The theme for this issue is “Odds n’ Ends: props and accessories”

Welcome back to a new year of Blenderart Magazine. We are going to kick off 2012 with a look at how to create all the Odds n’ Ends that make images and animations look great. No character is complete without their clothes, armor and all the various accessories that complete their look. And scenes are flat and lifeless without a variety of well placed props to add detail and depth to tell your story.

In addition, we want to take a look at how to use some of the fun new features of Blender 2.61 with all these needed props and accessories. So get to modeling, texturing and don’t forget to write about it and share your masterpieces with the rest of us.

Looking for tutorials or “making of” articles on:

• any props or accessories needed for any character or scene
• how to use new blender features

Articles

Send in your articles to sandra
Subject: “Article submission Issue # 36 [your article name]“

Gallery Images

As usual you can also submit your best renders based on the theme of the issue. The theme of this issue is “Odds n’ Ends: props and accessories”. Please note if the entry does not match with the theme it will not be published.

Send in your entries for gallery to gaurav
Subject: “Gallery submission Issue # 36″

Note: Image size should be of 1024x (width) at max.

Last date of submissions February 5, 2012.

Good luck!
Blenderart Team

Winter holidays are fast approaching, making this the perfect time for BAM to take a short vacation. We will return with the new year fully recharged and ready for more blender fun.

We will post a brand new call for content the first week of January and get the blender ball rolling once more.

Have a great holiday season!

I invite all of you to post your results to our facebook page. David and all of us here at Blenderart are waiting to see what you come up with.

And before I forget once again, here is the licensing info for Little Bot Bunny. David has given Little Bot Bunny to us with a very permissive CC-By license. So enjoy and don’t forget to post your results.

from David Revoy:

I offer it to the Blender community and for internet in the very permissive CC-By licence. I really hope it will help book writers or maker of video tutorial to work on a fancy character. Also, if many blenderheads can try their modeling skill on it, I would be happy My wish for this character ; have the honnor to see it animated one day doing crasy stuff with the carrot light saber. I hope it will inspirate some 3D artist.

So , 2 versions ; black&white for 3D viewport friendly , and a colorfull one for indication about my idea on shaders and material.
Of course, as long it’s CC-By , user can do what they want as long as they keep attributing me the model-sheet and the character design.
( ex; change the color for a black one as well as the design a bit , to do a fighting )

If you have not yet downloaded your copy of Little Bot Bunny, he can be found in the blend file zip for issue #35.

“Almost anything can be animated to give the appearance of life and possibly intelligence. But just because it moves, does that make it a character? ” That is the question that we are exploring in this issue of Blenderart Magazine. Just what makes a great character. And just to add a little fun, we not only have articles and tutorials, but some great character models for you to play with as well as a bonus surprise

So grab your copy today.
Also be sure to check out our gallery of wonderful images submitted by very talented members of our community.

Table of Contents:

• TIK / FK switch
• The Locust Swarm
• Making of: Wouldo
• Making of: Ruby
• Making of: Rihanna
• Dr. Madblood 35th Anniversary Halloween Special
• Shape key and shape breakdown

And Lot More…

In addition to giving the BAM staff a little more breathing room, it will also give contributing authors and artists more time to create and submit awesome articles, tutorials and images. So get your “blend” on and get those submissions in.

Otherwise I will be writing multiple articles on “Flintstone” style cars getting flattened by falling rocks or stomped on by dinosaurs. Actually that isn’t a half bad idea….

Anyhow, BAM is delayed but not out of the race.

Remember Novemeber 5th is the new deadline.

The theme for this issue is “Mechanical Mayhem: before and after”

Mechanical and Vehicle modeling is a such a popular topic that we can’t resist doing it again. But this time we are going to do it with a little twist. We are going to add a little Mayhem to the mix and have some digital fun.

So after you have created your beautiful shiny vehicle or mechanical marvel of modeling greatness, mess it up. And mess it up good. We are looking for aged, used, dented, dinged, wrecked, blown up and utterly messed up. This is a great time to explore materials and modifiers that can add to the realism of our Mayhem.

Possible articles/tutorials/“makings of” for you to submit:

• Anything related to creating/texturing your mechanical marvel/vehicle
• Materials to age or dirty up vehicles
• Methods of denting/wrecking/blowing up a vehicle
• Anything else fun that comes to mind

And remember if you wrecked your digital masterpiece to include “before and after” renders and animations. That is part of the fun.

Articles

Send in your articles to sandra
Subject: “Article submission Issue # 36 [your article name]“

Gallery Images

As usual you can also submit your best renders based on the theme of the issue. The theme of this issue is “Mechanical Mayhem: before and after”. Please note if the entry does not match with the theme it will not be published. And remember to include “before and after” renders and animations.

Send in your entries for gallery to gaurav
Subject: “Gallery submission Issue # 36″

Note: Image size should be of 1024x (width) at max.

Last date of submissions October 5, 2011.

Good luck!
Blenderart Team

Rigging can be a complicated task done in multiple ways depending on what you are animating. Which make this issue a must read for anyone wanting to improve their rigging work flow and results. In addition we have a bit of python fun to educate and inspire you.

So grab your copy today.

Also be sure to check out our gallery of wonderful images submitted by very talented members of our community.

Table of Contents:

• Tank Treads Rig for Game
• Basic Rigging of a Fish
• Building a Switchless and Intuitive Body Rig
• Timing and Spacing
• Python scripting for artists
• BlenRig 4.0 – Auto-Rigging & Skinning system
• How Bishop 2.0 Came to Life
• And Lot More…

Reminder: Submissions for issue #35 due Aug 5^th,

Call for Content Issue #35

The theme for this issue is “Character Building”

3d Characters can be anything from a dancing cereal box, to a fully realistic humanoid and everything in between. This issue we are going to focus on creating great 3d characters. What makes them believable as well as lovable/hated.

To add to the fun, in addition to images for this issue, you can send in your character to be shared with the readers of Blenderart Magazine. It can be rigged, not rigged, textured, or not textured.

So come share your character expertise with the rest of us.

Possible Character article topics for you to submit:

• Making of/tutorials on modeling characters
• Articles about current projects that involve characters
• Topology tutorials
• Lo poly Characters
• Texturing/Mapping of characters

Also wanted, great shaders, materials and node setups for great looking materials and effects.

Articles

Send in your articles to sandra
Subject: “Article submission Issue # 35 [your article name]”

Gallery Images

As usual you can also submit your best renders based on the theme of the issue. The theme of this issue is “Character Building”. Please note if the entry does not match with the theme it will not be published.

Send in your entries for gallery to gaurav
Subject: “Gallery submission Issue # 35″

Note: Image size should be of 1024x (width) at max.

Last date of submissions August 5, 2011.

Good luck!
Blenderart Team

written by Lance Flavell

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Apress; 1 edition (December 30, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1430231262
• ISBN-13: 978-1430231264

Blender is a very powerful program, filled with buttons, options and tools that often seem to change willy nilly depending on what you are doing. There is SO much to cover when writing a book about Blender. What do you focus on? How in depth do you go? And ultimately, how big would you like the end result to be.

So what can you expect to learn from this book?

Right in the introduction, Lance sums it up best.

… a guide to explain just the few important options needed to get me started.

“This book does not aim to be exhaustive and yet it is not written to an overly simplified manner so as to insult your intelligence. 3D animation by its very nature is not simple. What you have with Beginning Blender is a book that covers a good range of the many different areas of Blender, with practical examples to get you fast-tracked into using those areas.”

Each chapter focuses on a different area of Blender and guides you to the most important tools and options. There are tables, diagrams and call out areas showing key information that can be quickly referenced. The examples are easy to follow and show how easy it is to accomplish a variety of common and a few not so common tasks in blender.

This is a great resource for beginners to Blender as well as experienced 3d artists who are changing over to Blender as it gives you a “leg up” on getting going with Blender. For experienced Blender users, Beginning Blender is a great reference to keep on your desk. Especially during those all night blending sessions when your brain goes blank and just needs a little refresher on how to do something.

Because Beginning Blender is not meant to be an exhaustive one stop reference guide, Lance encourages testing and experimenting with options and points out areas that should be studied further.

Technical:

• Well formatted.
• Can be read straight through or pick a chapter as needed.
• Nice color screen shots.
• Easy to understand explanations and examples
• Lots of tables and diagrams for quick reference
• Written for 2.5 series
• Helpful to reference where options and tools have been moved or changed for the 2.5 rewrite.

Table of Contents

• History and Installation
• The Interface
• Modeling
• Lighting and Procedural Textures
• UV Mapping
• Curves and NURBS
• Basic Rigging and Animation
• Advanced Rigging
• Making Movies
• Particles and Physics
• The Game Engine
• Going Further
• Companies That Use Blender
• Blender and GPL Terms of Use
• GNU Public License
• OpenContent License

This issue is filled to the brim with an exciting array of projects and tutorials to inspire and expand your blender knowledge.

So grab your copy today.

Also be sure to check out our gallery of wonderful images submitted by very talented members of our community.

Table of Contents:

• Modeling a High-end Car
• Modeling without Blueprints
• Dynamic Facial Control Interfaces
• Making of – Alpha Polaris
• Eight Things I have Learned Making a Short
• Review – Inkscape 0.48 Essentials for Web Designers

And Lot More…

Reminder: Submissions for issue #34 due June 5^th,

Call for Content Issue #34