Michigan Blender User Group

Support Basics & Interface
1

The Michigan Blender User Group Meetings happen on the 3rd Saturday of every month.

Mark your calendar as the March meeting is scheduled for Saturday, March, 17th.

Michigan Blender User Group Meeting #5 Summary
Jan. 17th 2006

After a challenging Holiday Season Membership slump we are back!!!
We would like to extend elam a special welcome on his first visit to the group, Welcome.

Attendance:
5OnIt, honeycomb, LordOfTheRingsJunkie, PhilBo, blend3D, elam

Topics Discussed:

PhilBo demonstrated settings and functionality of kerkythea renderer. Interesting.
For hardware buffs PhilBo uncovered “TED: Jeff Han”, google it. Gestures on a tabletop.

LOTRJ demonstrated the modelling techniques used in his Stargate project. Check it out
in the WIP section of BlenderArtists. As a bonus an IPO Driver tute was used to con-
trol lamp settings.

Honeycomb presented a Sales Proposal Outline completely executed in the game engine.
An idea to apply 3D and the Game Enging to everyday business was outlined. We wish
him success in applying Blender in the business world.

Blend3d showcased the utility Gimp Background Window. This little tool attempts to
tame the GIMP setting and tool window management.

New Business:

Kalamazoo Animation Festival International - KAFI
For all the Blender Users in West Michigan, Chicago area there is a road meeting planed
for May 17-20. Information on KAFI available at http://kafi.kvcc.edu. Trip specific
details to be determined.

We would like to start a demonstraton project. This will be a multimedia presentation
on Blender and its many features. It is also a great place to present an outlet for your
skills. There is a plan to present the demonstration at a Mac User Meeting. Late
Fall/Winter plans may include a local IGDN group presentation.

Michigan Blender User Group Meeting #4 Summary
Jan. 17th 2007

LOTRJ and 5OnIt were present and discussed topics including Photoshop techniques.

Michigan Blender User Group Meeting #3 Summary
Dec. 16th 2006

Due to membership obligations and the holidays the January meeting was informal and relaxed.

Michigan Blender User Group Meeting #2 Summary
Nov. 18th 2006

TheLordoftheRingsJunkie presented copies of many HDRI images. In addition he presented a tutorial on their use. This was very informative and usefull.

PhilBo did a quick demonstration on fluid simulation which created a big splash at the meeting.

In addition PhilBo and Blend3D provided great examples and demonstrations regarding the Indigo renderer and Blender.

In addition our membership grew to 7. Thank you to all who helped make this a great meeting. When the meeting ended everyone went home with some new technique or aspect of Blender and 3D.

Michigan Blender User Group Meeting #1 Summary
Oct. 21, 2006

The following topics were discussed

  1. Location: We are currently meeting at National Coney Island, and plans are in the works to find a more suitable location. As LOTRJ stated 5onit is working on securing a conference room with a projector and wireless, we hope this comes through.

  2. Date and Time: These meeting will be help on the 3rd Saturday of each month at 1:00PM so clear your schedules for one day each month.

  3. What to bring: If you are unable to bring a laptop please feel free to burn
    some of your work onto a CD/DVD.

  4. What is a Blender User Group?: A Blender user group is dedicated to the enjoyment and advancement of all things Blender. It is a meeting of individuals who share a passion for 3D modelling, rendering, animation, and games. It provides valuable personal contact and grows relationships among Blender users. It also helps to promote blender and provides support for the Blender Foundation.

  5. What does a Blender User Group do? We have discussed many activities for thesemeetings and here are only a few ambitious goals:

A) Monthly Tutorial Presentations
B) Public Art Gallery ( admission $$$ )
C) Blender Training and Education (public for $$$)
D) Blender Foundation Support ( see B & C above )
E) Job Opportunities / Freelance work / Contract work
F) National User Group Management and Setup
G) Industry Guest Speakers
H) What would you like to do?

  1. What type of organization is this? For various legal and other reasons it is decided that this group should take on some type of legal form. One form is to operate as a Non-Profit Organization. This discussion will continue.

  2. Is there a web site? Yes, we plan to host a web site dedicated to the group. Currently it is planned as a news and information site. We need to discuss a domain name and site layout.

2

I live in Warren and might be interested. Southfield is really close for me. I have four kids and not a lot of free time for a large time commitment, but would love to get together in the flesh with other Blender users to talk techniques and share work on occasion.

Phil

3

OK, we got two of us.

After my internets demise, my wife and I went on holiday to a lovely cabin in the woods and spend 11 days relaxing.:stuck_out_tongue: I am back and I wish to continue an effort to get this group started. As far a I can I will set aside some time for this. It is easier to scheduled time in advance so in order to get the ball rolling I will set a date of Thursday, October 19 at 7:00PM and as a backup Saturday, October 21 at 1:00PM

So in two weeks and on two days we should have a location and new members.

regards,

honeycomb

4

Arrrrrghhhh! I will be in Ohio on business those days.

