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stringlengths 313
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# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Using the sequencer to compile frames into an animation
|previous=Flying Through A Canyon
}}
```
## Preamble
When you render an animation, often it\'s a good idea to render the
individual frames and then compile them into the animation. This has
several benefits over rendering directly to a movie file. Some of them
are these:
- - If you discover a mistake in the render, you can modify sections
of the animation and rerender those frames without having to
rerender the whole animation.
- If the render crashes because the power went out or, (psst),
blender crashed, you can pick up the render at the last rendered
frame without having to rerender the whole animation
## Tutorial
- Open your animation in blender
Begin by opening blender to an animation that is ready to be rendered.
- If you don\'t have one and don\'t want to wait to long, just
download the demo file from blender.org For
You
```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
- The output format should stay PNG. Though you can use any image
format you want, I recommend PNG because it is lossless format.
```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
- Set the file output location.
Set the location on your file system where you want all the frames to be
saved to.
- Set Endframe to match the animation
If you animated 500 frames, set the end frame to that same number. the
default is 250.
- Render the animation!
Simply press the \"Render\" button under the render tab.
- For \"For You\", you only need to click Num0 and go to \"Render\" in
the menu bar. Then click on \"OpenGL Render Animation\". For
exercise, 100 frames must be enough.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
## Use the Sequencer to compile the images into a movie file
- Open a new blender and delete everything except the camera.
```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
- Change the 3d window into the \"Video Sequencer Editor\" window.
!video Sequence
Editor\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
- Add the images to the sequencer.
On the bottom of the sequencer window click Add\>\>Image then browse to
the location where you saved the images, Press A to select all the
images and finally press "Add Image Strip\" on the top-right.
- Set final movie format.
- Set the location that the movie will be saved to by changing the
output path.
!Format\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
- Change the End Frame.
!Ready for
Render\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
- Render!
Just Press the Render \"Animation\" button and wait a few seconds till
it\'s done. Browse to the location you saved your movie and enjoy the
animation.
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Further Rendering Options
|previous=Using the sequencer to compile frames into an animation
}}
```
In previous units on renderer settings, you learned about
- Basic settings, and
- Animation rendering.
Here we will describe some more renderer settings that can be useful in
certain circumstances.
## Stamping
The "Stamp" panel in the Render
context provides options for placing descriptive text on top of each
rendered frame. The topmost checkbox enables/disables stamping (off by
default), while the other checkboxes control the precise information to
include, and you can even specify the text and background colour and
font size. The information is inserted at the corners of the image, so
it can be included in production renders that get appropriately cropped
as part of the post-production process. **Note:** In blender 2.76,
you\'ll find it under Metadata. You\'ll have to check Stamp Output.
## Toon Renders
Blender has long had an option for doing simplified "toon"
(cartoon-style outlined) renders. In the Render
context, look for the "Post Processing" panel and check the "Edge" box.
You will also have to set up the lighting and materials for your objects
to give a more flat-shaded look.
A more powerful set of options for doing this sort of thing is available
with
Freestyle,
which you will learn about
later.
## Clay Renders
There is sometimes a need to render a scene without detailed materials
and textures, just to see what the object shapes look like. In the
Render Layers
context, there is an option to override all lighting and materials for
objects in the layer with a particular light group and a particular
material. It is common to use a plain diffuse, colourless grey material
for this purpose, making all the objects look like they are made out of
clay, hence the name.
## Transparent Backgrounds
Blender by default provides a "sky" or background for your rendered
scene; settings for this can be controlled in the World
context.
Sometimes you don't want such a background at all; you simply want the
objects in your scene set against a *transparent* background. So, for
example, if you insert the image in a Web page, the scene is displayed
against the page background, rather than its own image background.
The way to do this is quite simple:
- Choose to render the Sky as Transparent. In the Render
context, look for the Shading panel, where there is a popup menu
labelled "Alpha:", with items "Sky" and "Transparent". Change this
from its default "Sky" to "Transparent". You have to do this before
rendering the image.
- When saving the rendered image, choose a file format (in the Output
panel in the Render
context) that includes an *alpha
channel*; for example, PNG allows for
this, but JPEG does not. With such a format chosen, you further have
to remember to select the "RGBA" button, not "RGB", otherwise the
transparent areas will simply be filled with black.
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Particle Systems
|previous=Further Rendering Options
}}
```
## Introduction
Particle systems are used to simulate large amounts of small moving
objects, creating phenomena of higher order like fire, dust, clouds,
smoke, or fur, grass and other strand based objects. You may also use
other objects as a visualization of particles.
Before you start with the tutorials, you should at least take a brief
overview about the very extensive documentation
pages of
the particle system. You will find every single parameter explained in
the manual if you have the desire to delve deeper \...
Don\'t forget: particles alone don\'t do any magic. They are only a
placeholder for something nice to view. You have to take care of the
visualization also, and that is usually the harder part than to create
the particle system.
## The very first particle system
### Creating a particle system
framed\|**Image 1a:** Where to create a new particle
system
framed\|right\|**Image 1b:** The very first particle
system To create a
particle system:
- Create a mesh object to be the "parent" (source) of the particles
(only mesh objects can emit particles). Let's use a simple plane to
start with.
- select the object
- change to the Particles
tab in the Object Properties window
- click on the "+" button (**Image. 1a**)
Voila, your first particle system (**Image. 1b**)! It doesn\'t do
anything useful now, but we\'re going to change that on the following
pages.
- To see the particles, you must start the animation running by
pressing . You will see particles
appear and fall from the plane. Press
to stop the animation; you return
to frame 1. The particle movement is cached (stored), so if you play
your animation again it will go faster (well, you won\'t notice any
difference in this simple case).
- If you want to stop the animation in the current frame, press
while it is running instead of
.
- The shortcut for returning to the first frame is
)
- To see the particles even better change to wireframe mode
(),
If you change anything in your particle system you always have to return
to frame 1, to recalculate the system from the start.
Use the *timeline* window along the bottom of the screen to change
easily between frames.
### Changing properties of the system
framed\|**Image 2a:** Particles emitted in the direction of the face
normal of the plane
Some important settings, from the "Emission" panel:
- *Number:* the total number of particles; increase this to 5000
- *Start:* and *End:* the start and end frame of the emission
- *Lifetime:* the lifetime in frames of the particles
And in the "Velocity" panel are settings that combine to determine the
initial velocity of the particles:
- *Normal:* a velocity component in the direction of the face normal
(if emitted from faces)
- *Tangent:* a velocity component parallel to the face
- *Rotation:* controls the direction of the tangent velocity component
- *Emitter Object X/Y/Z*: a velocity component oriented in the
object's coordinate system
- *Object:* a multiplier that imparts some proportion of the object
velocity to the particles (try moving the object around with a
nonzero value for this field to see its effect)
- *Random:* a random contribution to the object velocity
Initially, the plane has its face normal oriented upwards. However, it
probably looks like the particles are emitted downwards. This is because
the initial normal velocity of 1.0 is quite small compared to the force
of gravity (which is on by default). Try increasing it to something like
10.0, and when you rerun the animation, you should see the particles
rise quite high above the plane before falling down again.
If you render a frame with particles showing, you will see the particles
appear as white blobs. This is the default *Halo* rendering of the
particles.
### Changing the material of the particles
framed\|right\|**Image 3a:** The first simple *Halo*
material.
- Switch the Properties window to the Materials
tab and create a new material for the plane.
- Change the material type to *Halo*. (see also the Manual on
Halos).
Halos are a post rendering effect, that is applied after the scene
is finished. So halos can\'t shed any lights on other objects, they
are not rendered behind *RayTransp* materials (like glass).
framed\|**Image 3b:** Our first particle system rendered in frame
68
- Set the color to deep blue (RGB: 0/0/1)
- *Size:* 0.05 so each halo is quite small.
- *Hardness:* 127 so that each halo has the maximum sharp edge
- *Add:* 0.5 so that the brightness increases where several halos
overlap
Set the world color to black and render (**Img. 3b**). Nothing special
till now, but that will change soon. So proceed to the next page, where
we\'re going to make some fire.
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Making Fire
|previous=Particle Systems
}}
```
framed\|**Figure 1:** My idea of particle
fire. We\'re going to
create a camp fire with a simple particle system. This tutorial is based
on the method described in the Blender
Manual.
The result of this tutorial is shown in **Fig. 1**, the Blend-File is
included at the bottom of this page.
If you need more realistic looking fire, you should use the method
described in BlenderArt Magazine No.
16, though that method is more
advanced and uses Compositing Nodes heavily.
The starting point of the tutorial is how fire behaves physically. The
flames are made of hot gases. These accelerate upwards due to their
lower density in contrast to the cooler air in the environment. Flames
are in the middle hot and bright, to the outside they are darker.
## The particle system
!**Figure 2a:** A simple
scene{width="300"}
I\'ve created the usual scene with some stones and a few pieces of wood
(the wood is by courtesy of Teeth). (**Fig. 2a**).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
**Noob note:** I made the stones by adding an Icosphere of 3 subdivisions, and then used the proportional edit falloff (**OKey**) with the random falloff mode. And then subdivide and smooth.
**Noob note 2:** For the wood I used a modified Plane with an Image texture created with **GIMP**
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Add a *Plane* in the middle of the stones.
This will become the particle emitter.
- Rename the *Plane* object to \"Emitter\".
If you use good names you will find it much easier to orientate yourself
in your scene later. Having 100 objects named \"Cube.something\" will
make it very difficult to quickly select a desired object.
- Subdivide the plane once in *Edit* mode.
- Change the shape of the plane, so that it\'s shape equals the base
of the fire.
- Change to object mode.
framed\|**Figure 2b:** The particle
system
- Change to the *Particle* buttons of the *Object* buttons.
- Create a particle systems (*Add New* in the *Particle System*
panel - and make sure the plane is selected!).
- *Type: Emitter* The plane emits the particles.
- *Amount:* 9000 The total amount of particles.
- *Sta:* -45 The simulation shall start before the rendering, to
have a fully developed flame in the first frame.
- *End:* 200 The simulation shall last 200 frames - here: the
particles are emitted till frame 200.
- *Life:* 16.6 I\'ve adjusted the lifetime of the particles to
their speed. Both parameters together regulate the height of the
flame.
- *Rand:* 0.5 The lifetime is changed randomly.
- *Emit from:*
- *Random*
- *Faces*
- *Even*
- *Random*
This creates particles with a random distribution on the faces of the
emitter object.
The movement of the particles is controlled with particle physics. You
set the *Initial Velocity* and let the physics do the rest.
- *Normal:* -0.099 The particles are emitted slightly against the
direction of the face normal. This leads to a bit wider fire at the
base.
- *Random:* 0.014 This creates a random start velocity as well in
speed as in direction (you could use a texture to randomize only the
speed, see the discussion page for that).
After you have given the particles an initial velocity they are moved by
forces.
- *AccZ:* 2.57 A force in positive Z direction (upwards).
- *Drag:* 0.1 Air drag decelerates the particles.
- *Brown:* 1.99 Random movement simulates agitated air movement.
!**Figure 2c:** Particles without
material{width="200"}
The particle system is finished. Until now is doesn\'t look like much
(see the white Blob in **Fig. 2c**). Therefore the emitter will get a
material, this material will be animated.
## Material
framed\|**Figure 3a:** Material for the emitter
object.
- Create a new material for the emitter, call the material *Flames*.
- Activate the *Halo* button in the *Links and Pipeline* panel. Else
we couldn\'t set the particle parameters. The particles would be
rendered with the default Halo values.
- *Halo* color: 1/0/0 (red)
- *Alpha:* 0.8 The particles shall always be a bit transparent.
- *HaloSize:* 0.132 I wanted many, but fairly small particles.
- *Hard:* 45 The transition from fully transparent to fully opaque.
- *Add:* 0.875 Several *Halos* over each other combine their power.
This makes the fire in the center really bright.
- *HaloTex:* A Halo can bear an individual texture, but only the
texture in the first texture slot is evaluated.
To give the Halo a bit more structure, give it a texture:
- Add a new texture in the first texture slot.
- *Map To:*
- *Col*
- Color: Bright yellow (1/1/0.664)
!**Figure 3b:** Adjusted
texture{width="600"}
- Use an adjusted *Clouds* texture with a *NoiseSize* of 0.6.
### Animation of the particle material
framed\|**Figure 3c:** Animation of the *Alpha*
value
The particles \"pop\" into life and vanish suddenly. We should change
that. Therefore we\'re going to animate the *Alpha* value of the
particles.
- Make sure the material buttons are visible in the buttons window.
- Change to frame 21, move the mouse cursor over the button window and
press **I**-\>*Alpha*. This is going to be the maximum visibility of
the particles.
- Change to frame 1. Change the *Alpha* value to 0 and insert the next
key.
- Change to frame 100. Change the *Alpha* value to 0 again and insert
the third key.
If you want to see the IPO curve in the *IPO Editor* window you must
change the *IPO Type* selector in the window header from *Object* to
*Material*.
The *Alpha* value therefore changes during the individual lifetime of
each particle from 0 to 0.8 and back to 0 (**Fig. 3c**).
## Rendering
Our particle animation is finished.
- Change the end frame in the *Anim* panel of the rendering Buttons to
200 and click on *Anim*.
**Note: If after rendering your particles are too small, such that the
fire doesn\'t look realistic, try increasing the *Halo size* slightly. I
used 0.300 instead of 0.132**
To actually let the fire glow you have to use one or more lamps and
animate them as well. But that would be part of another tutorial \...
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Furry
|previous=Making Fire
}}
```
*There is an older version of this page created with Blender
v2.40.*
(NOTE: **New:** marks Notes
added for newer versions. I\'m not an expert but they seem to work.)
!**Figure 1:** The result of this tutorial: some furry
thing{width="300"}
This tutorial deals with fur, i.e. lots of relatively short hairs
covering a body. We will use particles to create the fur, and discuss a
few aspects here:
- How to determine the length and the thickness of the hair.
- How to determine the place to grow the hair.
- How to color hair.
- How to render efficiently.
The particle system is far too complex to show more than one method in
this tutorial. You can achieve many of the same effects shown here in
different ways.
## The emitter
framed\|**Figure 2a:** Adding a particle
system.
- Remove the cube.
- Add an *UVSphere*. This will become our emitter.
- Change to the *Particle* buttons in the *Object* buttons
(**Fig. 2a**). **New:** looks like !20
px in newer versions.
- Click on *Add New*. **New**: Click on !20
px in newer versions.
- Rename the particle system to \"Fur\".
- Change the particle system type to *Hair*.
A *Hair* particle system has a lot of specialties, the most important
thing is that we can edit the particle \"motion\" by hand if we want to.
Apart from that normal particle physics apply, so everything a particle
does hair can do also and vice versa. A particle hair shows the way of
the particle during its lifetime at once. To do that efficiently not
every single frame is rendered as a point, but a certain number of
control points are calculated. Between these control points there will
be drawn an interpolated path. The number of control points is the
number of segments + 1.
framed\|**Figure 2b:** Particle system
settings For
fur you need lot\'s of particles, like 1.000.000 upwards. This will hurt
us badly if we have to deal with so many particles in the 3D window and
want to render it. Therefore, we will create the great amount of
particles with so called \"children\", that mimic the behavior of their
parents. The amount of particle parents should be as low as possible,
but you need a certain amount to control the distribution of the hair.
We will also use as little control points as possible, three segments
should be enough for short fur.
- Set the *Amount* to 1000.
- Set the number of *Segments* to three. **New** I can\'t find this in
2.69. **New2** In 2.7x, it\'s right next to the particle system type
you just chose (emitter or hair), below the slider *Seed*.
- *Emit from:* **New** I can\'t find this in 2.69. **New2** In 2.7x,
you must check the *Advance* box near the *Segments* slider in order
to see it.
- *Random*:*Faces*
- *Even* :*Random*
This will create a nice, uniform distribution.
Let the hair grow - the hair shows the path of the particle:
- Set *Normal* to 0.05. **New:** Hair Length under Emission. **New2**
In 2.7x, you must check the *Advance* box in order to see the
*Velocity* panel and adjust the *Normal* and *Random* slider. If you
change the *Normal* value, *Hair Length* will set itself to 0.2.
- *Random* 0.005
Nothing special here: the hair grows in the direction of the face
normals. Length and direction are a bit randomized.
The *Visualization* type changes automatically to type *Path* if you
select a hair particle system. If you would render now, you couldn\'t
see the emitter object any more.
- Activate *Emitter* in the *Visualization* panel. **New:** In the
Render panel.
- Activate *Strand Render*. **New:** In the Render panel.
The *Strand Render* (which I have baptized *keypoint strands* to
differentiate from the \"normal\" *polygon strands*) renders the hair
strands extremely efficiently and magnitudes faster than the normal
strand. It is the only way to handle many hairs in terms of memory
consumption. But it has a few disadvantages:
: \- They are not seen by raytracing, so you don\'t get raytracing
reflections and no raytracing shadows. You can use environment
mapping to compute the reflections and *Spot Lamps* with buffer
shadows for the shadow.
: \- If the hair is very thick (like 1 BU) sometimes the shape is not
correct.
- Activate *Children from Faces*. **New:** I chose Interpolated under
Children. Interpolated is known to give better results when making
Fur. Simple, maybe, will work with one color, but we\'re going to
use 2 colors from an image.
- *Amount:* 5 This is the amount of children particles for each
parent.
- *Render Amount:* 50 This is the amount of particles during the
render.
- *Rough 2:* 0.1 **New:** I used *Roughness \> Random* for this
setting. Random variation of the shape of the particles. So the
hairs will not stand plain upright and appear a bit curly.
The parent particles are not rendered by default, so now we have 5.000
Particles that render on my old machine in 6 seconds. If we use 1.000
children we have 1.000.000 particles, that need approx. 1 GB of RAM and
render in 1:42 minutes. If you render *keypoint strands* with *Children
from Faces* you can also use *Child simplification*, which will reduce
the amount of particles on objects far away from the camera
automatically. **New:** Don\'t see this when using Children - Simple,
When using Children - Interpolated, you\'ll see it all down the Render
section. However, the result is very bad, with the standard settings.
!**Figure 2c:** The first render without
material.{width="300"}
Now we should change the lighting to get a preview.
- Select the lamp.
- Change to the *Lamp* buttons.
- Change the lamp type to *Spot*.
- Change the shadow type to *Buf. Shadow*
- Change the buffered shadow type to *Classic-Halfway*.
This is a great shadow type that renders keypoint strands very well and
creates fewer artifacts than *Classical* (In my opinion). I have
inserted two other lamps and used a classical three point lighting for
the first rendering (**Fig. 2c**).
!200 px\|left\|Click on image to see larger
version.
**NEW:** Here are the settings
I used and the render result I got. (Click to enlarge the image and read
the settings.)
## Material
In the material buttons you can set different aspects for the strands:
: \- their width and form
: \- the used shader
: \- the base color
: \- a texture along the strand
: \- different particle attributes like length, density or roughness
- Add a material to the emitter.
- Name the material \"Fur\".
### Strands Shader
framed\|**Figure 3a:** *Strands* settings in the material
buttons. The
default strands settings for *Keypoint strands* are shown in
**Fig. 3a**. Take a look in the Manual about
Strands
for an explanation of all settings.
- Change the *End* value to 0.25, this will make the hair more spiky
(not shown in **Fig. 3a**). **New** In 2.7x, it\'s called *Tip* (and
*Start* has become *Root*)
### Giving the hair its base color
!**Figure 3b:** Fur color
texture{width="200"}
Strands are rendered with the material of the underlying face/vertex,
including shading with an UV-Texture. Since you can assign more than one
material to each face, each particle system may have its own material
and the material of the underlying face can be different from the
material of the strands. We will use an UV texture and use it for the
surface of the emitter as well as for the color of the hair.
- Change to *Front* view in the 3D window (*View-\>Front*).
- Make sure you are in *Orthographic* view mode (also in the *View*
menu).
- Change to *Edit* mode of the sphere.
- Press **U** to unwrap, select *Sphere from View*. This is a quick
and well working method to correctly unwrap a sphere the easy way.
You don\'t need to assign a texture in the *UV/Image Editor*, we only
need the coordinates now.
!**Figure 3c:** Emitter with color
texture.{width="300"}
- Add a texture to the material, name it \"FurColor\".
- Set *Map Input* to *UV*.
- Go to the *Texture Buttons* and set *Texture-Type: Image*.
- Load an image texture. I have used the image in **Fig. 3b**.
Normally I would just stop here, I think the material is good enough.
But if you want to make the fur more fluffy and soft, you should a
second texture along the strand, which changes the alpha value. **New:**
For this to work you have to choose *Interpolated* instead of *Simple*
in the *Children* panel of the particle system.
!**Figure 3d:** Settings for a texture along the
strand.{width="400"}
If you want to do that:
- Activate *ZTransp*.
- Add a second texture.
- *Map Input:* *Strand*
- *Map To:* *Alpha* and *Spec*, *DVar*=0
- Use a blend texture (*Linear* or *Quad*)
You can change all other properties this way, for example the color
along the strand (bleached tips).
## Changing Hair length with a texture
At first I will show you how to render the emitter mesh with a different
material than the strands. Then I will show how to change the length of
the hair with a texture semi-interactively.
- Change to the *Editing* Buttons.
- Change to *Edit* mode.
- In the *Links and Materials* panel click on *New* in the material
section (see **Figure 4a**).!**Figure 4a:** Button to
click{width="300"}
- Make sure all vertices are selected.
- Click on *Assign*.
- Change back to *Object* mode.
Now the emitter bears a second material.
- Return to the material buttons.
- In the *Links and Pipeline* panel click on the **X** next to the
material name (*Deletes link to this Datablock*).
- Add a new material.
- Name it *Emitter*.
Now you have a new material on your emitter object. Since the particle
system uses material no. 1 you can use different settings for the
emitter.
!**Figure 4b:** Texture
painting{width="300"}
We have already unwrapped the emitter, this is something that will
probably be the case also for any real models. Now we will use an
UV-Image and texture painting to determine the hair length.
- Split the 3D window.
- Change the right hand side to an *UV/Image-Editor* window.
- Change to edit mode of the emitter object.
- In the *UV/Image-Editor* use *Image-\>New\...* and confirm the
default settings. This will create a new image, that we will paint
on.
- Click on the package icon in the windows header of the
*UV/Image-Editor* window. Confirm.
- Change the object to *Texture Paint* mode. **Noob Note:** *In the 3D
Window, click on the drop down menu. Change it to***Texture Paint**.
Now you see the texture on the object.
- Paint a structure on the object.
- Change back to object mode.
- Go to the *Material* buttons.
- Change the active material to *Fur* (click on the arrows in the
*Links and Pipeline* buttons where it reads *2 Mat 2*).
framed\|**Figure 4c:** Material settings for setting the particle
length with a
texture.
- Create another texture. Name it *FurLength*.
- Set *Map Input* to *UV*.
- Set *Map To*
- Turn *Col* off.
- *PAttr*
- *Length*
- *DVar=0* All the white areas on the texture will produce a
particle length of 0.
- Load the image texture that we have painted.
!**Figure 4d:** Controlling particles with a texture:
result{width="300"}
The result is shown in **Fig. 4d**, you can also see the particles
change in the 3D window.
**New** In Blender 2.7x, things have changed. I followed until the step
*Change the active material to Fur*. Then, I went to the *Texture* tab
and clicked on the *Particles Texture* button next to the *Material
Texture* button (or you can click on the *Particles* tab button !20
px and then click on the
*Texture* tab button). I added a new texture, opened the one I had just
painted in the *UV/Image-Editor*, set *Coordinates* to *UV* (in the
*Mapping* panel). Finally, I enabled *Density* in the *Influence* panel
and set its value to *-1.00* (*1.00* has the opposite effect = hair on
the white areas of the texture). The result should be the same as above.
There would have been other ways to achieve this result, e.g. with
vertex groups or with particle editing. But I like to work with
textures, because you have very fine control and may change the strength
of the effect at any time. Vertex groups don\'t allow for such fine
control or you need very many vertices in the emitter. Particle editing
(what we will do in the next step) is lost if you change the base
particle settings late on, and you can\'t change it\'s effect so easily.
## Comb it!
framed\|**Figure 5a:** Combing in *Particle
Mode*
An effect that is often underestimated is the importance to comb fur in
the natural directions. Fur doesn\'t simply stand upright, and it also
doesn\'t follow gravity (or only to a small amount). So back to the
particle system!
- Change back to the *Particle buttons*.
- Click on *Set Editable* in the *Particle System* panel.
- Change to *Particle Mode*.
*Particle Mode* only appears if you have made the particle system
editable, and only hair systems can be made editable. There are a few
lifesavers to know when working in *Particle Mode*.
: \- you can edit only the control points (remember the setting
*Segments* from the beginning of this tutorial)
: \- you can only edit parent particles, so you need enough parents
for good control
- Activate *Limit selection to visible*
- Activate *Point select mode* for even finer control.
Both settings are in the window header of the 3D window.
- Open the *Particle Edit Properties* panel with **N** key in the 3D
window.
- Select *Comb*.
You have quite a few different tools at hand in *Particle Mode*, see the
manual on Particle
Mode.
- Comb the hair following the natural flow.
On the example sphere I have used here it is a bit difficult to tell
what the natural flow should be ;-). So I have just very carefully
combed and changed the length at a few places a bit. You find the
rendered result in **Fig. 1**, the Blend file is linked below.
## Links
- A tutorial in German that shows how to create
Grass
with a very similar method.
- Awesome fur shown here:
Tiger
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Fireworks
|previous=Furry
}}
```
framed\|**Figure 1:** Some particle
fireworks \[Note: In
newer versions of Blender, the reactor particles are gone.\]
\[if you use 2.6x version of blender, then you could watch the YouTube
video {particles from particles part1/2}. It\'s a great tutorial, but
the part 2 of it uses compositing, which is described in this book a
little later. Therefore, you could apply the knowledge you have learnt
from this book to animate the explosions!\]
How to create a firework from particles? We will use cascaded particle
systems especially of the type *Reactor*. Abstract:
- We create a emitter object in the appropriate size.
- Than we use three successive particle systems:
- the first of the type *Emitter*
- the second of the type *Reactor*. This system reacts to the
death of the emitter particles.
- the third again of the type *Reactor*. This systems reacts to
the proximity of the second systems and thus creates a \"drag\".
- We create three different materials (one of them animated) and
assign them to the three particle systems.
\
== The Emitter == We use a *Plane* as emitter object. Scale it to your
liking. I have used a relatively large particle system, so my plane has
a length of 15 BU (Blender units).
framed\|**Figure 2a:** Adding particle systems. First particle system
on the left hand side, a second particle system on the right hand
side
- Add a particle system (**Fig 2a**, left hand side).
- *Amount:* 25
- *Sta:* 1
- *End:* 250
- *Emit from:*
- *Random*
- *Faces*
- *Even*
- *Random*
- *Initial Velocity*
- *Normal:* 22
- *Random:* 7
- *AccZ:* -9.8
- *Visualisation:* *Line*
- *Back:* 1.1
A few particles (25) are created in the first 250 frames of the
animation and emitted upwards. Gravitation, velocity and lifetime are
adjusted so, that the particles reach the end of their lifetime at the
topmost point of their trajectory.
The *Line* visualization lets the particles appear as long drawn-out
line.
- *Bake* the particle system. Use 500 as the *End* frame for bake. 300
would be sufficient here, but 500 do no harm.
Noob Note: Bake is in the Bake tab next to particle system tab in
particle buttons window.
The plane will get a *Halo* material.
- Activate *Halo* in the *Links and Pipeline* panel.
- *Halo:* color red
- *Halo Size:* 0.421
- *Hard:* 35
I\'ve adjusted the size and hardness of the halo so long until I liked
it, so there is no specific reason to use these values.
## Reactor 1
- Click on the arrow next to *1 Part 1* in the *Particle System*
panel.
- The settings for the first particle system are no longer shown, now
it reads *1 Part 2* (**Fig. 2a**, right hand side).
- Click on *Add New*, now it reads *2 Part 2*.
You just have created a second particle system. Rename this system, a
good naming convention will help you a lot to keep the overview.
framed\|**Figure 3a:** The first reactor
system
- Activate *React on: Death*.
- *Life:* 104
- *Emit from:* *Particles*
You don\'t have to set anything for the *Target*. It is not necessary to
set the target object if it is the same object as the reactor. You just
have to set the number of the target particle system eventually.
The *Reactor* particles react on the *Death* of the particles of the
target system. They will be emitted from the point that the particles
occupy at their death.
To control the movement of the system, I have made following setting in
the *Physics* panel:
- *Particle:* 0.345
- *Reactor:* 10
- *AccZ:* -0.09
- *Brown:* 3.86
Because of the *Reactor* setting the star is moving away from the
emitting particles. The *Brown* movement lets the trajectory appear
trembling like affected by wind.
- Set the material number to \"2\" in the *Visualization* panel.
- Bake the system, again use 500 as end frame.
### Material 2
framed\|**Figure 3b:** Material settings for the 1. *Reactor*
system
- At first you have to assign a new material in the *Link and
Materials* panel of the *Editing* Buttons.
- Use the material settings from **Fig. 3b**,
- The material also gets a *Clouds* texture with *Noise* depth \"3\",
simply leave all other settings unchanged.
The texture is actually superfluous here, but the next particle system
is given the same texture, and colors should be adjusted a bit.
- Animate the *Alpha* value of the material.
- Set the first Ipo key in frame 1 (*Alpha=1*). To do that move
your mouse cursor over the *Buttons* window. Press
**I**-\>*Alpha* (and change ipo type to material in the ipo
curve editor if you are using that).
- Set the second Ipo key in frame 86 (*Alpha=0.75*).
- Set the third key in Frame frame 101 (*Alpha=0.0*).
The second particle system is faded off relatively quickly, but the
particles don\'t disappear suddenly.
\
## Smoke Trail
framed\|**Figure 4a:** Particle system for the
trail The third
(and last) particle system is again a *Reactor* system and is reacting
to the second system. It\'s going to react to the *Nearness* of the
particles. Without moving the variation of the particles is created with
a texture and a random variation of their lifespan. What Blender
considers as close can be changed with the particle *Size*.
- Create a third particle system (like you created the second).
- Use the settings from **Fig. 4a**. Important are the settings:
- *Amount:* 100000
- *React on:* *Near*
- *Emit from:* *Particles*
- *Life:* 75
- *Rand:* 0.4
- *Target Sys:* 2
- *Material:* 3
- Bake the system, again use 500 as end frame.
\
=== Material 3 === framed\|**Figure 4b:** Material for the *Trail*
particle
system
- At first you have to assign a new material (the third) to the object
in the *Link and Materials* panel of the object buttons.
- Assign the existing *Clouds* texture from material 2 also to
material 3, but select a dark blue as target color (in the *Map To*
panel).
\
## Render
- Render your animation, use end frame 500.
That\'s all. I hope you were able to follow the tutorial. Criticism and
suggestions, write best on the talk page or improve the article
directly.
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Particles forming Shapes
|previous=Fireworks
}}
```
```{=html}
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<tr valign="top">
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<td>
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!**Image 1a:** Particles can move to the position of other particles
with *Keyed*
physics.{width="400"}
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</td>
```
```{=html}
<td>
```
!**Image 1b:** Particles can react to force fields of other
particles.{width="400"}
```{=html}
</td>
```
```{=html}
</tr>
```
```{=html}
</table>
```
_Note all the blender users of version 2.6X,
2.7X_: Using sort of a domain to dissolve the particles by
using the alpha parameter of the material is how I did it. You should
understand along the way. I'll write the sentences in key sequences to
reduce the size. So \[s\], 0.5, \[enter\] means to scale the object by
0.5. Don't worry you'll learn keyed physics here.
- Open a new blender file.
- Delete the default cube.
- \[shift\]+\[A\],text.
- \[num0\]
- In the menu, below the tool shelf check align to view.
- Select the text object, \[alt\]+\[c\], convert to mesh.
- \[shift\]+\[a\], add Suzanne.
- \[ctrl\]+\[2\], not the numpad.
- Set smooth.
- In the modifier's tab apply the subsurf immediately.
- If you want you can scale the objects.
- Add a particle system to text object.\[I leave the renaming parts to
you\]
- In the emission subpanel of the text object's particle system:
Number:5000; Start/end(both):1; Emit from: faces, check random and
even distribution, random; Physics: none; Uncheck emitter in the
render subpanel and choose none rather than halo.; Set all to zero
in the field weight's sub panel(actually I didn't notice much
difference it even being on).;
- Now add a particle system to Suzanne and give it the same particle
system but make sure to have it made to a single user(just press the
'2' beside the system name).
- \[shift\]+\[a\], uv sphere.
- Selecting the sphere, \[alt\]+\g\.
- \[s\],2000,\[enter\].
- \[ctrl\]+\[2\],set smooth and apply the modifier.
- Give the same particle system to the sphere.
- Now \num0\.
- \[LMB\] on the pass partout(the greyed out area except for the
camera).
- \[shift\]+\[a\], add cube.
- Give the cube a particle system.
- Assign the same particle system but let's make a few changes: In the
physics subpanel select keyed.; In the render subpanel choose halo.;
In the menu labeled keys, click the '+' icon thrice and set the
target object to text , Suzanne and sphere in order.; Now select the
Suzanne's particle system in the keys menu, check use timing and set
it to 200. Now select the sphere's and set the time to 7025! ( well
this is just to lower the speed we won't render this).; And set the
life time of these particles to 500.(this is in the emission
subpanel).;
- In the timeline header set the end frame to 300.
- Now for the material. Select the cube and: Give it a new material.;
Select halo.; Size: 0.03; Hardness: 16; Add: 1; RGB: As you desire
how the particles appear.(I did RGB=0, 0.106, 0.8); Now go to frame
260 and insert a keyframe to alpha value.; Now go to frame 270 and
insert make the alpha value zero and insert another keyframe.;
- Set the scene's gravity off.
- \[ctrl\]+\F12\
\
```{=html}
<hr>
```
I will show on this page two ways to let particles take the shape of
other objects.
1. keyed particle physics (**Img. 1a**)
2. a harmonic force field with a damping of 1. The force field is
emitted by another particle system, so that each particle is
attracted by another particle (**Img. 1b**).
v2.48: The second method is easier to control, but I\'ve found that it may not work exact enough. Even if you use RK4 as calculation method, there are some glitches in the precision of the calculation, so that your particles may not come to a standstill (depending on the size of the particles and their number this may be visible or not).\
v2.49: That the particles didn\'t come to a standstill has been a bug that Jahka has fixed in 2.49. So if you use Version 2.49 and upwards you will find it easier to work with the harmonic force field.
## Keyed Physics
So here we\'re going to use keyed particle physics and quite a few
different particle systems.
Basically this is the way to go:
- Use mesh objects and let them emit particles.
- Each system moves to another system because of the keyed physics.
- Choose a good visualization of the particles and animate that also.
- At last the hard part: sync the different animations.
The animation shall last 300 frames, this will be 12 seconds.
: \- In the first 2 seconds the word \"Blender\" shall appear (frame 1
to 50).
: \- Than Suzanne shall build up in 3 seconds (frame 51 to 150).
: \- Suzanne shall be clearly visible for a few frames (frame 151 to
200).
: \- After that the form shall dissolve and the particles move a bit
until they vanish (frame 200 to 300)
### Preparing the scene
- Remove the cube.
- Add a text object *Blender*. Name it *Blender-first*.
- Add a *Suzanne* (*Add-\>Mesh-\>Monkey*). Name it *Suzanne-first*.
- Convert the text object to a meshobject, because only mesh objects
can emit particles (menu: *Object-\>Convert Object Type-\>Mesh*).
- Move the objects to their final positions, also the camera.
- **Clarification required - what are the final positions?** (**Noob
note**: the author probably means to move the camera and objects to
a right position for viewing the animation correctly.)
We need every visible object twice.
- Duplicate *Blender-first* and call the duplicate *Blender-last*.
- Duplicate *Suzanne-first* and call the duplicate *Suzanne-last*.
One problem is that the objects have different sizes. So how many
particles shall be used to create a clearly visible form? Since the most
difficult object is Suzanne, I have first chosen an acceptable
representation and set everything else accordingly. But I will discuss
the settings of the objects in order, and not in the way I did it in
reality.
### Set up the particle systems
**Blender-first:**
- Add a particle system to *Blender-first*.
- Amount *20.000*
- *Sta:* 1, *End:* 50, *Life:* 50
- *Emit from:*
- *Random/Faces/Even/Random*
Leave all other settings at default. This object will appear in the
first 50 frames. After that the object has to vanish in the 51st frame.
- Insert a layer key for *Blender-first* in frame 50 (mouse over the
3D window, **I**-\>*Layer*).
- Change to frame 51.
- Move the object to layer 20 (**M**-\>select layer, bottom right
box). Make that layer visible.
- Insert the next layer key for the object.
- Make layer 20 invisible again (select layer 1).
- Change back to frame 1.
**Suzanne-first**
- Add a particle system.
- Amount *20.000*
- *Sta:* 50, *End:* 100, *Life:* 200 (we don\'t need this long
life but the lifetime doesn\'t matter as long as it\'s long
enough)
- *Emit from:*
- *Random/Faces/Even/Random*
- *Visualization: None*
Leave all other settings as default. These particles shall not move and
they shall not be visible. They are simply a target to the next system.
- Animate the layer of this object also. Move it out of sight in frame
151.
**Blender-last**
These particles shall move from the shape \"Blender\" to the \"Suzanne\"
shape.
- Add a particle system to *Blender-last*.
- Amount *20.000*
- *Sta:* 51, *End:* 51, *Life:* 100
- *Emit from:*
- *Random/Faces/Even/Random*
- Physics:
- *First/Keyed* It is the first system of a chain (a very short
chain in this example) of systems.
- *Keyed Target:* Suzanne-first, *Psys:* 1. Target is the first
particle system of \"Suzanne-first\".
- Set time to *Absolute* in the *Extras* panel. We\'re going to
animate the material of the particles, I want all particles to
change at once in a certain frame.
framed\|none\|**Image 2a:** Particle system of the first keyed
system.
**Suzanne-last**
These particles shall dissolve the form, so at first they take the shape
and move around randomly afterwards.
- Add a particle system to *Suzanne-last*.
- Amount *20.000*
- *Sta:* 151, *End:* 151, *Life:* 150, *Rand:* 0.5. The lifetime
is randomized from 151/2 to 151 frames. \[Noob Note: In 2.49a,
you can\'t set the start later than the end, so you must first
change the end to 151, then change the start.\]
- *Emit from:*
- *Random/Faces/Even/Random*
- *Bake:* *End* frame 300. Though we don\'t use baking here, you have
to set the *End* frame in the *Bake* panel. Else the last 50 frames
wouldn\'t be calculated.
- *Time: Absolute*
framed\|**Image 2b:** Animation of Brownian
Motion
Animate the Brownian motion of the particles.
- Open an *Ipo* window.
- Select *Ipo Type* particles.
- Select the *Brown* channel (**LMB**).
- **Ctrl-Click** with the left mouse button in the *Ipo* window to
create an Ipo-key for the selected channel.
- Create a curve similar to **Img. 2b**. **Brown** = 0 to frame 200,
than increase to **Brown** = 4 in frame 217.
### Material
Blender-first and Blender-last will get the same material, Suzanne-first
is invisible anyway, but Suzanne-last will get a material. The material
of the three objects is very similar, but I have animated the visibility
of the particles to match the brightness of the objects.
framed\|none\|**Image 2c:** Material settings for the
particles
**Suzanne-last**\
\* Create a simple *Halo* material like that in **Img. 2c**. This is
nothing special, relatively small particles with a relatively \"sharp\"
edge. The *Add* parameter gives more brightness if particles overlap, I
think this is a nice effect here.
**Blender-first**
- Assign the material also to \"Blender-first\".
- Make the material a *Single User Copy* by clicking on the small
number next to the material name.
- Set *Alpha* to 0.438.
**Blender-last**
- Assign the \"Blender-first\" also to \'\'Blender-last\".
- Make the material a *Single User Copy* by clicking on the small
number next to the material name.
- Animate the alpha value of the material.
- Insert an *Ipo* key for *Alpha* in frame 50.
- Change to frame 150.
- Set *Alpha* to 1.
- Insert an *Ipo* key for *Alpha*.
Now the brightness of all systems are matched.
### Links
- Manual about Particle
physics
## Harmonic Force Fields
So here we will use *Harmonic* force fields. The Text \"Blender\" shall
be transformed to the text \"2.5\" and than to the text \"The big leap
forward\" (**Img. 1b**).
- Use mesh objects and let them emit particles. Only the particles
from the first object are visible and move.
- The other particle systems use an animated *Harmonic* force field to
attract the particles from the first system.
- The particles from the first system take the place of the other
particles.
- Choose a good visualization of the particles and animate that also.
This is difficult and maybe you should animate the visualization at
last.
- At last the hard part: sync the different animations and force
fields.
### Preparing the scene
- Remove the cube.
- Add three text objects:
- \"Blender\"
- \"2.5\"
- \"The big leap forward\"
- Convert the text objects to mesh objects (menu: *Object-\>Convert
Object Type-\>Mesh*).
### Set up the particle systems
- Give each of the three objects its own particle system.
- The first object \"Blender\" gets following system:
- Type *Emitter*
- *Amount*=4000. We need a lot of particles, to fill the last text
evenly. If you want to make the animation even better, you could
animate the *Halo* size of the particles to match the density of
the different objects.
- *Sta(rt)*=1, *End*=10, *Life*=250. The particles are created
from the first to the 10th frame and live for 250 frames.
Only the particles of this system will be visible later.
- Change the calculation method from *Midpoint* to *RK4*. We need the
extra precision here.
The objects \"2.5\" and \"The big leap forward\" will get particle
systems with very similar settings:
- \"2.5\":
- Type *Emitter*
- *Amount*=4000
- *Sta(rt)*=30, *End*=30, *Life*=70. So all the particles are
emitted in frame 30 and live 70 frames. So their force field
(which we give them soon) will start in frame 30 also. If you
want a smoother transition you should give the particles a bit
more time to be emitted (like from frame 30 to frame 40).
- Emit from *Random*/*Faces*/*Even*/*Random*.
- Phyics *None*. The target particles shall not move.
- Visualisation *None*. The target particles are not rendered.
- \"The big leap forward\": All settings as for \"2.5\", except *Sta*,
*End* and *Life*.
- *Sta*=101, *End*=101, *Life*=90.
### The force fields
framed\|**Image 3a:** The object does not get a force
field.
The **particle systems** of the objects \"2.5\" and \"The big leap
forward\" will get a force field now. The objects **don\'t** get a force
field.
- Select the object \"2.5\".
- Select the particle system in the *Field* panel of the *Physics*
buttons (**Img. 3a**).
framed\|**Image 3b:** The particle system gets the force
field.
- Use field type *Harmonic*. Now the particles from the object \"2.5\"
do attract the particles from the object \"Blender\".
- The *Strength* of the force field determines the time the particles
need to reach the target. Set it accordingly.
- The *Damp*(ing) makes sure, that the particles move to their target
but not beyond.
Do the same for the object \"The big leap \...\", i.e. select the
particle system and give it a *Harmonic* force field.
I have used a *Wind* field in the last frames to blow the particles
away.
(Noobie Warning: When i followed the tutorials up to this point, i
didn\'t know how to use wind. I thought selecting *Wind* instead of
*Harmonic* would create the effect but then blender froze on me (I am
guessing it went away and calculated wind for every single particle). so
don\'t try wind yet. Wind is instructed in later tutorials.)
### Links
- The Blend file to
download
- The manual about force
fields
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Billboard Animation
|previous=Particles forming Shapes
}}
```
Billboard
visualization of particles - and especially their animation - is one of
the more arcane concepts in Blender. We\'re going to shed some light on
this. Billboard visualization is extremely powerful, everything that can
be done with a halo can also be done with a billboard. But billboards
are real objects, they are seen by raytracing, they appear behind
transparent objects, they may have an arbitrary form and receive light
and shadows. They are a bit more difficult to set up and take more
render time and resources.
*Billboards* are aligned square planes. If you move an aligned billboard
in a circle around an object, the billboards always faces the center of
the object. The size of the billboard is set with the Size of the
particle.
Texturing billboards is done by using uv coordinates that are generated
automatically for them.
- The main thing to understand is that if the object doesn\'t have any
UV Layers, you need to create at least one in the objects Editing
buttons for any of these to work (**Img. 1a**).
- Moreover, material should be set to UV coordinates in the Map Input
panel (**Img. 1b**).
```{=html}
<table>
```
```{=html}
<tr valign="top">
```
```{=html}
<td>
```
framed\|**Image 1a:** UV coordinates for Billboard
textures
```{=html}
</td>
```
```{=html}
<td>
```
framed\|**Image 1b:** UV coordinates as *Map
Input*
```{=html}
</td>
```
```{=html}
</tr>
```
```{=html}
</table>
```
## Splitting a texture
framed\|**Image 2a:** Billboard settings and texture for UV
split
The simplest thing we can do is to give every billboard its own fraction
of an image texture. We\'re going to use a simple image (**Img. 2a**,
right hand side) and split this in four parts (*UV Split* = 2,
horizontally and vertically).
- Create the UV coordinates (simply click on *New* next to *UV
Texture* in the *Mesh* panel).
- Create a particle system.
- Activate *Billboard* visualization.
- Set *UV Split* to 2.
- *Offset: Random* to randomly choose one of the images sections. None
would give only the first of the four fields, so all billboards
would be red, linear would first use red, then blue, then white and
then yellow repeatedly.
- Set *UV Channel* to *Split*. This creates the necessary UV
coordinates, that are stored in the UV layer. If you use another UV
channel, you need a second (or third) UV layer to store the
coordinates (see below for an example).
- Fill in the field *UV* with the name of the coordinate set (here
\"UVTex\").
!**Image 2b:** UV Split for
Billboards{width="400"}
- Now create a material for the particle emitter.
- Add a texture if not there already.
- Set *Map Input* to *UV*. If you only have one active *UV* layer this
is used by default, but if you want to continue this tutorial you
have to fill in the name of the UV set also (i.e. \"UVTex\").
- Load the texture as Image texture.
Now every billboard gets a random section of the texture (see
**Img. 2b**).
## Animating Alpha in relative particle time
framed\|**Image 3a:** Using an UV layer for time
animation
Now we\'re going to combine the texture split effect with an animation
of the billboard alpha. This is done in relative particle
time,
i.e. in the lifetime of each particle.
Billboard time is setup completely different than particle time.
- Create a new UV layer (the second one). Name it \"UVTex.Blend\".
Naming is not important here as long as it is unique.
- Select the UV channel *Time-Index (X-Y)* in the *Visualization*
panel of the particle system. Fill in the name of the newly created
UV layer \"UVTex.Blend\". This creates an additional set of UV
coordinates in this UV layer.
Now both UV layers with different UV coordinates will be used. The
material settings:
- Activate *RayTransp* and *TraShadow*.
- Add a second texture to your material.
- *Map Input* also *UV*, but now use the UV layer \"UVTex.Blend\".
- *Map To:*
- *Invert Alpha* and *Invert Spec*
- *No RGB* (since we\'re going to use a colorband texture)
- *DVar* = 0 to set Alpha to zero where the colorband is black.
This is one of the possible combinations for using a texture to make a
material transparent (**Img. 3b**), there are several other methods that
work as well.
framed\|none\|**Image 3b:** Material for the *Alpha* animation. This is
already the finished preview with the
texture.
**The texture is really the most important thing here.**
- Use a linear *Blend* texture.
- Activate *Colorband* for full control.
- Adjust the colorband to your liking.
I\'ve mapped the texture so, that \"white\" means full opacity, black
full transparency. framed\|none\|**Image 3c:** Texture to control the
animation
time.
See this animation for the result of the
combined textures.
## Animating billboard color
!**Image 4a:** Animating Billboard color.
Animation{width="150"}
I will show here a second example for animating with a billboard
texture, because this is so important. We\'re going to change the color
during the lifetime of the billboard, but you can animate every property
that way that can be influenced by a texture. Additionally you can
animate the material itself, this is done in absolute time for
billboards. So you can mix relative and absolute time animations.
- Open a new file.
- Remove the cube and add a plane.
- Add an UV layer to the plane
- Add a particle system with *Billboard* visualization and *UV
Channel* Time-Index. Fill in the name of the UV layer.
The particle life time is 50 frames.
- Add a material to your plane.
- Basis color *Yellow*.
- Use a linear blend texture. If you would use a color band here, you
could create an even more colorful animation.
- *Map Input* UV
- Fill in the name of the UV layer.
- *Map To* *Col*. I\'ve used a dark blue color here.
Now the linear blend texture sets the amount of blue color that is mixed
to the basis color of the material.
- At the left hand side the blend texture has a value of 0, so zero
blue is mixed to the base color in the first frame of the particle
lifetime.
- At the right hand side the blend texture has a value of 1, so 100%
blue is mixed to the base color in the last frame of the particle
lifetime.
## Changing the starting color of a billboard
framed\|**Image 4b:** Flipped XY for the blend
texture
If you flip the Blend texture, you get a different effect. Now every
Billboard gets another starting color, but keeps that color during it\'s
lifetime.
Have I mentioned that you may use multiple textures on a billboard,
combining all effects?
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Soft Body Animation
|previous=Billboard Animation
}}
```
Due to rapid updates in Blender, some menu items may be different from
those mentioned here. If the menus don\'t agree then just do what seems
logical.
Softbody makes each individual vertex its own object that falls
according to gravity and reacts to outside forces like fields. By
adjusting the settings, you change the behaviour of the edges that
connect the vertices. For example, you can make it so edges can stretch
really far (aka elasticity), allowing the vertices to become distant, or
you can make the edge stiff, so the vertices will always stay the same
distance apart.
To put this in perspective, picture two cloths, one elastic and one
cotton. The elastic one has edges that can extend, so if you view them
in wire-frame (with vertices and edges visible) you would see the edges
are more extended than an equal distance. The cotton one would only
stretch a little bit, so the vertices would stay essentially the same
distance apart.
We are going to make a big rubber ball, but not a big bouncy one, a flat
(and somewhat lifeless) one. Start with a sphere. I would use a cube
sphere or an icosphere, UV spheres don\'t deform well as they have too
few vertices. A cube sphere is made by subdividing a cube and doing a
\"To Sphere\" in the Edit window, under Mesh Tools.
Move the sphere up and place a plane below it. Make sure to do this in
the right views so that it is aligned properly. Gravity acts on the
z-axis (sphere should be above the plane relative to the z axis).
{width="500"}{{-}} Now for the soft body
select the ball and go to the object tab then the physics subtab or
whatever your version has. Click \"enable softbody\" and then turn up
\'Grav\' to 9.8. Click off use goal. Press the \> arrow key (a few
times) and you should see the ball fall. The center will remain in place
but this is not a problem. If you are on a slow machine you will notice
lag. This is because blender moves it vert by vert, not efficient.
**Note: in Blender 2.49, you must deselect the \"Use Goal\" button to
release the center of the ball. Otherwise, it will just hang there.**
Note: In Blender 2.44, click F7 on keyboard, select the \"Physics
Buttons\" button, select \"Soft Body\".
{width="500"}{{-}} When it reaches the
plane it will pass through. To fix this we must make the plane affect
the softbody. To do this make the plane deflect in its physics buttons.
**Noob Note:** *To do this in version 2.49 select the plane, go
to*object buttons -\> physics context -\> collision subcontext\'\' and
select ***Collision**.*The variables you can play with here are under
the \'**\'Soft Body and Cloth Interaction**.
{width="500"}{{-}} Now the ball
collapses into a strange quivering wreck after impact. To fix this, you
need to turn on the stiff quad button, but set the edge stiffness down a
bit, so its more bouncy. You can use the bake function to solidify the
settings see below
Noob Note: `<i>`{=html}You might have to turn up the
`<b>`{=html}Rigidity`</b>`{=html} Level to 0.100 (in the Soft Body Tab)
as well in order to prevent the object from collapsing. (I used a
subdivided cube as Object)\
What I recommend to do before rendering as animation: In the
`<b>`{=html}Bake Settings`</b>`{=html} (Soft Body Tab) Set
`<b>`{=html}Interval`</b>`{=html} to 2 or 1, so the object will not
start deforming too early before impact. This will slow down the bake
process - just slightly - but make the object bounce more dynamically.
Then bake again. `</i>`{=html}
`<i>`{=html} Noob note: In blender 2.46 you have to adjust the value of
Be in the soft body tab, I changed it to 0.4 `</i>`{=html}
{width="500"}{{-}}
## Explanation of Settings
I invite you to correct and expand these definitions:
### Softbody
- **Friction**: creates a resistance to movement of the whole object,
like being submerged in a viscous fluid
- **Grav**: the rate of velocity change due to gravity. Results in a
constant -z force.
- **Mass**: (Force = mass × acceleration) affects everything by making
the object heavier.
- **Speed**: tweaks the simulation to *run* faster or slower.
- **ErrorLimit**: raise it and the simulation will solve faster but
strange things might happen. Save frequently, as blender might go
nuts with this or any physic simulation (but less so after 2.4)
- **Goal**: makes the object try to return to its original position,
useful at times, in the tutorial you could turn gravity off and key
the ball falling and use this to keep it a ball.
- **use Edges**: uses the edges a means of resistance to movement for
the object. Helps to keep it looking possible
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Simple Cloth Animation
|previous=Soft Body Animation
}}
```
In this tutorial, we will be making a simple skirt, and using the cloth
physics system to make it fall in realistic-looking folds.
## Making the Skirt Mesh
1. Open Blender and delete the default cube, if you aren\'t looking
down on the scene, press .
2. → *Add → Mesh → Circle*
3. The circle will be created, and in the Tool Shelf on the left you
should see a panel appear for adjusting its settings. Set the number
of vertices to about 12.
4. Switch to Edit Mode with . All the
circle's vertices should be initially selected; if not, use
to select them all.
5. Press to extrude a second copy of the
vertices; press
to scale the extruded vertices
in the X and Y directions. These will make up the hem of the skirt;
scale it out to as large as you like. Note that this is positioning
the skirt out flat horizontally, instead of hanging down as you
would expect; Blender's cloth animation system will take care of
that, and this positioning gives maximum opportunity for the skirt
to fall in dramatic folds.
6. Now we will need to subdivide the mesh. The physics can only act on
actual vertices, so the more of these we have, the more realistic
the cloth effect will be. Select all vertices in the skirt, press
and select the "Subdivide" option. A
panel will appear in the Tool Shelf for controlling the settings for
the subdivision operation; set the number of cuts to, say, 4.
7. While you're at it, switch to OBJECT mode and look in the Tool Shelf
for a pair of "Shading" buttons titled "Smooth" and "Flat"
,
and click on "Smooth".
## Creating the Vertex Group
1. Now we have to specify that the waist of the skirt will stay fixed
in place as it falls: deselect all vertices, and select the
innermost ring of vertices. The quickest way to do this is to hold
down and click with
on one of the edges bordering the
hole in the middle. With the entire ring of vertices selected, go to
the Mesh Object Data context
in the Properties window, find the "Vertex Groups" panel, and click
the **+** sign to create a new group. This will initially be called
"Group"; perhaps give it a more meaningful name (like "Waist"), and
click "Assign" to put the selected vertices into the new group.
## Animating the Skirt
1. Tab out of Edit Mode into Object Mode. The skirt should still be
selected.
2. Go to the Physics tab
in the Properties window (last icon in the row at the top). This
will just show a few buttons to begin with
.
3. Click the "Cloth" button; a whole lot of other settings should
appear, most of which can be left at their default values (make sure
the checkbox at the top of the "Cloth Collision" panel is checked).
However, check the box titled "Pinning"; now you can click in the
field just below it to bring up a popup menu of all the vertex
groups in the mesh; this should just contain the one entry named
"Waist" you created earlier, so select that.
4. Now the magic happens \... rotate the view to an oblique one to give
yourself a good view of the process, and hit
. You should now see the skirt
fall from its horizontal position to a more natural vertical one,
developing some folds in the process.
5. After the animation has run through at least one complete cycle, hit
to stop it.
## Prior to Keeping the Folds
Before doing the next step, we need to enable one of the standard addons
that come with Blender. This will let us make a copy of any stage of the
physics simulation into a separate object.
Go into the User Preferences window and bring up the "Addons" tab. Look
for the "Animation Corrective shape keys" addon (typing "shape k" into
the search box should be enough to find it).
Enable it. Now back to the 3D view\...
## Keeping the Folds
1. Use the left- and right- arrow keys to step through the animation
one frame at a time, until you find a position for the skirt that
you like.
2. When the 3D view is showing a nice shape for the skirt, go to the
mesh data tab in the Properties window, and look for the "Shape
Keys" panel. Click with **LMB** on the down-arrow just below the
**+** and **-** signs, and in the menu that appears, you should see
the item "Create duplicate for editing"
.
Select that.
3. It looks like nothing has happened, but in fact you now have a
second copy of the skirt mesh, "baked" into the position
corresponding to the current frame of the animation. Try using the
arrow keys to move through the animation, and you will see the baked
copy remain in the chosen position.
4. At this point, you can delete the original animated skirt mesh (or
move it to another layer for future reuse), leaving the
nicely-folded copy.
## Extra Practice
1. You will notice at some points during the animation, the folds of
cloth pass right *through* each other, which is of course impossible
with real cloth. To prevent this, you could go to the "Cloth
Collision" panel in the Physics tab, and click the "Self Collision"
checkbox. Rerun the animation ()
to see the difference; what other effects does it have?
2. Maybe the folds don't look realistic enough. Go back to the original
mesh, bring up "Subdivide" again and subdivide it by a couple more
levels. Rerun the animation (). It
should take a bit longer for the first cycle, but do the results
look better?
3. This YouTube tutorial might also help:
<http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=mgYhZ3hWwTQ> happy animating!
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Soft Body with wind
|previous=Simple Cloth Animation
}}
```
## Prologue
This is the **Blender wind and soft body tutorial**. This tutorial will
try and help your knowledge of using Soft Body and the Fields and
Deflection panels in Blender 3D. (For best results, I recommend you use
Blender version 2.43 or higher). Don't forget to save your work at
various points throughout the tutorial.
## Setting up scene
### The plane
Delete the default cube \[X key, or yes, even the Delete key\] and enter
Front view mode \[Num. Pad 1\]. Add a plane, scale 3 times \[S key, 3,
Enter\] and sub-divide 4 times until you get something like the shape
below. If your computer can handle more, and you want more, sub-divide
as many times as you like, but if your PC is struggling with this, undo
once or twice.
{width="700"}
### The wind items
TAB out of edit mode (if you haven't done so already), enter side view
\[Num Pad 3\] and add an empty. Clear the rotation \[ALT + R\] and
rotate it 90° \[R, 90\]. Place it about -5 from the centre \[G, y, -5\]
and make sure its still in the middle of the X axis. Your scene should
look like the picture below:
{width="700"}
For the second wind item, add an empty like before and clear its
rotation, but DON'T rotate it any more. Move it along the Y axis by 4
places \[G, Y, 4\] and -10 by the Z \[G, Z, -10\]. And now your scene
should look something like this (with all items selected).
{width="700"}
And that's all your items you'll need for this. Onto the harder part.
## Designating each object\'s job
### The plane
Now, the plane will become a soft body, so enter the Object Panel
\[F7\], click on the Physics Button (beside the three arrows, see second
picture below) and click on the soft body button. You will get a load of
boxes, but we only need to look at the Grav, Goal, and the bottom parts:
Change the values of these as shown above. Change the Aero part to 732
(if you go up to 1000, it changes the final output by a bit).
Now, click on the Soft Body Collision tab and click on the Self
Collision and Deflection buttons. You don't need to change any of the
numbers here. The buttons window should look something like this:
Now we will move on to the Empty items which will be the wind.
### Creating the wind
The two empty's we created earlier will be the items that will act like
wind, and when you render at the end, they will be invisible, just like
the wind. Anyway, select one of the empty's and enter the Physics panel.
Click on the box under the Fields and select "Wind". (Blender 2.5+ note:
First you will have to choose \"Force Field\", then change the Type to
\"Wind\".) Change the Strength to 20, click on Use MaxDist and change
MaxDist to 2.5.
Do the same for the other empty. Your scene should look something like
this:
{width="700"}
## The movement
This is probably the most complicated part, but shouldn't take long.
### The Empty on the left
In side view \[Num pad 3\], select the empty on the left and do the
following: 1. Press \[I key\] and then select LocRotScale from the list
it gives you. This inserts a key frame, saying that on this frame, keep
the Location, Rotation and scale the same throughout the rest of the
movie, unless it comes across another key frame, which might tell it to
move or stay the same. Now, press the Up Arrow Key until you get to
frame 31 (about 3 times). If you don't know where the box is that tells
you what frame your on, check the following picture:
{width="700"}
Number 1 shows the current frame number and the name of the selected
object while number 2 shows the current frame and allows you to change
the frame with the arrows on either side.
### Back to the movement
On frame 31, select the empty on the left (the one selected in the
picture above) and press \[G key\]. Now press \[Y key\] and press "4",
then \[Enter key\]. Now press \[I key\] and select LocRotScale again.
Now, if you press and hold the Left Arrow Key, you should see the Empty
move back to its starting place. Now, to check the curve guide (called
the \"IPO Curve Editor\"); right-click on the top panel (number 1 in
picture below), then select \"Split Area\" and click when the line is a
bit out from the side (number 2 in picture below).
{width="700"}
Now, click on the box (shown below) and select \"IPO Curve Editor\" from
the menu.
**Noob note** In Blender 2.6+ the **IPO Curve Editor** has been replaced
by the **Graph Editor**, which allows you to edit F-curves.
{width="700"}
This window just shows where the key frames you entered are, and how
much the shape changes, moves or rotates. Now, go back to frame 1 and
press \[ALT\]+\[A\], which plays the animation. You should see the
\"wind\" hit the sheet and the sheet will blow away. Pretty nice, huh?
Now, it would be fine like that (I'll show you how to get rid of the
blockyness in the last part), but say you want to hit the sheet again
and send it upwards? We will use the second empty for this.
Select the second empty (the one on the bottom). Insert a key frame (\[I
key\], LocRotScale) on frame 1 and frame 50. Go to frame 60, grab the
empty and move it up 8 places (\[G key\], \[Z key\], 8). Insert a key
frame (\[I key\], LocRotScale) and then go back to frame 1. You have
completed the basics, and the most of this tutorial. Now, press
\[ALT\]+\[A key\] and watch your animation.
## Finishing touches
### Blockiness
Now, to sort out the blockiness, go to the Editing buttons panel \[F9\]
and select the \"Set Smooth\" button.
Now if you preview again (\[ALT\]+\[A\]) you should see the plane is
smoother, but might be a bit unrealistic (i.e. not acting like real
cloth). Now, that can't be helped, the only way to get rid of it is to
subdivide the plane several more times, but that will put a LOT of
strain on your computer, so I wouldn't recommend doing it unless your
computer can handle it.
### Background
First of all, got to the Scene panel \[F10\] and over at the Format
panel, change SizeX to 400 and SizeY to 300. Now, to change the
background colour when you render, go to the shading panel \[F5\] and
select the World buttons. Now, in the World panel change HoR to 0, HoG
to 0.80 and HoB to 1.0.
All that does is just changes the background colour to a brighter, nicer
shade of blue. Now, I'm just getting a bit lazy, so I'll just explain
this part with a picture: (don't forget to select the plane).
Change the values and press the buttons shown in the picture. This will
change the colour of the plane to white.
The only problem now is the light. Press \[F12\] and you should see what
I mean. There\'s no light shining on the plane where the camera is, so
its just shaded dark. To fix that, select the light and go to the
shading panel \[F5\]. You now have options for the light. Click on the
\"Sun\" button and press \[ALT\]+\[R\] to clear rotation. Now, in side
view \[Num pad 3\] press \[R\] and then type -45. Enter top view \[Num
pad 7\] and press \[R\] and then -45. This now shines the light in the
direction of the plane, but, if like mine, the light is above the plane
in top-view, press \[G\], \[Y\] and then -5. The line coming out of the
light source should be roughly pointing at the centre of the plane.
Here's what your window should look like:
{width="700"}
The pink line is the light. This was taken in camera view \[Num pad 0\].
Render the frame and you should see what the final product looks like.
Move to any frame you want and press \[F12\] and it will show the
rendered image for that frame. Now, rendering the entire animation
might, in fact, will take a long time unless you have a completely new
PC, are using a big server like DreamWorks (one of the big PC's, used
for rendering images faster) or have a quicker renderer, I don't use any
external renderers, and am stuck using a PC that is about 2 years old
(in other words, full of junk). It took my PC less than 5 minutes to
render 100 frames, and the last 25 were just blank (as the plane just
flew above the camera). To change the amount of frames to render, and to
render the full animation, here's what you press:
The box that says End:100 lets you select what frame you finish
rendering the animation on (NOTE: the Sta:1 button lets you select what
frame to start rendering the animation). When you press the ANIM button,
it starts rendering the animation. The Box covered in blue, that says
Jpeg, lets you change the format of the image in the end.
To export the animation as an AVI format, select the AVI button shown
below, then press OK. Now, you need to Animate the sequence again, so
press the ANIM button again.
The finished.AVI will be saved in a folder with the rest of your
rendered images. It should be saved in a folder called tmp, which (on a
Microsoft computer) is in My Computer/tmp. The name of the file will be
whatever your start and end frames are, so in this movie, mine is called
0001_0100.avi. You can now do whatever you want with your movie now, and
hopefully you have learned a trick or two that will be helpful later on
in your Blender career.
## Final result
Here is an animated.gif of my final result: (imported into Macromedia
Flash and exported as an animated.gif)You are required to be an auto
confirmed user or uploader. I made a gif with a frame-step of 4.
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Your First Test
|previous=Soft Body with wind
}}
```
## Introduction
The Blender Game Engine is an interesting feature of Blender. It is
basically a 3D environment in which 3D objects move around and react to
each other upon contact. One common application is to recreate 3D
architectural tours.
In this tutorial, you will learn the basics of object collision within
the Blender Game Engine (BGE). From Blender games to use in animations,
the bullet physics engine offers a massive number of possibilities. The
tutorials found within this wikibook on the subject of the BGE are
generally focused on game creation, but the concepts taught within can
be applied to a multitude of situations.
As a start, we will teach you to make a ball roll realistically down the
hill using Blender\'s game engine. Note: Blender game engine doesn\'t
exist now, so if you don\'t want to learn all this game engine part
consider skipping the whole game engine section
## Adding the Hill
First, make a plane, then switch to Edit mode (**TAB**), and
multi-subdivide it with 2 cuts (**WKEY** → *Subdivide Multi* → 2). Next,
enter face select mode (**CTRL+TAB** → *Faces*) to drag the center face
up, in order to form a rough outline of a hill. Add a subsurf modifier
(in the edit buttons) to about 3, then apply. You should now have a
serviceable, but small, hill. Scale the hill up (**SKEY**) by about 10
times, and we\'re ready to add the ball.
**Noob note:**
1. You can also use a 3\*3 grid.
2. Delete the original cube first.
3. The subsurf modifier is not essential.
## Creating the Ball
Now, add an icosphere (**SPACE** → *Add* → *Icosphere*) and relocate it
to be just above the hilltop (**GKEY** or use the translate widget by
pressing **CTR+ALT+G**). Let\'s change the color of the sphere so we can
differentiate it from the plane. Go to the material buttons (with the
sphere selected) and click on the white panel beside the COL value. In
the color selection wiget that appears, change its color to a bright
red.
Next we need to make the Physics engine iterate over it. With the sphere
selected, go to the logic buttons (the little purple Pacman-icon).
**NOTE: In Blender 2.5 and above the Logic Buttons are gone. In order to
have the \'Actor\' button, click on the button showing \'Blender
Render\', and select \'Blender Game\' Engine. Then go to the physics tab
in the buttons menu. There you will see the \'Actor\' Button.** You will
see a button in the top left that says *Actor*. Press it. Now select
from the selection box beside of the \"Actor\" button *Rigid Body*. This
makes the ball roll, instead of staying completely upright the entire
time. You will see a bunch of settings available now. Change *Radius* to
2. This changes size the physics engine *thinks* the ball is. You notice
a dotted circle around the object; this is the boundary. Now change the
*Radius* back to 1. You now have your first Blender game ready to go.
**Noob Note:**
1. Make sure you are in object mode first before you add any object.
2. **F4KEY** is the shortcut to the logic panel.
## Testing your game
Now the time has come for the first test of our game.
