We continue the journey through the Blender Summer of Documentation with the Introduction to Materials by material master Colin Litster.
From the wiki:
Materials and textures are one of the most important tools in any 3D package. A superb mesh object will still look like a grey plastic toy without good textures. Yet materials and textures can be one of the most challenging aspects of the design process. Blender like many other comprehensive 3D suites has a vast array of tools that can help you create virtually any material either in reality or beyond. However, to the Blender beginner it can appear overwhelming. This documentation is designed to take you rapidly from no, or little knowledge, to the point where you can confidently create materials to your needs.
This is a fantastic overview that really helps getting started. It covers a great deal of basics from shader descriptions to texture mapping to strand (hair/grass) materials, and so much more. If you are new to materials or are looking for tricks you might have missed, this documentation is for you!
13 Comments
I read through this tutorial, and picked up a few tricks myself. This is extensive and excellent work.
that was the most awesome tutorial yet
Both Tut´s are great, good presented and good for "step by step following and see the result" work !
is the second part finished, with the lavafall? I was blocked where I must assign materials to each mesh, because there aren't indications about what get which material?
Beside that, this tutorial is good but unfinished. I think the intro to animation from Ryan Dale is better and easier to follow.
I wouldn't be surprized if a bunch of Maya, 3dsMax, or whatever else people use these for begining their trip into 3Ddom.
@Henrymop: Why shouldnt they stick with blender?
I cant make materials thus I download them as much as I can. This is the better solving. Many thanks!!!
Oooh, I can't wait to check this out when I get home.
Awesome. I took the liberty of converting it to a pdf. Easier to print all at once that way. It is a little messy. I hope this was o.k for me to do this.
the link is:
http://www.leifsweb.com/pdfs/BSoD_Intro_to_Materials.pdf
The file is 6.8 mbs, and 144 pages long.
Thanks.
Wow I like this. I really needed something like these.
My only question is about the layout thing, my Blender doesn't have any preset layout selection. All there is when I click the dropdown menu is scene. And nothing else. How do I get these preset ui layouts?
@Isaiah
Preset layouts are the drop down to the left of the scene drop down.
i still remember and recently re-discovered the banana material (one colorband material with one spots tex) that is so simple, but so darn convincing I am still awed at its elegant simplicity. Good job!
Hi all,
Thank you all for your kind comments and I am pleased that my BSoD Introduction to Blender Materials and Textures is finding some use.
Just to let you all know I will be at the Blender Conference, 20-22 October, at the De Wagg Building in Amsterdam. There I shall be providing a workshop on NODES which is a next level to my introduction to materials under BSoD 2006.
As an enticement to get you to come along I will be giving away some unique FLASH cards as an aid to learning NODE use. See you there. See my website for details including a small nuclear explosion.
http://www.cogfilms.com
Colin (Cog)
Hi again,
MADCello has kindly converted my BSoD Introduction to Materials and Procedural Textures to Acrobat (PDF) and Open Office (ODT) format. I have mounted these on my website together with all the associated files for those who prefer reading documentaion on the train or away from a computer.
You will find the links by going to mywebsite at http://www.cogfilms.com.
Enjoy.
Cog