Category Archives: Books

Materials and Textures Cookbook – eBook Review

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Packt Publishing currently has a line of step by step books covering a large number of topics, the important thing about their cookbook series of books is that they are written in a similar way to recipe books, in that you are given step by step instructions on how to achieve a particular thing and then after the step by step has ended a description of why the recipe works is described.

  • Purchase: Online Store
  • Paperback: 312 Pages
  • Publisher: P a c k t Publishing 2011
  • Language: English
  • ISBN: 1849512884
  • Format: PDF
  • Size: 18 MB + 341 MB

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Mastering Blender

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Blender, the free alternative for professional-quality 3D animation is a complex program to learn, but once users become familiar with its power, they begin to seek more from it.  This book is the first of its kind to explore the more advanced features of Blender so that you can get the most out of the software. You’ll take your Blender skills to a whole new level with the featured in-depth coverage of intricate uses for Blender’s modeling, texturing, animation, and visual effects tools in a professional environment.

La 3D libre avec Blender

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The book is between a Blender-guide and a tutorials book. It aims at beginners, but as it is fully compliant to Blender 2.46, all the latest and hot topics of Blender are reviewed and explained, including the nodes, the softbodies, the fluid simulation etc. Obviously, the book is divided into chapters, reviewing almost everything (except the Game Engine and Python Scripting): the installations (for Win, Linux and Mac Os X) of Blender/Python/Yafray, the GUI and first steps in Blender, a first beginner’s project, a whole chapter on modeling, another one on lighting (including radiosity), a full length one on shading (materials, textures, material nodes editor), another on the basis of animation (animation along curves, working with IPO, Action Editor, particles animated/static, animating with Modifiers…), another one on advanced animations (softbodies, rigid bodies, fluid sim, animating with skeletons, NLA editor…), another one on rendering (Render layers, Composite node editor…). In the appendices,you can read an explanation of the bundled python scripts, a list of material indice, and much more.

Inspired 3D Short Film Production

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Covering every aspect of the short-film production pipeline, this book demonstrates each concept and technique through a combination of general theories, examples, exercises, case studies, and interviews with short-film directors and industry specialists. Full of amazing imagery and one-of-a-kind content (including a robust DVD filled with dozens of award-winning short films) it is a must-read book for current and future animated filmmakers.

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Blender Gamekit 2

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Second edition, Full Color!

Playing with 3D games technology

Blender is the first of the 3D packages to integrate a game engine as well as tools for editing game-logic and creating interactive animation. This book is the ultimate guide for artists interested in exploring this part of Blender.

This fully revised and updated second edition has been written with Blender 2.48, and covers all improvements for game creation thanks to the Open Game Yo Frankie! project.

The Blender GameKit starts with an extensive section for people who are new to 3D – explaining all basic concepts – or new to Blender; with a full introduction to the interface. Then it shows in step-by-step tutorials the fun of creating models, adding motion to them, and how to turn them into simple games. Experienced 3D artists will appreciate the more complex game demos, the character animation tutorials, the introduction to Python, a tutorial with the Frankie character, and the advanced reference section.

The CDROM contains several playable and editable Blender game demos, created by renowned artists from the Blender community. It also contains all the files needed for the tutorials and Blender V2.48, for all platforms.

Special discount for early orders! Book expected to ship December 15, 2008.

  • Full Color printed, 320 pages
  • Edited and updated by Carsten Wartmann
  • Design and DTP by Samo Korosec
  • Produced by Ton Roosendaal, Blender Foundation
  • Book revenues will be fully used to support Blender projects.

Essential Blender

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Second print, on heavy quality paper!

Essential Blender, the latest book from the Blender Foundation, is your official guide to learning the fundamentals of this open and free 3D software suite. The book can be used as a step-by-step guide for people new to Blender or new to the latest changes in Blender.
This book is the ideal companion for the previous 2.3 Blender guide.

Essential Blender will get you working with modeling, materials and texturing, lighting, particle systems, several kinds of animation, and rendering. In addition, there are chapters on the new mesh sculpting tools and the brilliant compositor. For users familiar with other 3D packages, there are separate indices that reference topics using your application’s terminology.

If you have been looking for a way to give yourself a solid foundation in the basic tools and techniques of Blender, Essential Blender is there for you!

The book editor, Roland Hess, is a professional writer and Blender user for almost a decade. He has brought together a team of the best writers and artists in the Blender community to help on creating this new standard Blender guide.

Among the authors are Colin Litster, Ryan Dale, Mathias Pedersen, Andrew Dolphin, Tom Musgrove, Modron and Kevin Braun. Design and dtp is by Sandra Gilbert.

  • Written using 2.43, and fully compatible with (current) 2.46 Blender
  • 376 pages B&W
  • Stitched binding, quality paper, full color cover
  • DVD Rom with all necessary files and demos