The book has been very well received, and I want to thank those of you who contacted me personally about it. Much appreciated. I see this morning that Amazon only has two left in stock (more on the way). Wow! Never thought I’d do something that would “sell out.”
On a down note, it seems that the Focal editorial team (who are generally superb) missed one edit I had given them. If you run across it (and you will), here’s the fix:
In Chapter 4, when we work through modeling a chair, I had indicated to them to remove the instructions on using the Bridge Faces tool and provided new instructions for doing it “by hand.” They added the “by hand” section, but didn’t remove the other. So, when you come to the bit about “bridge faces,” just skip the rest of that paragraph and move onto the next one. Sorry about that. Hope you didn’t give up on Blender in frustration when you hit that part.
And please remember, if you’re stuck, have a question, etc., you can email me at the address found in the book. I almost always respond the same day, and really do love hearing from people who are using the book.
is now shipping!Let’s clear up three bits of grief first. The book cover and text reads “Blender 2.6″. Unfortunately, when the cover art was finalized and locked at the printer’s several months ago, the official (and unofficial) word was that the released version of the Blender after all of these alphas and betas would be called Blender 2.6. That has changed. We had to make a call, and we made the wrong one. So don’t be scared of the “2.6″. It’s entirely cosmetic.
I’ve also heard a couple of grumbles from people that the book was written based on “pre-release” software. The simple fact is that Blender is pretty much always “pre-release.” We’re not like these giant, sluggish software companies that do a release once every two years, giving writers and other documenters a huge amount of time to make docs that last. With Blender, if you start to write a book about an official release on the day it’s released, your resulting book will be out of date and probably at least one release behind by the time it starts to ship. So choose your poison: the future or the past.
Finally, the title. There was some controversy (hopefully all internal) regarding the book’s title. The Blender Foundation posed an object to the publisher that the title would could confuse people into thinking that the book was both an officially sanctioned publication of the Foundation it isn’t), and/or that it was a sequel to The Essential Blender. The Foundation and Focal Press were able to come to an agreement that the parties satisfied (I believe). Personally, I think it’s pretty clear what items come directly from the Foundation or have official sanction: you buy them in the e-shop on blender.org. That’s pretty much it. If I’m wrong, and you were personally confused, please put me some knowledge in the comments. On the notion of it being a sequel to Essential… If The Essential Blender was important for you because the title and who published it, then this is definitely not a sequel. However, if you appreciated Essential for the quality of instruction and the thought that went into it, then in spirit this book is a sequel.
With that stuff out of the way, here is what you get with Blender Foundations: The Essential Guide to Learning Blender 2.5 (2.6). The book takes you from zero knowledge, through the interface and into a field-tested practical instruction project that has a number of goals. First, you’ll produce a (very) short scene with an animated character, full set and production lighting. The final product of the book can be seen below in the embedded video. If you’ve been using Blender for a long time, that’s not going to be amazingly impressive to you, but the fact is that if you’ve never done 3D before or only dabbled, you’ll go from knowing nothing to producing that by the end of the book which is significant. Also, if you’re wanting to transition from another piece of software (Blender 2.4 series included), the examples demonstrate all of the major skill areas you’ll need to know. Third, I’ve gone to great lengths to give this book a “point of view” when it comes to art and working in 3D. It’s not just a tutorial (and it certainly isn’t a tools reference!) that shows you what buttons to push. Instead, I’ve tried to teach you how to think when you’re working in 3D.
The support website for the book, located at www.blenderfoundations.com, is a work in progress. It currently has all of the screenshots from the book, all of the sample files and textures, and a number of sections of added content that were not in the book. For example, the book tutorials on building a table and chair don’t have a screen shot with every single step. That would be silly to put into a book. However, you get a screen shot for every step of the way for those projects on the website. Also, there are a pile of animation clips and examples from the animation chapter. There are a couple of pieces I’m still working on (a hair styling video is one example), and I’m putting them up as quickly as I can make them.
One last bit that I need to implement on the site is an erratta section. I’ve had a few reports from readers so far of minor errors, or things that I should probably note. Probably by next weekend I’ll have the errata section for each chapter working, so you can always check the web site for the latest updates in case the developers do something that breaks the book horribly. Of course, I don’t anticipate that happening. Most of the stuff in the book is fairly basic, already hammered-out functionality. The only real difference is in the tools panel for the sculpting and painting tools. I’m working to get updated screen shots into the website for those so you can see what they look like if the minor differences bother you in the book.
