let me introduce myself...

Support Basics & Interface
#1

Not sure which forum this should go in, so figured here would do and I guess an admin could move it if it ticks people off too much :wink:

I’ve never used a 3d modelling package before, I’m a total newbie newbie, I have used CorelDraw, Photoshop, and Macromedia Fireworks previously.

I found Blender after visiting a Freelancer (PC Game) site and seeing some spaceship models that people had created themselves. I thought “woah! I wonder if I could do that? I bet I’d need lots of expensive software though”, did a google search and there was Blender :smiley:

I’m working my way through the tutorials on the blender website, and seem to have got the hang of the very basics.

I was wondering how many of you guys are traditional artists too (‘good drawers’ as my dad would say) and do you sketch out your ideas before modeling them ? or do you model ‘on the fly’?

I’m hoping I wont have too many daft questions to ask :wink:

Zhoed

#2

Welcome to the wonderful world of cg art! My name is Prince and i will be your tour guide through elysuin and get you started on some blender techniques. Here is a starter :

------ Elysiun --------

Finished Projects - don’t post things you are making but things you have finished. Most people put there last render of there “work in progress” here.

Work In Progress (WIP) - put your works along with questions concernign them here. Refrain from posting questions about something you haven’t yet started (ex: I want to make a box how do i begin?)

General - ask any question concerning blender, yafray, python, or photo editors (gimp or photoshop preferably others could go in Other Software) or really anything you want alot of people to see as most people only look at the general section unless they want to look at specific sections.

Animation - ask questions concerning animation, animating, rigging, rendering, if it gets rendered as an avi then it belongs here!

Python - aks questions concerning python programming, installing, scripts, and anything python related.

Game - ask any question concerning game creation and animating

Other Software - ask questions concerning other software (blender, yafray, python, and major photo editors aren’t really concidered other software)

Weekend Challenge (WC) - once a week on thursdays a new topic is chosen and throughout the weekend you are to render an image of the topic then on monday the voting for best image is started and on thursday it is closed and the new subject is chosen by the winner.

Speed Modeling - never quite understood when topics were assigned or anything but here you have one hour to make something just like the WC.

There are other sections such as Off Topic, News and Elysiun help but i don’t find really any need for those (that is meant to be a compliment). FAQ for elysiun help is usually all you need - and search should be used before asking any questions!

------- Blender ----------

It is good to see that you started with tuts already - that is the way to go. no one really like people who ask how to do something the when they just joined when there are hundreds of google tuts on blender! Good places to go are the www.blender3d.org homepage and go to tut section then go to the elysiun tut section and also you may want to check out the blender manual for how to stuff. you may have already done this but you should install python, yafray, and a good post production editor (pp) such as photoshop or gimp or free ones like ultimate fx and the like. Create a File called user in your Blender install directory called user or somthing then put files in there like Sound, Textures, Scripts, Finished Projects, WIPs, Blends, Tuts, XMLs … and then put your files in here.

The GUI - When you start blender you see a screen with a cube, light, camera. I think this is boring so i always change the cube to a shere, add 3 point lighting, a texture, and a sky then with later versions of blender add reflections to the sphere and set osa to 16 and render big. Then to save this as user default press Cntl U. Other things such as user file locations are set in the top part of the screen.

The Textures - Google image searches yeild great images that can be used for textures. Just be careful to use as specific as topic then go less specific if needed. Also be weirry of search topics that might yield riske images! to fix this save preferences as safe search strict. This will keep adult images from showing.

------- More ----------------

any other concernig sources ask them here or PM me (i am going offline the 18th so not after that!) and i’ll get back to you!

Hope this helps! :wink:

#3

Welcome.

This is as good a forum as any. Browse around the forums. A lot of people have links in their signatures for recommended tutorials and information for the new user.

If you feel like contributing some money Blender’s way, you can get the manual from the Blender store, the publisher, or any bookstore can order it for you.
Official Blender 2.3 Guide
ISBN: 1593270410
Format: Paperback, 552pp
Pub. Date: June 2004 Publisher: No Starch Press San Francisco, CA

If you don’t have the cash, download the full documentation at:
http://download.blender.org/documentation/

also check the tutorials from the old site at:
http://download.blender.org/documentation/oldsite/oldsite.blender3d.org/
Keep in mind that the infterface changed quite a bit with version 2.3. You may have to do some work with the old tutorials if they are confusing.

