Skills based tutorial sequence 2/4/04

Last Edit: 2/04/04

Welcome to the Blender skills based tutorial sequence.

This post is aimed at establishing a skills based tutorial sequence for people new to Blender (AKA newbs). It is a work in progress and may contain mistakes.

The tutorial sequence:

>>Topic One: Navigation<<

  1. Moving around a 3D environment (Done)
  2. Using the view tab (Done)
  3. Rotating your views (Done)
  4. Centring your scene
  5. Maximising minimising your windows
  6. Changing your windows

>>Topic Two: Accessing your Objects<<

  1. Adding objects (Done)
  2. Selecting objects (Done)
  3. Moving objects to different layers (Done)
  4. Appending objects (Done)
  5. Importing objects made with other software packages (Done)

>>Topic Three: Transforming your objects<<

  1. Translating objects (Done)
  2. Rotating objects (Done)
  3. Scaling objects (Done)
  4. Flipping (reflecting in any given axis) objects (Done)

>>Topic Four: Manipulating Objects<<

  1. Objects: A definition (Next)
  2. Naming Objects
  3. Separating meshes into new objects
  4. Joining mesh objects together
  5. Duplicating objects
  6. Linking objects
  7. Parenting objects
  8. Object Hierarchy

>>Topic Five: Edit Mode<<

  1. Selecting vertices
  2. Extruding vertices
  3. Translating, rotating and scaling vertices
  4. Cleaning up your meshes for the game engine
    [Unfinished]

>>Topic Six: Interpolation curves (Ipos)<<
[Unfinished]

>>Topic Seven: UV mapping (texturing your mesh)<<
[Unfinished]

>>Topic Eight: The Real Time interface<<

  1. Connecting logic bricks
  2. Sensors Part I: ‘always’ sensor, ‘keyboard’ sensor and ‘mouse’ sensor
  3. Controllers Part I: ‘AND’ controller and the ‘OR’ controller
  4. Actuators Part I: ‘Motion’ actuator and the ‘IPO’ actuator
  5. Making an object Dynamic
  6. Setting up simple player controls
    7)Camera settings
    [Unfinished]

>>Topic Nine: Character animation – rigging up armatures<<
[Unfinished]

>>Topic Ten: Lighting and World settings<<
[Unfinished]

>>Topic Eleven: Python scripting<<
[Unfinished]

>>Topic Twelve: Gaming Philosophy / Strategy<<
[Unfinished]

>>Topic Thirteen: Commercialising your games<<
[Unfinished]

Conventions used:
LMB = left mouse button, MMB = middle mouse button, RMB = rhythm ‘m’ blues.
The tutorial sequence is structured into topics then tutorials. T2/t1 means Topic 2/tutorial 1.

THE BLENDER SKILLS BASED TUTORIAL SEQUENCE

>>TOPIC ONE NAVIGATION<<

Tutorial 1: Moving around in a 3d environment

  1. Open blender (you are using version 2.25 aren’t you?)

  2. You will see a square plane in the centre of your screen. Its pink. You can also see a triangle below it (it’s your camera)

  3. You are currently in top view. You can zoom in/out by holding Ctrl, your MMB (middle mouse button) and moving the mouse.

  4. You can move across your scene (translation) by holding shift/MMB and moving your mouse.

  5. You can 3D rotate your scene by holding MMB and moving your mouse.

(author: u_do_u_r)

Tutorial 2 “Using the view tab”

  1. Click the view tab and it will give you a range of view options. Watch what happens to your view when you select front.

  2. Use view tab to go back to top view.

  3. To get the bottom view open the view tab hold Ctrl and select top. (Notice that the camera (triangle shape) is now on the other side when compared with top view).

  4. Use view tab to see what the view looks like from your camera (triangle shape).

  5. By holding Ctrl and clicking on the view options you get the opposite (ie right -> left etc)

(author: u_do_u_r)

Tutorial 3 “Rotating your views”

  1. Click view tab then select front. Notice in your bottom left corner that you can see what axis you’re looking at, pink is x, blue is z and green is y (you shouldn’t see the y axis if your in front view). Now try pushing the number 4 while in front view and the scene will rotate about the z axis (this is very handy later on for when you are texturing your meshes)

  2. Try pushing the other numbers to see their effect. Notice that the number 5 toggles between perspective modes (you’ll see the effect better in top view). The numbers I use the most are ‘5’ (toggles perspectives) , ‘0’ for camera view, ‘1’ for front, ‘3’ for right, and ‘7’ for top view.