1. Add a light source well above the hill (**SHIFT+AKEY** → *Lamp* →
*Lamp*). Align in front view (**NUM1**)
2. Press **NUM5** to switch to Perspective mode, which gives a
realistic view, rather than a view in which objects stay the same
size with distance (be sure to switch back to Orthographic view when
you are editing again using **NUM5**)
3. Enter textured mode (**ALT+ZKEY** \-- press **ZKEY** to switch back
to solid view mode)
4. Switch into side view (**NUM3**) and press **NUM8** several times to
get a good perspective on the ball.
5. Press **PKEY** to play the game (Make sure you are in Object mode
(**TAB**)
6. Press **P** to start testing the game. You should see the red ball
drop onto the hill.
7. Press **ESC** to quit testing the game
!Rolling ball tutorial screen
capture
## Video capturing your game
When you press the PKEY or click *game, start play*, Blender will play
it using the 3D view. Many rendering features are not shown in this 3D
Window and it does not render the view in order to get good pictures
with textures and lighting. You must capture your object that keep on
changing(the actor) so that it can be animated.
*View* -\> click View button , -\> next step / -\> alternative step RMB
-\> right mouse button IKEY -\> press the I key on keyboard
Split window, *IPO Curve Editor* View, *Game, Record Game Physics to
IPO*,
*object mode*, RMB(select actor), IKEY/*select key frame*,
*Loc*(location of actor object only),
PKEY( play game), ESCKEY(stop game)
*scene*(F10), *output*, f:\\animation\\ball (your file name),*stamp,
time, date, draw stamp, format,*(choose your output format)
*anim*, *end*(ending frame), 270, *step*, 10(for testing), *ANIM/Render,
Render Animation*/CTRL F12
## Conclusion
With the knowledge acquired in this tutorial, there are many things you
could accomplish within the Blender Game Engine, although the majority
of them would require more knowledge. So read on, and work your way
through the multitudinous seas of tutorials (That is, two).
## Extra Tutorials
Making a Basic Game: Link,
The State Actuator:
Link, Blender Game
Engine Mouse Follow:
Link, Blender Bullet
Physics: Link,
Domino Game: Link,
Rag Doll: Link
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Platformer: Creation and Controls
|previous=Your First Test
}}
```
This tutorial will teach you the basics of the Blender Game Engine, and
how to create a platform game, which is a game where you overcome
in-game obstacles by controlling the character\'s motions. (e.g. Super
Mario)
## Set Up
!How it should look so
far. To
start, switch to the frontal view **NUM1** and move the starting cube to
-3.0 along the Z azis, or three spaces down. If your default settings do
not have you starting with a cube, create one now. (Don\'t forget to
switch to the Blender Game engine. You can do this by going to the
button on the top center of the screen that says Blender Render and
switch it to Blender Game.) Next, hit **SPACE** → *Add → Mesh → Monkey*
to create Suzanne the Monkey. Any mesh will do, but it\'s the easiest of
the basic meshes to intuitively determine local direction from. Next, go
to the logic window (with Suzanne still selected) and toggle on
\"Actor\" and then \"Dynamic\". Hit **PKEY** to test. Suzanne should
fall, then stop upon hitting the cube. Press **ESC** to exit.
## Controls
Now we will add the controls. First, forward:
In Blender 2.59 these controls are available in the \'Logic Editor\'
window.
1. Create a Keyboard Sensor, AND Controller, and Motion Actuator.
Connect them by dragging lines between the dots next to their names.
(In 2.59 the controller is created automatically, if the other two
are connected)
2. Select the empty box next to the word \"Key\" on the Keyboard Sensor
and hit the up arrow key on your keyboard.
3. Set the dLoc on the Motion Actuator to 0.10 Z and toggle Local
Transformation (may appear as simply an L next to the dLoc row).
Next, backward. Repeat the process used for forward, but set the dLoc to
-0.10 Z and the key to the down arrow. You can repeat this for left and
right if you so choose to have a linear control scheme. We will not be
using such a scheme for this tutorial, but you should still be able to
follow along just fine. Instead, the character will rotate left and
right and move in the new forward and backward.
(Note: Using an X or Y value for Dloc may be more effective as using Z
value seems to just make her jump not move in any sort of direction
which defeats the purpose of the final step of the tutorial)
To rotate right:
1. As before, create a Keyboard Sensor, AND Controller, and Motion
Actuator, then connect them.
2. Set the key to the right arrow and set the dRot to -0.10 Y.
Repeat for left, with the left arrow and 0.10 Y.
image:BlenderLogic_ForRgt_Optm.png
Finally, the ubiquitous, and some say defining, Platformer move: the
jump. Repeat the previous processes, with the space key as the trigger
and the linV of the motion effect as 7.50 Z (not local). This doesn\'t
actually move the character in a certain direction, but sets its
velocity. If you\'ve done programming for games before, this will
probably be familiar to you. Each frame, the engine adds the velocity of
the object to its current position. The gravity portion of the engine
subtracts from the upward velocity each time. When it reaches a
negative, it\'s adding a negative number to its altitude, ergo
subtracting from it, ergo causing it to fall. This is why using linV to
move the character does not cause it to immediately relocate to the
target position.
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/An aMAZEing game engine tutorial
|previous=Platformer: Creation and Controls
}}
```
## Introduction
` This tutorial is intended as an intermediate introduction to the Blender game engine, in the form of a game, and is the sequel to ``Platformer: Creation and Controls``. It will require a familiarity with the Blender UI, simple commands (such as `**`AKEY`**` to select) and basic modeling skills. The game we will create within Blender will have the following features:`
1. a protagonist controlled by means of the WASD keys
2. a maze surface without walls
3. death on falling off the maze
4. multiple levels
5. dynamic obstacles
6. a goal within the maze that will transfer you to the next level
This tutorial was written for version 2.44 and has been tested for all
later versions (as of April, 2008)
## Maze Surface
Now we\'ll make the maze. When you are creating the path of the maze
surface keep in mind that you need a start and a goal.
!Selecting the
faces
1. Clear the scene; Select all (**AKEY**), delete selected items
(**XKEY** → **ENTER**)
2. Go into top view (**NUM7**)
3. Add a grid (**SPACE** → Add → Mesh → *Grid*) with X and Y resolution
of 16
4. Scale grid by 24 times (**SKEY**, type 24, **ENTER**)
5. Enter edit mode with the grid selected (**TAB**)
6. Go into face select mode (**CTRL+TAB** → *Faces*)
7. Start selecting faces so as to make a two dimensional maze (use
**BKEY** to draw selection boxes)
8. With the faces selected, duplicate those faces (**SHIFT+D**,
**RMB**)
9. Move those faces away from the original grid (**GKEY** or the
movement wiget **CTR+ALT+GKEY**)
10. Delete original grid
11. Center your maze using **GKEY** or by pressing the **Center** button
in the **Mesh** panel of the Editing buttons (**F9**)
You should now have a two dimensional maze. In the game engine, we only
see one side of every face, so this maze will not appear to be there
when seen from below, and will be obviously two dimensional when seen
from the surface of the maze itself. This is undesirable so we will make
our maze 3 dimensional by extruding the maze surface down.
!The extruded
maze
1. Go into side view (**NUM3**)
2. Select all the faces (**AKEY**)
3. Extrude down, -1 unit (**EKEY** → *Region*), hold **CTR** to
constrain to 1 unit increments, or manually type in the value -1,
like you scaled the grid in the beginning.
4. **LMB** to accept the operation, or **RMB** to cancel the move of
the faces. If you cancel it, the faces will have extruded, but will
simply not have moved. You can undo the operation (**CTRL+Z**), or
delete the vertices/faces you have extruded (**WKEY** → *Remove
Doubles*).
Your maze is now complete, only lacking someone trapped in it\...
## Character
!Extruding a nose
We will create a very basic character sufficient to illustrate the
concepts meant to be conveyed in this tutorial. You can make a character
as complex or basic as you desire, but it is important to always have an
indicator of direction on your protagonist, otherwise the player may
become confused. So, we will use a primitive with a \'nose\' (i.e. a
face or vertex extruded away from the object center in order to provide
a point of rotational reference). I\'ll use a cone for this tutorial,
simply because they don\'t roll very easily.
!Rotate to the direction character will
move
1. Enter top view (**NUM7**)
2. Add the cone (**SPACE** → *Mesh* → *Cone*, use default values)
3. Select cone and enter Edit mode (**TAB**)
4. Enter face select mode (**CTRL+TAB** → *Faces*)
5. Select a face on the side of the cone
6. Extrude it about 1/4 of a unit or less (**EKEY**)
7. Merge the extruded face to make the nose pointy (**WKEY** → *Merge*
→ *At Center*)
8. Enter object mode (**TAB**)
9. Rotate the cone so the nose is aligned with the positive Y axis
(**RKEY**, align with the green arrow)
You\'ve got your character now (Not exactly Pixar-like, but it will do
for now). Now we just need to give it motivation.
Note: From points 8 to 9 it would seem that the cone should rotated so
that the "nose" is aligned with thee Y-axis in object mode, but after
doing this I encountered the cone still moved in the original Y-axis
direction (before rotation). To remedy this I did the alignment of the
"nose" to the Y-axis in edit mode instead, this seems to have solved the
problem.
## Motion
We\'ll now make the character move, via the use of the WASD keys. In
order to do this, game logic needs to be associated with the WASD keys.
Copy the configuration seen in the screenshot, taking care to include
the convex hull polytope collision in the top left as well as depressing
the \'L\' buttons, which make the force and torque local to that object
rather than global. If the force was global, the protagonist would
continue moving in a straight line, even when turning.
1. Go to the Logic buttons (The purple pac-man icon or **F4**)
2. Add four Sensors, Controllers and Actuators.
3. Maximize the logic window (**CTRL+UPKEY**)
4. Copy the configuration seen in the screenshot below.
!Blender Game logic and Physics in version 2.76 and higher. The
\"physics\" window is to be found by clicking on the last symbol of the
properties window (on the
right)")
~(Note:\ I\ made\ the\ simulation\ using\ Actor-\>Dynamic\ since\ there\ was\ no\ way\ to\ use\ both\ dynamic\ and\ rigid\ body\ in\ 2.49b.\ After\ some\ testing\ it\ appears\ to\ work\ correctly.)~
**dLoc/dRot vs Force/Torque**
The character logic in this tutorial is very similar to that of the
previous platformer logic, but it differs in that it uses force and
torque rather than dLoc and dRot, respectively. The difference between
these two is that force and torque move and rotate the object within the
bullet physics engine, applying friction and collision to the process,
whereas dLoc and dRot move and rotate the object without regard for any
other \'actors\' (objects factored in to the physics engine\'s
calculations). Although dLoc and dRot would serve in most maze games,
many other instances demand force and torque. However, most of these
instances occur in more complicated games with a multitude of
interactions with dynamic objects. Later in this tutorial we will add
dynamic objects to our maze, and the reasons for using force will become
clear.
## Testing
Now the time has come for the first test of our game.
1. Add a light source well above the maze (**SPACE** → *Lamp* →
*Lamp*), align in front view (**NUM1**)
2. Press **NUM5** to enter perspective viewmode, which gives a
realistic view, rather than a view in which objects stay the same
size with distance. Be sure to switch back to orthographic view when
you are editing (**NUM5**)
3. Enter textured mode (**ALT+ZKEY**) \-- press **ZKEY** to switch back
to solid view mode
4. Switch into top view (**NUM7**) or camera view once we install the
camera (**NUM0**)
5. **PKEY** to play the game
6. **ESC** to escape testing the game
If you receive a \"No camera\" error, disregard it. We\'ll be adding a
camera later.
If your character doesn\'t move at all make sure you drew the connecting
\'wires\' between the actuators in the logic panel, as well as setting
the \"Actor\" \"Dynamic\" and \"Rigid Body\" buttons to True.
You should now have a nosy cone that speeds around the maze.
~(**Noob\ Question\ 1**:\ My\ cone\ likes\ to\ rotate\ without\ me\ pressing\ A\ or\ D.\ It\ also\ likes\ to\ find\ hidden/nonexistant\ bumps\ on\ the\ maze\ surface.\ How\ do\ I\ fix\ this?\ )~
~(**Answer\ to\ NQ1**:\ If\ I\ understand\ your\ question\ right.\ If\ i\ used\ torque\ to\ turn\ and\ force\ to\ move\ forward\ and\ pressed\ forward\ then\ turned\ it\ started\ spinning\ out\ of\ control.\ My\ solution\ was\ to\ use\ rotation\ instead\ of\ torque.)~
~**Noob\ question\ 2**:\ The\ cone\ just\ goes\ through\ the\ maze.\ How\ do\ I\ make\ the\ maze\ block\ the\ cone?~
~**Answer\ to\ NQ2**:\ First\ make\ sure\ your\ cone\ is\ not\ even\ partially\ inside\ the\ maze\ before\ starting\ the\ game\ engine.\ Secondly,\ select\ your\ cone\ (named\ \"Protagonist\"\ in\ my\ example),\ then\ go\ back\ to\ the\ \"physics\"\ properties\ in\ your\ property\ window.\ If\ you\ do\ not\ see\ the\ property\ window\ press\ the\ **NKEY**\ and\ look\ on\ the\ right\ of\ your\ screen.\ Under\ \"Physics\ type\"\ make\ sure\ to\ have\ selected\ in\ the\ scroll\ down\ menu\ \"Dynamic\"\ or\ \"Rigid\ body\".\ Then,\ scroll\ down\ to\ \"collision\ bounds\"\ and\ check\ the\ box.\ You\ shall\ also\ select\ a\ shape\ from\ the\ \"bound\"\ drop\ down\ menu,\ for\ example\ \"cone\".~
## Falling
` We will now implement the "death on falling off maze" feature. In order to accomplish this, we'll add something that allows us to check whether the cone has fallen off the maze or not. The simplest way to do this is with a 'skydome' object the entire maze is within, and although there are a number of more elegant ways to accomplish the goal, we will use the skydome method for its simplicity to replicate.`
From now on we\'ll need to test the maze with both layers one and two
enabled (**SHIFT+2KEY**)
1. Add a new cube
2. resize it to gargantuan proportions (**SKEY**, just large enough to
encompass the maze, and all within it)
3. Facultative: Move it to layer 2 (**MKEY**, **2KEY**, **Enter**)
Now that you have a massive cube, go to the logic panel and add one
Sensor, Controller, Actuator set, and set them as seen in the
screenshot.
1. Sensor: Touch, under \"property\" put the name of your character
(here \"Protagonist\")
This restart the scene if the protagonist (and only the protagonist,
hits the floor)
1. Controller: And
2. Actuator: Scene, restart
3. Properties: Physics (last icon on the left), enable actor button as
well as \"ghost\" and \"invisible\"
This will let the dynamic obstacles, which are added later on, fall
through and not get stuck there!
!Blender death skydome (Game
Logic).png "Blender death skydome (Game Logic)"){width="850"}
If you test you game now, you should see the game be restarted when you
fall off the maze. As we discussed earlier, faces are one-sided in the
game engine, so you should not be able to see the cube.
~(*Newbie\ Question\ 1*:\ When\ I\ did\ this,\ my\ cone\ just\ kept\ on\ falling.\ When\ I\ moved\ the\ cube\ back\ to\ layer\ 1,\ it\ worked\ fine.\ Am\ I\ missing\ something?)\ (newb\ note:\ ok\ i\ had\ the\ same\ problem\ every\ time\ i\ was\ just\ in\ layer\ 1\ but\ when\ i\ was\ just\ in\ 1\ then\ i\ just\ kept\ falling)~
~(*Answer*:\ The\ tutorial\ says\ to\ create\ the\ cube\ in\ layer\ 2,\ although\ the\ layer\ shouldn\'t\ matter.\ Make\ sure\ you\ test\ the\ game\ with\ both\ layers\ one\ **and**\ two\ selected.\ Also\ double\ check\ the\ logic\ for\ the\ \'skycube\')~
~(*Answer2*:\ I\ had\ the\ same\ problem.\ I\ fixed\ this\ by\ replacing\ the\ cube\ with\ a\ grid,\ scaled\ and\ placed\ under\ the\ maze.\ The\ grid\ had\ the\ touch\ logic\ mentioned\ above.)~
~(*Answer3*:\ Same\ here.\ I\ thought\ I\'d\ remove\ \"Protagonist\"\ from\ the\ material\ reference,\ but\ that\ wouldn\'t\ do\ if\ the\ bricks\ fell\ down\ and\ touched\ the\ cube,\ it\'d\ just\ restart\ the\ level\...\ the\ solution:\ create\ a\ property\ in\ the\ cone,\ a\ bool\ value\ named\ \"isCone\"\ (=true),\ then\ in\ the\ cube\ add\ a\ sensor\ \'collision\'\ that\ checks\ for\ the\ object\'s\ property\ \'isCone\'\ and\ keep\ the\ rest\ as\ shown.)~
~(*Answer4\ (to\ restart\ when\ block\ hits\ cube)*:Do\ all\ as\ the\ pic\ shows\ you\ and\ RMB\ the\ cone\ and\ go\ to\ links\ and\ pipelines\ and\ rename\ the\ MA:\ to\ cone\ or\ whatever\ you\ want,\ then\ RMB\ the\ cube\ then\ in\ the\ Touch\ sensor\ then\ rename\ the\ MA:\ to\ whatever\ you\ called\ the\ other\ MA:\ .\ :D\ this\ is\ in\ 24.9b)~
~(*Answer5*:\ For\ blender\ 2.57a\ you\ need\ to\ place\ a\ plane\ or\ something\ under\ the\ maze.\ Then\ give\ it\ (touch\ -\>\ and\ -\>\ Scene(restart))\ game\ logic.\ If\ it\ isn\'t\ working\ make\ sure\ that\ actor\ is\ selected\ under\ physics\ tab.)~
~(*Question\ 2*:\ How\ do\ I\ make\ the\ box\ translucent?\ Right\ now\ all\ I\ see,\ also\ when\ testing,\ is\ the\ skybox.\ Also,\ when\ I\ put\ the\ box\ underneath\ the\ maze,\ it\ works\ fine,\ but\ then\ none\ of\ the\ objects\ have\ shading,\ while\ when\ not\ showing\ layer\ 2\ everything\ looks\ shaded.\ Can\ anybody\ give\ a\ solution?\ This\ is\ in\ 2.48a)~
~(*Answer*:\ To\ make\ something\ transparent-\ press\ **F5**;\ press\ the\ \"Material\ Buttons\"\ button;\ under\ the\ Links\ and\ Pipeline\ tab\ press\ Halo\ and\ ZTransp,\ unpress\ Shadbuf;\ under\ Material\ make\ A\ 0.000.)~
## Killing Floor
To add tension to your game, you can give motion to the floor. It will
rise with time!
1. Add a static Plane, and set its logic panel as described above.
2. Add an ALWAYS sensor and connect it to a AND controller and connect
it to a MOTION actuator that has a vertical linear velocity of 0.01
(along the z-axis).
!Blender Game logic \"Killing floor\". It rises with
time!
This way it will slowly come up. To make it evident to the player that
the floor is rising, change the color of it (for example blue for water)
and make it visible again.
You\'ve just added some tension to your game! If you run out of time,
you will touch the floor and restart! If you need more time, simply put
a lower vertical linear velocity.
## Camera
**SPACE** → *Camera* near the protagonist cone. There are two easy ways
to do the camera: logic camera and child camera. In this case you might
be better off with the logic camera, but it really is a matter of
personal preference.
- **Logic Camera:** Add to the camera\'s logic panel
1. Sensor: Always
2. Controller: And
3. Actuator: Camera, to object \"Cone\" (or whatever your
protagonist is called\--look under the object panel when you
have the protagonist selected) height 5, min 5, max 10.
- **Child Camera:** Select the camera, then select the protagonist
(order is important) then **CTRL+PKEY** to parent the cone to the
camera. Align the camera in a view that you like, and test the game.
- **First Person Camera:** Well, this one doesn\'t really count as
another method, but if you\'re willing to redo your motion to just
move the camera instead of the character, (just do everything you
did for the character for the camera) you can run around in the
first person. Or you can just put the camera in the cone because one
of the sides always are invisible (look in texture mode) and parent
it to the cone. REMEMBER: To access the ingame camera during
gameplay, before you start, hit ctrl 0 or you can go to (view \>
camera)
~(*Newb\ Question\ 1*:\ No\ matter\ what\ I\ do\ (even\ delete\ the\ camera!),\ when\ I\ hit\ 0\ or\ ctrl+0,\ I\ always\ see\ either\ only\ the\ death\ plane\ (I\ used\ a\ plane\ below\ the\ maze\ instead\ of\ a\ cube\ around\ it)\ or\ nothing,\ depending\ if\ I\ have\ layer\ 2\ selected\ or\ not.\ There\'s\ only\ the\ one\ camera\ (or\ none,\ if\ I\ delete\ it),\ according\ to\ the\ Oops\ Schematic.\ What\'s\ wrong?)~
~(*Answer*:\ Ctrl+0\ assigns\ the\ selected\ object\ as\ a\ camera.\ To\ solve\ your\ problem\ select\ your\ camera\ and\ press\ ctrl+0,\ to\ enter\ camera\ view\ press\ 0)~
## Beautification
Blender is a great 3D modeling program, and with such a vast number of
tools at your disposal, you should be able to make your game look better
than this: !Under \"Diffuse\" there is a white field. Upon clicking, a
color panel appears. You can now pick a color for the selected
object.
We\'ll add one or two textures to each of our objects.
1. Select the object you want to texture
2. Go into edit mode if you want your object to have more than one
color
3. Select all the faces you are going to assign to a color
(**CTRL+TAB** → *Faces*)
4. Go to the edit panel (**F9**) on the buttons window
5. Near the left there should be a panel that says \"Material\". Click
on the buttons highlighted in the screenshot
6. Adjust the color of that material by clicking on the white field
under \"Diffuse\". A color picker appears. Pick a color you like!
!Maze without
materials{width="225"}
!Maze game with
materials
## Mist
It looks better now, but when the camera is nearly horizontal, you can
see where the camera stops rendering the maze. You can fix this by
selecting the camera and, in its edit buttons, changing its clipping
range\... but there is a better way. Mist.
!With mist and raised
sections
Mist obscures everything a certain distance away, is the same color as
the world texture, and can be handy. We\'ll add some mist to our game so
the player can\'t see too far ahead of him, thus making the game too
easy.
We\'ll make the mist quite close, although you can vary the distance. Go
to the Material button, and to the World sub-buttons, then copy the
settings in the screenshot. **When you test this out, make sure you are
in texture mode to see the mist.**
!Adding a mist around your character in Blender version
2.76
~(*Question*:\ I\ copied\ the\ screenshot\ but\ i\ can\'t\ get\ the\ mist\ to\ work.\ What\'s\ going\ on?)~
~(*Answer*:\ Change\ Start\ to\ a\ smaller\ value\ like\ 15.)~
~(*Question*:\ Is\ the\ screenshot\ correct,\ or\ are\ my\ sizes\ different.\ I\ found\ that\ a\ mist\ distance\ of\ 10\ was\ barely\ visible,\ yet\ a\ distance\ of\ 1\ had\ a\ much\ better\ effect.\ Is\ this\ normal?)~
~(*Question*:\ I\ have\ been\ able\ to\ create\ the\ mist,\ and\ can\ see\ it\ when\ I\ start\ the\ game,\ but\ the\ background\ colour\ is\ still\ grey,\ so\ the\ maze\ is\ obscured\ but\ everywhere\ else\ is\ still\ grey.~
## Levels
Now all that remains is to create the next level with some obstacles.
1. Add a cube at the end of the maze, just above the floor level so the
cone can touch it (**SPACE** → *Add* → *Mesh* → *Cube*)
2. Press the Scene dropdown menu and select \"ADD NEW\" → *Full copy*
3. You can now go back to the Maze Surface section to make a new maze
mesh
4. Go back to level one via the Scene menu
5. Select the End of level cube
6. Change its logic panel to resemble this:
- Sensor: Touch, coneMat
- Controller: And
- Actuator: Scene, Set Scene, Scene.001 (or whatever you named your
level 2)
~(noob:\ When\ I\ went\ into\ level\ 2\ my\ player\ name\ changed\ to\ coneMat.001\ and\ I\ had\ to\ change\ all\ my\ goals\ and\ the\ giant\ restart\ cube\ assignments.)\ *Answer:\ Rename\ the\ coneMat.001\ to\ whatever\ you\ had\ the\ material\ named\ for\ the\ first\ scene\ -\ this\ fixed\ it\ for\ me.*~
~(noob:\ In\ my\ level\ 2\ my\ cone\ hits\ the\ cube\ and\ nothing\ happens!)\ *Answer:\ Make\ sure\ that\ the\ Sensors,\ Controllers\ and\ Actuators\ tabs\ under\ the\ Logic\ panel\ (F4)\ are\ connected\ with\ wires.*~
(noob: When I went to level two I can\'t see anything!
!The scene button is on the top
panel
To make it so multiple objects have to be touched (or acquired by the
character, as it may be), give each object the logic settings described
above and change the actuator type to Message with the subject
\"goalget\". If you\'d like the object to disappear after it is
collected, add an Edit Object actuator to the object of the type \"End
Object\", and link it to the existing AND controller.
Next, select the massive cube that restarts the level upon contact with
the character. If you chose not to include one such cube, create an
empty at the start of the level (so you can easily find it again later).
Give the cube or empty the following logical operators:
- Sensor: Message, goalget
- Controller: And
- Actuator: Property, Add, wincon, -1
```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
- Sensor: Property, Equal, wincon, 0
- Controller: And
- Actuator: Scene, Set Scene, Scene.001 (or whatever you named your
level 2)
Then click \"Add Property\" and give it the Type Int, the Name wincon,
and a value equal to the number of objects needed to be collected to
complete the level (if all of them, make it equal to the number
contained in the level). This can be expanded to include other multiple
win conditions besides the collection of an item by making the
completion of each condition subtract from \"wincon\".
You now have a multilevel maze game. Feel free to elaborate on the
gameplay mechanics and models so they look better.
*Noob note: I typed in where i thought everything should go but it\'s
not doing anything. I\'m not sure of what I\'m looking for while in
playmode.*
## Dynamic obstacles
This part of the tutorial will assume increased skills and knowledge of
the Blender interface and basic commands. As such, this section will be
written less specifically, and the shortcuts for all basic commands will
not be covered here. From this point on, this tutorial is of an
intermediate level. If you cannot follow this part of the tutorial, you
can learn the basic functions used below in an earlier
tutorial.
We will now add some dynamic obstacles. In this case, they will
constitute a \'brick\' wall that can be broken through by your
character.
1. Add a cube
2. Scale it (in edit mode) to the dimensions 1,0.5,0.5
3. Bevel it (WKEY) recursion 1, size 0.03 (press space to enter value
manually)
4. In logic panel, set it to Actor, Dynamic, Rigid body, Mass 0.5
5. Go right below that to click Bounds and leave it on \"Box\". That
makes Blender realize that what you added is a box, and should act
like it (instead of rolling, it will slide now)
6. Move it to an intersection in your maze (GKEY) and duplicate it
until you have a brick wall (ALT DKEY, LMB)
You now have a barrier that your character can break through.
## Conclusion
You have now learned enough of the Blender Game Engine (BGE) to create
your own game. If you wish to go very far into Blender games, I
recommend you learn Python, as trying to make a full game within the
graphical interface for the BGE is like trying to dig a grave with the
blunt half of a toothpick. Blindfolded. And the toothpick is glued to
your forehead. However, you are now well on your way to becoming a
game-maker! For a basic beginner tutorial about Python, \"Open Source
Video Game\"
series.
~If\ you\ have\ any\ questions,\ concerns,\ or\ \'noob\ notes\',\ please\ post\ them\ in\ the\ discussion\ page\ for\ this\ tutorial,\ and\ not\ in\ the\ tutorial\ itself.~
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Platformer: Physics Fixes
|previous=An aMAZEing game engine tutorial
}}
```
## Introduction
This tutorial is intended as an improvement on its prequel, Platformer:
Creation and
Controls,
and will require files created through that tutorial. It is also
recommended that you read An aMAZEing game engine
tutorial
as well before beginning this tutorial. It will require a familiarity
with the Blender UI, simple commands (such as AKEY to select) and basic
modeling skills. This tutorial will introduce the following features and
improvements:
1. only letting the character jump while touching the ground
2. stop the character from bouncing greatly upon hitting an object
3. where to adjust material friction
This tutorial was written for version 2.45.
## Creating Your Hit Test Object
Copy the cube with **SHIFT-D**. Go into edit mode, select the bottom
four vertices of the cube and delete them. Go back to object mode. Go to
the editing panel in the buttons window. In the Link and Materials
section, change the ME: value to \"Square\" and the OB: value to
\"FloorHit\". In the Mesh section, there will be three buttons with the
word \"center\" in them; Center, Center New, and Center Cursor. Press
Center New. This will change the origin of the \"Square\" mesh to the
center of all of its vertices, instead of the center of the cube you
made it from. Scale it to 0.99% of the original and move it up 0.01
along Z. Now go to the shading panel and make sure you\'re in the
Material buttons subpanel. Find Links and Pipeline, and make sure \"ME
is selected. Click the X next to the material selection (under the words
\"Link to Object\"). Then select \"OB\" and press \"Add New\" and name
this material \"FloorHit\" (again, no quotes). Make it green colored, so
you can easily find it while editing, but turn on \"Shadeless\" and \"No
Mist\" in the Material section and \"OnlyCast\" in the Links and
Pipeline - Render Pipeline section and turn off \"Radio\",
\"Traceable\", and \"Shad(ow)buffer\" in the Render Pipeline and
\"Shadow\" in the Shaders section. This will make it completely
invisible at runtime and take up little resources.
(question: it wont make it invisible it just flashes rapidly)
### Making the sensor require floor contact
Now select Suzanne and go to the logic panel. Add a touch sensor called
\"jumpcol\" (for \'jump collision\') and connect it to the same AND
controller as the jump keyboard sensor. Set the f to 10 and the MA: to
FloorHit. This will make it so your character can only jump while it\'s
touching something with the FloorHit material. By that same token you
can link this to *all* of your movement-related AND controllers so that
the player can\'t adjust it\'s movements in mid-air. This is a nice
physics touch but for most platformer games, where mid-air dexterity is
almost essential, it doesn\'t work. You also have to use Force and not
dLoc, otherwise your character won\'t be able to move at all while
jumping, useless your character only needs to hit things with his/her
head, and not jump over gaps. Note that this still does not keep the
character from jumping while touching the hit test object at the sides,
so they could still jump if they were touching the side of the collision
surface, but at least they can\'t jump in mid-air or while touching the
bottom of the ground. I have yet to find a solution to this problem not
involving Python.
## Excessive Bouncing
Another problem with the original model, as you might have noticed, is
that when you run into one of the ground cubes you bounce back a great
deal. To fix this, turn to the materials panel with one of your green
hit test squares selected. Under the color selectors there should be
three buttons that say \"RGB\", \"HSV\", and \"DYN\". Select DYN, and
turn the restitution most or all the way up. As you can see, you can
also find the friction property from here, if you want your ground to be
more or less frictional (like mud or ice).
## Final Notes
Always copy your floors, their respective hit test objects, and other
generic objects with **ALT-D** and not **SHIFT-D**. This keeps you from
duplicating things that remain the same for every one, like the material
and mesh, which quickly drain resources if not recycled. Since there\'s
not much further you can take the Platformer without learning Python, I
suggest you start looking up information on the Blender API. Some
essential information is to be found in the procedural object
creation
tutorial. A Blend file of the tutorial\'s finished product is coming
soon.
**Note**: A (possibly) simpler method for jump limitation can be found
on the discussion page for this tutorial.
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Making exe
|previous=Platformer: Physics Fixes
}}
```
This tutorial will show you how to make an executable for your game made
in Blender.
Note: The methods listed in the \"Windows\" and \"GNU/Linux or Mac OS
X\" sections work only for the operating system you are on when you
create the file. To make it cross platform, use the \"BlenderPlayer\"
method.
## Windows
First create a folder that will hold all your game information. Name it
something meaningful, like \"Yo Frankie!\".
The folder must contain four files that you can copy from your blender
installation directory.(under windows it should be \"C:\\Program
Files\\Blender Foundation\\Blender\") They are:
1. SDL.dll
2. python24.dll \'\'(Or other relevant python file; python25.dll,
python26.dll etc.)
3. pthreadVC2.dll
4. zlib.dll
(sometimes you will need the following also\...
1. avformat-51.dll
2. avutil-49.dll
3. avcodec-51.dll
They are in the same folder.)
Not quite a Noob Note: If you are using the latest version of Blender
you WILL need the following files)
I am running windows xp media edition and blender 2.46, here is a full
list of files i needed:
1. avcodec-51.dll
2. avformat-52.dll
3. avutil-49.dll
4. libfaac-0.dll
5. libfaad-0.dll
6. libmp3lame-0.dll
7. libx264-59.dll
8. pthreadVC2.dll
9. python25.dll
10. SDL.dll
11. swscale-0.dll
12. vcomp90.dll
13. xvidcore.dll
14. zlib.dll
On Blender 2.48a (Windows XP Media Center 2002, SP3), these .manifest
files are also required:
1. blender.exe.manifest
2. blenderplayer.exe.manifest
3. Microsoft.VC90.CRT.manifest
4. Microsoft.VC90.OpenMP.manifest
If you use *random* Python module in your game, you will have to add one
more file to your game directory. For Blender 2.49 it would be
python26.zip, which you can find in Blender main directory (where
blender.exe is). Otherwise there may be some errors during executing the
game in system without installed Python.
Since Blender 2.56 you will need to enable Save As Runtime; first open
blender with the game that you have created and open the file menu.
Click on User Preferences then select Add Ons then Game Engine, check
the box Game Engine Save As Runtime and return to the file menu. Save As
Runtime will appear as an option in the export menu then save to the new
folder that you have created and rename the file yourgamename.exe,
and then you can run the game!
If you encounter errors during the \"Save As Runtime\" process (I\'m on
Windows 7) you can right click on the Blender icon and select \"Run as
administrator\". So you will have your fresh .exe and you can spread it
with a piece of your favourite pepperoni pizza.
### Making A Screensaver (Windows Only)
1. First, save your runtime (that\'s the .exe addressed above.) via
File-\>Save Game as Runtime. (\"Save Runtime\" in older versions)
2. Now, go to your .exe game and rename it .scr - for instance, if your
game was NotMyGame.exe, rename it to NotMyGame.scr. You can now
right click to Install it, and then use it as your regular
screensaver by applying it as you would any other screensaver (right
click on desktop, properties\... You know the drill.)
Screensavers are not games, and so they should not accept input. At
most, they should be videos showing what your game does. If you just
rename your regular game as a .scr, it will be remarkably boring,
because your game needs input and screensavers do not.
### Intel screensaver bug
There is a caveat with Intel Integrated Graphics drivers, found in many
laptops though. The graphics driver shuts off OpenGL acceleration for
screensavers, for some obscure reason. The way to work around this is to
rename the **.scr** extension to a **.sCr** as the driver\'s algorithm
is dependent on case-sensitive characters. If you experience very low
framerates in your screensaver, you should attempt this fix, It is
tested and reported to work.
## GNU/Linux or Mac OS X
Open blender with the game that you have created and open the file menu.
Click on **Save Game as Runtime** and then save to the new folder that
you have created and rename the file yourgamename\...
and then you can run the game!
## BlenderPlayer
The methods shown above only create an executable for your operating
system. Well, BlenderPlayer can fix that.
1. Make a new folder to store all your game data.
2. Then save your .blend file into the directory.
3. You can skip this step and the next step if you do not want a
Windows version. For the Windows users, copy blenderplayer.exe to
the new folder from a Windows copy of Blender. Then copy all your
DLL files for Blender as mentioned for Windows to the folder.
4. Next you have to make an MS-DOS batch file (for UNIX users, this is
the shell script equivalent). In a simple text editor, in CR-LF mode
if available (Notepad is always in this mode, and NOT a word
processor!), copy and paste this text:\
`blenderplayer.exe yourgamename.blend`\
Save it as YourGameName-Windows.bat in your game folder.
5. You can skip this step if you do not want a UNIX (basically Mac OS X
and GNU/Linux) port. For GNU/Linux (at least), make a shell script.
(A shell script is the UNIX term for a batch file.) In a simple text
editor, in LF mode (unfortunately Notepad can\'t be used), copy and
paste this text:\
`#!/bin/bash`\
`./blenderplayer.app/Contents/MacOS/blenderplayer yourgamename.blend`\
Save the file as YourGameName-UNIX.sh in your game folder. You will
need to have BlenderPlayer in the same directory as the .blend game
file.
6. Write a readme for your program. This is again best done with a
simple text editor like Notepad or gedit, but it does not matter
which mode it is in. You should include the name of the game, a
description, perhaps a walkthrough or hints, and if you made a \*NIX
port, mention that it requires BlenderPlayer, available with
Blender.
## Legal Issues
Blender and the BlenderPlayer fall under the GNU General Public License.
Blend files are copyrighted to their respected owners and do not fall
under the GPL as long as they are not packed in the BlenderPlayer. If a
user does not want the blend files to fall under the GPL, it is
recommended not to use the \"Save Game as Runtime\" feature. To put it
another way, the user must keep the blend files and the BlenderPlayer in
separate files. More information can be found at
<http://www.blender.org/education-help/faq/gpl-for-artists/>. (Blender
2.4 now has a run game from file actuator.)
## Proprietary Blend Files
Blender has no built-in functionality to \"lock\" or protect user
generated content. As a result, anyone who has Blender can open and/or
modify blend files. However, it\'s still possible to lock blend files.
Common methods involve encrypting the blend file and then temporary
decrypting it at runtime. This can be accomplished by using python
scripts or by using external 3rd party applications (which are feasible
under the GPL v2).
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Build a skybox
|previous=Making exe
}}
```
## Prologue
One way to add a realistic feeling to your 3d environment in a game
engine is to create a skybox. A skybox is a large cube which has on its
inside a projection of a 360° environment. When the player (camera) is
inside this environment, the scene is rendered with the illusion of
being inside a gigantic world. This is a similar effect to Quicktime VR
(see <http://www.fullscreen360.com/> for examples). And, by setting up
the skybox as a simple cube shape, you place the least amount of strain
on the graphics engine. It\'s a great advantage for your game with very
little overhead.
This tutorial will show you how to create skyboxes relatively easily
from panoramic photos. My favorite part is, you can do it easily using
free tools such as Blender and the Gimp.
Using the Gimp to manipulate images is not really in the scope of this
tutorial\... check out some other page on using that software. You
should have an understanding of how to edit images and apply alpha
channels. (You could also use the Gimp to apply a polar coordinate
texture to your rectangular image in order to create a fisheye image.
Hint: it\'s not the sphereize filter.)
## Gather your graphics
You can take panoramic images yourself using a regular digital camera
and a tripod. A quick way to accomplish this is to draw marks on your
tripod base at every 30 degrees (think of the hours on a clock face).
Make a single mark on the swivel of your tripod to allow you to line up
your shots \-- twelve shots at 30 degrees each. Then, using a program
such as the Gimp or the incredibly cool
Autostitch to merge the photos into one big
panorama.
Or, if you\'re lazy like me, you can just grab photos online to use as
templates to create original images. There are also many places you can
download non-copyrighted photos for free as well. One resource for
cloudy sky textures, as well as panoramic photography instructions, is
Philippe Hurbain\'s site Philo\'s Home Page.
This tutorial will use a fisheye sky photo from his copyright-free
Panoramic Skies images collection.
You\'ll also probably want a photo for your ground, unless you prefer to
use real models such as buildings in your skybox. This earlier
chapter
on creating landscapes can be incorporated into setting up your skybox.
However, this tutorial will use the sky photo for the top half of our
world, and a panoramic landscape with an alpha channel for the bottom
half. I\'ve created a ground image using copyright-free textures
obtained from Accustudio.
Here are the images I\'ll be using (you\'ll want to use images with
higher resolution): Note that the sky has trees, etc.
Note: I\'ve outlined the horizon of the ground texture with an alpha
channel which will allow me to place the ground mesh right against the
sky mesh with a very natural feel.
## Create a dome for the sky
Open a new file in Blender. Your default new file will probably be a
two-unit cube in the center of the screen, with a single light source
and a camera. You can delete the light source because we won\'t be
needing it. Leave the cube, because that is what will become our skybox.
!skybox tutorial 1
The cube will be the center of our environment, so use
Object-\>Snap-\>Cursor To Selection if your cursor is not centered.
Then, from the top view \[KEYPAD-7\], Use \[KEY-SPACEBAR\] to insert a
new mesh; make it a UV sphere. I find a 32-segment, 32-ring sphere to be
sufficient. We create the sphere from the top view because that is the
projection from which we want to add the sky texture.
!skybox tutorial 2
Scale up the sphere so it resembles a large \"arena\" in comparison to
your cube, and select and delete the lower half of the vertices, using
the front view \[KEYPAD-1\] and \[KEY-B\] to create a bounding box. It
helps if \"Select Visible\" is turned off so you can select all of the
vertices in one go.
!skybox tutorial 3
Turn on proportional editing with \[KEY-O\], then select the bottom row
of vertices and scale them up with \[KEY-S\] so that the bottom of the
sphere gets a bell shape. Because the projection of the sky texture will
be from the Y-axis (ceiling) we need the bottom faces of the sphere to
be at an angle, to catch the texture. (Faces perpendicular to the
projection will look like smears.) Alter the influence of proportional
editing with \[KEY-PAGEUP\] and \[KEY-PAGEDOWN\]. Linear or Sharp
falloff works best with the sphere shape.
!skybox tutorial 4
Now you\'re ready to add your sky texture to this mesh. In the Materials
menu, create a new material and a new texture. Be sure to set your
material not to receive shadows by clicking the \"Shadeless\" button.
Then, in the Texture menu, set the texture type to Image, and click the
Load Image button to insert our sky texture. Back in the
Materials-\>Texture-\>Map Input menu, you may need to scale your image
to get rid of the distorted textures at the edges of the fisheye by
setting the Size to, say, 0.950 for X, Y and Z.
!skybox tutorial 5 !skybox
tutorial 6
At this point, if you wish, you can reposition the camera and render the
scene to see how your sky mesh looks.
## Create a dome for the ground
I found it easiest to move the sky dome to a new layer with the
\[KEY-M\] move to layer command. Then you can select the cube,
Object-\>snap cursor to selection if you need to, select the top view
\[KEYPAD-7\] and insert another UV sphere just as before \-- except this
time, remove the top hemisphere of vertices. I left an extra row of
vertices at the \"equator\", scaled up, to function as a \"billboard\"
to display the horizon of our ground texture with the alpha channel.
This sphere should be slightly smaller than the sky hemisphere.
!skybox tutorial 7
This time, I will apply the ground texture with a tube projection, so it
is projected onto the mesh horizontally \[Materials panel \| Map Input
tab \| Tube button\]. Because I have an alpha channel on this texture, I
click \"Use Alpha\" in the Texture menu and Map To -\> both Col and
Alpha buttons \[Materials Panel \| Map To Tab \| -\> both Col and Alpha
buttons\]. You will also need to set ZTransp in the Mirror Transp menu
\[Materials Panel \| Links and Pipelines Tab \| ZTransp button\] so that
your alpha channel shows up in the envmap (which will become your
skybox), and Alpha to 0 \[Materials panel \| Material tab \| A slider \]
to allow the masked areas to be transparent. (Alpha channels appear to
require Z buffering to appear on procedural textures.) Also, you may
need to adjust the offset of the ground texture (Y-axis), so that the
horizon appears properly on the \"billboard\" area of your ground
hemisphere.
!skybox tutorial 8 !skybox
tutorial 9
Again, you can reposition the camera and render the scene to make sure
everything is properly aligned. Be sure to activate the layer where you
moved the sky mesh. Your results will look similar to the following
image. Set OSA on in the render screen for best results. Also, use
higher resolution images with cleaner alpha channels \-- the image below
is rather blurry and you can see a halo around the horizon.
!skybox tutorial 10
## Render the environment map
The last step is to use the procedural Envmap texture to project the
dome textures onto the cube, which will become our skybox. Select the
cube and create a new material. Set the material to \"Shadeless\"
\[Materials Panel \| Materials Tab \| Shadeless button\]. Add a new
texture and make its type Envmap. Set the CubeRes \[Envmap tab \|
CubeRes setting \] to whatever you want the resolution of your skybox to
be (512 is a good resolution for a game; 1024 or 2048 are fairly
high-res; I stuck with low-res for this tutorial). If your sky & ground
hemispheres are very physically large, you may also need to increase the
ClipEnd value to include all of the faces. You may want to set the
Envmap calculation to Anim so you don\'t have to keep freeing envmap
data if you\'re experimenting. (Anim automatically clears Envmap data
with every render, otherwise you must click \'Free Data\' to reset the
Envmap.)
!skybox tutorial 11
Once you\'ve created the Envmap texture, you should be ready to render
the Envmap for your skybox. If you want to set your file format such as
JPG or PNG, you should do that first. Then, simply go to the render
screen and click \"Render.\" Again, make sure all layers are visible.
The rendering window appears. First, Blender renders the environment map
of the cube. Afterward, the camera view is rendered, at which point you
can hit \[KEY-ESCAPE\] to stop rendering \-- we are only interested in
the environment map which is already complete.
Select the cube again, then get to its texture menu. You will see the
newly-rendered Envmap on the sample texture. Click \"Save EnvMap\" in
the texture menu to save the rendered Envmap.
!skybox tutorial 12
Blender environment maps are saved as a 3x2 matrix of squares, as seen
here:
!skybox tutorial 13
The cube faces are in the following order.
!skybox tutorial 13
You can now load this image as an envmap texture in a new cube, which
you can incorporate into your game as a skybox. This file can also be
edited in the Gimp to remove any unwelcome artifacts such as trees,
buildings, jet trails, etc. Also, because I used a tube projection on
the lower hemisphere, in the bottom face of the envmap you see a strange
star shape at the \"pole.\" You\'ll most likely have a floor in your
game, so you probably won\'t see that face anyway, but sticklers can
avoid it with clever use of the Filters-\>Distorts-\>Polar Coords filter
in the Gimp or Filter-\>Distort-\>Polar Coordinates (Polar to Rect.) in
Photoshop. Patching also works well.
To make the skybox appear as a static background in your game,
vertex-parent it to the current active camera object.
## Video Tutorial
Ira Krakow\'s Blender 2.49 Skybox Tutorial:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azkk3JrM5Es>
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Basic mouse pointer
|previous=Build a skybox
}}
```
## Mouse Pointer
Making a simple mouse pointer in the game engine. This takes up a lot of
resources but it is very simple.
A little Python is involved but it is very easy to use and is only 2
lines of code.
1. Open up blender and split the screen in two.
2. Make the right screen a text editor and add a new text file with
**ALT+N**. Type in the following code.\
import Rasterizer as r
r.showMouse(1)
3. Set *TX: showpointer* in the middle of the Text panel menu bar.
4. Select an object that will always be available - preferably a
camera.
5. Go to the logic tab, add a *\"Property\" sensor*, a *\"Python\"
controller*, an *\"AND\" controller* and a *\"Property\" actuator*.
6. Activate the *True Level Triggering* (the **"'** button), set *Prop:
switch* and *Value: 0*. Connect the property sensor to the python
and AND controllers by dragging lines between the bullets.
7. For the python controller set *Script: showpointer*.
Note: If the value keeps being reverted to blank after setting it,
the name you entered is not a legal script name; chances are you did
not set the name of your script correctly. Look for the selection
menu beginning with \"TX:\" and make sure it says *TX:showpointer*.
8. Now connect the AND controller to the property actuator. Set *Prop:
switch* and *Value: 1*.
9. Select *Actor* and click on *Add Property* make it a *Int* type and
set *Name:switch*.
Now press **P** to start the game and now you\`ll see your mouse
pointer.
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Text in BGE
|previous=Basic mouse pointer
}}
```
## Text
There are a lot of tutorials that show how to make text for the Blender
Game Engine, for example to use in menus. Most involve editors, graphics
programs, TGA files, UV mapping, scripting, higher magic and so on. Here
is a different approach that takes but a minute.
1. Start Blender.
2. Remove the default cube. (**X**)
3. Add text. (**SPACE** → *Add* → *Text*)
4. You may want to switch to edit mode (**TAB**) and use the variety of
features that Blender provides for editing, formatting and laying
out text. They are described in the Blender Manual
Section. For a start
just use **BACKSPACE** to delete the letters \"Text\" and type your
own like \"This is simple\".
5. When finished editing go back to object mode. (**TAB**)
6. Convert your text to a mesh. (**ALT+C** → *Mesh*)
7. Press **P**
This is as simple as it gets. Of course you can do all kinds of laying
out with your text before the conversion in step 6 (check the Blender
Manual) as well as modeling, texturing and dynamically manipulating
thereafter (as you have a normal mesh). Simply remember that you need to
make sure the text is final before you convert it.
This tutorial has been tested with Blender 2.8 RC1.
\"However, it should be pointed out that while this is so incredibly
simple, it is not poly-count efficient. Remember, there is more to
making a game than making it look good\--making it run well. If you need
a cut-and-dry menu, this is the best way. If you need to worry about
performance, then it might be worth it to check out some UV Mapping and
external program usage.
It is also important to note that these fonts can\'t be dynamic,
contrary to bitmap-uvmapped ones\...
## Links
- How to create Dynamic Text in Blender Game Engine
(Youtube)
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Python Platformer: Creation
|previous=Text in BGE
}}
```
## Introduction
Note: Python code is placed in a Text Editor window. It might be helpful
to split your 3D View window into a separate part, so that you can use a
buttons, 3D view, and text editor window simultaneously.
The initial stages of the Python Platformer tutorial series will mostly
have to do with replicating what was done in the logic board Platformer
tutorials. If you have not read and understood those tutorials, you may
not understand exactly what the function of most of this code is. This
tutorial details:
1. An explanation of the \"code sections\" to be modified, rewritten,
or redefined frequently throughout the series
2. Creating an object linked to a pre-made mesh
3. Linking an object to a scene
and will detail by completion:
1. How to move an object in response to keyboard triggers
## Code Sections
We will refer to the sections of the code in this manner throughout the
series:
### Import Section
The series of import commands at the beginning of the piece of code,
like the contents of the head tag in HTML documents. Python has a basic
set of commands kept naturally in the language, and the rest are
imported so that a large amount of commands aren\'t loaded when not
needed, causing unnecessary memory expenditure. This lends the advantage
of being able to extend the language by writing custom sets of commands
to be imported into Python, which is how Blender interfaces with Python.
For this tutorial, our import section is:
``` python
import Blender
import bpy
```
When you import something as something else, it basically creates a
variable equal to the imported module\'s name, so that you don\'t have
to type it out. It is inessential, but it makes the coding go faster.
You might want to run a find and replace search on your document
afterwards, replacing all instances of the name you imported it as with
the real module\'s name and deleting the part that imports the module by
another name, as this can make the code run slightly faster.
### Essential Footer
This is the collection of commands that you must remember to include at
the end of the document, regardless of any changes made to the code, for
it to work. It must be noted whether you should change the entire footer
(as if a feature was removed from the main code-in-progress) or adding a
command to your existing footer (if the text deals with the addition of
a single feature). Every article in the main tutorial line should
contain the full footer as it should look at that point in the series.
For this tutorial, our essential footer is:
``` python
Blender.Redraw()
```
## Adding the Player Object
To start, create a new document and delete the basic cube. Create a
Monkey/Suzanne. In the Editing panel with the monkey selected, change
the mesh name (ME:) under Link and Materials to \"Hero\". Click the F
next to the input box to preserve the data block even when nothing links
to it. Now delete the monkey object.
The following code will create an object called \"Player\" in the
library and link it to the Hero mesh:
``` python
player = Blender.Object.New("Mesh","Player")
player.link(bpy.data.meshes["Hero"])
```
In the first line, Blender.Object.New obviously references a new object.
The \"Mesh\" variable should not be changed for the purposes of this
code. I don\'t know exactly it\'s function, so I don\'t want to give out
misinformation, but I speculate that it has to do with the object type.
If the object were to be a lamp or camera type, for example, you would
not be able to apply a mesh to it. The second variable, \"Player\", is
the name of the actual object you\'re creating. Change it to your
liking.
In the second line, we link player (which was equated to our new object)
to the pre-existing mesh \"Hero\", which is the Suzanne mesh we dealt
with before. Using this method, you can model your character\'s mesh
beforehand but have the actual character created dynamically. Using a
complication of this code, you can make player.link() link to a variable
and not the bit \"bpy.data.meshes\[\]\". That variable can reference an
existing mesh or it can create a new one. As for the meaning of the
link\'s value, bpy.data.meshes is an array containing all the meshes in
the movie. Likewise, bpy.data.objects contains all the objects in the
movie. By going to the Scripts window and going to
**Scripts-\>System-\>Interactive Console** you can gain such information
as the contents of these arrays. By entering \"list(bpy.data.objects)\"
into the console, you will be rewarded with a list in the format of
\[\[Object \"Camera\"\], \[Object \"Cube\"\], \[Object \"Lamp\"\]\]
which is the list of objects in the standard new document set-up. So, to
reference the item \[Object \"Cube\"\] you would use the line
\"bpy.data.objects\[\'Cube\'\]\" and so on. For these commands to work,
you must make sure to import bpy in your import section.
### Appending the Object to the Scene
Like you must append the mesh to the object, you must also append the
object to the scene, or it will just be a floating data block and not
actually appear anywhere.
``` python
scene = Blender.Scene.GetCurrent()
scene.link(player)
```
If you were to test this code by pressing **ALT-P** while the mouse is
hovering over the Text Editor window, it would create an object named
Player with the monkey \"Hero\" mesh at the origin point of your scene.
Make sure you included this tutorial\'s import section before all of the
other code and the essential footer after all of other code.
version 2.7:
``` python
import bpy
myMesh = bpy.data.meshes["Hero"] # reference existing mesh
player = bpy.data.objects.new("Mesh", myMesh) # create new object
player.name = "Player" # give it a name
bpy.context.scene.objects.link(player) # link to the scene to show
```
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Advanced Tutorials
|nextText=next module:<br />"Working Example: Bob"
|previous=Advanced Tutorials/Advanced Animation/Guided tour/NLA/stride
|previousText=previous module:<br />"The Stride feature"
}}
```
- Letters in brackets i.e.:(z) mean there is addition information at
the bottom of the page.
## Introduction:
This tutorial is meant to stop all the RVK (Relative Vertex Keys)
questions.
## Window Layout:
Set the left half of the screen as 3D View. The other half is divided in
two. The top is Action and the bottom is IPO (set to vertex display).
## Setting your Neutral Pose
Make sure you are on the first frame (a). With the cursor over the 3D
View, select the mesh you want to animate. (mesh in object mode) and
press the I key. Select Mesh from the pop up menu then Relative Keys
from the next pop up menu. A line will appear in the IPO view. This line
is your neutral pose.
## Setting up your additional Pose Lines
Now, figure out how many key frames you will need. If you want to move
both eyebrows up and down then you will need 4 additional IPO lines.
Left Brow Up Left Brow Down Right Brow Up Right Brow Down
Press the up arrow (cursor key) to move to forward 10 frames. Press the
I key while over the 3D View and select Mesh. Repeat until you see a
total of 5 lines in the IPO window.
## Set your Poses
Right click on the Neutral pose line in the IPO window. This sets the
mesh to the neutral pose. Now Right click on the next line up in the IPO
window. Enter edit mode in the 3D View and move the vertices as desired
(in this case you will be moving verts to get the left Brow up pose).
Press Tab to exit edit mode. Now right click your Neutral pose line in
the IPO window. You will see your object in its neutral state. Right
click the next line up and you should see the changes you just made to
your object. Set up all your mesh poses following the above
instructions.
## Name your Poses
RIght click on the Key names in the Action window. Change the name and
click OK.
## Time to Animate (b)
Click on the arrow next to the Sliders text. This will give you access
to the pose sliders. Move to frame 20 to start your action. Move the
pose slider but release the mouse when set to 0. Now move 10 frames
forward and move the same slider to 1.00 (maximum). Use this method to
set up all your actions(c). Remember to add a 0 value frame to end the
pose.(d).
## Adjust your Slow in & Out
In the IPO View select from the menu to find the IPO curves. You can get
back to the Pose lines by selecting KeyIPO from the same menu. Right
click the spline you want to edit and press TAB to enter edit mode. Move
the handles to adjust slow in/out.(e)
\(a\) In this case moving to a frame has nothing to do with animation.
It is done so that your pose lines are separate from each other. (b)
Select your key frame marker and use the usual commands to move
`<g>`{=html} and duplicate `<d>`{=html} them. (c) Be subtle by not
pushing the slider all the way to 1.00. (d) Try overlapping your poses.
(e) When setting slider values they can sometimes go into the negative
value. This will give you weird results. Although sometimes they can
make your animation more interesting. To fix this edit the IPO, select
the point where the line dips below zero and press the V key. Do the
same at the other end of the curve if needed.
Warning! Blender has a limit to the number of verts you can use.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Click here to read the advanced animation tutorial guided
tour.
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Creating a Light Probe
|previous=HDRi
}}
```
The light probe is, in the simplest terms, a photograph of your
environment. they work in very much the same way that reflection maps
do, and are made the same way.
Equipment:
1. A pure silver ball. Try a plastic Christmas tree ball ornament.
2. A camera, preferably digital. If you have a high-end digital camera,
you\'ll have less work ahead.
3. A place you\'d like to capture the lighting from. Try laying
different things in your environment to get a good idea.
4. Something to fire the shutter without touching the camera. For
digital cameras, Paul Debevec recommends using a program that will
take all the pictures for you.
5. A tripod.
Set it up like so. Remember that the height of your camera and the
height of the ball relative to each other controls the angle at which
the horizon will be shot. In other words, shoot the ball at the same
angle that you plan to shoot your 3D scene in. If your scene is
animated\... consider making a similar rig except attaching your
reflective ball to a video camera as was done for Flight of the
Navigator.
(note from a VFX pro who is using this technique for years: on a mirror
ball everything is reflected except the area right behind the sphere
opposite to the camera - where the tape is on the above picture)
The process:
1. Set up your rig and take a series of images with varying exposure
times.
2. Taking 2 sets of pictures, each offset by 90 degrees, will enable
you to get better coverage of the background and eliminate the
reflection of the camera taking the picture.
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Making Landscapes with heightmaps
|previous=Creating a Light Probe
}}
```
This tutorial will show you how to make advanced terrain such as
mountains using Blender and gimp or any other image editing software.
Blender has the ability to use height maps to create meshes. Height maps
are black and white images with white representing the highest point and
black the lowest.
## Creating the heightmap image
**Note:** This entire Tutorial presumes that you are already familiar
with other Editing Software, such as GIMP\... and already know how to
create \"textures\" with that software. However, you do not have to use
another program to obtain a texture. At the end of the next section,
they show you how to generate a random \'cloud\' texture which you can
use directly. Do not worry about GIMP or Photoshop. Just skip the rest
of this section and most of the next one.
To begin with, open your image editing software. This part applies to
Gimp only (downloadable at <http://gimp.org>), if you use another
program you will have to do it another way.
First use the \"New\" menu option to create an image 1600 wide by 1200
tall. Go to **Filters** → *Render* → *Clouds* → *Plasma* (In Photoshop,
this is Filter \> Render \> Clouds). For this example just use the
default settings, it doesn\'t really matter. Click OK. You should now
have a nice colorful image. We don\'t want that, we want it in black and
white. Make sure your Gradient is set to \"FG to BG(RGB)\"(this is the
default anyway) and that your foreground color is black and the
background color is white. Go to **Colors** → *Map* → *Gradient Map*.
This will convert it to black and white for you.
Save your image as PNG or JPEG.
It should look something like this
{width="800"}
## Create grid and add the image as texture
Open Blender and delete the default cube.
Add a grid (**SPACE** → *Add* → *Mesh* → *Grid*) with resolutions 32 and
32 from top view. Do not scale the grid just yet, zoom instead if you
wish to take a closer look at your grid. It will be explained later why
you shouldn\'t scale now.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
**Note**: When I followed this tutorial it didn\'t work - the vertices in the grid were moving sideways rather than vertically. It turns out I needed to **TAB** into object mode after creating the grid, then hit **CTRL+AKEY** to reset the transformation, then **TAB** back into edit mode. If someone could explain why that was necessary, or what it does exactly, that would be helpful.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
:\***Response 1**: You should create the basic shape and outline in
object mode, then edit the details in edit mode, kinda like the names
imply.
:\***Response 2**: When you create an object using the Front or Side
views while having **Aligned to View** selected in the **Edit Methods**
in **Blender Settings Panel**, the Local Z axis of the object will be
pointing to the Global Y or X axis, respectively. For the matter of this
tutorial, if you do that, you\'ll be forced to rotate the object 90º in
X or Y, before going on. That\'s where problems may begin, if you rotate
it in **Edit Mode** which doesn\'t change local axis orientations. In
that case you\'ll be forced to reset transformations (**Ctrl+A** -\>
**Scale and Rotation to ObData**). However, if you rotate it in **Object
Mode**, and if you make sure the Local Z axis points upwards after the
rotation, you should be seeing good results later on. *( To see the
Local orientations of an object, Press **F7** for the **Object Panel**
(the one with three arrows, 4th from the left) and in the **Draw** pane
click the **Axis** button.)*
Click **F5** to go to the *Shading panel*. By default the *Material
buttons* button should be selected (button with red ball), but if it
isn\'t then click on it. If this window has a panel named *Preview* and
it is empty then look to the right for the *Links and Pipeline* panel.
Here you should find an *Add New* button beneath *Link to Object*, click
on it. 3 more panels should appear when you do this. You should find the
*Texture buttons* button, it is just to the right of the *Material
button* and is black & yellow. You may also just hit **F6**. Now you
should get two new panels titled *Preview* and *Texture*, in the
*Texture* panel you\'ll find an *Add new* button, click it. Where the
button just was it should now be a text field saying something like
\"TE:Tex.001\", click in the text field and write \"height\" instead.
Look a bit to the right and down for a dropdown menu allowing you to
choose *Texture Type*, click it and select *Image*. Two more panels will
appear and the rightmost should be *Image* with a *Load* button.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
**Note:** The *Texture buttons* button is not part of the windows that pop up after you click *Add New* button, but it directly to the right of the *Material* button that is a red ball.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
**Note:** If you can\'t find the *Texture Type* menu, press **F6**. Once you press **F6**, or the *Texture buttons* button, you\'ll see another panel, also called *Texture*. This one, however, shows a *Texture Type* menu after you select *Add new*. Having two very similar panels can be a nasty trap.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Before you load the image take a look at the *Map Image* panel. About in
the middle there should be 5 buttons, *Extend*, *Clip*, *ClipCube*,
*Repeat* and *Checker*. Select *Clip* or your heightmap may wrap around
the grid (if this doesn\'t make sense then do this tutorial twice, one
where you keep *Repeat* selected and one without. In that case make sure
there\'s some bright white spots in your height map on each edge).
Click the *Load* button and load the heightmap you just created in your
favourite image editing software.
**If you\'re going for the random cloud-type image, though, you can make
it from within Blender itself - when you add a texture, in the menu
where you select \'image,\' before actually selecting it, pick
\'clouds\' instead, and play with the settings.**
{width="800"}
Click the *Material buttons* button again (the red ball button) and look
in the *Preview* panel. If this just shows a black ball then click on
the uppermost button just to the right of the black ball.
{width="800"}
## Use texture as heightmap
(Blender 2.5+ note: Now you do this using a \"Displace\" modifier that
applies the Texture you created.)
Look to the top right of the rightmost panel, the window should have 3
panes titled *Texture*, *Map Input* and *Map To*. Click on the *Map To*
pane. A whole lot of buttons will appear:
- Turn off the *Col* button. \"Col\" stands for \"color,\" and we
don\'t want our plane to be *colored* by this texture.
- All of these buttons should be turned off: we\'re not going to be
using this texture to \"Map To\" anything. Instead, we\'ll be using
it to deform the actual geometry.
Go to the *Edit window* (**F9**) and enter edit mode (**TAB**) if
you\'re in *Object Mode*. Go to either front or side view so you can see
what you are doing. Click the *Noise* button in the *Mesh Tools*-panel
(it\'s located in the top left corner of this panel) and your grid
should start to change shape.
**Note:** make sure all your vertices are selected with AKEY or whatever
you want to use to select. If not selected, *Noise* won\'t do anything!
- *(While you could, theoretically, use this to your advantage \...
intentionally de-selecting vertices that you don\'t want to
influence \... in practice that\'s quite awkward if for some reason
you have to do it again. It\'s much easier to leave any such areas,
that you don\'t want to influence, \"completely white\" in the
image.)*
{width="800"}
Continue clicking the button until the terrain has reached the height
you want and voilà, you have just made terrain using heightmaps. You may
want to subsurf the shape to get a smoother effect. If you wish to scale
your new landscape then now is the time. There seems to be a bug or
gotcha causing your heightmap to be tiled on your grid rather than
resized if you scale the grid before applying the heightmap. Hopefully
someone familiar with blender will clarify how this should be done
properly, but until then this method will work.
.png "Blender-landscape_with_height_maps(1).png"){width="800"}
Tips:
1\. If you want a more jagged landscape then adjust the contrast on the
image editing software
2\. Once you\'ve finished using the *Noise* button in the *Mesh Tools*
panel as shown above, the texture is no longer needed: the effect it has
made on the geometry of the object is permanent. If texture-resources
are tight, you can remove it now. But it\'s advisable to keep it,
unchanged, in case you need to re-do your work at some time in the
future. If you want to use other kinds of texture-maps (*Col*or,
*Nor*mal maps, and so-forth), you can use the landscape-image as a handy
reference (say in a background-layer in your painting program) for
correct placement of these features, but you should not alter the
landscape-image itself).
3\. Height maps can also be used to make city terrain. Draw white
squares on a black background. If you do this make sure you make the
squares perfectly parallel to the sides of the image. This prevents
jagged edges to buildings. You can also use gray squares to adjust the
buildings to different heights.
4\. The \"Noise\" mesh-editing button displaces vertices in the
object\'s Z-Axis and negative Z-Axis only. To deform your mesh\'s other
dimensions, simply rotate your object and \"apply rotation,\" or rotate
the vertices in edit mode, and apply Noise. Then, rotate it back again
to get your original orientation.
5\. The \"Noise\" button permanently modifies your mesh according to the
material texture. Each click adds onto the current mesh. For a temporary
effect, map the texture to *Disp*(lacement) for a render-time effect
*(and do not click the \"Noise\" button at all)*. In object/edit mode
your object will appear normal, but will render deformed.
6.*Note:* The \"Noise\" mesh-editing *button,* as used here, is not the
same as the \"Noise\" *texture* that is referred to in other tutorials!
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/How to Do Procedural Landscape Modeling
|previous=Making Landscapes with heightmaps
}}
```
## Mountains
I was playing around in Blender several months ago and messing with
cloud textures when I found a great way to make landscapes entirely
within Blender (without height maps from The Gimp or some other
application) and decided to make a tutorial (yes, it does use the noise
tool).
_**For 2.7X blenderers out there:**_
though this is a 2.4 based tutorial it works fine for 2.7X versions. The
only big difference that doesn\'t work is that the normal button in the
influence panel instead of map to panel, and the diffuse shader they
mention later is actually in the material\'s context and in the diffuse
panel.
### Making the Mesh
To start, open up Blender and with the cube selected, press the **XKEY**
and click Erase Selected Objects.
Add a grid (**SPACE**\--\> Add\--\> Mesh\--\> Grid), using whatever
numbers you like, remembering that bigger numbers means more vertices.
For this tutorial, I\'ll use 60 for x and y resolution. Scale the grid
up, but only a little bit (I went up to 1.3) as the texture won\'t make
very tall landscape with a very big grid. Press the **F5** key to go to
the Materials tab, then add a new material.
### Displace and Shade
Now press the **F6** key to go the Textures panel, and add a cloud
texture in the very first slot (slot 0).
After Pressing F6, look at the windows on the bottom. To the left is the
\"preview\" window and next to that (to the right) is a *Texture* window
with an *Add* button\... click that and then go to the little pull down
menu that shows up just below and to the right. From there, find and
select \"Clouds\"\... and now, continue!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
You may be wondering how we are going to make landscape with a cloud
texture, when you could just use the Gimp height map plugin, Terragen,
or the A.N.T. modeling script right in Blender. Well, we are going to
make the landscape with a **height map.** The color determines the
height: white = very tall; grey = halfway tall; black = no height. This
makes the cloud texture a very good candidate for land.
