<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm"><SPAN LANG="en-US"><A HREF="http://www.blender.org/">www.blender.org</A>
|
|
- the general site, with documentation and downloads </SPAN>
|
|
</P>
|
|
<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm"><SPAN LANG="en-US"><A HREF="http://www.blenderartists.org/">www.blenderartists.org</A>
|
|
- the main user community web site </SPAN>
|
|
</P>
|
|
<LI><P><SPAN LANG="en-US"><A HREF="http://projects.blender.org/">projects.blender.org</A>
|
|
- the project's site </SPAN>
|
|
</P>
|
|
</UL>
|
|
<P><SPAN LANG="en-US">This short presentation is meant to guide
|
|
newcomers to Blender through their </SPAN><EM><SPAN LANG="en-US">very
|
|
first</SPAN></EM> <SPAN LANG="en-US">steps, giving directions to
|
|
where you can find the resources you will need. We can't teach you 3d
|
|
in these few lines of text, that would take a lengthy book.</SPAN></P>
|
|
<P LANG="en-US">IRC users are invited to try #blenderchat or #blender
|
|
on irc.freenode.net .</P>
|
|
<P LANG="en-US">There are also local Blender community sites in some
|
|
countries, that should be listed at the Community section of the main
|
|
site.</P>
|
|
<P><SPAN LANG="en-US">If you are a coder wanting to get in touch with
|
|
Blender development, a good read is the "Get Involved" page
|
|
at <A HREF="http://www.blender.org/community/get-involved/">www.blender.org</A>.
|
|
A good way to start is to follow the mailing lists for a while and
|
|
check bug 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.</SPAN></P>
|
|
<H3 LANG="en-US"><A NAME="resources_xtra"></A>Other useful links</H3>
|
|
<P LANG="en-US">In the realm of open-source cg programs, it's a
|
|
pleasure to mention other great projects that can help you achieve
|
|
your visions. Note that these programs are completely independent
|
|
from Blender and have their own sites, documentation and support
|
|
channels. Note also that this list is not complete and should be
|
|
updated on future versions of this text.</P>
|
|
<DL>
|
|
<DT><SPAN LANG="en-US"><A HREF="http://www.gimp.org/">The Gimp</A> </SPAN>
|
|
</DT><DD LANG="en-US" STYLE="margin-bottom: 0.5cm">
|
|
The mighty GNU Image Manipulation Program. In 3d work it is a
|
|
valuable resource to create, convert and, of course, manipulate
|
|
texture images. It is also useful for work with rendered pictures,
|
|
for example to add 2d text, logos or to touch-up, apply factory or
|
|
hand-made effects and compose with other images.
|
|
</DD></DL>
|
|
<H4 LANG="en-US">
|
|
Renderers:</H4>
|
|
<DL>
|
|
<DT><SPAN LANG="en-US"><A HREF="http://www.povray.org/">Povray</A> </SPAN>
|
|
</DT><DD LANG="en-US">
|
|
One of the best and most popular renderers in the world. There is a
|
|
script to export Blender scenes to be rendered with it, delivered
|
|
with 2.5.
|
|
</DD><DT>
|
|
<SPAN LANG="en-US"><A HREF="https://renderman.pixar.com/">Renderman-compliant:</A>
|
|
open-source: <A HREF="http://www.aqsis.org/">Aqsis</A>, <A HREF="http://pixie.sf.net/">Pixie</A>.
|
|
Closed-source: <A HREF="http://www.3delight.com/">3delight</A>. </SPAN>
|
|
</DT><DD STYLE="margin-bottom: 0.5cm">
|
|
<SPAN LANG="en-US">The Renderman spec was created by Pixar years ago
|
|
to define both a standard and powerful representation of 3d data for
|
|
renderers and the expected quality of the renderization itself.
