Blender, an open-source 3D creation suite, is now celebrating it's 20th year of existence. Originally
created as an in-house application for a Dutch company founded by one of Blender's original developers,
Ton Roosendal (and still lead Blender developer). A shareware version was released in 1998 and a
large, enthusiastic user base began to form. Eventually, the company Ton created to distribute and
develop the application went bankrupt in 2002. However, after fans of Blender donated over $100,000
to pay creditors to release the source code of Blender under the GNU General Public License, Ton
created the non-profit Blender Foundation which actively develops Blender software as a completely
free program.
Blender booth at SIGGRAPH 2009
Today, the Blender Foundation is about to release version 2.5 which promises to be one of the
most important releases in the history of the application. Not to mention the production of the new,
short animated film “Durian” as a means to show off the new Blender version and to develop the
software through a practical and rigorous production schedule.
And Blender is entirely free.
“...in the realm of consumer-oriented and graphics software, it remains
true that most of the best industrial-strength software applications are
proprietary. Even the best open source applications in these areas tend
to come across largely as underdog imitations of their proprietary
counterparts. For this reason, it is reasonable to wonder what the catch
is with something like Blender. And the good news is that as far as the
software itself is concerned, there really is no catch. Blender is a robust,
fully-fleshed-out piece of software, remarkably free of bugs, and more
stable than some proprietary packages with similar functionality.”
-Tony Mullen
Although the Blender Foundation provides very complete documentation and tutorials to learn Blender,
there have been, until recently, a decided lack of Blender books published by a major publisher. The
focus for these companies has been on those other “industrial-strength” software applications that
Tony Mullen refers to. However, in the last year two publishers have emerged as strong supporters of
this free and open source 3D software: Sybex and Focal Press. This is important because it provides for
increased exposure for Blender to the public at large, but also it adds a measure of long-overdue
legitimacy for a publisher like Sybex to release well-written/designed books on Blender at the same
time they are releasing books on Maya and 3D Studio Max, the big boys of 3D.
I'd like to review three of these new books for you. Blender for Dummies (2009) by Jason van Gumster
and Mastering Blender (2009) by Tony Mullen are published by Sybex (Wiley Publishing); Animating
with Blender (2009) by D. Ronald Hess is published by Focal Press. The first book is for beginners and
the latter two are for intermediate and advanced users. All three books are well-written and very useful.
 Blender for Dummies by Jason van Gumster
Wiley Publishing, 2009
385 pages with B&W illustrations
Content CD includes Blender 2.48a
$34.99
While written primarily for the new user, Blender for Dummies can also be useful for readers who have
some experience with 3D, but are completely new to Blender. The author's stated goal is to “bring you
up to speed in working in 3D space with Blender.” Using the now standard Dummies (always hated
that title for the series, but it sells) format, the book has a reference book feel to it, meaning you can
skip around the book a bit and not get lost.
Laid out in five parts: “Wrapping Your Brain Around Blender,” “Creating Detailed 3D Scenes,” “Get
Animated,” “Sharing Your Work with the World” and the Dummies-series standard “Part of Tens,” the
author takes great pains to orient you to Blenders interface, which has come under a lot of criticism for
being too difficult for the beginner. Despite some overly complex sentences at times, the author
succeeds in de-mystifying the Blender GUI. Part of the problem is that the program is simply not built
using familiar conventions, so where you expect a left mouse click to select something, it's the right
mouse click that does it. Also, Blender is really a program that works more quickly using keyboard
commands, something that takes time to memorize.
The author's writing style is casual, but focused. He uses small projects to illustrate the ideas behind
each chapter and is honest about some of Blender's limitations (NURBS especially). I like this kind of
arrangement because you can choose a chapter and focus on mastering it's particular focus and then
move on. The Animation chapters are detailed, but seem a bit short to me.
The book is just the right length, but some of the illustrations are hard to read. It's really a matter of
cost for a publisher, since color illustrations or glossy paper would make the illustrations much easier to
read, but add a lot to the cost of the book. For the Dummies series, the illustrations are adequate, but
you may need a magnifying glass if you have old eyes like mine.
The accompanying CD comes in a clear plastic case and is well-protected. It includes all of the author-created
material for chapter projects, a copy of the second open movie project, Big Buck Bunny,
created by the Blender Foundation, and a copy of the open source VLC player (highly recommended),
plus an additional chapter listing 10 community resources for further Blender study. A shame there
were no video tutorials for more complex subjects like materials and UV editing. However, the author
has a Vimeo channel with some good video tutorials on subjects in the book and there is an
accompanying website for BFD with most of the example files available for free. I liked this book very
much and the author's writing style is appealing. It's definitely going on my Blender bookshelf for
future reference.