The next thing we are going to do is adjust the size. You can set the
noise size to whatever you want, but I want to have several bigger
pieces of landscape, instead of a bunch of little ones so I\'m setting
noise size to 1.00 and noise depth to 6, as I want a high level of
detail. (The *Preview* immediately shows you the effect of your
\"tweaks\" as you make them.)
**Noob Note:** You can hold shift and click the number next to noise
size then just type 1 and press enter instead of using the arrows. The
same applies for NoiseDepth, almost every other setting in blender
changes like this as well.
At the top, we can select *Hard noise* or *Soft noise.* Each gives a
different landscape, so experiment with them. Next, go to the *Colors*
tab (it\'s right next to the texture button by default). Adjust the
brightness and contrast as required. For \"Hard noise,\" try a
brightness of 1.9 and a contrast of 3.45. For \"Soft noise,\" a
brightness around 1.0 to 1.2 should be fine.
**Noob Note:** The above noob note applies to the brightness setting as
well!
Jump back to material buttons with **F5** and go into the \"Map To\"
panel. Turn off *col* and press *nor* once.
**Noob Note:** I had a difficult time finding the \"Map To\" so if you
are too\... This is one of the several small Windows that opens at the
bottom of your screen after pressing **F5** and for me, it was on the
far, far right, off my screen. I had to use my mouse wheel to scroll the
Windows to the side to bring it into view and found it as a Tab on a
Window with two other tabs. \"Col\" and \"Nor\" are buttons in the *Map
To* Tab.
**Another Noob note:** In version 2.66, the \"map to\" equivalent is
found in the texture window (under the tab \"influence\") there you can
adjust the color and normal settings. they are referred to by their full
names.
- *What the buttons are for:* The \"Map To\" settings determine which
various attributes of the material will be affected by our \"cloudy
texture.\"
- \"Col\" refers to \"*col*or.\" We turn it off here, because we
don\'t want our surface to *look* \"cloudy.\"
- \"Nor\" refers to \"surface *nor*mals.\" This is the angle at
which light seems to reflect from the surface. (The so-called
\"bump map.\")
- Experiment with the other \"Map To\" buttons, as well! For
instance, \"Disp\" (for \"*disp*lacement) actually causes a map
to deform the geometry of a surface\... but doing so only during
rendering.
In this tutorial, as you will see, we are going to *combine* several
techniques to produce a very rocky surface. Here, we are changing the
way that the surface reflects light. Then, we\'ll actually deform the
surface geometry.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Turn the *nor* value all the way up, to 25 (that will give it a nice
rocky look). Go into the *Shaders* tab and then change the \"Diffuse
Shader\" (the top left selector, defaulting to \"Lambert\") to
\"Oren-Nayer,\" and the \"Specular Shader\" (the 2nd selector,
defaulting to \"CookTorr\") to \"Blinn.\" Adjust the *Rough* value in
Oren-Nayer to 1.5 (rock is really rough). Also, set the *Spec* value to
0.01 and *Hard* to 25. Now we are ready to make some mountains!
- *Trivia note:* In computer graphics, a \"shader\" is a mathematical
function, and they\'re customarily named after the clever people who
invented them. These functions determine exactly how the
cloudy-texture will \"map to\" the attributes *(e.g.* \"Nor\"\...)
that we selected.
### Making Mountains
Press **TAB** to go into edit mode and press the **AKEY** twice, in case
you had any specific vertices selected. Go into the front view and press
the \"Noise\" button(located under mesh tools in **F9**). You should see
the vertices jump up a good bit.
If not, you may have scaled your grid up too much, so make it somewhat
smaller. Depending on how high you want your mountains, press the
*Noise* button to your required amount, though I pressed it 8 more
times. The mesh doesn\'t look very good right now, as it is not only
blocky, but it is missing that last bit of random detail.
- **Important note!** The *mesh-editing button* named \"Noise\" causes
a permanent change to the geometry of the object in the \"Z\"-axis,
as provided by the texture. (The vertices actually *moved,* and
their new position is permanent.)
- There is also a *procedural texture* named \"Noise,\" but that
is just pure coincidence. The two are unrelated, both in what
they do and in how they work.
```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
- **Important note!** Those using Blender 2.5 Beta in order to get the
height map to affect the geometry you will need to use the displace
**modifier** instead.
If you are not in edit mode, go into it and select all the vertices.
Press *Fractal* (in the same row as *Noise* under mesh tools) and enter
a value of 15 in the random factor. Hopefully, your system can manage
all these vertices: if not, then don\'t do any fractal subdivide. If you
want to, you can use a smaller value in the fractal box and do it
several more times for more displacement. Be careful, though: too much
randomness will cause vertices to separate, causing tears in the mesh
that you will have to fix by hand.
Finally, tab out of edit mode and press *Set Smooth.* Then, if you want
to make the mesh even more smoother, add a *Subsurf* modifier, with what
ever level you want. (I\'m going with 1 for faster render times.)
If you desire, you can scale up the mesh however big you want though for
close-ups, you may want another level of subsurf or another subdivide.
Then, apply colors, set up the lights, and render! A word to the wise,
however: this process creates a huge file (about 986kb).
### Discussion
You have just made mountains all in Blender, without having to generate
height maps in The Gimp, or any other program. The next step is to go
beyond the tutorial. Try using different noise sizes and noise basis,
and even try using other textures like musgrave and marble. Or try using
two textures and see the conclusion. The possibilities are almost
infinite! Have fun.
**Observe** how the technique illustrated *this* tutorial is \"the same,
yet different\" from the one demonstrated in the tutorial for \"height
maps\":
- A *procedural texture* was used to supply changes to the *Nor*mal
Mapping of the object at render time. (This is the angle at which
the object reflects light.) (The \"height mapping\" tutorial did not
do this.)
- Then, the *mesh-editing button* (also\...) named \"Noise\" was used
to deform the actual geometry of the mesh. (This *is* the same
technique used in the \"Height Map\" tutorial, although a different
kind of texture .. an image .. was used.)
- The texture, once used for the height-mapping (deformations) was
left in place, still mapped to the surface \"Nor\"mals. The result
will be a *very* mountainous landscape.
Yep! The techniques shown in all of these terrain-modeling tutorials
*can* be combined! And, they frequently are. Very often the most
satisfactory results are obtained by combining several different
techniques. You could have used an image-map (from the \"Height
Mapping\" tutorial) to deform the geometry, then used the \"noisy
*Nor*mal-mapping\" idea from the first part of this tutorial, and even
used smoothing. All at the same time. The choice is yours.
When using \"Map To,\" remember that a single material can have several
different textures applied to it, each one mapped to the same or to
different attributes. This mapping can even be *animated.*
Experiment! The sky\'s the limit!
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Landscape Modeling I: Basic Terrain
|previous=How to Do Procedural Landscape Modeling
}}
```
## Introduction
I worked with a group to make a small animation for class and I was
responsible for the environment modeling. I really liked the results of
the process I used, so I decided to share it with others. By the end of
this tutorial you\'ll have the know-how to create your own flexible,
realistic terrain utilizing multiple textures for different ground
types. This tutorial assumes that you have the very basic understanding
of using Blender (how to add/remove a mesh, how to change views,
etc\...) I use the following textures in this demo. Feel free to use
them if you don\'t have something on hand to use.
{width="100"}
**NOTE:** This page uses a different grass texture for licensing reasons
(sorry).
## Creating the Canvas
!The grid that will be used to build our
landscape.{width="200"}
The \"canvas\" that we\'ll use for our terrain is an evenly spaced grid
of vertices. Open a new project, delete the default cube, and **add a
grid mesh**. Use whatever size you want. The more vertices you have, the
more detailed and realistic your landscape will appear, but don\'t get
crazy with it since we\'ll apply subsurfacing at the end to smooth it
out. At the same time, you do want enough vertices to prevent sharp
edges, and we\'ll need them in the second tutorial when we cover texture
stenciling. So consider how big you want your landscape and try to find
a reasonable balance. I like to start with 100x100. The grid will be
pretty small, so scale the entire thing up, let\'s say by a factor of
20. This grid will be used to build our landscape by pulling hills and
mountains out of it.
**Noob Note:** If you don\'t want to have to delete the default cube
every time you open a new file, just delete the cube once so you have
the blank window (only lamp and camera left) . Then select *File* -
*Save default settings* or hit *Ctrl+U*. From now on, each new project
you create will start off without the cube.
## Molding the Mountains
The key to making good mountains is using the proportional edit mode
(**OKEY**) and constantly adjusting the radius of influence. If you\'ve
already gone through the Mountains Out Of
Molehills
tutorial then this section will be familiar. One major difference is
that in this tutorial I recommend rotating the 3D view around so you
have a good view of all three axes instead of working in the front or
sides view. Using the proportional editing tool affects multiple
vertices, and it helps to see what effect your changes are having as you
make them.
- Go ahead and turn on proportional editing, either by pressing
**OKEY** or clicking on the grey ring on the 3D View header. You
have to be in Edit Mode to select this option. Once proportional
editing is enabled, the ring will appear orange and a new drop-down
menu will appear next to it with different falloff styles. Select
Smooth if it is not already selected.
- Select any random vertex and grab it (**GKEY**). You will see a ring
around the vertex you are grabbing. This is the radius of influence,
and only vertices inside this ring are affected by the
transformation. If you are doing this in the orthographic view from
the front, side, or top, then this will be obvious. But if you\'re
at a view where you can see all three axes, then it may be less
obvious.
!The first mountain created using proportional
editing.{width="200"}
- Restrict movement to the z-axis (**ZKEY**) and translate the vertex
upward. Throughout this entire process you ONLY want to translate
along the z-axis. If you start moving vertices in the x or y
directions, things become distorted and you get some nasty creases.
Play around with adjusting the size of the radius of influence
(**Mouse Wheel**) to get steeper or flatter hills.
!A nice group of
hills{width="200"}
- Keep repeating this process with different size radii and different
heights until you have a decent mountain range, but leave an area
flat. We\'ll be using that spot later in the second tutorial. Don\'t
be afraid to occasionally translate some vertices down instead of up
to create depressions in the hills. Remember, variety is the spice
of life. Very few things in nature are naturally geometric, so mix
up your hills and especially make sure they overlap. How often do
you see a nice, smooth hill all by itself in nature?
**Note:** You\'ll notice in my screenshot that I have reduced the size
of my grid. For simplicity\'s sake, I didn\'t feel like filling an
entire 100x100 grid with mountains since this can take some time.
- Well now, that\'s looking pretty good! Now, there\'s one problem
with our hills so far. They\'re too smooth! Let\'s bumpify them a
little. Change the falloff type from Smooth to Random.
!Rougher hills look more
realistic{width="200"}
- Select a single vertex and grab it (**GKEY**). We\'re still working
on the z-axis only, to restrict your movement with the **ZKEY**. Now
when you move the vertex up and down, all vertices in the radius of
influence will also move but with a random falloff instead of
smoothly. It only takes a little movement to get the effect we want,
so something around 0.5-1.0 is enough. Mix up moving up and down
with different vertices, again to add variety to the scene.
- Once you have your landscape the way you like it, add a subsurf
modifier under the Editing tab (**F9**) and select Catmull-Clark.
This will smooth out your terrain a little so that it\'s not too
rough. Given the number of vertices you already have, it\'s not
necessary to have a higher render value than 1 unless you just
REALLY want it to be smooth, but I don\'t recommend it. Land is
supposed to be bumpy and rocky, we just don\'t want sharp edges.
**Noob note:** If you\'re making mountains using Random Falloff and the
peaks stick up too much: in Edit mode, select the points in the area
around the peak using circle select, then press **WKEY** and click
\'Smooth\' until you\'re satisfied (or, in the Editing tab (**F9**),
click the \'Smooth\' button).
**Useful Tip** Proportional editing can be used on multiple vertices
simultaneously. This is especially useful if you\'re trying to create a
cliff face or a river bed. Use the box tool (**BKEY**) to select a group
of vertices and then translate them. Keep in mind that the size of the
radius of influence determines how many vertices around **EACH VERTEX**
will be influenced. So suppose you have a 5 vertex radius, that means
that 5 vertices all the way around your selected region will be
influenced.
## Texturing the Terrain
Alright! We\'ve got some pretty nice hills now! But there\'s still a few
problems. Hills shouldn\'t be white, and hills shouldn\'t be SHINY!
Let\'s dress them up a little, shall we?
- With your landscape selected, go to the Shading Panel (**F5**) and
add a new material.
- Under the Shaders tab, drop the Specular value to 0.
- Go to the Texture tab (**F6**) and add a new texture.
- In the Texture Type drop down menu, select Image.
- Two new tabs will appear. In the Image tab, click Load and load a
texture from file.
- In the Map Image tab, increase the Xrepeat and Yrepeat. Depending on
the size of your terrain and the image that you use (please use
something that tiles!), these values will vary. I\'ve used 10 for
each in this tutorial.
(**Noob note:** Render the scene (F12) to see the applied texture)
(**Noob note:** A quicker way to do this is by using the render preview
tool, 3d view window - render preview, View\--\> Render Preview or press
**SHIFT**\--\> **PKEY**) (**Noob note:** you may also select shaded in
the Viewport Shading menu next to where you select object mode or edit
mode to see your texture on your mountains without rendering, however it
does slow your computer down some which could make editing frustrating.
So only do this if you want to see what your textures look like, then
switch back to solid for more editing.)
- Finally, let\'s do something about the lighting. Go to Object Mode
(**TAB**) if you\'re not already there and select the lamp. Choose
the Shading Panel (**F5**) and then click the icon that looks like a
light bulb to display the Lamp buttons. Change the lamp to a sun and
up the energy to 1.5. You may also need to increase the distance if
your terrain is large, or rotate it around if you don\'t like where
it\'s pointing. The dashed line coming out of the light is the
direction. Play around with different angles and energy values for
the sun to get different times of day in your scene.
And there you have it! Your landscape is now textured with some nice
grass to make it look a little more realistic. Play around with hill
sizes and roughness if you\'re not satisfied with your landscape, but
try not to be too picky. Nature shouldn\'t look too sculpted. Remember,
you won\'t notice a change in texture unless you render your image.
**NOTE** If you went with the suggested 100x100 grid, the rendering
process could definitely take some time depending on your system,
especially if you have ray tracing and shadows enabled. To boost the
rendering speed, go to the Scene panel (**F10**) and under Rendering,
disable the buttons that say **Shadow** and **Ray**. Also note that
because we\'ve created some hills, your camera may now be under the
terrain. Switch to the camera view (**NUM0**) to see what your camera
sees and move it if you need to.
{width="800"}
Join us next time as we explore how to make the landscape look even
better using texture stenciling!
## Reader Contributions
I\'m mainly doing this so the hills look better and more realistic.
Reading this will consume more time than doing it. I\'m making
everything clear for beginners. It will only take about 8 minutes more
for your hills to end up like this:
1. First step to achieve it is to switch from the default lamp to Sun.
1. You do this by clicking on the default and go to the shading tab
(F5)
2. Click on *Sun*.
3. Go to *rotate manipulator mode* with Ctrl Alt R.
4. Rotate the sun until the dotted line is in your desired
position. That is where the main energy will go. It will differ
if you want to achieve the different time of day. You can make
the distance greater or less with *dist.*. I kept mine at
default 30.
2. Now let\'s make more realistic, paler sunlight.
1. In the RGB slider, set R for 1, G for 1, and B for .848.
2. Set energy for 1.63. This will all differ for different times of
day, so set your east and west in your head, and the later into
the day, the further the sun to the west and the more orange.
For midday, keep the energy on 1.63 and put the sun right above
your hills. I set mine for earlier in the morning.
3. Now click on the picture of a globe to change the background.
4. Click on the *blend* button for a more realistic looking sky. On the
left of the World toolbar, that will be the color of lower down in
the sky and the right sliders will be the color of the top of the
sky. Naturally, the top should be darker blue than the bottom.
1. It will differ for different times of the day. So you might want
something different from this. But I set up mine for the morning
using the settings below:
- The left HoRGB sliders to 0.50, 0.68, and 1.
- The right ZeRGB sliders to 0.11, 0.25, and 0.66.
5. Now for the texture. *This* won\'t differ for the times of day, but
it will differ for what type of landscape you want.
6. Download a nice texture from google or an artists website.
1. Go back to Blender, go to Texture buttons (F6)
2. Click add new
3. Select *image* for the texture type
4. Go to the *image* toolbar, and upload the texture. Blender will
only allow you to upload from the Blender documents, unless if
you click on the up and down arrows on the top left of the
screen and choose the place where you saved the texture (or
picture).
5. After uploading, the X and Y repeats should be smallish, like
6x6, so the changes aren\'t noticeable. It will look ugly in the
preview, but it will look nice after its wrapped.
7. Render, and 1 minute later, voila! Those are nice looking hills!
8. Now boast in front of your friends!
**Noob Note:** You need to have your landscape selected if you are in
object mode to change the texture, otherwise it will change the texture
of the world.
## Reader Contributions 2
You can have an even better result if you use the texture to \"bumpmap\"
the mountains.
1. Press **F5** until you are into Material Buttons
2. Select the *Map to* tab
3. Click on *Nor* once (the *Col* option must stay selected as well)
4. Slide the *Nor* slider to 5 or more (might differ depending on
texture size and repeat options)
5. Render with **F12**
## Reader Contributions 3
Alternately from making the hill model manually, you can use a program
like L3DT. It
uses various algorithms to generate very detailed and realistic terrain
heightmaps. It also lets you edit them in a more intuitive way than
Blender does. After you have L3DT make your height map, you can export
it as a .x file, which you can import into Blender. **Noob Note:** That
can be done by going into File-\>Import-\>DirectX(.x). And there you
have a very realistic landscape mesh with a lot less work. (Noob
Question: I want to use Unity3d game engine to create a game, but i want
to use blender to create landscapes. To create massive world landscapes,
does anybody have any tips? as Unity limits any mesh to 65000 vertices,
which i\'ve already passed with my method without doing half the map.)
-If you are using unity 3d just use it for the terrain. Download the
terrain toolbox and just use .raw images. Or simply generate from there
and save. 65,000 verts is plenty btw. If you insist on using blender for
the terrain then model a high poly terrain fist consisting of around 1
mil+ verts. bake the normal map and ambient occlusion decimate your
terrain to around 10k or w/e looks good for the game. Then bam you got
10k terrain that looks like 1mil. But to be honest blender terrain
texturing is a pain compared to unity. Anyhow hope that helps.
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Landscape Modeling II: Texture Stenciling
|previous=Landscape Modeling I: Basic Terrain
}}
```
## UPDATED FOR 2.7 USERS
This is a continuation of the previous tutorial, Landscape Modeling I:
Basic
Terrain.
In this tutorial, we will make our terrain look even better by using
some texture stenciling to add multiple textures where we want them in
the landscape. This tutorial assumes that you have a basic understanding
of how to use Blender (how to add/remove a mesh, how to change views,
etc\...)
## Creating the Stencil
The landscape from the previous example looks pretty good, but the
entire thing has the same texture, so it doesn\'t look very natural.
Let\'s add some rocks to those hills. If we just add a second texture to
our material, it will completely cover the previous one. What we want is
to have the first texture only show in certain places and the second
texture cover the rest. In order to do this we\'ll have to create a
stencil, which is like a mask that determines where textures appear on
the material. The stencil is a black and white image, similar to a
heightmap, except the intensity of each pixel determines how much of the
next texture will appear (black = 0%, white = 100%). I highly recommend
viewing
this
tutorial for a more in depth description of how stencils work. If you
think you have the gist, then continue on here. \[Note: Link is broken
now\] We\'re going to create our own stencil to determine where we want
rock in the landscape by \"painting\" on the object. **\*IMPORTANT\***
The next few steps will be performing temporary modifications to your
scene, so be sure to save your file before you continue so that the
changes will not be saved!! Also, if you have a subsurf modifier on the
landscape, remove that at this time as it drastically slows down the
following process.
- Select the landscape object and switch from \"edit mode\" or
\"object mode\" to \"**Vertex** Paint mode\". This is found in the
Mode drop down menu, on the 3D View header. This mode lets you paint
the object, and thereby change the color value of each vertex. When
in Vertex Paint mode, you\'ll notice your object change color to a
pixelated version of the texture that is applied to it. This is
because with that texture applied, each vertex will be drawn with
the colors you see.
**Noob Note**: Vertex Paint mode is in the drop down menu that contains
Object mode and Edit mode. Just select the object while in Object mode,
click the drop down menu, and select Vertex Paint mode from the list.
- Switch to the Editing menu (**F9**) and you\'ll see a new tab called
Paint. Notice the sliders labeled Opacity and Size. Opacity
determines how much to blend the selected color with the existing
colors when you paint. So 0.2 means that when you click, you\'ll get
20% of the selected color mixed with whatever is currently there.
Over on the right are different options to combine to colors. We
want to mix, so as we paint the colors will mix together and give us
a nice smooth blend. Size is the size of your cursor while painting,
and thus how many vertices are affected. Keep in mind that does not
change as you zoom in and out, so a size of 10 can actually paint
more pixels if you\'re zoomed way out than a size of 30 if you\'re
zoomed way in.
- Change the color to black and click the button that says Set VertCol
(in 2.48 version, that button is below the color square and named
\'SetVCol\'). This will change the color of your entire object to
black. You\'ll notice that the object is not lit in Vertex Paint
mode, so when the entire object is black it can be difficult to see
where your hills are. You\'ll have to move the camera around to see
the shapes.
\[Another newbie recommends: if you switch to the \"object\" buttons
(f7) and turn on \"Wire\" under \"Draw Extra\" in the \"Draw\" panel/tab
you should see a wireframe on top of the vertex colors you are painting,
which makes it much easier to see where the hills are. Remember to
switch this back off when you have finished painting.\]
- Now we\'re going to paint the places where we want rock to show
through. Change the paint color to white. It\'s less likely that
grass will grow on steep slopes, so start painting the tops and
edges of the steeper hills white by holding down **LMB** and
dragging your mouse (think MSPaint). If you didn\'t heed my earlier
advice and still have a subsurf modifier in effect, the painting
will be very choppy, so remove that now.
- As you\'re painting, try to make some spots pure white by going over
them again and again, but don\'t make any one area of white too
large as this will make a huge area be all rock, and we\'re trying
to blend two textures.
- This process can just be trial and error getting the landscape
painted the way you want. Once we apply our stencil later you may
decide there\'s too much rock in one area, or not enough in another
and go back and change it. A few things to keep in mind:
- 20% opacity means that most of the original texture (grass, in
our case) will show through, so the rock won\'t be very
noticeable if at all. You\'ll have to go over the same spots a
few times to increase the intensity.
- You don\'t want a dramatic change from grass to rock, so be sure
to blend white areas with black. That\'s why we\'re using the
20% opacity instead of just bumping it up to 100%.
- Make your patches random and spotty. This will end up creating a
more realistic effect once we combine the textures.
!Painting the stencil onto the
landscape{width="200"}
- Once you\'re done you should have something that looks like this.
Notice the mixture of white and black in some places, how it
doesn\'t just go from pure white to pure black as you move down the
hills. This will make a more natural blend and it will cause random
rocky areas mixed in when the grass. Now we need to turn this into
our stencil.
- Go to the overhead view (**NUM7**) and make the projection
orthographic if it\'s not already (**NUM5**).
- Zoom in/out (**Mouse Wheel** or **NUM+**/**NUM-**) until the plane
almost occupies the entire window.
- Move the 3D cursor and any lamps or cameras away so that they\'re
not over the landscape and take a screenshot.
!The stencil after its been cut from your
screenshot{width="200"}
- Open your favorite image editor (I\'m a traditionalist, so I still
like MSPaint), and cut out the image of landscape. This is now your
stencil. Save it under your favorite format.
- Re-open the saved version of your landscape to undo the changes we
made to create the stencil.
So why did we make our stencil this way? This allowed us to actually
paint on our terrain so that we ensure we get the rock exactly where we
want it. Using this method, you can customize your stencil to any
object, as long as it has enough vertices. For example, if we just had a
flat plane made of 4 vertices, this technique would not have worked
because we could only paint the corners. That\'s why in the previous
tutorial I recommended using a high (but not too high) number of
vertices in your grid.
## Applying the Stencil
So now we need to apply the stencil to the landscape to mix our grass
and rock textures together.
- Return to either Object Mode or Edit Mode (**TAB**), it doesn\'t
matter which.
- Go to the Texture menu (**F6**) and add two new textures in the
material (you should already have the grass texture).
- Make texture 2 (the first new one you added) an image and load your
stencil from file. Do not repeat this in the x or y directions. We
want it to map to the entire object.
- Make texture 3 an image and load your rock texture from file. This
one you do want to repeat, just as you did the grass.
- Now return to the Materials menu and select your stencil texture.
It\'s a good idea to name your textures, materials, objectives,
etc\... so that they\'re easily identifiable.
- With your stencil texture selected, switch to the tab labeled MapTo.
Deselect Col (which maps the texture to the color), and select
Stencil and No RGB. Stencil will treat this image as a stencil, and
No RGB treats it as a black and white image. If you didn\'t select
this second option your stencil wouldn\'t work.
!Mapping the stencil
texture
- In the preview tab you should notice your material change so that
the grass and rock are now mixed. If you render, you\'ll see a much
more realistic landscape than the one from the previous tutorial!
**Noob Info:** Be sure that for the rock - texture *col* is selectet
because we want to color the landscape with the rock-texture! Otherwise
it doesn´t work. *Select Rock-Texture -\> Map To -\> col*
!Landscape with grass and rock textures
mixed
## Adding Snow
Since you already have some nice mountains, why not add some snow to
them? Adding snow is easy. All you have to do is add a fourth texture
AFTER all the others. Make this texture the same as your stencil.
- Make sure you\'re in Shading (F5) \> Texture Buttons (F6) \>
Textures.
- Click on an empty panel beside Texture Type
- Click on the little box to the left of Add New
- Choose your stencil from the menu (hint: it helps if you name your
textures)
- Render and see the results.
If you made your stencil properly, you should have some nice, snowcapped
peaks. It\'s not much, but it\'s enough for a quick fix. If it isn\'t
even, you probably didn\'t make your stencil properly (meaning pretty
much all white on the peaks, and not much anywhere else). Of course,
there are better ways to do this, ways I wouldn\'t know about; I
discovered Blender merely three days before the time of writing. I leave
it up to you to see the effect: I only have so much room and bandwidth
for pictures!
This effect works by saturating the underlying color with white,
depending on the amount of white in your stencil. A light gray will
saturate it only a bit, whereas a bright, 100% white will cover it very
clearly and efficiently. If you look closely, you\'ll see that the light
gray on the stencil DOES make a difference, but it\'s not immediately
visible and requires lots of fidgeting with the Render Preview and
texture options. You might also try fiddling with the Stencil and NoRGB
option, although it worked fine for me with both turned off (I use
Blender 2.48a)
Some challenges:
- Try to change the color of the snow. Hint: RGB
- I\'ve yet to do this, but try making snow out of a heightmap.
## Multiple Stencils
Remember in the first tutorial when I said to leave part of the
landscape flat, because I\'d be using it later? Well it\'s time to use
it. I want to eventually use the landscape as the backdrop for a
military base, so let\'s texture the ground around where the base will
go to give it a dirt ground and road leading to it. **\*IMPORTANT\***
Just as before, the next few steps will be performing temporary
modifications to your scene, so be sure to save your file before you
continue so that the changes will not be saved!!
- Switch to the Vertex Paint mode in the mode menu on the 3D View
header.
- Go to an overhead view (**NUM7**) and make the projection
orthographic (**NUM5**)
- Once again, paint the entire object black by selecting the color
black in the Paint tab and clicking on Set VertCol.
- For the next few steps, you may need to **TAB** back and forth from
Vertex Paint mode to Object mode to make sure you\'re painting in
the correct area. Make the opacity of the painter 1.0 and the size
10 so that we can work very precisely.
!The stencil for our future
base{width="200"}
- Paint an area over the flat terrain in the shape of a generic
military base, like you see here.
- Reduce the opacity back down to 0.2 and increase the size to 20.
- Paint the road leading away from the base. We\'ve reduced the
opacity and increased the size so that the road will blend more with
the landscape around it instead of being more defined like our base.
- Once you have your stencil looking the way you want, take a screen
shot and save it. Then revert back to your previous environment
(before you started painting on it).
- Go to the Texture menu (**F6**) and add two new textures.
- Load your stencil into the forth texture (the first new one), and
the dirt image into the fifth texture. Once again, remember to set
the x and y repeat for the dirt texture.
- In the Materials menu (**F5**) select your new stencil and go to the
MapTo tab. Deselect Col again, and select Stencil and No RGB. Notice
the new preview.
- Wait a second, where\'s the dirt path?!? Here\'s the problem and the
reason I\'ve included this section: stencils are cumulative. That
is, the first stencil defines which portions of ALL successive
textures will be drawn, including other stencils! In order for our
new dirt path to show up, we need to make sure it\'s part of the
first stencil.
!Both stencils combined into
one{width="200"}
- Open your first stencil (the one you used to add rocks to the hills)
in your image editor and combine the new stencil with it. The result
should appear somewhat like this. Be sure that when you combine your
dirt stencil with your rock stencil that the dirt stencil remains
the same size and in the same place. That is, you want the two to be
perfectly aligned.
- Reload your first stencil on your material, the one we used for the
rocks. Now the preview should look the way we want it to, and if you
render you will see your new dirt area on the flat part of the
landscape. You can add even more stencils the same way. Here is how
all of the textures blend together:
**NOTE** I had to replace the grass texture in the above image since I
could not find the licensing information for it. I apologize for the
inconsistencies in the diagram that result from this.
Well there you have it! This is a pretty useful method of texturing
complex objects. Check out our new landscape and how it compares to the
previous, boring, single-textured landscape!
{width="800"}
Once again, if you have any issues with the tutorial, or feedback
(positive or negative), drop it in the discussions.
## For 2.7 blender users:
- first you add the material
- leave the grass texture at the default
- add the next two textures , the stencil and the rock, soil etc
texture as stated in the above tutorial.
- go to the stencil texture
- in the influence panel, uncheck col
- check \'RGB to intensity\' button
- check stencil
- others everything as their default values are good
-For me, with settings above, the rock texture was not very visible. It
may help to play around with the color intensity settings in the
influence panel (increase in the rock texture, and decrease in the grass
texture) -
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Landscape Modeling III: Exporting as a Heightmap
|previous=Landscape Modeling II: Texture Stenciling
}}
```
In this tutorial, I will show you how to export your beautiful terrain
to a heightmap that can be used in most 3D graphics engines. The benefit
to doing this as opposed to just exporting your mesh is that many
engines have a special process for dealing with terrains as opposed to
regular meshes where it divides the terrain up into different sections
so that it can subdivide regions closer to the camera more for greater
detail, and also cull (not render) regions outside the camera\'s field
of view, saving precious processing time. This structure is called an
oct tree and is a highly optimized way to
render large meshes such as terrains.
Before I begin, I must give credit to the Creating a Heightmap from a
Plane
tutorial on the Blender
wiki. This is how I
learned to do this trick, and most of what I will cover came from this
tutorial. I\'m simply including it here with the other landscaping
tutorials I\'ve written for convenience.
## A Word About Heightmaps
I will briefly cover what a heightmap is and how it\'s useful for those
who may not know. If you are familiar with heightmaps, you can skip
ahead to the next section.
!An example of a
heightmap{width="200"}
A heightmap is a grayscale image that uses various shades of gray to
represent different elevations across a map. Since the images are 8-bit
(with the exception of some RAW formats that are 16-bit), you have 256
different shades of gray, ranging from pure black (0) to pure white
(255). Black represents the lowest elevation on the map, while white
represents the highest. Many 3D graphics engines already have functions
to read in a heightmap and generate terrain from it. The way it does
this is it creates a grid of vertices (like we are going to do in
Blender in just a moment), and uses the heightmap to determine the
elevation of each point on the grid. The more intense the pixel color
(the closer it is to white), the higher the elevation of that vertex. In
most cases, if the resolution of the heightmap is smaller than the
resolution of the terrain, the engine will interpolate the vertices in
between those set by the heightmap. For example, if your heightmap is
256x256 and your terrain is 1024x1024, your heightmap will determine the
elevation of every fourth vertex, and the three in between will be
interpolated.
Note that these values do not represent the absolute height of any given
pixel, but rather the height relative to the rest of the map. That is,
your heightmap does not represent a landscape with altitudes ranging
from 0 to 256. When importing a heightmap, you can specify the minimum
and maximum altitudes for the map, and the whole thing gets scaled. For
example, suppose you decide the minimum is 1000 feet, and the maximum is
5000 feet. When the terrain is rendered, black pixels will represent
1000, white pixels will represent 5000, and a pixel that is exactly in
between black and white (128) will represent 3000 feet (half of the sum
of min and max). This makes heightmaps relatively flexible.
Unfortunately, as you may have already noticed, there is a limitation of
using heightmaps. Since you only have 256 shades of gray, you only have
256 possible elevations. This causes a problem. No matter how precise
your vertices may be in the mesh that you model, no matter how smooth
you may have it looking, each point will get rounded off to an integer
value between 0 and 255. When used to render a terrain, this can cause a
\"stair step\" effect as the terrain goes from one discrete elevation to
the next instead of making a smooth transition. But there are ways to
avoid this, which I will cover later.
I apologize if you\'re scratching your head right now saying \"Huh?\"
For a further explanation and example, check the Wikipedia page on
heightmaps.
## Creating the Material
!The terrain that will generate the
heightmap{width="200"}
To begin this tutorial, I will assume that you already have a landscape
that you want to create a heightmap for. If not, read my first tutorial,
Landscape Modeling I: Basic
Terrain,
to quickly create something. **WORD OF CAUTION**!!! If you\'ve already
created a landscape, try to remember the exact size of the plane that
you used. If you\'re about to make one, it\'s okay to scale the plane to
have a larger surface to work with, but REMEMBER how much you scale it
by. This will make things easier later. I recommend just working with
the default 2x2 plane or grid and zooming in on it. You may also want to
backup your scene since we\'ll be changing a few things
To create the material we need, do the following steps:
- Remove any existing materials that may be applied to the terrain.
**Note**: to remove a material, I think you need to go to the links and
pipeline window in the shader section and click the little \"X\"
underneath the words \"link to Object\"
- Add a new material in the Shading tab (**F5**).
- Go to the Textures tab (**F6**) and add a new texture. This should
be the only texture on your material.
- From the Texture Type drop down menu, select Blend.
- In the same window, find the Colors tab and select Colorband. This
will let us define the blend pattern, which by default fades from
black with full transparency to a solid cyan. Why cyan? I have no
idea. It\'s an odd default.
- Select the black color by clicking on the left side of the
colorband. You should see a little black and white bar selected.
- Increase the Alpha all the way up to 1 by adjusting the slider
labeled \"A\".
- Select the cyan color and change this to a solid white.
- What you have now should look like my colorband below.
!The blend
colorband
- Return to the Materials tab (the red ball icon next to the cheese
looking icon).
- In the Material pane, select the Shadeless option to disable
lighting on the material.
- To the right, find the pane labeled Map Input. In the bottom of this
pane is a grid that by default reads:
**X**YZ\
X**Y**Z\
XY**Z**
- Set all three rows to **Z** so that the texture will map entirely to
the Z coordinate.
- In the preview window to the left, if you select the sphere or cube
you should see that it goes from black on the bottom to white on the
top. That\'s the effect we want for the terrain. Remember, in a
heightmap, black represents the lowest point and white the highest.
!Map the input to the z-axis and make the material
Shadeless
- Finally, switch back to the Editing tab (**F9**) and click the Set
Smooth button to enable Gouraud
shading so that everything appears
smooth.
## Setting up the Camera
That\'s all we need to do for the terrain itself. Now what we\'re going
to do is setup the camera in such a way that when we render the scene
we\'ll get an orthographic projection straight down on the terrain so
that we can save it as our heightmap.
- If you still have any lights or cameras in the scene, delete them.
- Switch to the top view (**NUM7**) and place the 3D cursor at the
origin (0, 0, 0) by left clicking near the origin, hitting
**SHIFT+SKEY** and selecting *Cursor to Grid*. (An easier way is:
hitting \'SHIFT+SKEY\' and selecting \'Cursor to Center\')
- Add a new camera, *Space-\>Add-\>Camera*. This will add a new camera
to the scene that is looking straight down.
!The camera needs to be above the
terrain{width="200"}
- Switch to a side view (**NUM1** or **NUM3**) and move the camera up
the Z axis so that it is above the highest point in your terrain.
Even though the view is going to be orthographic, and therefore
distance doesn\'t matter, the entire terrain still needs to be in
front of the camera.
- Now, with the camera selected, go to the Editing tab (**F9**) and
select the \"Orthographic\" button. This will change the camera to
an orthographic projection which basically ignores the z-coordinate
for all vertices (except for determining which pixels should be in
front of others).
- Just above the orthographic button is a value labeled \"Scale\".
Remember earlier when I told you to remember how big your terrain
is? This is why.
- Change the Scale of the lens (default: 6) to match the size of your
terrain. If you left the plane the default size, this should be 2.
If you scaled the plane up by a factor of 20, as suggested in the
\"Landscape Modeling I: Basic Terrain\" tutorial, this should be 40
(the plane is initially 2 units square).
- Now go to the scene tab (**F10**) and under Format, change the SizeX
and SizeY to be the size you want your heightmap to be. For most
graphics engines, this is required to be either a power of 2 (2\^n)
or one more than a power of 2 (2\^n+1). So try something like 256
(or 257 if you need it to be 2\^n+1).
!What the terrain will look like from the camera
view{width="200"}
- Now, if you switch to the camera view (**NUM0**) you should see a
\"flat\" square that completely fills the dotted box which
represents the camera\'s field of view.
!The rendered image will be your
heightmap.{width="200"}
- Render the scene (**F12**). You should be looking at your heightmap.
Hit **F3** to save the rendered image and you\'re good to go!
Since this image has no color, and some engines require that your
heighmap be a grayscale image (only one color channel instead of three),
select the BW button in the Format pane before rendering. This will
render it as a grayscale image instead of a color image. !Select BW to
save as a grayscale
image.
## Avoid Stair-Stepping
As mentioned earlier, exporting the heightmap as an 8-bit image (Blender
doesn\'t support any 16-bit formats that I\'m aware of) has the drawback
that you only have 256 discrete height values which can cause a
stair-step effect when the terrain is subdivided. Ideally, you could use
an application that can export the image in a 16-bit raw format, such as
Terragen. But this is a Blender tutorial, so we\'ll not go into that. =P
### Reducing the resolution
One way you can \"smooth\" out the rendered terrain is to actually
reduce the resolution of the heightmap. This may sound counter
intuitive, but bear with me. Suppose you have a heightmap that is a
simple blend from black to white going from left to right. If your
heightmap is 1024x1024, you will get 4 columns of each height since you
only have 256 different values. In other words, your grayscale will look
something like this:
00001111222233334444\...
00001111222233334444\...
00001111222233334444\...
00001111222233334444\...
00001111222233334444\...
00001111222233334444\...
If you try to render terrain from this, you\'ll get 4 points with 0
altitude, 4 with 1, 4 with 2, and so on, creating the stair-step effect.
Now suppose you make the same heightmap, but reduce its size to 256x256.
Now you\'ll have 1 column for each height, and your grayscale will look
something like this:
012345678\.\.\.
012345678\.\.\.
012345678\.\.\.
012345678\.\.\.
You may be thinking, \"But then my terrain will be smaller, or less
detailed.\" But it turns out the opposite is actually true. Consider
applying the above heightmap to a terrain that is 1024x1024. The values
from your heightmap will be applied to every 4th vertex, and the ones in
between will be interpolated. So instead of having something like:
**0.0** **0.0** **0.0** **0.0** **1.0** **1.0** **1.0** **1.0** **2.0**
which is what you would get with the 1024x1024 heightmap, you\'ll
actually get something like this:
**0.0** *0.25* *0.5* *0.75* **1.0** *1.25* *1.5* *1.75* **2.0**
Where the integers are the values from your heightmap and the fractions
are interpolated values. This is assuming that whatever engine you are
using will interpolate the values between heights read in from the
heightmap.
At the present time, this is the only method I have verified that helps
reduce the effects of stair-stepping. As I try different techniques I
will update this page with them. For example, I know that Adobe
Photoshop can export images in 16-bit raw formats, but I haven\'t tried
it yet so I don\'t want to suggest it as a solution.
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Bump Mapping
|previous=Landscape Modeling III: Exporting as a Heightmap
}}
```
Bump Maps are textures that store the relative height of pixels from the
viewpoint of the camera. The pixels seem to be moved in the direction of
the facenormals, either in direction to or away from the camera. You may
either use greyscale pictures or the intensity values of an RGB-Texture
(including images).
```{=html}
<table>
```
```{=html}
<tr valign="top">
```
```{=html}
<td>
```
!**Image 1a:** A texture grid for bump
mapping.{width="150"}
```{=html}
</td>
```
```{=html}
<td>
```
framed\|none\|**Image 1b:** Material settings for the
texture.
```{=html}
</td>
```
```{=html}
<td>
```
!**Image 1c:** The texture grid applied to a sphere and to a
plane.{width="150"}
```{=html}
</td>
```
```{=html}
</tr>
```
```{=html}
</table>
```
Bump Maps are easy to apply. They work well on flat surfaces, only to
some extent on curved surfaces. On curved surfaces it is more easily
noticeable that you don\'t create real 3D structures. The visible effect
depends on factors like lighting, specularity of your material, camera
angle, distance and so forth.
- Add a new texture to your object.
- Activate the *Nor* button in the *Map To* panel.
- Set the depth of the bumping with the *Nor* slider.
- Use the texture type *Image* and load your bump map.
Bump maps should contain hard transitions between black and white. A
gray wedge (e.g. a linear blend texture) would be hardly visible in the
rendering.
## Creating Bump Maps
You can easily create Bump Maps with Blender yourself, this is
especially useful if you have modeled some small details on a surface
and you realize at the end that your scene will get too complex. You
could also use the Bump Maps in a 2D application like Gimp or other,
similar programs.
I will create an animated bump map in highest possible quality, it is
not always necessary to make such an effort. The goal is to create a
wave effect and make an image sequence of it, to be used as a bump map.
The original object has 600.000 vertices, the object the map is applied
to has 8 vertices.
### Setting up the scene
framed\|**Image 2a:** Setting up camera and object in the 3D
view.
- Open the default scene and remove the cube.
- Insert a plane and change to edit mode.
- Crease its edges with +1 (**Shift-E**).
- *Subdivide multi* with 11 cuts.
- Change to object mode.
- Add a *SubSurf* modifier with a render level of 6.
- Add a *Wave* modifier.
- *Time Sta:* -10
- *Height:* 0.2
- *Width:* 1.5
- *Narrow:* 1.5
- Set the camera dead upon the plane.
- *X/Y/Z:* 0/0/5. You can use the *Transform Properties Panel* to
bring the camera to a certain position, the Z-Position is
important is this case.
- Set the camera lens to 80.00 (*Editing Buttons-\>Camera Panel*).
The plane should now fit exactly into the camera view.
- Save your file.
We\'re going to use the Z-Buffer information to create the bump texture.
The Z-Buffer contains the distance from the camera, this is exactly what
a bump map is. To render the Z-Buffer information as an image, we\'re
going to use *Composite* nodes. To get the highest possible quality, we
will use *Open EXR* as file format, this allows us to store the Z-Buffer
information with a numerical accuracy of 32-Bit floating point, instead
of a meager 8-Bit value.
### Render settings
- Change to the *Anim* tab buttons (f10).
- Set *End* to 40.
- Activate *Do Composite*.
- Select *Open EXR* in the *Format* panel, set *SizeX/Y* to both 600
(square image for the square plane).
- Set the *Output* directory to *//BumpAnim/*. This creates a
subdirectory to the file where the image sequence will be stored.
Don\'t omit the slashes.
### Node editor
framed\|**Image 2b:** Composite Nodes setup to render the
Z-value.
Now the setup for the composite nodes.
- Open a *Node Editor* window.
- Select *Composite Nodes*.
- Activate *Use Nodes*.
A *Render Layer* and a *Composite* node will be inserted automatically.
- *Add-\>Vector-\>Map Value*.
- Connect the *Z*-Output of the *Render Layer* to the *Value* input,
and the *Value* output to the *Image* input of the *Composite* node.
If you render now the image is plain white, we have to talk a bit about
the *Map Value* node. The *Offs* value is the distance from the camera
where the Z-Buffer should start (in negative BU). It is not to important
to get the best range, because we use OpenEXR, but if you would like to
use PNG instead, you have to select this value carefully.
- Set *Offs* to *-4.8*. This is the smallest distance from the camera
needed. You can measure this value if you use the *Camera Clipping*,
or if you render and move your mouse with pressed **LMB** above the
render window.
- Set *Size* to 4. The size value is a bit complicated. This is not
directly the value range, instead $range = \frac{1}{size}$, and
$size = \frac{1}{range}$.
- If you want to include the Z-Values from -4.8 up to -5.05 the
range is 0.25, so *Size* is 4.
- If you want to include the Z-Values from -4.5 to -3.5 the range
would be -1, so *Size* would be also -1.
- If you want to include the Z-Values from -4.5 to -5.5, the range
would be 1, so *Size* would be 1.
```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
- Render the animation.
## Applying the animated bump map
!**Image 3a:** The Bump Map applied
Video.{width="300"}
- Open a new file.
- Select the default cube and change to the *Texture* buttons.
- Use the texture type *Image*.
- Load the first OpenEXR-Image from the directory where you have
stored the sequence.
- Activate *Sequence* in the *Image* panel, set *Frames* to 40.
- Change to the *Material* buttons.
- Activate *Nor* for the texture and set the *Nor* slider to 25 in the
*Map To* panel.
- Set the mapping to *Cube* in the *Map Input* panel.
This is it. Pretty much the same look as with the real deformation, but
using much less resources.
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Normal Mapping
|previous=Bump Mapping
}}
```
*`<small>`{=html}Noob Warning: This technique is best used for models
and animation, and is not well used and applied in the Blender Game
Engine`</small>`{=html}*
Normal Mapping in 3D graphics development is the process of using an
RGB color-map to create a three-dimensional
relief on a two-dimensional plane. The source for the normal map in
blender can either be a texture already installed in Blender, or using
an external picture-file (.jpg, .jpeg, .bmp, and so on) and loading it
as a normal map. One great aspect of Blender and normal maps is that
Blender can very easily be used to **create** normal maps that can be
turned around and used in blender to reduce poly count. This tutorial
will show the various ways to create a normal map and how to apply
different normal maps to your model in Blender.\
{width="230"}
{width="230"}
{width="230"}\
\
Sections within Chapter:
1. Texture Normal Mapping
2. Color Map Normal Mapping
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Texture Normal Mapping
|previous=Normal Mapping
}}
```
## The Texture-Normal
To familiarize yourself with normal maps and how they work, we will
begin by using the texture engine in Blender to create our first normal
map. This process is very useful for creating quick and non-specific
normal maps for your projects that need a bit of texture.
To begin, open blender and whatever your basic load settings are, in the
3D view, delete everything so the field is clear.
( to select all, then
to delete)
Move the 3D cursor to the center of the X,Y, and Z axis
( *Cursor to Center*, and switch
to top view () orthographic view
(). `<s>`{=html}Hit
-
then CKEY to center your view now`</s>`{=html}. *Toggle Quad View*,
or menu *View-\>Toggle Quad
View*
Add a mesh plane to the field, and scale that plane to five times normal
size. (, select
*Add-\>Mesh-\>Plane*, then
to scale five times size.) This plane
is going to be our base-it will remain untextured so it can be used as a
comparison. Don\'t give it a material.
Now, with the 3D cursor still on the center, add a mesh cube to the
field. Scale this cube 3 times in the X and Y directions, and 0.5 times
in the Z direction. (, select
*Add-\>Mesh-\>Cube*, ,
, then
to scale 3 times in X and Y
directions, ,
, then
- for Z.)
This cube will serve as our texture comparison.
For this tutorial, lets use the \"Musgrave\" texture to make a 3D
relief.
Select the cube, and then in the Buttons Window select the material
index. Give the Cube a material, and make this material any
_light_ color you wish to differentiate it from
the base plane (darker colors won\'t show the relief that well). Now
select the texture icon in the material window. Add a new texture, and
make that texture Musgrave with the following settings :
{width="350"}
- Type: Multifractal
- Dimensions: 0.5
- Lacunarity: 3
- Octaves: 2
- Intensity: 0.45
- Noise:
- Basis: Voronoi F2
- Size: 0.075
- Nabla: 0.025
Excellent, now we are ready to show what we have done! If you return to
the material window in the material index, then you will probably be
wondering what\'s wrong-your preview window just shows a sphere with a
huge purple splotch! Don\'t worry, we just haven\'t applied the texture
as a normal map yet, it\'s still just a color map. Click the \"Map To\"
tab in the material window and you will see a whole row of buttons,
menus, and sliders. Currently on the top row of buttons the \"Col\"
button is depressed, which is how the texture knows to apply as a color
map. Click the \"Col\" button to remove the color from your preview
window. Now click and depress the \"Nor\" button and look what happens!
An intricate texture embeds itself on the sphere in the preview window.
The Musgrave texture has caused a depression texture within the preview.
If you happen to click the \"Nor\" button again, you will see the
letters turn yellow and now that means the Musgrave texture is causing
an elevation texture. Click it once more and the texture is turned off.
Keep the \"Nor\" button depressed for this tutorial.
Now that you know how that works, let\'s see what it did to your cube.
First, go to front view (numpad-1) and zoom out a bit so about 10% of
the screen is filled with your cube. Select the cube and hit
Shift-S-key-4-key then C-key to center your view. In the upper-left
corner, add a sun-lamp (Shift-A-key, Add-\>Lamp-\>Lamp). Adjust the
\"Dist\" Slider to a very far length, to make sure it reaches the cube.
In the upper-right corner (make it a little closer to the cube) add a
Camera (Shift-A-key, Add-\>Camera).
Move the Camera to get a better perspective of your work, by rotating it
to look at the cube and the plane. If you want exact directions: Switch
to top view (numpad-7). Move -4 Units in Y direction. Rotate -75 degrees
on Z rotation. Rotate -45 degrees on Y rotation. Now hit numpad-0 to see
how well pointed it is to the cube. Make adjustments to your own work if
you\'d like.
Now you are ready to Render and see how it turned out!
{width="250"}
After your first render, I\'ll let you know that you can adjust the
depth of the shading. Select the cube, and in the material index in the
\"Map To\" tab, in the mid-right area, there is a slider called \"Nor\"
that should be set at 0.5. Just to test, set it to 0 and render to see
what happens. Then set it to 2 and render to see the results.
After you see it rendered, you probably realized that the edges of the
cube were very sharp and didn\'t have the rocky texture. This is because
the 3D relief on the cube is fake\--it\'s not actual 3D, it\'s the
computer just calculating where light should bounce off and in what
direction. Imagine how many faces it would have taken to create this
texture shading without Normal Mapping.
If you want, you can move the lamp around and see how the light moves
around the fake-bumps.
{width="350"}
This is best if you just need a non-specific texture, such as asphalt,
cement, carpet, or even fabric. Now if you want to do something like
make a low-poly brick wall, you will need to a specifically-tailored
normal map for such thing. The next section will show you how you can
make your own normal map and apply it as well.
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Color Map Normal Mapping
|previous=Texture Normal Mapping
}}
```
## The Color-Map-Normal
For more advanced Blender users, you probably have at one time or
another wanted to create something very detailed and realistic, only to
realize that one modeled head or one cool building has taken an enormous
amount of memory, and rendering (or worse, animating!) something like
that would probably take days! Well there is an awesome trick you can
use to create intricate details and design shading, with a relatively
low amount of faces. You can use blender to create and apply normal
maps, which are RGB colored maps that can be used as a texture to
calculate how light will bounce of an objects surface. All you need is
blender and photo-editing software to tweak the picture a bit.
## Creating a Normal Map
You can very easily create a normal map once you figure out all the
necessary settings. You can start by either making a high-poly count
version of your object, or making the material that will be applied to
the object to make the normal map.
### High-Poly Version
We will first start by making a simple object with a high-poly count.
Start up blender, and let\'s delete everything there first, then go to
top-view, orthographic, and start by adding a camera.
{width="250"}
Next, start with a circle, with a radius of 2 and 32 vertices in
circumference. Keep it filled. Select the edges of the circle, keeping
the inner vertex unselected, and extrude edges only. Scale the new
vertices by 1.1. Repeat this with only the outermost vertices 6 more
times, until you have a ring of 7 vertices and a center vertex. Now, we
will refer to the center vertex as center, the innermost ring as Ring 1,
and the outermost ring as Ring 7. Deselect all vertices, then select all
vertices of ring 2, 4, and 6 (This can easily be done by holding the Alt
and Shift keys, then selecting an edge adjoining two vertices of the
same ring for each ring). With these rings selected, move it 0.4 in the
Z direction. Now, let\'s smooth this bowl out. In the editing index,
under the modifiers tab, add a subsurf modifier of 2, and then apply the
modifier. Then under the links and materials tab, select Set Smooth.
Next after the object looks all nice and smooth, select your Camera and
move it positive in the Z direction so it\'s positioned directly above
the object looking straight down at it, and edit the camera Lens
properties so that it is set to Orthographic, and scale the lens so that
it includes all the bowl and fills up the camera space as much as
possible.
{width="250"}
### Creating the Color-Map Material
Now, to be able for the Render to apply the colors on the right areas of
the object. For this, we will start by applying a material the bowl.
Make this material 0.0 on the R, G, and B spectra, and depress the
shadeless button. Now, go to the textures index and add 3 textures to
the material, and set them as \"Blend\" textures with \"Lin\" depressed
(a linear calculation). For these 3 textures, name them something to do
with either \"Red\"/\"Green\"/\"Blue\" or \"X\"/\"Y\"/\"Z\" in that
order, because doing this will ensure you keep the channels in order.
The following image will show _all_ settings that
need to be set to make the material work.
Now before your Rendering you want to make the World texture to be
completely black, so this way it won\'t interfere when you apply it as a
normal map. Now Render your image, and hit F3 to save. It should come
out to something like this.
{width="500"}
As a final note in this subsection, what I suggest doing is deleting the
bowl and saving the file as something like \"BlenderForNormals.blend\"
so if you ever want to make another normal, the area and materials are
already set up and all you need to do is import or create the object.
Just a suggestion.
### Applying as a Normal Map
Well we got the image, now let\'s apply it and make it come out as a low
poly-count texture. So, let\'s continue by deleting the high poly bowl
and instead add a plane in the middle of the camera. Now, apply a
material to the object and make the material hard, soft, rocky, wet, or
however you want it to look. After you\'ve made the plane how you want,
add a texture to the material, and make it an image texture. Load the
image as the texture, depress the normal map button, and set the normal
spacing to object. Now, on the materials index under the Map To tab,
make sure the Col button is relieved and instead depress the Nor button.
Just add a lamp above the plane, and Render! You should now have the
same shading effect as the original bowl, with about 0.01% of the
original faces\--one.
If your Render comes out odd, it may be because the shading is being
applied too heavily. You can alter this by adjusting the Nor slider
directly below the \"Mix\" drop-down menu. O used about 0.2 and it came
out just fine, like this picture.
{width="350"}
***Congratulations, that\'s all there is to normal mapping. It\'s a
simple technique with many great uses!***
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Nodes
|previous=Color Map Normal Mapping
}}
```
Blender's *Node Editor* lets you assemble various processing blocks
(*nodes*) into combinations which feed data to one another along
connections that you specify to produce complex effects. These effects
can be used in three different ways: as textures, as materials, or for
compositing. The Node Editor makes different kinds of processing blocks
available, depending on which of the three kinds of effects you are
producing:
- Texture nodes
- Material nodes
- Compositing nodes
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Texture Nodes
|previous=Nodes
|subcat=Advanced
}}
```
Texture nodes allow you to produce textures that are the result of
complex computations. This tutorial will just scratch the surface of
what's possible.
## A Simple "Rainbow" Texture
Start with a new Blender document. Delete the default cube. Add a new
plane object. In the Material context in the Object Properties window,
click the icon to the left of the material name to assign a material to
the plane (there should already be a default unused one called
"Material"). In the Texture context, there should already be a texture
called "Tex" assigned to this material. Now split the area showing the
3D view into two side-by-side areas. In the right-hand area, bring up
the Node Editor. In its area header, you should see a group of 3 little
icons next to the menu
;
click on the middle one for Texture Nodes. You will see appear, further
along the area header, a popup menu containing the names of the textures
so far created in your document: this should be showing the name "Tex"
of the texture you assigned to the material for your plane object. And
to the right of that, there should be a checkbox titled "Use Nodes".
Check that, and you should see a pair of initial nodes immediately
appear in the editor: an *input* node titled "Checker" and an *output*
node titled "Output", with an editable field in it containing "Default".
There must be at least one output node in the texture definition; the
data fed to this will make up the final texture. The names you assign in
the Name field will appear in the Texture context in the Object
Properties window, in a popup menu titled "Output:", with one item for
each output node. Initially this may show "Not Specified": change it to
"Default".
Each node window has little coloured circles (terminals) on its left and
right edges; the ones on the left edge (if any) are inputs for feeding
data from other nodes, and the ones on the right edge (if any) are for
supplying data to other nodes. Thus, output nodes have no outputs
(they're the final destination for the data), while input nodes have no
inputs. Other node types represent intermediate stages in the
processing, so they will have both inputs and outputs.
Back in the Node Editor, click on the titlebar of the "Checker" node
window and use either or
to delete it. Note that, unlike
deleting objects in the 3D view, there is **no** confirmation popup: the
node immediately disappears. (Of course, you can use
to undo operations in the usual
way.)
Now go to the "Add" menu (or use the usual
shortcut), find the "Input"
submenu, and select the "Coordinates" item. This will add a new input
node, which just produces the unadorned texture coordinates as its data.
The newly-added node will follow the mouse around; press
once you have moved it to a convenient
place. You will see the new node has one output terminal, titled
"Coordinates". Left-click on this, and drag to the input terminal in the
Output window with the word "Color" and a small rectangular colour
swatch next to it. Voilà! A line (effectively a wire) should appear
connecting the two terminals, and you should see the big square colour
swatch in the Output window change from black to a whole rainbow of
colours. That's your texture!
If you make a wrong connection, you can move or cut it by dragging the
output end of the wire away from the input terminal it is attached to
with , to either a new input terminal or
simply into an unoccupied space between nodes; when you let go the
button, the wire will attach to the new input terminal in the former
case, or disappear in the latter case.
At this point, you should be able to hit
to render, and you will see your plane
object with the rainbow texture applied. You can see why I chose a Plane
object: being flat, the entire texture is visible from one camera angle.
## Scalars Versus Vectors
The wires carry numbers between nodes. These numbers can be of two
kinds: a *scalar* is a single real quantity, like "0.5", while a
*vector* can consist of two, three or four scalars in a sequence, like
"(0.5, 0.75, 0.2, 1.0)". The number of components in a vector is also
known as the *dimension* of the vector. Two-dimensional vectors can be
used to represent texture coordinates, while three-dimensional vectors
can represent positions in space. Colours can be represented with 3
dimensions (R, G,B or H, S, V) or 4 dimensions (RGB or HSV plus alpha
channel).
Some nodes operate on scalars, while others operate on vectors. And
there are nodes where some terminals input or output scalars, while
others input or output vectors.
Try this. To the above Coordinates and Output nodes, add a "Separate
RGBA" node (under the "Color" submenu of the "Add" menu). Feed the
output from the Coordinates node to the "Color" input node of the
Separate node. Now connect just the "Red" output terminal from the
Separate node to the output node (if you move the newly-created node on
top of the existing wire, this should happen automatically):
See how the Output swatch shows just a greyscale ramp running from black
on the left to white on the right? This shows how the first dimension of
a vector is interpreted as the red component in an RGB colour, but as
the X coordinate in a position. Remove the output from the Red terminal
(delete the existing wire), and take it from the Green terminal instead
(by dragging a new wire from Green to the Color terminal on the Output
node); now you will see the ramp going from black at the bottom to white
at the top. The second dimension of a vector is the green component in
an RGB colour, and the Y coordinate in a position.
The terminals have different colours to remind you what type of data
they *should* be used for (purplish for coordinates, yellow for colours,
grey for scalars), but **as far as Blender's Node Editor is concerned,
colours and positions are not actually different types.** Both are
vectors, and one can be interpreted as the other. This can be (ab)used
for some creative effects! For example, the name of the "Separate RGBA"
node says it's for separating an RGBA colour into its components, but
here we are using it to take apart a coordinate vector instead.
Note also in the above, that the Color terminal on the Output node
expects a vector RGB colour, but when you feed it a single colour
component (i.e. a scalar), it simply replicates it the necessary number
of times to make a vector of the required dimension. Since all
components of the RGB colour are the same, you get a shade of grey.
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Material Nodes
|previous=Texture Nodes
}}
```
Material nodes look very similar to texture nodes, and indeed there is a
fair amount of overlap in functionality. Some important differences are:
- Functions for performing spatial transformations (e.g. rotation and
scaling) are only available for texture nodes.
- Functions for altering diffuse versus specular colours and rendering
parameters, like translucency, are only available for material
nodes.
## A Simple Graduated Material
First of all, let's set up a really basic modelling scene to show off
the node-based material you'll be creating in a moment.
Open a new Blender document, with the default cube, default light and
default camera. Create a plane object. Rotate and position that so it
lies behind the cube from the camera's viewpoint. Scale the plane up to
say, 4x, to form a decent-sized backdrop. Assign it a new default
material, and a texture with some detail to it; I used a simple Marble
with default settings, except under the "Map To" miniwindow I changed
the colour to a medium grey from the default magenta, to stop it hurting
my eyes.
Now select the cube. Scale it 3x in the Z-axis; the elongated
proportions should show off a gradation more nicely. In the "Material"
miniwindow, set the "Col" (diffuse) colour to white, and the alpha to
zero. In the "Mirror Trans" miniwindow, turn on "Ray Transp" and set the
"IOR" to some suitable refractive index, say 1.5 for glass.
Hit **F12** to do an initial render, just to confirm you've got
everything nicely arranged.
With the cube still selected, open the Node Editor. By default, the
Material Nodes mode should already be selected, and the combo box should
be showing the name of the material you assigned to the cube; select it
if it's not. Click the "Use Nodes" button, and immediately two node
windows should appear, a Material one and Output one.
Click on the title of the Material node window, and use **XKEY** or
**DEL** to get rid of it. Go to the "Add" menu, "Input" submenu, and add
a new "Geometry" node. Also add a new "Extended Material" node. And from
the "Convertor" submenu, a new "Separate RGB" node. In the middle of the
Extended Material node window, there is a popup menu showing you the
names of the materials in your document; select name of the material you
previously assigned to the cube again.
Make sure there are no wires running between any of the nodes; now run
one from the "Color" output terminal on the Material node to the "Color"
input on the Output node, and one from the "Alpha" output on the former
to the "Alpha" input on the latter.
Notice that, next to each of the input terminals in the Material window,
there is either a field for entering a scalar value (grey terminals), or
a button which pops up a little set of controls for letting you specify
X, Y and Z components for a vector (blue terminals), or a colour swatch
which pops up to let you pick a new colour (yellow terminals). This way,
you don't have to make connections to all the inputs, or indeed any of
them; any unconnected inputs will be set to the constant value that you
specify.
Anyway. connect a wire from the "Global" output of the Geometry node to
the "Image" input of the Separate RGB node. "But geometry isn't a
colour!?" I hear you cry. But as explained on Texture
Nodes, a vector is a vector. Feeding in a
position instead of a colour to Separate RGB means its outputs are not
the R, G and B components of the colour, but the X, Y and Z components
of the position. So run another wire from the B (i.e. Z) output of
Separate RGB to the Alpha input of the Extended Material window. The
resulting layout should look like this:
Now you're ready to render. But before hitting **F12**, hit **JKEY** to
switch render buffers. That way you still have the previous render to
compare with. Once the render window comes up, you can hit **JKEY** to
alternate between the two renders.
Here's what my node example looked like (note I turned the energy of the
lamp down to 0.5, otherwise it seemed too bright):
Notice the gradation of transparency along the Z-axis, from fully
transparent at the bottom to fully opaque at the top.
For added fun, try taking the material Alpha setting from the R or G
outputs of the Separate RGB node instead, just to see the gradation
orient along the X or Y axes.
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Compositing
|previous=Material Nodes
}}
```
**Compositing** is the combination of multiple sources of visual input
into a single, final image. This is common functionality in expensive,
commercial video editors. Some of these (such as Adobe After Effects)
use a layer-based compositing engine. Others (such as Apple Shake, The
Foundry\'s Nuke, and eyeon fusion) use a more powerful node-based
compositing engine. Blender features a very advanced and powerful
compositing engine through the use of the Nodes Editor window. Although
the challenge of learning to use nodes may seem intimidating, it can be
very rewarding because of the professional-looking final products that
can be easily produced.
## Compositing Example
In this tutorial, we will see how compositing, combined with *render
layers*, can produce some effects that are difficult or impossible to
achieve just by straight rendering of a 3D model.
Start with a new Blender document. For a change, let's use the default
cube. Assign it a new material. Keep all the settings at default, but in
the Shading panel, set the Emit value to 1.0 and give it an interesting
diffuse colour.
Go to the Render context
,
look for the Post Processing panel, and check the "Edge" box. This will
draw a black outline around all objects. If you hit
to render right now, you should see
something like this:
So far, not very exciting. Now go to the Render Layers context
.
You should see there is already an initial default layer called
"RenderLayer". If you look in its Layer panel, you should see checkboxes
indicating all the passes of the rendering process to include in this
layer. Look for the "Edge" checkbox, and uncheck that. Now click the
icon next to the list of layers, to add a
new layer. Look in its Layer panel, make sure "Edge" is checked, and
*un*check all the other checkboxes in the "Include:" section.
Now open up a Node Editor window, and look for the three icons to the
right of the menus, showing what kind of nodes to edit:
{width="60" height="60"};
click on the middle one (if it's not already selected) to enable
compositing nodes. Now check the "Use Nodes" box to the right of it. You
should now see the initial default node setup, with a single Render
Layers node feeding the initial default render layer directly to the
output:
Add another Render Layers node. From its layer popup menu, select the
second render layer you created, the one producing the edge outlines
(which should be called "RenderLayer.001" if you didn't change its
name).
Now, add a Blur node (Filter submenu of the Add menu). The default
Gaussian kind of blur will do fine. Put nonzero values (e.g. 1) into the
X and Y fields (otherwise the blur Size value will have no effect). Give
it a Size value of, say, 20. Connect the Image output of the first
render layer (the one doing everything except the edge outlines) into
its Image input.
Add an Alpha Over node (from the Color submenu of the Add menu). Feed
the Image output from the Blur node into its *upper* image input, and
the Image output from the second render layer (the one producing the
outline edges) into its *lower* image input. Leave the Factor at its
default 1.0. Connect the Image output of this Alpha Over node to the
Image input of the Composite node (the final output).
When you are done, check that your connections look like this (remember,
the exact positions of the nodes are unimportant, except for clarity;
what's important is the connections between them):
The effect of this is to blur the rendering of the cube (apart from the
edge outline), and then put the edge outline back on top of it. If you
hit to render now, you should see
something like this:
## Things to Try
What happens if you put different values into the X and Y fields of the
Blur node? Try making the X value different from the Y value.
What happens if you get the inputs the wrong way round into the Alpha
Over node?
Try the other blur types available from the menu in the Blur node.
## Other Tutorials
Composite Nodes Video Tutorial (2.49b):
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAnxoJsdAAM>\
Vector Blur Tutorial (2.49b):
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qY4WcNgEXv8>
Depth of Field (DOF) Using Composite Nodes (2.49b):
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBomEv-bEtw>
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Hacking Blender
|nextText=next module:<br />"Introduction to Game Engine Source"
|previous=Advanced Tutorials/Advanced Game Engine/Game Creating Techniques(Python)
|previousText=previous module:<br />"Game Creating Techniques(Python)"
}}
```
Blender is an **Open Source** project. That doesn't just mean you get to
use it for free, you also get to see how
it works, and you can even make your own changes and share them with
others.
Blender is also a large software project (well over a million lines of
code), with a great many active contributors over a lifespan of more
than a decade, and it continues to be developed at a rapid rate. This
can make things somewhat intimidating for less-experienced programmers.
