Blender production : creating short animations from start to finish

Short animation projects are ambitious and time-consuming, but with a good plan and toolset, they can be hugely rewarding. Blender expert Roland Hess will get you up to speed on animated short fundamentals, including writing, storyboarding, blocking, and character creation. This follow-up of Blender Foundations will introduce the more advanced functionalities of Blender, such as the Library and Linking system, physics simulators, the integrated compositor, and the Sequence Editor. If that wasn¿t enough, this tutorial-based book will also have you create a short animation from scratch, making you a master of the Blender toolkit in no time.

* Learn how to fully manage your art assets using the Library and Linking system

*Gain practical advice on story construction tailored specifically for short animations

*Companion website includes the full Blender software kit, sample project files amounting to 100+ MB of valuable content, including models, textures, materials, scenes and animations

***PLEASE NOTE THAT WE ARE CURRENTLY EXPERIENCING DIFFICULTIES WITH THE COMPANION SITE URL. PLEASE VISIT http://cw.routledge.com/textbooks/9780240821450/ TO ACCESS ALL OF THE COMPANION MATERIALS!***

Author Notes

PROSE Award-winning author Roland Hess has worked with graphics and imaging software for over 20 years, and is one of the leading experts for Blender software. As an active user and developer of Blender, Roland brings a unique perspective to Blender instruction that helps to bridge the difficult gap between technical knowledge and artistic endeavor. Hess wrote Focal Press titles Blonder Foundations (2010) and Tradigital Blender (2011).

About the Book	p. vii
Chapter 1 An Overview of the Short Animation Process	p. 1
Creating a Short Animation	p. 1
Avoiding Death by Natural Causes	p. 1
Preproduction	p. 1
Production	p. 4
Postproduction	p. 9
The Importance of Following the Workflow	p. 10
Summary	p. 11
Chapter 2 Story Story Story	p. 13
What Makes an Engaging Story?	p. 13
Writing It Down	p. 17
Story Scope, Your Resources, and Reality	p. 19
Scope Example: Adding a Second Character	p. 20
Scope Example: Adding a Second Location	p. 20
Scope Example: Adding Length	p. 20
How Long Is My Story?	p. 21
Summary	p. 21
Chapter 3 Organization	p. 23
Your Digital Assets	p. 23
The Way That Blender Handles Assets	p. 23
A Suggested Organizational Structure	p. 25
Summary	p. 26
Chapter 4 Storyboarding and the Story Reel	p. 27
Storyboarding Basics	p. 27
Use a Long Shot	p. 30
Use a Point-of-View Shot	p. 30
My Solution: Montage Close-ups and Implied Action	p. 31
Suggested Tools	p. 34
Pen Tablets	p. 35
Paint Software	p. 35
Blender's Image Editor	p. 37
Creating the Storyboards	p. 41
Telling the Story	p. 43
Recording a Temporary Sound Track for Timing	p. 44
Assembling a Story Reel in Blender's Sequence Editor	p. 45
Sequencer Tools for Working with Image Strips	p. 53
Watching and Exporting the Story Reel	p. 55
Summary	p. 58
Chapter 5 Character Design and Creation	p. 59
Designing in Line with Your Theme and Reality	p. 59
The Boy	p. 62
The Snowman	p. 62
Modeling Based on Storyboard Requirements	p. 63
Faces, Hands, and Clothes	p. 64
Level of Detail	p. 66
Polygon Count	p. 68
Proxy Characters	p. 70
Preparing the Model for Future Work	p. 70
Summary	p. 70
Chapter 6 Libraries and Linking	p. 73
Libraries, and Why You Should Bother	p. 73
Linking Assets That Do Not Animate	p. 78
Linking Assets for Object-Level Animation	p. 84
Creating and Linking a Dupligroup	p. 84
Linking Assets for Character Animation	p. 88
Managing Your Links and Libraries	p. 91
Finding and Fixing Broken Links	p. 91
Moving a Shot File and Maintaining Its Links	p. 92
Moving an Asset File	p. 93
Summary	p. 93
Chapter 7 Rough Sets, Blocking, and an Animatic	p. 95
Creating Rough Sets	p. 95
Preparing the File for the Rough Set	p. 96
The Template (or Master) Scene File	p. 99
Matching Camera Angles to Storyboards	p. 105
Placing Your Characters	p. 111
Binding the Camera to the Marker	p. 113
Proceeding through the Story Reel	p. 115
Special Case: Reusing Cameras	p. 115
Additional Detail: Moving Cameras, Moving Characters	p. 116
Using the Grease Pencil	p. 116
Grease Pencil Over Time	p. 118
Creating an Animatic	p. 120
Replacing Storyboards in the Story Reel	p. 120
Summary	p. 122
Chapter 8 Good Sound	p. 125
Finding Decent Equipment and Environments	p. 125
What to Use	p. 125
Where to Record	p. 127
Making the Recording	p. 127
The Goal of the Recording Session	p. 128
Some Sound-Processing Basics	p. 129
Removing Noise and Adjusting Levels	p. 131
Previewing the Recorded Sound	p. 132
Summary	p. 133
Chapter 9 Managing Animation at the Project Level	p. 135
Render	p. 136
Working with a Team	p. 137
Staying Organized	p. 139
Animating in Stages and Getting Feedback	p. 140
Back to the Spreadsheet	p. 142
Case Study: Background Animation in Snowmen	p. 142
Chapter 10 Dialogue, Sound Effects, and Music	p. 151
When to Add Audio to Your Master Scene Template	p. 151
Adding Audio Strips to Shot Files	p. 151
Mixing and Exporting Sound for the Final Edit	p. 152
Mixdown	p. 156
Music	p. 156
Chapter 11 Final Sets and Backgrounds	p. 159
Workflow	p. 160
Quality versus Render Time	p. 160
Geometry	p. 161
Matching the Rough Set	p. 161
Movable Objects and Construction	p. 163
Materials	p. 163
Ray Tracing, of Course	p. 167
Subsurface Scattering	p. 167
Full Oversampling	p. 170
Lighting	p. 170
What Not to Use	p. 171
Lighting Exterior Shots	p. 178
Lighting Interior Shots	p. 182
Layering	p. 185
Getting Help with Set Building	p. 185
Summary	p. 187
Chapter 12 Simulation	p. 189
Blender's Simulators	p. 189
Fluids	p. 189
Cloth	p. 197
Rigid Bodies	p. 204
Ocean	p. 213
Dynamic Paint	p. 214
Smoke	p. 225
Particles	p. 233
Bits o' Stuff	p. 233
Strands: Hair and Fur	p. 241
Understanding the Cache Options	p. 243
Summary	p. 246
Chapter 13 Rendering and Compositing	p. 247
Goals and Overview	p. 247
Lighting Your Shot Files	p. 248
Compositing for Better, Faster Renders	p. 251
Faster Renders	p. 251
Getting a Good Render on Your Local Machine	p. 283
Final Animation Review	p. 285
Preparing for Render Farming	p. 286
Setting up and Using a Render Farm	p. 287
Using Network Render	p. 288
Checking the Final Frames	p. 293
Chapter 14 Final Edit	p. 295
Adjusting Timing	p. 295
Transitions	p. 298
Adding Titles and Color Plates	p. 299
Transforms	p. 300
More Complex Work	p. 302
Final Export	p. 303
Wrapping It Up	p. 304
Index	p. 305

Available:*

On Order

Summary

Summary

Author Notes

Table of Contents