This book has been brought to you by the efforts of the fine folks listed on the Authors & Contributors page and a few people who just edit anonymously.

[edit] Introduction

This book can be seen as a series of tutorials arranged to help new users achieve expertise in Blender. The tutorials will increase in difficulty but enable intermediate users to quickly advance into whatever tutorial most suits their knowledge and continue along the sequence. We've made concerted efforts to accommodate everyone.

The tutorials should be followed in sequence by Blender beginners; do not skip ahead in tutorials and expect to be able to understand the content, since tutorials build upon the lessons learned in the previous ones.

Sometimes it's good to set goals and write down what you want to achieve in Blender. If you tell yourself, "I want to animate [what you want to animate]," write it down! It'll help you focus on the task at hand.

The latest version of Blender can be downloaded from here.

This book is one of the Blender-related Wikibooks. Have a look at the complementary ones.

Should you find this tutorial insufficient, or in some way uninformative, you can also consult The Blender Wiki. It should be useful, but more technical than this tutorial.

[edit] Contributing to this book

If you would like to contribute to this book, you are strongly encouraged (read as begged) to do so! There are a couple of things you may wish to do.

[edit] Editing a page

Simply click on the edit this page link at the top of whichever page you would like to edit! Your contribution will have to be reviewed before it is officially published, so using these pages to spam, flame or link to a e.g., pornographic site is a waste of time and energy. This also applies to spam and flaming. You can also ask questions and make comments about each page by clicking the discussion tab at the top of the page.

[edit] Adding a page

If you would like to add a page to the book, such as a new tutorial page or a reference page, create a link to it under the Contents section on this very page. Then with that link live, click it to be taken to the new page where you will be able to create content for the page. If you're putting up a tutorial and you don't know where it belongs, put it in the Miscellaneous section for now and we will tweak it and put it in the right spot. For instructions on how to name your pages appropriately, see our team mission statement and vision.

To maintain ease of navigation throughout the book, please be sure to create links to the pages before and after your new page, using the template shown here. Also be sure to update the page before and after your new page with links to your new page. You can skip this step if you think the page you are putting in will likely be moved from where you put it, but in this case you should also ask for an opinion via the discussion tab.

[edit] Adding Images

In Blender tutorials, images are definitely a must-have. They help clarify your point, institute a standard and reference by which a new designer may judge their work, and in essence improve the teaching process of this book at least tenfold. However, there is an especially great problem with incorrect copyright attribution usage in Blender, which is leading to more and more images being removed from the pages and from Wikibooks altogether. These seriously hamper the tutorials, especially if the original author is gone, and can make a once-great tutorial completely invalid and useless. Even if you believe that you know what copyright to use, please check the proper Blender images copyright page and see how you should add copyright and where.

[edit] Guidelines for including images

  • Check Wikimedia Commons to see if the image you specifically want to use already exists, as uploading the same image twice is wasteful.
  • Make sure to check our image portfolio if you're about to upload a general image (such as icons or buttons) or if you want to use someone else's image as an example. Remember to attribute, if necessary. If you upload an image to the Commons and use it in this Wikibook, please create an entry in the portfolio log. This will help us check its copyright and we will file your image away for safe-keeping and later use.

[edit] What you probably don't want to add

  • Noob notes, e.g. questions regarding the text or comments, should not be put on the page itself. The discussion pages are exactly for that.
  • External links are normally only helpful to some extent (except the manual of course). If they are not directly related to the article they will probably be deleted, so why add them in the first place?

[edit] Become a member of the team!

If you want to join and work with the team, read our team page for information and advice.

[edit] Table of Contents

Wikibook Development Stages
Under Construction File:UnderConstruction.Jpg Sparse text Image:00%.svg Developing text Image:25%.svg Maturing text Image:50%.svg Developed text Image:75%.svg Comprehensive text: Image:100%.svg

[edit] Index

[edit] Blender Help

[edit] Glossaries

[edit] Unit 1: Knowing Blender

[edit] Avoiding Headaches: Good Modeling Practices

[edit] Thinking in 3D

[edit] Learning the Graphical User Interface

[edit] Unit 2: Creation and Development

[edit] Learn to Model

[edit] Modeling a Simple Person

[edit] Beyond Basics

[edit] Creating Models With Photo Assistance

[edit] Curve and Path Modeling

[edit] Materials and Textures

[edit] Utilizing Materials and Textures

[edit] UV Maps

[edit] Unit 3: Broadening Horizons

[edit] Lighting

[edit] Rendering

[edit] Basic Animation

[edit] Particle Systems

[edit] Soft Bodies

[edit] Blender Game Engine Basics

[edit] Unit 4: Taking Off with Advanced Tutorials

[edit] Python Scripting

[edit] Advanced Modeling

[edit] Advanced Animation

[edit] Advanced Game Engine

[edit] Miscellaneous Tutorials

[edit] Resource Directories