Blender

Well, I've been toying around with Blender off and on since early this year. I thought I'd make a post to kinda date my official Blender binge start date.

I decided to set programming aside for awhile (at least as a hobby). I've really fallen in love with Blender, especially since the 2.5 series release. It's interface is much cleaner than previous versions, imho. I've been doing tutorials and even ordered a couple DVDs from the Blender Foundation e-shop (hopefully they will be here this week).

I'm really starting to get a feel for the work-flow in Blender. I have all the commonly used hot-keys memorized as well as the mouse-buttons. Blender is starting to feel more like an extension of my hands rather than a clumsy mind-numbing tool with too many controls (like when I first started using it).

I've mostly been modeling life-like head models from reference photos. However, just this last week, I was in the commons area in my apartment and there was a guy working on something on his laptop. I asked him what he was working on. He had a book for learning C++ through game programming. So, I told him that I have a few books he might be interested in. I grabbed my two C++ books and a 2D game development book I had and brought them down to him. I told him I won't be using them for awhile because I've been spending most my free time trying to learn Blender. Then he said "I have a book on Blender." Ooh. I asked if we could swap books for awhile - so he got the Blender book for me. It's called "Introducing Character Animation with Blender" by Tony Mullen.

That's really cool because animation is one of my main goals for learning Blender. I've always wondered how to rig a character for animation. Eventually, I'd like to make fun little animations. So, that's what I've been doing the past couple days. So far, I have the body of the character from the book complete. I kind of just looked at the pictures to do my modeling though, because I don't like the way he does it in the book. Now it's time to do the head. In the book he uses extensive use of the Knife Tool on the head. I hate the knife tool - it seems to mess up the flow of the mesh for me. So, for the last I dunno, hour or so, I've been downloading David Ward's Johnny Blender 3 tutorials on YouTube. He starts with the head, so I only need the first few. But, I figure I might as well get the whole series. I might want to go through it when I'm done with this book. Anyway, the reason why I'm using David's videos for reference is because when he box-models, I've never seen him use the Knife Tool. I need a quick reference for figuring out how to get the edge-flow right without that damn Knife Tool.

So, there you have it. I'm a Blender learner now. I know it seems like I jump around to different projects all the time - and nothing ever comes of them... But, that's why I'm posting this. I really like Blender and want to get good enough at it to do some fun animations. I've always had an interest in art and 3D modeling. I just never gave it a try. This is the beginning of that try! Wish me luck!