Pdf blender uninstall

With this option, it is possible to have multiple versions of Blender without conflicting, as they are not actually installed on the system. However, if you want a particular version to be registered with your computer then simply run blender -r from the Command Line. To keep all configuration files and installed add-ons in the executable folder, create a folder named config in the LOCAL directory of the unzipped folder.

Blender can be installed from the Microsoft Store by searching for Blender in the Microsoft Store and installing it. On Windows there are various ways of updating Blender. This section covers the most common approaches. When an update for Blender is released, it can be downloaded directly from the Blender website. The Windows installer can then be run to install the updated version of Blender. To remove a previously installed version of Blender, use Windows settings or control panel to uninstall the desired version.

When an update for Blender is released, it can be downloaded directly from the Blender website and extracted to the desired folder, where you can double click the executable to run Blender. For more information on creating a portable version of Blender, see the section Install from Zip.

A face will be formed. Here is an example of 2 cubes joined together with a space that needs filled between them.

In edit mode, select the 4 vertices hold down shift key and right click on them , then type F. A face will be created. Ctrl-F will give a Face Specials menu of options that will allow a larger set of closed vertices to be faced with additional options. Using Alt- F will fill a larger area automatically. RoboDude Says: Adding and deleting faces and vertices are the basics in any model construction. It is important to become comfortable with these operations while knowing how to accurately work within your viewports.

In other words, A mesh can be made combining 2 meshes different from the Join command. When using Join, the 2 shapes still retain all vertices. When using Boolean, a new shape is calculated union and removes interior geometry. A mesh can also be used to cut a hole in another mesh difference and a shape can also be made from where the 2 shape intersect with one another intersect.

In the sample shown below, a cube and a sphere have been placed overlapping each other. With the cube selected, we will be applying a Boolean Modifier. This is the first time we have accessed the Modifier buttons.

If the resolution of your computer if not set so that you are able to see the Modifiers button, hold down your mouse wheel to scroll over the buttons to gain access to it. You will see a variety of modifiers that can be added and many will be discussed later.

For now, select the Boolean modifier. In the Boolean panel, you will see a block where you can select the object you wish to use to modify the cube. Clicking in the box will give you a drop down of all objects in the scene. Selecting the sphere will display the changes to the cube.

We are going to use Boolean operations to cut some simple windows in your lighthouse. Using your principle views of 1, 3, and 7, place the cube in a good location for a window. With the cube still selected, make note of the cube's name, displayed in the lower left corner of the viewport. We will need to know that name later.

The name can also be changed in the Transform window. Go to the Modifiers Panel and add a Boolean Modifier. Select the Cube from the list under Object. You can even use different mesh shapes to cut other window and door shapes. Remember to add the Boolean Modifier to the lighthouse and not the cube! They need the logo to be 3D and useful for their promotional needs. For this exercise, you will be creating a 3D logo for a favorite team, company, product, or school while using many of the techniques discussed in this chapter.

Your first step is to do an internet search for an image you wish to model from. I will be using a Blender Logo for my example. Check the box and open the panel. Load your image and it should show up in the background of the 3D window. The image will only display in a principal ortho view 7,1, or 3- 5 key switches between ortho and perspective.

You will notice that you can control which views the image displays in, if you want to display a movie or image as a background, the transparency of the image, the size and X,Y offset.

Delete 1 vertex so all you have are 3 vertices. Your next step is to move the 3 existing vertices to the edge of the shape where you wish to start. The more care you take in shaping, the better the logo will look. Continue around the shape until you get back to the beginning. This will connect the 2 ends and close the shape. You will now have the basic shape. From there, continue to extrude and close the inner edge as you did with the outer edge. Notice that the Blender logo also has a blue inner circle.

We will also copy and extrude a circle for that ring. If you have other details to add, do that at this time. Always stay in the Top View!

Before we face the mesh, we will need to separate the vertices into different meshes that will receive different materials. For my example, I will select the inner ring that will get a blue material.