  3. Note that the ‘c’ key will centre your 3D window to wherever your cursor is - handy if you get lost. Try it. Move your cursor (LMB) then push ‘c’ key.

  4. You should now be able to navigate in 3D space quite well. If ever you get lost try clicking on the house icon - although this doesn’t always help. If you have a complex scene and you only want to see the object you’ve selected then push the ‘LocalView’ button (or ‘’ key) on the 3D menu bar and select the top box (very handy). Note that in this mode if you rotate your scene (MMB/move mouse) the centre of the object (pink dot) acts as the centre of rotation (very nice indeed). People often shift objects to other layers to work on them but that’s not always necessary if you use the LocalView button (.Topic two, tutorial 3 covers moving objects from one layer to another)

(author: u_do_u_r)

>>TOPIC TWO ACCESSING YOUR OBJECTS<<

Tutorial 1 “Adding objects”

When adding an object (mesh in this case) its important to add it to the place you want (although it can always be shifted later of course).

  1. Open blender. Click LMB (left mouse button) anywhere in the 3D screen (the screen where you can see the grid line and your meshes). Notice that the cursor (red/white circle) moves to where you clicked. The object is always added to where ever the cursor is.

  2. Click the add tab and select (click on) ‘mesh’, then select a mesh (eg plane, cube, circle etc) Note that the mesh appears where the cursor is. Note also that you can see yellow dots at the corners of your mesh. These are called vertices. You can edit these (rotate, scale etc), when you can see the yellow vertices you are said to be in EDIT mode.

  3. Now push ‘tab’ key and your mesh will change from edit mode to ‘mesh selected’ mode (pink) you can now no longer see the vertices.

  4. Note that in the centre of your newly added mesh is a pink dot, this is the geometric ‘centre’ of your mesh. It is the point where your mesh is rotated or scaled from (although you can change the centre of rotation or scaling -more on that later).

  5. Sometimes when you add a mesh you want to do it so that its centre is in the exact same place as another mesh. Move your mouse arrow over to the plane in the centre of the scene and click RMB. The plane will change from black (unselected) to pink (selected). Hold shift then push ‘s’ key. This will pop up a menu, click on curs -> sel (sel stands for selected object). Note that your cursor has snapped to where the selected objects centre is. Add a new shape (maybe a circle). Note that the circles centre is exactly where the planes centre is (nice).

  6. Sometimes when you add a mesh you want to do it so that its centre is exactly on an x,y,z grid intersection. LMB anywhere in your screen. Note that your cursor is not aligned at an x,y,z grid intersection. (If you add an object now then its centre won’t be aligned either). Hold shift and push ‘s’ key. In the menu box that pops up select curs -> grid. Guess what, your cursor is now snapped to the nearest x,y,z intersection. If you add a mesh now then (you guessed it) your meshes centre will also be aligned at the same x,y,z intersection. While this seems trivial now, these skills are essential to good mesh building.

(author: u_do_u_r)

Tutorial 2 " Selecting objects "

  1. Open blender

  2. Move your cursor away from the plane with a LMB click

  3. Add a circle, Blender will ask you if you want your circle to have 32 vertices, just click OK.

  4. When you add the circle it is added in edit mode (you can see the yellow vertices). Click ‘tab’ key to get out of edit mode. The circle turns pink.

  5. At the moment the circle is pink and is therefore said to be selected (if you tell blender to do a transformation like scaling or rotating it will only do it to the selected mesh). Place your mouse arrow over the square. Click RMB and it will become selected (pink) and the circle will become black indicating that it is not selected.

  6. It is possible to select (make pink) more than one object at a time. RMB click your square to make it selected. Now hold shift and RMB click your circle, it will turn pink too. Try to select your camera as well so that all objects in your scene are selected. If you look carefully at each object one will be a brighter pink than the others – that’s the last object you selected.

  7. Holding ‘shift’ key, RMB click on the circle. It will become a brighter pink than the other selected (pink) objects. Blender ‘loads’ (this idea will be explained later) the object data of only the brightest pink object. This may have little meaning for you now but is very important (you’ll see).

  8. To deselect objects just hold shift and RMB click twice. The object will turn black (deselected).

  9. Another way to select more than one object is to use the ‘Border select’ tool. RMB your square (don’t hold shift), now only the square is selected. Push ‘b’ key (b = border select tool) and the mouse arrow turns into a cross-hair. Position your cross-hair in the top left corner. Hold LMB click and drag the cross-hair to the bottom right corner. When you release the LMB all your objects should now be pink (selected) provided that they were all visible in your 3D window.

