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My apologies if this is not the right place for this post, I'm not sure exactly where to ask this.
Inspired by some of the Xara/Blender creations posted by James I decided to see if I could manage to learn to use Blender and see if I could create something.
To start I'd like to ask about importing my xara work into Blender, and how to use it once I have it in there. I am sure I will have more questions along the way, already I am finding blender's learning curve much steeper than Xara's.
I'll move it to [general] 3D graphics as its a blender question....
I think the major thing to realise is that Blender and all other 3D programs build their own world as a visualisation of surfaces. So the cube is six surfaces arranged to form a 3D cube . With Xara you effectively build 2D planes that sit over or under each other and can mimic the appearance of 3D (if that's what's required) or just look flat (2D).
To use 2D artwork in a 3D environment, you essentially need to apply a 2D texture to a 3D surface. So returning to the cube example you could map some Xara created artwork (exported as PNG perhaps), and map the artwork to the faces of the cube, then you would be able to see it.
So, essentially working with 2D artwork in a 3D environment is about mapping 2D textures to a 3D surface. You build a 3D world then apply 2D textures to it (either from basic colours within the software or imported artwork).
I think that you would find it easier having a simple goal in mind when trying to get to know Blender, then you can target your questions towards a specific goal. I haven't used Blender much, I used to use Lightwave quite a lot.
Hello Frances,
There are several ways to integrate Xara with Blender.
First is a special add-on (included) with Blender...you only have to make sure it's turned ON in User Preferences. It's called "Import Images as Planes". You can import images manually (but why?), however this add-on makes sure that the created plane has the same aspect ratio as the original graphic. Also, as you go to import, you will see some options on the lower left of the screen for using the alpha channel, for premultiply and for shadeless. The alpha channel you want clicked if there is ANY transparency in the original that you want to preserve. Also, if so, click premultiply, it will make the edges look better. As for shadeless, that makes it so that the graphic is shown just as it is, with no shading based on where the lights are, etc. (normally, you want shadeless OFF, since you want the graphic to integrate into the scene) If you're using a (distant) background for something, then you often want shadeless ON so that the graphic looks exactly as it did in Xara. For most planes, you will want to go to the specularity slider in Materials and slide it to the left to turn off specularity. (90+% of image planes will need it OFF)
A second way to pull things into Blender is (as Pauland commented) as textures for objects. All objects need a material and SOME objects need a texture. You only have to decide how you want that texture to be mapped onto the object. For planes, cubes, cylinders, tubes, spheres, or sphere-like objects, there is a direct option that maps it correctly. (find the mapping method on the Textures panel, looks like a checkerboard). For more complex objects that you need to map perfectly, you will have to unwrap the object, which means to have the program convert those faces of the object so that they are laid out flat. Then, when you import an image, it is laid correctly across all of the faces. Unwrapping simple objects is not so hard...the more complex the object, the more difficult the unwrapping. Luckily, the plane (flat), cube, tube, and sphere mapping works for most objects. (You can also paint right onto objects!)
The third way is to activate the SVG saving option in Xara (for DP7, it required a small registry change which I think I got from Mike B, here). With this, you can take your shapes that you make in Xara and pull them right into Blender. The same way that you can create a 3D extruded shape in Xara from a shape, you can pull that shape into Blender and extrude it there. Because of this, it is often easier to make some complex shape in Xara and then pull it into Blender rather than to try and make the shape by placing vertices to make the shape.
If you had a large blue star that you made in Xara and wanted to use that in Blender and it wasn't really close to the camera (ie. the fact that it has no depth is not important, because of the viewing angle), then pulling it in as a SVG works excellently, even preserving the initial (solid) coloring.
Blender is not easy, because there are so many options and settings. Still, tackle it one piece at a time and it all starts falling into place nicely. Really, there are a finite number of "tasks" that you are likely to need (for anything that you're "building" in Blender)...so learn it once, and use it forever. ;)
One more thing, Blender uses keyboard shortcuts extensively, so it pays to print a listing out (available at Blender.org) for reference.
One other little tip...in User Preferences, there is a checkbox for something like "Dynamic Space Bar". When you start a New document, click this checkbox and then hitting the space bar gives a menu with many of the mostly used functions. If you don't know this, then you have to go search everything out in the menus.