So, if you’re looking to learn the new Blender series (2.5) and you like to learn via books (which not everyone does), I highly recommend this one. You get the same superior quality of instruction as my last two works (The Essential Blender and Creating Short Animations with Blender — just pop over to Amazon and read the reviews), as well as the superior production values that Focal Press brings to their publications (full color throughout, top grade paper, very nice typesetting).
Oh, and the last thing you get is me. I’m always available through animation@harkyman.com. I love to hear success stories and to see what you’ve produced. I’m also sensitive and responsive to problems you have with the stuff I’ve built. I think that I’ve created a superior educational product with this book, and I care very much about how it works for you. If you have a problem with it, I want to know about it so I can either fix it, or do it better the next time. In any case, I’ll do my best to help you.
And that’s it. Get the book. It’s really good. You won’t be sorry (unless you’re perpetually and indiscriminantly sorry, in which case I can’t help you).
The Animator’s Survival Kit by Richard Williams is one of the Bibles of modern animation. Not only does it give a fascinating inside look at some of the real work horses behind the animation we grew up watching, it also provides immensely practical formulas and templates for your own work. I’d read it before, but decided to finally buy it and make it my vacation reading last week. I can’t tell you how useful this book is for animation work.
As a warm up for my next book, I’ve been building a rig and doing some animation. The other morning, I spent about forty-five minutes doing a walk using the techniques in Survival Kit. It blew me away how following the tidbits of advice in there instantly infused an otherwise dull cycle with weight and life. Check it below:
Also, we were hard up for dinner ideas, so I made do with what was in the house. This takes 1/2 hour, start to finish, and turned out great:
Two chicken breasts, defrosted and thrown on the grill
Half a red onion, several close of garlic, and a small jar of artichoke hears, diced together
Heat olive oil in iron skillet. Salt oil and throw in handful of Italian spices once oil is hot.
Cook garlic/onion/arti’s in oil until they begin to soften
Meanwhile, cook ravioli (or tortellini, rigontini or other cheese-bearing pasta)
Put 1/2-1 cup of white wine into skillet with veggies and oil. Add 1 Tsp butter. Let simmer.
Dice grilled chicken and add to skillet.
Serve chicken/veggie skillet over pasta. Add fresh parmesean if you have it.
So, after almost fifteen years in the printing business, I’ve moved on to much greener pastures. First, a little history.
Programming. Animating. Writing. These are the things I did as a kid, lo those many years ago. I wrote games, utilities and graphics demonstrations on my Dad’s TI. I wrote stories and poems constantly. I made elaborate flip-book animations in every notepad I could find. And always, the three would cross-pollinate. I’d write on the word processor that I’d developed on my own. I’d program graphics visualizations and put animation into my games.
And now, how very fitting that I find myself doing the same thing as an adult. I write books about animation software, software of which I’m both one of the (very minor) developers, and one of the users. But writing isn’t my new job. It’s software development. Almost thirty years after I touched my first keyboard and typed
10 PRINT "YOU SUCK"
20 GOTO 10
Someone is actually paying me to write and maintain software, and that’s probably what I’m going to end up doing in one capacity or another until I’m too old to make my fingers strike a keyboard. It’s funny, and a long, weird road.
Ton used to say to me, when I’d start talking about some coding project I wanted to do in Blender “No! No! Write books! That’s what you’re good at!” And it turns out that I am good at that, and I’m grateful for the shot he gave me with organizing “The Essential Blender.” It also turns out that development, or coding, or whatever you want to call it, is buried just as deeply within my bones as writing.
As I was mowing the lawn tonight, I was contemplating the path ahead for many people in my position: management. The thought came into my head: “Nope. If I’m not inside the computer, I’m not happy.” And thinking back, it’s always been that way for me.
So I want to give a huge thanks to Ton, and to Blender, and to the community that recognized its potential, payed the ransom for, and ran like the wind. Without the Open Source nature of Blender to fiddle around with, so many things for me just wouldn’t have happened like they did. Working on Blender has allowed me to be “inside” the computer in a very meaningful way over the last several years.
Of course, I’m still waiting for the day when I’m independently wealthy enough to take a whole summer off of work, drag my family to the Netherlands and donate my time just doing whatever needs to be done. But until then, I’m going to enjoy my new job, enjoy my family, and keep trying to become more than just a hack animator.
by Richard Williams is one of the Bibles of modern animation. Not only does it give a fascinating inside look at some of the real work horses behind the animation we grew up watching, it also provides immensely practical formulas and templates for your own work. I’d read it before, but decided to finally buy it and make it my vacation reading last week. I can’t tell you how useful this book is for animation work.