Rendering Blender Curves in Yafaray

This video is an important followup to my other modeling videos.

Brushed Aluminum Material in Yafaray

Blender's User Interface

This tutorial is brought to you straight from the makers of blender it's self. After reading this tutorial you should have a general feel for blender's environment and will begin to feel comfortable working in blender. I highly recommend you read this tutorial asap if you are new to blender. You won't be disappointed that you did!

How to model a Pool / Hot tub

This tutorial teaches you how to model a pool / hot tub in blender.

Blender Material Repository

The Blender Material Repository is just what it sounds like. It is an active repository in which you can upload / download blender materials. They are currently undergoing construction and their new site will be up in just a short while with a ton of new features, but until then you can still access their old site from a link on the new.

They currently have over 600 materials from 20 different categories. You can browse and download materials without registering an account with then, but to upload you must have an account. Also included on the site is a suggestion list. This list orders materials based on how many users would like the material to be made, ranging from less then five people, to over fifteen.

Also included on the site is a plugin for blender that lets you browse the repository from inside blender. I was unlucky in trying to use the plugin and received errors, however I am hoping that when the new repository comes online, this error will be fixed.

I rate this site at an 8 out of 10. It is current and frequently updated so that is not an issue. Browsing the repository is extremely easy, and the site's navigation isn't overly complex. While it doesn't have a huge amount of materials, it has enough for you to find one pretty close to what you are looking for, and be able to edit later. I will definitely be frequently visiting this site in anticipation of the newer improved repository's arrival on the net.

Blender for Architecture

Blender for Architecture is a website in which many assets for architecture can be found. All of the files on the website are free and downloadable and range from materials, textures, models, scripts, and tutorials. Users may als upload and share their own assets here if they would like.

Of all of things you can find on this website, it's decently sized HDR collection has got to be the most useful. Containing over 30 different sky maps you are sure to find one that will work for you.

Blender for Architecture's material library is decently sized, and at least has a material from practically every category you can think of. And if you can't find the exact material you are looking for, download one that is close to what you want and fudge with the settings until it looks right.

I give this website an 7 out of 10. While the library is decently sized, not all of the assets are of extremely good quality. Some are fair and others are excellent, but not to say that there aren't a good amount of suitable ones. Another downside to this site is that it doesn't look very recent. The main page was last updated May 1, 2009 and the materials were last updated May 11, 2007.

I would recommend checking out this site if you haven't already, and if you find something you like all the better to you. I would suggest however not to limit yourself to one site, get on google and see what's out there!

Wall modeling tutorial

This video tutorial teaches you how to model walls the right way using bezier curves.

Molding / Trim

This video teaches you how to create molding / trim in blender using bezier curves.

Blender Newbies is an awesome blog dedicated, like this one, to helping people new to blender.

Blender UI Environment Tutorial

Sunflow Renderer

Sunflow Renderer is an awesome external rendering solution for Blender. Sunflow is a java based program, so you will need java to run it. The advantage to this is that it doesn't matter what platform you are on. It even runs on 64-bit machines, provided they have the 64-bit version of java installed.

They way Sunflow works is much different than the way other external renders for blender work. In other renderers like Yafaray or Indigo require you to set up your materials and lights seperatly from their blender settings. Sunflow, however, converts all of your blender materials, cameras, and lights into sunflow's format.

The next point of sunflow, which I really love, sort of goes against the title of the blog, but it makes sunflow even more customizable than the other renderers. After you have exported your scene from blender, you can then go into your .sc (sunflow filetype) file and edit all of your light, camera, and rendering settings. This means that you can quickly edit your settings without having to open up blender. The format of the file may seem a bit confusing to a non-programmer, but isn't truly that difficult to understand if you take a few minutes to read the different blocks of instructions.

Try out sunfow if you haven't. It's a renderer that I doubt you will easily forget.

Why Blender?

You may be wondering, why use blender? There are a couple of really good reasons to use blender, the main of which is that blender is free. This perk is what brings many people to blender, but that defiantly is not enough. Blender offers a solution to practically everything you can find in any other high end software out there. And not only does blender do what these other programs do, but it does it well, sometimes even matching their quality.

Blender also offers a free game engine, which over the course of the last year it was drastically rewritten and improved, making blender one of the primary choices for a free, open-source game engine. Which brings me to another point. Because blender is open-source, there are many different builds of blender that people have worked on to do specific tasks, or plugins that you can get for your build. This fact means that if there's somthing you wish blender had, or could do, that it doesn't already, chances are someone out there has it made.

This is great and all, but where to start? At first blender can seem a strange and forien place, even to expierenced animators. I've compiled a list of websites that will help you get familiar with blender.

Blender 3D: Noob to Pro is an excellent starting place for people new to blender. The site gives a quick run down of each and every aspect of blender in a clear and understandable manner. The manual talks about everything from molding to python scripting in blender, and even blenders built in game engine.

Wiki Blender Blender's wiki page that contains documents and links to helpful tutorials.

Blender Nation A form for blender users where you can talk to others out there about your problems or questions; and also contains a lot of helpful tutorials.

Blender Artists Another useful form that contains tutorials and such.

Tutorialized This site is filled with links to blender tutorials all over the web.

With these sites you should begin to feel comfortable in blender in no time.