Preface
Blender has a long history in the computer graphics industry, but has not always been associated with quality content or ease of use. If you do a quick survey about the software among artists, you would get mixed opinions, with some criticism being aimed at the user interface. People would say it is hard to use or is missing powerful features.
In the last five years, the software has received significant updates on various tools, especially in the user interface. Blender has now been reborn with a brand new batch of software, features that match some multi-million-dollar tools on the market, and an interface that has improved usability.
And all that at no cost! In the era of subscription-based software, Blender is still free and open source. You can download the software at no cost and use it on as many computers as you want.
In this book, you will find a quick introduction to most of the new features of Blender 2.8, such as the fantastic real-time render engine Eevee and the revamped user interface.
Who this book is for
Digital artists or hobbyists who are looking to use Blender as a tool to create realistic 3D graphics for animation, video, games, or printed media would benefit from this book. The objective of this book is to give a quick explanation of the core concepts and mechanics of Blender.
With a sound knowledge of these topics, you will quickly be able to produce 3D content with Blender.
What this book covers
Chapter 1, Using Blender 2.8 UI, Shading and Navigator Widget, will start with the brand new user interface of Blender and some of the most acclaimed features, such as the new shading system. You will also find instructions on how to manipulate windows and do some 3D navigation.
Chapter 2, 3D Modeling and Real-Time Rendering in Eevee, gives you the tools needed to create 3D models based on polygons. After creating some models, we will dive into rendering with the new options present in Blender 2.8.
Chapter 3, The New 3D Cursor and Modeling Options, shows how you can use a unique tool from Blender called 3D Cursor. At first, you might find it strange, but after a few minutes, you will find it an impressive productivity tool for 3D modeling. Besides the cursor, you will also learn about additional tools, such as modifiers.
Chapter 4, Using Real-Time Materials in Eevee, adds a layer of realism to your work by creating materials for your scenes. After learning how to craft materials, you will get to develop surfaces such as glass and plastic.
Chapter 5, Real-Time Textures for Eevee, will raise the quality of your materials one step further. Better yet, a full staircase further! You will learn how to assign image-based textures to materials to craft what's known as PBR materials.
Chapter 6, Lights and Real-Time Rendering with Blender Eevee, gives you a better explanation of how to make use of the options for Eevee. The real-time engine in Blender 2.8 will provide you with better results through the use of environment textures and some post-processing effects.
Chapter 7, Animate Everything in Blender 2.8!, brings you all the tools that are necessary for creating animations with Blender. After you learn how to use interpolation-based animations in Blender, you will find it rather easy to start new projects and make small videos.
Chapter 8, Editing Animations in Blender 2.8, shows you some of the options for editing and changing the behavior of animations in Blender, such as setting a specific timing for a motion and creating animation loops.
To get the most out of this book
Before getting started, the following are stipulated as requirements:
- Download Blender from the Blender Foundation website: https://www.blender.org
- Get yourself a computer with a mouse
- That's it! You don't need any prior experience with Blender! We will start from scratch
Download the example code files
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The code bundle for the book is also hosted on GitHub at https://github.com/PacktPublishing/Blender-Quick-Start-Guide. In case there's an update to the code, it will be updated on the existing GitHub repository.
We also have other code bundles from our rich catalog of books and videos available at https://github.com/PacktPublishing/. Check them out!
Download the color images
We also provide a PDF file that has color images of the screenshots/diagrams used in this book. You can download it here: http://www.packtpub.com/sites/default/files/downloads/9781789619478_ColorImages.pdf.
Conventions used
There are a number of text conventions used throughout this book.
CodeInText: Indicates code words in text, database table names, folder names, filenames, file extensions, pathnames, dummy URLs, user input, and Twitter handles. Here is an example: "On your keyboard, type 0.2 as a value and press Enter."
Bold: Indicates a new term, an important word, or words that you see on screen. For example, words in menus or dialog boxes appear in the text like this. Here is an example: "Once you change to Edit Mode, you will see a few different options in the 3D view."
Note
Warnings or important notes appear like this.
Note
Tips and tricks appear like this.
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