Essential Blender
May 23rd, 2007 by admin
The Essential Blender is the next official book from the Blender Foundation. It’s packed with almost 400 pages of tutorials and discussions that can help to get you up to speed with the most popular animation software in the world*. Although more advanced topics like scripting and simulation are touched on, the book focuses on teaching the basic skills needed to become familiar with this ever-evolving open source package.
For the complete 3D newcomer, there is a chapter to get you oriented in the world of 3D computer animation. For users already comfortable with the concepts, the book covers the interface, basic object manipulation and animation, mesh and sculpt modeling, character rigging and animation, shape animation, particles, lighting, materials and texturing, UV mapping and the spectacular node-based compositor.
It’s neither a comprehensive reference like the Blender 2.3 Guide, nor a complete “newbie tour.” Everyone, even old Blender hands, will learn something from this book.
I was the development and overall editor of the book, as well as being the lead author (about 60% of text). The book has sold really well during pre-order, and I can only hope that this success continues once the book actually lands in peoples’ laps.
If you’re on the fence about whether or not to buy this book — take my word for it! 
_ Buy it!
Of course, you can always ask your local library to acquire it, too, then borrow it to your heart’s content.
Hello Harkyman,
I’m really looking forward to the new book!
Hello,
I am interested in learning Blender this summer and I might buy the “Essential Blender” for that purpose. I would like to know if the book can be bought online in a US store or if it can only be bought from the Blender Foundation: being a student, I would be happy to save on the $13 shipping from Europe !
Thank you for your time and for your achievements in the Blender community,
Maxime Curioni
I’m a library supplier in Madrid and am trying to purchase a copy of the Essential Blender. How do I order it?
Thanks,
David
Solochek Libros, S.L.
I just got it – great, even-though the postman woke me up.
No, seriously I just got started with reading and trying. Love it!
Thank you!
Hi Roland,
I got the book and I’m enjoying it very much.
I would like to report that on chapter 4, page 86, the first paragraph additional information could be given to Gnome users. If you press Alt-RMB on Gnome (Metacity) the window menu will appear. Ubuntu users will experience this.
To change this default behavior it’s necessary to open the configuration editor (Applications > System Tools > Configuration Editor), and clear /apps/metacity/general/mouse_button_modifier.
Kind Regards,
Sergio
Hi Roland,
Also on page 89, 5th paragraph, it would be useful to say that PAGE-UP and PAGE-DOWN also change the radius of the proportional editing tool area of influence. Some people like me don’t have a scrolling wheel in the mouse.
Thanks,
Sergio
Is there a support forum for this book, I’m on page 84 and did the gz1 and gx1… but this moved the object center as well and now the mirror modifier is not working… as a fix I moved the 3d cursor to the right center position and clicked on “center cursor” in mesh menu.
Did I missed anything, did I do anything wrong?
Markus
Hi
I have been reading the book for the last week now and is helping to fill in some missing areas for me and there is one issue I have found with the DVD is that there is only one lighting example blend file in the folder called “Lighting” and this is the cracked pot sample, but the book mentions all the lighting examples should be on the DVD.
Is there somewhere I can download all the lighting examples like the “studio lighting” (using 3 x area lights, chrome ball and cylinder) as these seem to have been missed on the DVD.
many thanks for a great resource!
I found the page:
http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Books/Essential_Blender
Markus
The book is great. But the CD-ROM is maybe corrupted. I cannot find any of example files mentioned in the Chapter concerning lighting (Discussion part) from Mathias Pedersen. Can these files be downloaded somewhere?
Thank you
I picked up the hard copy of your book on amazon. Great, great. A very nice ambassador for Blender. Really understands the beginner, things as simple as resetting the 3d cursor, finding your work after a clumsy keystroke, all explained. The kind of troubles a beginner gets into. Easy to fix, but hard to find if you don’t already know. Just the right amount of repetition to make it stick without getting monotonous.
One trouble I have… modern publishing. I have managed to demolish the cdrom contained in the paperback volume which offers little protection. Any way to find these files out there, somewhere? I am stuck just past multires sculpting.
m really looking forward to the new blender essential book , any idea on how to ship it to africa
Comment mostly deleted by admin here. This isn’t a community website or book review area. I pay for it with my own time and money. If you bought the book from Amazon or the Blender e-shop and feel that it’s worthless, see if they’ll give you your money back. Feel free to review the book poorly over there. This is my house, though, so really, consider your words here as a guest. Don’t be rude. Sorry the book didn’t work for you. The tutorial site you linked I’ll let stand as some people might find it useful…
Tutorial site linked by commenter as an alternative to my horribly useless book: http://www.gryllus.net/Blender/3D.html
I found the book usefull, Allways we get a troll in our road …
Just ordered your book and am looking forward to it. Its a shame that there are some people out there that don’t have any manners.
I am sure that your book is going to be of great help.
Thank you for your efforts.
Bob
Bought it and love it.
Got the book and blender vers 2.48a a few days ago. I really like both, but am having trouble with chapter seven. After making the knee bones form the leg bones, making the leg controller bone its parent, and going back to pose mode, the leg, foot, toe, knee and ankle bones all rotate about the ankle joint. If I tab back to edit mode the rotation goes away.
Sorry to post this hre, but I was not able to find a forum on blender.org to ask, nor any errata covering this. I can send a screen capture or the .blend file to anyone who might be able to help.
thanks,
I just bought the book for my son…the DVD is cracked. Is there anywhere that I can just purchase the DVD?