5

check my post about doing the class… I live north of Detroit by Port Huron and am about to teach blender to a class of CAD students

6

I am OK with meeting in Port Huron. When is your presentation and may I attend?

I rather enjoy exploring character animation and then triggering the Actions with the Game Engine. I am not great at Rendering Scenes or creating materials but I am learning. You can see some basic works on my web site honeycombresearch.com

I also started a realtime game project post as found here

Perhaps a meeting in Mt. Clements on one of my suggested dates depending on scheduling?

Do we need to add an extra week for PhilBo? I am OK with that too.

7

I’m in Holland, MI but for a large-ish sort of event I’d drive…

8

Argh I was in Bowling Green Ohio close to Toledo.

But I am not far away, around 12 hours.

9

I’m in Sterling Heights. as for #3, yeah, what exactly would this user group do? Also, the requirement of wireless internet seems to imply that a laptop is also required? sigh Maybe after I build my new desktop system…

10

Cool! I’d be interested in an occasional thing, but scheduling/distance is a usually a “situation”. I currently work in Detroit. Sounds like it would be a bit far for me.
I agree, you shouldn’t pick a bar or other age-restricted place.
I’m not sure that a laptop would be a requiredment to attend although it would help. My old laptop is not overly Blender friendly, but it used to run it at least, but no battery so it would also require a power plug, as I’m not putting out another $100+ for an old P2 Toshiba.

11

dont feel bad, i dont own a laptop.

My presentation still needs a date since the IT department at the school has to load blender and Python onto the CAD computers. I will let u know as soon as i set a date.

12

Well in keeping with the first post let me kick this off.

  1. Location

National Coney Island
30140 Van Dyke Avenue ( between 12Mile and 13Mile )
Warren Michigan

  1. Time and Date

Thursday, October 19 at 7:00PM
and
Saturday, October 21 at 1:00PM

Come to one or both or neither but each meeting should cover the topics below at a minimum.

  1. Meet and Greet

No laptop, no internet required. If you have one bring one if not it’s really no big deal right now. Lets just get together.

  1. What a user group is and what we could do will be the topic of the meetings. It’s our group so we could do anything related to Blender and 3D.

  2. I will have my laptop so I can begin to take notes and document some ideas we all come up with. All in all this is supposed to be the creation of something fun ( after the all the planning is done ).

I’ll be the guy with the Blender (a real one and possible mascot :smiley: ) on the table. I hope to see as many of you guys and gals as possible.

Regards,

honeycomb
(Stephen Hughes)

13

Sweet! That’s like one mile from my house! I cannot make Thursday, but I am planning to be there for Saturday.

14

I’ll definately try to be there!

15

I’ll try to be there as well, I’m in Clawson. As long as I can get out of work on time :smiley:

16

Mine was from the “this ain’t even worth selling for charity” circular file that a friend scavenged and bought a HD for :stuck_out_tongue:

Donno if I can make it or not, but good luck and glad its started up! Alas, my spare time is very limited. :frowning: And its my anniversery weekend! :cool:

17

Good morning!

There was a post at BlenderNation about the upcoming meetings in Warren. Like I said there, I live across town now in Inkster, but used to live at 16 Mile and Van Dyke, so I know the area you’re meeting at well. I would like to attend, but as luck would have it the new floors go in the kitchen and entry ways today, and Saturday is the day I have friends coming over to help me paint and put up new fixtures.

Is that timing or is that timing? :rolleyes:

Please keep me posted as to the time/date of the next get-together and I’ll mark my calendar. I am new to 3-D imaging and Blender, though I’ve got a very strong desire to learn. I’ve managed to make a career in technology by being self-taught and I’m hoping I can make the jump into digital media. So far it’s Jeff: 0, Blender: 1 after many, many rounds - the support and input of like-minded people would be very welcome at this point!

18

Well, I just got back from the first meeting which consisted of a grand total of 3 people (Me, honeycomb, and 5OnIt) and it went pretty well.:slight_smile: We got a little groundwork laid down for future meetings and stuff, but I’ll let honeycomb tell you about it. Hopefully more people will show up on Saturday as it’s a weekend and earlier in the day…

19

Great. I read this now. I live in Auburn Hills, and I might have been able to come tonight, but I will have to work on Saturday. Oh well. Keep me posted on future events. If you send out PM’s or anything be sure and add me to the list.

20

Just a quick thought for Saturday, it will mostly be for planning the future layout of meetings and what a user group should be, but if you can bring any models or projects you might want to show you can bring them on a USB flash drive or CD or something. It was interesting seeing honeycomb and 5OnIt’s work and I got to show my current project.:smiley: