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Many people degrade Blender due to the fact that it is free and lacks some features that high-end applications contain. However, I find myself disagreeing with these people. Blender is worthy of commercial work and I believe it should be adopted by studios so they can contribute to Blender's growth. To see a comparison chart that is fairly recent please visit this link.

Posted Wednesday April 22, 2009.

Blender is currently in the version 2.4x era, which is coming to a close with version 2.49 on its way in late April. There is big news about Blender 2.5, which will redesign the way the interface and tools work. Their will be new features for the animation system, events and users can make their own customizable hotkeys. Check it out at Blender.org. Below is an image regarding the new version.

Posted Wednesday April 8, 2009.

I have mentioned before that Blender has a real-time game engine within it to create your own video games. Blender has had this feature for a while, but lately it has improved dramatically. In 2008, the Blender Foundation organized an "open game" project where a team of developers created a video game and pushed the boundaries of what Blender can achieve. This game is called Yo Frankie. Yo Frankie is derived from the open movie called Big Buck Bunny and its source code and game is free for download. The game Yo Frankie can be downloaded in two versions: one with the internal game engine and one with the Crystal Space engine. Blender's internal game engine is based on the Bullet Physics Library. Bullet is an open source physics engine designed for the Playstattion 3. The features for the engine are impressive for open source software.

Posted Wednesday April 1, 2009

I have begun to dive into my learning experience with Blender and it is doing good. Right now I am trying to fully comprehend the user interface and memorize all the shortcuts. The program is centered aroud effeciency and a fast workflow. So once I am strong at the inteface then learning the program itself won't be so dificult. Currently I am using Blender for Dummies as a guide to learning the program but I have also dicovered a new helpful resource called Blender Underground. Blender Underground provides very helpful video tutorials on the program. It also features forums for users for any questions about the program.

Posted Wednesday March 25, 2009.

A very useful shop is the Blender E-Shop, an online store that sells anything related to the program Blender such as t-shirts, movies, or tutorial DVDs. You may wonder why buy something when you can just look it up online. The money recieved by the shop is used to help the Blender Foundation and improve the program. In a way you are purchasing something as well as donating some money. I personally purchased Learning Character Animation. It is a very helpful DVD on animation in Blender and I would recommend it to anyone. Anyways, check the store out and help advance the possibilites of Blender.

Posted Wednesday March 18, 2009

One of the very interesting topics that I enjoy researching about Blender is its physics capabilities. Considering it's an open source software it contains interesting physics such as cloth and particles. These are all computer calculations which is why is appears so realistic. The following links show off Blenders physics:

Cloth

Game Engine Physics

Softbodies

Posted on Wednesday March 12, 2009

Blender's interface is perhaps the most interesting and creative interface I have come across in a computer program. There are no overlapping windows and the customization is very powerful. Many new users to Blender are intimidated by this unique interface which causes them to lose interest in the program. There is a steep learning curve to Blender due to its interace but its purpose is for speed and efficiency. Many tutorials start out by introducing the interface which is normal for any program. But with blender it is perhaps one of the biggest topics to master because it applies to the workflow and affects speed.

Posted Wednesday March 4, 2009

Before really getting into what Blender does and the progress I have been making with it, I feel it is necessary to demonstrate what Blender is capable of. Blender has been around for a while and has obtained a great community that has produced impressive projects. The first noteworthy project is the one called Elephants Dream. The movie is bizarre but shows the capabilies Blender had back in 2006. The next big project is called Big Buck Bunny. This is a great movie that introduced fur to Blender in 2008. Following Big Buck Bunny was the game Yo Frankie a game created with Blender. Blender has a game engine which allows for the creation of games. As you can see Blender is quite capable of creating professional looking content and is comparable to the leading 3D software applications.

Posted on Thursday, February 26, 2009

There are many resources out there to learn blender. In this blog entry I will point out many resources beginners and advanced users may use to learn this program. Probably the most obvious resource is blender.org. It is the main site where you download the program and it contains links to tutorials, a manual and documentation. It even has a link to its own wikibook. This will be the first place to look when it comes to an introduction to Blender. Blender has a massive online community. Therefore you can find tutorials all over the Internet in several websites. A great website that has recently become popular is blenducation.org. This site contains classes that people can sign up for and pay for to learn blender. The classes are done online and broacast at certain times. There are also several books for blender such as Blender for Dummies, The Essential Blender: Guide to 3D Creation with the Open Source Suite Blender, Introducing Character Animation with Blender, Animating with Blender: How to Create Short Animations from Start to Finish, Blender 3D Architecture, Buildings, and Scenery: Create photorealistic 3D architectural visualizations of buildings, interiors, and environmental scenery. These are all books you can find on Amazon.com.

Those are the main resources that you can find relating to Blender. These are all you need to create a strong foundation in this powerful open source application. So if you are interested in learning the program this is a great start.

Posted Wednesday Feb 18, 2009

Hello. Welcome to my blog. This blog has a focus on the field of 3D computer art and the open source program Blender. My main interest is that of Blender 3D and becoming more familiar with it. The Blender site is located at www.blender.org which provides all the information a person would need to know about it. Blender is a wonderful 3D creation suite and is continuously improving itself due to its supportive community. As I continue this blog I will update my knowlege of the program and what skills I have learned with it.

Posted Sunday Feb 15, 2009