Official Blender v2.43 Guide

General Forums Blender and CG Discussions
1

Being brand new to blender, coming from Maya PLE (but hating the atrocious watermarks, and not quite willing to fork out 2k for a working copy) I was wondering if anyone knew if an updated “Official Blender Guide” would become available for purchase anytime soon?

Blender seems like an awesome program, but the user interface confuses the heck outta me, not to mention the other changes from maya to blender…

~icarian

2

I am not aware of a comprehensive Guide to 2.43 being available, but you can find the up-to-date tutorials and documentation for more current versions on The Blender Wiki, just scroll down the page to “Blender User’s Documentation”.

I found the Blender: Noob to Pro wikibook and the Blender Summer of Documentation tutorials very helpful when I was getting started in Blender after using 3DS Max.

I hope that helps!

3

A new ‘Blender Basics’ book will be out in March, I believe. Do a search in these forums for more info.

Also, there’s an ‘Introduction to Character Animation’ out soon (now, maybe?).

.

4

It comes out in a few days (February 27th I believe) and can be preordered through Amazon - Introducing Character Animation With Blender.

5

There is a one page version of the current manual in printable version here :
http://wiki.blender.org/index.php?title=Manual/Complete&printable=yes

Jean

6

for a small introduction: http://www.blendercourse.com/
and eventually the Blender classroom Manual from cdschools.org

7

Also, seeing as you’re coming from Maya, you may want this

Maya to Blender: Hotkey Converter

8

thanks everyone for your suggestions, and i’ll also be eagerly awaiting the release of the new book in march-ish…

~icarian

9

Ah, you are a bit confused, there are two books.

Intro to Character Animation focuses mainly on the animation and character modeling aspects of Blender.

“Blender Basics” will be a book published by the Blender Foundation itself, if I’m not mistaken.:confused:

10

blender basics would be the one i was looking forward to in early-mid-late march-ish.

Im sure, from what ive seen people do with blender, that blender will more than suit my needs for short film production once i learn the basics, its just the UI is such a pain in the bum.

11

Oh, I hadn’t heard about Blender Basics. Nice to hear there is more than one title coming out.