BlenderNation

Advertisement

You're blocking ads, which pay for BlenderNation. Read about other ways to support us.

Book: Introduction to Character Development in Blender 2.5 - Now Shipping!

19
By on Books

Jonathan Williamson's new book 'Introduction to Character Development' is now available.

The blurb:

Written for everyone from beginning Blender artists to experienced animators and game developers, CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT IN BLENDER 2.5 shows readers how to model believable characters using Blender, a free, open source 3d animation package. Covering the technical, artistic, and theoretical aspects of character development, the book provides an in-depth look at Blender's modeling tools and includes information on modeling, sculpting, materials, lighting, rendering, and more. Written in a tutorial style with step-by-step instructions the book also includes an accompanying CD-Rom that features the Blender 2.5 software and sample art.

Jonathan writes:

My new book, Introduction to Character Development in Blender 2.5 has just started shipping! The book is meant to give a solid introduction to both Blender and the whole character modeling process. Some of the topics covered include: Blender basics, character modeling, sculpting, retopology, UV uwnrapping, normal map baking, and more.

The book is available directly from Blender Cookie or from Amazon.

Table of contents:

PART I: MAKING YOUR WAY AROUND BLENDER 2.5.

1. The Interface and Navigation.
2. Objects.
3. Customizing Blender.

PART II: GETTING COMFORTABLE WITH MESHES.

4. Mesh Objects.
5. Modifiers.
6. Sculpting.

PART III: MODELING THE CHARACTER.

7. Blocking Out the Form with Box Modeling.
8. Refining the Mesh with Poly-by-poly Modeling.

PART IV: UV MAPPING THE CHARACTER.

9. UV Maps.

PART V: ADDING COLOR WITH MATERIALS AND TEXTURES.

10. MATERIALS.
11. Textures. P

ART VI: LIGHTING AND RENDERING THE CHARACTER.

12. Lighting.
13. Rendering.

 

About the Author

Avatar image for Bart Veldhuizen
Bart Veldhuizen

I have a LONG history with Blender - I wrote some of the earliest Blender tutorials, worked for Not a Number and helped run the crowdfunding campaign that open sourced Blender (the first one on the internet!). I founded BlenderNation in 2006 and have been editing it every single day since then ;-) I also run the Blender Artists forum and I'm Head of Community at Sketchfab.

19 Comments

  6. AnimaticoideX on

    Sounds interesting, I wonder if there is any FREE chapter (PDF) or something to really see what kind of characters you are designing. Does it include monsters and beasts? How many examples do you provide? Caricature style? or realistic ones? or both? That would be very good information before investing some money.

    Reply
  9. Drew on

    So glad that written documentation hasn't taken the wayside to video.

    This would definitely fill a couple gaps in the process.

    2.5 Rigging would be a seller though. That could be its own book right there...

    Reply
  10. filip on

    I am looking for a buddy in Flanders (Mechelen). They are still scarcer than books. I am still wrestling through the book for dummies. I have all the time because of a
    broken finger.

    Reply
  11. Jimmy Gunawan on

    This is a great Blender book. I already read through it, great for artist who wanted to understand the production from character concept, to modeling, to texturing.

    Reply
  13. CorsairX on

    Looks like an interesting book and I'll be picking it up at some point.

    That said, there's been a proliferation of character modelling training (this book, Blenderella, BlenderCookies 2010 training series and so on) so I think the modelling side is pretty well covered - some rigging training for 2.5x wouldn't be bad :)

    I think CGMasters are the only ones with something in the wind at the moment.

    Reply
  16. Marimba on

    Virgilio Vascocelos's book Blender 2.5 Character Animation Cookbook from Packt publishing has some rigging in it. It is a great complement to Jonathan's book.

    Reply

Leave A Reply

To add a profile picture to your message, register your email address with Gravatar.com. To protect your email address, create an account on BlenderNation and log in when posting a message.

Advertisement

×