Recently I became interested in writing Python scripts for Blender (being the new maintainer of the Kerkythea exporter I needed to get a little training), I’m amazed by the control level supplied by the API, handling/creating objects/materials, modifying meshes/IPO curves, building/animating full scenes is almost straightforward (at least for any mid-level C/C++/Java/C# programmer), creating a script of average complexity is really a matter of minutes… at the pact of sticking to “Alt+P” scripts.
Monthly Archives: March 2006
Lightsabre tutorials
This month, two mini tutorials were published on Elysiun on how to make a lightsabre in Blender.
Rules of Camera Tracking
Computer Arts has a free tutorial in pdf form entitled “The Rules of Camera Tracking.” It’s more of a tips and tricks of camera tracking, and though it makes mention of some commercial software, the overall guidance is sound.Videotutorial: Blender Tricks
WhiteBoy has published a 20-minute video tutorial called ‘Blender Tricks’ that explains more than 25 Blender techniques.
Bake Materials Into UV Textures
Baking materials consists of taking effects generated when an image or movie is rendered and store these effects in a UV texture. Currently, in Blender 2.41, this is not an in-built feature. But fear not! BRayBaker is the right tool for the job.
Blender Animation Classics – “Beagle”
In the collective conscience of the Blender Nation there will always be great works that show that Blender can do the job, and do it well. Today lets take the time to view a animation triumph not only for Blender but for a well-known dog and the Rebellion!
Blender to Lightwave Motion File Script v1.0
Daniel Salazar (ZanQdo) has posted a script on elysiun that exports an object’s Loc, Rot, and Size channels to a Lightwave motion file (.mot). You can find the script at http://www.3developer.com/temp/LightwaveMotionExporter.py. The .mot format can be used in many different applications (including Lightwave (obviously), WorldBuilder and Vue) making this another useful tool that helps incorporate Blender into your production pipeline.
Fur Library
Jason Pierce has posted a nice library of furs on Elysiun. They are all made by combining static particle systems with clever material settings. Static particles are a particle system that are ‘frozen in time’ so that you can see the full particle trajectory at any frame of the animation. By setting the right perturbation and gravity you can create some pretty convincing hair or fur effects.
3D – No Plugins
If you want to create embedded interactive 3D graphics for websites with Blender, then check out 3DNP (3D – No Plugins).
50/60′s styled toon contest
Guys at BlenderProjects.com chose a very original topic for their first contest which is being sponsored by directron.com, the challenge deals with toons in the style of 1950′s or 1960′s ones and focuses mainly on modeling and materials settings.