For Dummies Blender, 2nd Edition 978-0-470-58446-0 User Manual
Product codes
978-0-470-58446-0
13
Chapter 1: Discovering Blender
And even as I wrote parts of this second edition of Blender For Dummies,
artists at the Blender Institute were finishing up the latest open project,
Project Durian. (A durian is a smelly Asian fruit with an exotic taste.) Durian
is another short movie project, named Sintel, with the lofty goals of making
Blender 2.5 production ready and adding features for epic scenes, including
highly detailed sculpting, large environments, and highly detailed, high-reso-
lution renders. You can see the film and access all the Durian project files at
www.sintel.org
artists at the Blender Institute were finishing up the latest open project,
Project Durian. (A durian is a smelly Asian fruit with an exotic taste.) Durian
is another short movie project, named Sintel, with the lofty goals of making
Blender 2.5 production ready and adding features for epic scenes, including
highly detailed sculpting, large environments, and highly detailed, high-reso-
lution renders. You can see the film and access all the Durian project files at
www.sintel.org
. I’ve also included a copy of Sintel on the book’s compan-
ion DVD, and the color insert of this book has still images from a few of the
open movie projects.
open movie projects.
All these projects continue to exhibit the strength of the Blender community.
Each of them are financed in a large part by DVD presales from users who
understand that regardless of the project’s final product, great improvements
to Blender are the result, and everyone benefits from that.
Each of them are financed in a large part by DVD presales from users who
understand that regardless of the project’s final product, great improvements
to Blender are the result, and everyone benefits from that.
Getting to Know the Interface
Probably one of the most daunting aspects of Blender for newcomers and
longtime 3D professionals alike has been its unique and somewhat peculiar
interface. It’s arguably the most controversial feature Blender has. In fact, at
one time, merely calling the interface a feature would raise the blood pres-
sure of some of you who tried using Blender in the past, but gave up in frus-
tration when it did not behave as expected.
longtime 3D professionals alike has been its unique and somewhat peculiar
interface. It’s arguably the most controversial feature Blender has. In fact, at
one time, merely calling the interface a feature would raise the blood pres-
sure of some of you who tried using Blender in the past, but gave up in frus-
tration when it did not behave as expected.
Although the interface wasn’t the primary focus, the interface updates to
Blender added in the 2.5 series of releases have made great strides toward
alleviating that frustration. As a small example, when you first launch
Blender, the splash image that appears is more functional now, providing you
with quick links to online documentation as well as a list of recently opened
files. Figure 1-2 shows the splash image you’re presented with when you start
Blender for the first time.
Blender added in the 2.5 series of releases have made great strides toward
alleviating that frustration. As a small example, when you first launch
Blender, the splash image that appears is more functional now, providing you
with quick links to online documentation as well as a list of recently opened
files. Figure 1-2 shows the splash image you’re presented with when you start
Blender for the first time.
If you click anywhere other than the links provided by the splash image, the
splash image goes away, and you’re greeted with Blender’s default scene, as
shown in Figure 1-3. If you’re looking at the interface for the first time, you
may think it appears pretty daunting. However, the purpose of this book is to
help you get the hang of Blender, explaining some of the design decisions in
the interface and ultimately allowing you to be productive. Who knows, you
might even start to like it and wonder why other programs don’t work this way!
splash image goes away, and you’re greeted with Blender’s default scene, as
shown in Figure 1-3. If you’re looking at the interface for the first time, you
may think it appears pretty daunting. However, the purpose of this book is to
help you get the hang of Blender, explaining some of the design decisions in
the interface and ultimately allowing you to be productive. Who knows, you
might even start to like it and wonder why other programs don’t work this way!
05_9780470584460-ch01.indd 13
05_9780470584460-ch01.indd 13
3/24/11 11:12 AM
3/24/11 11:12 AM