This unit assumes you have some decent programming experience under your
belt. Blender is mainly programmed in the
C "wikilink"), C++ and
Python programming languages. It can be built
using either the CMake or
SCons build systems.
## Getting the Blender Source Code
The official Blender source is kept in Git
repositories located at `developer.blender.org`. There are actually
several separate repositories:
- blender-main --- the
main part of the Blender source, excluding most Python addons.
- blender-addons --- the
Python addons included in the standard Blender distribution.
- blender-addons-contrib
--- additional useful Python addons.
- blender-translations
--- localized language translations for text messages.
-
- blender-tests
--- some interesting example `.blend` files used for testing and
demonstrating Blender functionality.
- blender-dev-tools ---
tools that are useful for performing maintenance tasks on the
Blender source, but are not actually needed for building Blender.
- blender-cloud ---
looks like a framework for offering a new cloud-based Blender
service.
## Layout of the Blender Source
Say you've checked out a copy of the main Blender source tree. The top
level looks like this:
- --- files used during the build process
- --- top-level control file for CMake
- --- note about Blender licensing (GPLv2)
- --- documentation files, among them:
- --- the format of `.blend` files
- --- how to build Blender, and hack the build system
- --- the man page
- --- non-Blender-specific libraries, primarily developed elsewhere,
included in the source
- --- simple build script for those who can't be bothered to go
through the CMake setup process
- --- libraries which are non-Blender-specific but primarily developed
here, also glue code for interfacing to external libraries not
included in the Blender source. Notable subdirectories:
- --- Constructive Solid Geometry routines
- --- the Cycles renderer
- --- the fluid simulator
- --- Blender's platform-independent GUI (including
platform-dependent implementations). See
for a more detailed description.
- --- thread-safe memory management with consistency checking
- --- the Inverse Kinematics library
- --- the library for simulating smoke and flames
- --- additional files to be included in the Blender distribution,
including GUI icons and fonts
- --- top-level control file for SCons
- --- the main part of the Blender source, further divided (ignoring
the `CMakeLists.txt` and `SConscript` files which you will find just
about everywhere) into
- --- the bulk of the source, of which some useful parts are
- --- low-level stuff for file management, geometry
algorithms, sorting and suchlike
- --- core Blender-specific code (no UI stuff)
- --- code for reading and writing `.blend` files
- --- some additional files for building the Blender Player
executable
- --- the Blender mainline
- --- the Blender Game Engine
- --- some files specific to the Windows build
- --- some test scripts
### Common Subdirectory Layout
Within many of the subdirectories in
and
, you will see the following
pattern:
- A bunch of `.h` files in the directory, and
- an `intern` subdirectory.
The `.h` files define the functionality exported to other modules, while
the `intern` subdirectory contains the `.c` or `.cpp` files that
actually implement the module. Sometimes the `.h` files are put into an
`extern` subdirectory instead of the upper directory level.
(And yes, these meanings of `intern` and `extern` are not the same as
the meanings of `intern` and `extern` at the top directory level.)
## Blender's "Genetic Code": "DNA" and "RNA"
You will find references to "DNA" (or "SDNA") and "RNA" throughout
Blender's source code. The analogy to the terms from genetics is weak at
best, but what they refer to is:
- "DNA" or "SDNA" ("structure" DNA?) is the system for mapping
Blender's in-memory data structures to the on-disk `.blend` file
format. A `.blend` file is little more than a memory dump, which
makes it quick to write. However, the file needs to be readable by
Blender builds on machines with different
endianness, 32 versus
64-bit pointers, etc, not to mention future
versions with different capabilities. Thus, the saved `.blend` file
includes a detailed description of the layout of all the data
structures saved in the file, and this description is stored in the
"DNA1" block at the end. This block is generated by the `makesdna`
tool, which is built and run automatically as part of the overall
build process, so its output can be included directly into the
Blender executable. It parses all the `.h` files in the directory
, so all
data structures that could get saved into `.blend` files must be
defined here, and they must be careful to use a limited subset of C
that the parsing tool can handle.
- "RNA" defines the Python interface to Blender's internal data
structures and routine calls.
Here
is Ton "Mr Blender" Roosendaal explaining DNA and RNA.
## Special Globals: "G" and "U"
There is a frequently-referenced global variable named "G", of type
`struct Global`, declared in
.
The variable is defined in
.
This same file also defines the global "U", of type `struct UserDef`,
declared in
.
## Naming Conventions
Some (but not all) global symbols have prefixes on their names
indicating (roughly) where they come from. Here is a partial list.
+---------+----------------------------+----------------------------+
| Prefix | Meaning | Where Found |
+=========+============================+============================+
| AUD\_ | audaspace sound library |
- (see
for an overview)
-
-
## See Also
- Building
Blender
--- platform-specific instructions on the Blender Wiki
- Development resources at
`blender.org`, including
- Architecture
overview
- Official developer blog
- Mailing lists
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Intro-GE-Source
|previous=Hacking Blender
}}
```
Mission Statement: The purpose of this section is to show a programmer
how to make sense of the blender game engine source code. It is not
intended for those who cannot code in C++. If you\'re one of the people
who have a basic understanding, I\'m being careful to use keywords that
if you google, should provide enough information to understand.
When you press P, several things are sent to the GE before anything can
be done. What might these be?
StartKetsjiShell(struct ScrArea *area,
char* scenename,
struct Main* maggie1,
struct SpaceIpo *sipo,
int always_use_expand_framing)
```{=html}
<hr />
```
Blender uses a lot of structs and classes. You need to have a working
understanding of these as well as inheritance before we can move on. For
a refresher:
<http://www-numi.fnal.gov/offline_software/srt_public_context/WebDocs/Companion/cxx_crib/inheritance.html>
**The SCA_IObject class**
and
This class encapsulates a lot of other things, so we can start here and
move downwards to the things that it controls. First off it uses vectors
to store all the different Sensors, Controllers and Actuators that are
linked to the object. *A vector is like an array, but it is dynamic and
has built in functions.*\
We will begin by examining how sensors are added.
\
`typedef std::vector<SCA_ISensor *> SCA_SensorList;`\
`SCA_SensorList m_sensors;`
The first line here is a typedef so it just tells us that we can create
a vector of SCA_ISensor by using the name SCA_Sensor list.\
The second line creates the vector with the name, m_sensors
`<font style="color: blue">`{=html}
void SCA_IObject::AddSensor(SCA_ISensor* act)<br />
{ m_sensors.push_back(act); }
`</font>`{=html}
This function allows the parents of an SCA_IObject to add new sensors by
calling: SCA_IObject.AddSensor(keyboard); *pseudocode*\
\
So now you know how Objects in the GE create sensors (and actuators and
controllers, its the same :) So lets look at how Sensors are grabbed!
Since they are dynamically added the program can\'t make assumptions
about how many are there or what they will be. Thus there is this helper
function:\
`<font style="color: blue">`{=html}
1''SCA_ISensor* SCA_IObject::FindSensor(const STR_String& sensorname)
2{
3 SCA_ISensor* foundsensor = NULL;
4
5 for (SCA_SensorList::iterator its = m_sensors.begin();!(its==m_sensors.end());its++)
6 {
7 if ((*its)->GetName() == sensorname)
8 {<br />
9 foundsensor = (*its);
10 break;
11 }
12 }
13 return foundsensor;
14}''
`</font>`{=html} Put simply, you give this the name of a sensor and it
returns a pointer to the sensor.\
\
for the newbies: I know you learned all about classes when i asked you
to, but just in case:) the first word, \"SCA_ISensor\*\" this tells us
that the function will return a pointer to a SCA_ISensor. And based on
the functions arguments, we know that when you call FindSensor you must
give it a string between the parenthesis.\
in line 3 you create an empty pointer which you will use to store the
sensor that you find. Then you loop and go through each sensor in the
vector of sensors (remember, it was named m_sensors) until you find the
one that matches the name. If you don\'t find one, you return NULL.
**void SCA_IObject::Suspend(void)** What this does is it loops through
all of the sensors and sends each one a \"suspend\" call. What this does
is change a variable named, \"m_suspended\" which makes stops the
sensors from running when they are called with their Activate()
function.
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Tutorial Links List
|next=Hotkeys
|subcat=Reference
}}
```
This page includes a categorized list of
Blender "wikilink") tutorials written or
spoken in English. This is by no means a comprehensive list of
tutorials, so adding links is encouraged. For tutorials that are not in
English, please refer to the About page.
If you would like to learn about editing pages, you can find information
in the Introduction to
Wikipedia.
## General Blender Information
- Blender
Documentation -
Includes information on Blender functionality, developing for
Blender, and creating Addons.
- To Those Learning
3D -
Recommendations for people first diving into Blender.
## Blender Tutorial Websites
This section includes links to websites that host multiple tutorials or
provide links to other Blender tutorials. This section does not contain
links to individual tutorials.
- BlenderGuru - Run by Andrew Price,
BlenderGuru includes free tutorials as well as full training
courses.
- Blender Cookie - Part of the CG
Cookie Network. Includes many free tutorials. Other tutorials and
full courses are available to members with a subscription.
- BlenderDiplom - Free tutorials
mostly focused on visual effects, but includes other topics as well.
- Blender Tutor - Includes a series
for Blender beginners as well as tutorials for more advanced users
- BlenderArt Magazine - Blender magazine
that includes tutorials in each issue.
- Blenderpedia - Free video tutorials,
mostly about creating scenes and environments.
- 3D Total Blender
Tutorials -
Includes many tutorials about various topics in Blender.
- BlenderCourse - 120 page
Blender E-Book created for Blender 2.63
- Tutorials For Blender3d -
Many Blender Game Engine tutorials for Blender 2.6
- Blender Tutorials Vimeo
Group - This group the
collects video tutorials posted on Vimeo.
- Super3boy\'s Blender
Tutorials -
Video tutorials dealing with the basics of different aspects of
Blender.
- Greybeard\'s Blender Video
Tutorials - Downloadable video
tutorials that go over many topics.
These sites include links to Blender tutorials on other sites
- BlenderNation
Tutorials -
List of tutorials that have been posted on BlenderNation
- Blender3d Club - Includes links to
various Blender tutorials
- SurfnLearn.com : Blender 3D
Tutorials -
Links to various Blender Tutorials
- Learningblender.com - Categorized
links to various Blender Tutorials
These sites include tutorials that use Blender versions prior 2.5.
- Dave Jarvis\' Blender
Tutorials - Free tutorials
using Blender 2.4x
- Kator Legaz - List at bottom
includes a couple Blender tutorials
- BlenderMasters -
Links to tutorials and some embedded YouTube tutorials. All 2.4x and
older.
- Selleri (Link removed, because it is harmful nowadays) - Handful of
tutorials on a very old version of Blender.
- Cogfilms Tutorials - PDF
downloads of tutorials in 2.4x
- Pavaler.se - A couple of
tutorials on modeling and animation.
## Blender Interface
- Blender Basics: 2 Minute Tutorials - The
Interface
- Blender Interface Theme
Repository
- Basic
Editing
- Blender Hotkeys
- Changing Views
- First Impression
- Getting Started
## Modeling
### Mesh Modeling
- Video - DupliVerts
Tutorial
- How to solve Blender\'s smoothing
problems:
discussion about smoothing strategies: Smooth/Solid, Auto Smooth,
EdgeSplit modifier\...
- Heightmaps
- Extrusion Controlled by
IPO
- Basic objects
- Modeling Techniques and
Strategies
- Easily Remove Orphan Edges and
Vertices
- Non-destructive bevel
effect
### Nurbs and Subsurface Modeling
- Subsurf modeling
2
- Metaballs
- Abstract SubSurf modeling
I
### Modeling Specific Objects
- Wooden Crate
- Double-Helix
- Turtle
- Leaf
Shader
- Sears-Roebuck Dairy Barn
- Golf
Ball
- Celtic
Knot
- Quick and Easy
Tree
- Ice Cube *(pdf
tutorial)*
- Water I (Link removed, because it is harmful nowadays) *(pdf
tutorial)*
- Water II (Link removed, because it is harmful nowadays) *(pdf
tutorial)*
- Dice
- Die with round
corners
- Logo
- Cutting through
steel
- Candle
- Landscape Cartoon (Link removed, because it is harmful nowadays)
*(pdf tutorial)*
- Text
- Hair
Tutorial
- Wikipedia: Human Body Proportions
## Texturing
- Video - Basic
Materials
- Making a Lightsaber with
Halos
- The Unofficial Texturing
Tutorial
- Material Indice
Tutorial
- Transparency and
Refraction
- Reflections
- Texturing landscapes according to
slopes
- Using Texture
Stencils
- Textures with
Alpha
- Textures with
Bumpmapping
### UV Mapping
- 2 Minute Tutorial: Blender Basics - UV Mapping (Project from
View)
- Video - UV Mapping
- UV Mapping &
Texturing
- Complex material for a
sword
### Animated Textures
- Video - Changing Colors Of Objects Mid
Animation
- animating masks for simulating ice
freeze
- Animated Procedural
Textures *(pdf tutorial)*
### Texture Nodes
- Video - Blender Nodes
- Vector Blur usage with
Blender
### 2D Texture Painting Techniques
These tutorials do not directly involve Blender, however they cover
useful 2D knowledge for advanced Blender users.
- Steven Stahlberg\'s
Tutorials
`<span style="color:green;">`{=html}\* exposed`</span>`{=html}
- Fixing Lighting Irregulaties in Self-Tiling
Maps
- Texturing with
Gimp
## Lighting, Shadows and Rendering
- 2 Minute Tutorials: Blender Basics - An Outline of Lighting and
Rendering in Cycles
- Basic 3 Point
Lighting
- Radiosity I
- Radiosity
II
- Ramp
Shaders
- Simulating
Radiosity
- Ambient
Occlusion
- Soft Shadows and Area
Lights
- Soft Lights (Link removed, because it is harmful nowadays)*(pdf
tutorial)*
- Blender\'s
Mist
## Compositing
- Matching Real
Lighting
## Animation
- Video - Animation
Basics
- Simple
Animations
- Effects
- Walking Blues
- Non Linear Action Editor - NLA
I
- Non Linear Action Editor - NLA
II
### Armatures and IK
- Video - Basic
Armatures
- Dancing
Flor
`<span style="color:green;">`{=html}\* exposed`</span>`{=html}
- Animation Workshop
II
`<span style="color:green;">`{=html}\* exposed`</span>`{=html}
- Animation recode
project
- Action Constraints tutorial made
easy
- Driven Hand
Rig
- Constrained
Mechanics
- Ikas Blender 3D -
Introduction
## Particles
- Video - Particle
Basics
- Video - Grass with
Particles
- Video - Explosions with Particles and the Explode
Modifier
- Particle
Interaction
- Static
Particles
- Making a Rain
Effect
- Setting a prey-predator relationship using Boids
particles
- Particle and field
basics
## Fluid Simulation
- Video - Fluid
Simulation
- Fluid Simulation Basics
## Game Engine
- Video - Blender Game Engine
Basics
- Video - Making Dominoes
- Game Engine
Development
- New fully integrated game
engine?
- #GameBlender
- Walkthrough
Tutorial
- Mouse Look 1st Person. Options include capping, invert mouse pitch
and adjust mouse
sensitivity.
- Viewports. Creating a split
screen.
- Python game functions. Sample Code Included. Updated to
2.48
- Car Setup. Use Bullet Physics vehicle
wrapper.
- Python scripting for the Game
Engine
at cgmasters.net.
- Python scripting series of
tutorials
## Verge3D
- Video - Verge3D for Blender
basics
## Python and Plugins
- Povanim Export
Script
- AI Path
Importer
- 3D-No Plugins; Put your 3D Blender space on
web!
- Randomizer
Script
Scroll down the page
- Different Useful Scripts (Link removed, because it is harmful
nowadays )
- Lsystem tree
maker
- Python API
Introduction
- Python API, Making a Square
Mesh
- Python API,
Iterations
- Python API, Automating Vertex
Creation
- Python API, Automating Face
Creation
- Python API, Making
Potatoid
- Python Script, To build an Empty for
EnvMap
- Python Script, Bezier Curves
Import
- Python Script, Paths
import
- Python Script, Importing Adobe Illustrator
Format
- Python Script, Mesh
Explosion
- Python Script, Level Of
Detail
- Python Script, Wire Shadows and
extrusions
- Python Script, Changing the active camera
instantly
- Using the Superficial Scattering
Script
- City Block
Genarator
- Blender Camera Calibration with Live
Camera
- Mesh shaker and tutorial
- Batch
STL
- Vertices to a Curve
Converter
- Zutils, Z-Buffer
Utilities
## Related Programs
- YafRay
- SPE - Python IDE for Blender
- Wings 3D Subdivision Modeler
- Verse Gimp-Blender
Plugin
- Kerkythea Renderer
- Equinox 3D
- Povray
export
- Adobe Illustrator Paths
import
- Inkscape SVG
import
- Voodoo Camera
Tracker
- Lionhead The
Movies
### Distributed Computing
- BURP - Big and Ugly Rendering Project
- Global Rendering-Farm
## Blender WikiBooks
- Blender 3D: Blending Into
Python
- Blender 3D: HotKeys
- Blender 3D: Import and Render a SolidWorks
Model
- Blender 3D: MemoBook
`<span style="color:green;">`{=html}\* exposed`</span>`{=html}
- Blender 3D: Noob to Pro
## FAQ
- Blender
FAQ
(Generated on September 24, 2001)
## Miscellaneous
These are must reads for CG artists.
- How to succeed in Animation
- Classical Film and Video Knowledge Base
- Quick Tips in Design&GFX
### Open Movies
- NaNo - Blender Internet Virtual Movie
Studio
### IRC
- <irc://irc.freenode.net/blender>
- <irc://irc.freenode.net/blenderchat>
- <irc://irc.freenode.net/blenderclasses>
- <irc://irc.freenode.net/blenderqa>
- <irc://irc.freenode.net/blendercoders>
- <irc://irc.freenode.net/blenderwiki>
- <irc://irc.freenode.net/gameblenderdev>
- <irc://irc.freenode.net/gameblender>
- <irc://irc.freenode.net/verse>
### Tests
- Blender Benchmarks
## Other Lists
Please read more about on
talk page.
- `<big>`{=html}**LANGUAGES
(czech)**`</big>`{=html}
## About
This links list is language filtered and extended version of personal
collection originally provided by **IamInnocent**. So if you looking for
tutorials in other languages check this link at
www.elYsiun.com.
- German Blenders should have a look at
<http://de.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Tutorial_Linkliste>
If you want to add Blender tutorial link in some other language you can
add it temporary on
talk page. We will
later made such WikiBooks in other languages too.
Thank you all who contributed to this nice and useful links collection!
Feel free to add your name or link if you think you need to be mentioned
here.
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Hotkeys
|next=Output Formats
|subcat=Reference
}}
```
Blender\'s user interface is very flexible and often provides more than
one way to do something. Many operations that can be done by clicking on
buttons and menus can also be done with keyboard shortcuts called
\"hotkeys\". The hotkey is usually much faster than the corresponding
mouse action, so it\'s a good idea to learn them as soon as possible.
An entire WikiBook (titled *Blender 3D:
HotKeys*) is devoted to Blender
hotkeys. We encourage you to refer to it as often as necessary.
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Output Formats
|previous=Hotkeys
|subcat=Reference
}}
```
Blender can render still images and video to many different file
formats. Here is an alphabetical list:
- **AVI Codec** - AVI codec compression. Available codecs are
operating system dependent. When an AVI codec is initially chosen,
the codec dialog is automatically launched. The codec can be changed
directly using the Set Codec button in AVI Codec settings.
- **AVI Jpeg** - AVI but with Jpeg compression. Lossy, smaller files
but not as small as you can get with a Codec compression algorithm.
Jpeg compression is also the one used in the DV format used in many
digital camcorders.
- **AVI Raw** - Audio-Video Interlaced (AVI) uncompressed frames.
- **BMP** - Bit-Mapped Paint is an early lossless format.
- **Cineon** - format produced by a Kodak Cineon camera and used in
high-end graphics software and directed toward digital film.
- **DPX** - Digital Moving-Picture eXchange format; an open
professional format (close to Cineon) with meta-information about
the picture; 16-bit uncompressed bitmap (huge file size). Used in
preservation.
- **FFMPEG** - Fast Forward Moving Pictures Expert Group is a
collection of free and open source software libraries that record,
convert and stream digital audio and video in numerous formats. You
must have the proper codec installed on your computer for Blender to
call it and use it to compress the video stream through FFMPEG, but
there are preset formats to choose from, such as DV, SVCD, and DVD.
- **Frameserver** - Blender puts out frames upon request as part of a
render farm. The port number is specified in the OpenGL User
Preferences panel.
- **HamX** - Blender\'s own self-developed 8 bits RLE (Run Length
Encoded bitmap) format; it creates extremely compact files that can
be displayed quickly. To be used only for previsualization of
animations (Play button).
- **Iris** - the standard Silicon Graphics Inc (SGI) format used on
Unix OS machines.
- **JPEG** - Joint Photographic Experts Group (name of the consortium
which defined it), an open format that supports very good
compression with little loss of quality. Only saves RGB value.
Re-saving images results in more and more compression and loss of
quality.
- **JPEG 2000**
- **MultiLayer** - an OpenEXR format that supports storing multiple
layers of images together in one file. Each layer stores a
renderpass, such as shadow, specularity, color, etc. You can specify
the encoding used to save the MulitLayer file using the codec
selector (ZIP (lossless) is shown and used by default).
- **OpenEXR** - an open and non-proprietary extended and highly
dynamic range (HDR) image format, saving both Alpha and Z-depth
buffer information.
- **PNG** - Portable Network Graphics, a lossless image format often
used in web design.
- **QuickTime** - A proprietary multimedia framework for video and
images.
- **Radiance HDR**
- **Targa**
- **Targa Raw**
- **TIFF** - Tagged Image File Format created by Aldus for desktop
publishing.
If the selection seems daunting, here are pointers:
If you need transparency in your images (i.e., an alpha channel that
allows any part of the rendered image to have varying degrees of
opacity), or you will be compositing, you generally want to use:
- Multilayer
- PNG
- OpenEXR
- Targa
Of the above four formats, you will find that PNG and Targa images can
be opened and edited by most any bitmap editing application, such as
GIMP or Photoshop. However, OpenEXR and Multilayer offer more options
within Blender, and may produce smaller, lossless files.
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Image Portfolio
|previous=Output Formats
|subcat=Reference
}}
```
## Summary
This is the Blender 3D: Noob to
Pro image portfolio page, where all
the categories of the images used in the book are here in one place for
your reference.
## Categories
Blender 3D
Blender 3D icons
Blender 3D
screenshots
Non Blender 3D
screenshots
Blender 3D splash
screens
Blender 3D viewports
Blender 3D suzanne
primitive
## A sampling of images from the above categories
Heres a random sample of 200 images from the over 1,800 images in the
above categories
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Image Portfolio
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Blender Glossary
|previous=Image Portfolio
|subcat=Reference
}}
```
Please add words and phrases to the alphabetical glossary at Blender
3D: Noob to Pro/Glossary.
\_\_TOC\_\_
### General Terminology
- **2D** (adjective): two-dimensional (flat)
- **3D** (adjective): three-dimensional
- **axis** (noun): one of the primary directions used to define a
coordinate system; plural: **axes**
- **coordinates** (noun): a string of numbers (usually two or three)
which denote a location
- **coordinate system**: a scheme for denoting locations by means of
coordinates
- **disappearing taskbar**: a taskbar which appears only when the
mouse pointer reaches an edge of the display
- **geometry**:
1. the branch of mathematics concerned with positions, directions,
angles, lengths, areas, volumes, and so on
2. the portion of a 3D model that deals with shapes
- **GIMP**: an open-source software tool for editing 2D computer
graphics
- **illusion of depth**: the human propensity to imagine a 3D scene
when presented with a flat (2D) picture of it
- **light** (verb): to describe the intensity, color, direction, etc.
of the light sources in a 3D scene
- **model** (noun): an abstract description of a 3D object (or scene)
which is suitable for rendering
- **model** (verb): to create models
- **numpad**: a numeric keypad
- **orthographic view**: a 2D view which represents a scene\'s
parallel edges with parallel edges; from \"orthography\"; contrast
with: perspective view
- **perpendicular** (adjective): forming a 90-degree (right) angle
- **perspective view**: a 2D view which represents a scene\'s parallel
edges with edges that converge toward a vanishing point
- **pose** (verb): to position objects and their parts in a 3D scene
- **render** (verb): to generate a 2D view from a 3D model of a scene,
by means of a computer
- **rig** (noun): to describe how different parts of an object are
capable of moving relative to one another
- **texture** (verb): to describe how a 3D object interacts with light
(scattering, bending, etc.)
### Blender User Interface Terminology
- **active window**: the window currently responding to keystrokes
- **blender unit**: the height and width of each grid square in a 3D
View window
- **header**: a row of controls along the top or bottom of a window
- **panel**: a rectangular area in a Buttons window which can be
rearranged relative to other panels
- **window** (noun): a rectangular area of Blender\'s user-interface
which can be split or resized
- **window type** (noun): one of the sixteen varieties of windows in
Blender\'s user interface:
- **Scripts Browser** - This window is used to initiate any
Python scripts saved in Blender to add
functionality.
- **File Browser** - Browses the files on your computer in
Blender.
- **Image Browser** - Browses the files on your computer in
Blender with visuals of images displayed.
- **Node Editor** - The enhanced material editing system in
Blender in which you can customize the input/output of materials
or scenes and composite them together.
- **Buttons Window** - Displays the Blender scene and object
editing options.
- **Outlines** - Breaks down the entire collection of objects and
their properties in an organized list.
- **User Preferences** - Allows you to change Blender\'s controls
and preferences.
- **Text Editor** - Simple text editor for any notes/Python code.
- **Audio Window** - Allows you to upload, enhance, and save audio
files into the Blender library.
- **Timeline** - Shows the animation\'s beginning, ending, and
current frame, as well as a timeline with marks indicating all
the key positions of an object.
- **Video Sequence Editor** - Feature for the composition of
sound, scenes, videos and other cinematographic elements.
- **UV/Image Editor** - Allows you to add and alter image files in
Blender and also apply these images onto the faces of meshes in
an editable fashion as a material.
- **NLA Editor** - Allows you to change the key positions of all
actions/IPOs.
- **Action Editor** - Allows you to alter the key positions of an
armature and it\'s collection of bones.
- **IPO Curve Editor** - Allows you to insert saved key points of
the positions, transformations, and settings of objects of the
course of a series of frames.
- **3D View** - Window through which you work with, add, and place
objects in a 3D world.
### Blender Modeling Terminology
- **Quad *n.*** - A face with four sides.
- **Mesh *n.*** - A collection of faces, edges, and vertices which can
be modeled and manipulated in Edit Mode.
- **Vertex *(pl. vertices) n.*** - A 3-dimensional coordinate, which
in groups comprise a polygon. With default settings, it is
represented in Blender by a purple dot when unselected, or a yellow
dot when selected.
- **Edge *n.*** - A wire-like line representing the boundary of 2
adjacent vertices.
- **Face *n.*** - A planar connection of edges representing a
boundary, field, or solid surface. Identified individually in Edit
Mode as a black box in the middle of the corresponding face.
- **Icosphere *n.*** - A sphere composed of *n* triangular faces
composed in a manner to give the best \"smoothness\" for the lowest
memory consumption.
- **UVSphere *n.*** - A sphere composed of *n* square faces arranged
in rings to allow the smoothest application of real-time movement of
vertices/faces and application of images onto the spectrum of faces.
- **Lamps** - Category of 5 light-emitting objects:
- Lamp - Light is emitted in the scene with a uniform spherical
output which fades with distance, decreasing eventually to 0.
The distance can be specified in its options.
- Sun - Light is emitted in the scene with a uniform spherical
output and remains uniform regardless of the distance from it.
- Spot - Light is emitted in the scene in a predetermined conical
area with light properties similar to lamp and also initially
calculates the shadow (lack of light) present behind an object
(Known as ray shadow).
- Hemi - Sun-like light emitted in a 180 degree arc. Works just
like a Sun lamp, but with less functionality. Best used for
quick, broad illumination.
- Area - Light which works similar to a Spot lamp but shape of the
cone is definable.
- **Ray shadows *n.*** - Method of generating shadows cast by light by
calculating the angle and faces of the interfering object to create
a smooth, sharp and complete shadow. Memory-intensive, best quality.
- **Buffer Shadows *n.*** - Method of generating shadows cast by light
by calculating the angle of a mesh\'s edge and creating a set amount
of shadow \"squares\" on the shadow-receiving objects which are
calculated from a set buffer-ratio. Memory-friendly, while possibly
lower quality.
- **Camera *n.*** - An object which acts as the viewpoint (when
active) for the scene when the scene is to be rendered.
- **Armature *n.*** - An object which contains \'bones\'. Bones are
sub-objects which are connected with each other in a chain, each
bone-link is parented to the bone before it. The purpose is to
parent any objects to the bone, and also you may parent a mesh to
the entire armature and have selected vertices of the mesh parented
to bone(s) percentage-wise (0% means no effect, 50% means vertices
copy half the transformation value, 100% means vertices transformed
as full child of bone.)
- **Empty *n.*** - An object with no mesh or relating object data. It
is useful for using in object input fields where the object needs no
specific properties e.g. parenting it to an object for
organisational purposes.
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Every Material Known to Man
|previous=Blender Glossary
|subcat=Materials
}}
```
## **\"Every Single Material Known To Man\" Project**
Want to share your material settings with the world? This is the place!
This page is going to be turning from a page to a chapter, but to do
that we need your support! If you have an idea for a material, even if
you don\'t know how to make it, just put it in the list to help! Someone
out there knows how to make it, and if they come across this page with
### Etiquette
- Explain the basics of every material (such as Color, Spec, and
shading, but not necessarily specifics such as Emit or Trans), even
if it is with standard \"Add New\" properties.
- IF you provide a picture, _explain_ in the
method _all details_ to get us to make ours
look the exact same way, do not omit any detail (including anything
done in out tabs, or in other categories like Rendering. Also, say
if you use something like RayMir or if you have additional lighting
or objects to enhance the look!.)
- Make sure you explain the \"Tab\" and the \"Category\" for a
material alterations, because not everyone might know what you mean.
Be as formal as possible, categorize and organize, and try using the
blender-used words instead of your own lingo, if possible.
_Example:_
- Bad explanation:*Set the material\'s texture\'s normal to 0.4*
- Good explanation:*Under the \"Map To\" Tab, Select the \"Nor\"
Slider and set it to 0.4*
- Best explanation:
- ***Map To:***
- *Output-_Nor_*
- ***Nor**Slider-_0.4_*
```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
- Do NOT replace or delete other people\'s method on your own. If you
believe you have a better way, simply label their explanation
\"Method A\" and create another sub-headline with your method as
\"Method B\" (and so on). If you believe a method is incorrect,
insufficiently detailed or plagiarism, appeal to the original author
(if able) or on the Discussion page and get support for a removal.\
- Do NOT say your material is better than anyone elses\-- everyone has
a right to their own opinion and preferences \--you may say your
method is more \"detailed\" or \"memory-efficient\" or
\"adaptable\", but _DO NOT SLANDER_ other
people\'s methods.\
- Add or link the texture image file (png), if there is.\
- Add or link a render example image of the material (just a sphere or
a cube or a monkey) with a background for contrast.
## Metals and Minerals
- /Alloy/
- /Asphalt/
- /Brass/
- /Brick/
- /Bronze/
- /Cast Iron/
- /Ceramic/
- /Chrome/
- /Glass/
- /Gold/
- /Iron/
- /Concrete/
- /Copper/
- /Hard Plastic/
- /Linoleum/
- /Marble/
- Reflectives
- /Modeling Clay/
- /Rubber/
- /Rust/
- /Steel/
- /Tile/
- /Trampoline material/
- /Realistic Silver/
- /Jewels/
## Cloth and Fabrics
- /Cotton/
- /Silk/
- /Leather/
- /Spandex/
- /Wool/
- /Carpet/
- /Denim/
- /Mothball/
- /Lace/
- /Dusted Latex/
- /Glossy Latex/
- /Felt/
- /Kevlar/
- /Snake Skin/
- /Velvet/
## Particle-Based
- /Fire/
- /Smoke/
- /Fog/
- /Feathers/
- Fur
- /Rain/
- /Mist/
- Grass (Patch)
## Earth and Home
- /Moss/
- /Water/
- /Soil/
- Grass (Strand)
- /Woods/
- Textured Ceiling
- Textured Wall
- Paint (Matte)
- Paint (Gloss)
- /Sand/
## SSS-Used
- /Crayon/
- /Wax/
- /Fruit Skin/
- /Milk/
- /Juice/
## Other
- /Lunar Surface/
- /Bubbles/
## Abstract
- Light Effects
- Misty Globe
## Human
- African Skin
- Latino Skin
- South Asian Skin
- Caucasian Skin
- /Head Hair/
- Other Hair
- /Teeth/
- /Bone/
- /Blood/
- General Organ Skin
## Elemental
- /Selenium/
- /Mercury/
## External material libraries
Additional materials can be found at:
- Blender Open Material
Repository
- Copper, Brass, Platinum,
Silver
- Fire, Snow, Carbon
Fibre
- Glass, Chrome, Gold, Brushed
Alloy
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Asking for Help
|previous=Materials, Textures, Photos
|subcat=Advice
}}
```
So you\'ve come to learn Blender, eh? You\'ve made a great choice.
Blender is one of the most powerful 3D animation and 3D creation tools
out there, especially if you\'re short on cash. Learning how to use
Blender can be a daunting task, so **don\'t give up!** With the help of
this wikibook, you can become a Blender power user and put those Maya
folks to shame.
If you ever get stuck in a tutorial for some reason, there are a number
of places you can turn for help. The best way to get help is with an
Internet Relay Chat (IRC) client such as X-Chat.
Connect to **irc.freenode.net** and talk to blender users in the
following channels.
- ```{=html}
<div>
```
#blenderwiki
```{=html}
</div>
```
- ```{=html}
<div>
```
#blender
```{=html}
</div>
```
- ```{=html}
<div>
```
#blenderchat
```{=html}
</div>
```
- ```{=html}
<div>
```
#blenderqa
```{=html}
</div>
```
- ```{=html}
<div>
```
#gameblender
```{=html}
</div>
```
If you can\'t get help there, click the \"discussion\" tab at the top of
the page that you\'re having trouble with, and explain your problem on
that page. Wait at least 24 hours for help.
If you\'re still not getting help, try asking for help in the
BlenderArtists.org forums.
es:Blender 3D: novato a profesional/Clases particulares de
principiante
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Know What You're Doing
|previous=Asking for Help
|subcat=Advice
}}
```
\_\_TOC\_\_
The following tips may improve your chances of enjoying a successful
project with Blender.
### **Organize early, organize thoroughly**
In Blender projects, you may work with complex scenes containing
hundreds of items: models, lights, cameras, scripts, materials, and
more. This can be overwhelming if it is not properly organized.
We suggest that you organize as you go, giving each item a descriptive
name. There will be ways to search for items by name, so start early.
Similarly, give each file a descriptive name and organize files into
folders (or directories): a separate folder for each project, with
sub-folders for renders, texture images, background images, and so on.
### **Don\'t bite off more than you can chew**
One of the greatest challenges faced by Blender users is their own
imagination. While it\'s great to be creative and imaginative, you have
to pace yourself. Be aware of your limits and the limits of your
computer.
When making something from scratch, start with a very simple version of
it and add details gradually.
Test frequently; see how well your recent changes work before proceeding
to the next step. In this way, you will meet with fewer problems, and
the ones you do run into will be simpler and easier to fix because there
will be fewer possible causes to consider.
Monitor the complexity of your projects, watching for \"lag\" or
excessive disk activity which might mean you are nearing your
computer\'s limits.
When working on the computer, take frequent breaks to rest your eyes and
stretch your muscles. Eat, sleep and exercise regularly. While focused
time at the computer is necessary, inspiration and solutions to problems
often come when our bodies are relaxed and our mental focus is
elsewhere. While you may be tempted to go wild, keeping a level head
while swimming in your imagination will give you a much more satisfying
result with fewer headaches along the way.
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Modeling Realistically
|next=Modeling tips
|subcat=Advice
}}
```
Everyone who starts a new career or hobby in 3D Modeling also seems to
look around their immediate environment for things to model. Things like
your computer monitor, your keyboard, and even the desktop which they
are resting are all common \"first models.\" Developing an eye for
geometry takes time and this is a great chance to practice.
For this tips and techniques discussion, I\'ll start with the concepts
of furniture and walls, but the ideas really extend to anything and
everything you can model in Blender, from spaceships to fantasy
demon-women, from your barbecue deck blueprints to biologically accurate
squids.
## Assemble Things, Don\'t Chisel Them
Let\'s start with the furniture around you.
You may think it\'s easy to model your desk using a couple of boolean
operations on cubes. But it rarely comes out looking quite right. It
seems like such a good idea at first. Then you find that the drawers
won\'t open realistically. The corners are all amazingly sharp and
crisp. The writing surface seems to be at the wrong scale for thickness.
The woodgrain goes in the same direction everywhere. You then realize it
will be hard to bevel just the few edges that need beveling. The more
you look at it, even with good render settings, the more it looks like
dollhouse furniture instead of a real life, full size desk.
Real furniture is not chiseled out of a half-ton cube of mahogany,
because trees don\'t grow that thick, and it\'s a real waste to chip out
the spaces for drawers. Instead, cabinetmakers tend to assemble a piece
of furniture from many component parts. Think of those \"self-assembly\"
kits from the local superstore, or even the showroom examples from a
nearby unfinished knotty pine store.
Model several kinds of boards and fittings, then copy and assemble them
appropriately. You don\'t need to model every nail and dowel, and you
don\'t even need to know what a dovetail
joint is. But you can make realistic
furniture when you build things from their natural components.
- Cut lumber in a variety of sizes and thicknesses.
- Measure real example furniture and take note of the construction
details.
- Choose varying woodgrains by duplicating materials and adjusting
them to be more individual.
- Align those woodgrains or other materials in an appropriate
direction and scale for the model.
- Bevel just the parts or edges which are naturally worn or
intentionally beveled.
- Any cloth, glass or metal fittings are separate components using
their own materials.
- Create an \"Empty\" type object, give it a descriptive name, and
parent all of the pieces to it.
There are a couple more benefits to this form of component modeling:
- Working with things made from multiple real materials is easier: one
object, one material.
- The model is more flexible, because they can be reconfigured to
other styles more easily.
- Components come in handy for other models: adapt a desk\'s drawers
in kitchen cabinets and bedroom furniture.
## Separate Objects for each Material
right\|thumb\|300px\|skateboards, modeled in
parts
A common question for new modelers is how to make one mesh that uses
more than one material. For example, a skateboard with metal trucks,
rubber tires, and a wooden deck. While Blender does provide an interface
to allow such a combination, it is not usually the best approach for
modeling realistically.
If you model the skateboard as separate parts, based on the way
different real parts are assembled, then you have a lot more control
over the final model. You can replace the wheels or use trucks of
different styles later. You can adjust the mesh that defines the shape
of the deck, without having to reassign the areas that should be one
material or the other. And lastly, you can choose to use subsurface
tricks on the various parts, while avoiding them on other parts. Even if
the whole model needs subsurfaces, it becomes a bit hard to control
where one material starts, and another material ends.
## Removing the Fourth Wall
Just as with furniture, you may model your first building interior as a
hollowed-out cube. It seems straightforward to make a big cube, turn it
inside out, and call it a living room. There are a lot of drawbacks to
working with a room that was carved out of a single chunk of solid rock.
Buildings and rooms are assembled from parts. Just like the furniture
modeling tip, design your rooms as a collection of separate pieces.
- You don\'t need to measure out the internal beams and joists, but
remember they\'re there.
- Each interior or exterior wall should be its own object or assembly.
- Take care to note the correct dimensions and placement of doorways,
windows, ceiling.
The benefits of a component-modeled interior include:
- Easier to see inside, just hide some walls on a different layer.
- Walls are much easier to move around to reconfigure the room layout.
- The same modeling work on one area can be copied to other rooms more
easily.
- A more realistic architecture with consistent scaling is achieved
quickly.
## Proportions and Measurements
For realism, it\'s vitally important to get the right proportions for
familiar objects. If your audience sees a bookshelf with 5\" thick
shelves, or a human hand which has a 5\" long thumb, their brain is
going to tell them that something is wrong. They might not be able to
decide why, but they\'ll tell you it looks fake.
Even when you\'re animating fantasy characters, you should develop an
understanding for proportion. Many cartoon characters have very large
heads when compared to their bodies; this allows room for greater
expression and makes the characters seem younger. Deciding how many
\"heads high\" each character should appear will ensure that your
figures all maintain proper proportions to each other and to their
environment.
right\|thumb\|300px\|soda cans and glass, modeled in
parts
To get good proportions, you need to think about measurements.
- Grab a ruler or find some existing blueprints.
- Think in terms of those measurements for the duration of the
project.
- Choose a base scale that will let you work comfortably within a
500x500x500 unit volume.
- Blender limits cameras to 1000 unit distances, for better numerical
accuracy.
You can mix and match base units, by using Empty objects as parents. For
example, you can model your furniture in inches or centimeters, and
model your house in feet or meters. Then when you append your
bed.blend\'s objects, just parent that bed to a new Empty object, and
scale the Empty. This will conveniently scale all of the separate
component pieces of the object together.
There\'s only one big wrinkle with working with multiple scales:
materials should be designed with a certain base scale in mind. Many
material surface properties are scaled according to the units you choose
for a given object, or the world units. Just consider this as you
design, and check your work critically.
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Modeling tips
|next=Cheat the 3D
}}
```
This is not really a tutorial, but a list of handy tricks you will
probably use a lot when modeling.
1: Extrusion: To extrude, press in
edit mode with the vertices selected, move and click to place the
extrusion. You\'ll basically need this for every model in blender,
without it, most models would be really hard to create.
2: Set Smooth: Enabling smoothing on the face of a mesh will create a
smooth gradient between it and the faces around it. To enable smooth
shading on a face, select the faces you want to smooth and then go to
*Mesh → Shading → Smooth Faces*.
3: Merge by Distance: Sometimes when editing, you might accidentally
create duplicate geometry or have small holes in your model. To clean
these up, select your entire model (or part of it) and then go to *Mesh
→ Clean Up → Merge by Distance*. The Merge Distance variable when
performing this action determines the maximum distance between vertices
for them to be merged.
4: Topology Flow: One of the most important things to keep in mind while
modeling is the topology of the model. Topology is the arrangement and
flow of the edges and faces that make up a mesh. Generally, you want to
make your model with quads (faces with four edges) so that it is easy to
perform actions such as loop cuts or ring selections. This isn\'t to say
that triangles and faces with more than four edges shouldn\'t be used,
but quads are preferable.
Example use of these techniques:
Topology Flow:
<https://web.archive.org/web/20210423191525/https://topologyguides.com/loop-reduction>
If you want to add more handy techniques, please add them.
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Cheat the 3D
```{=html}
<div class="noprint">
```
```{=html}
</div>
```
## Ways to Improve Performance
In 3D Graphic Design, there are many issues to consider. First, consider
how the project moves, how the project performs. Next, consider how you
create objects in your project, especially when working with meshes and
lighting.\
### Mesh
**Modifying an object\'s properties**
When you add a modifying property to an object, the computer has to
calculate that property every time it moves in the animation. These
modifying properties include soft bodies, particles, or mirror textures.
They can significantly slow down the computer.
To make things move faster, pre-calculate and \"bake\" the modifier into
the object. To bake a modifier, such as a soft body movement, save the
modifier as a permanent animation. That way no matter how the object
changes, it moves the same way. As a result, your computer does not
calculate how the object moves. The move is already set.
There is a drawback. If the object moves and hits another section with
different slopes, it will continue to move as if it was in the original
baking site. You will have to calculate and bake the section again to
get new results.
**Making 2D backgrounds**
Scenes will have a foreground, background, sky, and more.
Your computer will take more time to render a scene that is big, open,
and filled with modeled objects. This wastes time and memory, especially
when modeling an object far in the distance. I\'m guessing however, you
do not want to make a quick, plain model. So what do you do?
That is easy. You make a 2D background.
- Put the distant image or background on a plane.
- Verify that everything on the plane around the image is black.
If it is not black, set the Alpha to 0 if the image was saved in a
format that supports Alpha. This will retain the detail but reduce the
number of faces the computer must count in the scene.
- Set the image to Billboard to prevent the image from skewing by
perspective.
### Materials
**Using UV maps**
For those who do not know the term, a UV map is an image applied to a 2D
plane. The 2D plane is then applied to the mesh.
Here is how to create a UV map:
- Spread out the image onto a 2D plane.
- Apply the 2D plane over the face of the mesh using the 3D view.
```{=html}
<div class="noprint">
```
```{=html}
</div>
```
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Performance vs. Quality
|previous=Cheat the 3D
|subcat=Advice
}}
```
### Mesh
: **Polygon Count** - when you work with meshes in 3D, be aware that
the memory usage in Blender with reference to meshes comes from the
number of faces (or vertices) the mesh contains. That means that if
you have many useless faces (such as 55 faces on the side of a mesh
that are as flat as one face), the number of faces will directly
affect the Render time of Images and Animations. Also remember that
for smooth rounded meshes, you do not need an infinite number of
faces to make it look really nice and smooth. You actually don\'t
need that many faces to keep a smooth slope looking smooth when
viewed from the side. The viewer\'s eye will not actually identify
every flat face, but will trace it as a smooth curve.\
: **Face Structure - 4-side (quad) vs.3-side (tri)** - Poly Count is
very important when working in 3D graphics, and depending on the
type of mesh you are making you could be wasting a vast number of
faces because they are not the right structure. For example, if you
want a smooth object, you can make it look mostly smooth when viewed
from the side if you make it with well-structured 3-vertex faces.
You will also yield the same results with fewer faces than if you
use 4-vertex faces. Another example is that if you need to apply
UVTexture, or have something to animate, a mesh being evenly
deformed will yield a lower face-count if it is a 4-vertex versus a
3-vertex face-structure.\
\
It is worth bearing in mind, however, that most graphics libraries deal
exclusively with triangles. This means if you are planning to export
your mesh to a game or other external 3D application, whether you use
quads or triangles will make no difference as all quads will likely be
converted into two triangles anyway.`</br>`{=html}
### Lighting
: **Using RayShadows or Buffer Shadows** - There are a few options you
have for using shadows. Ray Shadows use an advanced algorithm to
trace the edge of any interfering objects and create a perfect
shadow onto the receiving object(s); however, the Ray Shadow
calculation is memory-intensive and can seriously slow down your
Render-Time. Buffer Shadows, on the other hand, use a different
algorithm for similar results. The difference is that buffer shadows
use a bit-rate of shadow \"pixels\" that fill in the shadowing area.
You can adjust the bit-rate to make the shadow higher or lower
quality. This calculation is much more memory-friendly, and your
Render-Time will not jump up as much as with Ray Shadows. An
interesting topic because this will change with better hardware
performance and eventually won\'t matter. Until we get into 3D.
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Modeling a Gingerbread Man
|previous=Performance vs. Quality
}}
```
In this tutorial you will learn how to make a simple gingerbread man. In
a later tutorial you will be able to make an animation with this
gingerbread man.
In this tutorial we will tie together everything we\'ve talked about up
to this point, including extruding, subdividing and rendering, and throw
in basic lighting.
## Modeling
First, start Blender. You should see the usual top view of a cube in the
3D window, surrounded by a grid \'floor\'.
: Review--- Zoom in or out with **SCROLL** or **CTRL+MMB**. Pan with
**SHIFT+SCROLL** and **CTRL+SCROLL**. Make sure you are in
orthographic view. Press **NUM5** to toggle between orthographic
view and perspective view. You can tell you\'re looking at an
orthographic view while looking down from the top (**NUM7**) of the
cube: wherever you pan the window, you never see any part of the
cube except the top.
- Display editing controls in the buttons window by clicking on the
Editing context button  or by pressing
**F9**.
### Adding Vertices
- Select the cube by clicking **RMB** on it. (It may already be
selected.) Remember, selected objects are outlined in pink.
- Switch from object mode to edit mode by pressing **TAB**, which
toggles between object and edit modes. In edit mode, at first,
you\'ll see colored dots at the vertices of the cube. Selected
vertices are highlighted in yellow. Unselected vertices are pink.
(You\'ll see the dots when editing in vertex select mode. In edge
select or face select mode, you\'ll see colored edges and faces
instead.)
- Select all vertices of the cube. Press **AKEY** once. If the
vertices are yellow, you\'ve selected all of them. If they are pink,
you\'ve deselected all of them. If necessary, press **AKEY** again
so that all vertices are selected/yellow.
- Subdivide the faces of the cube, using any of the following methods.
(All vertices of the cube should still be selected.)
- Click the Subdivide button in the Mesh Tools panel in the
buttons window.
- With the mouse pointer in the 3D window --
- Press **WKEY** to display the Specials menu, then choose
Subdivide.
- Press **SPACE** to display the toolbox, then choose Edit →
Edges → Subdivide.
- Click the 3D window\'s Mesh menu, and choose Edges → Subdivide.
- Your cube now has more vertices. **Subdividing** edges adds vertices
so you can create more complex shapes.
### Selecting a Subset of Vertices
We\'ll select six vertices on the upper half of one side of our cube,
where we\'ll extrude an arm.
- Deselect all vertices by pressing **AKEY**.
- View the cube from the front (**NUM1**).
- Select the six vertices on the top half of the left side of the cube
(see below) using one of the following methods.
- Press **BKEY** and drag a rectangle around the top left and
middle left vertices (viewing from the front).
- Press **CKEY** to see a circle around your mouse pointer.
**SCROLL** to change the size of the circle. Position the circle
around the top left and middle left vertices, together or one at
a time, and click **LMB**. Click **RMB** to finish.
```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
- Take a closer look at the selected vertices by viewing the model
from a different angle (drag with **MMB**).
- If you find that you have only selected two vertices and not six,
make sure the \"Occlude Background Geometry\" button is off. That
button is the right-most of the selection mode buttons, below.
(It\'s called \"Limit selection to visible\" in Blender 2.45 and
earlier. It doesn\'t appear if Blender is drawing in wireframe
style.) Try selecting the vertices again.
- If you still selected just two vertices, change to a wireframe
drawing by pressing **ZKEY**, which toggles between wireframe and
solid drawing types. Try selecting again.
- Yet another way to select the six vertices is to select the two
faces they define. Click the Face Select button from the selection
mode buttons (above), or press **CTRL+TAB** to display a Select Mode
menu and choose Faces. Rotate the cube to view the left side and
click **RMB** in the center of one of the two upper faces. Hold
**SHIFT** and click **RMB** in the center of the other upper face.
### Extruding Arms
- View from the front by pressing **NUM1**.
- Extrude the selected vertices/faces by pressing **EKEY** to display
an Extrude menu, then choosing Region. Hold **CTRL** to snap your
position to the grid, then move your mouse left to put the new
vertices on the adjacent gray line of the grid one unit to the left.
Click **LMB**.
- Repeat so that your model looks like below (from front view,
**NUM1**).
- Deselect all vertices/faces with **AKEY**.
- Perform the same extrusion on the right side of the cube, selecting
six vertices and extruding twice as explained above.
- The gingerbread man\'s arms are in place, as in the illustrations
below.
```{=html}
<center>
```
 
```{=html}
</center>
```
### Extruding Legs
- Make sure all vertices are unselected, using **AKEY** once or twice.
- View from the front (**NUM1**).
- Select the six vertices on the left half of the cube\'s bottom.
Extrude them downward to a point in between the first and second
heavier gray lines beneath the cube. (The gray lines in the grid
represent Blender units.) Holding down **CTRL**, the extruded region
may snap to the heavier gray lines---hold down **CTRL+SHIFT** and
the region will snap to tenths of Blender units. Click **LMB** to
finish.
- An alternative to positioning the extrusion with the mouse is simply
typing the distance. Enter 1.5 to extrude 1 1/2 units out. On a Mac,
enter the number 1, press fn with the key that is right under
**LKEY** and **MKEY** on Azerty (the one with /:,), and press the
number 5.
```{=html}
<center>
```
 
```{=html}
</center>
```
- Extrude the same region again, to the third gray line (1.5 again).
It should look like this:
- Shift the lower leg to the outside as follows.
- Select the bottom 12 vertices of the leg (which look like 4 from
front view), using **BKEY**.
- Grab the selection with **GKEY**. Press **XKEY** to limit
movement to the x axis. Move the vertices to the left by half a
square, holding **CTRL** or **CTRL+SHIFT** to snap to the grid,
and click **LMB**.
```{=html}
<center>
```
 
```{=html}
</center>
```
- Create a second leg on the right side, in the same fashion.
### Dropping the Groin
Lengthen the groin (where the two legs join):
- Deselect all vertices by pressing **AKEY**.
- Select the 3 vertices at the groin (which look like 1 from front
view), using **BKEY**.
- Grab the vertices by pressing **GKEY**. Press **ZKEY** to limit
movement to the z axis. Move the vertices down 1/2 of a square, or
type -0.5 to specify the distance. (Older versions of Blender
require **NKEY** before typing -0.5.)
```{=html}
<center>
```
 
```{=html}
</center>
```
### Adding a Head
- Switch the 3D window from Edit mode back to Object mode by pressing
**TAB**.
Noob Note: I found it easier to remain in edit mode while creating the
cube as this makes the cube part of the original mesh. This allows you
to add the subsurf to all parts at once.
- Click **RMB** on the object to select it then press **SHIFT + SKEY**
and select *Cursor → Selection*. This will make sure the cube
you\'ll add next will be near where you want it.
```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
- Press **SPACE** and put your mouse on the mesh option and select
cube. In others versions, you can also hit **SPACE** and , in the
menu that comes up, choose *Add → Mesh → Cube*.
```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
- Press **GKEY** and put your new cube about 1/3 of the way down the
neck (to achieve this, you can press **GKEY** and **ZKEY** : enter
1.33).
Now we will make it look more like a ginger bread man by making it
thinner.
- Select all with **AKEY**.
```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
- Go to side view with **NUM3**.
```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
- Press **SKEY** for scale and press **YKEY** for Y-axis and then move
your mouse to the middle until it is about 0.3 (use **CTRL** for
fixed values).
```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
- Remember X-axis is the Red arrow/line, Y-axis is the Green one, and
Z-axis is Blue (like RGB video mode).
center
- Use the **MMB** to spin the view around and examine your handiwork.
At this point, it doesn\'t look entirely like a gingerbread man, does
it? It\'s a bit too \... chunky. For the last bit, we\'ll smooth it out.
- Make sure you\'ve selected the body in object mode.
```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
- Select the editing panel in the buttons window (or hit **F9**).
```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
- In the Modifiers tab, Add a \"Subsurf\" modifier.
```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
- Set the level of the subdivisions to 2, and the number of render
levels to 3.
**Noob question: When I add the cube for the head, it stops me from
being able to edit the body - it will only select the head to apply
subsurf to, even if the body looks like it\'s selected!**
**Answer: When you created the cube you made a second object. To select
a different object, press tab to enter Object mode. Select the body.
Then enter edit mode again if you want to edit the body.**
- You can press the **ZKEY** to switch back and forth between
wire-frame view and solid view.
```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
- (Noob Note: Easiest way to really get a feel for what is going on in
the 3d world is to split into four screens and setting each one to
**NUM7**, **NUM3**, **NUM1**, and **NUM0** to see all angles and
what it will look like at render.)
**Noob Question: *How?***
**Answer: To split an area move the cursor to an area between two
current areas (e.g. between the 3D view and the buttons), when you see
the double ended arrow (used to move the divide) click RMB and select
*Split Area*, you will then see a line appear dividing the area in two.
Move this to where you want the divide and click LMB.**
- In the \'Link and Materials\' section, select \'Set Smooth\'.
**Noob question: Where? Assuming this refers to the \'Materials\'
section on the \'Properties\' window, there is no \'Smooth\' setting.**
*(Note that here I had the same problem as before, with superposed
vertices. Select all vertices, then press **WKEY** and select*Remove
Doubles*to clean your model. You will see that it will look much better
after removing the extra vertices with Remove Doubles)*
center
- Press the **ZKEY** to return to wire-frame view.
```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
- Now repeat the process above to smooth the head.
center
Looks a lot more like a gingerbread man now, doesn\'t it?
## Camera Positioning and Rendering
This guide will show you how to intuitively get the best frame of your
3D scene with no effort!
- Press **TAB** for Object view mode.
- Press **NUM0** to get the Camera View.
- Select the camera by clicking **RMB** on the outermost rectangle.
- Press **GKEY** and move your mouse to adjust the position of the
camera (**XKEY**, **YKEY**, **ZKEY** and **CTRL** may be useful
here).
- In addition, you can press **NUM7** to get the Top View and press
**RKEY** to rotate the camera to the best angle.
- After you are happy with the position, press **F12** to render it.
If your render comes out a little dark, try moving the lamp closer to
the gingerbread man.
Noob note: Another way to move around the camera is pressing **SHIFT +
FKEY** after pressing **NUM0** to enter Fly mode. The keys for fly mode
appear in the header of the 3D view pane.
Noob note: **Ctrl+Alt+NUM0** \"teleports\" the camera to your 3d view.
Noob Note: By pressing X, Y or Z twice you will use a local base of the
space, with those it\'s much easier. For example if you are facing the Z
axis from 45 degrees, and you want to go left 1 unit, using the global
base, you will have to go 1.72 (around sqrt(2)) along X and the same
along Y, instead moving by 1 in the local frame of reference.
## Applying Textures
\
This builds on the previous guide: Modeling a
Volcano.\
\
Note: It seems that textures can only be applied to one object at a
time, so this must be done twice (i.e. The head and body are two
separate objects.) The settings that were chosen can successfully be
applied to each object for a consistent result. Some settings can not be
applied equally for consistent results.
N00b Note: if you join the 2 objects before applying the textures you do
not have to do the process 2 times, just select the 2 objects, CTRL+J
and the accept\
\
\*In \"Object Mode,\" select the body (or the head.)
- Press **F5** to open the shading panel or use the shading panel
button.
- In the \"Links and Pipeline\" panel, under \"Link to Object,\" click
\"Add New.\"
- Press **F6** to open the \"Texture Buttons\" panel or use the
textures button.
- In the \"Texture\" panel, click \"Add New.\"
- Change the \"Texture Type\" to \"Stucci.\"
- In the new \"Stucci\" panel, change \"Noise Size\" to something near
0.025 and leave the \"Turbulence\" at 5.00.
\
Note: When finished with this section of the guide, come back to this
panel and try different combinations of \"Plastic,\" \"Wall In,\" \"Wall
Out,\" and \"Soft Noise\" / \"Hard Noise.\" Press **F12** to render
after each change to see the effect.\
\
\*Press **F5** again or use the \"Material\" button directly on the left
of the \"Texture\" button. Then look for the \"Map To\" panel.
- In the \"Map To\" panel, deselect \"Col*\[or\]*\" and select
\"Nor*\[mal\]*.\" and change the \"Nor\" Value to approximately
1.30.
- In the \"Map Input\" panel, change the texture coordinates to
\"Object\" by clicking the corresponding button.
- In the \"Material\" panel, change the \"R*\[ed\]*\" slider to
approximately 0.400 and the \"G*\[reen\]*\" slider to approximately
half that, about 0.200. Blue can be set at 0.00.
\
Note: While it is true that textures can only be applied to one object
at a time, textures as well as materials can be shared between objects.
In this case it is best to let both the head and the body share the same
material.\
\*To do this, simply select the object without the materials(head or
body).
- Press **F5** to open the shading panel or use the shading panel
button.
- In the \"Links and Pipeline\" panel, under \"Link to Object,\" click
the arrow next to(left of) the \"Add New\" button.
- Select the brown material.
\
The steps in this section give a nicely textured, brown surface to the
\"Gingerbread.\"
Now all you need to do is add eyes and gumdrop buttons!
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Modeling a simple space-ship
|previous=Modeling a Gingerbread Man
}}
```
## Modeling a simple spaceship using Blender 2.49b
**This is a simple tutorial on how to build a simple spaceship using
blender 2.49b.** One of the best things about blender is the
adaptability that can be accessed through its user interface. This
tutorial will give you a look at some of the included blender scripts.
If you would like to make your own, however, you can refer to the
scripting chapter of this wiki book. So now, I guess we can get started.
**Step 1:** First, open blender. You should get the default blender
scene with the cube in the center. If you don\'t, try resetting your
blender settings. Select the box in the center of the screen.
**Step 2:** Now we\'re going to shape the box into any shape we want.
For now, we are going to shape it into a sort of triangle. If you want
to use it as a box, that\'s fine, but I suggest following this tutorial
using it as a sort-of triangle. To be able to modify it, in the lower
buttons area (with stuff like Modifiers, Shapes, Multires, Mesh, and
Link and Materials) you should see a drop-down menu that is currently on
Object Mode. Change that to Edit Mode or hit the **tab** button. Now you
will be able to modify different aspects of your box.
**Step 3:** With your box selected, hit Ctrl+Tab, and choose Faces. This
allows you to modify the different faces. Faces are basically the
different sides of your object, Edges are the edges of your object, and
Vertices are points on your object where edges connect.
**Step 4:** Now, on your box, right click on one of the sides to select
that side. If you want, first take a look around the box and then choose
a side, but don\'t select the bottom or top face. To rotate around the
box, hit the 8, 2, 4 or 6 button on your number pad, the one to the
right of the arrow keys usually. Those buttons allow you to rotate
around your objects and change your view. After you select the face you
want, then rotate so that the face is facing towards you and looks like
a square, and so that the grid around it looks like a flat horizontal
line.
**Step 5:** There should be three arrows converging in the center of
your face (or in the center of your box), and either the red or the
green one should now be in the center of your face, and the other should
be going off to the left or right, with the blue arrow going straight up
or straight down. Use the 4 or 6 number pad button to rotate your view
so you can see whichever arrow was in the center of your face, and left
click mouse button on it, and hold the left click button, and drag the
arrow around. Drag it until you have a rectangle.
<http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff55/bryguy336/uh.png>
<http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff55/bryguy336/box.png>
**Step 6:** Now to resize that face. With that face still selected, hit
the S key, and move the mouse around. This should enable you to change
the size of the face, and once you click, it should stop resizing and
stay at that size. Experiment and get the hang of it, and then resize it
so that it is an itsy bitsy teeny tiny box, and your rectangle more like
a triangle. Congratulations! You have just made your first shape/object
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Part 1 - Preparing the Scene
|previous=Create an animated GIF wallpaper (Blender/GIMP)
}}
```
\_\_TOC\_\_
## Start a new scene in Blender
- Delete the default cube.
## Prepare the individual particles
Go to layer 2 -
!`centre|The layers buttons`.PNG "centre|The layers buttons")
Add a UV Sphere with 8 segments and 6 rings(Go to the toolshelf and
change the values)
!`The Toolshelf`.PNG "The Toolshelf")
Add a new material with any bright color. Change the emit value to 2 or
higher -
!`Material settings`.PNG "Material settings")\
`Note - if you want a single-coloured version, `\
`you can skip a few of the following steps - `
### Duplication of the particles
Duplicate the sphere and move it nearby (
). Duplicate the material by
clicking on the \'plus\' button indicated in the picture below. Change
the color to another bright color
`Important note - Not clicking the plus button will change the`\
`color of the previous sphere also.`
!Material
settings.png "Material settings")
!Single-coloured
version.PNG "Single-coloured version") Repeat
this process until you are satisfied with the no. of spheres with
different colours. Now create a group
() Name it anything you like in
the toolshelf ( toggles the toolshelf).
Now you\'re ready to start creating the animation and particles!
## Defining the motion of the particles
Go back to layer 1.
### Creating the path for the particles to follow
If you haven\'t learnt about Bezier
curves
already, go ahead and do so now.
Add a bezier curve, and tab into edit mode. Now you have to model the
path by extruding and subdividing the curve. The shape of the curve
defines the path of the particles. After you are done with the curve,
you can proceed to create the emission object.
### Creating the \'emitter\' of the particles
Add a UV Sphere with 32 segments and 16 rings. This is going to be the
emitter, i.e. the object that gives out those coloured spheres.
This is going to have a completely transparent material since hiding it
hides the whole thing.
So go to material properties, add a new material. Scroll down to the
Transparency panel, check it and change the alpha value to zero, making
it completely transparent. Also change the specular intensity to zero.
Leave everything else as such.
### Making the sphere follow the path
In this part, you are going to make the sphere follow the curve you had
modeled earlier. Select the cube, and add a Follow Path Constraint.
Select the target, i.e. the curve and click on Animate Path. All these
steps speak for themselves, there\'s no need for me to explain. You
could check follow curve, but since this is a sphere this is not needed.
All it does is make the object face the direction it is moving towards.
As for the speed of the object, you can change it by -
- Select the curve.
- Go to Object properties -
!`The Object Properties`.PNG "The Object Properties")
- Scroll down to Path Animation panel.
- Change Path Animation Frames value to the no. of frames you want the
animation to last. I prefer it to be 150.
In the end, make a few changes until you are satisfied with the result.
Now you are ready to proceed to part 2.
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Creating Weapons based on 2D Images
Alright, this is my first tutorial here, I made this a while back, but
hopefully it will be a good addition to this Wikibook. It was originally
made for a game called Fable - The Lost
Chapters "wikilink"), but I think it is worthy of
another place in the world. Please note that this is a WIP and will be
updated time to time.
## Modeling Technique 1
Modeling Technique 1 Part 1
Video
**Part 1:**
1. After emptying the screen, go to view and click background image,
load, then choose a picture of the weapon you want
2. Go to top view and add a square, then delete two of the vertices and
place one of the remaining on a point on the picture, and the other
out of the way.
3. Select both vertices and subdivide.
4. Move the generated point to the next good-looking spot on the
picture
5. With that selected still, select the outside vertex also, and
subdivide.
(Note: A much easier way is to select one vertex, move it to where you
want it, select the other vertex, move it to the next spot, then extrude
the second vertex to the next point, rinse and repeat. This requires a
lot less effort.) Another guy\'s note: For an easier way, just click
CTRL+LMB where you want the next point to appear.
1. Continue until you are on your third to last one, then select your
outside vertex and move it where you would move the next vertex.
2. Select the first and last vertices and go to mesh\>\>make edge/face
3. Extrude to half your preferred thickness, then extrude the rest of
the way.
4. Select the center vertices on the blade, and scale up.
Modeling Technique 1 Part 2
**Part 2:**
cont.)
1. Then move vertices to your liking.
2. Select the vertices of the handle, go to
mesh\>\>vertices\>\>separate.
3. Add a modifier, choose subSurf, turn up the level until it looks
close to what you want without too many vertices. Click apply next
to the modifier.
4. Modify vertices (using proportional edit helps) to your liking.
5. Go to object mode, and turn off double-sided on any meshes that are.
6. If black appears on any parts of the mesh, highlight it, go to edit
mode, select all vertices, go to mesh\>\>normals\>\>recalculate
outside.
7. If there is still black, select those faces and go to
mesh\>\>normals\>\>flip.
8. If there is still black, then you are missing a piece of mesh.
Highlight the vertices around the hole, go to
mesh\>\>vertices\>\>fill.
9. If black did not appear, then select everything (in object mode) and
go to object\>\>join objects and say yes.
## Modeling Technique 2
Video
Here
Download it for high quality.
Blade:
1. Select all with the \'A\' key, and delete everything.
2. Go to view and choose background image \>\> use background image
\>\>load and pick the sword you\'ll be doing.
3. Close the dialog after you see it in the background (you can change
the brightness of it by changing the \'blend\' option)
4. Make a bezier circle by pressing spacebar and going to
add\>\>bezier\>\>bezier circle.
5. put a bar at each main point of your weapon (anywhere the curve
changes direction)
Bezier
Controls
1. Modify the bars until they match.
2. You might want to go into wireframe view.
3. Go down and turn up the bevel depth a little, to give it some
sharpness.
4. To lower the poly count you should turn down the DefResolIU number.
5. Go back to object mode, hit spacebar, go to object\>\>convert object
type\>\>to mesh.
6. Modify vertices to your liking.
For the handle:
1. Do steps 1-7.
2. Turn up the bevel resolution, to give it some roundness.
3. Repeat steps 8-10
For That one thing (see video):
Just watch the video, but here is a summary.
Extrude and flatten a circle, use proportional edit to make it easier on
you when you curve the circle.
