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I have been working off and on trying to learn how to use Blender 2.5 to create a variety of things, and now I am going to get really serious about learning this program inside out and sideways. I know it can do what I want, if I can just work out how it works. So, I am going to go through it one piece at a time and learn everything I can about how that piece works. Since I learn best by writing things out, I will share my discoveries, secrets and failures with everyone here at Phantascene in a series of tutorial pages on Blender 2.5.
This is likely to be a slow bumpy ride, so grab a thermos of coffee and clear a few minutes out of your weekends to catch up on things here and learn some of the hidden secrets of Blender, starting at page one on the official Blender manual and working our way forward.
The manual I will be using for this is the official Blender 2.6 manual (there is no manual for 2.59), and you can find a copy for yourself on the Blender website, here:Blender 2.6 Manual
Other important sites will be listed as I locate them and deem them to be of learning value. For now, I am on page one of the introduction to the 2.6 user manual: Introduction: What is Blender?
While I have not abandoned the Impala Project, those who remember it will know that it went onto a back burner for a while as I familiarize myself with all of the technical workings of how Blender works. I have created a few things since then, including the hydroponics bay for my Mars mission. I have also made a lot of test things that never made it to the stage of being saved, much less shared.
All that said, I have decided that the best way to get the hang of Blender is to keep on charging ahead into things that should be too complex for someone of my skill level with the program. No one ever said I took the easy route to learning things. So my newest project is something for my short film that will be a test film leading up to the Mars Station One 3D movie project. (Yes, I am smart enough to at least make some test mini-movies before I start in on a a full length production movie. lol)
I need an old fashioned wayside tavern and inn for my project and since I lack the funds to buy one, I am going to create one. I have started out with working on the creation of a blacksmith shop and I think it is starting to look reasonably well. I was going to share an image of it here, but my poor computer is having issues at the moment and crashed its display driver, so can not open Blender or Daz Studio until I restart it. I will share a picture later on though, I promise.
For my tavern I have decided that I will be working on my first professional level 3D model. It is going to play a significant part in my mini movie, so I need to do a really good job on making it. I am going to base it kind of on the General Israel Putnam house, first built in 1648 in Danvers, Massachusetts.
I changed the theme of the site to a new cleaner looking one that I have been using on all of my writing sites. Since I am going to be dedicating this site almost exclusively to making movies using 3D programs, it does not make sense for it to have a “scrapbooky” theme anymore. So, I have opted for the clean look and feel it has now, and will make additional modifications to the header images as time permits.
I made a picture for a Tips and Tricks page that I made here for how to effectively blend Blender, Daz Studio and Gimp to make great 3D images, then I tweaked it a bit more and I really like how it turned out after the additional tweaking.
The original finished image had just three icons for the the main programs in it, with the background swirl of light. I added in the multitude of little bits after I remembered that I could use the cut out images as a pen brush in GIMP. All these years of using it, and I still sometimes forget tricks I know about it, or learn new things that I can do with it.
Last night I stayed up way too late, not getting to sleep until after 5 this morning. I would like to say it was because of a wild party, but in truth the only party animals at my house were rather indifferent to the whole change of the year thing, even if there is a lot of talk that the world is going to be ending (or at least majorly changing) on the 21st of December.
 Bebe, Wookie, Bear, Shy Girl These are my babies. Bebe (taken in when her owners could not keep her), Wookie (My mom’s dog, anniversary gift to her from my dad), Bear (My dad’s assistance dog), and Cheyenne (my baby girl) also known as Shy Girl. Shy and Bear are actually brother and sister, and are Bebe’s puppies.
2012 is off to a rather rough start for me. Which I guess is about right since it is supposed to be the end of the world. I have a determination to keep a daily update this year of what is going on in my life. That will go over at Freelancer’s Office, www.freelancersoffice.com. I am also determined to start uploading some 3D creations here at Phantascene. I want to make and upload at least one 3D object a month here in addition to sharing information about what I am learning and making. A lot of what I am going to upload will be free, but I am hoping to get good enough at the stuff that I can start offering some more complex and detailed creations for sale to help pay the bills. We’ll see about that, for now I’ll be sorting out how to offer them for free and contemplate charging for some later on.
Aside from that, I am just hopping that as December 21st arrives I am still living in my home and have not been kicked out. At the moment it is still uncertain just what is going on there. After a year of thinking I had what the bank needed me to get them, I am still in a hurry up and wait mode on getting what they said they need to sell me the place now that they can talk to me about it. We’ll see how the year progresses, and if anyone wants to follow that insanity I update about it over at Save My Parents’ House www.savemyparentshouse.com when I have something to report or remember to update the site and not just my datebook with stuff.
So, rather the world ends on December 21, 2012 or not, I just hope that I can get through the year without losing my home, and able to pay all of the bills that come my way.
HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL!
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