(author: u_do_u_r)

Tutorial 3 " Moving objects to different layers "

  1. Most Blender games are made of layers. Layers allow the game designer to build complex games with lots of meshes. Because working on lots of meshes can be quite confusing it is often useful to move some meshes to other layers. The meshes in layers that are turned off can not be seen. By choosing which layers are turned on you can work on your meshes in an uncluttered manner. (Meshes are moved to different layers for other reasons too – we’ll look at this later)

  2. Open blender, add a circle, take the circle out of edit mode (push ‘tab’ key).

  3. The circle is now pink (selected).

  4. Select the default square (RMB) and push ‘m’ key. A popup box with 20 unmarked buttons appears. The first button on the left is currently depressed. Select the second button from the left and push OK. The square should disappear. You have moved it to layer two.

  5. As you’ve probably guessed Blender has 20 layers that you can move objects to. Now lets shift your 3D window to layer two, click on the second layer button (you will find layer buttons next to the home icon). The 3D window should move to layer two. The circle has gone (it’s still in layer one with the triangular shaped camera) and you can now see the square.

Revision: Go back to layer one by clicking on the first layer button. Now Try to move the circle to layer two as well. Then double check to see that its there. Then do the same thing with your camera.

(author: u_do_u_r)

Tutorial 4 " Appending objects "

When game developers make a new game they often reuse objects made in older games. It is possible to import old objects (such as meshes, ipos, actions, scripts or even whole scenes etc) into a new Blender game.

  1. After opening Blender move your cursor away from the default plane. Lock the cursor to the nearest x,y,z intersection (hold shift/‘s’ key then select 'curs -> grid)

  2. Add a circle (‘add’ tab then ‘mesh’ then ‘circle’). The circle appears where your cursor is (with 32 vertices).

  3. You can see the yellow vertices on the circle, push ‘tab’ key to get out of edit mode and into object select mode (pink).

  4. We are now going to name your circle object. (There is much confusion about naming objects - we will look at naming objects, meshes, ipos etc soon). Push ‘F9’ key, this opens up the edit window below. You can also open the edit window by pushing on the button that has the square which looks like its in edit mode.

  5. To the right of your screen you’ll see a button that says “OB:Circle”. Blender names each object you add. Its better, however, that you devise your own names. Click on this button, it indents and you will see a red cursor. (It is worth mentioning at this point that the ‘del’ (delete) key doesn’t work on buttons, only the ‘Backspace’ key). Delete the word “Circle” by pushing ‘Backspace’ key. Now add your own name, I’ll call mine “append_this_circle” (note I didn’t use speech marks in the name)

  6. Now save your work by selecting ‘file’ tab then ‘save as’. Name your file as ‘append_from_me’. (Make sure you remember where you saved it)

  7. Select ‘file’ tab then ‘new’. This erases your work and starts a new Blend (its like you ended Blender then restarted it).

  8. Now select ‘file’ tab and then ‘append’. A window opens displaying folders, if you scroll down you might see your “append_from_me” file that you saved earlier. If not then you must have saved your file somewhere else. Use the ‘-’ button (top left) to goto your root directory and then simply move to the directory where you saved your file by opening the appropriate folders.

  9. Once you’ve found the “append_from_me” file you’ll see that it’s white. Click on the “append_from_me” file and Blender will take you ‘inside’ this file. You’ll now see white folders for the different objects that make up the “append_from_me” blend. Click on the ‘Object’ file.

  10. Inside the ‘object’ file you should see your circle object that you named (I called mine “append_this_circle” ). LMB click on it and it will be displayed in the field near the top of the window. Click ‘Load library’ button and the circle object will be appended to the Blend you are currently working in.

  11. You’ve now appended (imported) your first object.

Revision: Open up your old “append_from_me” blend and add some more objects. Name them and then apend them to a new blend. Note that when selecting objects to append you can chose more than one by RMB clicking on each desired object. They will turn blue. When you’ve finished click on the ‘Load Library’ button and they’ll all be appended at once (nice). If you have any problems let us know in the forum.

Tutorial 5 " Importing objects made with other software packages "

Although it’s always good practice to make your own meshes, it’s often useful to study the work of others. Blender is an excellent tool for making meshes, but obviously not everyone uses Blender. You can import meshes (and other data) from other 3D design programs by changing them to the .dxf format which Blender can open. Note that if you intend using any meshes you didn’t make yourself in your game you should seek permission first, and always acknowledge other peoples contributions in your game when you publish.

  1. Download a 3D conversion program. The ‘Blender Tools’ post at the top of this forum has a list of these. I use quick3D from http://www.quick3d.com/ (it’s free and changes most formats)

  2. Download some meshes, again there are some good site lists in the posts at the top of this forum. I’ve downloaded quite a bit from fantastic arts (although you need to be an ‘emule’ client – a free service).

  3. Open your 3D viewer (eg quick3D) and convert your mesh to the dxf format. Save in a location you’ll remember.

  4. Open Blender, click on ‘file’ tab. Select ‘open’. Move to the file you saved your .dxf mesh in. Click on the .dxf mesh you saved and it will be loaded into your 3D window. You may have to zoom (hold Ctrl/MMB) in or out to get a good look at your imported mesh.

  5. Note that sometimes your mesh will be made of tens of thousands of vertices – too much for the game engine. You can reduce this number, we’ll look at how to do this in “Topic five: Edit mode”.

  6. Sometimes other data (such as material data) is also imported with the mesh. It depends on the original format of your mesh and the program you used to convert it.

>>TOPIC THREE: TRANSFORMING YOUR OBJECTS<<

Object transformation relates to translation (moving), rotation, scaling, and reflecting (flipping).

Tutorial 1 " Translating objects "

When translating (moving) an object you need to be aware of what view you are in. If in top view you can only move your object in the x and y directions. In front view only the z and x, and in right view only the y and z. If you 3D rotate your view (MMB) and then translate, you’ll move the object in all three axis - not normally a good way to do things.

  1. Open Blender and select the plane (RMB). Push ‘G’ key (G = grab).

  2. The plane turns white and you can now translate it (move it) by moving your mouse. Press LMB when you’ve moved the mesh to where you want it.

  3. Push “G” key again, to undo the grab mode push RMB. This is true for all object transformations - RMB will undo the transformation mode (ie rotation, scaling, translation).

  4. Push ‘G’ key. Begin moving your mouse horizontally and push the MMB while carrying out the movement. If you did it correctly you have now constrained the mesh movement to a horizontal motion. Press RMB.

  5. ) Push ‘G’ key. Begin moving your mouse vertically and push the MMB while carrying out the movement. If you did it correctly you have now constrained the mesh movement to a vertical motion. Press RMB.

  6. Push ‘G’ key. Begin moving your mouse while holding ‘Ctrl’ key. You have now constrained the mesh so that it only moves one grid unit at a time. Press RMB.

  7. Push ‘G’ key. Begin moving your mouse while holding ‘Shift’ key. You have now reduced how far your mesh moves relative to the mouse movement. This is great for fine tuning the movement of your mesh.

  8. It is a good time to point out that these rules above don’t just work on translating meshes. They can be used for vertexes, UV mapped vertexes, ipo coordinates and their bezier handles etc. So really you’re learning lots of skills at once. This is true for many of Blender’s features.

Review: Add a circle so that it’s pivot point (pink dot) is at the x,y,z coordinate 0,0,0. (You’ll need to 'snap your cursor to 0,0,0 first (check Topic 2/tute 1)). After this translate it to the following x,y,z coordinate: 5, 2, 10. [Hint: you’ll need to constrain your translation to single blender units and you’ll have to do at least two separate translations in different views. Don’t forget to pay attention to the axis to the bottom left of your screen]. Let us know if you have trouble.

Tutorial 2 " Rotating objects "

Objects can be rotated in any axis. When you rotate an object it will rotate in the axis you can’t see (the one that is pointing out of the screen at you). It is sometimes a good idea to have the object display its own orientation axis when you rotate it.

  1. Open Blender, delete the plane (‘x’ key). Add a cylinder (click OK when asked for 32 vertices).

  2. Like all newly added meshes, the cylinder is in edit mode. Change to selected (pink) mode.

  3. Make sure you are in top view (‘7’ key). Open the edit mode interface by clicking on the ‘edit button’ (or ‘F9’ key). Click on the ‘axis’ button. Your cylinder should now display its own axis, if in top view you should see the y axis (vertical) and the x axis (horizontal). Zoom in if you can’t see it very well.

  4. Now push ‘R’ key and move your mouse. Your object will rotate. As with object translation, holding the Ctrl key during a rotation will constrain it (to multiples of 5 degrees). And holding the ‘shift’ key will give you a ‘fine tuning’ effect. To set your rotation press LMB, if you decide you don’t want to rotate your object after all then push RMB.