After separating all the vertices, go back to Object Mode. It's now time to face the mesh. If the shape is complex, not closed, or has double vertices somewhere, this option may not work and forces you to find the problem or face it manually. Do this for all meshes, then switch to the Front View and Extrude the meshes to a desired thickness, like you did with the lighthouse.

You logo is finished for now. We will not be addressing this as an actual exercise, but after reading the chapter on Materials and Textures, you can come back and add color to your logo. There are still a lot of commands and techniques to learn to improve your 3D modeling skills and many of these will be addressed in future chapters, however, practice is the key to become a skilled artist.

Answer the following questions in as much detail as possible. Your first task in this chapter had you working with basic meshes, trying to create a sculpture, much like you would have used building blocks as a child. What was your biggest challenge then and how would that challenge be different now that you have completed the chapter and have a little more experience? How did your lighthouse and landscape turn out? Are you pleased with your results? What was the most difficult aspect of that project and how did you overcome that challenge?

The logo challenge activity is designed to have you create a 3D logo much like ones you would see at sporting events, in movies, and on T. Find a 3D animated logo on the internet that interests you. Do you have a better understanding now of how a logo like that is made? How has this chapter shaped your understanding of 3D modeling? Have these activities inspired you to create any projects of your own?

What would you like to create? As you make your 3D models in Blender, your goal will probably be to generate render an image or a movie as a final result.

The software that determines how your scene will look is the render engine. The render engine will need to know how to handle materials on your objects, how the lighting in your scene should react with reflections, refraction, bounced ambient lighting, shadows, etc. While there are several 3 rd party engines out there that can work with Blender, there are actually two engines built into the program: the classic internal renderer and the newer cycles renderer.

Every render engine will generate different results depending on how it calculates the scene. Some render engines will take a lot longer to generate an image than others. Cycles handles lighting much better than the internal renderer, providing more realistic results. That will depend on what you want for results. The classic internal engine will give you faster results, but with less realism.

The cycles engine will give you more realistic results, but requires more set up time and much longer render times, depending on your computer and graphics card possibly minutes as opposed to hours. Because this book is written for use in the classroom, all of the activities here use the classic render engine.

Time is a valuable commodity in school and we need to render as quickly as possible to meet deadlines. Like most schools, we do not have the best video cards on the market, making cycles a tough choice for us. Cycles is a work in progress and getting improvements with every new release. Some students do choose to use cycles. In this chapter and the next, we will discuss the basics of the cycles renderer and how to set up basic materials.

With that knowledge, you can decide which render engine you would like to use for the activities. Both render engine will give you great results! The Blender Game engine rendering will be discussed in a later chapter. We will only discuss some basic material settings in this chapter so you can experiment with the render engines. Materials will be detailed in the next chapter.

Remember, we are focusing on the classic internal renderer right now. Basic Material Settings To add a material, first select the object you want to work with, then go to the Materials panel in the Properties window. You will see more options open up. Right now, we are only interested in changing color and glossiness.

Diffuse: Diffuse is actually the color that is given off by the object- the color you see. If you want the object to be red, set it here. You will also see settings for the way the material is calculated default-Lambert and the intensity slider. The Ramp button will allow diversity of color. By clicking on the color sample in diffuse or in any other block dealing with a color , the color wheel will pop up. You'll also see an eyedropper for picking a color elsewhere.

The Preview panel can be used to see the results of your setting changes. You can also change the default sphere preview shape to something else. Specular: Specular settings control the glossiness of the object is it flat or shiny? You will see a color sample, calculation model and ramp as in Diffuse. The color sample indicates the color reflected back usually kept white. Intensity controls the amount of glossiness while the hardness slider controls the hardness and softness of the glow.

Check the sample as you change these settings to see how it changes appearance. RoboDude Asks: How can I see all the panels on the screen? While the classic render engine is still the default in Blender, Cycles continues to receive most of the recent development and will likely become the default renderer in the near future. Since cycles can produce more accurate results with reflected light and other effects, it is more memory and is processor intensive.

