Hi, I’m rather new to Blender and would like to know if anyone has a good tutorial on the Compositor. From what I understand, there are about 60 different nodes in Blender v2.5, so my initial thought would be to learn what each one is used for and how to implement it. Does anyone have a link to a tutorial or a good article that can help me find my way through the Compositor? It doesn’t necessarily need to be for v2.5, but if it is that would be great.
Thanks,
Fulano
Hi Fulcano i’m pretty new to this as well but ive found some very useful stuff on
http://www.blenderguru.com/ he uses the compositor a lot during his tutorials
hope it helps
yeah, blenderguru is pretty popular right now. that’s because he works hard on his tutorials so that they are clear and easy to understand.
blenderunderground.com has something on that as well.
off topic. People, I know it’s good to be friendly to new users and all, but this is in the first message we all get when we sign up:
!!! PLEASE READ THIS !!!
We would like to ask you to check the forum name & description before posting a new topic to make sure you’re posting in the correct forum.
Please do not post any support questions in the ‘News & Discussion’ forum. Questions need to be posted in the Support section!
!!! PLEASE READ THIS !!!
Seriously. Why do people post questions/requests in news section?
We can be friendly to newcomers, but we can at the same time do things to keep our dear forum clean. So some people get in news section to see NEWS and other in support section to get SUPPORT. This is a very visited section in the forum, and some people claim they post questions here 'cause they’ll get answer faster. That’s no valid excuse. That’s like selling condoms in the church because not so many people visit the drug store. 
Thank you for your suggestions to visit BlenderGuru. I often do but was looking for a beginners 101 on the Compositor. I do however appreciate your help.
Sneg, I’ll address your comments in a separate post.
Thanks,
Fulano
Sneg, as a point of reference, I’ve been participating in forums like this since before the Internet was called the Internet…that may be before you were born – I don’t know. However, I do thank you for the forum posting education you felt compelled to provide me. Now allow me to help you…This forum section is called – News AND Discussion. Yes, I know that little fact is inconvenient, but it’s not only for news.
I posted my question in this section because it is not a support (i.e. technical or procedural) question, but rather it’s a discussion question to seek out advice on how to learn something. I’m not asking what button to push to Set Smooth or what modifier to use to Subsurf; I’m asking for advice and would like to have a discussion about the possibilities that exist for learning something new. So, if you’re going to be the Posting Police, you should really be factual.
That said, I want to bring up something that is a far more troubling issue…before I joined this forum, different sources warned me about how rude and condescending some of the members were on this forum to newer users. To be honest, I had not experienced that until you came along, but if you really want to (as you put it) “keep our dear forum clean” perhaps you should start by readjusting your attitude and be polite to people and not so condescending. If you have a suggestion as to where this post should have been placed, I would be glad to take that into consideration, but I don’t need someone being obnoxious…none of us do! So, like I said, if you want to improve the forum, start by improving your communication skills and learn how to treat others with respect and be polite — especially to the newer folks!
Fulano
Hi All, I may have answered my own question to some degree…I found these beginner tutorials at Blender.org. Hope they help anyone that is also looking for a good Compositor tutorial.
http://www.blender.org/development/release-logs/blender-242/generic-node-system-for-blender/
http://www.blender.org/development/release-logs/blender-242/blender-composite-nodes/
If anyone has a better one (that is basic), please share.
Thanks again for your help,
Fulano
Well the “News and Discussion” is for news and discussion on these news. It’s not a “News and offtopic discussion” as you may have misunderstood it to be. The fact is that you still posted in the wrong section but don’t worry, the moderators can move it for you
NinthJake, I don’t have any issue with having the post moved. Nor do I have an issue with someone pointing out that the post may be in the wrong section. However, I do have an issue with someone being obnoxious…and I won’t stand for that, because I don’t treat anyone with disrespect.
That said, you contend that I posted in the wrong place…OK, please explain this to me (and to the many others that may also be confused about this issue)…
The link for this section is called:
“News & Discussion (47 Viewing)
Discuss Blender & news about Blender”
This link can be found at (http://blenderartists.org/forum/index.php).