  5. In top view with your cylinder selected, push ‘R’ key. Now begin rotating your object by moving your mouse, as you do this click your MMB. This puts you into 3D rotation mode allowing you to rotate your object in all three axis at once. (This is very handy for character animation with armature systems). Pushing MMB again will toggle you out of 3D rotation and back to 2D rotation. Press RMB to deselect rotation.

  6. Now’s a good time to point out that you should always save your work before you do any major object transformations (since Blender only has limited ‘undo’ functions – save often!) If you do a transformation in ‘selected’ (pink) mode you can NOT undo it - Beware.

  7. Notice that as you rotate your cylinder the pink dot stays still. This is why it’s often referred to as a pivot point.

  8. The menu bar below your 3D window has a set of buttons that allow you to control the centre of rotation (and other transformations like ‘scaling’). Move your cursor (LMB in 3D window). Push the button on the 3D menu bar (below 3D window) that looks like the cursor. Now with the cylinder selected push ‘R’ key. When you move your mouse you are now rotating the cylinder relative to the cursor, not its own pivot point.

  9. You can rotate more than one object at once. Select your camera and your cylinder (topic 2/tute 2). Push ‘R’ key and rotate.

  10. Try playing around with the set of four transformation buttons (including the cursor button) on your 3D menu bar to see what effect they have on your objects rotation.

Revision: In a new Blend add a cone. Rotate the tip exactly 45 degrees towards the x axis and then 45 degrees towards the y axis. [Hint you’ll have to change views to do this, and do two separate rotations]

Tutorial 3 " Scaling objects "

  1. Open a new Blend and insert an icosphere (click OK to the default settings). Get out of edit mode (‘tab’ key)

  2. Push the ‘s’ key and move your mouse. The icosphere will get scaled up when you move your mouse arrow away from the icosphere’s pivot point and scale down when you move the mouse arrow towards the pivot point. Note the x,y,z scaling data on the bottom left of your 3D window, all of the coordinates should change as you move your mouse. Press ‘LMB’ to set the scale. (Remember, pressing ‘RMB’ gets you out of the transformation mode your in).

  3. Move your mouse arrow close to the icosphere’s pivot point. Push ‘s’ key and move your mouse, the icospheres scale responds more the closer your mouse arrow is to the pivot point when you push ‘s’ key. Press RMB and try again but this time with your mouse arrow further away from the pivot point. The ‘shift’ key normally allows you to fine tune a transformation, but in scaling mode the ‘shift’ key has no use. Therefore to fine tune a scale it’s best to use the before mentioned method of pushing ‘s’ key when your mouse arrow is a good distance from your object’s pivot point.

  4. You can also contrain your scaling by pushing ‘Ctrl’ key. Push ‘s’ key and move your mouse while holding ‘Crtl’ key. Note the x,y,z scaling data on the bottom left of your 3D window. Set your scale (LMB) when the object has been scaled by a factor of 3 in each of the three axis.

  5. As with object translation you can also constrain your scaling in a specific axis. Push the ‘s’ key then begin moving your mouse horizontally while pressing MMB. (This can require a bit of coordination). Look at the x,y,z scaling data, one of the coordinates should be frozen (should be the x). Press LMB to set the scale.

  6. 3D rotate your scene (MMB/drag) to view the effect of your constrained scaling. Toggling the ‘z’ key will let you see the icosphere’s faces.

  7. As with rotating and translating, you can scale more than one object at once. Add a cube to your scene and exit edit mode. Select your cube and your icosphere (think pink). Press ‘s’ key and they should both scale together. Press RMB to exit scaling mode.

  8. You can use the four transformation buttons in your 3D menu bar to get more control on your scaling. Select both the cube and the icoshpere, change the transformation button, and scale. Do this with each button to see the effect.

Revision: To see the effect of the ‘cursor’ transformation button you will need to move your cube and icosphere objects away from their respective pivot points (T3/t1) . Do this, then push the cursor transformation button and scale.

Tutorial 3 " Flipping objects "

When building meshes that have lines of symmentry (they have two or more halves that are mirror images) it’s often a good strategy to build only half of your mesh, duplicate it then flip it. This produces the whole mesh you want but in half the time.

  1. In a new blend delete the default plane and add a cube. Exit edit mode.

  2. Open the ‘edit buttons’ window and select the 'axis button so you can see your cubes x,y,z axis. Note that the axis on your cube object may differ from the global axis of your scene (bottom left of 3D window).

