Blender for Animation and Film-Based Production

Blender for Animation and Film-Based Production

by Michelangelo Manrique
Released November 2014
Publisher(s): A K Peters/CRC Press
ISBN: 9781498759854

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Book description

Suitable for both beginners and more advanced users, this book explores why Blender is ideal for animation films. It demonstrates Blender's capability to do the job in each production department. Familiarizing readers with the animation industry, the book helps readers manage their projects from start to finish, understand the different stages in any animation production, and see how studios work and develop their animation projects. It guides readers toward finding efficient solutions for issues with their production files or pipeline.

Table of contents

  1. Preliminaries
  2. Dedication
  3. Preface
  4. Author
  5. Chapter 1: Why Blender?
    1. Figure 1.1
    2. Figure 1.2
    3. Figure 1.3
    4. Figure 1.4
    5. Figure 1.5
    6. Figure 1.6
    7. Figure 1.7
    8. Figure 1.8
  7. Chapter 2: History of Blender
    1. 2.1 Blender's Road Map
    1. Figure 2.1
    2. Figure 2.2
    3. Figure 2.3
    4. Figure 2.4
    5. Figure 2.5
  9. Chapter 3: Blender User Interface
    1. 3.1 Start-Up Blender
    2. 3.2 Controls and Buttons
    3. 3.3 Editor System
      1. 3.3.1 Editor's Header
      2. 3.3.2 Systematize Editors
      3. 3.3.3 Workspace Layout
        1. 3.3.3.1 Configuring our Workspace Layout
      4. 3.3.4 Scenes
        1. 3.3.4.1 Configuring Our Scene
    4. 3.4 Editor Types
      1. 3.4.1 3D View
      2. 3.4.2 Timeline
      3. 3.4.3 Graphic Editor
      4. 3.4.4 DopeSheet
      5. 3.4.5 NLA Editor
      6. 3.4.6 UV/Image Editor
      7. 3.4.7 Video Sequence Editor
      8. 3.4.8 Text Editor
      9. 3.4.9 Node Editor
      10. 3.4.10 Logic Editor
      11. 3.4.11 Properties Editor
      12. 3.4.12 Outliner
      13. 3.4.13 User Preferences
      14. 3.4.14 Info Window
      15. 3.4.15 File Browser
      16. 3.4.16 Console
    5. 3.5 Modes and Context
    6. 3.6 Internationalization
    1. Figure 3.1
    2. Figure 3.2
    3. Figure 3.3
    4. Figure 3.4
    5. Figure 3.5
    6. Figure 3.6
    7. Figure 3.7
    8. Figure 3.8
    9. Figure 3.9
    10. Figure 3.10
    11. Figure 3.11
    12. Figure 3.12
    13. Figure 3.13
    14. Figure 3.14
    15. Figure 3.15
    16. Figure 3.16
    17. Figure 3.17
    18. Figure 3.18
    19. Figure 3.19
    20. Figure 3.20
    21. Figure 3.21
    22. Figure 3.22
    23. Figure 3.23
    24. Figure 3.24
  11. Chapter 4: Blender in a Digital Studio Pipeline
    1. 4.1 Using Blender for Preproduction Tasks
      1. 4.1.1 Developing the Script with Blender
      2. 4.1.2 Using the Video Sequence Editor to Build the Storyboard
      3. 4.1.3 Creating Concept Art
    2. 4.2 Using Blender for Postproduction Tasks
    3. 4.3 Organize the Project in Disk
    4. 4.4 Blender and the Open Movies
    1. Figure 4.1
    2. Figure 4.2
    3. Figure 4.3
    4. Figure 4.4
    5. Figure 4.5
    6. Figure 4.6
    7. Figure 4.7
    8. Figure 4.8
    9. Figure 4.9
  13. Chapter 5: Modeling Your Main Character
    1. 5.1 Modeling in Blender
    2. 5.2 Modifiers
    3. 5.3 Making Props
    4. 5.4 Building the Environment of the Scene
    5. 5.5 Topology Solutions
    1. Figure 5.1
    2. Figure 5.2
    3. Figure 5.3
    4. Figure 5.4
    5. Figure 5.5
    6. Figure 5.6
    7. Figure 5.7
    8. Figure 5.8
    9. Figure 5.9
    10. Figure 5.10
    11. Figure 5.11
    12. Figure 5.12
    13. Figure 5.13
    14. Figure 5.14
    15. Figure 5.15
    16. Figure 5.16
    17. Figure 5.17
    18. Figure 5.18
    19. Figure 5.19
    20. Figure 5.20
