I'm looking into learning Blender 2.8, but so far I have only found video tutorials. Let's just say I would rather gouge my eyes out with a spork than learning a new software from video, my brain just can't deal with that.

I need to start from scratch, and I don't mind paying for a good tutorial, but it MUST be a written one.

Any tips?

You can find some actually detailed written tutorial books on PackT and they are having a sale right now that you most anything books and videos for $5 they have a Blender 2.8 starters guide another resource is Gumroad has a couple of PDF written one creator you can search for is Robert Burke 3D also in our Market place

Winterbrose Has some basic starter Blender tutorials but might be 2.79

I myself have a written tutorial here in the market place but might not be what you are exactly looking for Lobo3433

and last there are some Blender books on Amazon as well but the majority of the good ones are from PackT website and at their $5.00 sale be cheaper to get thru them directly

Hope these help I can not post direct links to products against our TOS since we sell tutorials here but you should have no problem searching on the sites I listed

Good Luck

Thanks! I'll look at those!

Your welcome and good luck

Amazon has a couple of decent Kindle or Paperback books for Blender 2.8 as well, but well-written hardcopy tutelage for Blender is becoming rare.

Blender 2.8 Beginners Guide On Amazon

Unfortunately, it's only going to get harder and harder to find really good, up-to-date books or written documents for learning Blender as time goes on. One reason for that is simply because recording videos for specific things in a software application is just so much easier and faster than writing a pdf document or a book about the subject. Blender is updated so frequently, often the basic information about UI and hotkeys are outdated by the time an actual book is published. Tutorials in video form can keep up with those changes much more efficiently.

Just a couple weeks ago, I went to my local BAM store (Books A Million) and happened to look at the Computer section. I was shocked to find that the Computer category itself had shrunk to only two or three small shelves in the back end of the store because the last time I was looking for some computer-related teaching material was about 10 years ago and the area related to that was at least triple the size it is now. Also, I noticed only one single book there for learning Blender, and it was for Blender 2.75 or something outdated by about 2 or 3 years. Very disappointing.

Personally, I understand why there is still a demand for written or illustrated learning material about graphics software. I taught myself 3dsmax almost 20 years ago based on books I had purchased for the software back then, and it was very helpful to have the material handy whenever I wanted it in hard copy form. Of course, this is going back to a time when Smart Phones didn't exist and you could still take classes for Autodesk software at local community colleges as well (which I did later on). It seems the material available in written form is just a lot more carefully explained and thought out than you typically find in videos, but then again as I learned more about certain software I turned my education to the video form, simply because it was more helpful to actually see something being done in real-time. I think absolute beginners do benefit more from written word stuff though.

Hi LuXeon, I too began to learn from books. This is a natiural choice for me to start looking for books when I begin on a new software. They may be less up to date and have less stuff but in the end what you learn, you learn for good.
When I was beginning on Blender I have first been looking for books but the ones I found for a bit too advanced for my needs (I mainly focus on modelling) and there was 2.8 on the horizon. Then I end up watching videos.
But I am still looking for a book on Blender, just for the pleasure of reading.

Oh I agree, once I get more proficient, I might be able to handle videos better, but when starting from scratch, books are a must. For me anyway, but then I didn't grow up with computers, smartphones and tablets. And I firmly believe that knowledge learned from reading sources, will 'stick' better than what you learn from videos Yea, I'm old lol

Ah ah, I am affraid I am not a youngster either. Another generation, another approach maybe.

I like video tutorials but there are only a select few of creators that i will spend my hard earned dollars on because I like fine details if I have questions I want them to be questions that I can answer myself maybe because I missed something and I do like reading where 99% of the time I can figure out where I went wrong where in a video it might be human error on the creator left out. having worked in the tech field for almost 20 years and reading manuals on proper way you set up a server or trouble shot a network is not left up to a whim or a how it looks you do not fit square into a circle if that makes sense. One of the reason I am trying to do more by writing tutorials for Blender granted most will be for modeling and props and such where measurements scale and exact things like that come into play that many video creators sort of skip or do not take into consideration. Just my two cent contribution to the conversation.