  3. In front view (‘1’ key) and with your cube selected (think pink) push the ‘s’ key. This puts you into scale transformation mode, now push ‘x’ key and watch your cubes axis carefully. If all went well the axis should flip. You are still in scale mode so constrain your scale (Ctrl), and when the x,y,z scale data (bottom left) reads Sizex = 1 Sizey = 1 Sizez = 1 click LMB.

  4. To flip an object you must always enter scale mode first (‘s’ key). You can also flip by using the ‘y’ key instead of the ‘x’ key. Select your object push ‘s’ then ‘y’ then ‘Ctrl’ then ‘LMB’. (Note if you do a flip and don’t like the result you can cancel the flip by ‘RMB’ click. However as always you can’t use RMB if you’ve done a LMB first.)

  5. Object flipping in Blender is a little bit quirky and can sometimes produce unexpected flips, so change views/flip till you get the desired result and don’t forget about ‘RMB’ click to cancel a flip.

Revision. Start a new blend. Add an icosphere. Scale by 2 while constraining in the x axis. (Should get a cigar shape). Make the axis visible and flip the icosphere it so that your y axis stays the same but your x and z axis are flipped - [you may have to change views].

Do you want to contribute?

If you want to contribute then please indicate which tutorials you’ll write (or have already written). Please feel free to add to/annotate the tutorial sequence above. To make this work well it would be good to have pics. The more members this forum has the healthier the Blender community will be - play your part .

Because we haven’t added ‘game’ tutes yet please find a list of these here:
http://wiseman303.dyndns.org/b3d/tutlinks.html

My advice for new people is take the time to do some tutorials first, and come here with specific questions. It’s no use asking a vague question like how do I make a FPS game.

Read the tutorials, take small steps. There are plenty of tutorials already out there covering pretty much all the features of Blender. Don’t jump in the deep end and try make a game before you’ve grasped all the basics of how to do it.

thats a nice start, i wish i had somthing like that when i started out.

hehe well this is awefully nice of you to offer…I just think it’s a little unnecessary. Most if not all of the current users learned by doing.

You don’t walk into a class on physics and yell “I want to be a rocket scientist, someone show me how to make rockets”. Coming onto these forums and saying “I want to make a FPS someone show me how” is pretty much the same thing.

If you want to make a game with Blender, learn to use the software.

On the other hand if you want to go out of your way and help this guy go nuts…I think most people have little enough time to work on their own projects to sit and make tutorials for people who haven’t tried to learn on their own with what is already on these forums.

Andy83 wrote - My advice for new people is take the time to do some tutorials first, and come here with specific questions. It’s no use asking a vague question like how do I make an FPS game.

I agree Andy. Forget the offer Blende, the deal is off. (Only joking)
You’re right Andy, if you look at Blendes questions to date they are classic newb status. That’s because he doesn’t know the right questions to ask. He has no yet reached critical mass (in fact he currently has little mass at all). Agreed, there are some excellent turorials. But wouldn’t it be great to have a tute list in this forum that newbs could goto straight away because:

  1. They’re easily accessable (don’t underestimate the effect of this)

  2. They are being continually monitored and edited thru newb questions and experienced answers.

  3. They will speed up the process of newb integration from which the whole community will benefit. This will have a revitalising effect on the community.

When I look back on the amount of time I’ve wasted on Blender idiosynchrosies (bet I spelt that wrong) it’s scary. I say wasted because it was. eg It took me over a month to work out that Ctrl uparrow maximise/minimises the active window size. This time would have been far better used on developing good game construction techniques.

Hush - Most if not all of the current users learned by doing.

Sure I believe in the adage that you learn by doing (check my name). But it all depends on the nature of what you’re doing - wasting time looking for a button or hot key - using time wisely developing good game construction techniques.

Hush, I think that knowledge aquisition is most rapid when the learner goes through a process of ‘guided doing’ .

Hush - On the other hand if you want to go out of your way and help this guy go nuts…I think most people have little enough time to work on their own projects to sit and make tutorials for people who haven’t tried to learn on their own with what is already on these forums

True. I’ve got a huge educational Blend I’m making - spent approx 800 hours on it so far. There’s no way one person could (or should) contribute all the tutes. Perhaps each newb should register there interest and be buddied up with an experienced Blenderhead. That way they could learn and the Blenderhead could get meshes, texturing etc done by the newb for there own Blends (a win-win situation as they say).

