Now that I stuck my nose in the flower and got stung, I have to explain it to everyone who ask the obvious. They always ask how but not why, except for smart-alicks. Don't use the medical jargan, say "man what a rush!"
You see the flower in this case is Blender 3D and the bee is its user interface. It is repeated that the Blender interface is difficult and hard and has a steep learning curb (a pain, it stings). But once you nose around you will get zapped, marked for life as it were, a Blenderhead.
To the casual observer the interface resembles a Borg spaceship, this is why the reports are out there. Don't stick your nose in there! Thankfully there are video tutorials that take the mystery out of Blender, oh! you will get stung! But if you don't get the basics down your nose will look like a red-skin potato. So my advice to would be Blenderheads, check out http://library.creativecow.net/ and click on the Blender 3D Survival Guide 1 thru 9. Paolo Cicone explains Blender via a simple animation project, you will get stung. But instead of a mass of scar tissue, you will have a red dot and that stupid smile of accomplishment.
Ok, the Batman movie where he had to climb the obscene terrain to get the blue flower, only to have it made into a disillusion powder. Or, the Snuggle bear, dancing through fields of fragrance. Believe it or not, you can do both in Blender, but you got to start somewhere.
Any good graphics application requires a right of passage, Blender is no different. You may be a hard edge know it all, able to learn it without any help. Why waste the time and energy figuring when that part has been pre-digested for you. Get the vids, learn the stuff, save your grunts for the really hard stuff, content.
Blender 3D comes in 4 flavors, Linux, Mac, BSD, and Microsoft, because it is Open Source. There is abundant documentations, tutorials, videos, artwork and finished products as in movie effects, cartoons and stills. You can make models, import models and...........
Also notice that on the Creative Cow site the other application vids that are there. But I advise Blend first unless you got stuck in those other fields.
So, this is the Linuxville guide dude, buzzing off to render in the splender of Blender. And don't forget to visit http://linuxgraphicsusers.com/forum/
for tips, help, chat, boasting and bragging and critique.
Showing posts with label blender3d. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blender3d. Show all posts
Friday, April 09, 2010
Monday, March 29, 2010
Blender is not that hard, K3D is coming along.
Gentleman, choose your weapons. It's a level playing field today, the sun is high and the media blimp is up there also proving once again that elephants do fly.
Among all the 3d graphics applications there is no best best ones. You can see this better on the Linux platform where folks are articulate and picky. The underlaying math either does it or doesn't and that is veiled by a thin GUI layer. Without a doubt the so-called best is thought of as the one where you can tweak everything but the name. But wait, there is another, so suave and sophisticated, you only have to gesture and it's done. Who shall hold the title as the best all around 3D graphics application is anybody's guess. OK anybody, it's your guess, you've got 30 seconds and the clock is ticking. tick, tick, tick...........wait he's going back to get his pencil. He's writing something, holding up a sign. "NOT ENOUGH TIME!
I know that. Here in the Linuxville guide château where the idea has been to survey, see what's out there, has come to realize the GUI is the "interface" or the "in your face", it's what's behind it that matters, mostly. Maybe the GUI is a little shack sitting on an immense catacomb of capability. Maybe the GUI is a 27 bedroom mansion with a matching basement. If you want 2D graphics, you can hit-n-run with a paint program, or get serious with a photo editor. 3D gives you no option, you must move in, stay there for a while and learn the secrets.
Hey, Mr.rno, you been messin wid K3D, how's it going? Well there's some work slowdowns, because the documentation to go further is not user friendly enough. There is too much I have to figure out to really do something. Even if I spent the time some things are awkward for a noobie-won. K3D is not bad for making model geometry, but gets laborious beyond that. I will keep poking at it to see if what's there will suffice.
I also am poking around Blender 3D. Folks need to stop saying the Blender interface is difficult to learn. True there is a lot of interface, but you don't use it all at once. The big thing with Blender is that there are video tutorials that show and tell, making a text and picture tutorial a pain in the eye socket. I have viewed several beginner tutorials and I feel pretty good about learning Blender.
So if you are wanting to model in Blender, you shouldn't be bothered by all the stuff for animation, unless you are doing animation. The secret of using Blender 3D is using it. The videos let you hear the interface explained, seeing it in action takes away the complexity. All those experienced Blender users are making forums buzz and video tutorials and models and games from the community make Blender a force to be reckoned with.
What would help Blender is not the shortcut keys on each command button, but using something like Conky. I encountered Conky in #!Crunchbang Linux. Conky is a heads-up on screen display that shows CPU temps, speed, etc and a text field which can list keyboard shortcuts. This is so cool and handy.