|
|
Think about 3d art from some movie -- it was much probably created
|
|
by Pixar's own Photorealistic Renderman (PRMan) renderer. This is a
|
|
good site to learn more: <A HREF="http://www.rendermanacademy.com/">The
|
|
Renderman Academy</A>. Neither Pixar nor its products are affiliated
|
|
with Blender. </SPAN>
|
|
</DD></DL>
|
|
<P ALIGN=RIGHT>
|
|
<A HREF="#top"><SPAN LANG="en-US">back to top</SPAN></A></P>
|
|
<H2 LANG="en-US"><A NAME="trouble"></A>5. Troubleshooting</H2>
|
|
<P LANG="en-US">If something isn't working, please read this entire
|
|
section before looking for help.</P>
|
|
<UL>
|
|
<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm"><SPAN LANG="en-US"><A HREF="#trouble_gen">General
|
|
start-up and usage problems</A> </SPAN>
|
|
</P>
|
|
<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm"><SPAN LANG="en-US"><A HREF="#trouble_vdo">Video
|
|
card blues</A> </SPAN>
|
|
</P>
|
|
<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm"><SPAN LANG="en-US"><A HREF="#trouble_py">Scripts</A>
|
|
</SPAN>
|
|
</P>
|
|
<LI><P><SPAN LANG="en-US"><A HREF="#trouble_bugt">The Bug Tracker</A>
|
|
</SPAN>
|
|
</P>
|
|
</UL>
|
|
<H3 LANG="en-US"><A NAME="trouble_gen"></A>General start-up and usage
|
|
problems</H3>
|
|
<P><SPAN LANG="en-US">If the program crashes or something isn't
|
|
working properly, try running Blender in </SPAN><STRONG><SPAN LANG="en-US">debug
|
|
mode:</SPAN></STRONG> <SPAN LANG="en-US">execute it as "blender
|
|
-d" from a command prompt. This might give some info about what
|
|
is wrong. There are also other options that might be useful, "blender
|
|
-h" lists all of them.<BR>Most likely an immediate crash is due
|
|
to Blender's need for a compliant and stable working OpenGL.</SPAN></P>
|
|
<H3 LANG="en-US"><A NAME="trouble_vdo"></A>Video card blues</H3>
|
|
<P LANG="en-US">Although OpenGL is cherished as an excellent cross
|
|
platform library, the enormous growth of different 3d cards have made
|
|
this a complicated affair for Blender. Unlike other programs - or 3d
|
|
games - Blender utilizes OpenGL for its entire GUI, including buttons
|
|
and pulldown menus. That means also the 2D options for OpenGL should
|
|
work good, something easily ignored or badly tested by 3d card
|
|
manufacturers, who target more at the latest SFX features for new 3d
|
|
games.<BR>In general Blender performs very well on 3d cards from
|
|
renowned brands, such as NVIDIA, ATI or 3dLabs.</P>
|
|
<H3 LANG="en-US"><A NAME="trouble_py"></A>Scripts</H3>
|
|
<P><SPAN LANG="en-US">To be sure that some functionality is scripted:
|
|
all scripts in Blender can be accessed from the "Scripts"
|
|
menu in the Scripts Window's header, even if the same functionality
|
|
is also in another menu somewhere. If you see an entry in one of the
|
|
submenus there, it refers to a script. Please don't report problems
|
|
with scripts to the bug tracker or other normal Blender channels. You
|
|
should find the author's site or contact email in the script's text
|
|
itself, but usually the Python & Plugins forum at
|
|
<A HREF="http://www.blenderartists.org/">Blenderartists.org</A> is
|
|
used for posting announcements, questions, suggestions and bug
|
|
reports related to scripts. It's the recommended place to look first,
|
|
specially if no site was specified at the script's window or source
|
|
file(s).</SPAN></P>
|
|
<P><SPAN LANG="en-US">If some or all scripts that should appear in
|
|
menus are not there, running Blender in <A HREF="#trouble_gen">debug
|
|
mode </A>can possibly inform what is wrong. Make sure the reported
|
|
dir(s) really exist.</SPAN></P>
|
|
<H3 LANG="en-US"><A NAME="trouble_bugt"></A>The Bug Tracker</H3>
|
|
<P><SPAN LANG="en-US">If you really think you found a new bug in
|
|
Blender, check the Bug Tracker entries at <A HREF="https://projects.blender.org/tracker/?atid=498&group_id=9&func=browse">the
|
|
projects site</A> and if it was not reported yet, please log in (or
|
|
register) and fill in detailed information about the error. A small
|
|
.blend file or script (if it is a problem with the Blender Python
|
|
API) showcasing the bug can help a lot.</SPAN></P>
|
|
<P ALIGN=RIGHT><A HREF="#top"><SPAN LANG="en-US">back to top</SPAN></A></P>
|
|
<H2 LANG="en-US"><A NAME="faq"></A>6. (FAQ) A few remarks</H2>
|
|
<OL>
|
|
<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm"><SPAN LANG="en-US"><A HREF="#faq_1">Quick
|
|
tips.</A> </SPAN>
|
|
</P>
|
|
<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm"><SPAN LANG="en-US"><A HREF="#faq_2">What's
|
|
up with the interface?</A> </SPAN>
|
|
</P>
|
|
<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm"><SPAN LANG="en-US"><A HREF="#faq_3">How
|
|