In summary, I’m not proposing we cover every apsect of Blender - I won’t live that long. All I’m saying is that we actively help the newbs get to a stage where they’ve reached critical mass (they have enough knowledge to learn effectively by themsleves). Once this process is over then we’ll also have a fantastic reference for the new newbs (and old blenderheads due to poor memories from monitor radiation exposure - also called hyper cephalic electrosis or HCE for short).

orion119net - thats a nice start, i wish i had somthing like that when i started out.

By reading between the lines orion I’m glad that you’ve decided to help - pick a tutorial and submit away :D. We could keep all the tutes in this post and then compile them in logical topic posts later.

There used to be something like this on the old blender.nl site, it was called “The Blender Learning Path” and was a list of tutorials for newbies to learn the basic Blender interface, modeling, and texturing. Most of those tutorials are still online, but the learning path list has been lost.

There was also a learning path for the game engine, and some of those tutorials are still online as well, but not all of them.

Maybe instead of writing a whole bunch of tutorials, we should try resurecting the learning path first, and then expand it with more tutorials.

OK, I’ve added the tutorials from the Blender learning path to the top of my links page for now. That page was originaly intended for general 2D and 3D tutorials, that didn’t depend on any one program though. So when the learning path gets it’s own page I’ll remove it from my links page.

http://wiseman303.dyndns.org/b3d/tutlinks.html

u_do_u_r your idea is amazing!
Maybe we can add this tuts to the knowladge database after review. Do you know if it is possible and how to do that? The blender learning path was amazing but the old .NL craps a lot…
We need a kind of a backup.
I think the most difficult questions to find (for a newb like me) is answers for simple questions.

Lets get it on! :smiley:

I’m working on a tutorial for new users…
So far I have a detailed explanation from start to finish, on making simple blow stuff up type of game
It even covers beginner scripting
although it’s intended for users with a basic knowledge if blender interface
I’m trying to make it as the tutorial I wish I had starting out
–Will post when finished :smiley:

wiseman303 wrote - Maybe instead of writing a whole bunch of tutorials, we should try resurecting the learning path first, and then expand it with more tutorials.

I remember my first intro to Blender was doing that castle tute - took me ages to complete, but I learnt a lot. There are some good tutes in there. You’re right in saying that we should use what has already been made (who wants to reinvent the wheel?). It would be great for all concerned if the Blender learning path (nice name) was resurrected. Where would it be hosted? If we were to reconstruct this ‘learning path’ and supplement it we would possibly need to make it searchable. The main problem for new users is obviously access to good info - that means a website with a search function or perhaps a glossary of terms linked to peoples tutes on their own websites. Personally I think the tutes should all be in one place (backed up of course) on the same site. I’ve only got a 20meg site and thats mostly spoken for - any ideas. Do you think it would be a good idea to start this process by building a simple list of terms (headings) under which existing tutorials could be grouped, similar to what has been done with the ‘blender tools’ list at the start of this forum. How do we get the site moderators to make our ‘Blender Learning Path’ a sticky?

Snailrose - I’m trying to make it as the tutorial I wish I had starting out

Go you good thing. Are you using the pics of the blender button icons and screenshots? I found this visual approach really helpful when I was first learning Blender.

I published a few months ago tutorial series on making simple Tennis game in GameBlender. Unfortunately, it’s in Slovak language (I pressumed there exist such things in English) and was published in Czech game development magazine Ceske hry.

Lesson 4 “Adding objects” was finished yesterday. I’ll do lesson 5 “selecting objects” tonite.

I still thinks it’s a good idea to do the tute sequence based on fundamental skills. However I see that it’s also a good idea to furnish the tutorial sequence with real Blender applications. As has been pointed out people have made good tutes on how to make games or parts of games. Maybe people who’ve made good game tutes could look at the ‘fundamental skills’ tute sequence (above) and comment about where in the sequence their game tutes could fit so that it reinforced the fundamental skills already covered. Also if you disagree with the sequence to date could you please comment - I won’t be offended.

Ashsid wrote - I published a few months ago tutorial series on making simple Tennis game in GameBlender. Unfortunately, it’s in Slovak language (I pressumed there exist such things in English)

Too bad I don’t speak Slovak. And no I’ve never seen a tennis game tute in English. I’d like to though (hint, hint :smiley: )

Lets not forget that the end object here is a clear, accessable ‘Path’ for newbs to follow to ease them into the wonderful world of Blender.

ps the above tute sequence needs to be embellished with relevant pics of blender buttons and screen shots (visual aids) - any thoughts on how this can be most effectively done?

