News: BlenderNewbies is not dead, and DVD orders are still being processed.

I just wanted to do a quick post to let everyone know that the site, despite appearances, is not abandoned. I'm still processing the huge amount of pre-orders received (thank you!) and haven't had time to create any new tutorials.

I'm also reviewing a new Blender animation book, in-between order fulfillments, that I'll eventually post on the blog. My main focus is on getting the Training DVD orders fulfilled, though.

It will be great to get back on schedule! BTW, when things get back to normal, I plan to do a bit of a "reboot" of the site to clean out the Blender 2.4x content.

Thanks for understanding!

(I've disabled the comments for this post since I won't have time to respond and it will help to keep my email Inbox under control.)

technorati tags: Blender3D, 3D, graphics, Blender tutorials

News: BlenderNewbies Blender 2.5 Training DVDs Update

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Things are coming along with the completion of the DVDs. I suffered a few setbacks that caused some delays, but things are back on track.

The pre-order discount will end on Thursday, December 23rd.

For the Pre-Order customers only, I'm providing download links for groups of the video tutorials from the DVDs, starting near the "beginning" of the tutorial content (QuickStart section). So, you can begin receiving tutorials as soon as possible (within 24 hours).

I'll be providing new links to the DVD content about every other day until the actual DVDs are ready for shipping.

Each link in the group will be to single videos so you won't have to download huge files.

The interface, for the content linked to, isn't the same as the final DVD interface, but the videos are the same. This saves me some time in getting them setup. Videos like the QuickStart tutorials are at a resolution of 800x450, while the more involved tutorials are at 1280x720. However, the smaller videos have zoom effects to make it easier to see the key areas of focus. This approach has allowed me to pack more content onto the DVDs.

Thanks, everyone, for the patience! And, I look forward to finishing this project as soon as possible.


Kernon

technorati tags: Blender3D, 3D, graphics, Blender tutorials

News: BlenderNewbies DVD Update (texturing sample)

I'm creating texturing exercises for the Blender 2.5 DVD, and here's a series of test renders for one of them.

technorati tags: Blender3D, 3D, graphics, Blender tutorials

News: Blender 2.5 DVD status

Well, I've missed my goal and I'm not happy about it. Technical difficulties. But, development continues and the dvd's will be completed much sooner than later.

Here's an update on the way the content is structured.

I really appreciate everyone's patience. Thank you.

Please consider pre-ordering as it does help, thanks.


Kernon

technorati tags: Blender3D, 3D, graphics, Blender tutorials

News: Status of the BlenderNewbies Blender 2.5 Training DVD's

I expect the DVD (actually it's 2 DVD's) to be completed by the end of the month (October). It's been a long and bumpy road, but I can finally see light at the end of the tunnel.

The interesting thing is that there will be far more tutorials on the DVD's than there are on the blogsite (and that took me four years to accumulate!).

If you're interested in purchasing the DVD's, be sure to take advantage of the pre-order discount.

Thanks for your patience!

Kernon

technorati tags: Blender3D, 3D, graphics, Blender tutorials

DVD update: Bearsly Junior Learns a Lesson

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)

technorati tags: Blender3D, 3D, graphics, Blender tutorials

News: 2.5 DVD Update

I've been very busy working on the dvd contents and here are a couple more items that I want to highlight. (Note that the things I've highlighted only represent a small number out of the total number of tutorials on the dvd.)

Waving Flag (you can use your Country's flag, of course)


"Starcraft II"-inspired (Terran Banshee) spacecraft
(this will be animated and done with better textures)
Yes, I will TEACH you how to model something like this.



Temporary materials applied for better clarity





Back to my cave...

technorati tags: Blender3D, 3D, graphics, Blender tutorials

News: New Tutorial for 2.5 DVD ("yardwork")

Lots of topics covered in this one.

technorati tags: Blender3D, 3D, graphics, Blender tutorials

News: More 2.5 DVD Contents Update

Time for another update of the DVD's contents! BTW, there are plenty of videos that fall into the "reference video" category, the things being posted are more project-oriented subjects.

Basic modeling exercises




Leaf Texturing


Building a Farmville-styled Cartoon Scene

The level of detail is really geared for more distant overhead viewing, but it's still tolerable when viewed closer.