This is where your computer hardware makes a big difference and a place where many high school labs can fall short. In our lab, we have fast dual-core computers, loaded with RAM, but with integrated video cards. Due to school district budgets, I think many schools are in the same boat. Because of this factor, we can render simple scenes in Cycles, but as scenes become more complex, we experience problems and need to rely on the classic renderer.

Render farms, or Network Rendering, discussed in Chapter 8 can help you get through larger projects as well. Expect detailed project in either render engine to take minutes to hours to render a single image as you add more detail.

Because the CPU is doing everything to run your computer, the amount of memory and the processor speed of your computer will determine how fast your projects render. If your computer supports GPU, you can experiment to see which one works best for you. If not, you are limited to CPU rendering.

You can try to update drivers, update your video card, or live with CPU rendering. Render settings for Cycles in the Render settings for Cycles in Properties window.

Nodes can be confusing to work with, but you can set up your basic materials and textures in the Properties window, similar to the way we construct them with the classic renderer to make life easier.

You can then adjust your results by adding and adjusting nodes in the Nodes window. As you work with Cycles, this will become easier.

With a little research on the internet, you will find a lot of tutorials for creating specific effects with nodes. In-Viewport Rendering: A nice feature of Cycles is that you can view your render results in the viewport without the need for pressing F While this feature also works to some degree in the classic rendered, you can control the results better in Cycles.

While the complete explanation is complex, what is essentially happening in Cycles is that the image quality will continue to improve over time with each sample and you can control the number of samples found in the Render Properties menu in the viewport and in the final render F Depending on your computer speed and the complexity of the scene, the higher the better, but you need to find a balance of quality and time.

Professionals may render samples in the thousands. Try a lower sample rate. This is because traditional Blender lamps project from a pin-point location where real lamps project from larger areas, like a light bulb would project more from a spherical object.

Planes work great to light Cycles scenes. Basic Material Settings in Cycles: As mentioned before, Cycles is a node-based render engine, but we can use the Materials properties panel to do some basic setup, similar to the classic render engine.

After switching to the Cycles renderer, adjusting your processor CPU or GPU , and setting the Samples, you are now ready to apply some basic materials. With the object selected, go to the Materials property panel. You will notice settings are presented differently than in the classic renderer. An elaborate term that basically means what happens to the light when it hits an object.

Is it reflected, absorbed, or transmitted through the material for transparency or refraction. Diffuse is used exactly like it is in the classic render engine- the light reflected, with no glossiness. Below the surface setting you will see a color swatch, roughness smooth or rough and default normal mapping.

Clicking on the Diffuse block, more options are displayed. While we we look at more details in the next chapter, we will examine 4 surface options here: Diffuse, Glossy, Emission, and the Mix Shader. In real life, we see the light emitting from our lamps. In the classic render engine type lights, we never see the actual lamp. If you create a sphere or pane to represent your light source, you would place an Emission shader on the object and adjust the strength of the emission.

Diffuse: The cube to the left is using a Diffuse surface material with some roughness applied. The roughness may not be very apparent depending on how many samples you are rending at. Try a higher sample rate for better quality discussed on page Glossy: A sphere has been added to the scene on the right with a Glossy surface material added with a blue color. A glossy surface by itself will be a perfect mirror. This is where it is important to mix your surface shaders.

Mix Shader: A Mix Shader was selected on the left. In this example, Diffuse and Glossy shaders were used on the cube, which gives the cube color and reflction. A Mix Shader could also be added to the 2nd slot to mix even more together.

Here are some of the basic parts of the Node Editor window. More details will be discussed throughout the manual and activities. Tool Shelf- Displays the many nodes available. Display of connected nodes.

These represent the current material. Browse to display different materials Which nodes to display. Currently set to Check to tell Blender Add button- display object nodes.