Lol, haven’t really read the tutorials you’ve written yet, but they’re probably really good. Hey, maybe besides having the tutorials here, you can make it into webpage form or a .pdf and when JD-multi gets the game blender resource site fully running, you can submit your tutorials there. Just a suggestion.

I’m glad someone is actually helping out the newbies to the game blender engine. Lol, I’m relatively new to the game engine part myself (still in the process of doing tutorials from the blender gamekit). I’ll read your tutorials in full later and see how much more enlightened I can become :D.

Keep up your great contribution to the Blender Community.

Oh yeah, thanks Wiseman for providing all those links. I count 5 sites that I’ve actually found myself on your list. Well besides all those relatively simple interface stuff. Yeah, 2d texturing tutorials. Lol, just when I think I’m done doing most of the tutorials out there, Wiseman provides me with more. Thanks.

Jason Lin

goldentaiji wrote - Hey, maybe besides having the tutorials here, you can make it into webpage form or a .pdf and when JD-multi gets the game blender resource site fully running, you can submit your tutorials there. Just a suggestion.

Good suggestions. I will host a pdf version with full pics on my site when the tutorials are closer to being finished, maybe JD-multi site could do the same?

Oh and by the way, pictures of which buttons/tabs to push are coming soon (hopefully this week) along with screenshots of what your screen should look like if you follow the tutorials.

Ok, after you posted the bulk of the tutorials on the top of the post did I notice you’re literally educating complete newbies from the ground up. Hmm I think that’s great in a sense. It’s more like quickstart tutorials for now. Hey with each of your topics you can just post a link where you’ll find a more in depth tutorial on what you’re writing. Hmm, maybe the page numbers of these in the Blender Manual.

I’m waiting for those advanced game engine tutorials. Keep writing :D. Great work so far.

Jason Lin

Almost every post on the first page of the forum at the moment is a newbie asking a question thats been answered 100 times before. :-?

I think these tutorials are a good idea. Maybe we should have a rule that you’re not allowed to post until you’ve completed the newbie section of the tutorials?? :slight_smile: :slight_smile:

Keith. 8)

how do you make a program from a game??? :o

Golden taiji wrote - Hey with each of your topics you can just post a link where you’ll find a more in depth tutorial on what you’re writing

That’s a good idea about putting links to more indepth tutorials under each one of the ‘Skills based tutorials’ (SBT). However most tutorials I’ve seen cover more than one SBT. I think that the way to do it would be to place links to more indepth tutorial after a topic (notice that I’ve arranged the SBT’s into topics)

I see that thier are a number of tutes in the ‘Game Blender developer tools’ post and the ‘Game Blender Tutorials’ post (go figga)

gorgan_almi wrote - Almost every post on the first page of the forum at the moment is a newbie asking a question thats been answered 100 times before.

I’ve noticed that too and I feel your frustration (mind you I bet that the newbs are more frustrated about not knowing what to do)

gorgan_almi wrote - I think these tutorials are a good idea. Maybe we should have a rule that you’re not allowed to post until you’ve completed the newbie section of the tutorials??

I agree the newbs should go to the relevant tutorial and read it first before cluttering up the airways. However the tutorials will never meet the needs of all newbs and so I think they should still be encouraged to ask newb questions (but after they’ve read the appropriate tute first).

By the way nice work on FMVed.

dippmaster wrote - how do you make a program from a game???

Hi dippmaster, I assume that you are talking about running an executable program in a windows environment without having to run it within Blender?

After you’ve made your game (or you just want to see it in exe form) do the following:

  1. Open tools tab and select pack (this packs all your textures, sounds etc into the one file - you actually don’t have to do this step if your not going to move your executable file, however if you do move it and its not packed you’ll lose your textures etc)

  2. Open file tab, select save as dynamic runtime.

  3. A drop down window opens allowing you to choose where you’ll save your exe file.

  4. After choosing your file destination, enter a name (Blender will add the exe extension) and click on ‘write dynamic runtime’ button.

  5. You’re done. Now goto your newly created exe and double click. Only it won’t work because you need the fmod.dll and the python20.dll file in the same directory as your exe. These dynamic link libraries (dll) ship with Blender, try a search on your hard drive - they’ll be there somewhere.

Although I hate to say this you should have tried a forum search on this topic as it has been coverd many times b4 :wink: (the search button is on the top right hand of the screen).

Somebody, somewhere, please make this post topic a sticky. Thankyou.