Among all the 3d graphics applications there is no best best ones. You can see this better on the Linux platform where folks are articulate and picky. The underlaying math either does it or doesn't and that is veiled by a thin GUI layer. Without a doubt the so-called best is thought of as the one where you can tweak everything but the name. But wait, there is another, so suave and sophisticated, you only have to gesture and it's done. Who shall hold the title as the best all around 3D graphics application is anybody's guess. OK anybody, it's your guess, you've got 30 seconds and the clock is ticking. tick, tick, tick...........wait he's going back to get his pencil. He's writing something, holding up a sign. "NOT ENOUGH TIME!
I know that. Here in the Linuxville guide château where the idea has been to survey, see what's out there, has come to realize the GUI is the "interface" or the "in your face", it's what's behind it that matters, mostly. Maybe the GUI is a little shack sitting on an immense catacomb of capability. Maybe the GUI is a 27 bedroom mansion with a matching basement. If you want 2D graphics, you can hit-n-run with a paint program, or get serious with a photo editor. 3D gives you no option, you must move in, stay there for a while and learn the secrets.
Hey, Mr.rno, you been messin wid K3D, how's it going? Well there's some work slowdowns, because the documentation to go further is not user friendly enough. There is too much I have to figure out to really do something. Even if I spent the time some things are awkward for a noobie-won. K3D is not bad for making model geometry, but gets laborious beyond that. I will keep poking at it to see if what's there will suffice.
I also am poking around Blender 3D. Folks need to stop saying the Blender interface is difficult to learn. True there is a lot of interface, but you don't use it all at once. The big thing with Blender is that there are video tutorials that show and tell, making a text and picture tutorial a pain in the eye socket. I have viewed several beginner tutorials and I feel pretty good about learning Blender.
So if you are wanting to model in Blender, you shouldn't be bothered by all the stuff for animation, unless you are doing animation. The secret of using Blender 3D is using it. The videos let you hear the interface explained, seeing it in action takes away the complexity. All those experienced Blender users are making forums buzz and video tutorials and models and games from the community make Blender a force to be reckoned with.
What would help Blender is not the shortcut keys on each command button, but using something like Conky. I encountered Conky in #!Crunchbang Linux. Conky is a heads-up on screen display that shows CPU temps, speed, etc and a text field which can list keyboard shortcuts. This is so cool and handy.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
3rd dimension and desktop support
I am starting to consider 3D art again. A few years ago I played with software called Rhino 3D that ran on XP. It was beta software at the time and today is quite developed and expensive so I don't own a copy of Rhino 3D. On the Linux platform, there are a bunch of 3D applications to explore. I was looking at Art of Illusion, a Java application and Equinox-3d and of course Blender 3d. I am settling on Blender 3d because of the well documented features and the how-to videos that show you where to start. The videos take away the fear of the reportedly imposing interface menus and huge learning curve. These videos should be the benchmark for all Linux graphic applications. Having wonderful features are meaningless if you have no clue of the workflows to get things done. The videos cut to the chase and illuminate the manuals. Blender has a wonderful magazine, same format as the Ubuntu Fullcircle magazine. It is in pdf format, downloadable or on-line readable and very cool. It's at http://blenderart.org/.
In computer art there is two things that get you there. Repeatable results is the first, as you can plug in all the parameters, make the same moves and produce the similar results as someone else. And also by making adjustments produce totally different results which is the second. You can discover what stuff works for you, the way you work, what you like to see. Anywhere along the process you can change and adjust things. You just can't do this with traditional art media to the same extent. So, today I begin the process of learning by looking at the tutorials and videos.
Another cool thing I get to do is be a Linux guide (haven't reached guru status). People are starting to explore Linux but need help with ways not familiar to them. Like when you dual-boot, how to adjust the boot time allotted for choosing which OS runs and which OS is the default. The OS boot chooser is called GRUB and the program to change GRUB is called STARTUP MANAGER. Startup Manager is usually not included in the original install, so you have to add it. I really hope the two programs can be integrated together someday, it would make life with Linux easier.
Why do Linux newbies get trounced by Linux vets? It is a simple thing but everybody must take their share of the blame. New folk want instant answers but don't want to do any research, homework or trial and error. They rather have someone explain it in simple precise terms. Most new to Linux folk are so smart and computer savvy they don't need no stinking manual, right. NO, the desktop GUI is the human compatibility layer, made so that you can transfer your MS and Mac skills with minimal confusion. The Linux behind the desktop is new to you, you know little of that and will have to learn what that is all about.
