Blender 3D: Characters, Machines, and Scenes for Artists

Gain the insights and techniques you need to give life to your own custom characters, machines, and scenes in Blender 3D

About This Book

• Learn how to establish the basic shape of a character on the basis of templates, and take it to completion using the tools available in Blender
• Develop realistic and awesome machines for your 3D projects and animation films
• Discover advanced techniques by adding fur to a character, creating a grass field, and fine-tuning a shot with post-processing effects to enhance your creations

Who This Book Is For

This learning path is for those who know the basics of Blender and have hands-on experience with the software. We will directly dive into creating characters first. If you wish to use Blender to create games, animated films, and architecture simulations, this learning path will benefit you.

What You Will Learn

• Use your sculpting skills to carve the character features from the mesh
• Find the best possible flow for your edge-loops to enhance the character features and to get the best possible range of deformation
• Mix both the Blender Internal and Cycles rendering engines in order to render materials as quickly as possible
• Know when and where to use various types of geometry—something that saves time in one instance will pose significant problems in another
• Create a 3D robot toy model from start to finish using the basic modeling tools of Blender
• Make a full alien character using the skin mesh modifier and the sculpting tools with an artistic approach
• Use re-topology techniques to create a clean 3D version of the previously sculpted alien
• Model a full haunted house and its environment using more advanced modeling tools and techniques such as the Array Modifier, Instance duplication, and Curves

In Detail

Blender 3D is one of the top 3D animation software available. As the Blender software grows more powerful and popular, there is a demand to take your modeling skills to the next level.

This learning path is divided into three modules that will take you on this incredible journey of creating games.

The first module will take you on a journey to understand the workflow normally used to create characters, from the modeling to the rendering stages, using the tools of the last official release of Blender exclusively. You will be making production-quality 3D models and characters quickly and efficiently, which will be ready to be added to your very own animated feature or game.

The second module will help you develop a comprehensive skill set that covers the key aspects of mechanical modeling. You will create many types of projects, including a pistol, spacecraft, robot, and a racer. By the end of this module, you will have mastered a workflow that you will be able to apply to your own creations.

The final module will help you to create many types of projects using a step-by-step approach. Each project in this module will give you more practice and increase your knowledge of the Blender tools and game engine.

This learning path combines some of the best that Packt has to offer in one complete, curated package. It includes content from the following Packt products:

• Blender 3D Cookbook, Second Edition by Enrico Valenza
• Blender 3D Incredible Machines, Second Edition by Christopher Kuhn
• Blender 3D By Example by Romain Caudron and Pierre-Armand Nicq

Style and approach

This easy-to-follow course will teach you how to create complex 3D characters, create incredible machines, and put them together to create a 3D scene. Each topic is explained sequentially in the process of creating various models, and includes detailed explanations of the basic and advanced features.

Table of Contents

Part 1. Module 1
Chapter 1. Modeling the Character’s Base Mesh
Chapter 2. Sculpting the Character’s Base Mesh
Chapter 3. Polygonal Modeling of the Character’s Accessories
Chapter 4. Re-topology of the High Resolution Sculpted Character’s Mesh
Chapter 5. Unwrapping the Low Resolution Mesh
Chapter 6. Rigging the Low Resolution Mesh
Chapter 7. Skinning the Low Resolution Mesh
Chapter 8. Finalizing the Model
Chapter 9. Animating the Character
Chapter 10. Creating the Textures
Chapter 11. Refining the Textures
Chapter 12. Creating the Materials in Cycles
Chapter 13. Creating the Materials in Blender Internal
Chapter 14. Lighting, Rendering, and a Little Bit of Compositing
Part 2. Module 2
Chapter 1. Sci-Fi Pistol – Creating the Basic Shapes
Chapter 2. Sci-Fi Pistol – Adding Details
Chapter 3. Texturing and Rendering Your Sci-Fi Pistol
Chapter 4. Spacecraft – Creating the Basic Shapes
Chapter 5. Spacecraft – Adding Details
Chapter 6. Spacecraft – Materials, Textures, and Rendering
Chapter 7. Modeling Your Freestyle Robot
Chapter 8. Robot – Freestyle Rendering
Chapter 9. Low-Poly Racer – Building the Mesh
Chapter 10. Low-Poly Racer – Materials and Textures
Appendix 1. All About Packt
Part 3. Module 3
Chapter 1. Robot Toy – Modeling of an Object
Chapter 2. Alien Character – Base Mesh Creation and Sculpting
Chapter 3. Alien Character – Creating a Proper Topology and Transferring the Sculpt Details
Chapter 4. Haunted House – Modeling of the Scene
Chapter 5. Haunted House – Putting Colors on It
Chapter 6. Haunted House – Adding Materials and Lights in Cycles
Chapter 7. Rat Cowboy – Learning To Rig a Character for Animation
Chapter 8. Rat Cowboy – Animate a Full Sequence
Chapter 9. Rat Cowboy – Rendering, Compositing, and Editing
Appendix A. Bibliography