With experience, many people set all of their material properties in the Node Editor window. We will also examine times in future chapters where you can start in the material properties panel and then add additional features in the node editor window.

Working with nodes can be confusing and knowing how to connect them can be more of a challenge. While we will examine the basics of Cycles in this book, the internet is an excellent resource for additional learning. We already talked about adjusting the sample rates on page , but what else can you do to speed things up? Ken Murphy from Southwest Minnesota State University shared some setting options he uses with his class to speed up the rendering times while giving results similar to the Blender internal render engine.

If you need this, try a low number The default settings are 8 for both minimum and maximum. Bounces: Set the minimum and maximum settings to zero, unless you have transparent objects in your scene.

The default settings are 3 minimum and 12 for maximum. Uncheck Shadows and both Caustic settings. The type of lamps you use will also contribute to your results. While using meshes with an emission shader is ideal in Cycles, a traditional Hemi lamp may provide sharp shadows. Place the camera and lamp in good locations to get a render similar to the one shown below.

Use only one lamp to light your scene. You will be experimenting with color and glossiness in this activity. Adjust the strength for a good output.

Add appropriate material shaders to your other objects in Cycles. Set your render samples as high as your computer will allow for an appropriate render time. Compare your two render results and answer the following questions: 1.

Look at the lighting effects in both images. You used one light in each, but have different results. Which one looks more realistic? In Cycles, graininess is determined by the number of samples.

Why does the image improve with higher samples? Research and explain why. Which render engine do you like the best and why? You have had a comparison of Blender's two render engines in this chapter, but how does Cycles compare to another program's render engine? Conduct an internet research of another render engine that can be used with other commercial animation programs.

Explain your findings. You can add color, make things glow, become transparent like glass or make them look like brick, grass, stone, metal, fabric, wallpaper, etc.

Basic Material Settings You must always add a material before you can add a texture. To add a material, first select the object you want to work with. Then go to the Materials panel in the Properties window. The material block is used to change some of the physical properties of the object in how it looks.

The panels can float around so they may not be in this order, but here is what you see with all panels collapsed: Add a new material or duplicate List of all materials the one currently selected linked to object Browse list of all Change the material name here materials in file How to display the material: Preview Sample Surface- Normal mode Wire- Render as a wireframe Diffuse- The actual color of Volume- useful for smoke the object settings simulations Halo- Gives verticies a glow Shading- Control self emitting light and ambient Different ways to display the lighting effects sample Subsurface Scattering- Specular- controls the objects effects for final rendering glossiness settings Strands- used for hair and Mirror-Transparency- Raytrace grass efects settings will be discussed in a Shadow- setting related to later chapter how the object casts and Options- a few setting related to receives shadows the world and rendering This is just an overview of the basic material panels.

On the next page, we will highlight some of the important panels we will be using at this time. Remember panels can be collapsed and opened as needed to streamline your view. You can also scroll with the mouse wheel! Some of this will be a review from the past chapter: Diffuse: Diffuse is actually the color that is given off by the object.

Shading: If you want something to glow, even in low light, adjust the Emit slider. Ambient light allows the object to also react as if indirect light were hitting it.

There are also a few other shading settings here as well. SubSurface Scattering: Is used to improve rendering for materials where light enters the material and leaves through another point like skin.

Strands: Strands are used to represent hair or grass when used with particle systems discussed in a later chapter. With strand settings, you can control the root and tip width of the strand. Shadow: There are time when you do not want an object to be able to cast a shadow and times when it doesn't receive shadows properly from objects with transparent materials or ray-tracing features.

Those options are controlled in this panel. In the Material panel, turn on Transparency and select Z-Transparency, then slide the Alpha control down. Press the F12 button to render an image. If you need features like distortion refraction , then you will need to use Raytrace Transparent.

Refraction is the effect you get like looking through a magnifying glass or a crystal. Avoid using Ray features at this time. They are discussed in a later chapter. Z-Transparent material Halo Settings By using Halos on objects, you are basically only making the vertices visible when rendered. Halo effects give you a star-like image on every vertex. Sometimes, it adds a nice effect to take a plane and delete all vertices except for one.