 Mastering Blender by Tony Mullen
Sybex (Wiley Publishing), 2009
425 pages with B&W illustrations
Content CD includes Blender 2.48
$59.99
Sybex has been publishing books on computer technology for 30 years. They release over 100 books a
year, and all of them are high-quality productions. Acquired by Wiley Publishing in 2005, they have
continued to excel in releasing cutting-edge tech books that are very well edited. And compared to the
textbook market, they've managed to keep their prices relatively low. That they are publishing books on
Blender is not a surprise. Very pleased to see them on the Sybex display rack at Siggraph 2009 right
alongside the Maya books. This kind of support from a major publisher will definitely encourage other
publishers to release books on Blender in the future.
Tony Mullen, the author of numerous Blender books for Sybex, is a widely recognized expert on
Blender. Currently living in Tokyo where he writes a monthly series of Blender tutorials in Japanese, he
is also an active member of the Blender community.
Mastering Blender, part of Sybex's “Mastering” series, is a step up from the Blender for Dummies book
both in the quality of the actual book production and in the writing style. Printed on high quality glossy
paper, the illustrations are in a high-contrast gray scale which makes them much easier to read. Plus,
they are large enough not to have to whip out the magnifying glass. There are also a lot more
illustrations in the Sybex books and they are better arranged.
The Wiley Publishing booth at SIGGRAPH 2009
Tony Mullen's writing style is easy going, but focused and he manages to explain complex procedures
clearly with none of the “jokey” tone that can kill a book like this. He develops his ideas carefully, and
at the end of most sections you have a strong foundation to build on for the next chapter. More than
anything, Tony conveys an enthusiasm and excitement for using Blender that is inspiring.
Mastering Blender is written essentially for someone who already knows Blender well. The book is
divided into 3 main sections; “Mastering Blender 3D,” “Mastering Blender Python” and “Mastering the
Blender Game Engine.” His goal is to cover aspects of Blender that are not as well known or as well
documented. The first two sections on advanced Blender procedures and Python scripting are well
done, but it's Mullen's coverage of the Blender Game Engine that really shines.
“The biggest strength of the BGE (Blender Game Engine) is its ease of
use and the relative speed with which creators can create their work.
The BGE lacks some of the functionality of high-powered professional
game-creation tools.....but it excels in creating fast, high-quality prototypes
visualizations, and walk-throughs. Unless you are creating a high-quality
commercial video game, the BGE likely will enable you to do whatever
you want”
-Tony Mullen
Tony takes you through the entire creation of a simple game in the BGE. From modeling, rigging and
skinning a character to setting up the game world with sets and Logic Blocks, this chapter could easily
be extended into an entire book itself. His companion book, Bounce, Tumble, and Splash: Simulating
the Physical World with Blender (also published in a beautiful color edition by Sybex) is an essential
book if you want to master physics inside of your game creation.
All of the assets used in the BGE chapter are available on the accompanying CD (along with assets for
the other chapters as well), which makes it easier to follow the often complex Python scripting sections
because you have the finished version to compare your work to. You also get a copy of Blender 2.48
and the open source image editor, Gimp. Somewhat skimpy contents compared to other books that go
into this level of detail. A few video tutorials, especially on scripting, would have been very useful.
And be sure to read the Appendix where you'll find William Reynish's complete presentation of the
“Evolution of Blender's User Interface” which makes for fascinating reading. My understanding of how
3D interfaces function with the user was much enhanced by this paper and by Tony Mullen's
comments.
I would have liked to include Tony Mullen's most popular Blender book, Introducing Character
Animation with Blender, but because of major changes to the animation system due in the Blender 2.5
update (coming in October, 2009), it's almost obsolete. Fortunately, Sybex has announced an update
coming in early 2010 to the book. I'll be reviewing it here at Renderosity.com as soon as it's out.
 Animating with Blender: How to Create Short Animations from Start to Finish by D. Roland
Hess
Focal Press (Elsevier), 2008
352 pages with color illustrations
Content CD includes Blender 2.46
$44.95
D. Roland Hess (also known as “harkyman”) is the author of one of the best books for Blender
beginners, The Essential Blender, and has been working in 3D, and specifically Blender, for many years.
While working as an IT manager for a mid-sized commercial printer during the day, he has been
creating computer graphics for almost thirty years. He is an active Blender developer and is the author
of a suite of Python scripts called “BlenderPeople” which allows for the creation of large scale crowd
dynamics within Blender.