Also

• Guidelines for Learning 3D Graphics and Animation
• A More Efficient Way to Render Solid Wireframes

More updates soon...

technorati tags: Blender3D, 3D, graphics, Blender tutorials

News: 2.5 DVD Content update (LOTS of Trees in Wide Open Spaces)

I've finally established a good workflow for creating lots of trees in Blender that begin to approach some of the results that are possible in popular commercial software.

The results below are simple tests, but the results are very promising! I will be covering this workflow on the BlenderNewbies Blender 2.5 Training DVD, along with creating a much more interesting landscape (with better-looking trees and more variety).

Initial test


Tweaked settings with a larger landscape, more trees


Even larger landscape, more trees, atmosphere effects


A lot more trees


A LOT more trees added, got weight-painting to work with density (still not sure if I encountered a bug, or if I made a mistake somewhere but it's working now).


Even more trees with a tiny bit of node work to enhance the atmosphere effect.


Same settings with slightly different trees (I think the other trees looked better and more varied). No node effects.


Same shot with node effects to enhance atmosphere.


I look forward to experimenting with adding clouds, some water, buildings, etc. Animating through the scene introduces some minor flicker where some trees are too close together, but that shouldn't prove to be difficult to resolve. Also, some shadow issues to resolve.


Kernon

technorati tags: Blender3D, 3D, graphics, Blender tutorials

News: 2.5 DVD Content update

Just a quick update on the pending BlenderNewbies Blender 2.5 Training DVD.

Tutorials currently in production:

• Rubber Ducky (not textured, yet)

• Grass Styles
• Cartoon Modeling from Photos
• Starting and Managing Personal Projects
• Plenty of progressive exercises to really solidify your understanding of uv texture mapping (color, bump, specularity, reflection, ambient occlusion, dirt, etc.)
• Crash recovery  :)
  

technorati tags: Blender3D, 3D, graphics, Blender tutorials

News: More Bouncing Ball Lessons on the Blender 2.5 DVD

Learn more about the BlenderNewbies Blender 2.5 Training DVD

technorati tags: Blender3D, 3D, graphics, Blender tutorials

News: Bouncing Ball Lesson 1 on Blender 2.5 DVD

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:

• Multiple Bounce with Roll to Stop (yeah, I need a better title)
• Ball Bounce (with Tail)
• Animated scene with Ball & Tail character (EDIT: if there's time and disc space)

Also, there's been an announcement from the Blender Foundation that they plan to remove some features from the 2.5 release! Hopefully, this won't cause me to have to redo/rethink some of the tutorials. I definitely don't want tutorials covering features that were removed at the last minute. More info...

technorati tags: Blender3D, 3D, graphics, Blender tutorials

News: BlenderNewbies Blender 2.5 Training DVD Update

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

technorati tags: Blender3D, 3D, graphics, Blender tutorials

News: 2.5 DVD Update

Hello there! It's been a while since my last post!

I've been busily working on the BlenderNewbies 2.5 DVD. I've gotten a lot of Reference videos recorded and have been able to draft out some cool project ideas. However, I've come to realize that 2.5 isn't quite ready for solid documentation. It's still Alpha software so, no surprise there!

More info on Blender 2.5 development...

I had hoped that my waiting so long before starting the dvd project would have me be more in line with the development cycle. But, Blender is constantly changing at this point and I can see that some of my Reference videos will have to be redone. It's no problem, though, because all of the videos that have been recorded are still in their unedited state to help minimize the amount of double work.

I must say that the developers are doing an incredible job and every day Blender grows stronger and more stable. It's just not strong and stable enough, yet. Most of the development is focused on supporting the Sintel Open Movie project so a lot of features and issues aren't a top priority at this point.

So, my initial dvd release date of May 7th cannot be met. I don't want to release a dvd based on Alpha software, and maybe not even Beta software. I want this dvd package to be as strong and reliable as possible. I apologize for any delays, but I'm sure you understand. The good news is that this allows me to refine things even more and produce a better learning resource!

I'll keep the 5% discount in effect until the dvd is released. Thanks again to all of the pre-orders as they have made my continuing efforts possible. If you're interested in the dvd, please consider ordering while the 5% discount is in effect.