Tie it to a particle effect discussed in a later chapter and you can produce some interesting results. Animation basics are discussed in a later chapter. There are also other options with halos not discussed. Halos are also used to control the size Flare adds additional rings and appearance of particles in smoke and fire and effects effects. These will also be discussed in a later chapter. Feel free to experiment! Blender is capable of using almost any image file type whether created in a paint program or is a photographic image.

JPEG images are most common. Blender can even place a movie on an object as a material! This is a good effect if you want to add animation within your animation. Here's what you see in the texture panel: Texture Channels: You can add multiple textures to an object. For example, lets say you want a marble texture on an object, but also want to add a roughness to the surface.

You would add a texture for both effects. Texture Name: Like materials, it's a good idea to name your textures. Texture Type: Choose between built-in texture generators for wood, marble, stucci, etc or select an image or movie. Mapping: Setting that control how the texture is mapped onto the object. Also control the size and offset of the texture on the object. Influence: Settings that control appearance such as brightness, transparency, glossiness and roughness. S are also effected by the Material setting.

Materials and textures work together. Many textures use a secondary color in their generation. That is also controlled in this panel. Material and Texture properties work together!

These can produce some interesting effects with a little practice. When you select one, setting options will open for that effect. After you place the texture, you still need to go back to the Materials Buttons to fine tune the look on your object. The Stucci texture involves a little more work and will be discussed later in this chapter. Many textures have a Noise Basis for different texture effects. We'll start with a basic cube that has a material applied to it.

Since wood is usually various shades of brown, we'll make the Diffuse color brown. We'll also take Specular Intensity down a bit.

We'll now go over to the texture buttons and add a new texture. In the wood texture panel you will see some different ways to represent the wood grain. If you look at your render, you should see your wood grain, but you have a secondary color that needs to be corrected! To fix this, scroll down through your texture panels to find the color swatch to change this to a better color. I will choose a darker brown. Feel free to experiment with the various other settings. The Stucci Texture: The Stucci texture provides interesting effect on the surface of your object.

In the Texture Buttons, select it as you do for any of the other texture generators and adjust the settings. In the Stucci panel, I will adjust the size to 0. Play with the setting to get a bumpy effect. Turning the size setting way down can also give you a grainy effect.

Below are some samples of different Noise Basis patterns. Most of the time you need to place textures like grass, brick, metal, fabrics and such into your model. Most other image type files can be used as well png, targa, TIFF, bmp. If you want to put a picture of your face on an object- you can! Movie files can also be placed on an object as a material.

Important block! Here, you can also adjust the offset and size of an image on your object. Coordinate Mapping: New default settings have this set to UV, which will be discussed in a later chapter. Image Panel: This is actually where you open the image or movie you with to use for your texture. If you don't see thumbnails of your images, you can change the window's viewing type see page for details.

Image Sampling Panel: Make adjustments to your image such as Alpha transparent images. For example, you have a tree image made in a graphics program with a transparent background.

Set alpha here to remove that background. Image Mapping Panel: If you would like to have the texture repeat i. You also have mirror options in case the image you're using doesn't appear seamless. UV Mapping will be discussed in a future chapter. You will notice that, by default, the image is mapped onto the top and stretched down the sides of the object. Textures can be affected by rotation and scaling of objects.

The image I used tiles well, but if it does not you can press the Mirror- X and Y buttons. Remember that the Material and Texture panels work together. The bricks look good, but a bit too glossy and flat. This will simulate depth and add a nice effect to the brick. Movies as Textures: You load a movie just as you would load an image, except that you have a few other options. You can control which frames of the movie to use, when it starts offset and if the movie cycles through your animation.