good is Blender? How does it compare to other 3d programs?</A> </SPAN>
|
|
</P>
|
|
<LI><P><SPAN LANG="en-US"><A HREF="#faq_4">Something doesn't work,
|
|
what do I do?</A> </SPAN>
|
|
</P>
|
|
</OL>
|
|
<H3 LANG="en-US"><A NAME="faq_1"></A>Quick tips:</H3>
|
|
<P><STRONG><SPAN LANG="en-US">Rendering</SPAN></STRONG><SPAN LANG="en-US">:
|
|
to see something when you render (F12) an image, make sure the scene
|
|
has a camera pointing at your models (camera view is NumPad 0) and at
|
|
least one light properly placed. Otherwise you'll only get a black
|
|
rectangle.</SPAN></P>
|
|
<P LANG="en-US">Setting texture map input to "uv" in the
|
|
Material Buttons window is not enough to assign a texture image and
|
|
uv data to a mesh. It's necessary to select the mesh, enter edit
|
|
mode, indicate face selection mode (modes can be accessed in the 3d
|
|
view's header), load an image in the UV/Image Editor window and then
|
|
define a mapping (or unwrapping). Only then the mesh will have uv
|
|
data available for exporting.</P>
|
|
<P><SPAN LANG="en-US">If you want the fastest possible access to
|
|
Blender's functionality, remember what a </SPAN><CITE><SPAN LANG="en-US">wise
|
|
power user</SPAN></CITE> <SPAN LANG="en-US">wrote: "keep one
|
|
hand on the keyboard and the other on the mouse". Learn and use
|
|
the shortcuts, configure your workspace to your needs.</SPAN></P>
|
|
<H3 LANG="en-US"><A NAME="faq_2"></A>What's up with the interface?</H3>
|
|
<P LANG="en-US">Blender uses a couple of innovative paradigms in the
|
|
UI, not following more common, somewhat standard rules for user
|
|
interfaces. In the past years several of our interface concepts have
|
|
been adopted in more programs though, especially using a configurable
|
|
non-overlapping subdivision layout and the paradigm to never block
|
|
the UI from working by offering all editors and options in parallel.
|
|
<BR>Typically free programs offer easy-to-use interfaces for large
|
|
audiences. Blender however is, like other high-end 3d tools, 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>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>
|
|
<P LANG="en-US">Blender also has been considerably improved since the
|
|
2.3x series, exposing most functionality via menus, adding panels,
|
|
color "themability", tooltips for all buttons and
|
|
internationalization 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>
|
|
<P LANG="en-US"><B>Too many buttons!</B></P>
|
|
<P><SPAN LANG="en-US">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 functionality. Don't let that upset you,
|
|
there is no need to care about </SPAN><EM><SPAN LANG="en-US">all</SPAN></EM>
|
|
<SPAN LANG="en-US">those buttons right now -- or ever.</SPAN></P>
|
|
<P LANG="en-US">There are basic things all users should learn early
|
|
up:</P>
|
|
<UL>
|
|
<LI><P LANG="en-US" STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">Start the program and
|
|
access the main menus;
|
|
</P>
|
|
<LI><P LANG="en-US" STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">Find and configure
|
|
user preferences;
|
|
</P>
|
|
<LI><P LANG="en-US" STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">Basic scene set-up:
|
|
how to add and transform (move, scale, rotate) lights, cameras and
|
|
objects;
|
|
</P>
|
|
<LI><P LANG="en-US" STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">Create and link
|
|
materials to objects, at least to color them;
|
|
</P>
|
|
<LI><P LANG="en-US">Render your scenes.
|
|
</P>
|
|
</UL>
|
|
<P LANG="en-US">One hour is enough time to assimilate and practice
|
|
that before going on with basic mesh editing and texturing, for
|
|
example. There are many different 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>
|
|
<H3 LANG="en-US"><A NAME="faq_3"></A>How good is Blender?</H3>
|
|
<P LANG="en-US">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>
|
|
<H3 LANG="en-US">How does it compare to other 3d programs?</H3>
|
|
<P LANG="en-US">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 LANG="en-US">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><SPAN LANG="en-US">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".</SPAN></P>
|
|
<P><SPAN LANG="en-US">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.</SPAN></P>
|
|
<P LANG="en-US">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 LANG="en-US">Last but best of all: Blender is open-source, free
|
|
for all to use, study and improve.</P>
|
|
<HR>
|
|
<P LANG="en-US">Thanks for reading, we hope you enjoy Blender!</P>
|
|
<P LANG="en-US"><FONT SIZE=2>Document version 1.2, November 2009</FONT></P>
|
|
<P ALIGN=RIGHT><A HREF="#top"><SPAN LANG="en-US">back to top</SPAN></A></P>
|
|
</BODY>
|
|
</HTML> |