I agree with Pauland that it is a good idea to start with SOME idea of what you want to make and then work to learn the functions that you need to make that happen. For example...say you wanted to make a small scene with a ground surface, a cylinder (with say, your image wrapped on it) and a mirrored sphere next to it. For this scene, you'd need only 3 objects. (not including lights and camera, of course) The ground, you would likely load in using "Import Image as Plane", but make sure specularity is OFF. The cylinder and sphere are primitives that you can get just by going to the Add menu (or using the dynamic space bar menu that I mentioned above). Once you create the cylinder or sphere, you will likely want to turn on smoothing just so that they don't appear faceted. To make the sphere mirrored, just give it a new material, turn the coloring darker and give it some amount of mirroring (0.5 to 0.9). For the cylinder, create it and then go to Materials and give it a new material. Go to Textures, choose New and then choose "Image or Movie" and Open the file that is the image. Tell it that you're mapping the image to a tube and then, with the cylinder selected, hit R (for Rotate), Z to constrain it to rotating about the Z-axis and then 180 and hit Enter. This will rotate the cylinder so that the seam (where the left edge of image meets right edge of image) will be in the back and invisible. If you are using a seamless image, of course, you can leave out the rotating. For a plain, photo image, you will need to rotate it.
Mostly...have fun... don't feel intimidated, you won't break anything.
One cool feature that I wish that Xara had is, when you click Save As, if you've given the file a name with numbers in it (for revisions), then there is a little PLUS button that automatically increases the number in the filename. It pays to save at many points along the way...never know when you think, "oh, I want that shape back the way it was before I changed it to...."
The normal way of working with Blender is to have the right hand (assuming right-handed) on the mouse and the left hand on the keyboard. Even if you don't start that way, you'll end up that way. ;)
Ask if you have problems/questions...I'm glad to help.
Thanks for the nice comments!
Peace
James
Hello Frances,
To show what I was saying above about importing SVG graphics into Blender:
I made the following in Xara.
Attachment 83969
After saving (SVG) and then importing into Blender and extruding (literally 2 mins)...
Attachment 83966
You can see that the "objects" came into Blender, just as they were created in Xara. Here it is from another view.
Attachment 83967
Lastly, I changed the tops of those objects to show that they are editable objects, free to do whatever you want to with... The snake-like line has a texture applied to only the top faces. The left cylinder has another (Xara-made) texture mapped to it. The right cylinder has a cloud texture applied (to the top) from within Blender.
Attachment 83968
Using this method, it becomes much easier to have complex shapes that are made with Xara's (excellent) drawing tools and have them imported right into Blender, ready to use/manipulate/position.
Take care
James
Frances,
James has provided some great advice and shown off his skill. Don't be put off that you will struggle to turn around decent results at first. It takes time to switch to a 3D mindset and time to get used to doing all the stuff that goes with it - modeling, texturing and lighting.
Everybody struggles at first. You'll appreciate how easy Xara's 3D tools make it to get a fast result.
Paul
Thank you, James, for your explanation.
I was attracted to Blender by the nice things you showed here in TG, and decided to give it a go. Meanwhile I bought the 'Blender for Dummies' which is helpful, but mostly as a reference work in my opinion. What I didn't find yet is a set of tutorials like Xara has (Gary's mostly), in a written format. I don't like the video-tutorials as they sometimes are difficult to follow for a non-native-english-speaking person.
I agree with Frances about the steep learning curve and being 67 isn't much help there either - it's like climbing a hill on a bicycle: much easier when you're 30 than when you're 65+.
But I'm determined I will get there one day...
Even if you weren't going to build a complete scene in Blender, you can see how Blender can help with things like mapping textures onto objects and it doing accurate reflections.
Since the angle isn't straight on the object, a simple copying and flipping would NOT create an accurate reflection and no one would be fooled.
Here is a simple texture made in Xara, pulled right into Blender and mapped onto a sphere (with multiplication/mirroring of the texture) and a ground surface with a little bit of reflectivity. You can see that the reflection is not the same (image) as the object, since the views are from two different perspectives. (relative to the object) In the reflection, you're seeing the object from below, so the perspective of the object is from the FLOOR for the reflection, but from the camera for the object.
Attachment 83970
By the way, I'm excited that you want to learn Blender. You're an experimenting type, I think you'll have great fun with it and make some cool stuff as you get further into it. Cool!