So…my question is this: I understand and agree with you on the “& news about Blender” part, but what does the “Discuss Blender” part mean…???
If it means news about Blender, why did they add the second part of the link which states “& news about Blender”…? Wouldn’t that be redundant? – Could it be that this is a bit confusing for new members, or could it be that you are the one that is wrong and “discussions” about different blender issues belong here (hence, “Discuss Blender”)?
If you’re still adamant that only “news about Blender” belong here, then what else other than news would qualify as topics that could be referred to a “Discuss Blender” topic?
Which is it, because its clearly NOT – ONLY News about Blender.
You see NinthJake, I don’t have an issue with my post having been placed in the wrong place. I’m human and we all make mistakes, but if you’re going to claim that I made a mistake – have the facts to back you up! Can you quote the place where it states that - no discussions about Blender should be placed here, even though the links states they can?
I’m always open to factual discussion…or is that not allowed here either NinthJake?
Fulano
Blender Compositing Book http://www.amazon.com/Foundation-Blender-Compositing-Roger-Wickes/dp/1430219769/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1282419898&sr=8-1
BlenderArt magazine sometimes has compositing info in some of its articles: http://blenderart.org/issues/
Blender node flash cards http://www.cogfilms.com/tutorials.html
Richard…wow, thank you!!! These are three very good sources. I didn’t know there was a Compositor Book. I’ll look into getting it. I also didn’t know about the Blender Magazine. - I’m rather new to Blender and it has really fascinated me. I’m trying to learn as much as I can, but at times its like a fire hose and at others its a trickle of water…the Compositor topic is more like the trickle.
Thanks again,
Fulano
Richard, thank you again…!!! I downloaded the Blender Magazine collection and it is absolutely phenomenal. This is a must have for every Blender enthusiast. Thank you. I also found another place that has a very good Compositor tutorial. Its in the Essential Blender book by Ton Roosendaal and Roland Hess (Chapter 13). I plan to read that as well.
Fulano
I am sorry about my previous post. It was not my intention to sound rude so I apologize for my behavior, I was not in the best of moods when I wrote that post. I have no idea what the “Blender discussion” part is good for either, only the forum admin could answer that.
Sorry again though, I didn’t mean to bash at you or anything like that
Also about the tutorials. Andrew Price (creator of BlenderGuru) made a eBook dedicated to the sole use of the compositor in Blender. If you don’t mind paying for your training it might be really good for you. http://www.wowfactorbook.com/
NinthJake, there is no need to apologize. I believe that you didn’t mean to be harsh. However, I was only trying to point out the the topic header for this section is confusing (especially to me as a new user). I actually did review all the sections before posting my question and this was actually the most logical place to place it, because of the “Discuss Blender” designation. If you also look at other questions in this section, a lot of them are not “news” related and fall into the discussion questions category much like mine, so I did consider the section prior to posting, regardless of what Sneg may have though I did.
Thanks for your comments and I hope to further future discussions with you soon.
Fulano
@ Fulano: unfortunately you’re right. Blender artist is a great community but here and there there’s some problem with the forum. Actually, that’s becoming something more than just a bad habit imho. I believe this is bigger than it looks, because it’s keeping Blender far beyond its true potentialities.
I’m staying away more and more of this forum for some reasons, the main one is lack of time. If you post something you would like to see in Blender, sometimes you get “than use X, Y, Z app!” as an answer, or simply “you can do the same with Blender, just in a different way” (that’s not always true though, but it doesn’t matter…).
Not much chance to go anywhere that way. Sometimes you can get answers from the devs and it may happens that they simply tells you that you don’t know anything about how the things actually work, therefore you start feeling you better would stop posting those questions next time. I think that some of those users that today say “you don’t know this, you can do that just with a different approach, we don’t need that thing…” are the same users that just a few time ago were fighting here to keep the old 2.49 interface and now they are the same who say “the 2.5 UI is simply amazing”. Sad but true: it’s an Open community with (sometimes) a Closed view.
