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Spring 2006 Class
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Blender

For more advanced knowledge, this is a Good Book On Blender Animations

I know why I like Blender so much, it's called vi.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with vi, I will just give you a quick tutorial. It will be all you will ever need to use (very arguably) one of the best editors ever. Why is it the best? Because it's on every unix machine ever created and will always be available and once you get the hang of it, it really is an extremely efficient editor. Bare bones, but very efficient. Once you get the hang of it, it really is a very fast editor which I still happen to use a lot when working on various pieces of server code.

vi has two modes (move around/command mode, and edit mode)

VI Move around/command mode

By default, you start in move around mode. You can move the cursor around by using some of the following keys.

(arrow keys)

J = Down
k = Up
h = Left
l = right

It's an old editor that was created before the arrow key.

#g

Type a number, then g and you will go to that line. 100g jumps to line 100. Very useful for finding code bugs based on line number.

% - matches parenthesis

:wq - to write and quite (vi started as ed an non-scrolling editor. : takes you to that editor called ed. It sucks as an editor. Some people also use ZZ to save and quit. If you ever get stuck in : mode (colon/ed mode) and escape doesn't work. Type v or vi to return to vi mode.

r = replace one character

i = change to insert/edit mode

I = insert at beginning of line

a = append mode

A = append to end of line

cw = change one word

#cw = change a group of words

J = move a line up to the current line

x = delete a character

dd = delete a line

. = repeat the last command

Y = yank a line to the vi clipboard

P = put a line from the vi clipboard

#Y = yank some # of lines. For instance 123Y will remove 123 lines to the vi clipboard.

/ = find some piece of text (search and replace is a pain, just use / , n and .

n = find again

N = find again previous

:f = tell me about the file including the current line number

VI Edit Mode

Commands like i,a, and c get you into insert mode. Once you are done typing, press escape to return to move around mode. You can always press escape to get back to the top mode.

 

I think I've done 98% of my work in vi using just those commands.

Why is this like Blender? Blender seems to have a bunch of one character commands (although it also has a menu system unlike vi) which makes it very quick to use. Like a fine wine, it's interface will not be immediately appreciated. Yes, vi is like a fine wine although I think it's a lot like a good beer too since it is more readily available than fine wine.

I highly recommend you learn vi just as I highly recommend you learn how to manage unix/linux and windows from a server perspective. Being a sys admin will make you a better programmer and being a programmer will make you a better sysadmin.

Introduction to Blender

One of the tools installed on the lab machines is a free 3D modelling tool. This was a commercial product that moved into the open source realm and has a large following. It isn't the easiest to use, but once you learn the interface it is a great modelling tool. Especially for the price.

It is very functional and has a user interface that is very efficient, but will take some time to get used to.

The best place to start is to read about the user interface. Here is a quote from that document:

Like me, you will find out that Blender's user interface really grows on you; it is one of the most efficient and well-thought out interfaces I have worked with.

Here is what I found to be the Golden Rule of Blender:

" Keep one hand on your keyboard and one on your mouse."

Let me repeat that if you missed it.

KEEP ONE HAND ON YOUR KEYBOARD AND ONE ON YOUR MOUSE.

Once you get the hang of it, this is an amazingly efficient interface. Quirky, but very efficient.

The next best place to start are these great video tutorials on using Blender and Torque.

Some of my Blender notes

Moving through a scene.

Middle Mouse button - rotate the current view

Ctrl Middle Mouse Button - zoom in and out

Shift Middle Mouse Button - pan left and right

Menu

Press the space bar to pop up the menu in the view window

Switching view points

Numeric key pad

7 - top view

1 - front view

5 - switch between orthographic and perspective

3 - side view

Object and Vertex edit mode

Tab key to switch between object mode and vertex (edit) mode.

Selecting Vertices

Right click on a single vertex/object to select it

A - select/deselect all

B - in edit mode (box) select vertices with a box

Moving and changing shapes/vertices

G - Grab

S - Scale

R - Rotate

Ctrl key - while moving something keeps it on the axis.

Tutorials and Documentation

A great second tutorial is to build a castle. Don't expect to use this in your game, you should use a BSP system (QuArK) to build things you walk in or on.

The castle texturing tutorial seems like it is for an earlier version (and the sample download links are broken), so I don't recommend it.

This is one of the best introductory Blender tutorials I have seen, the final product is a sword.

These and other tutorials are listed here.

The next step with blender is through the wikibook blender tutorials.

An official Blender Users Guide.

An official Blender Reference Guide.

Another great tutorial on the dts exporter and another on texturing with Blender.

 

Animations

I struggled to learn how to do skeletons (Amatures) and animations in Blender.

This is a great and very simplified animation introduction.

To use Blender with Torque

You will have to have a Blender exporter to convert Blender files to Torque dts files.

Parenting - Using groups for the exporter

All shapes need to use Parenting to be exported by the exporter. The root of the objects to export needs to be called Shape. First create an empty shape (Space Bar, Add, Empty). Rename the empty to 'Shape' in the Buttons view (To rename select and change the name on the 'buttons' tab or press N. Select all the objects, then click on the empty object last. Type Ctrl-P and select Make Parent. Click on the empty object and rename it Shape.

Object groups under the Shape group, should be named,

Col0

LosCollision

Detail 32

Detail 64

Detail 128

If you have a lot of trouble with this (I know I did), there is a sample file that comes with the Blender Exporter. Send some time looking at that file, exporting and looking at the export log. It will make more sense. You can also ask questions in class, I have no problem going over it again and again.

Texture map exporting

You should name your material exactly the same as the image name. When TGB looks for the material, it will simply look for the material name with a .jpg or .png on the end. So if you name your material the same name as your texture image, there will be no need to rename the image when you move it over to Torque.

You also need to create a uv map for the texture to be mapped properly. This is a good tutorial for general UV mapping in Blender. This is another tutorial for more complex UV mapping with Blender and Torque. Here are some great video tutorials on using Blender and Torque.

Animations

I spent a lot of time learning the animation system in Blender. While it is much better than Milkshape it is also more difficult to learn. Now that I have learned it I think it will be a very quick and easy system to use to create robust animations.

The best way to learn the animation system were these Blender video tutorials by Nigel Symes. The last two at the bottom are on animation. The other tutorials are great too and probably the best place to start learning Blender.

Notes

When working with the DTS exporter, it's all about parenting (ctrl-p). There is a certain heirarchy. The heirarchy is even more important in animation. One of the most useful things I found while learning this was a screenshot of existing heirarcies. Here is one from a three cube animation I created as a sample.

I'm sure I'll come back to this image a lot.