I think I've finally found a rigged character for Blender 2.5 that looks great and is really well-rigged! And, it's free (Creative Commons)!
Character animation in Blender 2.5 with the Norman Rig - Video Manual from Ivo Grigull.
Addendum: Adding custom variants of the Norman Rig from Ivo Grigull.
technorati tags: Blender3D, 3D, graphics, Blender tutorials
I'll get straight to the point...This is gold. It's free. Get it. Read it.
NOTE: Link updated.
I haven't had time to really dig into this, yet. But, scanning through it, it's easy to see that it's definitely something to completely absorb. It's an incredible knowledge resource for animators at any level of experience, from some of the industry's leading animators.
More info...
What is Animation Insiders?
Animation Insiders is a book dedicated to animation. AI book #1 is a compilation of know-how, experience and anecdotes from 13 talented animators. Animation Insiders is aimed at people who are passionate about animation, those who are looking to surpass their limits and acquire new techniques. Every book of this amazing series will explores a new theme.
Animation Insiders offer a new approach by compiling the various work
methods of many different artists. In the industry, this is what we call
“gold.” Back in the old days, many artists in the field of special effects
and animation did not want to give away their secrets. At Disney, the
nine old men did not pass on their knowledge and expertise until the
end of their careers. Fortunately, this philosophy has changed and
education has become more open and shared.
This book allows you to peer into the artistic approaches
of professionals, so that you can gain some insight into the way
they go about solving specific problems.
From its very inception, this book was to be dedicated to animation
in general, workflow in particular. We gave different artists the opportunity
to introduce themselves in their own words and to unveil the
“Shaman,” as acting coach Ed Hooks calls it, behind their magic.
In all the various animation topics, workflow seems to be the only one
that is ever redefining itself. Animation Insiders is, therefore, a platform
for talented animators to share their thoughts, experiences and workflow
tips.
The best animators use every resource to enhance their work.
I trust this book will be one of many in your arsenal that enable you to
push your work to the next level.
There are so many new possibilities with this new tool! Here's a quick test.
In this video, we'll take a look at how to change cameras during an animation in Blender 2.5. This process is easier and more intuitive than in previous versions of Blender.
Watch the video tutorial (low-res)...
Well, it kind of speaks for itself.
See the full-size version and more info on the production of the poster at the Durian Open Movie Project blog.
technorati tags: Blender3D, 3D, graphics, Blender tutorials
Here's another tutorial project in development where the character is a simple hand puppet named Bearsly, Junior. Junior is a young, restless cub that learns the important lesson of "walk, don't run", maybe. The modeling and texturing of the character and scene have been kept simple to help keep the length of the tutorial under control. But, the things learned can be easily transferred to more complex projects. The Cloth simulator will provide some extra puppet-like movements.
Here's the set for the animation
Here's the first blocking stage of the animation (no real timing yet, just keys every 10 frames)
Blocking stage 2 (keys are splined, still no timing work, f-curve effects added)
Click image to enlarge.
More details on the Durian Open Movie Project blogsite.
I watched this excellent documentary and couldn't resist sharing it with you. It's about the importance of creating previsualization (previs) for CG and Live Action movies. Frankly, a lot of what they call previs I would be happy to call "finished"!
Check it out, I found it very interesting and fun to watch.
(Yeah, I know, get back to working on the DVD!) :p
Here are the results from one of a few bouncing ball animation tutorials that will be on the BlenderNewbies Blender 2.5 Training DVD.
Other bouncing ball animation tutorials will include:
Development for the dvd has picked up since some previous bugs have been squashed in Blender. Texture painting and some aspects of dealing with materials are still a bit buggy, though. I experienced lots of crashes when using texture painting to clean up uv seams. The devs are aware of these issue, though, so I'm sure things will be ironed out sooner than later.
Here are a few draft examples of tutorials that will be on the dvd.
There will be several simple modeling tutorials that will involve simple uv-mapping. These will be designed to get you comfortable with the overall process.
This is an example of a project where the texturing is more complex. Yes, I will add some ketchup in the final tutorial! :)
This butterfly flight example is more involved than it might seem, even though the model is not meant to be realistic. There's 2d painting needed to prepare the wing graphics, a touch of uv-mapping, some magic applied in the graph editor, and some final touches added via the compositing nodes.
Also, close to 8 hours of reference videos have been recorded! And, I'll be including some tutorials on modeling in a cartoon style based on photo references.
Kernon
I'm very happy to announce that I've begun production on my next Blender Training DVD!
This DVD will cover Blender 2.5 exclusively and will contain many hours of new and unpublished tutorials. There won't be any 2.5 versions of any of my existing tutorials so this will be fresh new content!
The training will be mostly small project-based tutorials so that what you learn is in the context of a real project scenario. This helps you understand not only How to do something, but also helps you have a better understanding of Why and When. Also, the project-based tutorials will allow you to repeatedly experience the full workflow so you develop a better understanding of how things work together.