For hilt guard:
1. Repeat steps 1-6
2. Add some extrusion.
3. Repeat steps 8-10.
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Making Your Creation Smoother
## Getting started
To begin, open a new scene in Blender. Let\'s clean up the scene a
little by selecting the lamp and camera in the scene, press M to move
them to a different layer and click on the fifth layer from the left to
place the objects. Go back to layer 1 and delete anything else. You may
also want to get rid of the grid by opening the View Properties and
turning off the Grid Floor and X & Y axes.
To block out our character, we\'re going to use an object type that is
probably the least used and useful of any known to mankind. Let\'s hear
it for\... Metaballs!
## Sculpting With \"Lumps of Clay\"
right\|200px Go into the
top view (important), press Space and add a **metaball.** Metaballs are
a nifty, ancient piece of 3D technology that is useful for creating
blobs. (Similar to lumps of clay, eh?) You create simple primitive
shapes and scale and rotate them to block out your character\'s shape.
When the primitives come close to one another, they \"bleed into one
another\" in much the same way that water droplets merge when they
touch. Cool.
If you\'re using an earlier version of Blender that jumps out of Object
mode into Edit mode when you create an object, then press Tab to switch
back to Object mode, as you won\'t be able to scale your Meta primitive
non-proportionally in Edit mode.
In Object mode, you can change these options for the entire Meta object,
while tabbing into Edit mode gives you more options for the selected
meta primitive, such as changing the type from Ball to Tube, Plane,
Cube, ;;etc.; (You can also make \"Negative metaballs.\")
right\|150px Press
**Shift+D** to duplicate the Metaball, and place it where you like.
Continue blocking out your character, building enough blobs to represent
the limbs or forms you will need to sculpt your masterpiece.
The balls at the end of the limbs, were scaled **SKEY** larger, and then
moved **GKEY** out a bit more.
Don\'t get carried away and put in too much detail at this stage: use as
*few* shapes as you need. (This is supposed to be quick and fun, after
all\...)
## Meta-mess!
You should still be in object mode.
Now that you\'ve got something that resembles what you\'re after, select
all the Metaballs and ( be in object mode) type **ALT+C** -\> \"delete
original\", to convert it to polygons so you can actually do something
with your blob.
**Noob note:** if you pick \"keep original\" you will still have the
meta balls present, plus have a mesh version of the metaballs sharing
exactly the same space. When you select \"delete original\", the meta
balls are turned into the mesh, and the circles that the metaballs were
originally in hang around, but are empty.
right\|200px
Still in object mode!
Delete any of those black rings left over from the metas and select your
new polygon mesh.
If you Tab into Edit mode you will see terrifying ugliness instead of
nicely gridded mesh. \"Surely we can\'t be expected to create anything
useful out of this!\" you shriek. Take it easy, my friend. It\'s time to
add a *Decimate* modifier (make sure you\'re in object mode when doing
this to see changes).
Switch back to object mode!
The **Decimate** modifier (you will only see things change if you\'re in
object mode) will do two things for us. Its primary job is to *reduce*
the poly count of a mesh. A pleasant side-effect for our purposes is
that it will begin to *rearrange* the topology into a more manageable
heap of triangles and quads. Keep reducing the Ratio slider below 0.5
until it becomes as coarse as you can stand. You want the lowest polygon
base you can have that still maintains enough detail in the limbs and
shapes you made with the Metaball phase.
One thing to watch for is that this process sometimes creates holes as
it does its best to simplify the mesh. I find that usually you can
slightly change the Ratio to fix the problem, but if you\'re still
finding holes, check out the \"Tips & Tricks\" section at the end.
As you can see, this step greatly reduces the Face Count, which will be
good later. Next we need to get rid of as many of those triangles as
possible. Click Apply (in the modifier panel)
Switch to Edit mode!
Press A until all of the vertices are selected (turn yellow) and hit
Alt-J to convert the faces from triangles to quads, which will subdivide
better. Now you should have something you can work with.
## Beginning to sculpt
Right next to the Modifiers panel is the **Multires** panel. (Note: In
recent versions of Blender this is not its own panel\-\--it is a
Modifier.) A multires object has the options to add numerous levels of
smooth subdivision to a mesh. While you can use the sculpt tools on any
polygon or nurbs mesh, the great strength of sculpting with Multires is
the ability to jump back and forth to different levels, quickly
sketching out the gross form at lower levels, and adding finer detail at
the higher levels. Add the Multires and Add a level; we\'re ready to
sculpt!
: **Noob note:** If nothing seems to be happening while you\'re trying
to sculpt your mesh, it\'s because you haven\'t applied your
Decimate. it must be locked down and applied before you\'re actually
allowed to do anything to your mesh.
```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
: **Noob note:** Only apply multires once, doing it a few times will
quickly increase the polygon count to amounts that will really slow
blender down
In case you haven\'t noticed, Blender\'s different modes offer different
tool sets and options. To make the sculpting tools available you need to
be in **Sculpt** mode, accessible through the Mode drop-down in any 3D
window header. You\'ll see two new tabs next to the multires panel,
*Sculpt* and *Brush.* Sculpt has most of the options you\'ll need to
begin shaping your mesh. Note that most of the different brushes in this
panel have hot-keys which will save a lot of time(**G**=Grab,
**D**=Draw, **S**=Smooth, *etc.*). Most important here is changing the
brush size and intensity. Pressing F and dragging the mouse will resize
the brush, while Shift-F will allow you to adjust the Brush Intensity.
You can also turn on **Symmetry** to paint, for instance, both sides of
a face at one time. This can speed up tasks tremendously, as long as
your mesh is aligned to the axis properly.
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Match Moving
|previous=Modeling a simple space-ship
}}
```
Match moving is the technique of recreating the position of the camera
used in recording live action footage. This information can then be used
within Blender to merge 3D objects with live action film. For a more
detailed discussion of the concept, take a look at the Wikipedia
article on Match Moving.
Blender cannot perform match moving itself, you must use a 3rd party
tool to determine the camera position and the way it moves, then import
this data into Blender. While there are many software tools to do this,
this page references two free options: Voodoo and Icarus.
## Icarus
Icarus is a
discontinued University of Manchester project which can be used for
non-commercial work. The download links from the official page no longer
function, but Windows and MacOS X versions are available from this
Icarus video
tutorial by
Colin Levy.
## Voodoo
Voodoo is an
actively developed free match mover available for Windows and Linux.
Here is a tutorial on using Voodoo and
Blender
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Motion Tracking with Icarus
|previous=Match Moving
}}
```
**Motion tracking**, also called **Match
moving**, is an essential
element when integrating 3D elements with live footage. Motion tracking
software is usually pretty expensive, but the Icarus application
(Windows and Mac) is available for free for educational use. Icarus,
which hasn\'t been updated for while, was later replaced by the
commercial application
PFTrack.
Other popular motion tracking applications are
PFMatchit
and PFHoe(both also from The Pixel Farm),
Voodoo (for
Windows/Linux; free for non-commercial use),
SynthEyes,
Boujou and
3D-Equalizer (commercial).
The excellent CG prodigy Colin
Levy hosts Icarus(by kind
permission of The Pixel Farm Ltd), the Icarus import script for Blender,
as well as a splendid video tutorial (see Download Icarus and Video
Tutorial).
However, I lacked a brief text tutorial about motion tracking, so I
decided to write my own. This tutorial is extremely brief and
high-level, and requires some previous knowledge on video editing, 3D,
and Blender.
**Note:** this tutorial was created using Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, Blender
2.46, Icarus 2.09, and the Icarus Import Script for
Blender
v1.07e (for Blender 2.41, written by Alfredo de Greef).
### Tutorial
#### Phase 1: Preparing the Video Footage
**Note:** this tutorial explains the *Auto-feature Tracking* mode in
Icarus. There are other options which gives more user control - see the
Icarus **UserGuide.pdf** for more information.
1. Record your video footage. Having the camera on a tripod (thus
limiting to just panning/rotating) simplifies the tracking, but
Icarus can handle a hand-held camera as well. Filming a background
with orthogonal lines (that can align to X/Y/Z dimensions), such as
a room, also helps the tracking.
2. Capture/import your video footage to your computer. Icarus handles
video up to DV resolution (720\*576 pixels).
3. Start the Icarus *Calibration* application (there is also a
*Distortion* and a *Reconstruction* application).
4. Create a new project (Project-\>New).
5. Import your video footage (Project-\>Import Movie).
6. Fill in the *Camera Parameters* information in the window that pops
up - especially the *Camera Motion* and the *Pixel Aspect* options.
7. In the left panel, expand the group called *Coordinate Frame*. You
should see X Axis, Y Axis, etc.
8. Click the Z Axis tool (blue) and mark vertical lines in your video
footage. Use the X Axis (red) and Y Axis (green) tools to mark
horizontal lines (up to you to decide which should be X and Y).
9. Estimate the focal length (Camera-\>Estimate Focal Length).
10. Navigate in time in your video footage using the time slider
(beneath the video image). Add more X/Y/Z marker lines on a few key
frames, especially as new pieces of the background are revealed when
the camera moves.
11. Save your project (Project-\>Save).
12. Start the tracking process (Camera-\>Track and Calibrate). This will
take some time.
13. Export the results in human-readable form (Project-\>Export 3D
Motion, select *Human Readable (\*.txt)* as file type).
#### Phase 2: Importing the Motion Tracking Data into Blender
1. Start Blender, and open a Text Editor view.
2. Open the Icarus import script **ICARUS_import241.py** (File-\>Open).
3. Start the script (File-\>Run Python Script). You should now see the
Icarus Import screen.
4. Press the *FSEL* button, and open the results you exported from
Icarus.
5. Press the *Create Curves* button. This imports the camera motion
from the Icarus data and applies it to the Blender default camera.
6. Press the *Feature Points Mesh* button. This imports 3D shape dots
from the Icarus data, which helps as reference when you want to
align your own 3D elements to the video footage.
You are now ready to add your own 3D elements to the Blender scene.
#### Phase 3: Compositing 3D Elements on top of Video Footage
If you want to easily composite the 3D elements on top of an image, you
can add the image as the rendering back buffer in Blender (Scene tab in
the Buttons view). However, this doesn\'t work for videos, so we need
another solution.
1. In Blender, switch to *SR:4 - Sequence* in the layout dropdown menu
at the top of the screen.
2. In the *Video Sequence Editor* view (middle of screen), add your
video file (Add-\>Movie). Move the new strip to layer 1, frame 1.
3. Add the current scene to the sequence (Add-\>Scene, Scene). Move the
new strip to layer 2, frame 1.
4. Select the scene strip on the second layer (right-click).
5. Open the *Scene* panel in the Buttons view, and then open the
*Sequencer* sub-panel.
6. Change the *Blend Mode* dropdown from *Replace* to *Alpha Over*.
Your 3D elements should now render over the background video in the
top-right preview screen.
7. In the Render panel, enable *Do Sequence* just below the ANIM
button. This will enable the background video when rendering.
### Troubleshooting
- If your imported Feature Points Mesh looks a bit spherical, you need
to generate camera distortion data using the Icarus *Distortion*
application.
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Create a Clayman
## Create a Clayman
**(under construction)**
**This Tutorial was made using Blender version 2.41**
Upon completing this tutorial, you will have made something like this:
{width="300"}
Completed Clayman Render
## Making The Clayman
Upon start, delete the default cube (X-KEY) and switch to front view
with NUM1. Now add a mesh plane and under The Edit Buttons Window, Mesh
Tools Tab click the subdivide button. Now select the 3 vertices on the
left and delete them. (B-KEY for Border Select Tool)
If you can\'t select the vertices then deselect the Limited Selection to
Visible button.
Now select/deselect all vertices with A-KEY (we want them selected). In
the Modifiers Tab in the Edit Buttons Window, Click *Add Modifier \>
Mirror* You should now see something like this.
Now select the 3 right vertices and extrude them on the X axis by
movement of 1.0 units by pressing E-KEY (*Extrude \> Only Edges*), X-KEY
(to constrain it to the X axis) and holding CTRL to constrain it to
simple movements. Do this twice.
{width="150"}
Now extrude the legs by selecting the 3 bottom-right vertices and
extruding them on the Z axis by 1 unit. Do this twice as well.
Now extrude the top of the clayman on the Z axis (in units of 1.0) 7
times so that it looks like this.
Now let\'s make the arms by extruding the 2 boxes that are 3 boxes down
from the top. Let\'s extrude it on the X axis by 1 unit 4 times so that
it looks like this.
Now comes the extrusion of the whole body. As you can see, we only have
a flat shape of a rough \"Block\". so lets move our view around with the
NUMPAD arrows and extrude it on the Y axis. Select all vertices with
A-KEY. *Extrude \> Region* on the Y axis until it reaches 2.0 units.
After done correctly, it should look like this.
With the Clayman successfully extruded, its now time to add some
definition to him by adding a subsurface modifier. In the Edit Buttons
window, under Modifiers, click *Add Modifier \> Subsurf* and set the
Levels bar to 2. It should look somewhat like this.
Now, Select all vertices with A-KEY, and click the Set Smooth button in
the Links and Materials tab. Let\'s get to shaping the Clayman.Using the
Border Select Tool (press B to get the Border Select Tool), grab the
according vertices to make a shape like this.
{width="200"}
after that\'s done, select the head vertices and grab them on the Z axis
and move them up by 0.2 to make it look like this.
Now select all vertices with A-KEY, and scale them down (S-KEY) on the Y
axis until it reads 0.6000. And finally, select the underside of the
foot (the vertices that make it up) and subdivide it to make it more
flat on the bottom.
## Adding Materials
Start by going to the Material Buttons window (F5) and Clicking on Add
New, and going down to the collumn of 3 rectangles that have one gray
one and two blank white ones. Click on the gray one and in the top-right
corner of the pop-up window, you\'ll see a Hex Code. Click on the
current hex code and type in this new hex code to get the right color:
73BCF7. Now hit F6 to go to the Texture buttons window and click on Add
New. Change the Texture type to Stucci. Now you\'ll see a new tab
appear. On it, for NoiseSize enter 0.150. Now go back to the Materials
Buttons window. On the far right there will be three tabs in one. On the
Map To tab, Deselect Col and select Nor. Now your example should look
like this.
## Inserting Armatures
Now lets move on to inserting armatures in our clayman. Lets start by
going into object mode (alternate between Object and Edit mode with TAB)
and adding an armature. Press *Space \> Add \> Armature*. It
automatically puts you in Edit mode upon adding the object. Switch to
Object mode and grab it along the Y axis by 1.0 units so that it\'s
inside the clayman. Sure, you can\'t see it now, but turn on X-axis
Mirror Edit and X-Ray in the Edit Buttons window.
Now switch back to edit mode, and select the top of the bone. Etrude it
on the Z axis by 1.4 units two times so that the tip of the second
extrude is right in the center of the two arms. Now extrude it on the X
axis by 3.0 units, then grab the tip of it and move it on the Z axis by
0.1700 units. Now extrude it on the X axis by 2.0 units twice. And do
the same to the other side. It should look like this.
Now let\'s extrude the neck. Extrude the top bone along the Z axis by
1.0 units to make a pretty good size neck. Then extrude it up on one
side so that the position reads like so. If you can\'t get it exact then
at least try to get it as closest to the number as you can.
Then do the same to the other side so that it looks like 2 antennas. Now
let\'s extrude the hips and legs. Lets start by extruding the bottom
bone by 2.0 units on the X axis and for the Z axis, -1.0 units. Then
extrude the foot by -2.0 on the Z axis. And last, select a forearm bone
(select a whole bone by clicking the middle of it) and in the Edit
Buttons window, you\'ll see a tab called Armature Bones. Deselect the
Con button in that tab, and do the same with the other forearm bone.
This allows us to be able to move the forearm out, instead of having it
locked to another bone.
## Applying The Armature
Ok, now we\'re going to apply the armature to the mesh so that when we
move the bones, the mesh moves along with them. Lets start by switching
to object mode and selecting the clayman mesh, and under the Modifiers
tab, click apply on the Mirror modifier. You may see a pop-up, just
click OK. Not only have we just made room in the Modifiers tab, we
applied the mirror modifier to the mesh, so now we will have to edit
both sides if we want to change something. But worry not, we wont need
to change anything from here on. With that new space in the modifiers
tab, let\'s add an Armature modifier. You may see a line that says
\"OB:\" type in the name of the Armature in here (the default name for
an armature is \"Armature\" unless you have made more than one) also,
deselect the Envelopes button,for we will not be using envelopes in this
tutorial. Here is what you should have.
Now, select the Armature and press CTRL + TAB. If you already have a
bone selected, it should be highlighted blue now. We have just switched
to Pose Mode. Now, while in Pose Mode, select the clayman mesh (if you
cant select it, zoom in closer to get some of the bones out of the way)
and press CTRL + TAB on the clayman mesh. We have just entered Weight
Paint Mode. This allows us to assign vertices to the bones so that the
mesh moves with the bones. Let\'s start by setting up the weight
painting. You should see a new tab called Paint in your Edit Buttons
window. Adjust your settings so that they conform to this.
Start by selecting the top-right bone of the head and start weight
painting the front and back (you\'ll have to switch your view so that
you can see the back to get the painting in there) Weight Paint it
according to this.
Now Weight Paint the Neck. (pictures not shown of back view, but be sure
to get the back anyway)
Now the Shoulder.
Now the Forearm.
Now The Hand.
And after getting the other side of the body, let\'s get the upper
chest.
Now the middle chest.
Now the lower chest.
Now for the hips.
Now the Feet.
After doing the other side of the leg, switch back to Object Mode with
CTRL + TAB, and select the Armature. You should already be in Pose Mode
with the Armature. Now select a bone and grab it to move it. if you have
Weight painted correctly, the Clayman mesh should move with the bone.
There\'s two tips to moving the bones around in Pose Mode.
1\) In the Edit Buttons window, whether Automatic IK is turned on or not
affects how the bones move.
2\) Where your view is affects how the bones rotate. (unless you have it
constrained to an axis)
If you find that a part of your clayman isn\'t moving, just switch back
to Weight Paint mode for that bone and repaint it.
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Organic Modeling
|previous=Create a Clayman
}}
```
**Subsurface modeling**
Organic modeling is considered by some the most challenging. Non-organic
can mostly be accomplished by extrusion and scaling. Organic modeling on
the other hand involves mainly curves, as nature has a thing against
straight lines. Because of this, organic modeling is usually done with
subsurfaces. To subsurf a mesh, first select it and navigate to the
\'Editing\' tab. Then go to the modifiers stack and add a new Subsurf
modifier.
In Blender 2.5 Alpha 0, Subsurf has been removed from the modifiers
list. Instead hit Ctrl, followed by a number which will specify the
subsurf level. For example `<b>`{=html}Ctrl-1`</b>`{=html} adds a new
Subsurf modifier of level 1. This also works in Blender 2.4. Increasing
the level greatly increases the number of verts in your model, so make
the level relative to the number of vertices in your original model
(pre-subsurfed). Subsurf often works best in conjunction with smoothing,
so be sure to set your object to smooth, again in the \'Editing\' tab,
or in 2.5 A0 under \'Object Tools\', which you can bring up by hitting
the `<b>`{=html}T`</b>`{=html} key in the 3D viewport.
In this way you can create a smoother, higher-poly shape based on that
of the original mesh. This is controlled by the vertices, edges and
faces of the original.In order to control the rounding of your mesh you
can use two methods: loopcuts, which is a very sloppy method as it adds
more verts to your mesh, which serve very little purpose and can get in
the way of modeling; and Edge Creasing. The latter can work extremely
well in most circumstances. By default all edges are declared uncreased,
and so allow complete rounding in subsurfing, by creasing the edges
using `<b>`{=html}Shift-E`</b>`{=html} you can far better control the
amount of rounding on your mesh, and most importantly, without adding
extra vertices. However, unfortunately Edge Creasing is not available in
Blender 2.5 A0. Yet. And so loopcuts and extra verts are the only
option.\
<File:Blender-DefaultSceneRender.jpg%7CBefore>
<File:BlenderCubeSubsurfed.jpg%7CAfter>
\
Now, start shaping your mesh into an organic shape. There are various
tutorials for modeling bodies and faces, but it is often a good idea to
use references. Only use quads - that is, shapes with four vertices.
Triangles do not subsurface well, they create bad looking rough
surfaces - avoid if at all possible. Also avoid Poles, which are
vertices connected to anything other than 2 or 4 other vertices, as they
create literal creasing in your subsurfed mesh, that is, sudden bunching
up and pinching of faces.
To make the object shape properly, you will need good edgeloops and
edgeflow. This means that all your vertices and/or faces line up in a
continual line or curve around your model. It is possible to select
edgeloops all in one, fantastic when you have to resort to them in
controlling rounding, by holding down `<b>`{=html}Alt`</b>`{=html} when
selecting a vert. This really expands into topology, which is an
advanced subject. I would recommend visiting
<http://www.subdivisionmodeling.com/forums>, although it has just been
closed down, which was a great place to start, however it still (at the
time of revision) is active and well worth a look if you are struggling
with modeling heads. It is best not to have too many vertices to avoid
making the subsurfaced shape look rough - in other words, the original
shape should be quite low-poly.
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Understanding the Fluid Simulator
|previous=Organic Modeling
}}
```
## Understanding the Fluid Simulator
When I first encountered the Fluid Simulator I had a hard time
understanding its behavior, especially the *Start time* and *End time*
didn\'t seem to make any sense at all. Going on a Google spree revealed
that many people have problems figuring out the secrets behind fluid
simulation, and I didn\'t find any truly helpful guides. In this little
guide I\'ll try to explain it in a newbie friendly way. It may not be
entirely correct, although it might help newbies understanding how it
works.
## First of all
*Start time* and *End time* **are** in seconds. Don\'t forget this. Even
if your simulation seems to go insanely fast when you set *Start time*
to 0 and *End time* to 10 and having 250 frames in your animation with
25 frames per second, there is a good reason for this. For now, just
remember this, don\'t let your mind wander and believe that the values
are in milliseconds or that you have to do some wicked math
dividing/multiplying with frames and so on.\
\
Also notice that the domain is the bounding box for the whole fluid
calculation. EVERYTHING is done inside this box. It acts as the floor,
ceiling and walls for all of the fluid. This is very important, as the
number 1 reason why I couldn\'t get a good fluid simulation going. If I
have time, I will do a section on Fluid \> Control, but for now, I will
say that it adds a LOT of calculation time. Running on an I7, ATI Radeon
8970 Video, Asus P6X58D Premium, 64-bit Windows 7 and 64-bit Blender, I
crashed my computer with the lowest quality settings. So just remember
that the domain MUST surround the area in which you do calculations.
Also note that after you set up your simulation, the domain becomes the
actual liquid, so give it proper material and try not to bake until
you\'re pretty sure of your simulation.
## Setting up the scene
We\'ll learn how the fluid works the practical way. plane
- Start with the default box, this simulation will be very simple.
- Let\'s work in wireframe mode, press the **ZKEY** to turn off solid
mode.
- Go in to camera view by pressing **Numpad0**.
- With the box selected, scale it up to two times by pressing
**SKEY**, then **2**, then **ENTER**. This fits the camera fairly
well.
- Press **Numpad7** for a top view.
- With the box selected, press **Shift-D** (don\'t move the mouse or
else the duplicated box will move) then press **ENTER** to confirm
the duplicated box\'s location. If you do move the box, just press
**Escape** then the new box will be kept but the move cancelled.
- While the new box is selected (and in exactly the same spot as the
other box), press **SKEY**, then **.5**, then **ENTER** to scale it
to half size.
- Stay away from the mouse, accuracy is important here and I\'ll
explain why later.
- Now we want to move the new box into one of the upper corners. Press
the **GKEY**, then press the **XKEY**, type in **-1**, press
**ENTER** and the box should move to the left wall of our larger
box.
- We want the box in a corner, so press **GKEY Y 1 Enter**, the box
should now be in the top left corner from our current view.
- However, we\'re in 3 dimensions, not 2 so click **Numpad1** for a
side view. This time we\'ll move the box up along the Z-axis: **G Z
1 Enter**.
- Excellent, our setup is done.
## Setting up the simulation
- Make sure you\'re in Object Mode, and that you followed the above
steps precisely.
- Select the smaller box and click **F7** twice. You should get a
panel where the rightmost pane says \"Fluid Simulation\". Click
**Enable**.
- Our small box will be the fluid, so just click the **Fluid** button.
That\'s all there is to do with the small box.
- Now select the large box. The Physics panel should still be visible,
click **Enable** in the Fluid Simulation pane and then select
**Domain**.
- By default your animation should have 250 frames. Rendering should
also be set to 25 frames per second by default, this tutorial
assumes this setup.
- Since we got 250 frames and 25 frames per second that means our
animation is 10 seconds long. So here comes the tricky part, which
actually isn\'t that tricky at all:
- Start time is by default set to 0 seconds. This means that on
the very first frame the simulation has just begun. You could
increase this value to say, 1 second and that would mean that on
the first frame the fluid simulation has already run for 1
second. We don\'t want to do this, so keep it at 0 seconds.
- End time is by default set to 0.3 seconds. What does this mean?
This means that on the 250th frame the simulation has run for
0.3 seconds. However, by default our animation is 250 frames
long with 25 frames per second, making those 0.3 seconds
stretched over 10 seconds. Basically this means that we\'re
watching the show in slow motion, or slightly less than 1/33 the
realtime speed. So now you may think \"it looks quite realtime
to me!\", and yes, it does, but why does it do that? Well,
that\'s hard to explain. Consider this: In a world without
friction, how far would a drop of water fall after 1 second? The
answer is about 4.9 meters. So, if a drop of water falls from
4.9 meters it will take 1 second before it reach the ground. How
long would it take the waterdrop to reach the ground if it falls
from 3 centimeters? About 0.078 seconds. So why do i mention 3
centimeters? Because by default the size of our domain is 3x3x3
centimeters, or **really** small. If you\'re like me, you were
probably thinking that the fluid was flowing around in a bathtub
or a barrel, not in the wrapping of a cupcake. **Set *End time*
to 10 seconds**.
- Since our imagination likes big things, let\'s crank up that cupcake
to say, a swimming pool. Make sure the big box is selected in Object
Mode In and look at the Fluid Simulation pane. Just to the left of
the \"BAKE\" button there should be 3 other buttons, possibly named
\"St\", \"A\", \"B\". Click **A** for advanced options.
- Some new boxes should appear, Gravity (should be -9.81 for the
Z-axis, nothing else), Water and the option we\'re looking for,
\"Realworld-size\". Also Gridlevels and Compressibility, but let\'s
not care about those now.
- The \"Realworld-size\" value says how large our domain is in meters,
and as you can see it\'s 0.03 meters by default, or 3 centimeters.
We want it huge, so crank it up to 10, which is the limit for
Blender 2.45. Now our swimming pool is 10x10x10 meters (don\'t
drown!), remember this because scale matters with fluid. Do not
think we\'re playing with cupcakes again :)
- Now click **BAKE**, and read on while your computer is chewing
zeroes and ones.
- Remember how I told you to be very accurate about placing that
second box? And how I began talking about gravity, falling
waterdrops and stuff? Well, now you\'re going to see why.
- As stated, our \"swimming pool\" is 10x10x10 meters. The smaller box
we added is exactly half the size (well, in terms of
length/width/height, not volume), or 5x5x5 meters. Remember that a
drop of water would fall 4.9 meters in 1 second? And that our
animation got 25 frames per second? This means that the bottommost
part of our blob of water will be exactly 5 meters above the
\"ground\", and that after 25 frames our water should be very close
to the ground.
- If you got a fast computer, Blender should be done baking by now. Go
to frame 25, for example by using the arrow keys (up/down goes 10
frames forwards/backwards, right/left goes 1 frame
forward/backward). Take a close look at the blob, then go forward 1
frame. Notice how the blob hits the ground? Rings a bell, doesn\'t
it? :)
- Although, we\'re not done! We gotta render our swimming pool. It\'s
easy, but takes time, hit **Ctrl-F12** and go make dinner.
- When the rendering is done, press **Ctrl-F11**, and think of a 10x10
meter large pool. You might want to keep an eye on your kids if your
local swimming pool acts this way, though.
## Final notes
Scale matters. It\'s really difficult to understand fluid dynamics on a
very small scale, especially when you don\'t even know what scale is
used. The \"Realworld-size\" value seems to be left out in many guides,
I would recommend you set it to something you can relate to, or you\'ll
end up with simulations that look really slow/fast or having an **End
time** value that seemingly makes no sense. Further I\'m not a
mathematical genius, for all I know I could be way off with my
explanation, although this way the values makes sense to me, and I\'m
able to make fluid simulations without \"guessing\" on values for **End
time**.
## Extra Practice
This YouTube tutorial on fluids might also help:
Link and this Realistic
Water Texture
## Links
- Youtube: Comparison of different values for resolution and
real-world size
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Creating a jewel in Blender
|previous=Understanding the Fluid Simulator
}}
```
In this tutorial we will create a jewel in Blender. It is fairly simple.
I recommend you do this tutorial if you are a noob, because it explains
some basic features, but I suggest you read the tutorial syntax and the
pages at the very beginning of this Wikibook first.
## Modeling the jewel
Start up Blender if you haven\'t already. There is a cube in top view
(it looks like a square because it is in top view.) Delete it by
pressing the X key. Then, to begin modeling, add a circle by pressing
**SPACE**→*Add*→*Mesh*→*Circle*. Set the vertices to 10 and make sure it
is not filled in. Then press OK.
Next, we will extrude the vertices down. First enter side view by
pressing Numpad 3 on your keyboard. As you can see, the circle is flat
and not filled in. We will give it some depth. Switch to Edit Mode (TAB)
and extrude the circle by pressing the E key and selecting \"Only
Edges\". Move the mouse down and click to confirm the position (you may
want to limit to Z axis by pressing the Z key).
OK, what we just did is turn the circle into a hollow cylinder by
extruding. But we don\'t want a cylinder. We want the bottom to be a
nice tip. To do this, press Alt-M. This creates a Merging menu. Select
\"At Center\". Now the bottom is a nice tip, like we want it!
Now we will edit the top of the jewel. Press A to deselect everything
and press the B key. This enters Box-Select Mode. Drag a box over the
top vertices to select them.
Now extrude the vertices upwards a bit (again: E key and \"Only
Edges\"). Next, we will scale down these vertices to look a bit more
like a jewel. Make sure the ring of vertices are selected and press the
S key. This enters Scale Mode. Scale down the top vertices a bit and
click to confirm.
To look around your jewel model use the Middle Mouse Button or Alt-Left
Click. Your jewel is looking fantastic! But there\'s a big gaping hole
at the top. We\'ll fix that. First, enter side view (Numpad 3). Now
extrude the topmost ring of vertices but don\'t move them anywhere with
the mouse. If you are feeling doubtful, just press 0 and then Enter (or
just click right mouse button). This makes a duplicate of rings placed
over the original. Next merge this new ring with Alt-M -\> At Center.
This merges the duplicate ring, thus filling up your hole.
At last! Your jewel is finished! Feel free to rotate around it and make
further adjustments if you are more advanced with using Blender.
## Shading
Switch back to Object Mode (TAB) and show the Shading Panel (F5). Enable
the Material Buttons (click on the button with a red ball). Add new
material by clicking on \"Add New\" button in the \"Links and Pipeline\"
tab. Copy the settings in the screenshot below. If you are having
trouble setting the precise value to a slider, just click on the number.
This allows a manual type-in. First, make it green by setting R to 0, G
to 1, and B to 0. Next set the alpha slider to 0.458 (it looks like an
A). Now press \"Ray Mirror\" (raytracing reflection) to turn it on and
set it to 0.13. Now press \"Ray Transparency\" and set the IOR value to
set 1.44. When you\'re done it should look like this:
## The finishing touch
To improve the effect, add a plane underneath the jewel. In the Object
Mode (TAB) press SPACE\>\>ADD\>\>MESH\>\>PLANE. Scale it 5 times using
the S key. Then move it down a bit using the G key (press the Z key to
restrict movement to the Z axis).
You may try to render your jewel now. Press the F12 key. You may find
that camera doesn\'t see whole jewel. Move and rotate the camera (using
the G and R keys) to set it in the right position. You may want to
switch to \"Camera View\" (Numpad 0) and try out \"Camera Fly Mode\"
(SHIFT F). Try also moving the lamp and see what happens.
I\'ve found that the jewel looks best with Ambient Occlusion on. So go
to the Shading window, then the World buttons, click the Amb Occ tab and
click the Ambient Occlusion button.
Here is an example of what you can do:
## External links
- <http://www.blender.org>
- <http://www.blenderartists.org>
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Modeling with the Spin Tool
|previous=Modeling a picture
}}
```
!A collection of objects modeled with the spin
tool
The Spin tool is a great tool for modeling objects you might make on a
lathe quickly and easily.
Lathe objects have circular cross sections along a certain axis. That is
to say, when you cut such objects perpendicular to a certain axis
you\'ll get circles. Examples of such objects includes rods, poles,
wineglasses, and pails. A Blender render at the left shows some of
these.
With the Spin tool you only have to \"model\" half the outline of your
object. The object is completed after you spin this outline. A bit of
cleanup here and there and your model is finished.
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Spin Tool Introduction
|previous=Modeling with the Spin Tool
}}
```
## How the Spin Tool Works
The Spin tool works by making copies of the selected vertices in a
radial array around an axis indicated by the 3d cursor. Each copies of
vertices are connected to previous vertices that corresponds to it with
necessary geometry, i.e. edges and planes.
A picture explains this more clearly.
!Selected vertices before using the Spin
tool{width="603"}
!Result after using the Spin
tool{width="562"}
Note that the copied vertices are arranged in a radial array around our
3d cursor and parallel to our view plane.
## Typical Work Flow
1\) Make half of the outline of our object with connected vertices. If
you want to model a wineglass, make the half of the outline of the
wineglass.
2\) Spin our outline. After this the Spin tool would complete our
object.
3\) Clean up the resulting mesh. The mesh created by the Spin tool is
not so perfect so we had to \"clean\" it up.
#### Modeling Half of the Outline
To start we make half of the outline. Here we do it by creating
vertices.
Open Blender. Don\'t remove the default cube since we are going to use
it. If you don\'t have any object after you open Blender (like mine),
add a mesh object. Any of them will do. I tend to use the plane. At this
time it is good to give your object a proper name. Name it sensibly,
like \"wineglass\" if we are modeling a wineglass. This will help us
locate it if there comes a time when we have a lot of objects in our
scene. We don\'t want to have all objects to be called cube.001,
sphere.003 or something. That could get confusing.
Hit Tab key to enter Edit Mode, if we are not in there yet. Select all
vertices by hitting AKey, then delete them with XKey -\> Vertices. Then
go to the front view by hitting Num1.
Now, we are going to make the outline by creating vertices. Press and
hold CtrlKey then click the left mouse button. A new vertex will be
created. Click the left mouse button again, another vertex will be
created but this time it is connected to the previous vertex by an edge.
Click again to add more vertices. We are going to use this to create our
outline.
You might notice that the 3d manipulator (red, green and blue arrows)
could get in the way. Deactivate it by hitting Ctrl+Space Bar, then
select Enable/Disable, or by clicking the white pointing hand icon in
the 3d view window.
Let\'s start making the outline. Delete our previously created vertices
first. Using what we have learned, let\'s create vertices again but this
time let\'s add them to form some sort of outline. Let\'s be creative
here. It could be anything you want. Here I\'ve made two to illustrate
two situations that we might encounter when modeling with the Spin tool.
That is, modeling objects that are hollow or non-hollow.
!Half outline of a drinking
glass{width="315"}
The first one is an outline of a glass. Here, we are modeling an object
that is not hollow. We had two vertices that are located in the center
of our would-be glass bottom. We need to align the two central vertices
perfectly along the z axis. Select this two vertices then scale it along
the x axis to zero (SKey, xKey, 0Key, Enter).
!Half outline of a napkin
ring{width="341"}
The second one we will make into a napkin ring. This time our outline is
closed and no vertices are located in the center of our would be napkin
ring. Here we are modeling an object that is hollow.
To make the closed outline, select the two vertices on the open side
then press FKey. The two vertices will be bridged by an edge, thus
closing the outline.
Adjust vertices when necessary.
For those who may like to have an image in the background to guide them.
Upload a background image by selecting the View menu from the 3d View
Window then select \"Background Image\". A new internal window will
appear. Click \"Use Background Image\" Button, then click \"Load\".
Navigate to where the Image is located, select it, then click \"SELECT
IMAGE\". Our image will appear on the 3d Window as a background. Bellow,
I used a picture of a wineglass.
!Half outline of a wineglass with a background image as a
guide{width="362"}
#### Spinning Our Outline
Now that the outline is finished, we are ready to use it with the Spin
tool
Two things you must know is that the Spin tool is dependent on the
location of the 3d cursor, and view where we activate our Spin tool.
!Setup with an arbitrary
shape{width="362"}
Here is our setup with the vertices all selected. In the nest pictures
are results when this shape is spun with the 3d cursor at different
locations.
!Shape spun with 3d cursor at the
origin{width="362"}
!Shape spun with 3d cursor at another
location{width="362"}
Here we have the same shape but is spun around in different views.
!Shape seen in top
view{width="362"}!Shape
spun in top
view{width="362"}
!Shape seen in an arbitrary
view{width="362"}!Shape
spun in an arbitrary
view{width="362"}
Note that its important only to place the 3d cursor properly relative to
the view where you are going to use the Spin tool
###### Placing Our 3d Cursor
We can see that the location of our 3d cursor is very important in Spin
modeling so we need to know how to place it properly. If you prepare it
to be, the cursor would already be in position after we make our outline
but accidents happen and we accidentally misplaced our 3d cursor. Here
are some ways we could make our 3d cursor go to the place where we want
it to be.
###### Snapping
Snapping the 3D cursor is a quick and simple way to place our 3d cursor
to its proper location. In the 3d window, hit Shift + SKey. A list of
options would appear. We are interested with the last three options,
namely the cursor snaps options. They are the Cursor-\>Selection,
Cursor-\>Grid and Cursor-\>Active. The name are pretty descriptive but
we\'ll give a short description here.
Cursor-\>Selection places the cursor to the exact location of our
selected element or elements. In case of multiple selected elements, our
cursor is placed on the median of the selected elements. In edit mode,
select a vertex and use Cursor-\>Selection snap to it. Our 3d cursor
would jump to the exact place where our selected vertex is located.
Cursor-\>Selection snapping is especially useful when modeling non
hollow objects because there are vertex or vertices located at the
center of our model to snap to. Just select one central vertex and snap
to it.
!Here our 3d cursor is not at the center of our drinking glass outline.
We select one of the central vertex and do Cursor-\>Selection
snapping.{width="298"}
!Result after doing the Cursor-\>Selection
snap.{width="293"}
Cursor-\>Grid snaps the cursor to the nearest cross of the visible grid.
Try clicking at a center of a square in our Blender\'s grid and use it.
See its effect.
Cursor-\>Grid snapping is useful for spin modeling hollow models.
Usually if you are careful, our object outline would be on a plane that
contains one of the axises. If we make our outline in front view as
advised, go to the top view (or side view depending on what we are
modeling). If you are doing okay, you will see all our vertices aligned
perfectly along the x axis. It just a matter of LMB close to a cross on
the grid that contains our objects center then snap to it.
Cursor-\>Active might not be so helpful in spin modeling.
Cursor-\>Active snaps the cursor to the active element (usually the
element that is last to be selected). Try it by selecting several
vertices, then do Cursor-\>Active snap. The vertex where the 3d cursor
goes is the active element in your selection.
###### Spin Tool Parameters
The spin accepts two parameters to execute its function. These are
Degrees (degr) and Steps.
image:BlenderDegr.jpg
**Degrees** specifies the angle at which the selected geometry will be
rotated from its initial position around the axis. It accepts values in
degrees. A 360 degrees value being a whole turn around the axis. Values
lesser than 360 produces something like a wedge is sliced from the side
of the form.
none
**Steps** specifies the number of \"copies\" of the selected geometry
the spin tool makes that it arranges in a radial array around the 3d
cursor. A higher value result in much rounder form.
#### Cleaning Up the resulting Mesh
After using the spin tool, a little clean up work might be necessary,
especially if you specified a 360 degree turn. Though the mesh looks
clean to the eye, the tool actually make geometries (vertices) that are
in the same blender position as another one. So what might look like one
vertex may actually be two. A simple way to clean up our mesh would be
to select the whole geometry then activating the \"remove doubles\" from
the specials menu ( Wkey(Specials Menu) -\> remove doubles or
Wkey-\>6key). This would remove these problem geometries, finds vertices
that are too close to each other and merging them to one.
## Post Modeling
After the lathe able parts are done it would be ready to adding non
latheable parts. For example a cup may have a bowl-like body, that we
could use the spintool. Alas the handle can\'t be so we had to put it
there after. Depending on the geometry added. This geometries could be
formed from the mesh itself or be adding in a separate mesh.
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Illustrative Example: Model a Wine Glass
|previous=Spin Tool Introduction
}}
```
Lets start with a classic spin tool model. Here we go step by step in
making a wine glass\... or any other latheable models\... using the spin
tool.
## Model half the outline
Using what you have learned earlier, create a simple outline of the wine
glass. Just the half part and leave the center part open. As a recap, go
first to front view. Select the cube (or if you have no object create
one) and press Tab to go to edit mode. Delete all vertices of the
object, then using Ctrl+ LMB, add connected vertices. Keep holding Ctrl
and clicking until finished. Adjust vertices as required.
## Spinning the outline
Remember to align the two end points in the open side. Select the two
vertices and scale at the x-axis to zero (Skey-\>Xkey-\>0key). Move the
3d cursor to the center by snapping to the selection (Shift+S -\> 4key).
Then select all vertices by hitting Akey twice.
Now go to top view (Num7). Select the editing button (F9Key) and find
the mesh tools tab. Change Degr to 360 for a complete turn and change
steps to 20 or higher to form a much rounded shape.
Press the Spin button.
## Cleaning up the Mesh
Select all vertices by pressing Akey twice then apply remove doubles
operation (WKey-\>6Key/Remove doubles). Now the model is finished. Make
it shade smooth using set smooth (Wkey -\> set smooth). If you like, add
a Subsurf modifier to the object to make it geometrically smoother. If
dark bands appear, recalculate normals outside (Ctrl+N), to eliminate
them.
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Creating Ogg-Theora movies using Blender
|previous=Illustrative Example: Model a Wine Glass
}}
```
Wikimedia Commons requires that movies be uploaded as Ogg-Theora (OGG)
files. As of Blender 2.42a, this is not a builtin feature of Blender. To
get OGG files from your finished animation isn\'t difficult, though.
However, you\'ll need additional software.
There are basically two ways to generate OGG files: you can use one of
the many fine video editors or you can use special conversion programs.
Video editors like LiVES or Cinerella allow you to load your AVI or your
rendered frames, manipulate them, and create the OGG file from it.
Please refer to the editor\'s documentation on how to achieve this.
A disadvantage of a video editor is they are huge pieces of software,
duplicating functionality that you already used when you created your
animation file/s with blender. It\'s actually not necessary to install a
video editor just for converting your animation to OGG Theora format.
## Converting saved frame picture files to Ogg Theora
It\'s actually possible to convert frame pictures that you saved before
to OGG format movies. The ffmpeg2theora software
package, which is available in
source or binary for all relevant systems, is capable of
batch-processing files into an Ogg format movie. For example, if your
frames were saved as PNG (with filenames `filename001.png`,
`filename002.png`, etc.), you could convert them to a soundless OGG file
with:
`ffmpeg2theora filename%03d.png -o output.ogv`
Sound is possible too, as well as being able to set the quality and
framerates. Consult the `ffmpeg2theora` documentation for more.
## Converting AVIs to Ogg Theora
`ffmpeg2theora` can also convert AVI movies to OGG. Usage example:
`ffmpeg2theora --optimize my.avi`
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Creating animated GIFs using Blender and Gimp
|previous=Creating Ogg-Theora movies using Blender
}}
```
This tutorial will guide you through how to make a simple animated Gif
Using Blender and Gimp. This is useful for creating Avatars for forums
etc. This tutorial assumes basic knowledge of blender and Gimp, see the
basic animation
tutorial.
To start off you will need an animation, this usually should be no
longer than 25 frames long.
1. Open Blender. and delete the default cube and add a UV sphere, the
default settings for the sphere work fine.
2. Now set the camera size in the scene buttons (F10) to 50 by 50 (I am
creating an avatar for deviant art where the required size is 50 by
50 pixels, you may change this if you want)
3. set the frames to start at frame 1 and end at frame 20.
4. select the sphere and insert a LOC keyframe at frame 1 and 21, then
go to frame 11, move the sphere and insert another LOC keyframe.
this will create a looping animation.
5. Set the image type to PNG or JPEG (it doesn\'t matter) and render
the animation.
Now to combine the images into an animated GIF using Gimp.
1. Open the first image with gimp.
2. Now click File-\> open as Layer or press \"Ctrl-Alt-O\". Select the
next frame and it will be added as a new layer. Repeat this for all
of the images, or select all of the images by pressing \"Ctrl-A\".
3. If you press Filters-\>Animation-\>Playback it should play the
animation. It will probably have a low frame rate making it
\"choppy\". this will be fixed in the next step.
4. Change the frame rate to 40 ms(25 frames per second). Choose
file-\>Export as-\> \"Name\".gif, then choose Save as Animation.
Note: Don\'t know wheter this is an additional feature of Gimp 2.6.8 or
not, but i found out following: In Gimp 2.6.8, within the export wizard,
you have to choose option: -save as animation- first and next at the
option: -single picture where not mentioned- the option: one single
picture per layer. -Sorry i use the german version of gimp-
You should end up with something like this: 
Alternatively, you may try using addons to create animated Gifs directly
from Blender. 2 options include
Spritify and
Bligify
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/3D Tiling Backgrounds For The Web
## Overview
This tutorial will guide you through the process of making 3D tiling
backgrounds for use with web pages, your desktop, or anything else for
that matter. We will be using Blender and a graphic editing program such
as Adobe Photoshop or GIMP. I will provide detailed explanation to cator
to beginners, however more experienced Blenderists can probably get away
with just following the picture diagrams provided. You may also find the
diagrams useful if English is not your native language, or if you hate
reading instructions.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
## Create The Object You Wish To Tile
Start up Blender and look at your lonely cube. We will use this cube as
a starting point for the sake of demonstration, but feel free to use any
shape you like. Press \"**Tab**\" to enter **Edit Mode**. Press the
\"**E**\" key on your keyboard and the **Extrude** menu will appear.
Select \"**Individual Faces**\". As you then drag your mouse cursor you
will see some numbers move in the bottom left in the window and text
saying \"Shrink/Fatten\". I recommend setting it to 1.0000 to keep it
simple. Hold down the \"**Ctrl**\" key while dragging to do so in set
increments.
Next, with the six faces of the cube still selected, press the \"**S**\"
key to scale those faces. I recommend scaling to 0.8000.
Good. Now that we have created our object we will prepare to tile it.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
## Specify Your Tiling Area
\"**Tab**\" back into **Object Mode** and press \"**NumPad 7**\" to go
to the Top View, or manually click \"**View**\" at the bottom of the
window and select \"**Top**\".
Press \"**spacebar**\" and from the menu that appears select \"**Add**\"
**\>** \"**Mesh**\" **\>** \"**Plane**\". The plane has appeared, but is
obstructed by our cube object, so press \"**S**\" to scale the plane to
5.0000.
You\'ll notice that I\'ve colored my plane black. This is only to make
it easier for you to see. You need not bother with this as we will be
deleting the face of this plane shortly.
We now have an easily visible boundary representing the area which will
be tiled. If at any point we decide we no longer need or want this we
can move it to another layer by pressing \"**M**\" and selecting a layer
to move it to.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
## Tile Away!
Now the fun part begins. If you have created 2D tiling backgrounds
before, this concept will be very familiar to you.
While in **Object Mode**, select your cube object. At this point you
have a couple of options. One is to make duplicates of the cube object.
Another is to make ***linked*** duplicates of the cube object. I
recommend making linked duplicates because you can later edit the mesh
of one object in order to change the mesh of all the duplicated objects.
This can be especially useful if you later plan to animate your tiling
background *(careful not to distract from the foreground)*. It is also
useful if you want to experiment with new designs easily without having
to re-place all your objects.
With your cube object still selected, press \"**Alt+D**\" to make a
linked duplicate. *(Non-linked duplication is done with \"Shift+D\")*
Now hold down \"**Ctrl**\" to move in set increments and move the object
to one of the corners of our plane. Make sure the center of the object
(represented by a pink dot) is aligned with the very corner of the
plane. At this point you may notice it\'s somewhat difficult to tell
whether the center of the object is exactly on the corner of the plane,
and that\'s why we are going to press \"**NumPad 5**\" or click
\"**View**\" and select \"**Orthographic**\". For all practical purposes
we can spend the rest of the time we are building the tiling pattern in
Orthographic View because this view is essential for tiling.
Now with your duplicate object still selected, scale it (\"**S**\" key)
so that is somewhat smaller than the first. Then rotate it using the
\"**R**\" key. While rotating you can constrain to a particular axis by
typing \"**X**\", \"**Y**\", or \"**Z**\" respectively.
We will now make linked duplicates (**Alt+D**) of our rotated and scaled
cube object and place one in each corner exactly on the grid (remember
to hold \"**Ctrl**\" while dragging). If you place an object in one
corner, you must place it in all four corners because corners touch both
the X axis and the Y axis.
Now as you will notice in the following diagram, I made an object that
is crossing over the edge of our plane. This is good. This is how to
make natural tiling backgrounds. However! Whenever we do this we must be
absolutely certain to do the same on the opposite side, or else our
backgrounds will not tile properly.
So now we\'ve created a few objects of different sizes and orientations,
however they have all been along the same spot on the **Z** axis. So
let\'s give our pattern some depth - after all, that is the joy of
working in 3D!
Before we do this, we\'ll want to get our guide plane out of the way. So
**right click** on the plane to select it, then \"**Tab**\" into **Edit
Mode**. Press \"**X**\" and from the **Erase** menu choose \"**Only
Faces**\". Now \"**Tab**\" back into **Object Mode**. There! We now have
only the segments of the plane as our guide.
Hold down the **middle mouse button** while dragging the mouse to see
what our design looks like in three dimensions. Now right click one of
the cube objects, duplicate a linked copy (**Alt+D**), and press
\"**Z**\" to constrain movement to the Z axis.
Navigate in this way along the **X** and **Y** axis as well and once
you\'ve found a good spot, **scale** and **rotate**. Remember to make a
duplicate on the opposite side whenever you cross the outline of the
plane guide. You can go on like this and populate your tiling pattern
with as many objects as you wish. The grid is your friend during this
process, so you should always have your finger on \"**Ctrl**\" while
moving the duplicate of an object that crosses a border of the guide
plane. Also, any object that will \"tile\" across the border must be at
the same point on the **Z** axis as its counterpart on the other side of
the seam. Press \"**NumPad 7**\" periodically to see where you are from
a 2D standpoint. This is the view from which we will eventually render
the image, so this perspective is the one that counts. Beginners,
remember that **mouse wheel** zooms in and out, and \"**Shift+middle
mouse button**\" allows you to \"drag\" your way around.
Keep in mind that in **Orthographic View** we do not perceive the depth
of objects. Those far away and those near by appear to be at the same
distance. This is what allows us to make a tiled image, but it also
limits the apparent depth of the scene. We can compensate for this by
scaling down the objects we want to appear further away. Or, as in this
example, we can just make each object a different size and place some in
front of others.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
## Camera Settings
We will now position the camera directly over our cluster of objects.
Press \"**NumPad 7**\", center the view on the cluster using
\"**Shift+middle mouse button**\", and zoom out a couple notches with
the **mouse wheel**. From the **3D View Window**\'s menu, click
\"**View**\" **\>** \"**Align View**\" **\>** \"**Align Active Camera to
View**\". Now you may be wondering why everything appears to be
distorted. This is because when we changed to the camera\'s perspective,
the view automatically reverted to **Perspective View** because by
default the camera is set to that view. But just as we changed to
**Orthographic View** in the 3D View Window, we can change the view of
the camera as well. While in **Object Mode**, swivel the view until you
see the camera. It is represented by a pyramidal wireframe with a black
triangle atop the opening. **Right click** to select it. Now press
\"**F9**\" or click the **Editing** button (it\'s icon is four vertices
joined in a square). Now in the **Camera** panel you will see a button
labelled \"**Orthographic**\". Press it. Above the button is a value
labelled **Scale**. Set it to around 20. (See figure below)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
## Lighting & Materials
Place some lights in your scene, and add some materials to your objects.
**Lighting** and **materials** are subjects which demand their own
tutorials, so if you don\'t know how to do these things yet, please
consult the Wiki.
**Note:** I advise lighting your scene pretty evenly in order to make
the tiling seem contiguous.
**Note:** You could also only use Sun lamp, so the light is clean all
over the mesh!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
## Rendering
Now that you\'ve presumably got your lighting and materials as you want
them, it\'s time to render the scene. Under **User Preferences** click
\"**Render**\" **\>** \"**Render Settings**\" or just press \"**F10**\".
In the **Format** tab you can choose the dimensions of your rendered
image, the file format you prefer, and the quality. I\'m going with
800x600 at 100% quality.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
## \'Shopping
And it\'s time to begin post-production. Open your rendered image in
your preferred image editor. I will be using Photoshop in this example.
Now find and mark the four corners of your tile (on a new layer of
course). Just eyeball it.
We will use guides to mark the tile boundaries. In Photoshop guides can
be inserted by selecting \"**View**\" **\>** \"**New Guide\...**\".
Guides can be positioned with the **Move Tool**. You can zoom in and
make sure your guides are accurately positioned by holding \"**Ctrl**\"
while typing \"**+**\" or \"**-**\". You can now hide or delete the
layer with the markers, as that was only to help us get accurate guides.
Should you decide to make an animated tiling background I recommend
layering all your frames on top of one another in your image editor
before editing in order to keep the position uniform. You can then
animate them using Adobe ImageReady (comes with Photoshop) or find
decent low-budget and occasionally free GIF animation programs online.
Now select an area just *outside* of the guides with the **Marquee
Tool**. Make sure \"**Feather**\" is set to **0px** and that the marquee
is rectangular and **Style** is set to **Normal** (meaning no Fixed
Aspect Ratio or Fixed Size). Also, it will help you to have **Snap**
enabled, so go to \"**View**\" and make sure it is enabled for guides.
Once you have selected the area, copy (**Ctrl+C**) and paste
(**Ctrl+V**). Then drag to the right using the **Move Tool** and that
piece should snap to the inside of the rightmost vertical guide.
Select the Eraser Tool and choose a brush size. I\'m going with a
diameter of 65. You\'ll want to use a soft gradient-like brush for this.
Now erase the left edge of the newly pasted selection so that it blends
into the picture. Don\'t erase any of the right edge.
Press \"**Ctrl+E**\" or alternatively, select \"**Layer**\" **\>**
\"**Merge Down**\".
Alright, so that procedure you just performed copying from left to
right - now do it bottom to top. Once again, erase the edge. Do a **Save
As**.
Finally, select the square center area that will become your tile and do
\"**Image**\" **\>** \"**Crop**\".
Now scale your new tiling background to a web-friendly size. **Save As**
a JPEG, GIF, or PNG. **You\'re done!**
*Note:If your pattern still isn\'t tiling quite perfectly, load the
version with the guides again and repeat the copy-paste-erase process.
Remember to merge down your layers each time or the corners may not tile
correctly. If still no joy, try tiling the background in a web browser,
taking a screenshot, pasting that into your graphics editor, and
touching up from there.*
Here is the final result: 
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Cool Things
Cool things in Blender that aren\'t that obvious. Useful tips and tricks
in Blender.
## Attribution
Many of The Following Tips and Tricks have been contributed by members
of the CGsociety.org, a Public Society for
Digital Artists. The tips have been extracted from a CGsociety
thread.
They have been roughly edited to improve readability.
## File Browser Functions
### Delete, Move, Rename, and Make Directory
When you are inside a file browser for loading or saving something and
you want to create a new directory, just add the name to the path on top
of the window and confirm \'Makedir\'.
you can also delete(x), move(m), or rename(n) a file. you can do action
on multiple files by seling with right click
### Preview images when loading them as a texture
Whenever you are loading images as a texture, you can hold down **Ctrl**
while clicking on the \'load\'
### Trick for Creating Quick File Revisions
After you have saved a blend file or an image you can then save it in
progression that is:
car .blend. or car .JPG
Next time do \"Save As\" then press the + (plus) key which will advance
the blend file by 1 every time it\'s pressed. example: car .blend
becomes car 1.blend. press again car 2.blend and so on.
The - (minus) key will subtract one. I\'ve gotten into the habit of
saving frequently. Yeah I know there is now the undo feature but I like
this better because it gives you a history in case you need to back a
few levels of a build. You get a saved version at the level you choose.
Note: Blender automatically detects the number\... meaning it does not
need to be in any position. For instance: If you have a file named
001starport.png or .blend or whatever, pressing the + (plus) key will
automatically name it 002starport.png. If you want to name it
starport1.png, it will change it to starport2.png.
Two rules: The filename has to have a number. It can be 0, or 1, or
3.141569.
If the file number is a negative, pressing + (plus) key will increase
the \"magnitude\" of the negative number. I may have used magnitude
wrong, if so, I mean pressing the + (plus) key will make -0.04 drop to
-0.05. The - (minus) key will bring you only to 0, and then it will
start to eat itself up.
### Open Recent
Control O
## Object/Vertex Manipulation
### Constrain Movement to one Axis or to a plane
when moving objects/vertices or set of objects/vertices (**\[G\]** key)
if you move in the direction of the global X axis (Up/Down) and then
press the **MMB**, movement will be constrained to only move in the X
axis, or if you move the vertices in the direction of the Y axis and
then press **MMB** it will be constrained to move only in the Y axis.
The same is true of the Z axis.
You can achieve the same effect by using the X, Y or Z keys while in
grab mode. You simply have to press X key, Y or Z, once to lock to X Y
or Z global axis,\*
To Constrain the Movement to two axes (a plane): Press **Ctrl+X** to
move in the Z-Y-Plane. **Ctrl+Z**=XY, **Ctrl+Y**=XZ.\*
Alternatively, Select scaling mode and select the axis not to scale with
the selecting button at the same time as you hit **Shift**.
- in every case You can hit the X,Y or Z button again to constrain
movement to a different set of axes. Normally this different set of
axes is local. However you can change the identity of this set to
global, local, normal, or view by pressing **Alt+Space**. which
cycles through the different identites.
Note: All of these shortcuts work with scaling and Rotating as well
### Shrink/fatten mesh in direction of vertex normals
When you\'re mesh-editing, **Alt+S** will shrink/fatten the mesh
selection in the direction of the vertex normals.
### Vertex Parenting
You can parent object to a Mesh, in that case you are parenting to the
center of the mesh.. BUT if the mesh is translated somehow (let\'s say
by an armature**\'\[S\]** pose) the center remains in the same spot, and
thus the child object doesn\'t receive any transformation at all.
To solve this, you can parent the child object to a vertex (or a face)
within the mesh, and any transformation that the vertex receives is
passed to the child.
There are only 2 options, to parent to any 3 vertex within the mesh or
to parent to just one vertex. If you parent to 1 vertex then only
location information is passed, with 3 vertex all transformations
(rotation, location and size) are passed to the child.
How to do it? Starting in object mode select the child(ren), hold
**Shift** and select the parent, enter edit mode, select one or three
vertex, press **Ctrl+P**. That\'s it!
### Work around to welding Verts
For Edge loop (Verts) position both loops together as close as possible
then hit W then 4 (not on numkey pad). You can adjust how far the effect
of collapse can go in the Edit window (a button on the right labeled
Limit: \*\*\*, where \* is a number).
As for individual Verts, e.g. Two vertices welded to become one, select
both Verts, scale until they are very close then hit W then 4.
you can also do this with the snap combo
select the vertex you want to weld together **Ctrl+S**, Cur -\> Sel
**Ctrl+S**, Sel -\> Cur **\[W\]**, Remove Doubles
Also, whenever Blender pop up a menu with different options, you can
just type in a number to choose one of the options (use the numbers not
on the **NumPad**)
### Make individual objects the camera and Change them back
If you select certain objects and press **Ctrl+0(zero)**it will make
them the camera. I use it all the time to align spotlights.
Select your camera and hit **Ctrl NumPad 0** to make it the active
camera again
### Ordering Meshes in Vertex Groups
If you are preparing to skin your meshes and you are ready to create the
vertex groups, you should pay attention to the order in which you create
them, because once they are created there is no way to re-arrange them
on the vertex-group list.
That means that if you are a ultra-by-the-book person and you would like
the vertex group alphabetically ordered on the list them you must create
them in alphabetical order.
.. Or, if you would like them to be ordered according to their function
(shoulders, then arms, then forearms, then palms, etc. you must create
them in that order.
This may all sound like a stupid thing to care about, but If you have a
character with 39 vertex groups you may quickly find that when one of
them needs fixing it is a little difficult since they were randomly
created.
### Position and scale along face normal,
\-**Shift V**: Position camera along face normal, **Alt S**: scale
selected vertices along face normal
### Using Fake Users
pressing **Shift+F4** will turn the window into a ¨Data Select Window¨
where you can assign and unassign fake users to almost everything by
selecting the name and pressing the F key
Creating a fake user allows you to keep useful data blocks (materials,
textures, base meshes) at hand even if they are not linked to an object.
You can use it to set a default material that would have the shader you
like best.
### Align a selection of vertices on a plane
If you want to perfectly align a selection of vertices on a plane, you
just have to follow these little steps:
1.) Before you are selecting the vertices you want to align, position
your 3D cursor in the plane that you want to align to (you could select
the 4 vertices of a big plane and hit **Shift+S** / Cursor-\>Selection
for example, but you can position it anywhere)
2.) Now select those vertices you want to align
3.) Choose \"3D Cursor\" under \"Rotation/Scaling Pivot\"
4.) Now with the **\[S\]**-key start scaling mode, hit the key of the
axis you want to move the vertices on (X,Y,Z)
5.) Holding down the **Ctrl-Key**, you can now move the vertices in one
line towards the cursor, until the value for the chosen axis is 0.000.
Alternatively, just enter, using the keyboard, the scale factor you want
(0 in this case) .
6.) Hit LMB. The vertices are perfectly aligned along a plane through
the 3D cursor.
This even works very well while in perspective view mode, so you can
align on the fly and don\'t have to switch to front/side/top view all
the time.
### Welding Vertices
You can weld vertices by selecting them in edit mode and pressing
**Alt+M**.
### View wireframe of hidden Verts
to view the wireframe of hidden Verts, make sure you are in WIREFRAME
MODE and then turn SubSurf on and change the level to 0 If you already
knew about this then
### Select a true loop
shortcut is **Shift + Alt + right Button** of the mouse, serves to
select true loop, in vertices as in edges like in faces.
### Selecting one object from a single mesh comprised of multiple objects
If you have more than in Edit Mode, you can place your mouse cursor next
to one of the Verts in the desired object, then press the \"L\" key to
select all of the Verts linked to that one. \"Alt+L\" reselects in the
same manner.
### Precise Zoom and Select/Deselect
Selecting: If you Hold down the **Ctrl+LMB** (left mouse button) and
drag the mouse, it will allow you draw a selection as opposed to using
the B button which gives you a square.
Deselecting:To draw an area to deselect, Hold down the **Ctrl+ Shift+
LMB**(left mouse button) and drag the mouse,
Zooming:Hold down the **Ctrl+MMB**. Move your mouse vertically to can
get a more controlled zoom versus scrolling the Mouse wheel.
This feature may not be present in 2.37 or earlier versions.
### Mouse Gestures
Left click and draw:
- a straight line - moves the selected object.
- a circle - rotates the selected object (note: this must be drawn
fairly circle-like).
- a V - scales the selected object.
### Selecting Obscured or Hidden Objects
Say you are in front or side view and you want to select an object, but
it is obscured or hidden behind other objects. If you press **Alt RMB**
over a group of objects, a menu will be displayed in the 3D window
allowing you to pick the object you wish to select.
### Select or Deselect Multiple Vertices
In Edit mode, when you click the **RMB** near a vertex that vertex (face
or edge)will be selected, **RMB** again will reselect. By holding the
**Shift** key this will allow you to add each selected vertex (face or
edge) in that highlighted group.
Pressing the U key (Undo in Edit mode) will also remove the last
selection you made.
Alternatively, you can Press B and then draw a box with **MMB**.
Anything caught in the box will be deselected. Also works with BB and
the draw selection. Draw with **MMB** and you reselect.
### Selecting multiple items
You can hold **Shift** and use right mouse button to select multiple
items to append.
### Measuring, length, distance on an object.
Hit \"F9\" (editing), you should have split (2) windows. One \"3d\" the
other \"buttons\" go to the Mesh Tools 1 panel and press the Edge
Length, Edge Angles and the dimensions will appear on your selections in
the 3d view.
### Adding Connected Vertices
In Edit Mode, if only one vertex is selected, pressing \"E\" will add a
vertex, on a freely defined place, connected to the selected one. As
will holding **CTR**L and left clicking the mouse where you want the new
vertex to be positioned.
Note: It must be an Image texture and in wireframe mode to be visible.
(2.37a)
### Recalculate Normals
**Ctrl + N** = Recalculate normals outside (you might have to select
faces before doing so) **Shift + Ctrl + N** = Recalculate normals inside
These two hotkeys are useful when you extrude some edges and see a kind
of seam in between (due to normals pointing in different directions).
Then, after selecting an edge, **Ctrl + NumPad(+)** selects the face
associated with this edge. **Ctrl + NumPad(-)** deselect the face.
### Create a Quad from two Tris
**Alt + J** when having two Tris selected makes a Quad.
### Remove Doubles
To Remove Doubles use hotKey: W. You can adjust the \"limit\" option so
that \"Remove Doubles\" has more or less tolerance. This option is
located in editing window under the mesh tools panel, (i.e. weld
vertices that are further?)
### Combine edit levels on a mesh.
When in Edit mode for a mesh (TAB key) you can choose the level that you
wish to edit at. At the bottom of the 3D window, there are four buttons.
Vertex, edge, face & back-face cull.
By default the vertex level is selected, if you hold **Shift** and press
the edge button, you can use both at once.
### Change Select Mode
to change select mode (vertex, edge or face) you can press **Ctrl+Tab**.
But this way you can\'t use the Ctrl+Key to ADD the select modes.. Still
could be useful, if you don\'t have a header for the window you\'re
working in..
### Precision Warping
When using the warp tool (**Shift+W**) you may find that there are times
when you have trouble perfectly closing a 360-degree loop. This is
because Blender will warp based on the total width of the selection,
which may not necessarily be what you want.
Getting around this is simple, just select two verts to denote the new
endpoints, duplicate them (**Shift+D**), scale the two verts times two,
so they are just twice as far apart. Then select what you want to warp
plus those two marker verts, and warp 720 degrees.
When done, click a vert on your mesh and type **L** to select everything
linked to it. Then type **H** to hide it. Once you\'ve hidden all of
your mesh, all that remains are the two marker verts. Do a Select All
(**A**) and type **X** to delete them. Now unhide your mesh using
**Alt+H** and you have just the warped mesh, extra guide verts are all
cleaned up.
### Precision Cutting
The Knife Tool can actually be quite precise if you take advantage of
the snap feature. Press **K**, choose **\"Knife(Exact)\"** and then hold
the **Ctrl** key while choosing where you wish to cut and you will find
that the path to be cut will now snap to nearby vertices.
Keep in mind that the vertices being snapped to don\'t have to be the
ones you are cutting. Say you want to cut the midsection out of a UV
sphere and you want the cut to be two grid units in height. While
viewing the side of the sphere, add a plane, and scale it to be two grid
units tall, and wide enough so that it extends beyond the sphere. Now
select the vertices of the sphere (because what we have selected is what
gets cut) and when you cut it, snap to the four verts of the plane. Now
hit **Enter** to apply your perfect cut.
Using guide geometry such as a plane to cut other geometry
\"cookie-cutter\" style can be extremely useful when accuracy is needed.
Remember to align your view before cutting, since your view will
determine the angle from which the geometry is cut.
## Working with Meshes
### Turning Sub-Surfed Mesh into Normal Mesh
If you have a sub-surfed mesh you can turn THAT sub-surf mesh into a
normal mesh. Just select the sub-surfed mesh and press **Alt+C**
(Conversion).