    21. Figure 5.21
    22. Figure 5.22
    23. Figure 5.23
    24. Figure 5.24
    25. Figure 5.25
    26. Figure 5.26
  15. Chapter 6: Applying Materials to Our Objects
    1. 6.1 Preview
    2. 6.2 Diffuse
    3. 6.3 Specular
    4. 6.4 Shading
    5. 6.5 Transparency
    6. 6.6 Mirror
    7. 6.7 Subsurface Scattering
    8. 6.8 Strand
    9. 6.9 Options
    10. 6.10 Shadow
    1. Figure 6.1
    2. Figure 6.2
    3. Figure 6.3
    4. Figure 6.4
    5. Figure 6.5
    6. Figure 6.6
    7. Figure 6.7
    8. Figure 6.8
    9. Figure 6.9
    10. Figure 6.10
    11. Figure 6.11
    12. Figure 6.12
    13. Figure 6.13
    14. Figure 6.14
    15. Figure 6.15
    16. Figure 6.16
    17. Figure 6.17
    18. Figure 6.18
  17. Chapter 7: Blender Internal Textures
    1. 7.1 Preview
    2. 7.2 Colors
    3. 7.3 Mapping
    4. 7.4 Influence
    1. Figure 7.1
    2. Figure 7.2
    3. Figure 7.3
    4. Figure 7.4
    5. Figure 7.5
    6. Figure 7.6
    7. Figure 7.7
  19. Chapter 8: UV Unwrap and External Textures
    1. 8.1 Unwrapping a Mesh
    2. 8.2 UV Layouts
    3. 8.3 Editing UVS
    4. 8.4 Optimize the UV Map
    5. 8.5 Combine UV Maps
    6. 8.6 Refine Layout
    7. 8.7 Applying Images
    1. Figure 8.1
    2. Figure 8.2
    3. Figure 8.3
    4. Figure 8.4
    5. Figure 8.5
    6. Figure 8.6
    7. Figure 8.7
    8. Figure 8.8
  21. Chapter 9: Introduction to Rigging: Armatures and Bones
    1. 9.1 The Armature Object
    2. 9.2 Bones
      1. 9.2.1 Bones' Segments
      2. 9.2.2 Bones' Influence
    1. Figure 9.1
    2. Figure 9.2
    3. Figure 9.3
    4. Figure 9.4
    5. Figure 9.5
    6. Figure 9.6
    7. Figure 9.7
    8. Figure 9.8
    9. Figure 9.9
    10. Figure 9.10
    11. Figure 9.11
    12. Figure 9.12
    13. Figure 9.13
  23. Chapter 10: The Animation Process
    1. 10.1 Timeline and Animatics
    2. 10.2 Markers
    3. 10.3 Keyframes
    4. 10.4 Types of Animation
      1. 10.4.1 The Twelve Principles Developed at Disney
    5. 10.5 Using Constraints in Animation
    6. 10.6 Shape Keys
    7. 10.7 Walkcycle
    1. Figure 10.1
    2. Figure 10.2
    3. Figure 10.3
    4. Figure 10.4
    5. Figure 10.5
    6. Figure 10.6
    7. Figure 10.7
    8. Figure 10.8
  25. Chapter 11: Introduction to Lighting
    1. 11.1 Lamps
    2. 11.2 Shadow
    3. 11.3 Environment Light
    4. 11.4 Ambient Occlusion
    5. 11.5 Resolving Issues with Lights
    1. Figure 11.1
    2. Figure 11.2
    3. Figure 11.3
    4. Figure 11.4
    5. Figure 11.5
    6. Figure 11.6
    7. Figure 11.7
    8. Figure 11.8
    9. Figure 11.9
  27. Chapter 12: Compositing Nodes
    1. 12.1 Setting Up Nodes
    2. 12.2 Using Nodes
    3. 12.3 Node Types
      1. 12.3.1 Input Nodes
      2. 12.3.2 Output Nodes
      3. 12.3.3 Color Nodes
      4. 12.3.4 Vector Nodes (Figure 12.8)
      5. 12.3.5 Filter Nodes (Figure 12.9)
      6. 12.3.6 Convertor Nodes (Figure 12.10)
      7. 12.3.7 Matte Nodes (Figure 12.11)
      8. 12.3.8 Distortion Nodes (Figure 12.12)
    1. Figure 12.1
    2. Figure 12.2
    3. Figure 12.3
    4. Figure 12.4
    5. Figure 12.5
    6. Figure 12.6
    7. Figure 12.7
    8. Figure 12.8
    9. Figure 12.9
    10. Figure 12.10
    11. Figure 12.11
    12. Figure 12.12
    13. Figure 12.13
    14. Figure 12.14
    15. Figure 12.15
    16. Figure 12.16
  29. Chapter 13: Using Particles and Dynamics
    1. 13.1 Dynamics and Force Fields
      1. 13.1.1 Drag
      2. 13.1.2 Turbulence
      3. 13.1.3 Boid
      4. 13.1.4 Curve Guide
      5. 13.1.5 Texture
      6. 13.1.6 Lennard-Jones
      7. 13.1.7 Charge
      8. 13.1.8 Harmonic
      9. 13.1.9 Magnetic
      10. 13.1.10 Vortex
      11. 13.1.11 Wind
      12. 13.1.12 Force
    2. 13.2 Collisions
