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| An ultra realistic render using 3D modeling programs. Don't lose heart! After 7 years of using Blender, I am in no way close to this level of realism. It takes months or years of practice to achieve this level. |
What is this Blender thing that I speak of?
Blender is a 100% free, no strings attached, fully functional Computer Graphics / Computer 3D modeling program that is open-source. (I will briefly revisit this topic in another paragraph in this blog entry.)
Blender is the 'free version' of other programs that are most certainly not free, and it is just as powerful as the other programs, such as:
2) Autodesk's Maya (same price - $3,675)
3) Pixologic's Zbrush ($795)
4) Blender (FREE!)
For more general info, Blender and the other programs have their own Wikipedia entry. This is Blender's Wikipedia page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blender_(software)
If it is Blender that you choose, your Blender adventure should start here:
http://www.blender.org/
It doesn't matter if you are completely new to Blender or if you are an advanced user or somewhere in between (why is where I live - in the 'in between' area!), there are thousands of tutorial videos on YouTube and elsewhere on the internet that will teach you any and all aspects of using Blender. Granted, these tutorials are made by average humans. The quality of said tutorials can range from the most excellent, well planned and well laid out and information-filled tutorial that is a blessing to follow to the most ill-planned, poorly laid out and confusing video you have ever seen in your life. I do have my favorite 'go to' people that post excellent tutorials. I'm not certain whether or not The Blender Guru has beginners level tutorials, but I know he has excellent mid-level to advanced tutorials that I often refer to and I have used probably thousands of times to gain the information I am seeking. With each of his tutorials, I learn not only the information that I am seeking, but without exception, I always learn more Blender tips, tricks and techniques than I ever expected to learn in that video.
If you enter "Blender" by itself in YouTube or in any other internet search engine, you will most likely get results returned to you that refer to a food processor. To get the search engine results that you are seeking, enter "Blender beginner" or you can be more specific as you gain experience with the program by entering searches such as "Blender texture", "Blender material", etc.
Andrew Price (The Blender Guru) is probably my favorite go-to source for tutorials and other Blender information, although there are many people world wide that also have great Blender information, and I also seek out their wisdom on a regular basis.
You can follow Blender Guru on FaceBook, or visit his sight to see the tutorials for some fantastic 3D images.
Make this man your internet best friend! "Like" Blender Guru on Facebook, etc. And visit his site often. When this page loads, scroll down to see the available tutorials. Note that there are 8 pages of tutorials that are available on his site and many more elsewhere.
Even though you will not be at this level early in your Blender journey, watch several of his videos to see the magnificent capabilities of Blender.
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| An image on Blender Guru's home page |
Although it is absolutely NOT necessary to know the Python programming language (for which I am thankful, because I know absolutely nothing about Python!), with this program, if one knows how to program in Python, open-source means that not only is it free, but also if you know how to program in Python, you are encouraged to change it to suit your needs.
TO ANSWER THE QUESTION:
"FOR WHAT PURPOSES CAN I USE BLENDER?"
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| Another sample of a Blender render |
For just a VERY short list of Blender's uses and perks, Blender has these capabilities and more:
1) Water simulation (you can make realistic water run, poor, splash, including oceans, puddles, waterfalls, etc,)
2) Smoke and fire stimulation.
3) Realistic hair or fur
4) Fireworks or other explosions, rain, etc.
5) Soft body and hard body simulations (Imaging a relatively firm block of Jello bouncing on a table)
6) Wind blowing curtains, other fabric, blades of grass and much more.
7) Cloth blowing or draping.
...and many more.
Not only is Blender an excellent platform to bring to fruition ideas for virtually any object you can dream up - or any object in the real world that exists that you want to replicate in blender, but also Blender has video editing and animation capabilities. You can use those features either together or separately. A good example of using video editing AND animation capabilities together would be, let's say, to reproduce The Simpsons family walking into a room, sitting on a sofa and watching a TV that has a real video playing on it. In that fictitious scenario you would model the characters, then you would animate them using a dedicated portion of Blender for that task - then you could insert a real video on the TV that you modeled. That is just one scenario out of millions. You are only limited by your imagination.
Most often, I use Blender just to create a still life - a scene with 3D objects then I render the scene into an image that I can save and use as any other digital image. Doing mostly still lifes, I personally, I rarely use the animation features of Blender, but that is just my preference and the primary use that I have for this program. Your individual adventure might lead you in an entirely different direction.
Many of the ultra realistic photos that you see on the Internet have been processed through 2 or more of the software packages that I listed at the beginning of this blog entry. In much the same manner as music software, movie editing software and endless other software packages that allow you to create a final product, there are certain features in any of the programs that I listed earlier that are not available in the other packages. The same is true for all of them. If you are 'financially embarrassed' (translated: Poor!) like I am, you will want to save your pennies for other real world purchases, so therefore, you have to make a choice: Use Blender alone (which works well by itself), or pay for another program so you can 'import' the Blender file into the purchased software package to tweak it in the few ways that might not be possible in Blender. Personally,I love the free stuff, and I make it work for me in the best way possible.
The image at the beginning of this blog entry was most likely passed through at least a couple of the above listed programs, but you can get VERY close to the same results with just using Blender.
The jewelry in the above pic was most likely rendered using only Blender.
Another good use for Blender would be to design a piece of furniture, such as a desk that you had in mind. If it is worth it to spend the time, instead of trying to explain an object that you have in your mind to a friend, and you know he's not getting the same idea in his head that you have in yours, you can use Blender to render that object in a manipulable form that you can see from any angle you desire. Cars that don't exist.... Musical instruments that have never seen the real world.... A bookshelf or headboard for your bed...... even hats, clothing, boots / shoes, etc, etc....
The possibilities are honestly virtually endless.
Getting quality renders does take **HOURS** of time and research. The hat and boot series that I just created and posted on FaceBook took at least 2 - 3 months of using Blender a couple hours an evening for at least 5 days a week or more. Learning and mastering your Blender skills takes time.... Modeling believable 3D models takes time, effort and attention to detail. Much in the same manner as you will never sit down at a Steinway piano and play a concerto by Johann Sebastian Bach without years of piano practice, you will never be able to take these basic shapes and manipulate them to resemble believable objects without the same amount of practice and dedication. (If these basic start-up shapes are not adequate for the object that you have in mind, you can make your own object from scratch vertex-by-vertex (kinda sorta in a 'point by point' or a 'pixel by pixel' manner.) After fooling around with one of these basic shapes for hours without successful results, I have deleted that object and started building my own point-by-point, and I ultimately achieved the result I was seeking. More often than not, however, one of these start-up shapes will be the beginning of an object that looks like you could pick it up with your hands right off the screen.
This is only an image used for demonstration purposes, and it is not a clickable link.
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| A typical beginning model |
This is the actual link that will take you to the page to make the snowman in the above pic:
http://www.katsbits.com/
More likely than not, the first character or object that you model will look similar to the one in this picture (I like the fact that in this beginning tutorial, it appears to me that they are teaching not only object modeling but beginning animation at the same time, so that you learn both from the start.
This is only an image used for demonstration purposes, and it is not a clickable link.
I can hear many readers saying, "But.. I don't have the time."
Yes, you do. You make time to do the things you enjoy.
- Michael
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