So you want to learn how to use Blender 3d (free open source 3D content creation suite)
Okay, I won't sugar coat it, learning how to use Blender 3d is going to take some effort on your part. Don't expect to open it up and immediately create stunning artwork. There are a lot of buttons, options and menus to learn how to use. And if you are completely new to 3d software, you are also going to be trying to learn new concepts as well.
Often one of the hardest tasks is just finding the right tutorial or documentation to get you started. And if you are a completely new user, you might not even know exactly what you are looking for.
But don't run away in horror just yet. The blender community has produced an amazing amount of documentation. The greater majority of which is completely free to download, study and learn from.
I have compiled some of the communities' best documentation and tutorial resources to ease your initial learning curve.
Blender Documentation
Free Blender Documentation and Tutorials
- Blender Quick Start Guide
- The blender Quick Start guide provides you with a basic overview of blender functionality on a single A4 page, ready to print. It is designed for beginners who don't want to read the whole documentation, and for experienced 3D artists who want to quickly learn blender.
- Blender User Manual
- Blender's user manual is maintained by a dedicated group of Blender users who work hard to keep it up to date with the frequent new releases of Blender and it's features.
- Download the Blender Wiki in PDF
- Marco Ardito converted the blender wiki to pdf format for those who need/want offline access to the latest Blender documentation. He plans to update it monthly. At this point it is a single pdf file, over 1700 pages, about 52 MB.
- Noob to Pro
- This book is a series of tutorials arranged in a sequence to help the new user become a Blender expert. The tutorials become increasingly more difficult. As a result, intermediate users may quickly advance to whatever tutorial is most suitable for their knowledge and can continue along the sequence. Although there are many different learning paths a user could take, we've made a concerted effort to accommodate everyone.
- Essential Blender pdf
- Essential Blender will get you working with modeling, materials and texturing, lighting, particle systems, several kinds of animation, and rendering. In addition, there are chapters on the new mesh sculpting tools and the brilliant compositor.
You can download a free pdf version.
The pdf version (on an external host).
You can still purchase a printed hard copy at:
Blender E-shop
Amazon
Blender Video
Learn about the Blender interface
Blender Courses
- Blender Basics- 2nd Edition
- Classroom Tutorial Book:
The manual addresses skills in a sequential order so skipping around may leave out important skill descriptions addressed in earlier chapters. - Blender 3D Design Course
- The Blender 3D Design course is intended to offer students an introduction to the world of computer generated 3-D modeling and animation. As an introductory course, it provides a basic understanding of the skills and techniques employed by 3-D designers in a wide range of applications. In this online course we will explore basic mesh modeling, applying textures and materials to 3-D objects, lighting, animation and rendering. This course should provide a good basis for further independent study in architectural, engineering and theatrical modeling and game design.
- BlenderCourse.com
- This projects goal is to develop free lessons and/or tutorials in PDF format for the 3D modeling tool Blender 3D. The idea is to write step-by-step courses which cover various Blender related topics in peoples native languages. All the BlenderCourses are written in the same style and layout in order to make consistent and recognisable ebooks.
Weekly Blender Animations
Features short animations of Blender features. A new animation is added weekly.
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byBlender Training DVD's
Learn tips, tricks, techniques and secrets from the blender masters.
- Creature Factory
- This extensive tutorial set, created by the renowned Blender artist Andy Goralczyk, teaches artists how to craft a fully finished 3D animated scene. Tracking the evolution of an idea from creation to final render - and beyond. The result of the tutorials is an epic 90 second trailer.
- The ManCandy FAQ
- The ManCandy FAQ is a collection of animations and video tutorials for rigging and animating with ManCandy. The animations are in question and answer format (hence the title) and are intended to be a fun way of documenting the rig.
- The BlenderNewbies Tutorial Compilation DVD-ROM
- This special compilation disc is packed with BlenderNewbies Blender video tutorials that cover a wide range of subjects while maintaining a presentation style that allows even beginners to keep up when things get to be more advanced.
In addition to the BlenderNewbies tutorials, you'll get several important bonuses that will enhance your studies of Blender. - Training DVDs from Montage Studios
Introduction to Character Creation, Part 1
Meant as a crash course in modeling with Blender for newer users, this training DVD takes the viewer through the basics of the interface, navigation, modeling, etc. Then puts all of it to the test with a step-by-step modeling exercise in creating your first character!
Modeling the Female Head
One of the most challenging things in the realm of 3D is to create a realistic human head. Whether it's dealing with proportions, features or edge flow, the human head is a difficult undertaking to model. This DVD tries to ease that process by providing ample demonstrations and techniques from start to finish on modeling the female head.