### How to remove (numb) black spots on a Mesh
If a Sub-Surfed mesh becomes (numb) black on some places, that\'s
because of the normals. Select all and press **Ctrl+n** and then
confirm. now it should look prettier!
if the above solution does not work , save your Blend file, Quit Blender
then restart. Use **Ctrl O** to open the last file and your mesh will
have returned to correct shaded state.
### Select all holes in a mesh and fill them
**Shift+M**\* selects all Non-manifold edges/vertices (holes) in a mesh
\*\*. Then all you have to do is hit **Ctrl+F** to auto-fill those holes
with \"beauty fill\".
-
**Shift+M**is an alternative shortcut for \'Select Non-manifold\'.
You\'ll find this in the select menu when in mesh edit mode. The listed
short cut there is **Ctrl+Alt+Shift+M**. **Shift M** is obviously a lot
more comfortable on the fingers though!
- -
Although \'Non-manifold\' usually refers to holes in your mesh, it is
not necessarily only holes e.g., an edge with three faces coming out of
it is also a non-manifold edge!
### Fill in four or fewer vertices
Select the vertices and press **\[F\]**, this will fill in the empty
space around them.
To clean up a filled in space, select all the vertices for the area, and
press **\[F\]**. Choose OK to make FCon. For example: add a plane in
wireframe mode, extrude it several times, select all vertexes, then hit
**\[F\]**.
## Animation
### Animation Preview in all windows at the same time
It is well known that **Alt+ a** is for previewing an animation on the
3D window. But that\'s not all of it. Divide your screen into multiple
3D Windows, each from a different point of view.
Press **Alt + Shift + a**
Enjoy!!!
If you have an Action/Ipo Window and 3D windows open, and you issue the
**Alt + Shift + a** command from the Action (or the Ipo) window, it will
animate both (the action and the 3D) in sync!! Great for visualization
of Ipo\'s effect on your model.
### Choose animation mode, Convert mouse movements to IPO
-T in IPO window: Choose animation mode, i.e., linear, bezier, constant
-**\[R\]** in IPO window: Record mouse movements, and convert to IPO
### Animate procedural textures
To animate procedural textures, press \'i\' with the mouse pointer in
the materials window, and select the type of Key-Frame you wish to set
in the pop up menu. advance a few frames, tweak your materials, and set
another key frame.
## UV Mapping, Particles and Texturing
### Blender color picker
Blender has a PhotoShop-esque color picker. Simply click on the color
preview next to the sliders to use it. Hit enter when you have the color
you want.
### Saving your face groups selections
Regarding UV mapping and Face Groups Selections there seems to be the
general misconception that you can\'t save your face groups selections
on Blender.
Most people already know that from within the Face Select Mode (Potato
Mode) you can switch into Edit Mode and whatever selection you do while
in Edit Mode is passed back to Face Select Mode when you exit the Edit
Mode.
Well, Did you ever wonder why Material Index Groups (that are nothing
more than face groups with a common material on them) have those little
\'Select\' and ´Deselect\' buttons there? Sure they come handy for later
modification of the material index but that is not all about them.
Do this: Before starting the UV unwrapping job, cut your mesh by
creating as many material indexes as you need, you can even assign each
one a different color so you can be sure that there is no face orphan.
Once you have the mesh all cut and sliced (so to speak) you enter in
Face Select Mode, then switch into Edit Mode, select the index
containing the faces you want to unwrap, press \'Select\', leave Edit
Mode and Voile! You now have an entirely useful face group waiting for
you to unwrap. No more manual (and imprecise) face selection is needed.
If you later need to change the mapping of those faces, don\'t fear.
Just make sure there isn\'t any face selected on Potato Mode, do as you
did first (enter edit mode, select the index, exit edit mode) and there
are your very same faces selected again with the UV mapping you already
assigned to them.
Note: Another benefit of have precise face selection groups is that,
initially, you don\'t have to worry about UV coordinates overlapping,
since you know have the way to select ONLY the faces you want to. For
example, you unwrap all your faces by groups and when you are done you
can start thinking about scale and position within the texture map, not
like before when you have to solve those things as you go.
### Bulk Texture Change
Consider a scenario in which you have a scene with a 100 mesh objects,
and 50 of them have one texture and 50 of them have another.
If you want to change the texture of the first 50, but don\'t want to
change each individually, do the following. Add a Plane out of the view
of the camera. Add your new texture (Material) to the plane. Then use
the "Copy to material Buffer" button in the header of the Material
buttons. Select one mesh object of the same sort that you want to
change, open Material buttons and Paste from Material Buffer.
All the mesh objects with the same texture will now have the new
texture.
Alternatively, If you have a material that you want to apply to a lot of
objects at once:
1\. Select all the objects you want to apply the material to. 2. Apply a
material. (this only applies to the last selected object) 3. press
**Ctrl+L** \> Materials. (this links the material of the last selected
object to all the other objects)
### Negative Meta-Balls
Add\>Metaball as usual. Exit EDIT mode and Add\>Metaball. This time
before you exit EDIT mode, hit the Negative button in the EDIT buttons
window. Then leave edit mode.
If you move the negative Metaball around, you can see the effect it has
on the positive metaball.
Be careful though, as negative metaballs are not displayed in the same
manner as positive metaballs, you will only see the Pivot point not a
meta-mesh.
This is a little test you can try to see the amazing effects negative
metaballs can produce.
Make 1 Metaball, make it big. Place three spheres (UV) inside, make them
emit particles, one 100, one 200, one 300 particles. Parent three
negative metaballs, one to each sphere, and use dupli-vert on each
sphere. Make the 100 duplicate metaball quite big, the 200 medium and
the 300 small. Hit **Alt A** to run animation in 3D window.
*(`<s>`{=html}Click here for this author\'s negative-metaball
thread`</s>`{=html}\... **oops,** it\'s not there anymore, well, not the
AVI
anyway!)*
*(Click here for this author\'s negative-metaball
AVI.)*
### Maintain the UV layout when moving/scaling/rotating UV co-ords.
When you have the UV image/editor window open and have loaded an image
you want to UV map to a mesh, click on the UV tab in the header bar and
turn off \'Snap UV to pixels\'.
This will help to maintain the UV layout when moving/scaling/rotating UV
co-ords.
## Rendering
### Tricks, related to the view ports and the render buffers
First. Switching among screens
So you have your screen made off the 3D window, the buttons window and
the info window\... but you are doing some fine tunning to the mesh in
two places simultaneously, and they both need to zoom in the 3D window.
You could scroll or zoom out, translate the view and zoom in again. None
of them an elegant solution.
Another situation. You are working on a model and are using an image for
reference. You are not tracing over the photo, just take a look at it
often to make sure you don\'t deviate to much from the concept. So you
open the photo in a 2D program and keep switching back and forth from
Blender.. or you have the photo open in an image window and keep
maximizing and minimizing the window\... another hassle
Worry no more!!! Blender can handle multiple virtual screen (ala Linux)
and you can come and go from them with just one key stroke.
Just press **Ctrl+Left Arrow** or **Ctrl+Right Arrow** (for all of you
OS X users, add a **Shift**) and you are switching screens. Go ahead! By
default EVERY .blend file comes with 3 screens \... and of course you
can add/delete as many as you see fit.
the magic button to add or delete screens is right beside the Tools
menu, up there in the info window.
### Using the render buffers
Ok, so you set your scene and press RENDER, a nice window comes up and
you see your hard work coming to existence (that\'s the default
behavior, if your change it on the display buttons then this may not
work for you).
Do you realize that the window containing your render image is also a
render buffer? Actually they are 2 buffers for your to play with.
Whenever the render window is open (and you can re-open it by pressing
F11 without having to wait again for the render) if you press the J key
you can switch from Buffer A and B. (the last active one is what you
save when you press F3). You can even switch buffers in the middle of a
rendering (but I advice against that when rendering very complex scenes,
you have been warned!)
The cool thing about having two separate render buffers is that you can
have instant before-and-after images for things that you change in the
scene. For example you are searching the perfect position for a light
source in a scene, you place it and do a render, place the light in
another position, switch to the second buffer and do a new render. Now,
with the render window open, just press J to see how the change on the
light\'s position influence your scene and that makes your decision
easier.
By the way, the render window can be zoomed (by the normal ways or by
pressing Z ) to do a closer inspection of the image.
### Render window Tricks
To zoom into the render window, use the **ZKEY**.
To find out what the (Red, Green, Blue, Alpha) values of rendered image
are, left click and hold the button of your mouse.this will reveal the
RGBA values of the pixel below the mouse cursor. i.e. R 127, G 255, B
13, A40. The values will appear in the bottom left corner of the render
window. You can also hold the button and drag the mouse around. This
will display the values of the pixels your mouse pointer passes over.
With the render window open, you can press **AKEY** to view an alpha
version of the image. Press **AKEY** again to go back to the normal
colour view.
To do a before/after comparison after making a change, hit **JKEY** to
switch render buffers, then hit **F12** to render. In the render window,
use **JKEY** to alternate between the previous render and the current
one, so you can easily see the differences.
### Working while you Render
If you use a X/X11 based window manager, you do not need to watch
blender while it renders, go to a different virtual desktop. Blender
doesn\'t have to keep X informed of what\'s going on and rendering speed
may increase.
### Border Rendering
In the rendering buttons find the buttons marked \"Border\" and
\"Crop\". If you depress \"Border\", you can get a rendering of any part
of what the camera sees. Just do the following :
Go into a camera view using **NumPad 0**, press **Shift+B**. Then, mark
the limits of the rendering as you want them using LMB. Next, render the
usual way and the section you marked will be rendered first, then it
will be integrated to the complete rendering. If you wish that \*only\*
the chosen section would be rendered then click on the button marked
\"Crop\" also.
### Creating a cluster of particles which takes little time to render
Render some particles, and make the picture into an alpha mapped tga in
GIMP or whatever graphics editing application you use.
Load the image onto a plane. Adjust the alpha settings accordingly.
Parent the plane to the emitter. Press dupli-verts.
You now have a cluster of particles which takes relatively little time
to render. Of course it doesn\'t have to be an alpha map of particles.
That\'s entirely up to you.
### Alpha from render view
When cut & pasting stuff from render window to {insert your favorite
image editor here} using **Alt+ PrtScr**, cut and paste the render
first, come back to render window and press \"A\". It changes the view
to alpha and you get black & white mask to cut the background nicely in
the {again, favorite image editor}. Nice when you do testing in low res.
### View alpha texture as wire.
**Ctrl+d** in 3d very usefully for preview without rendering.
Also, if you have an object (works best on a mesh plane) with an image
texture, you can use **Alt+V** key outside edit mode. This will adjust
the object\'s size values so that the image won\'t be stretched when
projected.
## Miscellaneous
### Restoring your "lost" work.
If you go to the temp folder where you have Blender save its temp .Blend
files, reload the most recent one and this will save you losing the
whole of your work. You don\'t even need to save a .Blend file for this
to work. You can change the settings for this in the tool window at the
top of the Blender screen.
### Built in Hot-Key List
Since the few last versions (since 2.28 I think) blender has a built-in
all inclusive hot-key list. Just open a text-editor window, and right
besides the option to create a new text-buffer there is a menu option
called ¨KEYLIST.intrr¨. Select that option and the full list is loaded
in memory
\--Edit: There may be many hot-keys missing, especially the newest ones,
like M to mirror a mesh, K for the Knife tool, **Alt+Z** for textured
view\... but the list is a good start at least.
### Un-compiled PlugIns
Blender can load plug-ins for texturing, sequence editor, etc. .
However, Blender comes with a few of such PlugIns un-compiled.
In Linux they are located on the plug-ins sub-directory of the default
Blender install, and all that you need is a Make command to compile
them. I don\'t know how to compile them in Windows, but there they are,
just waiting for you to awake them!!!
### Blender "Easter Eggs" (Weird things included in blender)
All Publisher versions of Blender have been shipping with a Monkey mesh
called Suzanne. Just open the main tool box (**Space Bar**) -\> Add -\>
Mesh -\> and right below the other primitives you\'ll see the Monkey.
Why/What it is for? Only NaN programmers know\*. It is supposed to be a
private joke among the blender developing team. Since then, its
considered as a sort of mascot for blender. However, it is incredibly
useful as a quick complex object for testing textures, shaders, etc..
By the Way, Suzanne isn\'t the only joke included\... but I won\'t spoil
the surprise. You will bump with them on your daily work, that is for
sure.
- NaN was the company that originally developed Blender
Try this: run blender with the -Y argument (open the command
prompt/terminal, go to your blender executable file folder, and type
blender -Y)
### Weird Error Message
Sometimes, when trying to use a boolean on a tri-based mesh, Blender
gives the prompt: \"Wanna Crash?\" \>Yes Please!
but clicking it doesn\'t crash. This is because Blender is a lot more
stable now compared to when that \'crash\' request was coded. It also
used to appear when using beauty fill after face fill. (**Ctrl+F** in
edit mode)
Blender 2.37 now has a \'widget\', which replicates the red/blue/green
axis symbol in 3DSMax in the 3d windows. Rotation scaling and movement
of objects/Verts/faces etc., can be manipulated using the widget, or in
the usual manner of earlier versions of Blender.
### Turn your blender animation into a screen-saver (Windows)
to turn your blender animation Windows binary file into a Windows screen
saver, rename the EXE file into SCR and right click it and install !
### Discover the FPS rate of a Window
If you hit **Ctrl+Alt+T** key in a window, Blender will tell you how
much time it takes to render a single frame of that window, in
milliseconds. Valuable Benchmark
## ???
using construction widget press **Shift** to get precision mode for fine
tuning. Release left mouse button (LMB) and holding **Shift** down press
it again, then you\'ll get moving along another axis.
## Sculpt Mode Hotkeys
- F: an interactive brush resize
- Shift F: an interactive brush strength adjuster
- Ctrl F: in interactive texture angle adjuster for your brush.
- Shift B: a rectangular zoom selection for close-up work
- Alt B: hides all but selected rectangle
- A: toggles airbrush
- S: smooth
- D: draw
- G: grab
- L: layer
- I: inflate
- P: pinch
- V: toggles add and subtract in draw mode
- Use X, Y and Z to toggle axis mirroring.
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Creating Blender Libraries
|previous=Troubleshooting
}}
```
You\'ve finally made that perfect object, armature or material: a
gamepiece, a robot, a fully rigged vampire character, or a
millimeter-accurate model of the Empire State Building. Besides using
this work in your own artistic project, you have made the courageous
decision to share that creation with the world.
Sharing your creative work is a great way to \"give back to the
community,\" even if you don\'t write Blender code and you can\'t
translate the Blender documentation to Swahili.
## How to Make a Library
So how do you make a library? In Blender, you don\'t need to export to a
special format. In fact, you don\'t need to do anything special beyond
saving your regular .blend file. Every .blend is a library file. Users
can Append what they like from your .blend file, and ignore parts which
they don\'t need for their own project.
This scheme has some benefits and some drawbacks.
The benefit of using .blend files as a library format is that it\'s
super easy to include extra stuff to help the user see the objects. If
the user loads the .blend file directly, it works like the pretty
packaging for foods, including a quick and easy way to get a pretty
\"serving suggestion\" rendering of the library contents. What you save
in your .blend is what the user will see when they load it, including
all your user interface settings, lighting types, and camera positions.
The drawback of using .blend files as a library format is that it\'s
super easy to include *unintended* things, such as extra meshes, unused
material and texture channels, and other things which the user will not
find helpful. Blender doesn\'t save things which are no longer
referenced anywhere, but it cannot read your mind if you leave a spare
mesh on layer 13 which uses some abandoned Material.034.
Also, some people are not accustomed to the way that Blender saves all
of the user interface settings along with the .blend file. When they
load your mesh, they see your way of working. This can be instructive,
but unless that\'s your intention, it\'s best to try to stick to a
simple and clean user interface setup for your library files.
For best results, you need to apply some discipline to publish a clean
and useful library.
## Library Usefulness Checklist
After having used several library .blend files from various sources, I
propose that anyone making libraries follow a few suggestions:
- keep to a certain object, theme or area of focus for each library
file
- all the test cameras and lights prefixed with a dash; e.g.,
**-Camera**, **-HemiLight.001**, etc.
- any other components not intended for Appending prefixed with a
dash; e.g., **-ground**
- all the test cameras and lights on the last one or two layers
(**lower right layer button**)
- any composite object intended for Appending organized in a **group**
to hold it together
- any groups, objects, materials, textures intended for Appending
given **meaningful names**
- document your unit scheme; e.g., **1 blender unit == 1 imperial
foot**, etc.
- any other layer contains test-render-ready objects or scenes
- choose rendering and world **settings which will not take an hour**
to make a simple test render
- make visible upon loading the layers required for a camera, a good
lighting angle, and a shared object
- make visible upon loading one small text file which lists layers and
objects
- make visible upon loading any python script, **with instructions on
how to start it** in a big comment
- make your licensing expectations clear: **artistic license**,
**creative commons**, etc.
- pack the texture files and other data before saving that final
.blend for publishing
- sign your work, stable email address or website url if possible
The dash prefixes for test-rendering cameras, boxes, floors and lights
will help the user know at a glance what to Append and what not to
Append from your library.
Here\'s a quick way to throw out all the stuff you really don\'t need,
including extra meshes, materials and user interface complexity.
- save your current .blend (and make a nice backup file too)
- shut down Blender entirely
- open up Blender again, which will load the default settings
- delete the cube and cameras from the default settings
- Append all the useful parts of your library .blend file (including
the *useful* test-rendering items)
- select the proper test-rendering camera for users to try out your
model quickly (select, then Ctrl+KEYPAD0)
- adjust the views to ensure important things are visible and ready to
render
- save the new library .blend, ready to publish
Blender saves the default settings in a file called **.b.blend** on your
disk. If your own preferred default settings are still too complicated
for newcomers to understand, you can move that file away temporarily to
get the \"factory\" built-in default settings which the Blender team
produces as a part of each new version of the software. Move the file
back again when you want to go back to your individual way of working.
## Publishing Your Library
It\'s helpful to include the .txt file and/or post it separately so that
people can read a summary before loading the blend file. This should
include any credits, usage notes, layer explanations, and licensing
information. For you Unix folks, remember to run it through **unix2dos**
to enforce \\r\\n CRLF newlines, readable by people with less flexible
tools such as Windows Notepad.
It\'s also of immense benefit to put up small test-renders of your
library objects or materials. They don\'t need to be large but they
should give an honest view of the work you\'re sharing before a
potential user takes the time to download library files that will not be
useful to them.
So, where do you publish your work of artistic genius?
- <http://www.e2-productions.com/bmr> Blender 3D Model Repository \--
link has been taken over to serve malware
- <http://blenderartists.org/> forums
- <http://www.deviantart.com/>
- <http://www.blendswap.com>
- your own website
If you post things on your own website, try not to rely on a free site
that will over-run your bandwidth limits and disappear two months later.
Search engine links will sometimes live on for years, just frustrating
those who were hoping to find a millimeter-accurate model of the Empire
State Building.
## Beyond Libraries
If you have even more time to spare, consider writing up a tutorial on
how you achieved any tricky results!
## Thank You
For every artist who chooses to share their creative works with the
community, there are a dozen artists, or even hundreds, who thank you
immensely.
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Add some depth with stereo
This tutorial contains some tips for how to work with stereo images.
Stereo viewing is to see the same thing from two slightly different
angles. This is what humans normally do with their two eyes. There are
many ways to view a stereo image. A perfect method is to use a stereo
monitor. But they are quite expensive, and many are of very low quality.
In the other end of the price-scale you can use crossviewing. Put the
two images next to each other, and look at one with one eye, and the
other with the other eye. Needs a bit of practice though. A popular
solution is red/blue anaglyph glasses, but they give very bad colors.
## The stereo camera
I wanted a stereo camera rig that was easy to work with. It should have
three cameras (center, left, and right), have an easy way to set
separation (should be 1/30 of the distance) and the center cam should be
used to control position etc, the two others should just follow.
### Create it
#### Manually
1. Reset the cameras position, rotation and size (you can use
,
and
). You may want to note these
values first, so you can change them back later. I just make sure
there\'s an IPO-curve for them, for example by making a keyframe
().
2. Create two new cameras. Reset their position, rotation and size too.
3. Name them *Camera.Right* and *Camera.Left* or similar. Set LocX to 1
for *Camera.Right* and -1 for *Camera.Left*. (Press
to see data for selected object,
in this window you can change name and values.) (Select a camera by
clicking several times on the
cameras, until the right one is selected.)
4. Create a new cube (remember to press
to exit edit mode). Reset position,
rotation and size. Name it *Distance Cube* and set these values:
LocZ: -30. SizeX: 0.1. SizeY: 0.1. SizeZ: 30.
5. Switch to front view. ()
6. Select *Camera.Left*. Then select *Camera* while holding down
so both are selected. Press
and press
to register *Camera* as parent.
Then press and select *Camera
Data*. Repeat with right *Camera.Right* and *Distance Cube*.
#### With a script
``` python
import Blender
from Blender import *
# Prepare
scene = Scene.getCurrent()
camera = Object.Get("Camera") # TODO validate that it is a camera
oldLocation = camera.loc
oldRotation = camera.rot
oldSize = camera.size
# Create stuff
c = Camera.New("ortho")
cameraLeft = Object.New("Camera", "Camera.Left")
cameraLeft.link(c)
scene.link(cameraLeft)
c = Camera.New("ortho")
cameraRight = Object.New("Camera", "Camera.Right")
cameraRight.link(c)
scene.link(cameraRight)
dEmpty = Object.New("Empty", "Distance")
scene.link(dEmpty)
# Configure
camera.loc = (0,0,0)
camera.rot = (0,0,0)
camera.size = (1,1,1)
cameraLeft.loc = (-1,0,0)
cameraLeft.rot = (0,0,0)
cameraLeft.size = (1,1,1)
cameraRight.loc = (1,0,0)
cameraRight.rot = (0,0,0)
cameraRight.size = (1,1,1)
dEmpty.loc = (0,0,-60)
dEmpty.rot = (0,0,0)
dEmpty.size = (1,1,1)
scene.update(1)
# Connect
camera.makeParent([cameraLeft, cameraRight, dEmpty], 0, 0)
# do that CTRL+LKEY thing
cameraLeft.link(Camera.Get("Camera"))
cameraRight.link(Camera.Get("Camera"))
# Reset original values
camera.loc = oldLocation
camera.rot = oldRotation
camera.size = oldSize
# Finish
Blender.Redraw()
```
### How to use it
- Never change the cube or the two side-cameras. Only change the
center camera. Use that one for positioning, rotation etc.
- To set the separation: As always, select the center camera. Resize
it (with ) so you can see the end
of the cube if needed. Point at the end of the cube with the mouse
pointer, and press . Move the mouse
pointer to the point of the main motive, that is closes to the
camera. The end of the cube may not end exactly there, but that
doesn\'t matter.
- To render (or preview) with one of the side cameras, select it and
press .
### What needs improvement
#### The cube is visible
Instead of using a cube, I\'d rather use something that doesn\'t render.
It could be an \"empty\", but see below.
#### The cube is hard to see
It can be hard to see where the cube ends, even in a simple scene. You
can select the center camera AND the cube, then it is clearly visible.
But you must remember to only select the camera, before you insert a
keyframe, so your changes to the cube doesn\'t get saved.
#### Distance plane is at infinity
The distance plane is where \"zero depth is\". When viewing a stereo
image, the distance plane is where the medium is. In this rig the
distance plane is at infinity, meaning *everything* is in front of it.
While stuff popping out in front of the screen is cooler than stuff
being \"inside\" the screen, it\'s a lot harder to make it look nice.
Specially because with everything in front of the screen, it\'s easy to
get stuff that is just way to close to the viewer. It can get so hard to
see that the 3d-effect is completely gone.
A different solution is to make the side cameras point at the end of the
cube, or add a plane to the rig, and point at that. But then the cameras
are no longer parallel, and that creates distortion.
The compromise solution is to (conceptually) render the images too wide,
and then crop the excess from the left side of the left image, and the
right side of the right image. Then it will look like it points just
like in the previously mentioned solution, but without the distortion.
But this give a lot of problems. First, I\'d like to do this a smarter
way, instead of just following the path describe above. But I don\'t
think that\'s possible in Blender. (I think povray can actually do
this.) So I need to render the image too wide. But if I increase width
in output, it actually renders the same width of the motive, but
decreases height. Then I need to do some weird math to get the right
FOV, and I don\'t know half the formulas. Cropping must be done outside
Blender, and the rest of \"the production line\" is hard to get back
into Blender if wanted.
I guess a couple of planes in the rig close to the cameras could
simulate the cropping, but that is of limited value. To make an
adjustable distance plane with them seems quite hard to me, it would
need some scripting I guess.
## Stereo viewing with the rig
This is where it gets exciting, now you are actually getting something
to look at.
1. Create a new screen, you could call it *Stereo View*.
2. The screen should have one big area from side to side.
3. Set the area to *3D View*
4. Unlock it (The *Locks layers and used Camera to Scene*-lock)
5. Select *Camera.Right* and press
6. Split the area in half so there is two parts next to each other
7. In the *right* area, select *Camera.Left* and press
8. Adjust zoom in both areas so the frame that shows what is rendered
is completely visible, but fill as much as possible. If you can\'t
make them same size, the two areas are not same size.
9. Use cross-view method to see the 3d-effect. Look at the left area
with the right eye and right area with the left eye. (It\'s a skill
you need to learn and practice.)
10. Press to see your scene
animated in stereo.
If you cannot see these, there is a lot of help with viewing them on the
web. Use a search engine to find them.
## Stereo rendering
### Anaglyph
Create two render layers in the *Render Layers* tab.
{width="281"}
Then go the *Node Editor* and click on the button with a human face.
Click on *Uses nodes* and remove the created items by selecting the
items and clicking on . Now, using the
*Add* menu, you need to do this diagram:
{width="400"}
Once done, return to the *Buttons window* and select the button *Do
Composite* on the *Anim* tab:
{width="281"} Then click on the button
*Render* on the *Render* tab:
{width="281"} You should see your
objects as an anaglyph:
{width="400"}
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Fluffy Material
## Spherical Blend Texture
This technique maps a spherical blend texture to the outsides of an
object.
Create a new material and name it something intelligent. Create a new
texture for this material, change the texture type to Blend, and then in
the texture properties, change the blend shape to \"Sphere\".
Back in the material buttons, go the \"MapInput\" tab and change the
texture coordinates to Blank-Blank-Z and Nor and as demonstrated in the
next screenshot: 
Finally go the \"MapTop\" tab, and depress the Emit button and set the
Texture Blending Mode to \"Add\": 
That\'s all there is to it, and here is how it looks:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
## Backlighting
This is a technique that a rather famous blender user called \"@ndy\"
uses. Very simple and effective.
All you need to do is place a Hemi light BEHIND the object you want to
light in respect to the active camera.
Breakdown: First add a Hemi lamp to your scene:
Next, Select the lamp THEN press and hold down the Shift key, and select
the Camera. Press Control-C to bring up the copy attributes menu, and
copy location AND rotation.
Now select JUST your lamp, press R to rotate it, then press the X key
TWICE to rotate around the local X axis. Using your numpad, key in
\"180\" to rotate the object 180Degrees.
All that remains to do is to press G to grab the lamp, then press Z
TWICE to move along the local Z axis, and move the lamp until it is past
and behind the object of interest. your resulting setup should look
something like this:
And here is the rendered result:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Color ramp
with input set to normal.
Pretty straighforward, but many advise against it.
- Minnaert shader
Available in 2.37, \"Darkness\"\<1 actually brightens edge. A cool
shader, but not very useful for this purpose.
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Human Body
This tutorial should cover the modelling, skinning and animation of
human body, plus facial expressions.
There are some tools to generate human body from parameters like:
- makehuman free software program (gpl).
The models generated are under MIT license. The models generated can
be easily imported in blender.
Use lightwave(obj) export. The exported file is located at
\...\\Documents\\makehuman
Delete the original cube first. The human object is smaller than the
standard cube. Use the UVImage editor to see the UV mapping but it
actually uses a texture stored in the image file texture.png
- facegen proprietary program. Used for
The Elder Scrolls IV:
Oblivion.
links to anatomy sites :
- fineart
- Body proportions
tutorials: Blender 3D: Tutorial Links
List
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Using Blender Libraries
You can append libraries in two ways. You can make a local copy of
**data blocks** (like objects, meshes, \...) of the content of a .blend
file in your .blend file (**appending**) or you can use data blocks from
another .blend file (**dynamic linking**).
You can **Append** with the command in the 3d view File -\> Append or
**SHIFT+F1**. When you give this command a file browser window opens.
There are two buttons **Append** and **Link** at the bottom of the
window. The default action is *appending*. But you can use *dynamic
linking* selecting the link button.
At this point select the .blend file to append. You can select one of
the following data blocks type to append:
- **Group**
- **Mesh**
- **Object**
- **Scene**
- **Text**
- **World**
- (not complete yet)
Note that this is a complete list, when you append only block types
present in the file will appear. Select the desired type. Now you can
select the particular data block to append by selecting its id.
## Indirect linking
When you give an append or link command almost all relations between
**data blocks** in Blender get expanded. For example, when you link (or
append) a specific Group, all its objects, the meshes associated with
the objects, the materials and the animations will be linked (or
appended) too. That is called \"indirect linking\". When you use
*dynamic linking* such indirect linked data is not stored when you save
a .blend file, when you load the file again blender will look for the
indirect linked data blocks in the library file.
## Groups
When you *append* a Group, blender will also create links in the current
*Scene* to the objects that are part of the group. The Objects then
become visible. However, when you decide to *dynamic link* a Group, it
won\'t do that. To use the objects in your blender project you can use
the group as a **duplicator** \"**SHIFT+AKEY** -\> Group menu -\> group
id to duplicate\".
## See also
- <http://www.blender.org/cms/Library_Linking.769.0.html>
- <http://www.blender.org/cms/Blender_Architecture.336.0.html>
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Beginning Modeling Final Project
Now that you\'ve gotten the hang of 3D modeling, it\'s important to get
some community feedback on your progress. Don\'t be an idiot and skip
this part, or you\'ll regret it later. Basically this will help you
track your progress and give you something that you\'ll be working on
over a long term and something you\'ll be proud of.
- First, you need to come up with a project idea. You can choose your
own modeling project, or choose one from the list below.
```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
- Second, you need to create a model of your idea. Spend a couple of
hours on it, and give it some details.
```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
- Third, once you believe you\'ve come far enough with the model, post
it in the Works In
Progress
forum on BlenderArtists.org(formerly elysiun.com) (you will have to
create an account if you haven\'t already). Post several screenshots
of your model from within the Blender (note: creating screenshots is
outside the scope of this wikibook, though see note lower down the
page). You can post whatever subject and message with your posting
that you would like, or you can use this suggested subject and
message:
: Subject: Beginning Modeling Final Project - `<project name>`{=html}
```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
:
: Please assist me with any feedback on my model, keeping in mind
that I am an absolute beginner still. I appreciate your help.
- Wait for feedback. It usually comes very quickly. If you have any
questions about feedback that you are given, don\'t be afraid to ask
your questions in the forum.
```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
- When you and others that have viewed your work feel that you are
ready, save your model in some place you can get back to easily. You
will continue working on this project once you\'ve learned some new
skills.
```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
- Move on to the next page.
(BTW. in Windows and/or maybe other OS, to take a screenshot press
\'PrtScn\' (PrintScreen). It will copy the screen to clipboard for you
to paste in your favourite graphics application. This may not work in
other OSs but try anyway. You can also create Blender screenshot
directly from Blender using menu **File\>Dump 3DView\...** or
**File\>Dump Screen\...** )
(In linux under the KDE I use ksnapshot, check under the graphics tab
and see if you have it. If not it should be just a google search away :)
gl and happy blendering)
(On Mac OS X, press Command (Apple) + Shift + 3 to do a full screen
capture)
- List of ideas:
- A Computer and keyboard
- A fishing rod
- A train engine
- A skyscraper
- A robot
- A Tank (real or made up)
- An airplane
- A truck or car
- Household appliances
- A Weapon
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Platonic Solids
The **Platonic solids** or **Platonic polyhedra** are the convex
polyhedra where all faces are copies of the same regular polygon, and
the same number of edges meet at every vertex. There are five of these
shapes: the tetrahedron (like a pyramid but with a triangular base):
cube, octahedron, dodecahedron and icosahedron.
Recent versions of Blender include an addon called "Regular Solids",
which lets you instantly generate these and a whole bunch of other
similar shapes. However, the following steps do not require any addons.
### The Tetrahedron
Bring up the Add Mesh menu (Shift+A), and select a Cone. Set the number
of Vertices to 3, leave Radius 1 at its default value of 1.000 and
Radius 2 at 0.000[^1]. Now, set the Depth to $\sqrt{2} \approx 1.414$.
To make sure that you have a regular tetrahedron, you can check the
lengths of the edges (in Edit Mode, press N to open the Properties panel
and locate the checkbox **Length** in the section **Edge Info**).
### The Cube
This happens to be a built-in shape in Blender. Just bring up the Add
Mesh menu, and select Cube. Done!
### The Octahedron
This shape is the *dual* of the cube---it has vertices where the cube
has faces, and faces where the cube has vertices. To make it, first
create a cube. Press to switch to Edit
mode. All the vertices should already be selected. Press
to bring up the Specials menu, and select
the Bevel function (or select it directly with
). As you move the mouse, you will
see each vertex of the cube turn into a triangular face; don't bother
getting the shape exactly right, simply press
to finish the drag. Then, look in the
panel that should have appeared at the bottom of the Toolshelf on the
left of the 3D view (press to toggle
its visibility); you should see an editable numeric field labelled
"Offset". Type the value 1.0 into this field, and that should exactly
form the octahedron shape.
Finally, bring up the Specials menu again, and this time select Remove
Doubles[^2].
### The Icosahedron
Bring up the Add Mesh menu, and select an Icosphere. Set the Subdivision
to 1. Simple!
### The Dodecahedron
This shape is the dual of the icosahedron. To create it, make an
icosahedron as above. Then do what you did to make an octahedron out of
a cube: press to switch to Edit mode.
All the vertices should already be selected. Press
to bring up the Specials menu, and select
the Bevel function. As with the octahedron, press
to finish the drag. Then set the Offset
value to 0.30310889132, which comes from the formula
$\frac{a\sqrt{3}}{6}$, with $a$ being the edge length of the icosahedron
(1.05 if made by the method above)[^3].
Then, bring up the Specials menu again, and this time select Remove
Doubles[^4], you should see the message "Removed 40 vertices" briefly
flash up.
### Exercise
What's the dual of the tetrahedron? Try applying the Bevel operation to
one of those; what do you end up with?
## External Link
Wikipedia article
[^1]: Blender 2.8\^ in the \"Adjust last operation\" menu in the lower
left corner only available after the first creation
[^2]: Blender 2.8\^: Merge Vertices By Distance
[^3]: To understand why this formula works: understand how the dual is
formed, how offset in Blender works and what the formula computes
(http://www.treenshop.com/Treenshop/ArticlesPages/FiguresOfInterest_Article/The%20Equilateral%20Triangle.htm)
[^4]: Blender 2.8\^: Merge Vertices By Distance
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Polygonal Modeling
As the name suggest, polygonal modeling involves constructing the models
out of polygons. Strictly, software packages works only with triangles.
Blender could show you quads and some software packages could even let
you work with polygons with more than 4 sides (n-gons) but these
packages work internally only with triangles. These triangles are hidden
so that you could concentrate more on modeling.
While different modelers works differently, they would still follow
certain workflows (some call this techniques). These are familiarly
called box modeling and polygon-by-polygon modeling (poly-by-poly
modeling).
**Box modeling** is a top-down approach where modelers start with a
primitive (usually a cube (box), hence the box in box modeling). Then
from this primitive, the model\'s form is build up where details are
gradually added.
**Poly-by-poly modeling** is almost the opposite of box modeling. It is
the bottom-up approach where modelers start with a plane or even a
vertex. Using extrusion and other tools, more geometries are added.
Polygon by polygon the model is gradually build.
Neither of the two is better than the other but there are instances
where one workflow lends much better to the situation. One typical
advantage of box modeling is that at early stage, you are able to
conceive first the form (the whole) of the model and is better equipped
to do general corrections without bothering yet with the details.
Poly-by-poly otherwise give you more control on the geometry and is much
more easier to use in modeling complex forms like the human ear.
Complications do arise when working with the two. In box modeling, it is
typically difficult to manage the geometry when adding details.
Experience is necessary so as not to create a mess. Poly-by-poly
modeling otherwise has its own quirks. Since you are going detail by
detail, it is easy to make a mess with the models form (i.e. wrong
proportions).
While the two are opposites, they compliment each other beautifully.
Most modelers would combine the two workflows in a variety of
proportions, combining the strength of each. For example one might model
a human body using box modeling while the head and the ears are done
using poly-by-poly modeling.
**Blocking with primitives** is added to enrich approaches is modeling.
It is basically box modeling in conjunction with divide-and-conquer
approach. Different parts are modeled separately with their own
primitives and later attached with the others to form the whole.
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Box Modeling
Easy to undertake and flexible, box modeling is a favorite of beginners
and veterans alike. It is fun to work with and general results are
visible in a short time. It is a powerful work flow that any modelers
should know.
## Before We Start
Before doing any modeling, it is vital to plan first. Gather references
and make a general plan on how to tackle the modeling phase. Being ready
will save you a lot of complications later.
## The Work Flow
With box modeling, start with a primitive that is appropriate for your
subject. Most start with a box and generally a good primitive to start.
Then, from the primitive, using a variety of tools, mold the essential
form of your model. Also called the roughing phase. Don\'t delve on
details here, those are to be tackled later. Finally, on this form, we
go to the nearly recursive process of adding details. Layer by layer,
details are added until the required amount of detail is achieved.
#### Start with a Primitive
Select the proper primitive for your work. Most modelers start with a
cube. The cube is the most flexible primitive available and is suitable
to almost all form of subjects. But, in many cases, selecting other form
of primitives would cut out most of the modeling required. A gun is a
cinch to model using a cylinder. With a little adjustment, a torus forms
a good doughnut. In an instant a ball can be made out of a sphere. So
produce your primitive to work with.
#### Rough It Out
Take the primitive and start modifying it to capture the essential form
of your subject. Tools like extrude, loop cut, scale and grab are very
handy for this. Avoid worrying about details at this stage. Those are to
be done later.
#### Adding Details, Details and more Details
Now, we approach the most difficult and unquestionably the most fun
part. Using a variety of modeling tools, modify the form again to
incorporate details. Add details layer by layer, from general to
specific. Planning, studying and experience would help you go through.
Continue until you achieve the desired level of detail.
Adding details requires subdivision or addition of polygons. The knife
and the loop cut tool is handy for subdividing meshes. Extrusion is
great for adding details like horns and fingers. Face and edge loop must
be herded to other directions at times and warrants a study by itself.
Blender provides you with required tools to achieve all of this.
At this stage, beginners and experienced modelers alike will find their
meshes getting more and more difficult to work with as the mesh gets a
more and more dense at each level of details added. Planning, an eye to
the edge flows and experience alleviate this. So plan and keep
practicing.
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Model a Chair-Preparations
|previous=Illustrative example: Model a Chair (Swan Chair)
}}
```
Many people do not know what a Swan chair look like. Its time to open up
the internet browser and search for images. Or if you have an actual
Swan chair with you, your lucky. You can look at a real model while
modeling. This would simplify decisions and remove the need for guessing
certain details that you are not available with image searches alone.
## Knowing our model
We need to know what we are modeling look like. You can\'t do this
without references to guide you. A simple image search with Google would
provide you the references you need.
Gather several images that gives you different views of the chair. A
front and a side view is great to use as a background image to guide as
while modeling. Also, gather at least one image that shows the chair at
an oblique angle so that it will provide a much more \"3d\" view. This
will shows more clearly the shape of the chair, more than the front and
side view alone would give you.
## Loop study
Take time to study the model. For simple models like this, it would be
quite quick, especially with experience. For this project, the loops are
as shown bellow.
The pink loop goes around the edge of the chair defining the chair\'s
edges and thickness. The light green, light blue and light purple loops
follows and create the form of the chair. The crossing green loops forms
the bottom of the chair. The light blue and green loops contribute for
the form of the \"wings\", while the purple and green loops form the
back. Its a simple loop structure, its topologically (sorry for using
the term) the same as this cube extruded to form a T (upside down so the
loops would match more).
While modeling keep these loops in mind and try to achieve the loops.
For this project, the loops are achieved with simple extrusions of a
cube, just like the T piece above, but in a form that looks more like
the chair.
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Model a Chair-The Seat
|previous=Model a Chair-Preparations
}}
```
After studying the subject, we are ready to tackle modeling it. Start up
Blender.
## Start with a Primitive
For this project we would use a cube. The cube already has several face
loop we need and none of that we don\'t, so this primitive is a good
starting point.
Opening Blender, we are already supplied with the default cube which is
handy. If you don\'t have the default cube because you change the
setting or remove it, simply add a new cube. Name this primitive
something sensible like \"Swan Chair\" because it would become our chair
later. Move the cube or adjust the background image until the cube is
centered at our image. After doing that we proceed shaping our cube to
create the basic form of our chair.
## Rough it out
Since we are modeling a symmetrical object, lets take advantage of it
and use the mirror modifier. Cut the cube in the front exactly in half
by using loop cut at center (Shift + RKey -\> middle click, or Ctrl +
RKey -\> middle click on this editor\'s computer). For those with no
middle buttons you could use subdivide. Select the vertical edges (go to
edge select mode first, Ctrl + Tab -\> 2) then use subdivide tool (WKey
-\> 1). Remove the left half by deleting the vertices. Then add a mirror
modifier in the modifier stack. This is available at the edit buttons,
select the modifiers tab the click the \"Add Modifier\" button and
select \"Mirror\" from the selection. Activate \"do clipping\" from the
mirror modifier panel that appeared to prevent accidental movement of
the central vertices.
(Noob Note: If you follow these instructions, you\'ll have a gap between
the mesh and its mirror. I fixed this by increasing the \"Merge Limit\"
option in the Mirror modifier menu to .1.)
Move the vertices so that it would follow the shape of the bottom of the
chair image.
Note that the reference images used does not match very well. This is
because of perspective and camera angle distortion. In this case use the
side image sice it shows less distortion. Use the front reference image
as an eyeballing guide for the front side of the chair. An oblique
reference as stated earlier in planning stages is helpful to guide you
in this condition.
Add an edgeloop using the loop cut tool (Shift+RKey) as shown in the
image bellow. Move the newly created vertices to follow the references
Its is good practice that while modeling you had to view your model at
various views not only the standard front, side and top views. Remember
that you are modeling a 3d object. What looks good in this some views
are not necessarily good in other views. This would result in
complications like the familiar flat face look in face models. Moving
your view around would help you prevent this. Shown bellow is the view
of the model at an oblique view.
Now extrude the back part of the model to form the back part of the
chair. Adjust the newly formed vertices to follow your guide images as
shown bellow.
Its a good practice to see the model at various views while modeling
here is how it look like now at an oblique view:
Select the following faces. We are going to extrude it to form the sides
for the chair.
Extrude the faces and adjust newly formed vertices to conform with the
guide images.
And now the oblique view.
The back still does not look good so add the following edge loop.
Adjust it.
Remember to rotate your view to see problem areas.
Add this edge loop too.
Adjust.
And keeping with our good practice.
Say, the form is finished. The loops are all in place and the form is
easily identified as a rough model of the Swan chair.
## Adding More Details
Now the basic form of the model is finished and with all important loops
in place detailing this model is easy. Lets start by defining the back.
Add these edge loops.
Move the newly created vertices to fit the references.
Be sure that the model looks right at various angles. The references
images collected earlier will help. Adjust vertices if necessary.
The sides need to be taken care of too so add these edge loops.
Then adjust the vertices.
This is how the model now looks like.
Continue by adding these loops.
And adjust as usual.
Check that it looks good at other views too. Move vertices as necessary.
Keep repeating this procedure. Add loops then adjust. Here is the loops
that was added to the model. Tweaked after adding each.
The outline of the chair needs rounding up. Add these loops and tweak so
it looks like the one shown.
This is now how the mode looks like.
Its rather tedious to add more loops at this time so lets do a cheat.
Select all vertices (press AKey a few times) and then subdivide (WKey
-\> 1Key) to add more vertices.
The model looks blocky so lets smooth it out. While the whole chair is
still selected smooth the vertices by clicking Smooth a few times (Edit
buttons -\>Mesh tools -\> Smooth; also available at WKey-\>Smooth). It
would smooth out the model.
Admire the work (and tweak if necessary).
This is optional. Add this loop and scale along normal (Alt + Skey) to
scale it in. Adjust vertices if necessary.
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Model a Chair-The Feet
|previous=Model a Chair-The Seat
}}
```
Now the seat is finished, time for the legs for it to stand on.
## Starting Primitive
The leg is mainly made up of cylinders so a cylinder is a very good
primitive to start. In object mode add a cylinder with 16
vertices.Center the cylinder on the upper part of the telescope.
Tip: to make the cylinder centered relative to the seats center, while
in object mode select the seat then hit Shift+Skey (Snap options) then
select Cursor-\>Selection. The 3d cursor would be moved to the center of
our seat. Now when you add the cylinder, the cylinders center would be
located at the cursor which is also at the seats center. Now all you
have to do is to move the cylinder along the y and z axis because it
would be properly located relative to the x axis.
Hide or move the Seat to another layer so that it would not intrude
while modeling the leg.
## The Upper Telescope
Go to edit mode and scale the cylinder until its radius match the radius
of the upper telescopic element of the chair\'s leg. Then move the top
and bottom vertices to match the reference.
Extrude the bottom part and place it a little lower. Extrude again and
right click so that the newly created vertices would remain in their
position. Scale the vertices a little. Extrude again and move the
extruded region up the cylinder.
Remove the top and bottom vertices that cap the ends.
We will be using subsurf modifier to make this part smother. Add this
loop to constrain the smoothing on this area.
## The Lower Telescope
Now lets start with the lower part. Add a cylinder in object mode and
adjust the newly created vertices to match the reference.
The legs would be extruded from this cylinder. Add this loop to prepare.
Select the faces between the newly added loop and the bottom loop.
Extrude this faces but right click after extrusion so the extruded faces
remain in their position. Now scale them constrained along the xy-plane
(Skey-\>Shift+Zkey) a little. This is how it should now look.
In top view select the two topmost faces and extrude to form the back
leg. Shape the tip according based on the reference. Here is the steps
taken to shape the tip. First after extruding, Constrained scale the tip
along the x-axis (SKey-\>XKey) to make the tip thinner. Then move the
tip lower. Deselect all, then select the top vertices of the tip and
lower this vertices further.
Shape the base as shown bellow. This is done by selecting the vertices
where the leg connects to the base then constrained scaling it along the
y-axis to zero (Skey-\>YKey-\>0key). Then move the scaled vertices
further back.
Then add an edge loop as shown bellow. constrained scale the newly
created edgeloop along the x-axis to make it thinner.
We will be using the subsurf modifier to smooth our model so lets add
the following edge loops so that the model will smooth properly. Add an
edgeloop at the tip.
And this loops on the side.
Also remove the vertex that cap the top because we will not be needing
it and it would cause smoothing artifact when subsurfed.
Now how about the other legs? We will be using Spin duplicate tool to
make those. In top view select the central vertex then snap our 3d
cursor to it.
Now remove the other part of the cylinder as shown. We would be left
with a quarter part of the whole leg assembly.
Select all the vertices that are left. Change the parameters of the spin
tool to this: degrees to 360, steps to 4. Click on the \"Spin Dup\". If
you have multiple 3d views, your mouse cursor would turn into a question
mark. Move your cursor to the top view and then click. The other legs
would appear as shown bellow. This legs are made of separate mesh and
the original leg have a duplicate at exactly the same position creating
double vertices. Connect the mesh and remove the doubles by selecting
the whole mesh then remove the doubles (Wkey-\>Remove Doubles).
## The Stops
Now lets create the Black Stops on every tip of the leg. We would be
creating this joined to the legs as one object then separate it later.
Its just that it seems more easy that way.
Without leaving edit mode, add a cube. scale an move it to one of the
tip. Move the cube so that it would be lower that usual to separate it
from the other mesh making it easier to edit it without disturbing the
others.
Shape the cube to match the tip. This should be easy by now. The whole
step is left out.
Subsurf would be used to this too so add extra loops to control how the
mesh would be smooth.
Now make copies of the stops using the Spin Duplicate tool. Don\'t
forget to remove the doubles.
Select all the tips then move them together up until they intersect with
the tips of the legs.
Now lets separate separate meshes to individual objects. Press Pkey and
select \"all loose part\" option.
Notice that the other part of the mesh would suddenly change in
appearance. Don\'t worry. It just means that those meshes are now
separate objects by themselves. If you go to object view you would now
be able to select the leg and the tips as separate objects.
There are some issues though when you use the subsurf modifier on the
leg base as shown.
Select the leg and go to edit mode. Add the following edge loop.
Scale the base loop too as shown.
The issue should now be solved.
This is how the whole leg assembly should look. All have subsurf
modifier on.
There is still an issue though. This is not important in most part but
will be taken care of for this time.
When one of the leg stops is selected in object mode, it would show that
its center is not at the center of the mesh. The center is where the
gizzmo (the red, blue and green arrow) would be located.
To correct this select the offending object. Click the Mesh menu
(located at the header) and navigate to \"Transform\" and select
\"Center New\" from the options. Blender would automatically calculate
the new center based on the objects mesh. Now when the object is
selected, the center would be located at a mush more appropriate
location.
Do the same to the other stoppers.
Now if you haven\'t named each individual part yet, You can do it now.
Name each part sensible names like uppertelescope, lowertelescope, etc.
## The Whole Chair
Unhide or Show the layer where your chair seat is so that it would unite
with the legs. Now this is how the whole model should look like.
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Modeling a Human Character - Preparations
Actually, this model is made without any background reference images but
enough knowledge of human figure makes this possible. Modeling the human
body or any model in that case requires knowledge of it beforehand. Even
with the background image references, there are still some details (like
the armpit) that is not easily visible or are difficult to comprehend
with just simple orthogonal projections. It is advised to make some
study on basic human figure and proportions first.
For those who likes to have a background reference image to use while
modeling, use this orthogonal views of the model. You could still try
and test your knowledge on the human figure later by trying to model one
without image references.
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Modeling a Human Character - Modeling
# Blocking the Figure
As with many models done in box modeling, let\'s start with a cube. The
model is symmetrical so let\'s make use of it. Add a
loop
running vertically at the middle and delete the
vertices
on the left, leaving you with only half of the cube. Now add a mirror
modifier.
Now add a loop running horizontally and fashion out the torso.
Add a vertical loop on the torso so that we will have more geometry to
work on.
Extrude the head and the legs. Add loops around the head and the bottom
of the legs and extrude out the head and feet.
Now add a loop around the torso and extrude out the arms. This is all
for blocking
# Detailing and Finishing
Add a loop that goes through the torso and the arms and another at the
sides. This geometry will enable us to round and shape the figure.
Extrude out to form a rough hand. Add an extra loop around the hand and
extrude out the thumb.
Add more loops around the arm, thumb and hand. Work out this additional
geometry to shape the parts.
Add this loop to add more geometry on the legs and to the torso.
And then shape.
Add more loops on the leg and shape out the form.
Now time to shape the foot add more geometry and shape out the foot.
Now take a look at your model. Adjust the form until satisfied. Work
finished.
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Polygon by Polygon modeling
Although quite demanding, many modelers savor the control poly-by-poly
modeling allows. However, its demanding nature makes many modelers,
beginners and experts alike, try to avoid it. Still, poly-by-poly
modeling, if properly used, is a powerful tool.
## Before we start
For this work flow, being ready is of great importance. Have several
references of your subject, especially a front and side view. Also, have
minutes of study on the subject and try to make out an approach in
modeling it. Being ready is crucial for this.
## The Workflow
Poly-by-poly modeling provides the most free modeling workflow ever.
This freedom, however, causes confusion on how to approach modeling the
subject. Searching the internet for tutorials on modeling the face using
this method, you will find hundreds and each will be different from each
other. Some start with the eyes, others with the mouth, others the ridge
of the nose. And then each will proceed differently from that. No wonder
its confusing.
Even though poly-by-poly modeling is such a free form method and
constitutes a very vogue way to start and continue, a general guideline
is provided in the hope that it will help modelers in using this
approach.
### To Start
Poly-by-poly modeling rather sets you free on choosing how and where to
start. The only requirement is that you have a geometry, a vertex or a
plane to start with. Many beginners are stumped by this. Somehow such
liberty leaves them undecided.
A very good approach is to start by creating the important loops first.
For example, in modeling the face, you could start by creating the eye,
mouth and face loops. With the loops in place, it is easy to build other
geometries around them.
Another good approach is to start with the most important part of the
subject. For the face, this is the eyes and the mouth. You could model
these parts first and then proceed adding geometry from there.
As said, poly-by-poly modeling lets you free, so if you would like to
start on other parts first, say the nose, then you could do so.
### To Continue
Continuing from your beginnings is not as easy as connecting-the-dots as
it first appears to be. Rather than proceeding in a connect the dots
fashion, proceed by thinking of edge and face loops of your model first
then creating and adjusting geometry to fit them. Such view would ease
decision on placing your geometry.
### To Finish
When you find that you don\'t need to add more geometry, you can call it
quits. But still, its a good practice to take another look of your model
and make trial renders of it. There might be an awry edge loop,
geometries that mess the model, or triangles that you wanted out. Do
some fixing and adjusting and when you finally have the model good, give
yourself a pat on the back.
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Customization
|previous=Animation Notes and FAQ
}}
```
## Changing the Theme
Like many other programs with a graphical user interface, Blender allows
you to customize or modify many aspects of its appearance. A collection
of such customizations is called a **theme**.
Theme controls are found in the User Preferences window. Click **LMB**
on the \"Themes\" button to activate a drop-down menu which can be used
to select different themes. Below this is an \"Add\" button that can be
used to create new themes. If any themes have been added, a \"Delete\"
button will appear, along with other controls to adjust the current
theme.
This book presents screen shots using the default theme. If you are new
to Blender, you should continue using the default theme as you progress
through the book, to avoid confusion.
|
# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Mist - Make Objects Opaque
|previous=Customization
}}
```
## How Blender\'s Mist works
If you render Objects within Blender\'s Mist, they mix up with the
Background-Color,\
because Blender decreases their Alpha-Value by increasing Mist-Intensity
and distance from the Camera.
## The Problem
This does a well job if your scene has a constantly-colored Background,
but\
in case of a real Background or World-Texture it looks not convincing.\
All objects are looking like ghosts.
## The Solution explained briefly
This page will show you two ways to get rid of that Problem.\
The major thought is to mix Objects with an opaque color, instead of
making them transparent.\
The more Transparency, the more of the opaque color will be added.\
Because Blender delivers a (dynamic) Alpha-Value with Mist enabled,\
we can use this value as a factor for increase or decrease of mixing the
objects\
with a certain color (or even to enhance or lower the contrast of
materials, etc.)\
!Here\'s a render result with mist and the \"Mixing-Technique\". You
see, that you don\'t see shining the Background
through.
The first solution goes with the help of an external compositing
program\
and won\'t be explained in depth as we want to focus on how to solve\
this issue within blender since it is open source.
## Solution 1: Make use of an external composite software.
Just render your Background and your Objects separately with
Alpha-Channels.\
Then you import these files into a composite program on two layers.\
(One for the Objects and one for the Background).\
Between these layers you set a new \"Color-Layer\" with a solid
greyish-blue color\
(because this fits the color of the atmosphere) and create a clipping
mask.\
A \"clipping mask\" means that the \"Color-Layer\" is only visible where
the objects of the top layer are.\
And where there\'s no object you can see the Background.\
As the object is partially transparent (because of Blender\'s Mist),\
you will see the greyish-blue color shining through.\
The more the object is away, the more transparent it is,\
and the more the color-Layer will shine through the Objects.\
## Solution 2: Make use of Blender\'s Composite-Nodes.
Since Solution 1 seems not to be a big deal as we cannot afford
expensive packages, we are also able\
to achieve this \"Mix-Technique\" by Blender\'s built-in
Composite-Nodes.\
To continue reading it would be good, if you know a little about
Blender\'s Compositing-Nodes.\
Now, here\'s the interesting part of the tutorial, the Graph of the
Nodes in the Node-Editor:
Description:
##### Step 1 Render Layer1
In the Render Settings Tab you assign the Objects which you don\'t want
to be transparent to Render Layer1.\
See <http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:Manual/Render/Layers> for how
to deal with RenderLayers.
It is important that you turn off \"Sky\" and that you turn on
\"IndexPass\". (The Option \"Mist\" delivers the same Value as the
Alpha-Output in the Node RenderLayer1)\
\"IndexPass\" will be explained in Step 5.
##### Step 2 Render Layer2
This Layer renders only the Background, the Sky. In my case I had to
enable other elements also, because otherwise the groundplane won\'t
render.\
I don\' t know why, but this doesn\'t matter in our case.
##### Step 3 Separating RGB+Alpha
The \"Image output\" of the Node RenderLayer1 delivers RGB+A, that\'s a
little distracting,\
because you can see an Alpha-Output also. Select \"Add\" -\> \"Color\"
-\> \"Separate RGBA\" in the Node-Editor Window.
##### Step 4 Combining RGBA
Now the Separated RGB gets combined again to RGB, but this time with a
new Alpha of Step 5.
##### Step 5 Making the transparent Objects opaque
The good thing is, that Blender\'s Object-ID Alpha Value does ignore
mist.\
So we can add an ID-Mask Node to get the Alpha of the Object into the
new Image.\
Here you must set the ID of the Object to the same number as in the
ID-Mask Node.\
Select the Object and set its ID Pass-Index!\
Beside is a screenshot where you set the Object ID.\
!In the red marked section of the buttons window, you can set the ID of
the
object
##### Step 6 Mixing the Object with a Color
Here you add a Mix-Node to mix the Object with a \"Horizon-Color\".\
The Color should be set to a bright greyish-blue as this is the color of
the air inner the atmosphere.\
Any color is possible, you may think of a dark red in a fire-hollow or
of black if somewhere out in space.
##### Step 7 Setting the Factor of how much of the color should be added
Blender delivers an Alpha-Value to the Objects due to the Mist.\
If an object is far away or if the Mist-Intensity is very high,\
the Alpha-Value of the Object decreases, which means the Alpha-Value
becomes more black.\
And if the Object is close, it has accordingly high Alpha, which means
getting white.\
Black means a Value of R-G-B 0-0-0 and White a Value of R-G-B 1-1-1.
Since we want to use these values as a factor of how much to blend the
Object\
with our \"Horizon-Color\", we need to invert this Value.\
(Close Objects = High Alpha = Factor almost 1 - but we need Blend Factor
close to 0, because we want low mist as the Object is close)
So let\'s add an \"Invert-Color-Node\".\
Get the Settings of the Node-Graph for this Node.\
This Node inverts Black to white, dark-grey to bright grey, etc.\
We now use this inverted alpha-value (or Mist-value)\
as a factor for mixing the Horizon-Color with the Object.
##### Step 8 Layering the colored Objects over the Sky-Background
Now you add an Alpha-Over-Node which will layer our Objects over the
Sky-Background.\
Be aware to use the settings shown in the screenshot and that the order
of the two Image-Inputs\
of the Alpha-Over-Node is very important.\
The second Input always gets over the first Input.
##### Step 9 Add an Output-Node
Finally you need an Output-Node and to enable \"Do Composite\" in the
RenderSettings.
##### Step 10 Example
Here an Example, of how it worked out in my project:
<File:Bird_149_mist_distance-1_0400.jpg%7CClose> Distance - Almost no
Mist <File:Bird_149_mist_distance-2_0400.jpg%7CFar> Distance - Low Mist
or atmospheric opacity
<File:Bird_149_mist_distance-3_0400.jpg%7CFurther> Distance - (!)The
Object is even scaled
<File:Bird_149_mist_distance-4_0400.jpg%7CFarthermost> Distance - In
original size the Object would be so small that it isn\'t visible -only
to make the Logic clear
## Summary
Be sure, you got every step right - then all will work out properly.\
What is almost of more importance, that you understood the logic behind
this,\
so that you learn about Blender\'s Compositing-Nodes and the 01-Logic ;)
Since \"Mist\" means something like \"Bullsh\*\*\" in German I did not
believe that it really\
is like that in Blender - and it isn\'t! Blender is a quite nice and
powerful tool.\
And I hope that it\'ll ever be Open-Source.
|
# Chinese (Mandarin)/Traditional
```{=html}
<div class="center">
```
*This book teaches Standard Mandarin Chinese. For other uses, see
Subject:Chinese language.*
```{=html}
</div>
```
!The Forbidden City in Beijing
北京故宮（紫禁城）{width="300"}
Welcome to the **Mandarin** Wikibook, a free Chinese textbook on the
Standard Mandarin dialect. This page links to lessons using Traditional
Han characters 繁體中文 (used in Taiwan, Macau and Hong Kong). There is
also a Simplified Han Character Version 简体中文
available (used in mainland China).
+---------------------------------------------------------+
| 我們需要您的幫助，如果您熟悉中文，請協助編撰本教科書。\ |
| 我们需要您的帮助！如果您熟悉中文，请协助编撰本教科书。 |
+---------------------------------------------------------+
## Lessons / 課程
+------------------------+----+------------------------+
| **Introduction / | | **Lesson Texts / |
| 介紹** | | 課文** |
| | | |
| - [About Mandarin\ | | - [Lesson 1: Hello!\ |
| | | 第一課：你好！] |
| 中文是什麽？](../Abo | | (/Lesson_1 "wikilink") |
| ut_Chinese "wikilink") | | |
| 4, 2005}}`{=mediawiki} | | - [Lesson 2: Are you |
| - [How to use this | | busy today?\ |
| textbook\ | | |
| 如何使用本教科 | | 第二課：今天你忙不忙?] |
| 書](../How_To_Use_Thi | | (/Lesson_2 "wikilink") |
| s_Textbook "wikilink") | | `{ |
| |
| 4, 2005}}`{=mediawiki} | | - [Lesson 3: An |
| - [How to study | | introduction to |
| Mandarin\ | | particles\ |
| 如何學 | | 第三課：助詞] |
| 中文？](../How_To_Stu | | (/Lesson_3 "wikilink") |
| dy_Chinese "wikilink") | | `{ |
| |
| 4, 2005}}`{=mediawiki} | | - [Lesson 4: Word |
| | | order and Verbs\ |
| **Pronunciation / | | |
| 發音** | | 第四課：詞序和動詞] |
| | | (/Lesson_4 "wikilink") |
| - Pinyin | | `{ |
| Pronunciation | | {stage short|00%|Jan 2 |
| Basics\ | | 4, 2005}}`{=mediawiki} |
| 基礎拼音發 | | - [Lesson 5: Measure |
| 音入門 | | 第五課：量詞] |
| | | {stage short|50%|Jan 2 |
| - Pronunciation of | | 4, 2005}}`{=mediawiki} |
| Initia | | - [Lesson 6: More on |
| ls | | 第六課：疑問助詞] |
| | | {stage short|00%|Jan 2 |
| - Pronunciation of | | 4, 2005}}`{=mediawiki} |
| Fi | | - [Lesson 7: What\'s |
| nals | | |
| | | | | 課：我的名字叫王明。] |
| - [More About Hanyu | | (/Lesson_8 "wikilink") |
| Pinyin] | | |
| {{stage short|25%|Oct | | - Lesson 9: Where |
| 2, 2014}}`{=mediawiki} | | is the railway |
| | | station?\ |
| **Vocabulary | | 第九 |
| 生字/字彙** | | 課：火車站在哪裡？ |
| - Part 1: Family\ | | ` |
| 第一部分：家庭 | | {{stage short|00%|Oct |
| | | 5, 2008}}`{=mediawiki} |
| - Part 2: | | - Lesson 10: A |
| Commodity\ | | telephone |
| | | conversation\ |
| 第二部分：日用品 | | /Lesson_10 "wikilink") |
| - Part 3: | | ` |
| Transport\ | | {{stage short|00%|Dec |
| 第三部分：交通 | | - Lesson 11: |
| - [Part 4: Food\ | | Taiwan\ |
| 第四部分：食 | | 第十一課：臺灣 | | /Lesson_11 "wikilink") |
| - Part 5: Animals\ | | ` |
| 第五部分：動物 | | {{stage short|00%|Dec |
| | | 30,2009}}`{=mediawiki} |
| | | - Lesson 12: |
| | | Mandarin is so |
| | | interesting!\ |
| | | |
| | | 第十二課：漢語真有趣 |
| | | ` |
| | | {{stage short|00%|Dec |
| | | 30,2009}}`{=mediawiki} |
| | | - Lesson 13: I\'m |
| | | sick\ |
| | | |
| | | 第十三課：我生病了 |
| | | ` |
| | | {{stage short|00%|Dec |
| | | 30,2009}}`{=mediawiki} |
| | | - Lesson 14: |
| | | Drinking tea\ |
| | | 第十四課：喝茶 |
| | | ` |
| | | {{stage short|00%|Dec |
| | | 30,2009}}`{=mediawiki} |
| | | - Lesson 15: China\ |
| | | 第十五課：中國 |
| | | `{ |
| | | {stage short|00%|Sep 1 |
| | | 2，2010}}`{=mediawiki} |
| | | - Lesson 16: Basic |
| | | Chinese History\ |
| | | 第 |
| | | 十六課：基本中國歷史 |
| | | `{ |
| | | {stage short|00%|Jan 1 |
| | | 2，2012}}`{=mediawiki} |
+------------------------+----+------------------------+
## Appendices / 附錄
+------------------------+----+------------------------+
| - Mandarin-English | | - [Nations of the |
| Dictionary\ | | World\ |
| 漢英字典 | | 世 |
| | | _the_World "wikilink") |
| - English-Mandarin | | `{ |
| Dictionary\ | | {stage short|50%|Jan 2 |
| 英漢字典 | | 4, 2005}}`{=mediawiki} |
| | | 部首 |
| 問候語 | | {stage short|00%|Jan 2 |
| |
| stage short|100%|Jan 2 | | - Slang\ |
| 4, 2005}}`{=mediawiki} | | 俚語 |
| - [Possible | | |
| Initial-Final | | - Web Resources\ |
| | | |
| Combinations |
| mbinations "wikilink") | | |
| 8, 2006}}`{=mediawiki} | | |
| - Numbers\ | | |
| 數字 | | |
| `{ | | |
| {stage short|75%|Jan 2 | | |
| 4, 2005}}`{=mediawiki} | | |
+------------------------+----+------------------------+
### Related Books 相關書籍
- Written Chinese
- Guide to Writing East Asian Languages\
漢字書寫
- Cantonese (Yue)\
廣東話（粵語）
- Chinese Phrasebook (on
WikiVoyage)
- Taiwanese (Southern Min / Min Nan)\
臺語（閩南語）
- Cookbook:Cuisine of China
## Contributors
- Contributor\'s Guide
- Textbook Planning\
課文安排
- Development History
- Contributors\
撰文者
de:Chinesisch fr:Enseignement du
chinois it:Corso di
cinese
pl:Chiński
|
# Chinese (Mandarin)/Lesson 5
```{=html}
<div class="noprint">
```
```{=html}
</div>
```
# Lesson 5: Measure words
## Text
Simplified Characters Traditional Characters
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
**山村咏怀**`</br>`{=html} `<small>`{=html}【宋】邵雍`</small>`{=html}`</br>`{=html} 一去二三里`</br>`{=html} 烟村四五家`</br>`{=html} 亭台六七座`</br>`{=html} 八九十枝花`</br>`{=html} **山村詠懷**`</br>`{=html} `<small>`{=html}【宋】邵雍`</small>`{=html}`</br>`{=html} 一去二三里`</br>`{=html} 煙村四五家`</br>`{=html} 亭臺六七座`</br>`{=html} 八九十枝花`</br>`{=html}
Pīnyīn English
**Shāncun Yǒnghuái**`</br>`{=html} `<small>`{=html}【Sòng】Shàoyōng`</small>`{=html}`</br>`{=html} Yí qù èrsān lǐ`</br>`{=html} Yāncūn sìwǔjiā`</br>`{=html} Tíngtái liùqīzuò`</br>`{=html} Bājiǔshízhī huā`</br>`{=html} **The sigh for a village**`</br>`{=html} `<small>`{=html}【Song】Shao Yong`</small>`{=html}`</br>`{=html} The distance is two or three miles,`</br>`{=html} and I can see four or five houses`</br>`{=html} with smoking chimneys.`</br>`{=html} There are six or seven pavilions,`</br>`{=html} and eight, nine or ten flowers.`</br>`{=html}
## Vocabulary
Simplified (traditional in parentheses) Pīnyīn Part of speech English \[m.\] notes
------ ------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1\. `<big>`{=html}一`</big>`{=html} yī (adj) one
2\. `<big>`{=html}二`</big>`{=html} èr (adj) two
3\. `<big>`{=html}三`</big>`{=html} sān (adj) three
4\. `<big>`{=html}四`</big>`{=html} sì (adj) four
5\. `<big>`{=html}五`</big>`{=html} wǔ (adj) five
6\. `<big>`{=html}六`</big>`{=html} liù (adj) six
7\. `<big>`{=html}七`</big>`{=html} qī (adj) seven
8\. `<big>`{=html}八`</big>`{=html} bā (adj) eight
9\. `<big>`{=html}九`</big>`{=html} jiǔ (adj) nine
10\. `<big>`{=html}十`</big>`{=html} shí (adj) ten
11\. `<big>`{=html}山村`</big>`{=html} shāncūn \(n\) mountain village
12\. `<big>`{=html}宋`</big>`{=html} sòng \(n\) song It\'s short for 宋朝（song dynasty,960--1279）.