Peace
James
Hello Guy,
Thanks! And you're welcome for any explanations... it excites me to help others learn/understand such a cool (free) tool!
Yes, I think you're right, there should be more written tutorials for it.
I think because the creating of things has MANY steps (often) that it's just so much easier to document through the steps in video form, where it would take a long time to write out everything step-by-step in text and a gazillion screen grabs.
Still though...for basic things, I think you are 100% correct...there should be basic tutorials for all functions. If you'll look up individual functions on Blender.org, there are text explanations with graphics for most everything...so the basics can be learned that way.
When I watch tutorial videos (say, by Andrew Price, Jonathan Williamson, Greg Zaal or Kernon Dillon), I almost always pick up some tip or idea that I didn't know before...some helpful little (or not so little) thing.
The main thing is to have fun and try not to get frustrated...then, every time you open up Blender will be a happy one full of exploring and playing.
I'd like to get a copy of Camtasia Studio, because I think I could make some cool videos about basic functions and about interworking with Xara and Blender together.
Take care,
James
Wow lots to read here! thanks so much James and pauland. I hope to get some time to play later, and I thought for a simple first project I might start with a sphere with a repeating texture created in Xara mapped to it. Eventually once I have a little practice I'd like to do objects in xara as svg and bring them into blender.
One thing I'm finding is that having to right click to select things in blender takes a bit of getting used to.
James, have you tried Fastone Capture for producing video tutorials? It doesn't have all the bells and whistles of a more expensive program but for around $20 CAD it works quite well and it does screen grabs too. I have used it for a few videos that I posted elsewhere, and I use it frequently for screenshots for tutorials and forum posts, and for work related stuff too.
I can't seem to figure out how to import an image into blender say a png or a jpeg to map to an object. I have some seamless tiles that I created in Xara that I'd like to try mapping to a sphere. The file import list doesn't include jpeg, png, or other common formats, just lots of 3d formats and SVG what am I missing?? (besides my mind!)
3D software uses materials and textures (shading properties) to color the surface of an object. I don't use blender so I can't give you specific instructions, if you check out the manual it should give you the procedure, materials and texturing is what you are looking for.
http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Do...nual#Materials
Hi, I asked the same thing -I could not find a way to bring in something to start with... seems the program is not 'cluttered' up with lots of potential things to use... but, I will have to re-find the thread here, to remember what I was told to do to turn on being in a format not shown... (I have lost that piece of my mind already) LOL -let me go look. BRB (I want to say it is in Options & you have to 'Turn-On' the Format you want to bring in... seemed strange to me) -- Not Options; but, User Preferences -Here let James say it:
Re: Blender 2.57 Stable version !
Hello Tom
There are many import options in Blender. Some of them you have to turn on by going to User Preferences. (many of the things in Blender are activated this way, so that the software isn't bloated with tons of unused options)
Have fun!
James
Thanks fellas! Ok here is my very first attempt at a 3d rendering in Blender. It's not the greatest but hey it's a start! :) Both of the textures were created in Xara.
Attachment 83977
I like it (lots better than mine)!
Well done Frances, it's taken me weeks to get to that stage !
Hello Frances,
That looks great.
I see that you have found the image mapping (your question from an earlier post).
I can't tell (and so, in this image it doesn't matter) if you've set the mapping for the sphere to Sphere Mapping? Just in case, you find that option here:
Attachment 83978
For the ground image, you can also give it some bump mapping to look a bit more textured. It's really easy to do, you only have to check the Normal checkbox, (under Influence), give it a small amount, and change the Bump Mapping Method to "Best Quality". Season to taste. ;)
Attachment 83979
Something else, just so that you know... any images that are used for textures can (of course) control the coloring of an object, but they can also control other things, such as how textured the object appears (Normal), how transparent the object is (Alpha), etc. You can even stack as many as 10 textures (controlling various things) on top of each other for virtually infinite effects.
In the example below, there are no faces removed from the object. It is a simple, red sphere, but with a grid (composed of alternating black and transparent squares). By setting the objects Transparency to Alpha = 0 (obj invisible), and then using the mapped texture image, with the Alpha box checked and set to 1, the object will be transparent, but only where there was transparency in the original texture!
Attachment 83980
Blendfile for the above image...
