Blenderize me!

"Do what?" you say.

Since you asked the question, this has
nothing to do with a blender that mixes
your drinks. Unless, of course, you create a
blender in Blender that simulates mixing drinks.
Clear as mud, right? Right. Below is some information on
Blender and some examples of what it can do.

What is Blender?

Blender is an open source software for computer generated modeling, animation, and games. To find out much, much more, go to http://www.blender3d.com/.

Why Blender?

Okay, so I'm partial. Blender is the 3D software I was exposed to in my Computer-Generated Animation Infancy (CGAI).  So it is the one I "grew up" with and with which I am most familiar. Also, it is FREE. I repeat. It is FREE. And...very, very powerful.

There are thousands of users, many of whom dedicate their time and energy to improving Blender on a regular basis. At one point, before Blender was open source, it looked like it would fall by the wayside. But with the efforts of Ton Rosendaal, and $100,000 dollars donated by Blender users worldwide, Blender is here to stay and has made its place in the computer animation world.

What can be done with Blender?

Lots and lots of things. Okay, okay, I'll be more specific. You can create 3D logos, create entire 3D scenes or environments, model 3D versions of anything around you or anything you can imagine, model characters and animate them, simulate processes, create games, create and put together animated movies, etc. The possibilities are endless.

Just to give you an idea, here are some examples of my work in Blender:

2D to 3D Modeling - These are examples of using Blender to convert 2D drawings or pictures to 3D models.

 

I created 3D models of trim moulding for a company by using their 2D flat drawings. Tracing a drawing using bezier curves and extruding it, I was able to create a single model and export it to a JPEG file in less than a minute.
 

Modeling and Animating Characters - The examples below were created and rendered in Blender. Some of these are still in the modeling and rigging stage, and others have been made into animated shorts using Adobe Premiere Pro.

 

This started out to be about a character named "Wormwood." However, he shaped more into a catepillar by the time I was through. He is rigged and ready for animation, I think.
 
Tappy the Nail was the first character I modeled for a short animation. Due to time constraints, I kept his facial features very simple, but a lot can be said by the positioning of those eyebrows.
 
I found this rabbit character in the 3D software, Animation Master, but could not export the model. So, I took screen shots of the wireframe in Animation Master and used them as a background to model the rabbit in Blender. Below is the result.
 

 

Computer Animated Short Movies - This is what I really love to do, create animated short movies. It combines my love of art, creative writing, and music into one product.

 

"Oh What a Beautiful Day," starring Tappy the Nail, was my very first animated short and I was just learning how to use relative vertex keys (for the mouth). Once I have my file uploaded, you can click on the picture below to view the animated short movie.
 
Lost Change is an animated short in the making. Because I wasn't nearly finished when the animation festival came around on campus, I quickly threw together a trailer to show (but this is also in th re-editing phase). Once I have my file uploaded, you can click on the picture below to see the trailer.
 

 

 

Where do I get Blender?

I'm so glad you asked. Simply go here to download the most recent version for your platform: http://www.blender3d.com/cms/Blender.31.0.html.