In addition to the project-based tutorials, there will be several quick tips and technical demonstrations.
All of the tutorials will be broken up into sections lasting no more than 30 minutes so you can always have time to sit down and complete a lesson (no long tests of endurance and patience).
The level of the training will be for Beginner- to Intermediate-level users. Keystrokes will be shown as needed. If you're just getting started with Blender or 3d graphics, this DVD will be of tremendous value to you. However, no one really likes their results to look like beginner stuff, right? So, the lessons will be taught so that the results you get will be something you'll be confident in sharing with others. Bad lighting and crazy texturing will not be taught. :)
As a Blender Foundation Certified Trainer, I'm very serious about the tutorials I create, so the attention to detail and quality will be high (content, product materials, packaging, and delivery). The focus will be on teaching, instead of merely demonstrating. Also, there will be skill-building elements included such as exercise files, puzzles (crosswords, word finds, etc.), and short tests.
So, what will the DVD cover?
and more!
(In no specific order at this point)
In this quick tip, we’ll take a look at how to easily create a procedural noise texture that’s stable during animation, unlike the default “Noise” procedural texture that’s available in Blender.
Version Compatibility: 2.4x, 2.5 alpha zero
Tutorial Level: Beginner
You can check out the tutorial at BlenderCookie.com
technorati tags: Blender3D, 3D, graphics, Blender tutorials
In this Blender tutorial, we'll take a look at how to add simple transitions to camera changes in an animation. This will be accomplished using Blender's Video Sequence Editor.
This tutorial is an extension to the Camera Changing tutorial.
Additional Info:
technorati tags: Blender3D, 3D, graphics, Blender tutorials
This video tutorial will show you how to use multiple cameras in your animation, and easily control the camera switching in your animated scene.
Additional Info:
To assign a camera to be active at multiple points during your animation, simply add the necessary frame numbers to the camera's name, separated by commas (no space required).
Example
---------
A camera desired to be the active camera at frames 48 and 1726 should be named as follows:
48,1726
You can have as many assignments per camera as desired, up to the character limit for object names. Note that frame numbers greater than 4 digits should not be formatted with commas (i.e. 1,429 should be named as 1429).
technorati tags: Blender3D, 3D, graphics, Blender tutorials
Have some fun with these two rigged characters for Blender that are easy to understand and use. If you're just getting started with animation, they're rigged well enough to get you going without all of the confusion that a more complicated rig might cause.
You can download the blend files for the characters and read the documentation for the rigging, here.
You can thank FreakyDude for these cool characters in his discussion thread.
technorati tags: Blender3D, 3D, graphics, Blender tutorials
With this quick tutorial, you'll learn how to rotate a 3D object so that the rotation continues throughout the entire length of your animated scene. This is very helpful for things like rotating planets, propellers, wheels, windmills, etc.
We'll be using Blender's IPO Curve Editor for this technique and you'll also learn some very important fundamentals for understanding how to interpret curves within the IPO Editor.
This tutorial is compatible with Blender 2.44 and up.
Enjoy!
Watch the tutorial online
(SWF streaming, Length - 8:11, Resolution - 800 x 600, VoiceOver - Yes)
Or, Download the 39.4MB ZIP file to view it offline (load the HTML file in your browser).
technorati tags: Blender3D, 3D, graphics, Blender tutorials
I came across this collection of animation videos from this year's SIGGRAPH's Computer Animation Festival! It doesn't contain everything but, the list is pretty long. It's often hard to find some of these videos so, you might want to check them out.
They're very inspiring and will certainly quench your thirst for some fresh 3D animation...enjoy!
This is the first in a series of tutorials focusing on video titling techniques in Blender. We'll take a look at how to setup your workspace, create your titling text, and animate your titling on top of a video.
Using the basic techniques learned in this video, you'll be well on your way to creating interesting titling for your videos!
Here's a preview movie of the titling created in the tutorial:
Watch the tutorial online
(SWF streaming)
Or,*Download it to view offline (load the HTML file in your browser).
Get the Free Flash Player: Windows version or Linux version
This tutorial is about using your mouse to quickly create IPO curve data that, otherwise, would be tedious to do by hand. Using this technique, we'll look at how to easily add a more "organic" feel to certain types of motions, create a handheld camera effect, and more!
This topic will be covered in three parts:
Part One covers just the basics of the Mouse Recording feature.
(SWF streaming)
Or, Download it to view offline (load the HTML file in your browser).
Part Two shows how you might apply it in a more "real-world" scenario by adding animation to a spherical probe.
(SWF streaming)
Or, Download it to view offline (load the HTML file in your browser).
Part Three shows how to easily create a handheld camera effect.
(SWF streaming)
Or, Download it to view offline (load the HTML file in your browser).
Get the Free Flash Player: Windows version or Linux version
technorati tags: Blender3D, 3D, animation, IPO Curves, record mouse