Lobo3433 posted at 2:12PM Fri, 03 January 2020 - #4375385

I like video tutorials but there are only a select few of creators that i will spend my hard earned dollars on because I like fine details if I have questions I want them to be questions that I can answer myself maybe because I missed something and I do like reading where 99% of the time I can figure out where I went wrong where in a video it might be human error on the creator left out. having worked in the tech field for almost 20 years and reading manuals on proper way you set up a server or trouble shot a network is not left up to a whim or a how it looks you do not fit square into a circle if that makes sense. One of the reason I am trying to do more by writing tutorials for Blender granted most will be for modeling and props and such where measurements scale and exact things like that come into play that many video creators sort of skip or do not take into consideration. Just my two cent contribution to the conversation.

I think it's a great idea to provide a resource of your own for written tutorials for Blender, Lobo. In fact, I think there could be a decent demand for well written, comprehensive tutelage in PDF or document format (including screencap images for visual assistance). In many free video tutorials, it's true that oftentimes the "instructor" does not take into consideration someone who is just starting to learn the software. Sometimes it's a case of the instructor already having a library of free videos created and perhaps the technique they didn't mention is something they already covered in the past. Sometimes it's just neglected or forgotten by the instructor. At any rate, I feel all absolute beginners should never start out with big projects or lengthy tutorials which cover more than one singular thing in the software at a time. One of the biggest mistakes when it comes to learning any new 3d package is jumping in too quickly or trying to accomplish something far beyond your ability at the moment. Always start out very basic and slowly learn using baby steps.

When it comes to tutelage leaving out certain smaller details of a project that may be critical for beginners, this seems to be something in all mediums. There were many written tutorials when I was first learning that had me completely stumped halfway through or early on. There were countless written tuts that I left unfinished because there was no way to figure out what they did. I found out that with video tutorials, at least, I was sometimes able to visually see what the cursor of the instructor's mouse was pressing, even if he didn't mention it in the narration, which could often help me get past certain sticking points in a tutorial.

I think the best video tutorials should have clear and concise narration along with screencast keys (for Blender) which will display each and every keystroke the instructor is making. This way, at least if the narration confuses you, there is a way to review certain parts and break down what keys were being pressed at that point in the tutorial. This is something I've started adding to my own video tutorials for that exact reason. I used to simply annotate the video footage to compliment my narration, but sometimes even that wasn't good enough because people were complaining they needed to see exactly what keys or mouse clicks I was making in certain parts.

LuxXeon posted at 4:14PM Fri, 03 January 2020 - #4375407

I think the best video tutorials should have clear and concise narration along with screencast keys (for Blender) which will display each and every keystroke the instructor is making. This way, at least if the narration confuses you, there is a way to review certain parts and break down what keys were being pressed at that point in the tutorial. This is something I've started adding to my own video tutorials for that exact reason. I used to simply annotate the video footage to compliment my narration, but sometimes even that wasn't good enough because people were complaining they needed to see exactly what keys or mouse clicks I was making in certain parts.

I couldn't agree more Lux, as those are the only video tutorials I find I really learn from. I usually prefer written tutorials, because I find if I stop a video tutorial to try something out in the software, I have to go back a bit to make sure I didn't miss the next step in the video's narration. That's not only a time waster, I find I lose control of the flow of my thoughts as to what I'm trying to learn. Then again, I've been using Blender for a very long time, but this old lady's brain "ain't what it used to be".

The major problem with video tutorials is if you are hearing impaired (like me), couple that with being non-english speaker, and you have no chance. At least with a written tutorial, you can chuck it into google translate.

Also, I tend to very easily get 'stuck' on the quirks of the narrator, every 'um' and 'ah' makes me lose focus, and if they have a weird accent, I get so hung up on that, that whatever they are narrating gets lost on me.

I do agree with you LuxXeon all mediums written or video there can be omissions mistakes human error and creators sometimes assume they may have covered something maybe in a previous lesson or something. But what I have found that perhaps might be unique to our particular community and I do not mean just Blender but our community here at Renderosity it is a common fact that many of us work across several software's in our workflows weather it be Poser or Daz Studio and maybe Reallusion as well as Maya 3Ds Max ZBrush and that being said there are some common practices to make life easier that I notice do not get mention or covered as well as they should like applying location, rotation and scale (both Poser and Daz Studio are very unforgiving when this is not applied in your modeling program) Good UV practices like island placement and size, Setting units of scale to either metric or imperial from the start of a project sometimes these small things if they got covered over and over would become imprinted steps you shouldn't forget. Sometimes the little things amount to so much that you could fill volumes and having multiple resources video and written as well as a community where you can interact with others makes the learning process that much more rewarding in the long term

DreaminGirl posted at 6:37PM Fri, 03 January 2020 - #4375411

The major problem with video tutorials is if you are hearing impaired (like me), couple that with being non-english speaker, and you have no chance. At least with a written tutorial, you can chuck it into google translate.

