Comments on: Upcoming Book: Blender Basics

By: AnyMation

AnyMation — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 12:21:26 +0000

I also have the Blender 2.3 guide and used it quite a lot in the beginning. The one thing I found annoying as a beginner was the fact that the greyscale images (obviously) did not contain colour – and the colour in some of the diagrams sometimes matter – especially when you are a beginner.

I know colour printing would cost more, but can't one print at least some of the key diagrams in colour – without resorting to glossy paper? When I was unsure, I had to resort to the web (colour) diagrams.

Do owners of 2.3 manuals get discount on an upgrade to the new one? ;-)

By: unsettlingsilence

unsettlingsilence — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 16:49:54 +0000

Jim, being in education myself I totally understand.
As for this book, if I might make a suggestion, I like the concept Vidrazor set forth of a series leading to a completed project. However, I understand this would be a huge undertaking. Perhaps an easier theme for this book could be: "Creating a Portfolio".
As 3d people know part of the road to success is in creating a reusable portfolio of objects and materials. Simple objects like glasses and materials such as realistic metals and glass could help people gain a working understanding of blender, while the creation of say a nice looking fork could make for a simple tutorial to follow. Each simple object could be designed to cover another aspect of modeling. A person would end up with something reusable and a sense of accomplishment. Textures would be swappable and objects appendable to say a final dinner table scene, or something like that. A person could fail a tutorial without feeling like they can't do anything. Also, from the start there should be an emphasis on work flow since it is essential in completing a project in a timely manner without feeling lost. If I were creating a book all of these themes would be in every section: Usable and reusable interface setup, usable and reusable props and materials, and good work flow all contributive to an achievable goal. A solid understanding of the buttons window and menus are also important since it is easy to forget hot keys. This would be my beginning book.

By: Darktiger

Darktiger — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 22:05:44 +0000

The perfect combination would be to have a basics book similar to Jim C's book and a CDROM or DVD with Video Tutorials similar to Neal Hirsig's video tutorials at the Tufts University's site. Jim C's book is an excellent basics book that helped me learn a great deal about blender when starting out. Neal's tutorials are neat packets of information.

Jim C's
http://www.technology-education.org/blenderanimation/

Neal Hirsig's
http://ocw.tufts.edu/Content/28/supplementarymaterial/366743.

Once the basics are learned there should be an advanced blender book or an advanced section to the basics book that delves into topics such as fluids, compositing, advanced mesh modeling (the face and ear tutorial from Jonathan Williamson aka Mr_Bomb) and on and on…

By: CKA

CKA — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 17:41:20 +0000

harkyman (roland):
i really like the idea of a "dictionary" for other 3D apps users coming from 3DS, maya or lightwave b/c i know of people in my circle who are using those programs. it would help me translate their technical lingo to blender.

i agree with samtheeagle to design the book in a way that it stays open when used as a reference. maybe there's a possibility to split the book in several volumes???

are you guys planning on an alternative to the printed version like a downloadable one (eg. in PDF format) although it might be a huge download? or how about a handbook on CD? it would probably be much cheaper anyway aside from saving trees, saving postage, and what not. i personally would definitely purchase either one. another advantage, i could print out only the sections that i would be learning from and could add my own scribblings without feeling guilty of ruining a nice handbook.

CKA

By: gri3fon

gri3fon — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 05:55:00 +0000

Sounds great, hopefully the content new guide will be different, not like the 2.3 guide, some of the content are could be found from manual reference.
- some update tutorial would be nice esp on the key…
nyway. all the best!!!

By: JimC

JimC — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 03:15:31 +0000

Unsettlingsilence:

Thanks for the kind words. I wouldn't mind providing some input, but I don't think I could do much right now. Too busy with big class projects, too much to do in my workshop till Christmas, and after the holidays, I'm starting to work on my National Board Teacher Certification. That will be like going back for a masters degree while keeping my family happy :-)

Haven't been contacted about it anyways, so I'm sure it's all under control….

By: FromTheDark

FromTheDark — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 02:23:16 +0000

Harkyman, that sounds great and I for one hope you can pull that off! Once the rest of the '3D' world really gets a good face-to-face with Blender, get ready for the flood.

Eric

By: Vidrazor

Vidrazor — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 02:18:17 +0000

For some reason my post above was lost in space, most annoying!

Unsettlingsilence, I had suggested something like this to Roland in an email suggestion for the book. I considered perhaps creating 3 volumes (not necessarily bu him), beginner, intermediate, and advance. I suggested that his, and the suggested other volumes, should perhaps better serve users if they were PROJECT books, each containing a complete project from start to finish, showing how to use blender in a "real-world" scenario, as opposed to having a series of disparate tutorials. For instance, in the advanced version of such a book, Elephants Dream could be used as the project. I believe this might be a better approach to learning blender, as it focus on creating a cohesive understanding of blender's toolset.

Unfortunately due to the nature of his resources this approach is a not a viable one for th eproduction of this book. This is understandable, and I wish him and his contributers the best inthe creation of this book.

By: vidrazor

vidrazor — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 01:53:19 +0000

>>Maybe, if demand is high, after this book there could be a “Blender Advanced” book, or series of specialized books.

By: Tofystedeth

Tofystedeth — Sat, 18 Nov 2006 21:22:15 +0000

Oh, good to hear about the editing Harky. I was gonna donate my time to proofreading after having been irritated at the errors in the last one. It's all I could donate, since I am a poor newb at Blender, but am a good proofreader. However, seems like you have things well in hand. I'll definitely be getting one of these to hopefully become at least mediocre.