Modeling the Female Body
The follow-up to modeling a human head is of course modeling the body. This second training DVD takes the viewer through all the processes, techniques, and explanations of creating the female body in Blender 3D. All of the companion files are included on the dvd, both model files and reference images.- Big Buck Bunny
- Big Buck Bunny - Project Peach - was Blender Foundations second Open Movie project,
Just like project Orange, the movie itself and all of the production files have been published under the Creative Commons, free to be reused and for everyone to learn from. More importantly, the team has challenged Blender itself to the max, inspired the entire development community to prove Blender is ready for feature quality 3D cartoons. Special attention has been paid to fur editing and rendering, and animating cartoonish characters. - Apricot Open Game DVD
- On the Apricot DVD you will find:
- The game itself, with installer, running in Linux, Windows and OS X.
- All .blend files, models, textures, sound clips, game sources, and so on... all the material used to create the game.
- Documentation and video tutorials by the team members about all technical aspects the game; like how to re-use assets, animate characters, or add new levels.
- The Peach movie in various formats
Newest Blender Books
Blender Books
Josh Beck Video Tutorial Series
An excellent set of Blender tutorials aimed at getting the user comfortable with blender and it's functions.
More Great Blender 3D Books
Blenderart Magazine
The magazine was started for the blender community, having the aim of publishing a bi-monthly PDF magazine; free for download. The goal of the magazine is to provide quality learning content for the blender community, from the efforts of the community itself.
Each issue contains a wide selection of tutorials and articles based on a single theme.
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byBlender Videos
Modeling Videos
Blender Summer of Documentation
- Blender Summer of Documentation
Introduction to Python Scripting
Introduction to the Game Engine
Introduction to Character Animation
Introduction to Rigging
Introduction to Physical Simulation
Introduction to Modeling
Introduction to Lighting
Introduction to the Principles of Animation
Introduction to Materials and Procedural Texturing
Introduction to the Blender Database
Blender Videos
Blender Materials
Blender Game Engine
- Game Engine Documentation
- Blender has a fully integrated realtime/3d game creation engine. You can find the latest documentation and information on it's use here.
- Original Blender Gamekit + CDROM
- With the newly announced Gamekit 2nd edition coming, the Blender Foundation has released the Original Blender Game kit for free download along with all the files that were supplied on the accompanying CDROM. (includes Blender 2.25)
Please note that the book and .blend files were written for Blender 2.25.
The Blender GameKit starts with an extensive section for people who are new to 3D - explaining all basic concepts - or new to Blender; with a full introduction to the interface. Then it shows in step-by-step tutorials the fun of creating models, adding motion to them, and how to turn them into simple games. Experienced 3D artists will appreciate the more complex game demos, the character animation tutorials, the introduction to Python and the advanced reference section.
The CDROM contents is part of this downloadable product too, and contains 10 playable and editable Blender game demos, all created by the renowned artist department of Not a Number. It also contains all the files needed for the tutorials and Blender V2.24, for all platforms.
Blender Videos
Blender Animation Videos
What others are saying about Blender 3d
- “Blender For Dummies” Available for Pre-order at BlenderNation ...
- December 4, 2008 at 12:51 pm (Blender 3D) Tags: Blender books, Blender for "Dummies". I was just over at BlenderNation and saw that Jason has finished his book, Blender for Dummies and it is now ready for pre-order. via ?Blender For ...
- "Blender For Dummies" Available for Pre-order at BlenderNation
- This book spans 408 pages of information specifically tailored for beginners to Blender and 3D computer graphics, written in the friendly "Dummies" style. And even though it's targeted for raw beginners, experienced users may find it ...
- Create a Checkered 3D Chess Figure Scene - Tutorialized
- NET, AutoCAD, Blender 3d, Bryce 3d, C and Cpp, Cinema 4D, ColdFusion, CSS, DB Design, DB2, Delphi, Dreamweaver, eCommerce, Final Cut Studio, Fireworks, Flash, Gimp, HTML, Illustrator, Java, Javascript, Legal, Lightwave 3D, Linux ...
Explore more Blender Related Lenses
Here is a list of my Blender related lenses, all nicely organized and contained in one spot.You can find lenses on the following Blender topics:
Blender Resources
Blender Artist Spotlight
Misc Blender Related Lenses
Blender How-to's and Tutorial Le...
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My Blender 3d Lenses
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It's probably a little soon to create a lens list. But I have a minor malfunction when it comes to how things are organized. I like nice, neat groupings of things. Something that has already caused me to re-vamp several of my lenses and even split on...
Thanks for stopping by!
I hope these resources have eased your entry into the world of Blender 3d.
Blender 3d is a constantly evolving program and as such, blender documentation constantly changes to keep pace.
If you know of a great learning resource that should be listed here, just leave a link and short description below and I will get right on it.
flatpyramid wrote...
Again! a very nice and well organized lens.. keep it up! 5 star! Anyway, If you have a time please drop by at 3d model Sweepstakes. Asked your friends to sign up, you might win a $250 credits worth of 3d Models.
Posted September 02, 2008
James20 wrote...
I have been to your other blender lens and like to get into this. 5*****
James
Posted August 30, 2008
saraht43 wrote...
Cool lense, a little beyond me yet, I still sometimes have difficulty with cutting and pasting animated clip art. Especially if its in Javascript form, which doesnt work on Squidoo lenses. UGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
Posted August 29, 2008