Monday, January 31, 2011

Review: Blender 2.5 Beta

Every blog has a review, whether it be books, movies, or new gadgets. So today, I felt like reviewing Blender 2.56 Beta.

I've been using 2.49b for a long time, and I didn't want to use any of the 2.5 unless it was finalised. But after a little explosion sim, I found I really needed the Solidify Modifier Blender promised me. So I got my hands on Blender 2.56 Beta last week.
First glance at the Interface. Ooh! It looks all shiny! I felt it was much more aesthetially pleasing then the 2.4s. It had a new air of cool.
But apart from that and the new features, it was quite terrible. First, I had a problem locating the particles and modifiers because they were all over the place. Very annoying. In fact, I was looking almost all the tabs and buttons, and not finding any.
Then I didn't like the way all the names have changed. I wanted the Action Editor, but I needed the DopeSheet. I wanted the Buttons Window, but I needed the Properties.
But I guess they were all right. I mean, I could probably get used to that can't I?
But one thing I found really annoying was Round Ob. My 2.49 model of Round Ob was suddenly all over the place! His armature wasn't in him any more, and his arms go right through his back! What happened there? I guess some of my old models don't work with the new software.
The last thing I felt annoyed at was the loop cut. In 2.49b, I got to press Ctrl-R, move my cursor where I want the cut, then I was in Grab Mode choosing where exactly I wanted my cut. In 2.56, it just automatically cut in the middle. Grr!
Well, I felt like 2.5 wasn't right for me, and re-installed my 2.49. Back at familiar ground.
But after all that, I still keep 2.56. Why? Because it's still a great peice of software. I have to work my 2.4 models on my 2.49b, but any new projects, I'll do on 2.56.
So over all, I believe that 2.56 is a great new take on Blender for new people, but I suggest that old hands keep their old software as well.

3 Year Old

I was digging around in my ol' hard drive again, and look at what I found!

You have never heard of him, and you might never hear about him again, but I called him Round Ob about four years ago. He is not well rigged, or thought about. I named him Round Ob because I started with a UVSphere and extruded a body to it. So he was a Round Object. Round Ob.
They say many things can recall old memories, like food, smells, old collectibles, and smelly old collectibles. Now they can add .blend files to the list.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Cube in 3D

I really hope you have one of those red and blue 3D glasses. Also, I wanted to put this in my previous post but thought it was a different thing.
I was digging around in my old memory stick when I found Anamk108. You can Google it and find it too.
This was for making anaglyphic pictures. Now you know what to do. Get those paper glasses where ever they are! Under the bed, on the shelf, the back of the couch, in a furball, or as a standing bookmark.
Remake of Cannon Cube

Remake of Pillar of Fire

Top of the Temple. It's not very good, but, how did he get up there?

As a 3D image, terrible. But it explains how he got up there.
All I did was delete the existing camera, made a new one facing down, duplicated it, moved in the X direction, and made the original camera parent. Then I had two cameras to snap with!
Hope those 3D glasses have survived!

Cube on Goes to an Old Temple

Here's a mini story I made up in a few hours so it is not very well thought out. Also, it is not animated because our computer can't handle the rendering process for animation.
SO...
One day, Cube Dude went to visit the simple temple in this simple barren world.
"Wow! That looks very high!"


"What a nice view!"
"The Wrath of the Almighty decends on thee!!"
 I admit it wasn't very good as a story because a) it didn't have much purpose, and b) If I want to do a fire, I can only do pillars.

I hope Cube Dude will be this much fun to play with again!

Monday, January 10, 2011

My First Proper Render

I am still trying to learn Blender, and try to animat and stuff like that, but I have realised that I always aim too high and do something I possibly can't do. These are my first renders, made to be renders, and not half finished as well. I whipped these up in a few hours:

Loaded

Fire!
I decided to practice on low poly meshes for now. I also expect from cube dude, (as I call him for now) later on in his series. Critique would be accepted.
By the way, I am trying to get the particles working for a smoke effect but I can't get them as near realistic as I want. Could someone help? Thanks!

This is Dymo

About Me

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New Zealand
He has many ambitions, some of which include art, while others include food. The common feature of all his ambitions is that they involve him staying at home. This comic is one of them.

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