This can be a great option for animated backgrounds, Mapped Flat and motion on objects. Remember that all movie formats may not be supported. Basically, you can make a cube, sphere, etc. To start, create a cube or sphere. If you start with a cube, go into Edit Mode tab and select all vertices, press the Subdivide button a few times in the Tool Shelf. Next, put a material and a texture on the object. I used the Cloud texture in Blender.

Re-render F Displacement basically works by pushing vertices with the varying colors in the texture. This is also controllable. For our next test, I will create a simple image in a graphics program using only simple gray, white and black shapes.

Gray is considered the base color. Here are the effects of the image on the object mapped with the Cube wrap. Notice that the white shape was pushed out while the black shapes went in. The quality of the cuts and extrudes is determined by the subdivision vertices on the mesh.

To the right, the shape has been subdivided a few more times for a better edge. While Normal gives the illusion of depth, Displacement will actually deform, but it makes the shape more complicated and slower to render. Remember to set you processor and samples as discussed in the previous chapter. Here are some of the other shaders: Ambient Occlusion- can be used to add darker shading to recessed areas and corners.

Anisotropic- can act like the glossy shader, but will distort the reflection in a direction. Diffuse- just like diffuse in the classic render engine, the color for the object with no reflection at all, like flat paint. Emission- used to light your scene.

Can be mixed wit other shaders. Glass- makes an object look like glass. You can control distortion using the IOR index of refraction setting. Glossy- add a chrome or mirror look or mixed with other shaders to control the amount of gloss. Hair- Used with particle strands for hair or a fur look. Holdout- create holes in your render, good for creating overlays. Mix Shader- used to combine shaders for blended effects. Refraction- acts like glass, but distortion only and no reflection.

Subsurface Scattering- scatters light beneath the surface, like in a wax candle. Toon- used to simulate cartoon-type material shading. Translucent- lets light pass trough it, like paper or stained glass. Transparent- completely transparent or tinted or combined. Velvet- great for cloth. Gives a velvet effect. Volume Absorption- affects the volume, not the surface. Gets darker the deeper it goes. Volume Scatter- scatters the light that passes through it. Good for clouds and smoke.

Cycles does not use the textures panel at all. Textures in Cycles are applied to a Diffuse shader node, with other nodes being used for more control.

Like textures in the classic render engine, there are several built-in texture generators in Cycles. When you click the button, you will see a column of texture options, like the image displayed to the left. Like the material shaders, texture shaders can be accessed from the Node Editor window Tool Shelf as well.

Here are the basic texture nodes available: Brick- can be used to simulate a brick texture on an object. Settings for colors, size, motor joints, etc. Checker- creates a checkerboard effect on your object. Environment- used to project background images in the world. Gradient- used to generate a gradient fade across your object. Image- uses an image file to project on your object. Noise- a random TV-like static pattern. Different for every frame. Point Density- Used for particles and volume.

Sky- used in the world setting to generate sky effect. Voronoi- cells, skin, hammered metal look. Wave- takes the place of wood and marble textures. Create a simple scene and experiment with the various texture nodes and settings to get a feel for how they work.

Some of these nodes are designed to work with the world, or background, settings and will be discussed in more detail in the world chapter. So far, we have only been applying materials and textures in the materials property panel, but the strength of Cycles is in the Nodes Editor window.

Understanding how to connect the various nodes and which ones to use can be a difficult learning process that few people have mastered. How realistic do you want your model to look? Many people have gone to great lengths to use material shading nodes to achieve realistic effects. The following examples will help you in the journey into understanding Cycles shading. This scene is using simple Mix, Diffuse, and Glossy nodes on the plane. You will notice that nodes have multiple input left side and output right side connection points.

Nodes can also be collapsed by clicking the small triangle in the top of the block. Nodes are connected and Use Factor to balance disconnected by dragging lines to color and gloss. You will notice some of the same terms used in the materials property panel, like Roughness to control surface smoothness, Factor for the amount and balance of the nodes, and Color to control the color settings. You will also notice that other nodes can be connected to many of these settings to control them.

