Blender 3D 2.49 Incredible Machines

Allan Brito

• Publisher: Packt Publishing
• Year: 2009
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781847197467
• Topic: Computer Science
• Subtopic: Information Technology
• Index: Computer Science

In Detail

Blender 3D provides all the features you need to create super-realistic 3D models of machines for use in artwork, movies, and computer games. Blender 3D 2.49 Incredible Machines gives you step-by-step instructions for building weapons, vehicles, robots, and more.

This book will show you how to use Blender 3D for mechanical modeling and product visualization. Through the pages of the book, you will find a step-by-step guide to create three different projects: a fantasy weapon, a spacecraft, and a giant robot. Even though these machines are not realistic, you will be able to build your own sensible and incredible machines with the techniques that you will learn in this book along with the exercises and examples.

All the three sections of this book, which cover three projects, are planned to have an increasing learning curve. The first project is about a hand weapon, and with that we can image a small-sized object with tiny details. This first part of the book will show you how to deal with these details and model them in Blender 3D.

In the second project, we will create a spacecraft, adding a bit of scale to the project, and new materials and textures as well. With this project, we will be working with metal, glass, and other elements that make the spacecraft. Along with the object, a new space environment will be created in the book too.

At the end we have a big and complex object, which is the transforming robot. This last part of the book will cover the modeling of two objects and show how you can make one transform into the other. The scale and number of objects in this project are quite big, but the same principles as in the other projects are applied here with a step-by-step guide on how to go through the workflow of the project.

A practical guide on how to model, texture, and render incredible machines like robots, vehicles, and guns.

Approach

This book presents practical tutorials and focuses on fun projects. It contains a lot of serious training material, but is presented in a fun and entertaining way.

Who this book is for

This book targets game designers/developers, artists, and product designers who want to create realistic images, 3D models, and videos of machines. You are expected to have experience with basic Blender operation, as the book is not a 'getting started' tutorial.

Blender 3D 2.49 Incredible Machines

Allan Brito

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Table of Contents

Blender 3D 2.49 Incredible Machines

Credits

About the Author

About the Reviewers

Preface

What this book covers

What you need for this book

Who this book is for

Conventions

Reader feedback

Customer support

Errata

Piracy

Questions

1. Machinery Modeling and Visualization with Blender

Blender history

Working with Blender

Blender 3D, YafaRay, and GIMP

What is an Incredible Machine?

How the book is organized

Do I have to know Blender already?

How to know more about Blender 3D

Summary

2. Modeling a Handgun

Briefing and concept

Objectives

Why a hand weapon?

Parts of the model

Modeling workflow

Best modeling technique for this project

Effects and rendering

Summary

3. Polygon Modeling of the Weapon

Starting with a background image

Using subdivision to model

Modeling the hand wrap

Modeling the small and removable parts

Using hooks to place and align objects

Summary

4. Adding Details

Tools and techniques for detailing

Face normals

Adding the handgrip

Using the spin tool to close a model

Adding creases and rounded details

Summary

5. Rendering the Project with YafaRay

YafaRay renderer

Installing YafaRay

Creating a studio environment

Adding light to the scene

How YafaRay works

Setting lights in YafaRay

Adding materials to the weapon

Framing the weapon

Final render with YafaRay

Summary

6. Steampunk Spacecraft

Steampunk concept

Spacecraft concept

Project workflow

Building edges and planes for the spacecraft

Creating the first section of the spacecraft

Modeling the wing

Modeling the front

Summary

7. Working with Smaller Areas

Modeling the front of the spacecraft

Adding details to the wing

Modeling the engines

Creating the bottom of the spacecraft

Creating the weapons

Mirroring the spacecraft

Closing the cockpit

Detailing the fuselage

Modeling auxiliary engines

Adding cables and wires

Using curves

Twisting the cables

Adding the cables to the model

Summary

8. Advanced UV Mapping

UV mapping in Blender

What is UV mapping?

Using UV mapping in Blender

Using smart projections

UV test grid

Using the unwrap tool

Planning the unwrap

Controlling and editing the UV layout

Pinning and unpinning vertices

Live Unwrap Transform

Editing the UV

Exporting the layout

Editing the texture

Summary

9. Putting the Spacecraft to Fly and Shoot with Special Effects

Blender particles

How particles work

Creating particles

Adding speed and force fields

The rear engine

The guns

Summary

10. Rendering the Spacecraft with YafaRay

Environment setup in YafaRay—creating a physical sky

Single Color

Gradient

Texture

SunSky

DarkTide's SunSky

Materials and textures in YafaRay

Setting up a metal material

Creating the glass in the cockpit

Rendering the scene

Rendering a night view of the spacecraft

Summary

11. Transforming Robot

What is a transforming robot?

How big will the robot be?

Textures and materials

Rendering with LuxRender

Mixing modeling and animation

Modeling the object with poly modeling

Choosing a modeling technique

Modeling the legs

Modeling the main body

Modeling the head

Modeling the arms

Summary

12. Using Modifiers and Curves to Create Details for the Robot and Scene

Modifiers

Using the bevel modifier to chamfer the edges of the model

Using the array modifier to add rivets

Creating wires and cables with curves and hooks

Adding details to the robot

Modeling the scenario

Modeling the stands for the robots

Creating the storage boxes

Modeling lights

Summary

13. Making the Robot Look Metallic with Materials in LuxRender

Installing LuxRender

Using LuxBlend

Setting up materials for the robot

Adding textures to the ground of the scene

Summary

14. Adding Lights to the Scene and Rendering with LuxRender

Unbiased render engine—how it works

How to add light sources in LuxRender

Using objects as light sources

Light groups

Environment for rendering

Rendering the scene

Summary

15. It's Alive! Animating the Robot

Animation controls and hierarchies

Removing the hierarchy

Joints and pivots

Using empties as helper objects

Pivots without empties

Posing the robot

Using two robots for posing

Basic animation with the robot

Adding keyframes and movement

Animating objects

Erasing keyframes

Distributing the robots

Rendering and animating the lights

Summary

16. Post Production of the Robot

Using LuxRender for post production

Saving and resuming a render

Applying lens effects

Gaussian Bloom

Vignetting

C. Aberration

Glare

HDR Histogram

Noise reduction

Removing the noise in GIMP

Summary

Index

Blender 3D 2.49 Incredible Machines

Copyright © 2009 Packt Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.

Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented. However, the information containe...

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• Blender 3D 2.49 Incredible Machines