Keep at it, Frances; you're already off to a great start! :)
Have fun!
James
P.S. One other little tip in case you go to use a texture with transparency. If you have a plane (let's say) and it has transparency, it will cast a rectangular shadow (ie. disregarding transparency) UNLESS you go to the Materials tab for the object receiving the shadows and go down to Shadow and enable "Receive Transparent". In the above example image, the floor plane must have this set or the shadow on the floor is of the entire sphere (no holes). Also, the inside faces of the sphere would not have been illuminated unless Receive Transparent is set for the sphere as well. This is one that had me pulling my hair out. I had added an object with transparency, but had solid shadows as if the object had no transparency. Finally had the answer, which I share with you here so you don't have to pull out any hair. (at least over that one) ;)
Nice work! Next thing to learn is lighting: Put one (or two) additional lights to achieve greater realism, even with simplistic designs like this.
Thanks to you both. Last night I watched a tutorial video, where the guy did some balloons it seemed pretty cool, though at the end he went into the node based editor to make adjustments to his rendered layers and I couldn't help thinking how much easier that part would be in Xara! ;) I don't know if I will have much time to play today, work (the paying kind) beckons, but maybe this evening I'll have something to share or more questions to ask or both!
Yes I agree. I bookmarked this thread so I could find it again later If I need it.Quote:
Originally Posted by angelize
Hello Angelize,
Re: "I couldn't help thinking how much easier that part would be in Xara!"
I often think that too. There is (sometimes) an advantage to doing it in Blender. If you are animating the scene, all the adjustments are done to each frame. If there are 120 frames, that's a lot of images to adjust in Xara. Also, you'll have to use the compositor if you want to do realistic depth-of-field images. Since the software knows the depth (from camera) of all the objects, it can selectively defocus and emulate bokeh effects.
I agree with you though, for basic image editing, it's intuitive and easier in Xara.
Peace
James
Okay, How do I 'Bookmark' (I have been Posting to as Bookmark in my Subscribed Threads, in Quick Links) - Is there a Bookmark that I have been OverLooking?Quote:
Originally Posted by wizard509
Ok I'm still experimenting with spheres, I have a couple more Blender questions:
I have learned how to duplicate and object but how do I move objects in front of or behind each other, and say I have a red sphere and I duplicate it now if I have one sphere selected and I change the material they both change how do I apply a different material to each sphere?
Tom - Bookmarking is done using your webbrowser.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hwy101
In Firefox and Google Chrome it is called a bookmark.
In IE it is called a favorite.
Hello Frances,
Good questions!
Re: "...how do I move objects in front of or behind each other..."
The views are controlled by the numeric keypad. From the front is "1"...from the right side is "3" and from the top is "7". (Using control with the previous numbers gives the view from the opposite side.... ie. back is "ctrl-1", left is "ctrl-3" and bottom is "ctrl-7".) To move objects in front/back of each other, just switch views, right select the object and put it where you want it. ;)
Re: Materials
A quick explanation... Blender (as you know) uses materials for objects. If you have two objects using the same material, then if you change that material, you change it for both. (Think of Xara's named colors) When you look in the Materials tab, right next to the name there is a number and this number is the number of objects using that particular material. If you'll just click on that number, it makes the current material a single-user material for the current object. Now, if you edit anything, you change it only for the current object. (the same is true of textures by the way... if you have two spheres with one image mapped to both of them, if you change the image on one, you change the image on the other...UNLESS you do the same thing and click the little number square to make it a unique texture for that object, which you can change exclusive of other objects.
In the graphic below, the "2" is saying that there are two objects currently using this material. (clicking the 2 makes it so that, if I edit this material, it only affects the current object)
Attachment 84006
Hope this helps!
James
Thanks James, that helps a lot. I'm slowly learning and bumbling my way along I may even have something worth posting by tomorrow evening.
You're welcome!
I look forward to seeing what you come up with...
By the way, I added a graphic to the above post to show exactly what I meant and where.
Peace
James
(( worst part is, I keep switching back & forth between Blender & 123D [Autodesk added a bunch of new stock shapes] Make Learning 'Interesting' ))
There's always more to learn in Blender...
Today was playing around with the Explode modifier. Here is a quick example... (literally done in minutes)
Pardon the subject matter, there's no hidden meaning...just a quick knock-off.
Attachment 84008
Peace
James
Couldn't agree more...;))Quote:
Originally Posted by ODdOnLifeItself
Here's a beachball - The lighting is not what it should be, but I still have to study that chapter...
Attachment 84011
The beachball looks perfect, Guy
Re: "The lighting is not what it should be..."
As you look further towards the background, it gets dark quite fast. (ie. the front lights falloff well before the end of the plane) Since you're doing a beachball, they make you think of daytime, so to get more of what you want, you'll want to not use point light sources, but rather a Sun lamp or an Area lamp (with the intensity turned down a lot or it floods the whole scene).
Another (secondary) option is to go in the World settings and give it a very small amount of Environment Lighting to compensate for the lights.
James
There is so much to learn in blender, that beachball looks good Guy,
@ James I love the explosion effect, when I get a bit more practice under my belt I'd love to learn how to do that.
Thanks, Frances
Re: Explosion effect
It's actually not that hard to do. Later, when you are interested, I can outline the steps. Now, I'll just comment that one takes an object and adds it to a particle system. (setting up the pieces and how forcefully they are expelled and how strong the gravity is) After that, using the Explosion modifier rips the object apart and makes those pieces be the ejected particles from the Particle System. It sounds complicated, but in reality, is quite easy to do.
Re: Whetting the appetite
As far as Particle Systems go, it's a cool feature of Blender. If you had a scene and you wanted hundreds of hailstones to be falling, you model as many different hailstones as you care to have. Make them a group and then add that group to the particle system. As you animate, dictated by the settings in the Particle System, the hailstones will fall and you can have them of various sizes and with various rates of rotation. The particle system is also good for things where you have some objects scattered around. (for instance pebbles on a sandy beach) You just make the Particle System work over one frame and so the "pieces" are all there from the beginning, but all randomly placed about. (Saves much time over going around and manually placing and rotating around a hundred stones in various places.)
Take care and have fun! :)
James
Another go at the beachball - improved lighting (thanks James !) and another surface
Attachment 84017
Good job, Guy
It's looking more "at home" with the improved ground surface and more even lighting.
Something that might help your new ground surface is a tiny bit of "Normal Mapping" being applied to that texture. Just select the ground and go to the Texture tab and click on Normal and give it -0.2 or so and go down and click Best Quality under Bump method. Though it's a small change, it somehow does make the objects in the texture look like objects (of different depths and "protrudingness").
If you like it in your current work, then use it... if not, (that's cool too), then save the idea for sometime in the future. I use this one a lot to make textures look less flat. [There's no set value that works for all images...you just have to try it and then adjust it.]
Peace
James
Thanks James. I applied your suggestions and they do make a change (for the better :) )
Thanks James, you certainly have whetted my appetite, and your advice to guy re making the textures look less flat will be helpful to me as well. Now if I could just figure out a way to "extrude" the hours in my day! ;)
Yes, Frances, I can relate.
Blender can take up a lot of time. I try not to be too hard on myself, but I do have to be mindful of not letting any work slip. Perhaps looking at it as educational time will remove all guilt ;) but I hope you have some luck at this hour-extruding idea, because I've never (even as a kid) felt there was enough time in the day.
And Frances, I wanted to mention to you, because I know you like to do a lot of "fonty" things; that Blender has a pretty good ability for making various 3D text and things that look really cool alone or if you incorporate them into a scene.
If you go to Add Text, it will put the word Text lying flat on the x-y plane. If you then rotate that about x 90° (press r, x, 90, Enter), you will see it from the front view. Pressing Tab starts you editing the text. Tab also takes you BACK when you're done editing. If you'll press the F button (over by materials tabs, etc.), then you'll have options for extruding and beveling the text as well as alignment and other normal text adjustments. It is here that you choose the font as well...advised, since Blender's native font is not one of the better ones.
Peace
James
I am trying to create a piece of textured fabric This is what I've done so far I created a 1pix curved line in Xara exported as a svg and imported that into blender. My line has come in as a curve I want to now extrude it to create my piece of fabric that I hope will follow the curve but when I tap E all it seems to do is move the line about it doesn't extrude it obviously I'm missing something what am I doing wrong?? eventually I hope to have a mirrored sphere sitting on my fabric and perhaps maybe a sky to add to the reflections (I haven't decided on that yet)