Blender 2.5 HOTSHOT

• Complex shading techniques, including the usage of the material's node system.
• Combine computer generated images with live footage using compositing techniques.
• Basic methodology for creating an armature, setting it up, skinning a model and animating it.
• Useful tools, along with some tips and tricks for architectural rendering.
• Smart and powerful usage of procedural textures.
• Improve the final result of your renders with the compositing system.
• Set up configuration and code for the Blender Game Engine, such as logic bricks and Python scripts.
• Reuse data from external .blend files by means of the library system.

Blender 2.5 Hotshot will show you how powerful and capable Blender 3D is when you exploit its full potential. Move beyond basic tasks in Blender 3d and dive into more challenging territory. Ditch simple boring characters in favor of creating more detailed, visually rich, and polished results.

We will start by covering all the steps involved in producing a complete image from scratch by working on a scene of a starship; then we'll go into working with blueprints by creating an aircraft scene and a car model. Next you will use the video editor by creating a professional looking demo-reel followed by the game engine to create an interactive first person architectural walkthrough.

Since each chapter is a complete project you'll also learn to create very nice materials, including multi-layered textures and the usage of color ramps to achieve special effects. On the lighting part you'll be learning various tricks to control how each light behaves and affects the scene, along with some basic setups for common situations. On the modeling part you'll be working both on mechanical and organic objects, learning some key concepts along the way.

Compositing is widely used to take normal renders to the next level and add some nice special effects like glare. You will even have the opportunity to write some Python code for the game engine. Finally, you'll work on creating a snail using some advanced texturing tricks and compositing it into real footage.

Create very cool scenes from scratch and learn basic concepts and good techniques along the way

Using a projects based approach you will learn fun and challenging aspects of Blender 3D development. With each project you will be able to show off a creation that utilizes Blender 3D maximum potential.

If you are already able to perform some basic tasks with Blender 3D and want to go from the simple and boring renders of monkey-headed characters living in box-like scenes to creating more detailed, visually richer, and more polished results then this book is for you. It will give you a good idea of the amount of complexity required for real-world projects and help you in deciding what area you are going to specialize in later on.

This book is also useful if you are a user of any other 3D package wanting to get up and running fast with Blender 3D.