Product Specifications:
- Name: Blender 2.6 - Essential Training
- Author: George Maestri
- Price: $25 (Monthly Subs)
- Type: Online Streaming Video
- Runtime : 7 Hrs 26 Mins
The videos in this course are aimed squarely at the beginning Blender 2.6 user. Each short training video is designed to explain the basics of one particular specific feature of Blender very quickly to get the watcher up to speed as quickly as possible.
Tutorial Listing:
Introduction
Welcome 01m 22s
Using the exercise files 00m 28s
Downloading Blender 00m 34s
Using Blender on a Mac 00m 42s
Using Blender on a laptop 00m 36s
1. The Blender Interface
Overview of the Blender interface 06m 06s
Understanding 3D view windows 05m 23s
Navigating in 3D space 06m 35s
Configuring user preferences 06m 24s
Creating custom layouts 06m 04s
2. Selecting and Translating Objects
Selecting objects 06m 12s
Moving objects 04m 35s
Rotating objects 02m 48s
Scaling objects 02m 16s
Understanding transform orientation 03m 53s
Changing an object's origin 05m 27s
Selecting pivot points 03m 22s
Using Snap to move objects precisely 03m 56s
3. Modeling
Creating mesh primitives 06m 36s
Selecting vertices, edges, and faces 04m 48s
Editing mesh objects 07m 39s
Proportional editing 03m 52s
Sculpt mode 04m 45s
Working with edges and edge loops 03m 42s
Extrusions 05m 18s
Smooth shading objects 02m 23s
Subdividing meshes 05m 12s
4. Advanced Modeling
Working with modifiers 05m 52s
Working with subdivision surfaces 03m 48s
Creating a simple creature 07m 54s
Symmetrical modeling with the Mirror modifier 08m 21s
Joining mesh objects 03m 37s
Stitching vertices 04m 52s
Finalizing a simple creature 04m 48s
Creating text 03m 29s
Boolean tools 02m 59s
Vertex groups 04m 51s
5. Staying Organized
Using the Outliner 08m 22s
Using layers 04m 30s
Creating groups 02m 48s
Working with scenes 04m 02s
Creating hierarchies 02m 54s
6. Applying Materials
Assigning materials to objects 08m 04s
Diffuse shaders 06m 47s
Working with specularity 05m 56s
Using the Ramp Shader options 09m 45s
Additional shading options 02m 37s
Creating reflections 08m 29s
Adding transparency and refractions 06m 49s
Subsurface scattering 05m 59s
7. Adding Textures
Adding a simple texture 06m 11s
Using bitmaps 06m 53s
Mapping textures in the UV Editor 08m 28s
Using UV projections 05m 56s
UV mapping a character 06m 11s
Fine-tuning UV mapping 06m 07s
Creating Bump and Normal maps 03m 15s
Displacement mapping 03m 48s
Using the Node Editor 04m 59s
8. Working with Light
Adding lamps to a scene 08m 44s
Fine-tuning ray-trace shadows 04m 32s
Using spot lamps 04m 20s
Fine-tuning buffer shadows 06m 19s
Using Hemi lamps 02m 32s
Working with Area lamps 05m 17s
Creating sky and ambient light 04m 49s
Adding background images 03m 19s
Creating sunlight 06m 06s
Ambient occlusion 07m 11s
9. Cameras and Rendering
Working with cameras 04m 47s
Creating camera targets with constraints 03m 43s
Render properties 05m 07s
Rendering animation 05m 13s
Adding motion blur 04m 10s
Creating depth of field 07m 08s
10. Basic Animation
Understanding the Timeline 04m 03s
Animating objects 06m 26s
Animating properties 04m 00s
Editing animation in the Graph Editor 08m 36s
Using the Dope Sheet 04m 53s
Path animation 04m 32s
11. Character Rigging
Facial animation using shape keys 04m 40s
Understanding armatures 06m 02s
Fitting an armature to a creature 07m 23s
Deforming a character with an armature 03m 49s
Setting up inverse kinematics 03m 53s
Controlling the hips and body 02m 01s
Animating in Pose mode 02m 47s
Creating a test animation 09m 24s
Conclusion
Goodbye 00m 15s
While you won't become a Blender expert with these video the numerous amount of videos are extremely well produced and for the most part explained very well by the author.
All the exercise files which the course references throughout the videos are available as part of the course and indicated clearly when you need to reference theme. Though I found that I did not need to reference the exercise files as the author explained what he was doing on screen for each different video.
With the short runtimes of each of the videos this has enabled the author to pack in a lot of different bits of information and tips and trick when using Blender various features. So although you won't get in depth information from the videos you will get most of the major salient pieces of information and techniques you will need to get going in Blender.
There are a few small mistakes and omissions in the course as a whole, but they are small not really important (mostly terminology issues and not mentioning certain often used features). The one thing that I would really like to have been included in the tutorials was coverage of Weight Painting for armature attachment. Armature attachment was covered but only by using Parenting and automatic methods. Please also be aware that Cycles is not covered in this course because when it was released Cycles was not available in Blender, but Blender's internal render engines is still plenty powerful enough and flexible for most things regardless of what all the Cycles acolytes say!.
So if you are a beginner and you want to get the basics of Blender down as quickly as possible this is a good well narrated online course that will do well. The biggest major downside for me is that at the moment the product cannot be purchased without subscribing. This may change in time and they may release a DVD product that does not require subscribing (they have done this with other Blender products).
Review Score 70%