    3. 13.3 Particles
      1. 13.3.1 Emission
      2. 13.3.2 Velocity
      3. 13.3.3 Rotation
      4. 13.3.4 Physics
      5. 13.3.5 Render
      6. 13.3.6 Display
      7. 13.3.7 Children
      8. 13.3.8 Field Weights
      9. 13.3.9 Force Field Settings
      10. 13.3.10 Cache
    4. 13.4 Soft Body
      1. 13.4.1 Soft Body Solver
      2. 13.4.2 Soft Body
    5. 13.5 Cloth
    6. 13.6 Fluids
    7. 13.7 Smoke
      1. 13.7.1 Flow
    1. Figure 13.1
    2. Figure 13.2
    3. Figure 13.3
    4. Figure 13.4
    5. Figure 13.5
    6. Figure 13.6
    7. Figure 13.7
    8. Figure 13.8
    9. Figure 13.9
    10. Figure 13.10
    11. Figure 13.11
    12. Figure 13.12
    13. Figure 13.13
    14. Figure 13.14
    15. Figure 13.15
    16. Figure 13.16
    17. Figure 13.17
    18. Figure 13.18
    19. Figure 13.19
    20. Figure 13.20
    21. Figure 13.21
    22. Figure 13.22
    23. Figure 13.23
    24. Figure 13.24
    25. Figure 13.25
    26. Figure 13.26
    27. Figure 13.27
    28. Figure 13.28
    29. Figure 13.29
    30. Figure 13.30
    31. Figure 13.31
    32. Figure 13.32
    33. Figure 13.33
    34. Figure 13.34
    35. Figure 13.35
    36. Figure 13.36
    37. Figure 13.37
    38. Figure 13.38
    39. Figure 13.39
    40. Figure 13.40
    41. Figure 13.41
    42. Figure 13.42
  31. Chapter 14: Render
    1. 14.1 Blender Internal
      1. 14.1.1 Render
      2. 14.1.2 Dimensions
      3. 14.1.3 Antialiasing
      4. 14.1.4 Sampled Motion Blur
      5. 14.1.5 Shading
      6. 14.1.6 Performance
      7. 14.1.7 Post Processing
      8. 14.1.8 Freestyle
      9. 14.1.9 Stamp
      10. 14.1.10 Output
      11. 14.1.11 Bake
    2. 14.2 Cycles
    3. 14.3 External Render Engines
      1. 14.3.1 Freestyle
      2. 14.3.2 Yafray
    4. 14.4 Render Settings and Tips
      1. 14.4.1 Using Layers to Organize Our Render
      2. 14.4.2 When Something Goes Wrong
    1. Figure 14.1
    2. Figure 14.2
    3. Figure 14.3
    4. Figure 14.4
    5. Figure 14.5
    6. Figure 14.6
    7. Figure 14.7
    8. Figure 14.8
    9. Figure 14.9
    10. Figure 14.10
    11. Figure 14.11
    12. Figure 14.12
    13. Figure 14.13
    14. Figure 14.14
    15. Figure 14.15
    16. Figure 14.16
    17. Figure 14.17
    18. Figure 14.18
    19. Figure 14.19
    20. Figure 14.20
    21. Figure 14.21
  33. Chapter 15: Final Movie Compositing
    1. 15.1 Using Blender in Postproduction
      1. 15.1.1 Effects
        1. 15.1.1.1 Add
        2. 15.1.1.2 Subtract
        3. 15.1.1.3 Alpha Over and Alpha Under
        4. 15.1.1.4 Cross
        5. 15.1.1.5 Gamma Cross
        6. 15.1.1.6 Multiply
        7. 15.1.1.7 Wipe
        8. 15.1.1.8 Glow
        9. 15.1.1.9 Transform
        10. 15.1.1.10 Color
        11. 15.1.1.11 Speed Control
        12. 15.1.1.12 Multicam Selector
        13. 15.1.1.13 Adjustment Layer
      2. 15.1.2 Audio
  34. Chapter 16: Python
    1. 16.1 Python API
      1. 16.1.1 Accessing Data
      2. 16.1.2 Accessing Attributes
      3. 16.1.3 Creating or Removing Data
      4. 16.1.4 Context
      5. 16.1.5 Operators
      6. 16.1.6 Example
      7. 16.1.7 Types
        1. 16.1.7.1 Native Types
        2. 16.1.7.2 Internal Types
        3. 16.1.7.3 Mathutils Types
      8. 16.1.8 Animation Using Python
    2. 16.2 Blender/Python API in Film Production
    1. Figure 16.1
    2. Figure 16.2
    3. Figure 16.3
    4. Figure 16.4
    5. Figure 16.5
  36. Chapter 17: Film Promotion and Conclusion
    1. 17.1 Conclusion
  37. Appendix
  38. References

Product information

  • Title: Blender for Animation and Film-Based Production
  • Author(s): Michelangelo Manrique
  • Release date: November 2014
  • Publisher(s): A K Peters/CRC Press
  • ISBN: 9781498759854