13\. `<big>`{=html}邵雍`</big>`{=html} shàoyōng \(n\) A poetic name.
14\. `<big>`{=html}去`</big>`{=html} qù \(v\) be apart (away) from;`</br>`{=html}be at a distance from This usage is only used classical Chinese.
15\. `<big>`{=html}里`</big>`{=html} lǐ () mile Mile and 里 are not identical.In song dynasty,1里≈415.8m.Now China,1里=500m.
16\. `<big>`{=html}烟村（煙村）`</big>`{=html} yāncūn \(n\) The village with smoking chimneys This usage is only literary works.
17\. `<big>`{=html}家`</big>`{=html} jiā (ms) the measure Words of family
18\. `<big>`{=html}亭`</big>`{=html} tíng \(n\) pavilions
19\. `<big>`{=html}台（臺）`</big>`{=html} tái \(n\) platform
20\. `<big>`{=html}座`</big>`{=html} zuò (ms) the measure Words of building
21\. `<big>`{=html}枝`</big>`{=html} zhī (ms) the measure Words of flower
22\. `<big>`{=html}花`</big>`{=html} huā \(n\) flower
## Measure Words/量词(liàngcí)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In Chinese, most specified or numbered nouns must be preceded by measure words, also known as classifiers, according to the type of object. Consider the English phrase, \"two pairs of pants.\" Like the word \"pair,\" Chinese measure words are placed between the noun and the preceding number.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1\. 这本书里没有一个汉字。
: Zhè bĕn shū lǐ méi yŏu yí gè Hànzì.
: *This book doesn't contain one Chinese character.*
2\. 那间宿舍有六十个学生。
: Nà jiān sùshè yŏu liùshí ge xuésheng.
: *That dorm has sixty students.*
The phrase 一朵花 (yī duǒ huā) means \"one flower,\" but how would you
say \"a pile of flowers?\" It\'s simple: just change the classifier. The
phrase 一堆花 (yī duī huā) means \"a pile of flowers.\" You could also
say 一把花 (yī bǎ huā; a handful of flowers), 一桶花 (yī tǒng huā; a
bucket of flowers), or 一种花 (yī zhǒng huā; a kind of flower). You can
see that measure words act as adjectives.
In Chinese, like in English, you can omit the noun if it\'s already
known, leaving only the classifier. 你看到那种（花）吗？ (Nǐ kàn dào nà
zhǒng (huā) ma?) means \"Did you see that kind (of flower)?\" You can
see that measure words also act as nouns.
Measure words are also used with demonstrative
pronouns (this, that). For example, 这朵花
means \"this flower,\" and 那朵花 means \"that flower.\"
You might also encounter something like this: 书架上有书本。 (Shūjià
shàng yǒu shūběn.) which means \"The bookshelf has books on it.\" Note
that the classifier is after the noun. This signifies multiple books
where the exact number is not important, here translated \"books.\" The
sentence 书架上有书。, means the same as above, but is without the
classifier.
### Some Common Measure Words
Column key: Trad. is Traditional, Simp. shows changes made for the
simplified variant (if any).
Trad. Simp. Pinyin Main uses Example
------- ------- -------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
個 个 ge individual things, people --- usage of this classifier in conjunction with any noun is generally accepted if the person does not know the proper classifier. 一个书包 yí ge shūbāo, a schoolbag
把 bǎ \"handful\", \"fistful\" --- objects that can be held or grabbed (knives, scissors, keys; also chairs) 一把刀 yì bă dāo. One knife. 一把盐 yì bă yán. A handful of salt.
包 bāo \"package\", \"bundle\" 一包纸巾 yì bāo zhǐ jīn. A package of paper towels.
杯 bēi \"cup\" --- drinks 一杯水 yì bēi shuǐ. A cup of water.
本 běn \"volume\" --- any bound print or written matter (books, etc.) 一本书 yì běn shū. A book.
册 cè slimmer volumes of books
次 cì \"time\" --- opportunities, accidents 两次 liǎng cì. Twice. 三次 sān cì. Three times.
滴 dī \"droplet\" --- water, blood, and other such fluids 一滴水 yì dī shuǐ. A drop of water.
點 点 diǎn ideas, suggestions, can also mean \"a bit\" 你睡一点。 Nǐ shuì yīdiǎn. Sleep a bit.
堆 duī \"pile\" --- anything in a pile 一堆书 yī duī shū. A pile of books.
朵 duǒ flowers, clouds 一朵花 yì duŏ huā. One flower.
份 fèn newspapers, jobs 一份报 yì fèn bào. A newspaper
根 gēn thin, slender objects, lit. \"a root of a\...\" (needles, pillars, grass, vegetable roots etc.) 一根针 yì gēn zhēn. A needle
家 jiā gathering of people (families, companies, etc.) 一家人 yī jiā rén. A family of people.
架 jià objects with a \"frame\" or structure; generally used for machines or mechanical objects (esp. cars, planes, etc.) 一架飞机 yī jià fēijī. One plane.
件 jiàn matters, clothing, etc. 一件衣服 yí jiàn yī fù. An article of clothing.
節 节 jié \"a section\" --- of bamboo, tutorials and classes, etc.
輛 辆 liàng automobiles, bicycles, vehicles, etc. 一辆车 yí liàng chē. One car.
面 miàn any flat and smooth objects, lit. \"a surface of a\...\" (mirrors, flags, walls, etc.) 一面镜子 yí miàn jìng zi. One mirror
匹 pǐ horses and other mounts, or rolls/bolts of cloth 一匹马 yì pǐ mă. One horse.
片 piàn \"slice\" --- any flat object, like cards, slices of bread, tree leaves, etc. 一片叶子 yì piàn yè zi. One leaf.
瓶 píng \"bottle\" --- drinks
扇 shàn objects that open and close (doors, windows) 一扇门 yì shàn mén. One door
艘 sōu ships 一艘船 yì sōu chuán. One ship.
所 suǒ any buildings, apartment
台 tái heavy objects (TVs, computers, etc.) and performances (esp. in theatre, etc.) 一台电脑 yī tái diànnǎo. One computer.
條 条 tiáo long, narrow, flexible objects (fish, trousers, etc.) 一条鱼 yì tiáo yú. One fish.
頭 头 tóu \"head\" --- herd animals (pigs, cows, sheep etc., *never* for fowls or birds), hair 一头牛 yì tóu niú. One head of cattle (Literally translated into English, \"头\" means head).
位 wèi polite classifier for people (e.g. gentlemen, professors, customers) 几位？Jǐ wèi? How many (people)?
些 xiē \"some\" --- anything that\'s plural 一些书 yī xiē shū. Some books. *Never* 两些书
張 张 zhāng \"sheet\" --- squarish or rectangular flat objects (paper, tables, etc.), faces, bows, paintings, tickets, constellations 一张纸 yì zhāng zhǐ. One piece of paper.
支 zhī stick-like objects (pens, chopsticks, etc.) 一支笔 yì zhī bǐ. One pen.
隻 只 zhī one of a pair (e.g. hands, limbs), animals (birds, cats, etc.) 一只狗 yì zhī gŏu. One dog.
種 种 zhǒng types or kinds of objects, ideas, etc. 一种书 yì zhǒng shū. One type of book.
棟 栋 dǒng building object 一栋房子 yí dòng fáng zí. One house
See Chinese measure words on
Wikipedia for a more complete reference.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
# Chinese (Mandarin)/Lesson 8
# Lesson 8
# 她是谁？
## Dialogues
*You can check out the translation
here*
### Dialogue 1
+----------------------------------+----------------------------------+
| Simplified Characters | Traditional Characters |
+==================================+==================================+
| 杨勋：你今天好吗？\ | 楊勳：你今天好嗎？\ |
| 何铭：我很好。\ | 何銘：我很好。\ |
| 杨勋：你吃饭了吗？\ | 楊勳：你吃飯了嗎？\ |
| 何铭：还没。\ | 何銘：還沒。\ |
| 杨勋：要不要一起去吃饭？\ | 楊勳：要不要一起去吃飯？\ |
| 何铭：好啊。我昨天看到 | 何銘：好啊。我昨天看到 |
| 你跟一个女生去图书馆，她是谁？\ | 你跟一個女生去圖書館，她是誰？\ |
| 杨 | 楊 |
| 勋：她是我的女朋友，她叫陈洁。\ | 勳：她是我的女朋友，她叫陳潔。\ |
| 何铭 | 何銘 |
| ：原来你有女朋友，这么厉害啊！\ | ：原來你有女朋友，這麼厲害啊！\ |
| 杨勋：哪 | 楊勳：哪 |
| 里，不敢当。我们要去哪里吃饭？\ | 裡，不敢當。我們要去哪裡吃飯？\ |
| 何铭：都可以。 | 何銘：都可以。 |
+----------------------------------+----------------------------------+
| Pīnyīn | |
+----------------------------------+----------------------------------+
| Yáng Xūn: Nǐ jīntiān hǎo ma?\ | |
| Hé Míng: Wǒ hěn hǎo.\ | |
| Yáng Xūn: Nǐ chīfàn le ma?\ | |
| Hé Míng: Hái méi.\ | |
| Yáng Xūn: Yào bú yào yīqǐ qù | |
| chīfàn?\ | |
| Hé Míng: Hǎo ā. Wǒ zuótiān | |
| kàndào nǐ gēn yīge nǚshēng qù | |
| túshūguǎn, tā shì sheí?\ | |
| Yáng Xūn: Tā shì wǒ de | |
| nǚpéngyǒu, tā jiào Chén Jié.\ | |
| Hé Míng: Yuánlái nǐ yǒu | |
| nǚpéngyǒu, zhème lìhài a!\ | |
| Yáng Xūn: Nǎli, bùgǎndāng. Wǒmen | |
| yào qù nǎli chīfàn?\ | |
| Hé Míng: Dōu kěyǐ.\ | |
+----------------------------------+----------------------------------+
### Dialogue 2
+----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
| Simplified | Traditional | Pinyin |
| Characters | Characters | |
+======================+======================+======================+
| 王明：我叫王 | 王明：我叫王 | Wáng míng: Wǒ jiào |
| 明。你叫什么名字？\ | 明。你叫什麼名字？\ | wáng míng. Nǐ jiào |
| 李红：我叫李红。\ | 李紅：我叫李紅。\ | shén me míng zì?\ |
| 王明 | 王明 | Li hóng: Wǒ jiào li |
| ：她的名字是什么？\ | ：她的名字是什麼？\ | hóng.\ |
| 李红： | 李紅： | Wáng míng: Tā de |
| 她的名字是周朱丽。\ | 她的名字是周朱麗。\ | míng zì shì shén |
| 王明：周朱丽 | 王明：周朱麗 | me?\ |
| 是一个很好的名字。\ | 是一個很好的名字。\ | Li hóng: Tā de míng |
| 李红：是，但是我 | 李紅：是，但是我 | zì shì zhōu zhū lì.\ |
| 比较喜欢你的名字。\ | 比較喜歡你的名字。\ | Wáng míng: Zhōu zhū |
| 王明：为什么 | 王明：為什麼 | lì shì yī gè hěn hǎo |
| 比较喜欢我的名字？\ | 比較喜歡我的名字？\ | de míng zì.\ |
| 李红：因为你的 | 李紅：因為你的 | Li hóng: Shì, dàn |
| 名字听起来很聪明。\ | 名字聽起來很聰明。\ | shì wǒ bǐ jiào xǐ |
| 王明 | 王明 | huan nǐ de míng zì.\ |
| ：哪里，我不敢当。\ | ：哪裡，我不敢當。\ | Wáng míng: Wèi shé |
| | | me bǐ jiào xǐ huan |
| | | wǒ de míng zì?\ |
| | | Li hóng: Yīn wèi nǐ |
| | | de míng zì tīng qǐ |
| | | lái hěn cōng míng.\ |
| | | Wáng míng: Nǎ lǐ, wǒ |
| | | bù gǎn dāng.\ |
+----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
| | | |
+----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
## Vocabulary
Simplified Traditional (if diff.) Pīnyīn Part of speech English \[m.\]
------ ------------------------------------- ------------------------------------- ------------ ---------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------------------
1\. `<big>`{=html}周朱丽`</big>`{=html} `<big>`{=html}周朱麗`</big>`{=html} Zhōu Zhūlì (proper noun) Person\'s Name
2\. `<big>`{=html}但是`</big>`{=html} dànshì (conjunction) but, however
3\. `<big>`{=html}比较`</big>`{=html} `<big>`{=html}比較`</big>`{=html} bǐjiào by comparison
4\. `<big>`{=html}喜欢`</big>`{=html} `<big>`{=html}喜歡`</big>`{=html} xǐhuan (verb) to like
5\. `<big>`{=html}为什么`</big>`{=html} `<big>`{=html}為什麼`</big>`{=html} wèishénme (adverb) Why (lit. \"because of what?\").
6\. `<big>`{=html}因为`</big>`{=html} `<big>`{=html}因為`</big>`{=html} yīnwèi (conjunction) because
7\. `<big>`{=html}听起来`</big>`{=html} `<big>`{=html}聽起來`</big>`{=html} tīng qǐlai (phrase) Sounds like
8\. `<big>`{=html}聪明`</big>`{=html} `<big>`{=html}聰明`</big>`{=html} cōngmíng (adjective) intelligent
9\. `<big>`{=html}哪里`</big>`{=html} `<big>`{=html}哪裡`</big>`{=html} nǎli (noun) lit. Nowhere, can be used as a polite response to a complement.
10\. `<big>`{=html}不敢当`</big>`{=html} `<big>`{=html}不敢當`</big>`{=html} bùgǎndāng (phrase) I don\'t accept (not at all) / polite response to a compliment
11\. `<big>`{=html}还没`</big>`{=html} `<big>`{=html}還沒`</big>`{=html} háiméi (conjunction) not yet
12\. `<big>`{=html}图书馆`</big>`{=html} `<big>`{=html}圖書館`</big>`{=html} túshūguǎn (noun) library
13\. `<big>`{=html}名字`</big>`{=html} míngzi (noun) name
14\. `<big>`{=html}女朋友`</big>`{=html} nǚpéngyǒu (noun) girlfriend
15\. `<big>`{=html}昨天`</big>`{=html} zuótiān (noun) yesterday
## Grammar
## Translation of the text
+----------------------+---------------------+----------------------+
| Chinese characters | Sentences breakdown | English translation |
+----------------------+---------------------+----------------------+
| **Text 1** | **Text 1** | **Text 1** Yang Xun: |
| 楊勳：你今天好嗎?\ | | How are you today?\ |
| 何銘：我很好。\ | | He Ming: I\'m very |
| 楊勳：你吃飯了嗎？\ | | good.\ |
| 何銘：還沒。\ | | Yang Xun: Have you |
| 楊勳 | | eaten yet?\ |
| ：要不要一起去吃飯?\ | | He Ming: Not yet.\ |
| 何銘：好啊。 | | Yang Xun: Would you |
| 我昨天看到你跟一個女 | | like to go eat |
| 生去圖書館,她是誰?\ | | together?\ |
| 楊勳: | | He Ming: Sure. |
| 她是我 | | Yesterday, I saw you |
| 的女朋友,她叫陳潔。\ | | going to the library |
| 何銘: | | with a girl, who is |
| 原來你有 | | she?\ |
| 女朋友,這麼厲害啊!\ | | Yang Xun: She is my |
| 楊勳: 哪裡, | | girlfriend, her name |
| 不敢當 | | is Chen Jie.\ |
| 。我們要去哪裡吃飯?\ | | He Ming: All along |
| 何銘: 都可以。\ | | you have had a |
| | | girlfriend, it\'s so |
| | | good!\ |
| | | Yang Xun: Thanks, |
| | | that\'s flattering. |
| | | Where do you want to |
| | | go to eat?\ |
| | | He Ming: Anywhere is |
| | | fine.\ |
+----------------------+---------------------+----------------------+
| | | |
+----------------------+---------------------+----------------------+
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
| Chinese characters | Sentences breakdown | English translation |
+----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
| **Text 2** | **Text 2** Wang | **Text 2** Wang |
| 王明：我叫王 | Ming: I called Wang | Ming: My name is |
| 明。你叫什麼名字？\ | Ming. You called | Wang Ming. What is |
| 李紅：我叫李紅。\ | what name?\ | your name?\ |
| 王明 | Li Hong: I called Li | Li Hong: My name is |
| ：她的名字是什麼？\ | Hong.\ | Li Hong.\ |
| 李紅： | Wang Ming: Her name | Wang Ming: What is |
| 她的名字是周朱麗。\ | is what?\ | her name?\ |
| 王明：周朱麗 | Li Hong: Her name is | Li Hong: Her name is |
| 是一個很好的名字。\ | Zhou Zhuli.\ | Zhou Zhuli.\ |
| 李紅：是, | Wang Ming: Zhou | Wang Ming: Zhou |
| 但是我 | Zhuli is very good | Zhuli is a very good |
| 比較喜歡你的名字。\ | name.\ | name.\ |
| 王明: | Li Hong: Yes, but I | Li Hong: Yes, but I |
| 為什 | relatively (implied: | like your name |
| 麼比較喜歡我的名字?\ | more) like your | better.\ |
| 李紅: | name.\ | Wang Ming: Why do |
| 因為你的 | Wang Ming: Why (lit: | you like my name |
| 名字聽起來很聰明。\ | for what) relatively | better?\ |
| 王明: 哪裡, | like my name?\ | Li Hong: Because |
| 我不敢當。\ | Li Hong: Because | your name sounds |
| | your name sounds | very intelligent.\ |
| | (lit: hear-startup, | Wang Ming: Oh no, I |
| | hear-start-come) | wouldn\'t say that.\ |
| | intelligent.\ | |
| | Wang Ming: Where, I | |
| | don\'t dare to be | |
| | so.\ | |
+----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
| | | |
+----------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
|
# Chinese (Mandarin)/Slang
Mandarin, like any language, has its own slang words and informal
meanings for some common words. For example, 同志 (*tóngzhì* - comrade,
a commonly used under Communism) now has a second meaning of \"gay
person\" (because it literally means \"same aspirations\"---in this case
sexual proclivities rather than political interests), and the female
equivalent 小姐 (*xiǎojiě*, often used with service personnel such as
waitresses) can also refer to a prostitute. Below is a partial list of
common slang terms. The letters \"xx\" stand for someone or something,
lit. gives a literal translation, and equiv. refers to an equivalent
English expression.
## Slang List
简体 繁體 Pinyin Meaning(s), Literal and Figurative
----------------- ----------------- -------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
酷 酷 kù cool (好酷喔 hǎo kù ō; that\'s cool!); lit., equiv. cool
帅 帥 shuài good looking, handsome (of a guy)
帅呆（了） 帥呆(了) shuàidāi(le) very good looking, a hunk (of a guy); very good, awesome (of a situation)
爽 爽 shuǎng satisfying, enjoyable, (as in 我昨天去按摩超爽(的)。 \"The massage yesterday was very satisfying.\"
过瘾 過癮 guòyǐn entertaining; very pleasing; addictive
不行了 不行了 bùxíngle dying, at the point of death; lit. not OK anymore
超 超 chāo very, extremely, super, ultra- (as in 超冷 \"very cold\", 超酷 \"very cool\")
惹 惹 rě to annoy, provoke, offend, or get on someone\'s nerves(as in 你幹嘛老是惹我？ \"Why do you always get on my nerves?\")
碍眼 礙眼 àiyǎn annoying, get-in-the-way (as in 你在這裡很礙眼, 趕快去做一些有用的事情吧! \"You are being a nuisance, go see whether you can make yourself useful somewhere else!); lit. \'hinder the eye\'
胡闹 胡鬧 húnào make trouble, be a nuisance (as in 你現在馬上給我安靜睡覺,不要再胡鬧! \"you are going to sleep right now, no more nonsense!\"); lit 'nonsense quarrel'
感冒 感冒 gǎnmào (catch) a cold; to develop an aversion against someone (as in 我說了那句話之後,她就對我感冒了 \"after I said that she got upset with me\")
机车 機車 jīchē (noun) motorcycle; adj: used to describe someone displaying annoying behavior (as in 她很機車 \"she\'s annoying\")
离谱 離譜 lípǔ preposterous, outrageous; lit. leaving the manual or musical score (as in 你這樣作實在是太離譜。 \"You are really out of line doing things like that.\")
扯 扯 chě farfetched, unimaginable, defying all logic (as in 很扯! \"Unbelievable!\", 太扯了吧! \"That is ridiculous!\", 你扯到哪裡去? \"What are you talking about?\"); lit. drag, pull; chat
扯xx（的）后腿 扯xx（的）後腿 chě xx (de) hòutuǐ to be a drag on xx, be a hindrance; lit. to pull xx\'s hind legs
正 正 zhèng classy, good quality, high class (as in 正妹 \"a classy chick\", 他的女朋友很正。 \"He has a knock out girlfriend.\")
耍 耍 shuǎ cheat, deceive (as in 你想耍我嗎? \"You must be kidding.\")
耍嘴皮 耍嘴皮 shuǎzuǐpí to talk slickly, to pay lip service
耍赖 耍賴 shuǎlài to act shamelessly; to act indifferent
赖皮 賴皮 làipí to act shameless, brazen, like a rascal; rascal, villain
混 混 hùn to muddle along, to partake in a given activity in a lazy and unserious manner(as in 我這裡已經快混不下去了。 \"I\'m about to get kicked out of here.\" (school or company etc), 你還想混多久? \"How much longer are you planning to go on like this?\")
摸鱼 摸魚 móyú to be lazy on the job; lit. to rub fish
鱿鱼 魷魚 yóuyú marching orders; lit. squid
炒鱿鱼 炒魷魚 chǎoyóuyú to be fired, sacked; lit. to fry squid, equiv. \"getting a pink slip\"
烂 爛 làn rotten, crappy
烂掉 爛掉 làndiào to rot, to go bad
烂摊子 爛攤子 làntānzi bad situation, mess (as in 我可以收他的爛攤子。 \"I can take care of the mess he created.\")
烂醉 爛醉 lànzuì piss drunk, blind drunk, dead drunk
烂好人 爛好人 lànhǎorén spineless, weak person; lit. rotten good person
透 透 tòu extremely, completely, used as a suffix (as in 爛透了 \'extremely crappy\'); lit. through
吓死 嚇死 xiàsǐ terrified; lit., equiv. scared to death
难搞 難搞 nángǎo hard to deal with, downright
休想 休想 xiūxiǎng never (interjection), lit., equiv. in your dreams
吹牛 吹牛 chuīniú to brag, boast
吹 吹 chuī to brag, boast
自大 自大 zìdà arrogant, overbearing
臭屁 臭屁 chòupì arrogant, overbearing; equiv. cocky, lit. stinking fart
摆架子 擺架子 bǎijiàzi to put on an airs, to act like the master of, to be arrogant; lit. to swing a rack, shelf
假君子 假君子 jiǎjūnzǐ equiv. a wolf in sheep\'s clothes, lit. a fake gentleman
上流社会 上流社會 shàngliú shèhuì lit. high society, the rich and famous; equiv. upper crust
黑社会 黑社會 hēishèhuì triad, triad society; lit. the underworld, equiv. gangland
流氓 流氓 liúmáng rogue, gangster, hoodlum; lit. flowing vagrant
老大 老大 lǎodà the big boss, older, elder
小弟 小弟 xiǎodì younger members of a gang; lit. little brother
吵架 吵架 chǎojià to quarrel, to argue
斗嘴 鬥嘴 dòuzuǐ bicker, squabble (lit. to fight with the mouth)
打架 打架 dǎjià to fight, scuffle (physically)
把风 把風 bǎfēng to keep watch, be on the look out (esp. during a heist)
坏胚子 壞胚子 huài pēizi a bad personal characteristic
好兄弟 好兄弟 hǎo xiōngdì a ghost; a good friend; lit. good brother
不干净 不乾淨 bù gānjìng not clean; haunted (by ghosts)
夜总会 夜總會 yèzǒnghuì nightclub; graveyard
菜鸟 菜鳥 càiniǎo rookie, beginner, novice, inexperienced person; lit. \'vegetable bird\'
天真 天真 tiānzhēn naive (said mostly of young girls); lit \'heaven real\'
猪头 豬頭 zhūtóu idiot; lit. pig\'s head
笨蛋 笨蛋 bèndàn idiot; lit. stupid egg
坏蛋 壞蛋 huàidàn crook, scoundrel; lit. rotten egg
王八蛋 王八蛋 wángbādàn son of a bitch; lit. turtle egg
货 货 huò goods, merchandise, stuff; drugs
白痴 白痴 báichī idiot; stupidity; lit. white fool
蠢货 蠢貨 chǔnhuò idiot, blockhead, dunce, moron (used infrequently)
傻瓜 傻瓜 shǎguā fool, simpleton (sometimes used lovingly); lit. stupid melon
小子 小子 xiǎozi guy, kid; prick, brat
疯子 瘋子 fēngzi madman, lunatic
发疯 發瘋 fāfēng to become insane, to go mad
娘娘腔 娘娘腔 niángniangqiāng sissy, girly, effeminate (esp. of a male)
傢伙 傢伙 jiāhuo guy, chap (negative); weapon, gun
毒蟲 毒蟲 dúchóng junky, someone on drugs; lit. poisonous insect
吸毒 吸毒 xīdú to drug, to take drugs (esp. narcotics); lit. to absorb poison
上瘾 上癮 shàngyǐn to become addicted; addictive; Used colloquially: \'get hooked to something\' (as in 這種啤酒太好喝了,我快要上癮了 \"This kind of beer is too tasty, I\'m about to get hooked\"
崩溃 崩潰 bēngkuì debacle; to fall apart, to collapse, esp. mental collapse
欠xx 欠xx qiàn-xx to owe xx (as in, 欠錢 \"owe money\", 欠情 \"owe a favor\"); to ask/beg for xx (as in, 欠念 \"asking for a verbal dress down\", 欠揍 \"asking for a beating\")
放xx(的)鸽子 放xx(的)鴿子 fàng xx gēzi to (intentionally) not not come for xx; to miss xx\'s appointment, equiv. to stand xx up, to be a no-show (as in, 不要放我鴿子喔！ \"Don\'t stand me up!\"); lit. release xx pigeons
吃xx(的)豆腐 吃xx(的)豆腐 chī xx (de) dòufu to commit borderline sexual harassment with a woman (as in, 不要吃我的豆腐。 \"Don\'t touch me.\", 你想吃我的豆腐嗎? \"Would you like to touch me?\"); lit. to eat xx\'s tofu
没水准 沒水準 méi shuǐzhǔn equiv. to have no class; lit. to have no standards
没家教 沒家教 méi jiājiào unmannered, not well behaved, impolite; lit. without home teaching, without a good upbringing
下流 下流 xiàliú nasty; obscene; indecent; a low life; lit. downstream
土 土 tǔ with no class, like a buffoon (as in, 你的衣服好土喔! \'your clothes are so low class!\'); lit. earth, soil
飙车 飆車 biāochē drag racing; motorcycle racing; to drive in speedily, a crazed fashion; lit. whirlwind car
xx族 xx族 xx-zú people that do xx (as in, 上班族 \"people that work\", 飆車族 \"people that drive too fast\"); lit. xx tribe/clan/family
种草莓 種草莓 zhǒngcǎoméi to kiss someone passionately, leaving a reddish mark (equiv. to give someone a hickey); lit. to plant strawberries
丢脸 丟臉 diūliǎn to embarrass, to disgrace, to humiliate (as in 你在朋友的面前這樣說我真丟臉。 \"The way you spoke about me in front of our friends really made me lose face.\"); equiv., lit. to lose face
没面子 沒面子 méi miànzi to lose face (as in 你害我沒面子。 \"You made me lose face.\")
厚脸皮 厚臉皮 hòu liǎnpí cheeky, brazen; thick skinned; willing to make daring demands (negative)
嚣张 囂張 xiāozhāng brazen, shameless, arrogant
酒吧 酒吧 jiǔbā a bar
酒店 酒店 jiǔdiàn a hotel; restaurant; hostess bar (Taiwan only); wine shop
夜店 夜店 yèdiàn a nightclub
夜猫子 夜貓子 yèmāozi someone who sleeps late (equiv. a night owl); someone with a rich nightlife
黄包车 黃包車 huángbāochē rickshaw / denigrating slang: a Chinese woman abroad (being promiscuous as opposed to conservative at home)
恐龙妹 恐龍妹 kǒnglóngmèi ugly girl (lit. \'dinosaur girl\')
辣妹 辣妹 làmèi a hot girl (lit. \'spicy girl\'); the Spice Girls
正妹 正妹 zhèngmēi a beautiful girl, pretty girl
帅哥 帥哥 shuàigē good looking dude, a hunk
放电 放電 fàngdiàn to create an atmosphere of feminine attraction (of a woman); lit. \'to discharge electricity\'
欲火焚身 慾火焚身 yùhuǒfénshēn to be very horny; lit. \'lust fire incinerate body\'
泡妞 泡妞 pàoniū (try to) hook up with girls, on the prowl for women; lit 'steep/soak girls'
把妹 把妹 bǎmèi to hunt for girls
把马子 把馬子 bǎmǎzi to hunt for girls
把凯子 把凱子 bǎkǎizi to hunt for rich hunks (of a woman)
搭讪 搭訕 dāshan (trying to hook up by) starting a conversation (with a stranger)
乱讲 亂講 luànjiǎng to speak nonsense
胡烂 胡爛 húlàn give someone a load of nonsense; (as in 男生最利害的就是胡爛 \"(said by a woman) Selling crap is what men do best\"); lit 'nonsense crap'
放屁 放屁 fàngpì to speak nonsense; lit. \'to fart\'
废话 廢話 fèihuà to speak nonsense, to trashtalk; lit. \'to waste words\'
啰嗦 囉嗦 luōsuo to talk too much (as in 你很囉嗦。 \"You talk too much.\", 不要囉嗦了！ \"Stop rambling!\")
哈啦 哈啦 hāla to argue, to incessantly try to convince someone (as in 你不用哈啦這麼多, 就直接認錯吧! \"Stop arguing and just admit you\'re wrong!\", 哇,你很會哈啦喔! \"Wow, you really know how to argue!\")
闭嘴 閉嘴 bìzuǐ shut up (interjection, often said by parents)
插嘴 插嘴 chāzuǐ to interrupt someone talking (as in 你不要老是插嘴。 \"Stop interrupting me.\"); lit. to insert a mouth
顶嘴 頂嘴 dǐngzuǐ to talk back, to be a wiseguy; to answer defiantly (as in 如果你再頂嘴我就修理你! \"I am going to take care of you if you talk back to me again.\")
xx个屁 / xx个头 xx個屁 / xx個頭 xx-gèpì / xx-gètóu xx my ass (interjection, as in A: 這電影好浪漫喔。 B: 浪漫個屁阿! A: This movie is so romantic. B: Romantic my ass!)
小弟弟 小弟弟 xiǎodìdì penis; lit. little brother
（小）鸡鸡 （小）雞雞 (xiǎo)jījī penis; lit. chicken
小鸟 小鳥 xiǎoniǎo penis; lit. small bird
那话儿 那話兒 nàhuàr penis; lit. \"that talk\"
蛋 蛋 dàn testicles, equiv. balls (as in 打架的時候要好好保護你的蛋(蛋)。 \"When fighting you have protect your balls.\"); lit. egg
奶子 奶子 nǎizi breast(s)
巨乳 巨乳 jùrǔ huge breast(s)
波霸 波霸 bōbà (woman with) huge breast(s)
高潮 高潮 gāocháo orgasm; lit. high tide, climax
做爱 做愛 zuò\'ài to have sex; lit., equiv. to make love
炒饭 炒飯 chǎofàn to make love; lit. to fry rice
上床 上床 shàngchuáng to go to bed; to make love
色狼 色狼 sèláng a man with strong sexual desires, a satyr, a sex addict; lit. appearance wolf
变态 變態 biàntài a sexual pervert; lit. metamorphosis, abnormal
（有）外遇 （有）外遇 (yǒu) wàiyù to have an affair
劈腿 劈腿 pītuǐ to have an affair, to cheat on someone; lit. to split the legs
一夜情 一夜情 yīyèqíng a one-night stand; lit. love for one night
分手 分手 fēnshǒu to break up in a relationship; to bid farewell; lit. divide hands
兵变 兵變 bīngbiàn a mutiny; a relationship that breaks up during military service; lit. military change
追 追 zhuī to try to get a relationship with someone (as in 他還在追那個美妹嗎? \"Is he still after that pretty girl?\"); to pursue
狐狸精 狐狸精 húlíjīng a woman that steals another woman\'s man; lit. a fox spirit
母老虎 母老虎 mǔlǎohǔ a dominant wife; lit. mother tiger
哇靠 哇靠 wākào exclamation: WOW! (also the title of a song by 周杰倫 Jay Zhou, a famous Taiwanese singer)
干 幹 gàn to make love \[vulgar\]; used as a vulgar exclamation, equiv. \"F\*\*k!\"; to do something, as in 幹活 \"work\"
干掉 幹掉 gàndiào to get rid of; to kill someone; lit. to do away
干你娘 幹你娘 gàn nǐ niáng to have sex with your mother, *very* vulgar (*never* used in public unless speaker wants to appear boorish)
干嘛 幹嘛 gànmá exclamation, \"What is it now?\" or \"What do you want now?\", indicating irritation; why (impolite) (as in \'你幹嘛花這麼多錢買這麼爛的東西? \"Why would you spend so much money buying something as crappy as that?\")
（他）妈的 （他）媽的 (tā)made exclamation, \"Fuck!\", \"Shit!\", \"To hell with it!\", \"Damn it!\"; used to increase vulgarity (as in 你也他媽的夠了吧! \"You are really out of line!\"); lit. his mom\'s
操 操 cào to fuck \[vulgar\] (from 肏 which has the same pronunciation); to exercise, drill (when pronounced cāo)
操你妈的屄 操你媽的屄 cāo nǐ mā de bī to fuck your mother\'s cunt \[very vulgar\] (never use in public, or for that matter, at home)
屌 屌 diǎo male reproductive organ; expression (mostly among guys) showing admiration or approval (as in 你很屌! \"you\'re awesome!\" or 超屌的! \"far out!\")
老外 老外 lǎowài foreigner (neutral connotation)
洋妞 洋妞 yángniū foreign babe, foreign chick
阿都仔 阿都仔 ādōuzǐ foreigner (Taiwan only)
同志 同志 tóngzhì gay or lesbian (normally \"comrade\" in a Communist context)
小姐 小姐 xiǎojiě girl working in a hostess bar; exclamation, used alone, \"Waitress!\"; prostitute; young woman
槟榔西施 檳榔西施 bīnláng Xīshī a young, attractive girl, usually scantily clad, hired to sell betelnuts in street stalls (西施 is a classic beauty from Chinese history/myth); lit. betelnut beauty
杀价 殺價 shājià to haggle, to bargain (foreigners will always be forced to pay more, though)
动手 動手 dòngshǒu to begin doing something (e.g. 他开始动手了吗？); to touch, to handle; to hit someone with hands
动手脚 動手腳 dòngshǒujiǎo to sabotage something; to cheat by modifying something; to tinker with; lit. to move hands and feet
灌醉 灌醉 guànzuì to fuddle, to confuse with alcohol; to get someone drunk
海量 海量 hǎiliàng to be capable of holding liquor (a highly valued asset in competitive drinking, a Chinese sport)
灌水 灌水 guànshuǐ to sell inferior goods that have been tampered with (business), for example, adding water to milk; to lose a game on purpose (sports)
黑货 黑貨 hēihuò goods that have been tampered with, potentially hazardous to health; smuggled goods; lit. black stuff, majorly used in China but Taiwan
拍马屁 拍馬屁 páimǎpì to flatter; lit. to align horse farts
拍拍屁股走 拍拍屁股走 pāipāi pìgu zǒu to run away, to take off without caring for the consequences (while engaged in a relationship or project); lit. to line up the ass and go
条子 條子 tiáozi a police officer; a strip (esp. of paper), a note
内鬼 內鬼 nèiguǐ to steal; lit. within ghosts
饭桶 飯桶 fàntǒng a scallywag, a do-nothing; a guy who lives off his girlfriend; lit. a rice container
吃软饭 吃軟飯 chīruǎnfàn to live off one\'s girlfriend; lit. to eat soft rice
毛毛的 毛毛的 máomáode creepy, suspicious, causing goosebumps (as in 他那樣瞪我, 我都覺得毛毛的。 \"The way he stared at me made me feel spooked.\")
人情味 人情味 rénqíngwèi affection, humane, used to describe a friendly, caring atmosphere (as in 中國很有人情味。); lit. the smell of human feelings
累死了 累死了 lèisǐle exhausted, worn out; lit. tired to the death
（老）油条 （老）油條 (lǎo)yóutiáo a deceitful, \"slick\" person (油條, fried wheat cruller, is a long stick of deep fried batter, a staple in China)
狗仔（队） 狗仔（隊） gǒuzǎi(duì) paparazzi; lit. dog puppy team
小强 小強 xiǎoqiáng cockroach; lit. little strong one
过头 過頭 guòtóu in excess (as in 睡过头, to oversleep)
赖床 賴床 làichuáng to stay in bed (esp. too long), to not get up
昏昏欲睡 昏昏欲睡 hūnhūnyùshuì drowsy, sleepy
拖拖拉拉 拖拖拉拉 tuōtuōlālā to be slow (esp. from reluctance); to procrastinate
湿达达（的） 溼答答（的） shīdádá(de) soaking wet
A A A to steal (as in A錢, to steal money)
K書 K書 K-shū study (as in pounding something into one\'s head)
SPP SPP SPP having no class (Taiwan only, based on Hoklo dialect)
A片 A片 A-piàn a porn movie
咱们 咱們 zánmen we, us (sometimes just 咱).
## External links
- Chinese Chat
Codes - This
page contains numeric codes used in chatting or pager messages
similar to English acronyms like LOL
(_L_aughing _O_ut
_L_oud) or BRB (_B_e
_R_ight _B_ack).
- Chinese Slang
Dictionary -
A dictionary of Chinese slang, colloquialisms, curses, vulgarities,
dialects, and street talk that Chinese characters, pinyin
romanization, and an English version.
|
# Chinese (Mandarin)/Pinyin
!\"Double Happiness\" Ink and color on silk by the Chinese artist Cui
Bo, active during the reign of
Shenzong.{width="420"
height="420"}
The reading materials of this book are written in bite size for learning
easier, can be used for learning Pinyin Chinese\*
as well as English. (\*For learning Hanzi Chinese,
please click ***here***.)
- You can search related topics of this book from the following box,
or browse the ***resources***.
# The formulation of Pinyin
## Historic background
**Pinyin** was
officially declared by the government of the
People\'s Republic of China in
1958.
# The explanation of Pinyin
## What is Pinyin?
**Pinyin** (also called Hanyu Pinyin,
Romanized Chinese or Pinyin Chinese) is a
type of
transliteration for Putonghua - the
Standard Chinese language (a tonal language)
where tone marks are used to show tones. It is the
official form of the Latin
alphabet transliteration used for the
People\'s Republic of China and most of the world.
And it is the standard form of Chinese
Romanization for the United
Nations.
## Pronunciation
## Orthography
We should divide Pinyin text by words and write
syllables connectedly, such as \"I am a
foreigner\" should be written as \"Wǒ shì
wàiguórén\" in Pinyin.
## Syllable-dividing mark
Syllable-dividing mark is the mark for dividing syllables, used before
the syllables starting with vowels \"a\", \"o\", or
\"e\", such as \"pí\'ǎo\".
# The application of Pinyin
## To spell Chinese language
### Phonetic notation of Hanzi
### For spelling Putonghua
Chinese is normally written by
ideographics. But for non-Chinese-speaking
people, it is hard to recognize them. Pinyin can
help Chinese learners recognize them more easily.
This is a useful way to learn Chinese. Pinyin can
also be used in place of Hanzi when Hanzi is not convenient.
## Application technology
### Indexing
#### Indexing problems
There is no particular order to
Hanzi as it does not use the Roman
alphabet (also called the Latin
alphabet, i.e. ABC), so ordering by
alphabetical order is inconvenient. There are
currently many indexing methods to Hanzi,
including character
stroke, character radical,
Four-Corner System,
Zhuyin, Pinyin and etc. The
structural problems of Hanzi cause indexing
difficulty.
##### Solutions to indexing problems
Related governments together stipulate a
unified Hanzi strokes and
radicals standard.
There have been suggestions to use Pinyin as
the indexing method.
Pinyin adopts internationally used Roman
alphabet, makes convenient
file order. Pinyin uses
phonetic values, avoiding the
problem created by the lack of
unity between traditional and simplified
character strokes.
### Technical terms translation
#### Technical terms translation problems
Majority of written language uses Roman alphabet (also called Latin
alphabet). Hanzi (also called Chinese character) is not an alphabetic
written language and is not convenient for translation, causing a lot of
confusion. Technological terms such as Internet can be translated as
互联网 (Hùliánwǎng), 国际互联网 (Guójì Hùliánwǎng), 因特网 (Yīntèwǎng);
laser translated as 雷射 (léishè), 镭射 (léishè), 莱塞 (láisài), 激光
(jīguāng). Brand names such as National, Panasonic, Technics are
translated as 乐声牌 (Lèshēng-pái), 松下 (Sōng-xià); Sharp is translated
as 声宝 (Shēngbǎo), 夏普 (Xiàpǔ); Sony is translated as 新力 (Xīnlì),
索尼 (Suǒní). Place names such as 北京 (Běijīng) is translated as
Peking, Beijing; 广州 (Guǎngzhōu) is translated as Canton, Kwangchow,
Guangzhou. People names such as the surname 罗 (Luó) is translated as
Luo, Lo, Law; 李 (Lǐ) is translated as Lee, Li; Nixon is translated as
尼克逊 (Níkèxùn), 尼克松 (Níkèsōng). The same person can be translated
into different names.
##### Technical terms translation problem solutions
When translating foreign languages, directly transliterating foreign
languages can solve problems. For example, Internet directly translates
to the Internet; laser directly translates to the laser; National,
Panasonic and Technics directly translate to National, Panasonic and
Technics, or as kanji of Japan: 松下 (Sōng-xià). Names of Chinese
people, places and technical terms all use Pinyin to transliterate to
foreign languages. For example, 北京 (Běijīng) 邓小平 (Dèng Xiǎopíng)
and 普通话 (Pǔtōnghuà) use Pinyin to transliterate to Beijing, Deng
Xiaoping and Putonghua.
### Standardization of person and place names
### Romanization of technical terms and code names
#### Romanization
## Learn Chinese
Pinyin is a tool for learning Mandarin, and is used to explain both the
grammar and spoken Mandarin. Books containing both Hanzi and Pinyin are
used by learners of Chinese; Pinyin\'s role in teaching pronunciation is
similar to Furigana-based books (with Hiragana letters written above or
next to Kanji, directly analogous to Zhuyin) in Japanese or fully
vocalised texts in Arabic (\"vocalized Arabic\").
### Pinyin reading materials
**Pinyin reading materials**
are commonly used for learning Chinese.
## Hanzi input
### Pinyin input method
Pinyin input method is a popularly used phonetic input method. To key in
Putonghua\'s pinyin which will automatically convert into Hanzi. For
example: \"BABA\" is for inputting \"爸爸\".
# Resources
- :Category:Book:Pinyin
- See also
# Appendix
## The Problems of Hanzi Application in IT
## Pinyin Orthography
- Basic Rules of Pinyin Orthography
(Summary)
## Dictionaries
- Pinyin vocabulary
- Wenlin Pinyin dictionary
## Pinyin reading matters
The reading materials of this book can be used for learning Chinese as
well as English.
- **Please see for Pinyin reading
matters**
```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
- **Pinyin reading matters from
Wikimedia**
## Pinyin tone marking
ā á ǎ à a = a1 a2 a3 a4 a5 = a ar aa ah \'a \*
āi ái ǎi ài = ai air aai aih
ān án ǎn àn = an arn aan ahn
āng áng ǎng àng = ang arng aang ahng
ē é ě è = e er ee eh
\- ér ěr èr = - err eer erh
nǖ nǘ nǚ nǜ = nv nvr nvv nvh
lǖ lǘ lǚ lǜ = lv lvr lvv lvh
------------------------------------------------------------------------
**de** = **d**, **dy**, or **de**, can be written distinguishably as
follows:
**d** indicating subordination; suffix indicating an adjective
**dy** -ly, suffix indicating an adverb
**de** indicating a verb followed by an adverb or adverb clause; infix
indicating be able to
------------------------------------------------------------------------
**le** indicating a past tense; indicating a new situation
**bu** not, no; non-, un-; be unable to
**\'g** non-specific measure word
**\'r** non-syllabic diminutive suffix; retroflex final
- \* Syllable-dividing mark can be replaced by grave mark (\`) when
apostrophe (\') is used for indicating neutral tone.
```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
- Alternative methods can be used when diacritics are not convenient.
|
# Chinese (Mandarin)/Planning
**Welcome to the main Planning page for the Chinese Wikibook.** Unless
your comment only pertains to a particular lesson, discuss your ideas
here so that the overall planning discussion is not spread across many
lesson pages. Initial planning and continued coordination of effort is
extremely important to help reduce the need for reworking later. New
issues are entered here, with the most recent at the bottom of the page.
Please review the *Table of Contents* to see if your issue has already
been raised; also check the archives (see below) in case it was
discussed some time ago.
{width="150"}
**Please observe the following guidelines:**
1. Place your question **at the bottom** of the list;
2. **Title** the question (by placing the title between equals signs
like this: == *title* ==);
3. **Sign** your name and date (by adding four tildes: \~\~\~\~).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
!Wikimedia Commons logo{width="20"} **\[ Post a new comment\]**
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
## Chinese Wikibook Purpose and Audience
This book is intended to be a complete learning resource center for
students of Mandarin Chinese. Dialects, such as Cantonese, will be
covered by their own Wikibooks and be linked to in the See Also section
of the Table of Contents (TOC). It should teach listening comprehension
and speaking as well as reading and writing using whatever technologies
are most appropriate (includes audio for text and animations for stroke
orders).
The audience is the serious studier of Chinese, either at the high
school or college level. Casual learners looking for a few choice
phrases or unwilling to spend the time learning characters can be served
adequately by the Chinese Phrasebook on Wikivoyage. Younger audiences
can have age-appropriate material created for them in WikiJunior.
Intermediate- or Advanced-Level modules may be added, but because of the
cumulative nature of a language text (explained below), it would
probably be best to focus efforts on the Introductory Level first and
make continuations of the series later.
## The Need for Planning
Language Wikibooks faces some unique challenges from a planning
perspective. It\'s harder to produce a quality, integrated work in
language instruction than in other subjects, like Biology or Physics.
Those you can break into discrete units and still read about it---topics
within the subject can be rearranged or meaningfully read even in
isolation from the rest of the text.
Not so with an elementary language text. All the grammar and vocabulary
that you learn is cumulative, so everything can only stack one way.
Flipping ahead (or falling behind) more than a few chapters and you\'re
lost. Order matters, so we use the a sequential naming scheme (Lesson 1,
Lesson 2,\...), not a topic-based one (Asking Questions, Giving
Directions,\...).
To avoid late-stage reorganizations that would necessarily be painful
with lots of work going to waste, we should agree on a \'Lesson
Roadmap\' beforehand and then flesh it out. I think a Wiki can really
work for this, but that the project still needs a common format and
approach. A standard outline for lessons would help a lot with that, so,
may I suggest that the lessons of this text each include the components
outlined below.
## *Lesson Roadmap*
1. **Lesson 1: Hello!
(你好！)** - Basic
Sentences and Questions
- Simple Sentences
- SVO sentence structure
- The equational verb shi \[是\] and its negation with bu
\[不\]
- Verb 叫
- Intro to Questions
- Ma \[吗\] and ne \[呢\] particles
- Question words (for now, only shei \[谁\] and na/nei \[哪\])
2. **Lesson 2: Are you busy today? (今天你忙不忙?)**
- Measure Words,
Possession and Affirmative-Negative Questions
- Measure Words (the most commonly used, like 个、本、张)
- The possessive verb you \[有\] and its negation with mei \[没\]
- More Questions! Affirmative-Negative
- 是不是 Questions
- 有没有 Questions
3. **Unit 3: 今天星期三** - Numbers, Days, Aux. Verbs, de \[的\]
- Numbers (to 100)
- year, month, day, week etc.
- Auxiliary Verbs, the de \[的\] particle
4. **Lesson TBA: Unordered List of Grammar Explanations** - Even w/o
example sentences grammar can be explained nonetheless
- Comparisons Using bǐ \[比\]
- The le \[了\] particle
- indicating a completed action
- indicating a past event
- expressing change of state or situation
- adding emphasis
- Time
- when - time of day, hour and minutes, morning/night
- how long - duration of time
- Directions/Placement Words (NESW, L/R, li3, li2, zai4, bian1)
- Pronunciation of yi1 (b/c of tone changes)
- Complement of degree de
- ordinal numbers di
- Complement of direction qu/lai
- Compliment of result
- ba
- the suggestion particle
- as preposition
- guo denoting experience of something
- (some) members of family
- reduplication
- emphasis using shi\...de
- How to use a Radical Index (for C-E Glossary)
- Basic rules for writing Chinese characters
## Subjects Areas to Cover
**Greetings**
**Getting around (a city)**
- Where is the post office?
- How far is it to the school?
- Public transport
- Conversation in a taxi
**Chapter Three: Buying Things**
- How much is that shirt?
- Haggling
**Eating**
- Eating Out
- At the supermarket
- The grocer
- A meal at home
- Traditional Chinese cooking
**Sports**
- What do you play?
- Talking about a match
- Skiing
- Mountaineering
- Yachting
- Surfing
**Your House**
- Description of house
- Traditional Chinese furniture
- Living in a community
**Immediate family and relatives**
**Education**
- This is my school
- Afterschool activities
- School subjects
**Going to the Zoo / Wo men qu dong wu yuan**
## Decided Conventions
1. **The Title Page leads to the main TOC**, not the Cover Page. The
Cover Page can be linked from the TOC and used in Print versions.
2. **Hanyu Pinyin is used** as the only Romanization format, though
equivalency charts to other systems provided
1. Tone marks are used
instead of tone numbers.
3. **Traditional or Simplified** characters appear only in the Lesson
Text and in parentheses in the Vocabulary sections---not in titles,
example sentences, or exercises.
4. **Traditional pages are linked as parallel subpages** of every
Simplified page. On every Traditional page, a parentdirectory link
links back to the Simplified version, always providing a toggle
button between versions.
## Unresolved Issues
|
# Chinese (Mandarin)/Development History
This history of the Chinese Wikibook highlights milestones along the
book\'s development.
## 2006
- **March 17** A PDF
Version_v0.2.pdf "wikilink") is created
and the first audio
samples
are added to vocabulary
- **March 13** Print
version
created
## 2005
- **October** Chinese is elected October\'s Book of the
Month,
the first language text to do so
- **June 12** First stroke order
images
linked from vocabulary
- **March** First
nomination
for Book of the Month. One vote (or 37 minutes) shy of High school
extensions\' 5 votes. Chinese
would also be the runner-up in August and September.
- Translated versions of the Chinese Wikibook appear in
Spanish
(March 13),
Italian
(July 19) and
Polish
(August 20).
## 2004
- **December 29** First Table of
Contents
- **December 22**
Planning
page added
- **December 19** Major
rewrite
of Lesson 1
## 2003
- **December 13** First
edit
by Yacht
|
# Communication Systems/Communications Introduction
## Introduction
People are prone to take for granted the fact that modern technology
allows us to transmit data at nearly the speed of light to locations
that are very far away. 200 years ago, it would be deemed preposterous
to think that we could transmit webpages from China to Mexico in less
than a second. It would seem equally preposterous to think that people
with cellphones could be talking to each other, clear as day, from miles
away. Today, these things are so common, that we accept them without
even asking how these miracles are possible.
### What is Communications?
Communications is the field of study concerned with the transmission of
information through various means. It can also be defined as technology
employed in transmitting messages. It can also be defined as the
inter-transmitting the content of data (speech, signals, pulses etc.)
from one node to another.
## To Whom is This Book For?
This book is for people who have read the Signals and
Systems wikibook, or an equivalent
source of the information. Topics considered in this book will rely
heavily on knowledge of Fourier Domain representation and the Fourier
Transform. This book can be used to accompany a number of different
classes spanning the 3rd and fourth years in a study of electrical
engineering. Knowledge of integral and differential calculus is assumed.
The reader may benefit from knowledge of such topics as semiconductors,
electromagnetic wave propagation, etc., although these topics are not
necessary to read and understand the information in this book.
## What will this Book Cover
This book is going to take a look at nearly all facets of electrical
communications, from the shape of the electrical signals, to the issues
behind massive networks. It makes little sense to be discussing these
subjects outside the realm of current examples. We have the Internet, so
in discussing issues concerning digital networks, it makes good sense to
reference these issues to the Internet. Likewise, this book will attempt
to touch on, at least briefly, every major electrical communications
network that people deal with on a daily basis. From AM radio to the
Internet, from DSL to cable TV, this book will attempt to show how the
concepts discussed apply to the real world.
This book also acknowledges a simple point: It is easier to discuss the
signals *and* the networks simultaneously. For this kind of task to be
undertaken in a paper book would require hundreds, if not thousands of
printed pages, but through the miracle of Wikimedia, all this
information can be brought together in a single, convenient location.
This book would like to actively solicit help from anybody who has
experience with any of these concepts: Computer Engineers,
Communications Engineers, Computer Programmers, Network Administrators,
IT Professionals. Also, this book may cover all these topics, but the
reader doesn\'t need to have prior knowledge of all these disciplines to
advance. Information will be developed as completely as possible in the
text, and links to other information sources will be provided as needed.
## Where to Go From Here
Since this book is designed for a junior and senior year of study, there
aren\'t necessarily many topics that will logically follow this book.
After reading and understanding this material, the next logical step for
the interested engineer is either industry or graduate school. Once in
graduate school, there are a number of different areas to concentrate
study in. In industry, the number is even higher.
## Division of Material
Admittedly, this is a very large topic, one that can span not only
multiple printed books, but also multiple bookshelves. It could then be
asked \"Why don\'t we split this book into 2 or more smaller books?\"
This seems like a good idea on the surface, but you have to consider
exactly where the division would take place. Some would say that we
could easily divide the information between \"Analog and Digital\"
lines, or we could divide up into \"Signals and Systems\" books, or we
could even split up into \"Transmissions and Networks\" Books. But in
all these possible divisions, we are settling for having related
information in more than 1 place.
### Analog and Digital
It seems most logical that we divide this material along the lines of
analog information and digital information. After all, this is a
\"digital world\", and aspiring communications engineers should be able
to weed out the old information quickly and easily. However, what many
people don\'t realize is that digital methods are simply a subset of
analog methods with more stringent requirements. Digital transmissions
are done using techniques perfected in analog radio and TV broadcasts.
Digital computer modems are sending information over the old analog
phone networks. Digital transmissions are analyzed using analog
mathematical concepts such as modulation, SNR (signal to noise ratio),
Bandwidth, Frequency Domain, etc\... For these reasons, we can simplify
both discussions by keeping them in the same book.
### Signals and Systems
Perhaps we should divide the book in terms of the signals that are being
sent, and the systems that are physically doing the sending. This makes
some sense, except that it is impossible to design an appropriate signal
without understanding the restrictions of the underlying network that it
will be sent on. Also, once we develop a signal, we need to develop
transmitters and receivers to send them, and those are physical systems
as well.
### *Systems* Approach
It is a bit confusing to be writing a book about *Communication System*s
and also considering the **pedagogical** *Systems Approach*. Although
using the same word, they are not quite the same thing.
This approach is almost identical to the description above (Signals &
Systems) except that it is not limited to the consideration of signals
(common in many university texts), but can include other technological
drivers (codecs, lasers, and other components).
In this case we give a brief overview of different communication systems
(voice, data, cellular, satellite etc.) so that students will have a
context in which to place the more detailed (and often generic)
information. Then we can then zoom in on the mathematical and
technological details to see how these systems do their magic. This
lends itself quite well to technical subjects since the basic systems
(or mathematics) change relatively slowly, but the underlying technology
can often change rapidly and take unexpected terns.
I would like to suggest that the table of contents in this book be
rearranged to reflect this pedagogical approach: Systems examples first,
followed by the details.
### Why would anyone want to study (tele)communications?
Telecommunications is an alluring industry with a provocative history
filled with eccentric personalities: Bell, Heavyside, Kelvin, Brunel and
many others. It is fraught with adventure and danger: adventure spanning
space and time; danger ranging from the remote depths of the ocean floor
to deep space, from the boardrooms of AT&T to the Hong Kong stock
exchange.
Telecommunications has been heralded as a modern Messiah and cursed as a
pathetic sham. It has created and destroyed empires and institutions. It
has proclaimed the global village while sponsoring destructive
nationalism. It has come to ordinary people, but has remained largely in
the control of the 'media' and even \'big brother\'. Experts will soon
have us all traveling down a techno-information highway, destination ---
unknown.
Telecommunications has become the lifeblood of modern civilization.
Besides all that, there's big bucks in it
## About This Book
There are a few points about this book that are worth mentioning:
- The programming parts of this book will not use any particular
language, although we may consider particular languages in dedicated
chapters.
|
# Communication Systems/Communications History
This page will attempt to show some of the basic history of electrical
communication systems.
## Chronology
1831 Samuel Morse invents the first repeater and the telegraph is born
1837 Charles Wheatstone patents \"electric telegraph\"
1849 England to France telegraph cable goes into service---and fails
after 8 days.
1850 Morse patents \"clicking\" telegraph.
1851 England-France commercial telegraph service begins. This one uses
gutta-percha, and survives.
1858 August 18 - First transatlantic telegraph messages sent by the
Atlantic Telegraph Co. The cable deteriorated quickly, and failed after
3 weeks.
1861 The first transcontinental telegraph line is completed
1865 The first trans-Atlantic cable goes in service
1868 First commercially successful transatlantic telegraph cable
completed between UK and Canada, with land extension to USA. The message
rate is 2 words per minute.
1870 The trans-Atlantic message rate is increased to 20 words per
minute.
1874 Baudot invents a practical Time Division Multiplexing scheme for
telegraph. Uses 5-bit codes & 6 time slots---90 bps max. rate. Both
Western Union and Murray would use this as the basis of multiplex
telegraph systems.
1875 Typewriter invented.
1876 Alexander Graham Bell and Elisa Grey independently invent the
telephone (although it may have been invented by Antonio Meucci as early
as 1857)
1877 Bell attempts to use telephone over the Atlantic telegraph cable.
The attempt fails.
1880 Oliver Heaviside\'s analysis shows that a uniform addition of
inductance into a cable would produce distortionless transmission.
1883 Test calls placed over five miles of under-water cable.
1884 - San Francisco-Oakland gutta-percha cable begins telephone
service.
1885 Alexander Graham Bell incorporated AT&T
1885 James Clerk Maxwell predicts the existence of radio waves
1887 Heinrich Hertz verifies the existence of radio waves
1889 Almon Brown Strowger invents the first automated telephone switch
1895 Gugliemo Marconi invents the first radio transmitter/receiver
1901 Gugliemo Marconi transmits the first radio signal across the
Atlantic 1901 Donald Murray links typewriter to high-speed multiplex
system, later used by Western Union
1905 The first audio broadcast is made
1910 Cheasapeake Bay cable is first to use loading coils underwater
1911 The first broadcast license is issued in the US
1912 Hundreds on the Titanic were saved due to wireless
1915 USA transcontinental telephone service begins (NY-San Francisco).
1924 The first video signal is broadcast
1927 First commercial transatlantic radiotelephone service begins
1929 The CRT display tube is invented
1935 Edwin Armstrong invents FM
1939 The Blitzkrieg and WW II are made possible by wireless
1946 The first mobile radio system goes into service in St. Louis
1948 The transistor is invented
1950 Repeatered submarine cable used on Key West-Havana route.
1956 The first trans-Atlantic telephone cable, TAT-1, goes into
operation. It uses 1608 vacuum tubes.
1957 The first artificial satellite, Sputnik goes into orbit
1968 The Carterphone decision allows private devices to be attached to
the telephone
1984 The MFJ (Modification of Final Judgement) takes effect and the Bell
system is broken up
1986 The first transAtlantic fiber optic cable goes into service
## Claude Shannon
## Harry Nyquist
|
# Communication Systems/Telephone System
From the western perspective, the telephone is ubiquitous. However, the
reality is that 80% of the world's population have limited access to
one.
To the average person, the telephone system is simply a 'black box'.
Relatively few people need to know how the PSTN works. The main
consideration is that it works, and is relatively inexpensive. The PSTN
has a designed reliability of 99.999% (called 5 nines reliability).
### A Telephone Call
To make a telephone call, one simply picks up the handset, enters a
number, and waits for the system to perform its magic:
::\*Lifting the handset from its cradle releases a hook switch and
causes a dc current to flow (20 - 120 ma). The central office monitors
this loop current and interprets it as a request for service.
::\*The office acknowledges the request for service by sending dial
tone. This normally occurs in less time than it takes to pickup the
handset and place it to the ear. Once dial tone has been received, the
subscriber starts to dial.
::\*In the past, when dialing, a rotary dial switch opened and closed
the loop in a predetermined manner. If one was very coordinated, it was
possible to perform the same task by flashing the hook switch. To assure
the customer that the system is responding, dial tone is removed once
dialing starts. In most systems today DTMF (**Dual Tone Multi
Frequency**) signaling is used How Telephones
Work
::\*Depending upon the office type and digits received, a number of
things might happen. In most cases, end-users are attached to what is
called a class 5 or end-office. These are the most common types of
telephone exchanges. Each class 5 office has one or more, three digit
exchange numbers. These are the first three digits in an ordinary
7-digit telephone number.
::\*If the central office includes the customer dialed exchange number,
it will know that the call is local and the other party is connected to
the same office. The office will therefor control the entire call setup
and takedown.
::\*If the first three digits do not correspond to an exchange handled
by the end-office, it will have to find a trunk line to an office that
can handle the call. This means that each office must know the exchange
numbers of all the offices within its calling area, and how to get to
them. The call setup and takedown will therefor be shared between the
two exchanges. They must monitor the call in progress and inform each
other of any change in call status.
::\*If the first digit dialed is a one, the office will recognize this
as a long distance call, and will start looking for a spare toll trunk.
A toll office has a greater knowledge base as to where distant exchanges
are located and how to get to them.
::\*The telephone system must be intelligent enough to recognize that in
a local call, only seven digits are usually required. Some very small
exchanges however, allow local calls by omitting the exchange number and
using only the last 4 digits or extension number. In large urban areas,
it may be necessary to prefix local calls with a 3-digit area code. An
international call may require up to 16 digits.
::\*Once the entire number has been received, the office at each end of
the connection must alert both parties as to what is happening. At the
originating end, a ringing tone is sent to the speaker in the handset.
At the terminating end, the office is generating a much larger ringing
voltage to activate a bell.
::\*The far-end-office monitors the line to determine if someone answers
the ringing phone. This is done by examining the DC current drawn when
the far-end customer lifts the handset, inducing loop current through
the hook switch. The far-end-office must then disconnect the ringing
before the handset reaches the ear, and signals back to the originating
office that someone has picked up the phone. The origination office must
then disconnect the ring back tone and complete the voice connection.
::\*Both end-offices monitor their respective loop currents during the
entire call to determine if one party hangs up. Once this happens, one
end-office signals the other, and dial tone is placed on the loop. This
alerts the remaining party that the connection has been terminated.
::\*If the line is in use, the central office will not set up the
connection and return a busy tone to the originator. By doing this
switching, call processing, and transmission resources are not being
tied up unnecessarily. However, there are a number of options such as
call forwarding and call waiting which modify this process.
::\*With call forwarding, a call to a busy number is routed to an
answering service. With call waiting, the calling party hears a ringing
tone, and the called party hears a beep, which they can either ignore or
signal back to the office that the new call should be given priority
over the existing call. If however, the call cannot be completed because
the system itself is too busy, it returns a fast busy tone to the
originator.
::\*In a touch-tone environment, the same procedure is followed, except
that tones are used to convey numbers to the local office instead of
interrupting loop current. Some calling features, generally known as
CLASS (Custom Local Area Signaling Services) , are available in areas
with touch-tone service.
In summary, the steps in completing a local telephone call are as
follows:
- Initially calling party goes in off hook condition.
- Once the DC current flows into the loop,the switching machine sends
a dial tone to the calling party in order to make sure that it
access to the switching machine.
- Now the caller starts dialing the destination telephone number
either by rotary dialer or touch tone keypad.
- The switching machine will locate the corresponding local loop for
the destination number.
- After locating,the switching machine will check for on hook or off
hook condition of the destination subscriber soas to make dc current
to flow.Simultaneously the switching machine provide a signal path
through it for the two local loops.
- The switching machine sends a busy dial tone to the called
subscriber when the destination party is off hook.
- If the destination part is off hook when the destination party
answers to the call and completes the loop.
- When the destination party answers the called party,DC current flows
through the loop.The flow of DC current through the loop indicates
the switching machine that destination party answered the call.As a
result,the switching machine remove the ringing and ring back
signals.
- If both stations are on hook,switching machine recognizes on open
circuit on that loop and drops the connection through the switching
machine.
#### But where do the telephone wires go?
The telephone line goes to a terminal block in a service area interface.
These are often located on a pole or small enclosure on the street. The
service area interface bundles the subscriber drop cables into a single
larger cable. These are in turn gathered together to form larger feeder
cables. The entire wiring system somewhat resembles a huge tree.
Cables coming out of a central office may have hundreds or even
thousands of pairs bundled together however by the time the cable gets
to the end user, it is generally down to about 50 pairs. An individual
subscriber consists of many cable sections spliced together. Bellcore
claims that the average U.S. subscriber line has twenty-two splices.
Feeder cables enter the central office in a large underground room
called a cable vault. Each feeder may contain hundreds of pairs of
wires, and be pressurized in order to prevent moisture or ground water
from entering and affecting the transmission characteristics of the
wire. A typical vault may contain tens of thousands of wire pairs.
The cables pass through the vault and are terminated on the vertical
side of the MDF (main distribution frame) . To protect the central
office equipment from high voltage transients, such as lightning
strikes, which may travel down the wire, the lines are surge protected
by carbon blocks or gas tubes.
The horizontal side of the MDF, connects the incoming telephone lines to
the peripheral equipment. All that is required to connect a line
appearance to a specific interface is to place a jumper between the
vertical and horizontal sides of the MDF.
Signals coming from an end-user are generally analog in nature.
Consequently, the peripheral equipment converts the signals to digital
form before passing them on to the rest of the network.
Incoming trunks from other central offices are comprised of specialized
carrier systems. They may be either analog or digital, but all new
systems are strictly digital.
Most end-user voice & data interfaces are multiplexed on to high-speed
paths, which pass through the internal switching, network before being
routed to outgoing lines or trunks. Incoming digital carrier systems may
be accepted directly into the switching network through a cross-connect
or may be demultiplexed prior to switching.
## PSTN Hierarchy
: 
Historically the telephone network was composed of a hierarchical
structure consisting of 5 different office types. The most common of
these is the class 5 end-office. An end-office connects directly to
subscriber telephone sets and performs switching functions over a
relatively small area. Telephone exchanges connect to subscribers by
means of local loops or lines, generally one per customer. Telephone
offices connect to each other by means of trunks.