Also, I tend to very easily get 'stuck' on the quirks of the narrator, every 'um' and 'ah' makes me lose focus, and if they have a weird accent, I get so hung up on that, that whatever they are narrating gets lost on me.

This is very interesting and I never thought about these types of issues, but they are certainly very real and unique concerns to someone who is trying to learn any software. This is a great reason to create more written tutorials or, at the very least, quality transcripts of video tutorials. Youtube does offer a closed caption service for their videos, but it is often only accurate if the narrator is speaking in clear and proper manner, and sometimes even then it isn't very accurate. Thank you for bringing this up. This is really making me think about different ways to present tutorials this new year and what could be done to improve the video tutorials for people who may be hearing impaired or perhaps not fluent in the language I am speaking. I appreciate this on many levels.

Lobo3433 posted at 6:48PM Fri, 03 January 2020 - #4375416

I do agree with you LuxXeon all mediums written or video there can be omissions mistakes human error and creators sometimes assume they may have covered something maybe in a previous lesson or something. But what I have found that perhaps might be unique to our particular community and I do not mean just Blender but our community here at Renderosity it is a common fact that many of us work across several software's in our workflows weather it be Poser or Daz Studio and maybe Reallusion as well as Maya 3Ds Max ZBrush and that being said there are some common practices to make life easier that I notice do not get mention or covered as well as they should like applying location, rotation and scale (both Poser and Daz Studio are very unforgiving when this is not applied in your modeling program) Good UV practices like island placement and size, Setting units of scale to either metric or imperial from the start of a project sometimes these small things if they got covered over and over would become imprinted steps you shouldn't forget. Sometimes the little things amount to so much that you could fill volumes and having multiple resources video and written as well as a community where you can interact with others makes the learning process that much more rewarding in the long term

Yes, I've always advocated the use of real-world scale when modeling an object or preparing a scene for rendering. Even if you never plan on 3d printing a model, using real-world units is always the best practice for anyone who is learning to model. Generic units used to be just fine back when most 3d software did not always adhere to real-world physical properties or measurements. Today, however, almost every 3d software can use either Metric or Imperial scene units, and most of them will default to one or the other right from the start. In today's modern 3d world, it is common practice to use physically-based lighting and rendering solutions as well as PBR materials and textures. All of these things tend to look and perform much more reliably if your scenes are scaled to real-world measurements. Also, things like physical simulations and certain material properties like SSS depend largely on a model's thickness and scale to get more accurate results.

Have to thank DreaminGirl for starting this thread for it brings out what I think is best about our community we can all share useful information and as well as learn a few new things along the way also

It is nice to be able to talk about these things among mature people who actually show understanding for issues disabled people might have, and not just tell us to 'deal with it or go die' which is often the reaction I get in other places when I ask for written documentation. That tend to make me wary about mentioning any issues I have. While I don't really consider myself disabled as such, just impaired, I know that disabled people face many difficulties in modern society that most people don't even think about. Like, how do you use a touchscreen if the bloodflow in your fingertips is so poor that they don't register? And yet some people insist that 'everyone can do this, old people are just being stubborn'. That simply is not the case.

Anyway, thanks so much for the tips I have received here, I've bought a couple tutorials that will get me started, now if I could only find the time to begin

DreaminGirl posted at 11:05AM Sat, 04 January 2020 - #4375465

It is nice to be able to talk about these things among mature people who actually show understanding for issues disabled people might have, and not just tell us to 'deal with it or go die' which is often the reaction I get in other places when I ask for written documentation. That tend to make me wary about mentioning any issues I have. While I don't really consider myself disabled as such, just impaired, I know that disabled people face many difficulties in modern society that most people don't even think about. Like, how do you use a touchscreen if the bloodflow in your fingertips is so poor that they don't register? And yet some people insist that 'everyone can do this, old people are just being stubborn'. That simply is not the case.

Anyway, thanks so much for the tips I have received here, I've bought a couple tutorials that will get me started, now if I could only find the time to begin

I fully appreciate your circumstances being disabled as well and dealing with health issues can truly demoralize you and not take up new challenges but you stick to it and no matter how little the issue or what ever questions you might have in the future I think I can speak for our whole community better support and knowledge you wont find any where else. Another little tidbit as to touch screens consider a stylus they are very in-expensive and might give you that added help