Basic Image and Gloss with Roughness: While most of these settings can be handles in the materials properties panel, some need to added in the Node Editor.

Notice we have a few more nodes in this sequence. This is used to scale the image we used to make it look like there are more stones. Displacement simulates texture depth. The IOR index of refraction for distortion , Color, and the mix Factor can all be adjusted for the desired look. Texture Displacement and Polished Metal: This example demonstrates two shading examples. The monkey on the left uses a wood image texture, mapped flat using generated texture coordinates on the vector and using displacement.

The monkey on the right uses a simple mix shader. The Glossy node color was set to a light yellow color from white to better complement the Diffuse color. Notice the reflection on the yellow monkey from the floor. What do the different node connection points mean? Even the people most experienced with Cycles on the web seem to ask this question from time-to-time. Nodes are basically a data processing pipeline with inputs and outputs. Experimenting with them is the best way to learn them.

Some of the term you need to know are: Image- The basic connections that pass the image results through the block. Factor- Controls the amount of influence in the node. Mix nodes balance the 2 inputs.

Vector- Basically determine how your texture will be mapped on your object. Simulates texture depth. Here are some basic setup options to get you started: The monkey on the left uses a Noise texture and a Voronoi texture, set to Cells to create a rough, cracked material.

Both are run through Color Ramps found in the Converter nodes menu to control the color effect. It is finally mixed with the Noise texture and connect to the Displacement output. Adjust all values to get the effect your desire. The monkey on the right also uses a Noise texture with a Color Ramp node that is mixed with a Glossy shader. Experiment with the wave settings to get the effect you desire. Simple Brushed Aluminum: The Anisotropic shader can simulate a texture with distortion set to a direction.

We will also introduce you to the ocean simulation modifier to create some realistic looking rough water for our stormy scene.

Start by opening up your Landscape Scene. Add a new material. Create an appropriate name. The name block may be small on your screen. You can select a shade of green 2 ways- by using the RGB sliders at the bottom of the panel or by moving the dot in the wheel, then adjusting the brightness with the white-to-black slider on the side. I would leave the color white here. Looks better than gray, but still needs more work.

We will apply a texture to the mesh soon. Remember that you always need to place a material on an object before you can add a texture. For future reference, if we were planning to apply an image picture as a texture, you would not need to adjust the color. However, you would still need to adjust specular as needed. Lighthouse: Now, open your Lighthouse model so we can work on the materials, textures, and a few other details.

We will come back to the landscape later. Switch to a front view 1 , and enter Edit mode tab. Zoom in on the top portion of your lighthouse. We will separate these vertices from the rest of the mesh, making it easier to apply a different material and texture to that part of the lighthouse.

The top of the lighthouse is now a separate mesh. Exit edit mode tab and zoom out to see the entire lighthouse. The base of the lighthouse should be selected. Go to the Material buttons. Change the Specular Intensity setting down to 0. This will keep the gloss down. Just to check our results so far, Press F12 for a render. If you notice any strange effects when rendering, it is the result of separating the mesh. The may even be the possibility that you have a double mesh. You will need to find a texture to use.

You can search the internet for free stone textures, look through the Blender websites for free textures, or go to www. Once you have some saved images, go to the Texture buttons and select the Image or Movie option. Hit F12 to render an image: Looks a bit distorted.

The texture is being mapped UV and Flat by default which means it is being mapped to the top plane and stretched down the sides. Render another picture and you should see an improvement. The image may also look a bit flat. It would be nice to simulate some depth to that stone texture. Change them from 1 to a higher number. For this example, we used 5 for each, but depending on the texture you used, it may be different. If your image shows a bad line at the seams, try clicking the Mirror buttons by each repeat setting.

This will mirror the image to minimize repeats. This will simulate depth and add a nice effect to the stone.

Some texture will work better with this than others due to color contrast. Render another image to check your results. Continue doing this for all parts of your lighthouse to get the look you wish. You can also use straight materials on some parts.

