As you may have read, I was asked to review a new book from Packt on Blender 3D. Blender is an open source 3D modeling application and can be put to an amazing variety of uses, from lifelike images through to Pixar style 3D animation.

This book aims to cover the use of Blender in creating “Incredible Machines” which are described by the author, Allan Brito, as “a kind of machine that doesn’t exist in our world, has amazing capabilities, and has a great sci-fi look”. If you aren’t a sci-fi fan don’t be put off by the description, this book has a lot to offer away from the world of Spaceships and Robots.

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A very, very minimal knowledge of Blender is assumed and the author provides some information in the introductory chapter for complete beginners. If you have modeled anything in Blender before you should have no trouble at all with this book! Also there is plenty for more experienced Blender users and the book can be used as a quick reference.

The introduction is informative and gives a basic outline of the aims of this book which is aimed at those who want to produce pictures, 3D models or videos of mechanical objects. The book will also help Blender artists looking to integrate YafaRay and LuxRender into their workflow.

The book is split into three sections, each detailing a separate project from start to finish. The projects increase in complexity as the book progresses and every new tool or concept is thoroughly explained as needed.

The first project is to model a handgun and a basic overview of the different modeling techniques is given. The author gives a very good introduction to polygon modeling and the step by step examples are easy to follow. I must make one criticism at this stage, the book itself is excellent quality however the pictures are a bit on the dark side. Even so, it did not cause a problem for me when reading through the book and I think it is a minor issue.

After going through the modeling process there is a good introduction to the Yafaray rendering engine and how to set up a studio environment in Blender. Basic lighting and materials are also covered at this stage.

Upon rendering an image of the handgun we then move on to the Steampunk Spaceship. After explaining what Steampunk means for those who, like me, didn’t know, this project takes the basic skills from the first project and uses them in a bigger project, explaining and introducing new methods and concepts as needed. UV mapping is explained in detail and there is a chapter on creating flares and plasma rays with Blender Particles. After this more advanced rendering with Yafaray is covered.

The final project introduces LuxRender and a spot of animation with the Transforming Robot! Subdivision modeling is introduced as well as modifiers such as the bevel and array modifiers. There are some examples on how to use LuxRender materials and lights as well as an explanation of unbiased rendering.

Animation is quickly covered and the book finishes with how to do post production, including examples of common problems that need to be sorted out in the postproduction phase.

Overall this is an excellent and useful book, describing how to model, texture, animate and render with Blender in a comprehensive and understandable way. If you want to get to grips with project workflow, mechanical modeling or are just looking to pick up some tips on how to improve your modeling methods I would definitely recommend this book.

You can buy the paper version of the book from Packt at a special offer rate of £23.79 or the ebook for £13.29. You can also download a pdf of the chapter “Steampunk Spacecraft” here.

ISSUE 23: Epic Fantasy
As excitement builds around the launch of the Durian Project, we decided to share in some of the fun and devote an issue to Epic Fantasy. This issue is filled with articles that are guaranteed to inspire you to start a few epics of your own.

Download here

From the website:

While it’s true that Blender has a powerful selection of tools, sometimes the “fake” or “cheat” is often preferred for various reasons. Time and hardware limitations, being the biggest reasons for using a “fake” or “cheat”. Then there are the tools that actually are the “fake”, such as Normal maps. So in this issue we take a look at some great techniques for baking normal maps, lighting and how to create some great effects.