A class 5 or end-office interconnects telephones throughout a small
service area. Each end-office may contain several three-digit exchange
numbers and is aware of other local exchange numbers held by other
offices.
Calls between offices are routed over interoffice or tandem trunks. Long
distance calls are routed to toll offices via toll trunks. The average
class 5 office serves approximately 41,000 subscribers, and covers 30
square km in an urban environment.
Some nodes may have no customers at all, and may be connected only to
other nodes. These inter-node or trunk connections are usually made by
FDM or TDM transmission links.
### Exchange Area Network
: 
An exchange network consists of local and tandem exchanges connected by
trunks. A tandem office interconnects class 5 offices by means of
twisted pair, coax, microwave, or fiber optic carriers. Alternate
routing paths between local exchanges are provided if the direct trunks
are occupied.
An exchange area includes all of the offices, which are aware of each
other, but do not involve long distance charges. In very large urban
areas, there is an overlap between exchange areas, which may also cross
over area code boundaries.
### Long Haul Network
: 
A long haul network consists of exchanges interconnected by toll
offices. Toll offices keep track of long distance charges and are
typically confined to national boundaries. These trunks consist of high
capacity coax, microwave, or glass fiber.
Messages used to control the call setup and takedown can be sent by two
basic methods. Traditionally, inter-office messages are sent over the
same channel that will carry the voice path, but in newer systems,
common channel signaling is being employed. In this method, the offices
have dedicated facilities, which are used to send inter-office messages.
There are some advantages to this, perhaps the notable being the added
degree of difficulty encountered if one wants to defraud the system.
When in-band signaling was used, it was possible for people to dial long
distance calls without being charged, if they created the tones used to
disable the toll circuit.
### Interoffice Signaling
Trunks are used to interconnect the various levels of telephone
exchanges. It is necessary for these links to exchange on a wide range
of information including:
:
: • Call related signaling messages
: • Billing information
: • Routing and flow control signals
: • Maintenance test signals
There are two ways for telephone offices to communicate with each other
and pass on routing information. Information can be conveyed in the same
channel that will be used to convey the voice signal, or it may be
completely disassociated with it.
#### CAS
The CAS (Channel Associated Signaling) approach uses the voice channel
to send information through a trunk. For example, a 2600 Hz tone is used
in interoffice trunks to signal on-hook. A major disadvantage of this
system is that subscribers can bypass toll centers by injecting the
appropriate tones. One way to avoid this problem is by using out-of-
band signals on toll trunks. Since the customer's signal must pass
through an audio anti-aliasing filter, it is not possible to inject the
out-of-band signaling tone.
A principle advantage of in-channel signaling is that the integrity of
the voice path is checked each time a connection is established.
Out-of-band signaling allows for continuous supervision of the
connection throughout the call.
#### CCIS
The CCIS (Common Channel Interoffice Signaling) approach has the
signaling information conveyed on a facility completely separated from
the customer's voice path. This allows for a faster, more efficient
control, however the reliability of the CCS network must be considerably
greater than that of the individual voice paths. The signaling channel
may follow the same route as the final connection path, or it may be
completely disassociated with it. STPs (Switch Transfer Point) are need
in the network if the signaling path is disassociated, thus effectively
creating two networks: a speech network and a signaling network overlay.
#### SS7
Virtually all calls requiring tandem or toll office routing are
established and controlled by the SS7 signaling network.
The SS7 signaling network is a packet switching facility comprised
primarily of STPs (Signaling Transfer Point) and SCPs (Service Control
Point) connected to the PSTN SSP (Signal Switching Point). STPs are
deployed in pairs and are the brains of the system. They determine which
trunks and offices should be used in establishing inter-office
connections.
The SCP is a database that keeps track of such things as: credit card
authorization, virtual network subscriber listings, 800 number
conversion tables, billing, and other special services.
## Class 5 Office
A telephone central office
is often referred to as a switch because it switches or routes calls.
Regardless of who makes them, all class 5 offices have the same
objectives, and therefor have similar structures. The three major
components found in any modern switching systems are; the central
control, network, and peripherals.
### A Generic Communication Switch
: 
The internal architecture of a telecommunications switch is somewhat
like the organization of the entire system. The internal structure is
often illustrated by the traditional pyramid or hierarchical
arrangement. The control or brains of the operation are shown at the
top, and the peripheral units that connect to the outside world are
placed at the bottom.
Physically, the switch is simply a series of boxes, full of electronics:
: 
The MTBF (mean time between failure) for any PSTN switch must be very
long, since business would soon grind to a halt if telephone traffic was
interrupted for a prolonged period, but more importantly, emergency
services would be severely curtailed. For these reasons, large public
switches have a great deal of redundancy built in. Redundancy is
provided in two basic ways; hot standby and load sharing.
In the hot standby arrangement, two or more processors are fed with the
identical information and are making decisions, however, only one of
these processors is in charge and is executing decisions. In the event
of a failure, the healthy unit assumes the full load. There is no
degradation in performance, and no calls in progress should be lost.
In a load-sharing configuration, all processors are actively working but
not to their full capacity. In the event of a failure, the defective
processor is isolated from the system, and the others pick up the slack.
There may be degradation in performance, and calls in progress on the
defective processor may be lost.
#### Peripheral Layer
The periphery is the outermost layer in any system. It contains the
interface to all outgoing lines and trunks.
#### Network Layer
The network switch does the actual routing of signals from one customer
or port to another. Switching can be done in either the space or time
domain. Initially, all switching was done by mechanical contacts in the
space domain. Today most switches are digital in nature and operate
mainly in the time domain. However, some degree of space switching is
always required since signals must ultimately be routed from one line to
another.
Networks always provide some form of concentration. That is to say, not
all customers can be handled simultaneously. Statistical analysis shows
that in the majority of cases, the switch needs only to handle about 20%
of all the subscribers at one time. This is similar to highway systems
where the roads are designed to handle not all vehicles simultaneously,
but only a certain peak load.
#### Central Control
This contains the system intelligence and customer database. It knows
who the customers are, what they want, and how to provide the service
they require.
In a step x step \[step by step\] switch, the intelligence is fully
distributed and there is no central control, whereas in a crossbar
facility, all of the intelligence is resident in a central controller or
computer. In all modern systems the intelligence is somewhat
distributed, with various functional blocks contributing to the decision
making process.
At onetime there was a sharp distinction between computers and telecom
switches, but today this division is less clear, and central controllers
may be regarded as a specialized computer.
## Specialized Components
There are some components associated with telephone systems that deserve
special consideration.
### Line Cards
: 
Line cards are the single most common component in a telephone office.
It is a very complex device that contains a wide range of technologies.
The (telephone) line interface is often referred to as a BORSCHT
circuit.
This acronym describes the functional requirements of a standard
telephone line interface. The tip and ring leads of the telephone set
are wired through some protection devices to the line interface located
in the peripheral module. This interface must perform the following
functions:
:
: B Battery feed
: O Over voltage protection
: R Ringing
: S Supervision & Signaling
: C Coding
: H Hybrid
: T Test
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: 
Many of these functions can be integrated into a single IC, often called
a SLIC chip (subscriber line interface chip). SLICs have been available
for the PBX market for over a decade. Recently however, they have also
become available for the central office environment as well.
: **B - Battery Feed**
Most domestic appliances are powered from an electric utility grid. The
notable exception to this is the telephone. This is because the
telephone should still operate in the event of a power failure. Indeed,
the telephone is vital in case of disaster or emergency.
The telephone office provides a nominal -48 volt dc feed to power the
phone. This magnitude is considered the maximum safe dc operating
potential. It would not be in the telephone company's best interest to
provide a dc voltage, which could electrocute its customers, or it's own
employees. A negative potential was chosen to reduce corrosive action on
buried cables.
Multi-function telephones cannot always be powered from the telephone
exchange and often require an alternate power source. For this reason,
sophisticated line interfaces such as ISDN SAA interfaces have a 'fail
to POTS' mode. If the electric power fails, the complex phone cannot
function to full capacity. The telephone exchange can sense the local
power outage through the telephone loop and switches to POTS only
service.
The POTS loop requires a nominal -48 v at 20 -- 100 ma dc to maintain a
voice and signaling path. The earpiece in the handset does not require
biasing, but the carbon microphone does. Subscriber signaling is
performed by temporarily placing a short circuit on the loop thus
changing the loop current, which is then sensed at the central office.
: 
There are several ways to provide loop current, the simplest being a
resistor in series with a battery.
: 
Another way to provide loop current is by an electronic current source.
Although this method is quite complex, it has become quite popular with
the advent of high voltage bipolar technology. One of the more difficult
requirements to meet is the 60-dB longitudinal line balance requirement.
To achieve this, the impedance to ground on each side of the loop, must
match within 0.1%. This is easy to do with laser trimmed thick film
resistors, but a bit tricky with current sources.
: 
A standard telephone requires a minimum of about 20 ma. This means that
the maximum possible loop resistance is about 2000 $\Omega$. In actual
practice, the loop is generally limited to 1250 W. The maximum loop
length is determined by the wire gauge.
: **O - Over-voltage Protection**
The two major types of over-voltage that can occur are lightning strikes
and power line contact. In both cases, the circuit must either recover
or fail-safe. Under no circumstances can a surge be allowed to propagate
further into the system, or create a fire.
Initial surge protection is provided at the MDF by gas tubes and/or
carbon blocks, which arc if the applied voltage exceeds a few hundred
volts. Since these devices take a finite time to respond, high-speed
diodes are also used at the line circuit inputs.
: **R - Ringing**
Ringing is often provided by means of a dedicated ringing generator that
is connected onto the loop by means of a relay. It is possible to
generate ringing voltages at the line interface if the current
generators have a high enough voltage source available to them. Or
alternately, a switching converter with step up capability can be place
on the interface.
In Canada, the ringing voltage is a nominal 86 Vrms at 20 Hz, with a 2
second on and 4 second off cycle. On rural party lines, ringing codes of
long and short rings are sometimes used.
In the U.S. there are a number of fully selective and semi-selective
ringing methods used on party lines. One employs different frequencies
ranging from about 16 -- 66 Hz. In such cases, each telephone ringer is
tuned to its own frequency. Other methods use positive and negative
battery voltages or apply ringing on either the tip or ring side of the
line with respect to ground.
: **S - Supervision & Signaling**
The central office must supervise the loop in order to identify customer
requests for service. A request for service is initiated by going
off-hook. This simply draws loop current from the CO.
Loop current at the far-end is monitored during ringing to enable the CO
to disconnect the ringing generator when the phone is answered. The
office continues to monitor the loop current at both ends of the
connection throughout the call, to determine when the call is terminated
by hanging up.
Signaling is a way to inform the CO what the customer wants. The two
basic signaling methods used in customer loops are dial pulse and
touch-tone. It is interesting to note that preferred customer loop
signaling method in analog exchanges is digital, while the preferred
method in digital exchanges is analog!
:
: **MF Signaling Tones**
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: 
Two tones are used to perform the signaling function to eliminate the
possibility that speech be interpreted as a signal. At one time DTMF
decoders were costly and bulky devices located in a common equipment
bay, but today with the advent of LSI technology, this function can be
performed on a chip. An example is the Mitel MT8865 DTMF filter, and
MT8860 DTMF decoder.
Positions 11 to 14 are not presently being used.
: **C - Coding**
: 
Telecommunications signals are seldom linearly encoded, but rather are
companded (a combination of compression & expansion). This allows for a
more uniform S/N ratio over the entire range of signal sizes. Without
companding, a 12 bit linear encoding scheme would be needed to obtain
the same S/N ratio at low volume levels. It also reduces the noise and
crosstalk levels at the receiver.
There are two principal international standards used to implement coding
algorithms today: A-law, which is used in Europe, and µ-law, which is
used in North America. These both involve 8 kHz sampling, and 8 bit A/D
& D/A conversion, thus resulting in 64 kbps digital bit streams.
Although the actual compression algorithms are continuous functions, the
codec approximates them by linear segments. A-law has 13 linear
segments, and µ-law has 15 linear segments or cords.
: 
Another important difference between the European and North American
codecs, can be seen by the position of the decision threshold and its
digital value.
: 
When a telephone call is placed between Europe and North America, it is
essential that all of these differences be accounted for. It is possible
to regenerate the analog voice by passing it through the same type of
codec that originally processed it, and then re-code with the other. An
alternate approach is to use lookup tables that translate the binary
values of one system to the other.
: 
Since the highest frequency passed is about 3.4 kHz, a great deal of
ingenuity is required to pass data at 4.8, 9.6 kbps or even higher. Note
that these are well above the Nyquist rate but considerably below the
Shannon-Hartley limit.
All modern telephone systems today employ codecs in the BORSCHT
interface to digitize the incoming analog signals. It is ironic that
although the telephone system has been updated to digital technology,
the telephone set and loop has remained analog.
By international agreement, all voice codecs use an 8 kHz sampling rate.
Since each transmitted sample is 8 bits long, the analog voice signal is
encoded into a 64 kbps binary steam. This rate determines the basic
channel data rate of most other digital communications systems.
By bypassing the codec, it is possible to send 64 kbps customer data
through the telephone system. However, because of old style signaling
schemes still in use, digital data rates are often limited to 56 kbps.
: **H - Hybrid**
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: 
A diplexer performs a bi-directional 2-wire to 4-wire conversion. It
allows two unidirectional electrical paths to be combined into a single
bi-directional one, and vice versa. It is advantageous to separate
transmit and receive portions of the signal since it is easier to make
unidirectional amplifiers, filters, and logic devices.
One of the simplest ways to create an audio band hybrid is to use a
transformer hybrid.
:
: **Single Core Transformer Hybrid**
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: 
There are several ways to split transmit and receive paths, the simplest
method uses a single core hybrid transformer.
The basic defining transformer equations are:
$$\frac{{V_1 }}
{{n_1 }} = \frac{{V_2 }}
{{n_2 }} = \frac{{V_3 }}
{{n_3 }} = \cdots \quad \quad \quad and\quad \quad \quad I_1 n_1 + I_2 n_2 + I_3 n_3 + \cdots = 0$$
For a single core hybrid with a center-tapped secondary, the impedance
relationships for proper operation (conjugate matching) are:
$$for\quad \quad \quad n_2 = n_3 \quad \quad \quad Z_2 = Z_3 = 2Z_4 \quad \quad \quad and\quad \quad \quad Z_1 = \left( {\frac{{n_2 }}
{{n_1 }}} \right)^2 Z_4$$
:  Note what happens
if the transformer is driven from one of the secondary windings:
$$let\quad \quad \quad n_1 = n_2 = n_3 \quad \quad \quad \therefore I_3 = - I_1 - I_2$$
:
: But *I~1~* and *I~2~* flow in the opposite directions, therefor:
$$I_3 = - \left( { - I} \right)_1 - I_2 \quad \quad \quad and\;if\quad \quad \quad \left| {I_1 } \right| = \left| {I_2 } \right|\quad \quad \quad then\quad \quad \quad I_3 = 0$$
This last requirement can be satisfied by adjusting the impedances
Z~1~ - Z~4~ to make the currents equal. From this we observe that
signals injected into any port emerge only at adjacent ports but not at
the opposite one.
: 
In a properly balanced single core hybrid the typical throughput or
insertion loss is about 3.5 dB and the THL (trans hybrid loss) is about
25 dB.
:
: **Double Core Hybrid**
```{=html}
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```
: 
When properly balanced, a 2-core network can achieve a THL of 50 dB
while the insertion loss remains at about 3.5 dB. It has better
performance than the single core device, but is bulkier and more
expensive.
:
: **Balancing Networks**
All telecom equipment is tested and characterized against standard
impedance terminations. These impedances are based on line surveys and
are approximate equivalent circuit representations of the outside
cabling plant. For this reason, these networks vary from country to
country. In North America, IRL (input return loss) is measured against:
: **T - Testing**
In order to maintain a high degree of service (99.999%), the equipment
must be capable of detecting and repairing faults before the customer is
even aware that there may be a problem. As a result, a separate test
buss and access relay is provided on a line interface. Tests may be
performed in a bridged mode or with the loop and line card disconnected
from each other.
Testing can be done in three basic directions:
:
: • From the line interface looking out towards the subscriber
loop
: • From the loop connection looking into the line card
: • From the central office side of the line card
These tests are generally automated and are conducted late at night when
there is little chance that the customer will request service, thus
interrupting the test. Some of the scheduled tests may include:
:
: • Transmit and receive levels
: • Transmit and receive frequency response
: • Insertion loss
: • Trans-hybrid loss
: • Quantization distortion
: • Aliasing distortion
Some other tests that may be performed when commissioning a line or when
a complaint is lodged, include:
:
: • Impulse noise test
: • C-message noise
: • Longitudinal balance
```{=html}
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```
: **Repeaters**
```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
: 
By placing two hybrids back to back, it is possible to create a
bidirectional amplifier or repeater. The total gain in the 4-wire path
within the repeater must not exceed the combined transhybrid loss of the
transformers. If this happens, the circuit will oscillate or sing.
The total gain in the 4-wire path within the repeater must not exceed
the combined transhybrid loss of the transformers. If this happens, the
circuit will oscillate or sing.
### Space Division Switching
The physical path between any two customers on a space switch is not
shared with anyone else. Crosspoints made from electromechanical relays
have been used to perform the interconnection, but newer systems use
semiconductors.
In a crossbar matrix, the number of inputs and outputs do not have to be
equal thus facilitating either concentration or expansion. In any case,
a total of NxM crosspoints are required. Although only one contact is
shown, many systems require two contacts if they keep the integrity of
the tip and ring leads throughout the system.
: 
The folded matrix treats inputs and outputs identically and requires
only *N(N-1)/2* crosspoints. The major disadvantage of this type of
switch is the rapid increase of crosspoints as the system size
increases. The number of crosspoints increases as *N^2^* and yet only a
maximum of *N* crosspoints can be active at any given time. Failure of a
single crosspoint prevents communication between the two devices sharing
that crosspoint.
**Multiple Stage Space Switch**
One way to avoid the cost penalties associated with full matrices, is to
organize the contacts into smaller groups. This impacts the call
processing since the switch controller must manage several contacts per
connection. Furthermore, the connection between any two subscribers may
take any one of a number of paths, thus further complicating the
decision making process.
The following sketch shows a simple three-stage space switch. It should
be remembered that since a full duplex connection is required, a second
switch supplying the return path must be provided.
: 
The total number of crosspoints in the above illustration is:
PLACE EQUATIONS HERE
The number of crosspoints required is dramatically reduced in this
multiple stage switch in comparison to a square matrix. The central
stage allows several ways to make a connection between two subscribers
therefor, single crosspoint failures can be bypassed. This results in a
more flexible and reliable system, but demands a more complex control
structure.
**Blocking**
A non-blocking network is capable of finding a path between any idle
input to any idle output. This does not mean that the system be able to
handle simultaneously all customer requests for service. In such a case,
the system may overload but the customer is not able to distinguish the
difference between blocking and overload.
The following illustration shows how blocking can occur. The solid lines
represent connections in service.
PLACE ILLUSTRATION HERE
The connections in service are not necessarily the optimum routing and
may have been forced by the prior connections. Note that in this case,
it is not possible for the last customer on switch 1:1 to contact the
last customer on switch 1:3 because there is not a free center switching
stage common to both. To overcome this, an additional center stage can
be added. To prevent blocking, 2n-1 center arrays are necessary.
The total number of crosspoints (NoC) in a non-blocking network is
therefore:
PLACE EQUATIONS HERE
As the total number of lines in increase, the total number of
crosspoints can be approximated by:
A non-blocking network of this type is known as a Clos switch, after its
inventor. Its basic characteristics include:
:
: • Expansion in the first switching stage
: • An odd number of center stages
: • Concentration in the last stage
### Time Division Switching
Time domain switching is simply an application of time domain
multiplexing and may be performed on analog or digital signals. Any
number of inputs may be sequentially routed to a single output.
: 
This technique increases the transmission link utilization and can be
modified to support circuit switching. If a multiplexer is placed at the
input, a demultiplexer is placed at the output. This system can be used
to multiplex either analog or digital signals.
: 
Each customer is assigned a unique switch, but all customers share the
same internal signal path. For N customers there are 2N switches. TDM
bus switching occurs when the input sequence is not the same as the
output sequence.
Each customer is given access to the common structure for a brief
moment. If higher data rates are needed, multiple inputs can be
assigned, thus giving the customer more time to transmit a signal.
**Time Slot Interchange \[TSI\]**
If information can be arranged into a sequence, it can also be
rearranged, much like shuffling a deck of cards. This is the task of the
time slot interchange unit. Full duplex operation is achieved by
interchanging time slots in both directions.
: 
The incoming TDM channels are mapped sequentially into RAM while the
outgoing channels are read out non-sequentially. This output address
generator is simply a memory-mapped pointer governed by a central
controller.
The required memory access time can be approximated as the inverse of
the channel rate. The RAM width is determined by the number of bits in a
channel, and the length by the number of channels in a frame.
**Time Multiplexed Switching**
Combining TDM and TSI allows a channel from one digital bit stream to be
switched to any channel on another digital bit stream. A multistage time
switch can consist of cascaded switching modules. To prevent blocking, 3
or more stages are required.
: 
Although it appears that only time domain switching is used in this
example, it is also known as a Time-Space-Time switch or simply *TST*.
This is because the center stage is actually switching different input
lines in space to a common output line. Since there is an ambiguity in
the terminology, some manufacturers of telecommunications equipment may
refer to this as a *TTT* switch if all of the signals are digital.
For small-scale switches, space switching is most efficient. However, as
switch size increases, time domain switching tends to gain the
advantage.
It is sometimes difficult to make direct comparisons between various
telecommunications switches because the internal architectures may be
quite different. However, it is possible to compare BHCA (busy hour call
attempts) capacity or performance such as traffic intensity, under a
specified set of circumstances.
Traffic Intensity is the product of average holding time and the calling
rate and is expressed in CCS (hundred call seconds) or Erlangs.
CCS is defined as: (number of calls per hour)x(call holding time in
seconds)/100seconds Therefore, 36 CCS = 1 Erlang
An erlang is a measure of the traffic intensity and is equal to the
average number of simultaneous calls at any given moment. It represents
the total circuit usage during any time interval, divided by that
interval. It also corresponds to the minimum number of channels
necessary to carry the traffic, if it could be scheduled.
**Example**
:
: Imagine for a moment that there are 8 customers in a small
telephone system making random calls:
```{=html}
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```
: 
```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
:
: These calls could conceivably be arranged as:
Three, 1 hour channels could carry this traffic and still have 25
minutes left over to spare. The traffic intensity is therefor less than
3 Erlangs:
## Questions for Research
1\. What is the purpose of dial tone?
2\. What are the advantages of CAS and CCIS interoffice signaling?
3\. What is the difference between a line and a trunk? 4. How does the
line circuit monitor the state of the telephone?
4\. Why does the standard telephone exchange need to provide BORSCHT?
5\. List the differences between North American and European codecs.
6\. Under what circumstances can poor THL be tolerated?
7\. What is the difference between an echo suppresser and an echo
canceler?
8\. Where do the telephony terms tip and ring originate? Tip and Ring
come from switchboard days. The plug on operators cords had a center
\'tip\' for one conductor, and the outer \'ring\' for the other
conductor. 9. Define blocking.
10\. Why are multiple stage space (or time) switches more practical than
a single stage switch?
|
# Communication Systems/Cellular Systems
## Cellular Voice Networks
Mobile radio service was introduced in St. Louis in 1946. This radio
dispatching system had an operator who patched the caller to the PSTN.
Later, IMTS allowed customers to dial their calls without an operator.
From this humble beginning came the present cellular phone system.
The cellular network is viewed by the PSTN as just another end-office
where calls originate and terminate.
:
: 
The STP (signal transfer point) handles the network routing by
establishing the route to the HLR (home location register) for a
specific mobile user. This simplifies network management, because only
the routing tables in the STP need to be updated as the system grows.
Each MSC (mobile switching center) does not have to maintain full
routing tables to all other MSCs.
**Cellular Voice Reference Model**
: 
```{=html}
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```
:
: AC --- Authentication Center. This manages the authentication of
the end user or equipment on behalf of the MS. It may serve many
HLRs or in fact be an HLR itself.
: BS --- Base Station. The base station manages one or more cell
sites and consists of a controller and one or more radio
transceivers.
: EIR --- Equipment Identity Register. This is not presently well
defined, but is used to identify end user equipment and reduce
the incidents of fraud.
: HLR --- Home Location Register. This identifies the particular
user and their service profile. It also records their current
location and authorization period. The HLR may be distributed
over more than one entity.
: MS --- Mobile Station. This is the actual radio based terminal
that provides customer access to the network.
: MSC --- Mobile Switching Center. The telecommunications switch
which routes calls between mobile users and the PSTN.
: VLR --- Visitor Location Register. This allows visitors to roam
on other systems.
This reference model distinguishes between various tasks and does not
necessarily reflect the actual physical equipment.
Unfortunately, there is a wide range of incompatible technologies being
used at the Um air interface. Consequently, although it is possible to
communicate with people all over the world, it is not possible to take
your phone with you everywhere. This makes it difficult to adapt the
present system to support global PCS.
The cellular infrastructure market is dominated by four major
corporations: Lucent Technologies, Nortel, Ericsson, and Motorola.
The current cellular system is experiencing unprecedented growth in
subscribers, services, and technological innovation. Some of the offered
services include:
:
: • Paging, vehicle location
: • Text, data, facsimile transmission
: • Traffic, weather information
: • Emergency aid dialing
: • Electronic funds transfer for fare payment
There are however, some areas of concern:
:
: • Computerized call hand-offs between cell sites
: • Caller identification
: • Remote diagnostics
: • Reliability
: • Technology mix \[digital, analog, UHF, audio, computer\]
: • Billing
: • Long distance paging
Each subscriber is assigned transmit and receive frequencies for the
duration of a call. The frequency pair is sometimes referred to as the
forward and reverse channels, or the up and down link. Under control
from the cell site, the cellular phone must be able to tune to any of
the hundreds of frequency channels in the system.
Some of the adjacent cells will monitor the signal strength from the
portable unit in order to help the central exchange to determine which
cell site should handle the call. If at some time, this signal becomes
weaker because the customer has moved into another cell service area, a
call hand--off will be necessary. This requires that the cellular phone
switch to another set of frequencies, and the calling path be rerouted.
All of this must appear transparent to the user.
### AMPS
AMPS is an analog system based on FDMA and used extensively in North
America. It has been slightly modified since its inception and some of
its characteristics are:
:
: • Channel width: 30 KHz
: • Duplex spacing: 45 MHz
: • Data transmission: BFSK ±8 KHz deviation
: • Output power: 0.6 to 4 watts
The present system divides the 832 channels into two blocks of 416
channels. Within each block, 21 channels are reserved for signaling.
Some of the weaknesses associated with this system include:
:
: • Call blocking during busy hours in urban areas
: • Misconnects and disconnects due to rapidly fading signals
: • Lack of privacy and security
: • Limited data transmission \[1200 bps\]
One technique, which has been put forward to resolve some of the
congestion problem now found in the major urban areas, is to narrow the
channel broadcast bandwidth. NAMPS(narrow AMPS) increases system
capacity by splitting each 30 kHz AMPS channel into three 10 kHz
channels. This is seen as an interim solution until a better scheme is
agreed upon.
**Cell Channel Allocation**
:
: 
It is not possible to assign all channels to each cell since adjacent
cells using the same frequencies would interfere with each other. The
channel distribution in the 832-channel system is as follows:
:
: • A cell group of 7 adjacent cells share 416 full duplex
channels
: • No cell contains any adjacent frequency channels
: • 4 cells are assigned 56 channels
: • 3 cells are assigned 57 channels
: • 21 channels are reserved for control
Frequency utilization can be improved by cell splitting and sectoring.
These approaches effectively reduce the size of the customer service
area and allow frequencies reuse. This increases the number of hand-offs
and other demands on the MTX.
:
: 
Cell splitting involves the creation of a new smaller cell from two
larger ones, while sectoring is the breakup of a single cell into
smaller ones. Typically, cell sites are split 3 or 4 to 1.
To minimize spill over into nearby cells, the cell antennas are given a
slight downward tilt, and the output power is limited to 100 Werp.
Another way to increase utilization is by channel borrowing. A few
channels are allowed to violate the normal frequency assignments and
move between cells. This allows the system to dynamically vary the
number of customers that can be served in a given cell. Careful
consideration must be given to potential co-channel interference
This principle can be further extended to provide dynamic channel
assignment, where the assigned cell frequencies are continually changing
to meet the shifting demand patterns.
### GSM
GSM is a third generation wireless telephone technology that allows
roaming in 17 European countries. It started off as a pan-European
standard but quickly gained world wide acceptance for its comprehensive
and thoughtful implementation.
GSM uses a TDMA access format and has a call hand-off capability, thus
increasing customer mobility and allowing inbound calls. Base stations
can handle 124 frequency bands. Channel 0 is performs a dual role of
providing a signaling channel and monitoring signal strength. All other
channels can be assigned to subscribers.
:
: • Up Link Frequency 890 - 915 MHz
: • Down Link Frequency 935 - 960 MHz
: • Carrier Spacing 200 KHz
: • Can support 1000 speech or data channels
: • Uses GMSK† modulation
UMTS
## Cellular Data Networks
## Cellular Satellite Networks
|
# Communication Systems/Packet Data Systems
## Carrier Grade Packet Networks
In most data applications, user data is decomposed into a string of
packets. This requires that additional information be added to the
user\'s data to ensure its safe arrival at the correct destination.
If the packets are rather long or of variable length, the system may be
referred to as frame relay. If the packets are small and of fixed
length, the system may be referred to as cell relay.
The user data may be organized into fixed or variable length packets
depending on the type of system. In any case, additional information is
appended to the customers data in the form of a header.
Some of the header contents may include:
: • Source address
: • Destination address
: • Time stamp or packet sequence number
: • Maximum allowable delay (priority)
: • ACK/NACK
: • Network control/billing
: • Error checking etc.
However, simplex connections with transmission delays are not suitable
for voice connections, but are not a concern in data transmission. Each
input data packet is stored in an input buffer or queue and sent to the
appropriate output queue when resources become available. If the packets
and queues are sufficiently short, a virtual full duplex link may be
established, and interactive transactions may be possible.
In order to understand the operation of these systems, it is often
necessary to resort to a standard reference model. The OSI model
outlines the various functions and attributes, which are inherent in any
communications system.
A further necessity is the standardization of the implementation of the
OSI model. This work has largely been done by the IEEE and ITU (formerly
CCITT).
The OSI model was started in 1978 and has evolved to provide a framework
for interoperability. Standardization is required in order that various
types of equipment or systems can be joined in some useful way. Some of
the activities, which are regulated, include: • Interprocess
communications • Data representation • Data storage • Resource and
process management • Security • Program support
+---------------------------------------------------+
| OSI Model |
+===================================================+
| |
+---------------------------------------------------+
| Host\ |
| layers |
+---------------------------------------------------+
| 6\. Presentation |
+---------------------------------------------------+
| 5\. Session |
+---------------------------------------------------+
| Segment |
+---------------------------------------------------+
| Media\ |
| layers |
+---------------------------------------------------+
| Frame |
+---------------------------------------------------+
| Bit |
+---------------------------------------------------+
The majority of the OSI model is implemented in microprocessor based
hardware. This means that new applications, network architectures, and
protocols can generally be accommodated by making software changes. It
also means that the traditional gap between the telecommunications and
computer industry is being reduced.
Significant advances have been made in the physical layer interfaces, as
networks migrate from twisted pair cabling to fiber optics. These
developments have introduced new applications, architectures and
protocols.
Some applications for public data packet networks include:
: • Electronic funds transfer: Banks, Automated tellers,
Clearinghouses, Stock exchanges
: • Point-of-sale terminals
: • Credit card verification
: • Electronic mail
: • Electronic purchasing
: • Inventory management
: • Database interworking
## The Internet
## LANs
LANs are used to connect a group of terminals or workstations together.
These may be found in a relatively confined space such as within a
building or campus setting. The attachments may be dumb or intelligent
terminals, file servers, routers, and repeaters.
The majority of LANs are privately owned. They can be connected to the
PSTN or some other carrier to form MANs or WANs.
LANs can be categorized in a number of ways. One method examines how
information is placed on the interconnecting transmission medium.
Baseband LANs directly inject logic levels of on the medium and share
access by some form of TDM. Broadband LANs however, use high frequency
carriers and share access by FDM.
Some authors prefer to segregate a special category, the PBX:
: LAN - local area network (baseband)
: HSLN - high-speed local network (may be baseband or broadband)
: PBX - private branch exchange (baseband)
The most widely used LANs today are ethernet, token ring, token bus, and
Appletalk. They can be interconnected by gateways, routers, bridges, or
repeaters to form MANs, which can in turn be used to create WANs.
**Topology**
LANs can be configured in three basic ways, namely: as a ring, star, or
bus. Another arrangement known as a tree topology is really a variation
of the bus. Cable TV is an example of a tree network employing frequency
division multiplexing.
: **Star**
The end office of the PSTN is configured as a star where all lines
radiate from a single location. This type of wiring is also used in all
modern office buildings. This center of the star or hub may contain a
network manager of some other piece of hardware that exercises control
over the LAN. This type of arrangement is used in a PBX, and the most
common connection media is a twisted pair of wires.
Some networks may be configured as a physical star, but may have a
different logical topology, such as a ring.
: **Ring**
A ring consists of a closed loop, where each station is connected by an
active or passive tap. An active tap is one has electronic components
inserted into the loop to both extract and inject signals, thus all
stations are effectively connected in series. A passive tap simply comes
in contact with the loop., thus all stations are effectively connected
in parallel.
A station wanting to transmit waits its turn to inject a packet onto the
ring. This implies some sort of distributed protocol. This is most often
implemented by means of a token.
: **Bus**
A distributed protocol arrangement or token is needed to resolve bus
contention problems. Each terminal monitors the common bus for any data
with their address appended, at which point it simply makes a copy. This
arrangement is often found in computer systems where a number of
peripheral devices may be connected on a high-speed bus.
Two important issues in this type of arrangement are access and signal
level. In a baseband or digital environment, there is often a polling
mechanism imposed to create order. Also, the signals degenerate as they
propagate down the line, this means that some sort of compensation must
be made.
RS-422 is a simple protocol that is implemented on a twisted wire bus.
The system allows a couple of dozen devices to be networked as far as
1 km, with a data rate of up to 1 Mbit/s.
Ethernet is an example of a baseband system implemented on a bus.
## Further reading
- Serial Programming/Forming Data
Packets
|
# Communication Systems/Satellite Systems
## Satellite Applications
Satellites support a number of applications including:
:
: • Communications systems
: • Broadcasting systems
: • Remote sensing
: • Global positioning and navigation
: • Search and rescue
: • Weather and pollution monitoring
: • Surveillance
**Some suggested topics** .TV Broadcasting
## Satellite Frequency Bands
## Satellite Link Budgets
## DBS (Direct Broadcast Satellite)
## VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminals)
## GPS (Global Positioning System)
It refers to a system of satellites that constantly transmit a signal,
and a GPS terminal that picks up those signals and calculates its
position on Earth by measuring the distance between itself and two or
more GPS satellites (by measuring the time it takes to receive the
signals).
## Satellite Orbits
### Geostationary Orbit
A satellite which orbits around the Earth at the same rate that the
Earth turns is known as a synchronous orbit. Synchronous orbits can be
of any inclination. If they are polar orbiting, the satellite will
appear to be over the same spot at the same time every day.
Remote sensing satellites can be place in orbits that are synchronous
with the Earth's rotation over a longer period than a day, and thus will
be able to view the entire ground surface over a number of orbits.
If a geosynchronous orbit is placed over the equator, something very
interesting happens. The satellite will appear to stop moving in the
sky. This is referred to as a geostationary orbit.
The gravitational acceleration of an object as a function of altitude
is:
$$a_{c}=\left( \frac{r_{e}}{r_{s}} \right)^{2}g$$
:
: where:
$$r_{e}=$$ equatorial radius of the Earth (6378.388 km)
$$r_{s}=$$ radius at the satellite position
$$g=$$ Earth\'s gravitational constant (9.80665 m/sec^2^)
The centrifugal acceleration on a satellite is given by:
$$a_{c}=r_{s}\omega ^{2}=r_{s}\left( \frac{2\pi }{T_{s}} \right)^{2}$$
:
: where:
$$\omega =$$ angular velocity in radians/sec
$$T_{s}=$$ time for 1 orbit (86400 seconds \[24 hrs\] for geostationary
orbit)
For a stable orbit, the two forces associated with these accelerations
must be equal
$$\left( \frac{r_{e}}{r_{s}} \right)^{2}g=r_{s}\left( \frac{2\pi }{T_{s}} \right)^{2}$$
Solving for *r~s~* we obtain:
$$r_{s}=\sqrt[3]{\left( \frac{r_{e}T_{s}}{2\pi } \right)^{2}g}=\sqrt[{}]{\left( \frac{6378\ km\times 86400\ \sec }{2\pi } \right)^{2}9.8065\ m/\sec ^{2}}=42,254.22\ km$$
Therefor the height above the Earth is 42,254 km - 6378 km = 35,876 km
or 22,292 miles.
The velocity of a satellite in a circular orbit is given by:
This works out to 3.073 km/Sec for a satellite in a geostationary orbit.
#### Path Length
The transmission path length can be found by applying Pythagorean
Theorem:
In actual practice, the angle of elevation must be at least 5 degrees
above the horizon. Therefore the actual geometry is closer to:
By applying the law of sines, a better approximation of the maximum path
length can be determined, as well as the minimum distance from the pole
required to see the satellite.
Using the polar radius to calculate the total arc length of the Earth,
with the polar curvature, we obtain an effective polar circumference of:
Which means that the minimum distance d from the pole, at which the
satellite can be seen is:
It is evident from the sketch, that the further north one goes, the
greater the signal path length through the atmosphere.
### Molniya Orbit
The former USSR is not able to make great use of geostationary
satellites, because of the northern latitude of the country.
Consequently, communications satellites have required a slightly
different approach. The term molniya means "flash of lightning".
### Sun Synchronous Orbit
Many satellites which require sunlight for imaging use sun-synchronous
orbits. The sun-synchronous orbit provides a constant node-to-sun angle,
and the satellite passage over a certain area occurs at the same time of
the day.
|
# Communication Systems/Microwave Systems
Microwaves are high frequency radio waves (\> 1 GHz) and they propagate
much like any other electromagnetic phenomenon in free space. Because
they are electromagnetic waves and not electrons, they do not propagate
well down copper cables. instead, the waves are guided down hollow
conductors.
## Waveguides
Two boundary conditions must be met in a waveguide for a wave to travel
down the guide:
: • The electric field must terminate normally on the conductor (the
tangential component of the electric field must be zero).
: • The magnetic field must lie entirely tangent along the wall
surface. (the normal component of the magnetic field must be zero).
Consequently, TEM waves cannot be conducted in a waveguide. (Recall that
in a TEM wave, the electric and magnetic fields are at right angles to
each other and the direction of propagation.)
The most common wave used in waveguides is the TE~10~, meaning
transverse electric. The subscript TE~ab~ denotes the number of half
cycles which appear in the *a* and *b* dimensions of the waveguide.
: 
There are many other waveguide modes. A TE~10~ wave may be formed when
two TEM wave intersect:
: 
```{=html}
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```
: 
```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
:
: The velocity of a TEM wave in air is: $c=\lambda f$
```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
:
: The phase velocity (the apparent wave velocity along the guide
wall) of a TE wave: $v_{p}=\lambda _{g}f$
```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
:
: Therefor the phase or guide velocity is:
$v_{p}=\frac{\lambda _{g}}{\lambda }c$
```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
:
: From the right angle triangle BCD, we obtain:
$\cos \alpha =\frac{\lambda }{2a}$
```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
:
: From the right angle triangle ABD we obtain:
$\sin \alpha =\frac{\lambda }{\lambda _{g}}$
Since
$$\text{sin}^{2}\alpha \text{ + cos}^{2}\alpha \text{ = 1}$$
:
: We obtain:
$$\left( \frac{\lambda }{\lambda _{g}} \right)^{2}+\left( \frac{\lambda }{2a} \right)^{2}=1$$
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```
:
: or
$$\frac{1}{\lambda _{g}^{2}}=\frac{1}{\lambda ^{2}}-\frac{1}{\left( 2a \right)^{2}}$$
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```
:
: where
$$\lambda _{g}=$$ guide wavelength for the TE~10~ mode
$$\lambda =$$ free space wavelength of the TEM wave
$$a=$$ broad dimension of the waveguide
When $\lambda =2a$, the guide wavelength becomes infinite. This
corresponds to a TEM wave bouncing from side to side in the guide with
no velocity component along the guide. This is cutoff wavelength
$\left( \lambda _{c} \right)$and represents the lowest frequency that
can be propagated.
**Phase & Group Velocity**
: 
The equations above can be manipulated to obtain:
$$\lambda _{g}=\frac{\lambda }{\sqrt{1-\left( \frac{\lambda }{\lambda _{c}} \right)^{2}}}$$
This means that the phase velocity is always greater than the speed of
light. The TEM components zigzag through the guide at the speed of
light, but they convey power at the group velocity. The group velocity
is always less than the speed of light.
**Analogy**
Nothing physical can exceed the speed of light, but it is possible for
some aspect of a wave to exceed light speed. For example, the splash
that occurs when a wave washes up on the beach can travel faster than
the wave, if it strikes at some angle other than 90^0^.
: 
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```
: **Example**
: A rectangular waveguide measuring 0.9 by 0.45 inches is fed with a
10 GHz carrier. Determine if a TE~10~ wave will propagate, and if
so, determine its guide wavelength, group velocity and phase
velocity.
$$a=0.9\ \text{in}\text{.}\ =2.28\ cm$$
$$\lambda _{c}=2\times 2.28=4.58\ cm$$
$$\lambda =\frac{3\times 10^{8}}{10^{10}}=3\ cm$$
: Since $\lambda <\lambda _{c}$, a TE~10~ wave will propagate.
$$\lambda _{g}=\frac{\lambda }{\sqrt{1-\left( \frac{\lambda }{\lambda _{c}} \right)^{2}}}=\frac{3}{\sqrt{1-\left( \frac{3}{4.58} \right)^{2}}}=3.97\ cm$$
$$v_{p}=c\frac{\lambda _{g}}{\lambda }=3\times 10^{8}\frac{3.97}{3}=4.4\times 10^{8}\ m/\sec$$
$$v_{g}=c\frac{\lambda }{\lambda _{g}}=3\times 10^{8}\frac{3}{3.97}=2.27\times 10^{8}\ m/\sec$$
### Wave Impedance
The ratio of the transverse electric and magnetic fields constitutes an
impedance. This should not be considered the same as a resistance,
because it does not dissipate power.
The TE~10~ wave consists of two equal TEM waves where the electric field
is transverse along the *b* dimension but the magnetic field is along
the a dimension is described by: $H_{a}=H\sin \alpha$. Consequently, the
wave impedance is:
$$Z_{w}=\frac{E_{b}}{H_{a}}=\frac{E}{H\sin \alpha }$$
: For a TEM wave: $\frac{E}{H}=120\pi$
Therefore:
$$Z_{w}=\frac{120\pi }{\sin \alpha }=120\pi \frac{\lambda _{g}}{\lambda }\quad \Omega$$
: or
$$\frac{120\pi }{\sqrt{1-\left( \frac{\lambda }{\lambda _{c}} \right)^{2}}}$$
for TE waves.
$$120\pi \sqrt{1-\left( \frac{\lambda }{\lambda _{c}} \right)^{2}}$$ for
TM waves.
A TE wave has a characteristic impedance $\Omega >120\pi$. As the cutoff
frequency is approached, the impedance approaches infinity. These modes
are generated by means of a vertical probe antenna.
A TM wave has a characteristic impedance $\Omega <120\pi$. As the cutoff
frequency is approached, the impedance approaches zero. These modes are
generated by means of a horizontal probe antenna.
A waveguide with a dielectric other than air will have its cutoff
wavelength increased by the square root of the dielectric constant.
Waveguide attenuation characteristics are quite complex and are
generally derived empirically. Attenuation varies with interior wall
coating, guide dimensions, and operating frequency Attenuation can occur
because the induced wall currents are electrons interacting with the
guide.
There is a limit to the amount of power which can be conveyed in a
guide. If this limit is exceeded, electrical arcing will occur and
severe attenuation results. The maximum power handling capability of an
air filled rectangular waveguide operating in the TE mode is:
$$P_{\max }=6.63\times 10^{-4}E_{\max }^{2}ab\frac{\lambda }{\lambda _{g}}$$
: where *E~max~* = maximum voltage gradient in v/cm
### Standing Waves
Standing waves act much like the plucked string on a guitar. The signal
magnitude changes but its location does not. One of the most useful
places to create a standing wave is at a radiating antenna, but it may
also be useful to create one in a guide.
:
: 
**Wall Currents**
Traveling waves are time invariant. The pattern appears to keep its
shape as it moves down the guide. However, as they propagate down the
line, they induce currents in the guide walls, at right angles to the
magnetic field.
:
: 
Slots that do not noticeably interrupt wall current, do not radiate.
### Microwave Components
**Coupling Energy into a Waveguide**
Probe or capacitive coupling acts like a 1/4$\lambda$ Marconi antenna.
The probe, which might be the center conductor of a coaxial cable, is
positioned 1/4 $\lambda$ from the end of the guide. Since a total
inversion occurs when the wave reflects, it adds in phase with the
coupled signal.
:
: 
The probe can be tapered to handle wideband signals. TE modes are
generated if the probe is placed in the wide dimension of the guide,
while TM modes are produced when the probe is placed in the narrow
sidewall.
Loop or magnetic coupling creates magnetic fields that are launched from
the antenna. The loop may be placed anywhere the magnetic field exists.
:
: 
Aperture or slot coupling occurs when a slot is cut in the maximum of
the electric or magnetic field area
**Bends & Twists**
:
: 
The twist section is used to change between horizontal and vertical
polarization.
**Tees**
:
: 
Shunt tee - The signal at port C is the vector sum of ports A and B if
they are used as inputs. If port C is used as the input, the power is
evenly split between A and B.
Series Tee - Using the top port as the input, the power will b evenly
split between A and B however, they will be anti phase.
Hybrid Tee - If A and B are used as the inputs, port C will be the
vector sum and port D will be the vector difference. If C is the input,
the energy will be evenly split between A and B. This device is often
used to connect a transmitter and receiver to the same antenna. The
antenna is at port B, the transmitter at C, the receiver at D, and a
matched load at A.
**Tuners**
:
: 
If the reactive stub is \< 1/4$\lambda$ in the waveguide, it acts like a
capacitor. If it is \> 1/4$\lambda$ in the waveguide, it acts like an
inductor. If it is 1/4$\lambda$ in the waveguide, it acts like an LC
resonant circuit where the Q is proportional to the post diameter.
Tuning is sometimes done to minimize the amount of signal reflected from
a waveguide component. This has a significant effect on the reflection
coefficient and VSWR (voltage standing wave ratio). The effect of these
things can be plotted and observed on a Smith Chart.
**Terminators**
All of the energy travelling down a waveguide must be absorbed in order
to prevent reflections. This is accomplished by placing a resistor in
the center of the guide where the electric field intensity is the
greatest.
:
: 
A short circuit is used if reflections are required.
A variable attenuator can be constructed by repositioning the absorbing
material in the electric field.
**Directional Couplers**
:
: 
### Microwave Cavities
The dimensions of a microwave cavity must be some multiple of 1/2 l, and
the Q may be as high as 100,000.
$$Q=\frac{\text{cavity}\ \text{volume}}{\text{interior}\ \text{area}}$$
Energy is coupled into the cavity by means of a probe, loop, slot, or
electron beam.
Conventional tubes have constant velocity beams and vary the number of
electrons emitted to modulate the beam intensity. Microwave tubes emit a
constant stream of electrons and vary their velocity to modulate the
beam intensity.
**Two Cavity Klystron**
An electron beam is created at the cathode and passed by the buncher
cavity. The RF energy coupled into the cavity causes the beam velocity
to vary, thus causing the electrons to bunch. Energy is coupled to the
catcher cavity when the beam passes its port. The net result is that the
RF energy may be amplified by a factor of 1000.
:
: 
The klystron acts as a high Q narrowband amplifier. It may have more
bunching cavities to increase the gain or the cavities may be staggered
tuned to increase the bandwidth.
**Reflex Klystron**
The reflex klystron has a single cavity that acts as both buncher and
catcher. The beam is passed by the cavity, bunched, repelled and passed
by the cavity a second time, and the absorbed in the sidewalls. It is
necessary to turn on the repeller voltage prior to turning on the anode
supply, otherwise the tube will self-destruct.
The reflex klystron is used as a low power, low efficiency, variable
frequency oscillator. The operating frequency is adjusted by changing
the cavity volume.
**Magnetron**
The magnetron is a high power microwave oscillator that has found
widespread use in radar, radio beacon, and microwave oven applications.
The cylindrical cathode is surrounded by the anode, which has several
resonant cavities. The entire assembly is placed in an intense right
magnetic field running parallel to the cathode axis. This field causes
an electron emitted from the cathode to follow a curved path on its way
to the anode. However, the electron passes cavities on the route and so
looses energy, causing it to fall back towards the cathode. The cathode
repels the falling electron forcing it back towards the anode. This
process continues ad infinitum. Electron bunching occurs each time the
beam passes a cavity.
:
: 
The critical magnetic field is that which allows the electron to just
graze the anode. If the field intensity falls below this value,
oscillation will cease. The dominant or π mode occurs when the polarity
on adjacent poles is 180o apart. This causes the phase focusing effect
where electrons are bunched in adjacent cavities. The beam shift around
the interior is some integer multiple of the wavelength.
To prevent the bunched electrons to skip some cavities thus creating
spurious modes, every second pole is strapped together. The output is
taken from one of the cavities via a probe antenna. The magnetron can be
mechanically tuned by about 5%.
The continuous power output can be as high as 25 kW, but with low duty
cycle pulsing \[.001\] the peak output can be in the mega watt range.
**TWT**
Traveling wave tubes have a higher bandwidth but lower Q than klystrons.
The RF signal traveling a helical path around the beam causes the beam
to bunch. This in turn reinforces the RF signal causing amplification.
It can be used as a low power \[30 mW\], low noise amplifier with about
a bandwidth of about one octave. Medium power devices operate at about
25 watts. High-powered devices can be pulsed at about 100 kW.
TWTs are used as broadband amplifiers and repeaters in TV, radar and
satellite applications. It may be frequency or amplitude modulated.
### Microwave Semiconductors
**Gunn Diodes**
The Gunn diode is not a diode in the truest sense because it does not
contain a semiconductor junction. It is simply a piece of N-type gallium
arsenide.
Normally the mobility of electrons increases as the electric field
increases in a semiconductor. In this device, there is a range where the
mobility of the electrons actually decreases as the electric field
increases. Essentially the current falls as the voltage rises. This
means that for a narrow range, the device exhibits a negative
resistance. This is a very unstable situation and the device has a
tendency to oscillate when biased in this region. The actual frequency
of oscillation is dependent on the physical size of the semiconductor
and occurs when the electron transit time is equal to one oscillation
period.
**Pin Diodes**
PIN diodes are used as high frequency switches. The have very little
junction capacitance and a very low forward voltage drop.
### Microwave Measurements
Reflections in a waveguide are undesirable. They send power back to the
source, which may ultimately damage the signal source, and they create
standing waves.
**Standing Waves**
If waves are allowed to reflect from a microwave device, the incident
and reflected waves will interact to create a standing wave. This is
somewhat similar to the vibration of a stringed instrument.
The reflection coefficient is defined as the ratio of the reflected and
incident voltage.
$$\Gamma =\frac{E_{r}}{E_{i}}$$
The ratio of maximum to minimum voltage of a standing wave is known as
the VSWR (voltage standing wave ratio).
$$VSWR=\frac{\left| E_{i} \right|+\left| E_{r} \right|}{\left| E_{i} \right|-\left| E_{r} \right|}=\frac{E_{\max }}{E_{\min }}=\frac{1+\left| \Gamma \right|}{1-\left| \Gamma \right|}$$
To eliminate the constant use of absolute magnitude bars, the reflection
coefficient is often written as:
$$\rho =\left| \Gamma \right|$$
And since voltage is generally assumed to be the measured parameter:
$$SWR=\frac{1+\rho }{1-\rho }$$ or $\rho =\frac{SWR-1}{SWR+1}$
The physical distance between two consecutive minimums corresponds to
one-half the guide wavelength $\frac{\lambda _{2}}{2}$
The VSWR can take on any value between 1 and ∞.
If VSWR = ∞, total reflection occurs. Ideally for a matched load, VSWR =
1 and there are no reflections. In practice, it is generally not cost
effective to try to reduce the VSWR below 1.1.
**Smith Chart**
All values on the Smith chart are normalized to the characteristic
impedance of the line.
$$Z_{norm}=\frac{Z}{Z_{0}}$$
Impedances are described by circles on a Smith chart.
:
: 
This peculiar plotting method has a number of benefits. For one thing,
the center of the chart corresponds to 1+1j. Consequently, it can be
used to characterize any normalized transmission environment.
Furthermore, the SWR appears as a circle in the chart.
:
: 
The normalized impedance is located at the intersection of SWR circle
and reflection coefficient phase angle.
**Review Questions**
Quick Quiz
: 1\. The magnetic field in a waveguide must terminate \[normally,
tangentially\] on the conductor.
: 2\. The \[phase, guide\] velocity in a waveguide can exceed the
speed of light.
: 3\. In a waveguide the electric field must terminate \[normally,
tangentially\] on the conductor.
: 4\. TM waves can be generated by placing a probe antenna in the
\[narrow, broad\] side of a waveguide.
: 5\. A \[shunt, series, hybrid\] tee is typically used to connect a
transmitter and receiver to the same antenna.
: 6\. When capacitively coupling energy into a waveguide, the probe is
placed \[1/4, 1/2, 1\] $\lambda$ away from the end plate.
: 7\. A reactive stub acts like a capacitor when it is inserted
\[more, less\] than 1/4 $\lambda$ into the guide.
: 8\. A TE wave has an impedance \[greater, less\] than 120 π ohms.
: 9\. \[TE, TM, TEM\] waves cannot propagate in a waveguide.
: 10\. The subscript in TEab denotes the number of \[quarter, half,
complete\] cycles which appear in the a and b dimensions of the
waveguide.
: 11\. The dominant waveguide mode is \[TE01, TE10, TE11\].
: 12\. The speed at which energy travels down a waveguide is known as
the \[group, phase\] velocity.
: 13\. The cutoff wavelength represents the \[highest, lowest\]
frequency that can propagate down a waveguide.
: 14\. The \[shunt, series, hybrid\] tee evenly splits power between
two branches, but the outputs are phase inverted with respect to
each other.
: 15\. The \[shunt, series, hybrid\] tee is used to couple a
transmitter and receiver to the same antenna.
: 16\. The \[magnetron, TWT\] is a microwave oscillator.
: 17\. The \[reflex klystron, TWT\] is a microwave amplifier.
: 18\. The magnetron \[is, is not\] a tube.
: 19\. The klystron can be used as either an amplifier or an
oscillator. \[True, False\]
: 20\. The microwave tubes modulate the electron beam \[magnitude,
velocity\].
: 21\. TWTs use buncher cavities to modulate the beam. \[True, False\]
Analytical Questions
: 1\. A rectangular waveguide has the following characteristics:
Internal dimensions: 10.16 x 22.86 mm Feed: 10.5 GHz gunn diode
` Determine if:`
: a\) If a TE~20~ wave will propagate
: b\) If a TE~10~ wave will propagate
: c\) The dominant mode guide wavelength
: d\) The dominant mode group velocity
: e\) The dominant mode phase velocity
: f\) The dominant mode wave impedance
: g\) Explain how you would measure the guide wavelength.
Composition Questions
: 1\. Sketch the cross section of a two-hole directional coupler and
discuss its operation.
: 2\. Sketch the cross section of a magnetron and discuss its
operation.
: 3\. Sketch the TE10 mode in a rectangular waveguide, and show the
position of all of the radiating and non-radiating slots.
|
# Communication Systems/Fiber Optic Systems
Long-haul trunks were the first application of optical fiber to gain
universal acceptance. Three alternate methods are coax (copper),
terrestrial microwave and satellite. While microwave towers can be used
to bridge relatively small bodies of water, cables or satellites are
needed to span oceans.
Telegraph cables were first deployed in the mid-1800s and the first
successful trans-Atlantic cable was laid in 1858. For 100 years copper
submarine cables were the principal means of communication between North
America and Europe. In the 1960s satellites gained ascendancy but today
fiber cable dominates.
Fiber cable has some significant advantages over satellite technology:
: • Fiber systems can be repaired, geo-stationary satellites cannot
: • Fiber systems have a slightly longer life expectancy
: • Fiber systems can be upgraded while in service
: • Fiber deployment has a lower risk than launching a satellite
: • Fiber propagation delay is significantly lower than satellites
## Fiber Deployment (ground based)
**Telecom Canada**
The current Trans-Canada fiber system stretches some 4100 miles and
includes under water links to PEI and Newfoundland. The cable is buried
at a minimum depth of 5 feet in most places. The cable is buried 2 feet
in rocky areas, but over major rivers such as the Thompson, it is 6 feet
below the riverbed.
Eight fibers are reserved for Trans-Canada traffic, with additional
fibers are used for toll traffic from the participating operating
companies.
The cable has a Kevlar strength member surrounded by a star shaped
polyethylene core, which can support up to 5 fiber tubes. Each fiber
tube can contain up to 6 fibers. The cable has multiple layers of
protection, but in avalanche prone areas, it was also encased in an 8
inch steel conduit.
## Submarine Fiber
## Optical Phenominon
### Wave-Particle Duality
In 1678 Huygens showed that reflection and refraction could be explained
by wave theory. While not rejecting the wave theory entirely, Einstein
in 1905 suggested that light could be thought of as a small energy
packet called a photon. This idea although not actually original, seemed
to explain the Compton effect later discovered in 1921.
Today light is generally thought of as an electromagnetic wave when it
is propagating. However, when it interacts with matter by means of
emission or absorption, it is preferable to think in terms of photons.
Photons have energy, but no rest mass. If a photon stops, it ceases to
exist as a particle, and is transformed into some other form of energy,
such as heat.
A rather hybrid way of thinking of light, is as a wave packet. Perhaps
someday, a better model will be developed.
:
: 
Light in the everyday world is incoherent. That is to say that the wave
packets arrive in a chaotic, random fashion. On the other hand, coherent
light as generated from a laser has the wave packets synchronized or in
phase.
The perceived color of light is a function of its wavelength. The
characteristic wavelength in the packet is related to its velocity and
frequency:
$$v=\lambda f$$
: where:
$$v=$$ velocity
$$\lambda =$$ wavelength
$$f=$$ frequency
It has been experimentally determined that the velocity of light in a
vacuum, is about 299,793,000 meters per second. Fiber optic systems
operate at a frequency of approximately 3 x 10^8^ GHz, with the most
common transmission bands at wavelengths of 0.8 - 0.9 μm and 1.2 - 1.4
μm. The amount of energy in light can be determined by quantum theory
and is proportional to frequency and given by:
$$E=hf=\frac{hc}{\lambda }$$
: where:
$$E=$$ Energy in Joules
$$h=6.625\times 10^{-34}\frac{J}{\sec }=$$ Planck\'s constant
$$f=$$ frequency
$$c=3\times 10^{8}\frac{m}{\sec }=$$ velocity of light
$$\lambda =$$ wavelength
The radiated spectral energy in watts per unit area is given by:
If we examine light at the macroscopic level, we observe that waves
radiate spherically from their source. This is readily observable with
incoherent sources and less pronounced with coherent sources. At a large
distance, the wavefront flattens out into a plane wave. A ray path shows
the direction that the wave or photon is traveling. In the case of a
point source, this might resemble:
:
: 
When light strikes an object, it can be reflected, refracted, or
absorbed. A ray of light striking the boundary between two dissimilar
transparent materials is usually split into reflected and refracted rays
with generally very little absorption.
Different wavelengths of light travel at the same velocity in a vacuum,
but this is not true in other mediums. This change in velocity leads to
refraction and color separation. If the speed is slowed in a medium, the
ray is redirected towards the normal. As light leaves a slower medium
and enters a faster one, it accelerates and is redirected away from the
normal.
:
: 
By convention, the angles involved in reflection and refraction are
measured with respect to the normal at the point of contact. All three
components are in the same plane \[there are some exceptions\]. In the
above illustration, the plane of incidence is the paper.
**Displacement and Polarization**
Energy displacement in waves can be either longitudinal or transverse
with respect to the direction of travel. Longitudinal waves such as
sound and seismic waves, are displaced in the direction of travel.
Transverse waves such as radio and water waves are displaced at right
angles to the direction of propagation.
Light travels as a TEM wave, having electric and magnetic fields
perpendicular to the direction of travel. If there is no particular
reason for the electrical fields of light to favor any particular
orientation, the field of the waves are directed (polarized) at any
angle perpendicular to the direction of propagation. This is the case
with sunlight.
The combined effect of many simultaneous waves is the vector sum of all
of their components. This is known as the superposition principle. This
principle holds true with all forms of waves, including light. This
raises an interesting question: Since the polarization and phase of
natural light is totally random, why don't the electric field components
of all the waves simply average out to zero and the light cancel itself
out? The reason is simple: they do average out, but, since this
averaging is not exact, but is a random one, the laws of statistics
hold. So, when we sum N random fields which oscillate, say, from minus
to plus one, we expect that the sum is of the order of the square root
of N, which can be enormously less than N, but is not zero. And, since
the energy (the intensity) of light is proportional to the square of the
electric field, we have that the mean energy of the sum is just N times
the individual energies, which is precisely what we expect.
A cancellation or enhancement effect do occur, but to observe it the
light must be coherent. Traditionally coherent light was created by
passing light from some distant source through a small hole. This
effectively selects light coming from only a very small part of the
originating source thus causing it to be more uniform. Today, it is
easier to use a laser, which is not only very coher ent, but also
essentially monochromatic. Interference patterns of light and dark areas
can be observed when coherent waves intersect.
Unpolarized light can be polarized by absorption, scattering and
reflection.
### Reflection
There are two types of reflection: diffuse and specular.
**Diffuse Reflection**
This is the most common form of reflection. If the illuminated object is
not microscopically homogeneous in its structure, the light is scattered
in all directions by multiple reflections or diffusions by its
inhomogeneities (both internal and on the surface). Most materials are
inhomogeneous: minerals are generally polycrystalline, organic matter is
generally made by cells or fibers, so the light sent to our eyes by most
objects is diffusely reflected. Because of this phenomenon, we can see
other objects.
:
: 
Sunlight contains all of the perceived colors in such a way that their
combined values look colorless. When it strikes an object, some
wavelengths are absorbed, while others are reflected. The perceived
color is the vector sum of all the reflected waves.
**Specular Reflection**
Light striking a smooth surface is reflected at the same angle with
which it strikes, but suffers some loss. Instead of seeing the
reflecting surface, one sees an image of where the light originates.
The reflected light can have the appearance of coming from either in
front of or behind the reflecting surface. If the image appears to be
behind the surface, as in the case of a mirror, it is referred to as a
virtual image.
:
: 
If the image is seen on a screen placed in front of the reflecting
surface, it is called a real image. This principle is used in reflecting
telescopes. Real images are most often generated by refraction and are
used in cameras and projectors.
:
: 
**Variable Reflective Coatings**
About 4% of light striking a smooth air-glass boundary is reflected.
This can be reduced by applying non-reflecting coatings. Photographers
and fiber optics designers are interested in non-glare coatings, since
reflection reduces the amount of light entering and exiting the glass.
By depositing a thin high refractive index film over a thin low
refractive index film, the amount of reflection can be increased to
about 50%. This principle is used to make a beam splitter, a device of
great value in optical measuring equipment and color TV cameras.
**External Reflection**
A phase reversal occurs when light is reflected by a more optically
dense medium. This also happens when radio waves strike a metallic
surface. The electric field component is short-circuited. Since the
incident and reflected fields cancel at the point of incidence, the
reflected waves are equal in amplitude but opposite in phase to the
incident wave.
The relationship between angle of incidence and amount of reflection is
very complex. At normal incidence, a reflecting surface reflects all
components equally well. However, at other angles, objects prefer to
reflect light having the electric field component perpendicular to the
plane of incidence. At the extreme case, Brewster's angle, only
perpendicular components are reflected, and complete polarization
occurs. Brewster's angle is defined by:
$$\tan \left( \theta _{P} \right)=\frac{\eta _{1}}{\eta _{2}}$$
At Brewster's angle, the reflected and refracted rays are at right
angles to each other.
:
: 
When noncoherent light strikes glass, about 15% of the perpendicular
components are reflected, and none of the others. The refracted ray
consists of the remaining 85% of the perpendicular component as well as
all other orientations. The polarized reflection can be enhanced by
stacking many thin glass plates together.
**Internal Reflection**
If light strikes an optically less dense medium, the reflected wave is
not phase reversed. When the angle of incidence is greater than the
critical angle, total internal reflection occurs.
However, a refracted beam of sorts does exist. It is sometimes
designated as frustrated total reflection or more commonly evanescent
wave. This wave does not dissipate power, and extends only a few
wavelengths into the faster medium. It decays exponentially according to
the relationship:
$$e^{\alpha x}$$
: where
$$\alpha =k_{0}\sqrt{\eta _{1}^{2}\sin ^{2}\Theta _{i}-\eta _{2}^{2}}$$
$$k_{0}=$$ free space propagation factor
$$\Theta _{i}=$$ angle of incidence
$$x=$$ distance into the faster medium
### Refraction
Refracted rays create diverse effects ranging from the rainbow to the
apparent bending of sticks protruding into water. From experimentation,
it was observed that the ratio of the sines of the incident and
refracted rays is constant:
$$\frac{\sin \left( \theta _{0} \right)}{\sin \left( \theta _{1} \right)}=\text{ constant}$$
This constant is actually a function of the optical wavelength.
Therefor, white light is separated into its various color components
when refracted.
If the originating medium is a vacuum, this ratio is known as the
refractive index. In practice, the refractive index for air is 1.000293
for yellow light. Therefor, for terrestrial measurements, air is
regarded as a vacuum, with a refractive index of 1.
:
: 
**Snell\'s Law**
The relationship between the incident and refracted angles is given by
Snell's Law:
$$\eta _0\sin \left( \theta _{0} \right)=\eta _{1}\sin \left( \theta _{1} \right)$$
When a light ray passes through a glass block, it is refracted twice. If
the block has parallel faces, the ray will resume it original angle of
attack but is slightly displaced.
The refractive index of a material is the ratio of the speed of light in
a vacuum to the speed of light in the specific material.
:
: 
If the faces are not parallel, such as in a prism, the white light is
separated into its various spectral components.
:
: 
In some cases these simple rules of reflection and refraction are not
valid. Reflection for example, assumes a smooth boundary, and Snell's
law of refraction assumes an isotopic material. The velocity of light
varies with direction in anisotopic materials.
Snell's Law predicts the following refraction response in glass:
:
: 
The reflected intensity depends on the angle of incidence and on the
polarization of incident light. At a high angle of incidence, for
example, the reflectance can be very high. At a certain angle
(Brewster\'s angle) reflected light is completely polarized. The
Fresnel equations give
quantitatively the intensity of reflected light as a function of the
angle of incidence and of its polarization (and, of course, of
refraction index).
|
# Communication Systems/Baseband and Broadband Signals
It is important to know the difference between a baseband signal, and a
broad band signal. In the Fourier Domain, a baseband signal is a signal
that occupies the frequency range from 0 Hz up to a certain cutoff. It
is called the baseband because it occupies the **base**, or the lowest
range of the spectrum.
In contrast, a broadband signal is a signal which does not occupy the
lowest range, but instead a higher range, 1 MHz to 3 MHz, for example. A
wire may have only one baseband signal, but it may hold any number of
broadband signals, because they can occur anywhere in the spectrum.
## Wideband vs Narrowband
in form of frequency modulation. wideband fm has been defined as that in
which the modulation index normally exceeds unity.
## Frequency Spectrum
A graphical representation of the various frequency components on a
given transmission medium is called a frequency spectrum.
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Subsets and Splits