Our next step is to cut some windows in the top of the lighthouse. Feel free to try some of Blender's built-in texture generators. Here's the final result of my texturing. A second lamp was added for better rendering. We will do this easily by deleting faces in edit mode. First, select the tube mesh and enter edit mode tab.

Change from selecting vertices to faces. You will leave 1 face as the post between the windows , and delete the next 3 faces. Continue all the way around. Since there are 32 divisions, it should work out perfectly all the Delete groups of 3 faces, leave one way around. With the faces deleted, exit Edit mode and render a picture with F Your lighthouse should look something like the picture below.

Hit Ctrl-J and confirm the operation. The lighthouse should once again be a single mesh. You should also have a final rendered view, fully textured! After joining your meshes, you now have one mesh with multiple materials and can see them listed in the material panel.

You may need to go back and adjust them after joining, but should not need much. Since we already have a material from the previous lesson, we can use it. Add a new texture and load an image of your choice. Use the X and Y repeat setting as needed and apply Normal to show depth. You may want to keep this image Mapped Flat. While we can add a simple plane with some textures to simulate water, we want our scene to look like a dark and stormy night, so we will make use of a modifier in Blender that will simulate a turbulent ocean.

Modifiers will be discussed in more detail in a later chapter. Add a Plane to your scene and move it up to a level that will cover the ocean floor, like shown here. Do not worry about scaling it at this time.

The plane will become large at this point. Scale S- key the plane down to the size of the landscape. Move it up or down if necessary to have a correct location for the water, similar as shown: You will see some ocean wave effects, but not quite enough, so we will now make some adjustments to the ocean simulation setting.

Create a material and select an bluish diffuse color. Keep Specular Intensity high since water is glossy. If you render a picture, you will see the original blue and the pink color. Remember that our goal is to have a stormy night so pick colors that would reflect that type of scene. Adjust both colors Material Diffuse color and texture color for the best effect. Adjust the Normal setting to show waves and render an image to check.

In Append, navigate to the folder for your lighthouse file and select the file. You will notice you have a variety of items you can bring over from the file.

By bringing in objects, you will bring in all materials and textures that are associated with that object. You will now see your lighthouse in your landscape scene. It will probably be too large and in the water. Scale and move the lighthouse to an appropriate location on the coast. Remember we left an area flat for this purpose.

Render a final image of your scene and make any other adjustments you wish. In later chapters, we will be creating other visual effects, and animating everything. Remember to save your work! This will require some experimentation! Delete all of the materials from the meshes on this new file this will keep your original file intact. Complete the following steps: 1. Replace the lamp, or lamps, with a plane and set the material node to Emission.

Add shader nodes to represent all materials and textures. Review to for basic Cycles material settings. You will need to adjust and add the nodes for textures again. Experiment with flat, box, and tube mapping for an ideal look on the lighthouse and ground.

Try using a noise texture on the water. Render a picture using F You have just examined a long chapter on how to make your scenes look nice using 2 different render engines. Take some time to reflect on your experiences by answering these questions: 1. Do you need it to look perfect or do you need it today?

The animation industry is always asking this question as they complete projects. You can spend a lot of hours designing and rendering material settings. Imagine working on a weekly TV show with deadlines. Where can you take shortcuts? Imagine you are the animator. Give 2 examples in a movie where you would like fine detail in a scene and where you could get away with less detail. Explain your choices.

Which render engine did you like the best? Explain why you prefer this system over the other. Conduct an internet search on the topic of ray-tracing in the animation industry. What is it exactly and why is it important to correctly map the path of a light ray? Why does this make Cycles more accurate than the classic renderer?

Most newer releases start with a blue or gray background a basic world set-up. Blender gives you some basic options in the World settings. You can control the colors of the top and bottom Zenith and Horizon , fog or mist, clouds and, of course, loading JPEG images. In order to create a new world, select the World button. This will give you a basic world with a horizon and a zenith color.

You have some basic options that you can set in the world buttons.