Focal Press is a major producer of books relating to computer graphics. They've been publishing for
over 70 years and their backlist just gets longer and longer with outstanding books on everything from
sound editing for animation to creating cinematics inside game engines. Their books are very well
produced with high quality paper and full color illustrations. I can't tell you the difference it makes
when illustrations are in color. Since the topic you are trying to follow is usually very specific, being
able to see the details clearly makes it much easier to grasp the often complex points a technical book
author is trying to make. The arrangement of the illustrations and choice of font/font size is superb.
This is a company that knows how to produce books on computer graphics. Animating with Blender is
a better book because of Focal Press.
Written for users who have “a great deal of familiarity with Blender”, Animating with Blender is a
complete guide to creating a short 3D animated film from script to render inside of Blender. Highly
detailed, the book consists of 16 chapters that chronicle the creation from idea to render/output of a short
film titled “The Beast” (included on the CD). Mr. Hess skillfully guides the user in learning how to
write a decent script and creating a Story Reel, creating Libraries and file naming conventions, creating
rough sets and blocking, finding sound effects and recording (a particularly well done chapter),
building and rigging your characters, animating and lip-syncing, simulating particles, and ends with
rendering/final edit with color correction and post.
What makes this really well-organized book so good is not only the organization of the information
presented, but the down-to-earth writing style of Mr. Hess. Reading the book and going through each
section you feel like the author is right next to you helping with mistakes and pointing out ways to save
time. Plus, he covers topics that many other books simply avoid, like file naming conventions and time
saving tips/shortcuts that make working with Blender much easier. He also relates basic concepts of
working in 3D as far as work flow, animation and, well, just being able to finish your project. I like his
enthusiasm for working in Blender, but he also tempers it with a realistic point of view on the
limitations you'll encounter as a solo filmmaker.
Every chapter is well presented with actions like keyboard shortcuts written in bold and instructions are
bulleted. There are clear objectives presented at the beginning of each chapter (along with the “inbox”
which is the knowledge you'll need to complete the chapter) with a summary at the end of the chapter. I
really liked the fact that the line spacing of the book is slightly larger than the other books I've
reviewed here, which makes each page in Animating with Blender much easier to read since the
paragraphs aren't as packed together. Section titles are in bold and in color which also makes it easier to
know where you are and focus on following the author's examples.
The CD contains Blender 2.46, which might cause a few snags here and there since the current version
is 2.48, but this is a minor issue that is easily solved with a bit of research. Complete versions of the net
renderer plug-in FarmerJoe (covered in the book) is included along with all of the example files for
each chapter, the complete production media/files from “The Beast” and open source programs
Audacity (an excellent sound editor) and the VLC player (another very good video player). Also, the
short Blender films “Big Buck Bunny” and “Elephants Dream” are also included along with a complete
version of “The Beast” (although not the final version as the author was still working on it when the
book's deadline arrived). The accompanying disc is probably the best of the three books covered here,
but I still wish there would have been a few video tutorials for difficult topics like rendering and
rigging.
Conclusion
The coming release of Blender 2.5 and the accompanying open film project Durian, which is being used
as a way of testing the build in a practical production setting, will expand the already large user base
for Blender. Publishers like Focal Press and Sybex have taken notice by making available high quality
books written by well known (and admired) experts on practically every aspect of Blender. In addition
to an extremely supportive community and high level of free documentation, these books fill a need for
those who prefer learning by book and for those who want a focused course of study in Blender. Each
author writes so well and is such a master of their subject that it's almost like having a mentor as you
are working through each book.
Congratulations to Tony Mullen, D. Roland Hess and Jason van Gumster for supporting open source
and for writing such good books. Also, Focal Press and Sybex deserve a pat on the back for publishing
books on Blender and giving this excellent, free application the importance it deserves.
More information on Blender can be found at their Blender.org site. There is a very good video intro to
the new Blender 2.5 design which will get you started on thinking about the new version which might
be coming as soon as the end of October, 2009. Focal Press and Sybex have full pages on the books
listed here, along with a complete backlist, which is fun to browse through. The Blender open movie
project “Durian” is in production and has a great website. Blender Nation and Blender Artists are top
notch sites to learn more about Blender and to learn from a very knowledgeable community of
“BlenderHeads.”
Editor's Note: Be sure to check out all the valuable resources available right here on Renderosity, for all your artistic endeavors, starting with the following related links:
Also, be sure to check out BlenderArt Magazine, as they continue to support the Blender community by publishing a bi-monthly PDF magazine free for download.
 Ricky Grove [gToon], Staff Columnist with the Renderosity Front Page News. Ricky Grove is a bookstore clerk at the best bookstore in Los Angeles, the Iliad Bookshop. He's also an actor and machinima filmmaker. He lives with author, Lisa Morton, and three very individual cats. Ricky is into Hong Kong films, FPS shooters, experimental anything and reading, reading, reading. You can catch his blog here. |