Hi phoenixart, unfortuatley there will always be those that want to show off how much they know (or how little you know) and post an off the cuff answer in a forum like this. However, although I’m new here, I believe this is a great forum with a lot (a lot) of very good people. I think if we all want to improve the forum, which we all should, we need to reflect on our own responses and how “we” oursleves behave on a forum, before casting the first stone.
Like I said, I’m not perfect and I’m always willing to learn from others, but I don’t agree with being rude or belittling others. We are ALL here to learn - no one knows everything, and that’s why I believe there is never a bad question or a stupid question. There are only stupid answers.
I’m not kidding when I say that I heard awful things about this forum from different sources, but I don’t believe we can generalize and say its everyone. I think a lot of the folks here want to help others. I also hope that some of those that are afraid to post a questions, because of the response they may get should reconsider and post your questions. If you get a bad response, either ignore it and wait for those that actually want to help, or call the author out and ask them to be cordial.
I think we can all work towards a better community, but I also know from many, many years of participating in forums like this that there will always be those that want to show off.
I look forward to more discussions with you and hopefully one day I may be able to assist you.
Best regards,
Fulano
Just to quote again:
Please do not post any support questions in the ‘News & Discussion’ forum. Questions need to be posted in the Support section!
If the board’s title and description sound misleading to you, simply suggest a change. You posted tutorials request. Period. You mentioned improving my communication. heh I noticed you like to elaborate your sentences and also that you care a lot about how you present yourself over the internetz (in which you say you’re a veteran also taking the opportunity to bash me). As a result, you politely posted in the wrong forum for not being capable of reading the very first message you got. Communication? I pointed a fact, black written over white. Now you sound like a victim trying to understand this world. I’m probably a bullier.
I’m staying away more and more of this forum for some reasons, the main one is lack of time. If you post something you would like to see in Blender, sometimes you get “than use X, Y, Z app!” as an answer, or simply “you can do the same with Blender, just in a different way” (that’s not always true though, but it doesn’t matter…).
The perfect example of badly comprehended user. This dude comes here and says “blender has this?”. The nice soul comes to politely say “you do it like this in blender”. Then the dude rages and starts a long elaborated philosophic post “no way it’s like this. it’s stupid. maya blablablablabla and also zbrush blablabla same bla and blender not!!!”. Then the polite person says “you aren’t happy? then suggest to developers and wait, put hands on code or go to Maya”. Totally adequate. What else would you do? You’re an end user just like him. The request was for support. Features aren’t like favours your momma does for you when you’re 6. Blender doesn’t have any immediate compromise with your particular desires. The kind mass of heroes who expend time to say how you do that stuff in blender know that, and try the best to help you doing what you want asap. YOU don’t get that. You think you’re being bashed and people are simply being Blender advocates Some of them are… True.
I didn’t find this particularly off topic at all, now a discussion on, oh I don’t know,
paris hilton’s new big scandal™ would be off topic and warrants an off topic forum thread
rather than news & discussion, but the ‘best place for [type of] tutorials for blender’. totally on topic.
Filex, thank you for the post. I also believe that my question was not a support question, but rather a discussion question and I’m glad others are participating in the discussion. I hope we can all learn something new.
Thanks again,
Fulano
Thanks for your comment. Anyhow, I already wrote the main reason I cannot follow the forum is lack of time. Besides that, I tried in the past to propose other stuff not because I want Blender to do things like another app. And never tried to do that in the rude way you described (actually I don’t know why you’re doing that example to be honest…)
There’s a difference from who asks for a Blender that acts like another app and who asks to add more features and/or just expand the current ones. I know the steps. I know the devs are busy, I know Blender cannot rely on many devs unfortunately. If that means that it makes no sense talking about what could be added to Blender, than this forum is meaningless.
This dude comes here and says “blender has this?”.
Who?