Look at the sticky thread with almost every tutorial you can find:
https://blenderartists.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13380

Look at the Blenderman site for a lot of good info:
http://www.blenderman.org/

If you want sort of a structured classroom like explanation, try:
http://www.statikonline.com/Blender/
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

There is also a basic training file that has a lot of good information that appears as text while you work through the .blend file. Highly recommended, but I can’t find the link right now (someone else will post it within 24 hours I bet).

A recent suggestion is to use Google and do a search for
“-h -h filetype:blend”
I came up with 2,380 .blend files that you can get and examine.

A traditional art background will always help, but there are a lot of people here with no “good drawing skills”. A bit of drafting, mechanical drawing, or similar can also help to visualize objects in 3D.

#4

I thought that too. I actually had Maya but ditched it in favour of Blender. Blender is the best 3D animation/modelling tool there is for free. I think it even beats all of the cheap commercial packages out there.

I do traditional art, mainly as a hobby. I don’t have a scanner so I can’t as yet use the drawings properly for 3D but I have quite a good eye for perspective so I can model in 3D from images without using orthographic modes. Usually I use digital images, sometimes photos of stuff and use textured planes in the perspective view.

I do some modelling on the fly but it’s better to use references.

Don’t worry, you can post as daft questions as you want. Insane ones go in off-topic ;). Even if you think that your question is so simple, don’t be afraid to ask. It’s better to ask than rack your brains trying to figure it out.

#5

@Zhoed: welcome!

@blenderanim: what is the “-h -h” for? I had a quick google to locate the syntax but no luck.

#6

i am a draftsman (i can draw) and i can think up my images in my head then put them in 3d space but sometimes to help me think it through i put them on paper.

The best thing to do is think it through - learn simple mesh modeling and equipped with that think of how you are going to model something before you actually start cause that is the worst thing that could happen is that you end up making something to find out you can’t figure out how to finish it! Also if you expect to duplicate something first texturize it then duplicate it cause it is a pain to texture repeat each model! hope that hleps! :wink:

#7

thanks guys,

lots of cool info there - I’d been to some of the sites, but not others :wink:

I have ordered august’s Blender pack from the Blender store (guide, game reference and CD of textures), but there are plenty of tutorials about for me to have a go at.

Hopefully in a few weeks I’ll have something semi-decent for you to coment on :wink:

#8

I don’t know. I searched and couldn’t find an explanation either. I asked in that thread, but didn’t get a response. I guess the easy answer is “it works”. If you don’t use the -h -h, you don’t get any results.

#9

Welcome, again!

Since you’re asking, I’m what you would consider a Good Drawer. For most things though, I just start modelling away. When I’m doing characters, I draw first.

#10

[quote=“blenderanim”]

I don’t know. I searched and couldn’t find an explanation either. I asked in that thread, but didn’t get a response. I guess the easy answer is “it works”. If you don’t use the -h -h, you don’t get any results.[/quote]

it’s a google shortcut that lets you see only results with cerain extensions - atleast that is what i was told! try using that thing for other extensions like .avi or .xml! it should result in a bunch of links to file instead of websites! :wink:

#11

[quote=“blenderanim”]

I don’t know. I searched and couldn’t find an explanation either. I asked in that thread, but didn’t get a response. I guess the easy answer is “it works”. If you don’t use the -h -h, you don’t get any results.[/quote]

You don’t need two -h’s, one works the same. The minus just represents that you do not search for stuff that contains the letter ‘h’ on its own. I think you have to do it because google is probably programmed to take a search term and then look for files that have the term + type. I don’t see why it would need that but the google docs say:

If you prefer to see a particular set of results with a specific file type (for example, PDF links), simply type filetype:[extension] (for example, filetype:pdf) within the search box along with your search term(s).

Anyway, it’s better if you use a search term that won’t be contained in your files such as filetype:blend -gobblesplat. This way you get more search results. I get 2500 blend files with this.

#12

I don’t know. I searched and couldn’t find an explanation either. I asked in that thread, but didn’t get a response. I guess the easy answer is “it works”. If you don’t use the -h -h, you don’t get any results.[/quote]

You don’t need two -h’s, one works the same. The minus just represents that you do not search for stuff that contains the letter ‘h’ on its own. I think you have to do it because google is probably programmed to take a search term and then look for files that have the term + type. I don’t see why it would need that but the google docs say:

If you prefer to see a particular set of results with a specific file type (for example, PDF links), simply type filetype:[extension] (for example, filetype:pdf) within the search box along with your search term(s).

Anyway, it’s better if you use a search term that won’t be contained in your files such as filetype:blend -gobblesplat. This way you get more search results. I get 2500 blend files with this.[/quote]

that is what i meant - sorry i have a problem with articulating! :expressionless: