Blender 3D By Example - Second Edition: A project-based guide to learning the latest Blender 3D, EEVEE rendering engine, and Grease Pencil

Get up and running with Blender 3D through a series of practical projects that will help you learn core concepts of 3D design like modeling, sculpting, materials, textures, lighting, and rigging using the latest features of Blender 2.83

Key Features

• Build 3D scenes step-by-step using Blender’s modeling, sculpting, and rendering tools
• Explore animation with the powerful Grease Pencil and EEVEE engine
• Learn real-world workflows through diverse creative projects like time machines, dragons, and kitchen kits

Book Description

Blender is a powerful 3D creation package that supports every aspect of the 3D pipeline. With this book, you'll learn about modeling, rigging, animation, rendering, and much more with the help of some interesting projects.

This practical guide, based on the Blender 2.83 LTS version, starts by helping you brush up on your basic Blender skills and getting you acquainted with the software toolset. You’ll use basic modeling tools to understand the simplest 3D workflow by customizing a Viking themed scene. You'll get a chance to see the 3D modeling process from start to finish by building a time machine based on provided concept art. You will design your first 2D character while exploring the capabilities of the new Grease Pencil tools. The book then guides you in creating a sleek modern kitchen scene using EEVEE, Blender’s new state-of-the-art rendering engine. As you advance, you'll explore a variety of 3D design techniques, such as sculpting, retopologizing, unwrapping, baking, painting, rigging, and animating to bring a baby dragon to life.

By the end of this book, you'll have learned how to work with Blender to create impressive computer graphics, art, design, and architecture, and you'll be able to use robust Blender tools for your design projects and video games.

What you will learn

• Explore core 3D modeling tools in Blender such as extrude, bevel, and loop cut
• Understand Blender s Outliner hierarchy, collections, and modifiers
• Find solutions to common problems in modeling 3D characters and designs
• Implement lighting and probes to liven up an architectural scene using EEVEE
• Produce a final rendered image complete with lighting and post-processing effects
• Learn character concept art workflows and how to use the basics of Grease Pencil
• Learn how to use Blender s built-in texture painting tools

Who this book is for

Ideal for aspiring 3D artists, hobbyists, and animation enthusiasts—from complete beginners to experienced creators seeking hands-on practice with Blender's latest tools like Grease Pencil and EEVEE across varied real-world projects.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction to 3D and the Blender User Interface
2. Editing a Viking Scene with a Basic 3D Workflow
3. Modeling a Time Machine - Part 1
4. Modeling a Time Machine - Part 2
5. Modern Kitchen - Part 1: Kitbashing
6. Modern Kitchen - Part 2: Materials and Textures
7. Modern Kitchen - Part 3: Lighting and Rendering
8. Illustrating an Alien Hero with Grease Pencil
9. Animating an Exquisite Corpse in Grease Pencil
10. Animating a Stylish Short with Grease Pencil
11. Creating a Baby Dragon - Part 1: Sculpting
12. Creating a Baby Dragon - Part 2: Retopology
13. Creating a Baby Dragon - Part 3: UV Unwrapping
14. Creating a Baby Dragon - Part 4: Baking and Painting Textures
15. Creating a Baby Dragon - Part 5: Rigging and Animation
16. The Wide World of Blender

Oscar Baechler is a CG generalist, professor, painter, photographer, open source advocate, and community organizer who teaches at Lake Washington Institute of Technology. He's published a number of mobile games with a Blender pipeline and created animation for clients both big and small. Oscar runs the Seattle Blender User Group and Ballard Life Drawing Co-op and has presented on CGI at SIGGRAPH, LinuxFest Northwest, the Blender Conference, OSCON, Usenix LISA, SeaGL, SIX, WACC, and others.

Xury is a digital media generalist and educator in the Greater Seattle Area. He earned his bachelor's degree in game design from Lake Washington Institute of Technology. He specializes in 3D characters, and technical art, and loves to share his knowledge. Xury is an avid member and Co-Organizer of the Seattle Blender User Group and aims to help others by teaching Blender, as well as other 3D content creation tools. He is always excited to get new users started on their digital media production journey.