Linux vets have the reverse problem. They know too much and especially in the areas of their focus, not usually the Linux desktop. Linux has been used by mostly server admin, coders, developers and engineers. I have been to Linux groups where I was the only desktop junkie. System admin, coders, developers are usually far down the Linux road, it is retro to help newbies. I will admit that after I install and setup Linux to where it works I may not fuss with it until I want to change distros. It just works and I move on and forget what I've done. This has been my complaint for a long time, there are no Linux desktop support persons (for the general desktop), mostly system admin with server and corporate experience. I want to tell newbies so badly to read the blankety manual, but the need for desktop Linux support is what is aparent.
Now you must understand that learning materials, help sites, forums, distro sites are all on the net and aren't hard to find if you can "google". Linux was born on the net and has grown up on the net. Even though you can find Linux on some store shelves and get support from a few name-branded companies (Red Hat, Suse, Canonical), the majority of help to users is the experience from other users on the net. I would say Linux is 9% market and 91% after-market. Now say it with me, "it's not a flaw, it's a feature!" Linux is a different world.
So, Linux newbies must learn to research a little more and Linux vets must realize the desktop user is a new Linux phenomena and requires support (mouse-side manner). This is why I am a Linux guide, I know nothing of coding, and a small bit of server stuff, most of my experience is on the desktop, using applications. And just the same as MS and Mac users, I don't care about the OS as much as the applications to get what I want done. The Linux desktop GUI wins for me. I am not recomending the text input command line answer if a GUI solution is handy, but if that is the only way to do it quickly.............
In computer art there is two things that get you there. Repeatable results is the first, as you can plug in all the parameters, make the same moves and produce the similar results as someone else. And also by making adjustments produce totally different results which is the second. You can discover what stuff works for you, the way you work, what you like to see. Anywhere along the process you can change and adjust things. You just can't do this with traditional art media to the same extent. So, today I begin the process of learning by looking at the tutorials and videos.
Another cool thing I get to do is be a Linux guide (haven't reached guru status). People are starting to explore Linux but need help with ways not familiar to them. Like when you dual-boot, how to adjust the boot time allotted for choosing which OS runs and which OS is the default. The OS boot chooser is called GRUB and the program to change GRUB is called STARTUP MANAGER. Startup Manager is usually not included in the original install, so you have to add it. I really hope the two programs can be integrated together someday, it would make life with Linux easier.
Why do Linux newbies get trounced by Linux vets? It is a simple thing but everybody must take their share of the blame. New folk want instant answers but don't want to do any research, homework or trial and error. They rather have someone explain it in simple precise terms. Most new to Linux folk are so smart and computer savvy they don't need no stinking manual, right. NO, the desktop GUI is the human compatibility layer, made so that you can transfer your MS and Mac skills with minimal confusion. The Linux behind the desktop is new to you, you know little of that and will have to learn what that is all about.
Linux vets have the reverse problem. They know too much and especially in the areas of their focus, not usually the Linux desktop. Linux has been used by mostly server admin, coders, developers and engineers. I have been to Linux groups where I was the only desktop junkie. System admin, coders, developers are usually far down the Linux road, it is retro to help newbies. I will admit that after I install and setup Linux to where it works I may not fuss with it until I want to change distros. It just works and I move on and forget what I've done. This has been my complaint for a long time, there are no Linux desktop support persons (for the general desktop), mostly system admin with server and corporate experience. I want to tell newbies so badly to read the blankety manual, but the need for desktop Linux support is what is aparent.
Now you must understand that learning materials, help sites, forums, distro sites are all on the net and aren't hard to find if you can "google". Linux was born on the net and has grown up on the net. Even though you can find Linux on some store shelves and get support from a few name-branded companies (Red Hat, Suse, Canonical), the majority of help to users is the experience from other users on the net. I would say Linux is 9% market and 91% after-market. Now say it with me, "it's not a flaw, it's a feature!" Linux is a different world.
So, Linux newbies must learn to research a little more and Linux vets must realize the desktop user is a new Linux phenomena and requires support (mouse-side manner). This is why I am a Linux guide, I know nothing of coding, and a small bit of server stuff, most of my experience is on the desktop, using applications. And just the same as MS and Mac users, I don't care about the OS as much as the applications to get what I want done. The Linux desktop GUI wins for me. I am not recomending the text input command line answer if a GUI solution is handy, but if that is the only way to do it quickly.............
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