How do I :
Render an animation (mov, avi)
Make my character move after adding a WalkCycle
New walk features in CVS (upcoming 2.43) are a great improvement over the old “stride path” feature.
http://www.blender3d.org/cms/Walk_Cycle_Modifiers.821.0.html
http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?t=81488&highlight=walk
Windows CVS build with the walk features :
http://www.zoo-logique.org/3D.Blender/index.php3?zoo=com
(Download the Win32BlenderDDMM.zip) file
Render a movie in the “background” ( compositing)
Use an ATI card / driver with Blender ?
http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?t=56932
Learn this Massively Complicated Program ? !!
I just downloaded the program and have never used any 3d software. Where should I start?
Start with the Blender Wiki Main Page
Next with the click on "User’s Manual, then follow all the links for the Introduction, and Interaction in 3d.
Then go back to the Main Page and follow the “Summer Of Documentation Links”. Pick whichever or (all) that looks interesting to you. I would recommend that you do them in this Order :
Introduction to :
Modelling
Character Animation
Materials and Procedural Texturiing
Lighting
The game engine is really almost a different program within a program, if you’re interested in games primarily you might start with the Intro to the Game Engine.
The other topics there are frankly a bit more advanced and probably won’t make any sense to you if you haven’t done the other material I suggested.
If you’re interested in character animation, there are links to some great fully rigged characters ready to animate in my “Best of Blender” thread in my signature.
Rotate the view around a specific object:
I use these ALL the time !
1 - - LMB click to place the 3d cursor in the 3d view, then press “c” (View/Align View / Center view to cursor) … view will rotate around the cursor.
OR
RMB/select an object, press NUMPAD-"." (period) to zoom to the object … view will rotate around that object.
Also in User Preferences / View and Controls - try turning on TrackBall (View rotation) or Turntable, see which one you prefer
Link datablocks between files, so that if I update datablock X in file X.blend, then the same datablock gets updated in all the different files where X is linked.
You assign your source/library objects to a group in file X e.g. Group1.
(CTR-G or Object-Menu/Add to New/Existing group)
In file Y, you create an Empty (or any other object, but an Empty usually works best). Then append the group from file X (SH F1 / File Append), using the Link button in the append dialog. (A Group section appears in the append dialog, along with the usual Camera, Object … etc items. Select the Group(s) you wish to append ).
Then select the empty and in the Object panel click on DupliGroup, and fill in the group name in the Gr: field.
Delete an Action
Blender automatically creates ‘fake-users’ to actions, so that they can be stored in blend files as a sort of library of actions.
To simply get rid of these actions once you have removed references to them (‘action constraints’, ‘action windows’, ‘nla strips’, etc.), press SHIFT F4, then find the folder named Action, right-click on the name of an action you wish to remove, and press “f”. The “number of users” should change to 0, i.e. you’ll see ‘F 0’ in the Data Select window.
Save the file, then re-open it and the action(s) are deleted.
Despite the rather cryptic and scary tooltip for the ‘X’ button in the action eidtor, “Deletes link to this datablock”, that button does NOT delete the action, it merely “disconnects the action from the currently selected object”. This “delete link” procedure is used when it is desireable to create a new Action that is NOT based on a current action, or to simply temporarily deactivate the current Action / IPO.