CGTalk - Arch Viz with Blender, new book.

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ChadForeman

07-22-2008, 03:02 PM

In the thread "Blender in professional industry use" the topic of architectural visualization came up, as I saw that as a possible way to make money using Blender if you don't live in a production town like Hollywood.

Toontje responded with a link to this book "Blender: Architecture, Buildings and Scenery" by Allan Brito.

Here it is on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...l/-/1847193676/ (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1847193676/)

I ended up going to the publisher, Packt's, web site: http://www.packtpub.com/create-3d-architecture-buildings-scenery-with-blender/book
for more information. They had the book for the same price AND for $5 more you get the pdf ebook for instant download. Who could resist?

Let me just say this is the best learning tool I've seen for Blender.

Now, I like the book "The Essential Blender" and I think they did a great job putting it together. I also like the web sites associated with Blender learning. They are all fantastic.

However, Allan Brito has a really nice, straight-forward way of presenting the tools and how they function. I love the order in which he presents them. For some reason it is simpler. Plus, the breakdown on the content of the chapters is more detailed, making it easy to find exactly what you might need.

Brito also maintains a cool web site: http://www.blender3darchitect.com/

...gotta get back to some modeling tutorials.

lukasdesign

07-25-2008, 08:59 AM

We are moving forward...
The quality of learning material is getting better and better.
Creature factory, Man candy and so on...check the blender e-shop.
BlenderArt magazines are also awesome!

I'm also waiting for the next strike of carsten watmann, in german tough.

I had to learn blender 1.86 on my own and then with the help of "Blenderbuch" made by Wattmann.

ChadForeman

07-25-2008, 12:54 PM

I couldn't imagine trying to learn Blender without any assistance. When I first looked at the interface I was like "What?" I was expecting 3D modeling to be like photoshop where you could just bust out an "airbrush tool," kind of like the sculpting tools, and start decorating.

I agree on the moving forward in the learning process. BlenderArt magazine is awesome. The arch Viz edition was really impressive with the cathedral.

soccerrprp

07-25-2008, 01:56 PM

Chad,

The idea of using a FREE and proven app is enticing, but I have to agree that the interface is daunting and unusual. I teach a course in 3D in a private high school and looked at Blender, but decided on another great and "non-FREE" app. instead. Do not regret the decision and could only have done it if I had some budgetary support, which I do. What was the deciding factor? Why not get the FREE app and save money? Well, the interface, in my opinion at the time seemed a mess to me as I compare it with some of the other 3D apps. I frankly don't believe that things should be made so different as to delineate too far from some sense of intuitiveness just to prove that one is different from the other apps. I could be wrong, perhaps I need to spend more time trying to figure out the interface to see just how alien (many other 3d artists have expressed the same) Blender's UI is...

Yet, I am again looking at incorporating Blender into our school program again. And once again the user interface is the biggest issue. The app we use now allows my students to start creating some beautiful stuff, literally, within a week of instruction and we only meet ever other day.

But, I continue to be impressed with Blender's progress and maturity.

Richard

lukasdesign

07-26-2008, 08:00 AM

well I started to use blender back in art center.
it came with a magazine I then bought the Blenderbook written by Carsten Wattmann.
Man, how was I amazed by the marble sphere animated to move from left to the right...
I never had bigger issues with blender GUI. At art center we then used Max, great choice as it was impossible to run at home. Apart from legal issues, the hardware requirements were too much. So I had my sleek blender and won the famous and glorious "render a gameboy" exam. My teacher never found out that I was not using Max for at, hope he is not reading this thread images/icons/icon12.gif
Blender is awesome for an open source project maybe, after Linux OS, the best one.
But it has some major drawbacks, know doubt. However I would not go that far to say that these drawbacks are GUI related.
Sure a optional "Maya" modus would help. QWERT hotkeys plus Alt view control would make it a lot easier to get new users.

Some features that I miss, are a repeat last command, in general better and faster modeling tools. ANd as every year: I wish the render engine to offer some GI and FG solution. Integrating Yafray was probably the wrong decision.

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