Help. I’m completely new to digital art and just downloaded Blender 2.5 for Mac OS. I am utterly bewildered. There seems to be no clear place to begin doing or learning anything,. The very first page of instructions for using Blender 2.5 on Mac immediately made unclear reference to extra developer software I must download…I can’t tell what I need…looks like the 3-button instructions are going to be weird on the Mac, too…old manuals don’t apply to this 2.5 version of Blender…I’m completely bewildered. How do I even start to learn to use Blender 2.5x??
It’s best for me if I have an actual paper book of instruction so that I don’t have to have multiple windows open on my screen; or, failing that, if I can have instructions that occupy just a single window. I’d like to download instructions so that I don’t have to be online to read them.
As someone who is not very accomplished with Blender and shares your frustration, I might advise you to start with 2.49, about which you can find more documentation at this point.
Also, it helps to lower your expectations about what blender can do… you’ll see all sorts of awesome features advertised, but often times these won’t be available in the main build for quite some time… (if you’re savvy enough, you can special builds that might have the nifty, but as-yet buggy and undocumented features working at a site called graphicall.org).
I like blender and use blender, but I’m much more satisfied when I don’t believe the hype and keep expectations low… Not to disparage any contributors-- programming and documenting a project as large and complex as blender is fantastically difficult.
There is some great beginner tutorials on YouTube. Also check out BlenderCookie.com and BlenderGuru.com for some free tuts. Better and faster than reading.
I remember reading how to do the Gingerbread man three years ago and it was totally frustrating because I had not learned the basics. Video tuts are the best imho.
Oh, yes, Blender is very, very overestimated ( but check Sintel or Big Buck trailers)!
The great thing, is that you’ll not lament the money you’ve spent to buy it!
Now, if you just start to learn 3D…?
Me I’m trying to play some Paganini’s violin works and I’m crying every day!
Bye
As FloridaJo wrote, check on Google or Bing by just typing Blender 2.5 tutorial… And you’ll be amazed about how many tuts allready are present on the web.
Now, what the three buttons are concerned: make sure you have or get a real 3BM… Don’t go for emulating on keyboard, because keyboarding is allready complicated enough as is. Don’t use the MX Revolution, because the scrolle wheel doesn’t work as MMB at all. Just take any “cheap” Logitech and you’ll be able to use it right away on your Mac.
Good Luck