Gordon Fisher - Blender 3D Basics - Second Edition - Ebook Review

I had some free time recently so I decided to try and cram in some book reviews.

This time around I am reviewing "Blender 3D Basics" Second Edition by Gordon Fisher.  Those of you that have long memories will remember that I previously reviewed the first version of this book and was impressed with it.

This second version is an update of the first version of book that covers updates in Blender.  Though the updates are somewhat limited as at least for the basics of using Blender things have not changed all that much.

This version of the book has a larger page count and goes into slightly more details and covers more topics relating to the basics of Blender.

Product Specifications:

• Name : Blender 3D Basics - Second Edition
• Author : Gordon Fisher
• Price : £25.18 (on 5th March 2015)
• Pages : 526
• Format : Ebook
• Shop URL : https://www.packtpub.com/hardware-and-creative/blender-3d-basics-second-edition

 

For those that are unaware the book is another of Packt Publishing Beginners series of books.  This means that the book is squarely aimed at the beginner Blender user, very advanced features are not covered in any great depth.  What this book does do is cover the basics in a good amount of depth so that you have a very solid foundation in understanding Blender's most important features.

All the resouces such as Blend files and graphics for each of the projects are supplied on the website when you purchase the book.

The writing style in this book was very clear and easy to understand and the book was filled with many clear and easy to see and interpret pictures that were in full color.

The book teaches Blender features using a series of different projects which the book sets as tasks for you to carry out.  At the end of each task a summary is given as to what you achieved and why you did the tasks that way.  A run down of all the shortcuts and tools used is also listed at the end of each project for reference.

As well as showing you how to achieve certain tasks the book also has a good amount of explanation in terms of theory.  So theory of various topics such as animation, lighting, rendering, layout and compositing and many other areas are covered.  Once the theory is covered the book then switches to practical explanations to create projects.

Note that there is very little coverage of Blender Cycles, but this is considered and advanced topic, so if you want Cycles information this is not the book for you.

If you liked the first version of this book or have never read the first version, you will like this newer book, especially if you are new to Blender or 3D in general.  Definite improvement on the first book.

Review Score 90%