Introduction to Blender - Blender Master Class: A Hands-on Guide to Modeling, Sculpting, Materials, and Rendering - page 1

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introduction to blender

In this chapter, we will look at the basics of using
Blender in order to build a foundation for our work
in later chapters. We'll explore its user interface,
how to navigate the 3D Viewport, and how to add
and interact with objects. Throughout this chapter,
I'll point to later parts of the topic, where various
topics will be covered in greater detail. If you are
already comfortable with Blender, feel free to skip
to Chapter 2, on GIMP, or Chapter 3, on preparing
your projects.

Since then, Blender has undergone continued
development by the Blender community, over-
seen by the Blender Foundation (headed by Ton
Roosendaal, one of the original developers of
Blender). The current version (Blender 2.6 x , as this
topic goes to press) boasts a wide array of features
competitive with many commercial 3D applications
and has a committed and enthusiastic community
creating art and animation with it.
Blender is used today by many animation stu-
dios, game developers, artists, and hobbyists. It
has been used to make feature films, short films,
and games. Of particular note are the Blender
Foundation's open movie projects—community-
funded short film projects that are used to drive
the development of Blender forward by using it in a
production environment. To date, four short films
and one game have been completed, each yield-
ing significant improvements and new features in
Blender's repertoire. The first short film, Elephants
Dream , premiered in 2006. It's a surreal tale in which
two characters travel through a bizarre mechanical

About Blender
Blender is a free open source 3D design and ani-
mation package, available for Windows, Linux,
and Mac OS X. Originally created as an in-
house animation package for Dutch animation
studio NeoGeo, it was later released under the
GNU General Public License when its developer,
NotANumber, went bankrupt and the Blender com-
munity raised € 100,000 to pay creditors to release
the Blender source code.