Thanks,
Dave
Like the book but page 95 is driving me nuts. The plane will not appear on the other pillars. I have tried a 50 other ways to make it work but it will not happen. Can you tell me where I can find the answer? Looked in Blender.org but it seems I am the only person in the world with this problem… Help..
Hi! I’m sorry to bother but I’ve just bought two of your books (”Essential Blender” and “Animating with Blender” -this is for later on-) and I’ve found troubles with key “loc” grabbing in the 3D view while in “key mode” (chapter 3, page 56) in versions 2.48a; what happens is that when adding intermediate keys (i) for the electron in the key mode (k), the old keys keep selected and when you try to move (g) the new one, they all move! I’m not sure if this is a bug or if it’s just that the way of doing this changed…
I’ve managed to solve this by selecting the key in the IPO window (thank’s to the g blender community), but if this is a minor bug I would like to report it (and I don’t know where).
Thank you very much! I’m loving your books!!! (sorry about my English!)
I’m really looking forward to the nice book!
Nice book.. I’m following through it, on page 165 it seems there is some inconsistencies with the new Blender 2.48a , one there is no “Cntrl-I” it’s now “Shift-I” and when doing the knee step, the left and right lower leg bones are duplicated instead, and when the knee bone is parented to the left leg controller, there is something like a feedback loop that sends the controller spinning out of control.
I’ll put copies of my blend file at
http://www.chann3lz.com/harkyman
I think a better solution for this book would be to put it online, but put a comments area below every page or below a chapter.. To allow people to append comments to the pages about corrections.. See the online manual for PHP:
http://us2.php.net/manual/en/index.php
For any entry on the php manual, there is a comment section where people can help others when things are discovered to be wrong. It isn’t particularly fair to those, like me, who bought the book to realize that it is no longer relevant in areas, and since the development is ongoing, it is going to fall out of alignment with the release.. I mean, why would someone want to get the book if they know that it is no longer relevant.. Why not offer a online version that is actively being annotated by people who are using it to learn blender? BTW, I’d rather pay you ahead of time for the creation of the manual than to pay for the paper to produce it, better yet to have access to something online like what I described that actively being managed.
Here is a precise example of what I’m talking about:
http://us2.php.net/manual/en/function.rar-extract.php
It’s the reason that PHP has been so widely adopted, that and version stability, but I think that could be fixed with the addition of a version spinner that shows comments relevant to a version of blender.
Kiernan said : “when doing the knee step, the left and right lower leg bones are duplicated instead, and when the knee bone is parented to the left leg controller, there is something like a feedback loop that sends the controller spinning out of control.”
You not only duplicate the bone but his constraints too. Remove them.
After that, don’t use the Locked Track, there are some new options to replace it in the IK Constraint.
Actually, the entire book is already in wiki format at:
http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:Books/Essential_Blender
I purchased the book some time ago and really like it, but I have lost the disk. Is there any way to download or purchase the disk? I’ve seen that others have asked similar questions with no response. Any direction would be appreciated.
Thanks
Hi, in the book “The Essential Blender” on chapter 11(Lighting discussion), page 289 I found a studio-setup. See at:http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/File:6.3._03.png
Unfortunetly this scene was not on the CD of the book. Where can I get this blend-file? I´m a beginner on blender. Thanks!
I have already read this wonderful book. I’m wondering if you guys would like to update this magnificent work with a second edition specifically tailored for Blender 2.5, adding a chapter that explains linking, appending and scene management in general.
Please, please, please.
I’ve not made an official announcement yet, but most likely I’m going to have a Beginner’s 2.5 book coming out early in 2010. No doubt the Foundation will be updating online docs as an ongoing project, and I may be working on something else with them in the near future as well. Larger project management (i.e. linking, appending, scene management) is more of an advanced topic, in my opinion. A lot of times beginners books become an exercise in what has to be cut more than anything else, just because you can’t sell a 700 page book to easily.
In the meantime, “Animating with Blender” — which you can find linked on Amazon in the sidebar — has a whole chapter on linking, groups, etc., specifically targeted at scene and project management.
Hello Roland,
Thank you so much for this book. It is a rarity to find such a resource that manages to be so entertaining, instructive and easy to follow. From the first page I feel like I am being guided by a knowledgeable, rather witty, friend. Witty without being annoying (another rarity). I have been creating art with computers for over 20 years for games, film, advertising etc. I have had to learn most of the 2d/3d packages out there at one time or another but have never found a guide equal to this. I actually look forward to working with it.
Thanks again. I’m looking forward to buying whatever you come up with next.
Michael
-Japan
thankyou for the book. I gets it for two weeks plus renewals at my public liberry, the the most beautifulaf in the US so far (dare?!?), in SeaWA. opened “Animateintg with Blender” first while waiting for the busbaktabike, it was on top inside the plastic bag, not raining, to read, and just to enjoy! I liked where you said “don’t bite off more than you can chew,. but how will you eat forever else” and other things after the potted plant above gave up a few extra drips. hadta cuddle a little closer and swab me wet page. (oh, just the book, sir/)
half librarian, I’m quite enamored by the “book with my name on it” kinda crap at my Most Beautiful Library Ever , and then they send me a forkin’ letter in the mail!, and then instead of the one book for me there’s two!! oh, goshness