Also, I'll be creating some short tutorials to help breathe some life into the site. I've had a bit of tunnel vision while focusing on the dvd to the point where I almost forgot I have a website! D'oh!

technorati tags: Blender3D, 3D, graphics, Blender tutorials

News: Progress Update for the BlenderNewbies 2.5 Training DVD

Just a quick update:

Development of the DVD is moving along at an increasing rate as Blender 2.5 continues to become more stable. Here's an abbreviated version of the mindmap depicting the current state of how the DVD is being organized.

Click to enlarge image.

A special Thank You to all of the pre-orders that are making this project possible!

UPDATE
Question: Can you post a little bit about what kind of videos you are thinking about for the "Technical Reference" section?

The Technical Reference section will contain many very short (less than 2 minutes) videos covering very specific technical subjects such as targeting a camera, snapping, local view, setting up a render layer, etc. Think of it as a video wiki for the DVD's contents.

I believe it will make learning more efficient because you won't have to waste time scrubbing through a video for that one part that shows, for example, setting up a render layer.

I'll create reference videos for things that aren't repeated too often in the project videos. For example, there won't be a reference video for "pressing the E-key to extrude".

Two things will determine how much content is in the Tech Ref section: time and disc space. To deal with the time issue I'll record these videos near the end of development to get a better feel for what may be helpful as a Tech Ref video. To help address the disc space issue, I'll record these videos at a smaller resolution with a lower framerate, and maybe framed to only show what's relevant.

Question: What about the Appendixes?

The Appendixes will contain quick references for things like:

• Using experimental versions of Blender
• Upgrading Blender
• Reporting a Bug
  
• etc.

Question: What will the Index be like?

The Index will be similar to the index of a printed book or the Lables listed on the right side of this site. I'll be "tagging" videos as I create them, and these tags will allow you to click a link on the Index page and get an appropriate listing of videos. Honestly, this is just something that I HOPE to be able to do. Currently, I'm not exactly sure how to set this up for the DVD's html interface, but I will at least have everything tagged so it will just be a matter of researching how to implement something like this. I'm sure it's not an original idea so the question has been asked and answered somewhere online.

technorati tags: Blender3D, 3D, graphics, Blender tutorials

Announcing the BlenderNewbies Blender 2.5 Training DVD Pre-Order

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)

• Interface tour QuickStart videos for the user interface
• Easiest approach to learning how to model a human head with good topology
• Rendering tips
• Lighting tips
• Several short modeling exercises (with texturing)
• Animation basics
• Animating a bouncing ball
• Modeling and animating a spacecraft
• Sculpting basics
• Basic Video Editing
• Using text in Blender
• Smoke basics
• Cloth basics
• Particles basics
• Hair basics
• Composite Nodes basics

also

• Plenty of links to helpful resources within the Blender Community
• HTML interface for the disc contents

This list will likely change to some degree based on Blender's development. However, I will be sure to post information throughout the DVD's development to provide sneak previews, updates, and specific tutorial titles. A lot of smaller details (modifiers, interface elements and tools, etc.) will be covered within the context of the projects and in Reference videos.

What will the DVD not cover?

• In-depth rigging
• Game engine
• Python programming
• In-depth character animation
• every aspect of Blender

The DVD will cost a modest $35 USD plus shipping. It will consist of two FOUR DVD-ROM discs.

NOTE: Due to the increase in the number of discs provided (from 2 discs to 4 discs), the cost will increase to $50 USD plus shipping after May 13, 2011.



Update: Official Release Date Changed...
Update: Partial Mindmap of DVD Structure...

Update: Some content examples...
Update: Bouncing Ball tutorial example...
Update: More Bouncing Ball lessons...
Update: LOTS of Trees in Wide Open Spaces
Update: more updates...
Update: New Tutorial for 2.5 DVD ("yardwork")
Update: 2.5 DVD Update
Update: DVD update: Bearsly Junior Learns a Lesson


Update: News: BlenderNewbies DVD Update (texturing sample)
Update: For Pre-Order Customers Only, providing temporary download links for groups of the video tutorials from the DVDs.
Update: Final Update

Order below:

Shipping cost:

• $3.00 U.S. deliveries
• $4.00 Canada
• $9.04 International

I'm really excited to finally get started on this project and I look forward to creating a top-quality resource for getting you up to speed with Blender 2.5!

Thank you for support! Please feel free to ask any questions or comment.

Kernon

technorati tags: Blender3D, 3D, graphics, Blender tutorials