This article is the second in a series of articles about software used to create 3D computer graphics. Today we are going to focus on Blender.
Blender is a free open source 3D graphics application, released under the GNU General Public License and available for all major OS.
Despite being free Blender comes with a wide array of handy features which make it the choice of many members of the 3D community.
Main Blender features:
Interface - non-overlapping and non-blocking user interface, totally configurable window layout which allows developers to use unlimited screen setups, undo functionality on all levels, anti-aliased fonts, built-in text editor, graphical user interface for Python scripts, customizable appearance through themes, same interface across all platforms, and more.
Modeling - wide variety of 3D objects types which includes vector fonts (TrueType, OpenType, etc), metaballs, bezier and B-spline curves, NURBS surfaces, polygon meshes and more.
Rigging - fast skeleton creation, interactive 3D paint for vertex weighiting, fast envelope based skinning, heat equilibrium based Automatic Skinning, mirror editing, double quaternions, volume deformer, bone layers and colored groups, b-spline interpolated bones, constraint stack, PyConstraints, and more.
Animation - armature (skeleton) deformation with forward/inverse kinematics with pole target support, auto IK, non-linear animation editor, automated walkcycles along paths, animated constraint system, vertex key framing for morphing, character animation pose editor, integration motion curve and key-frame editing, audio playback, mixing and editing support for sound synchronisation, Python scripting, and more.
Rendering - inbuilt raytracer, non-square pixels, fields, post-productions effects, motion blur and oversampling, fully-threaded and tile-based, render layer and passes, object to object baking and render baking to UV maps, render engine integrated with with the node compositor, lens flares, fog and halo effects, vector motion-blur post-process effect, realistic defocus post-process effect, edge rendering, interactive preview rendering panel, ambient occlusion, radiosity solver, export scripts for external renderers (VRay, Indigo, Lux, Virtualight, Povray, Renderman), and more.
UV Unwrapping - conformal and angle based unwrapping methods, interactive transform of UV maps by vertex pinning, proportional falloff editing of UV maps, seam based unwrapping, view, cube cylinder, sphere and view projections, Catmull-Clark subdivision of UVs, multiple UV layers, and more.
Shading - diffuse shaders (Oren-Nayar, Toon, Minnaert, Lambert), specular shaders ( CookTorr, Phong, Blinn, Toon, Wardlso), node editor, PyNodes, material previews, subsurface scattering, blurry reflections and refractions, tangent shading, textures system, reflection maps, normal, displacement and bump maps.
Realtime 3D Game Creation - graphical logic editor, collision detection and dynamics simulation, shape types (convex polyhedron, box, sphere, cone, cylinder, capsule, compound, static triangle mesh), discrete collision detection, in-game activation of dynamic constraints, support for vehicle dynamics (spring reactions, stiffness, damping, tyre friction), Python scripting API, support for OpenGl lighting modes (transparencies, animated and reflection-mapped textures), support for multimaterials, texture blending modes, multitexture, per-pixel lighting, dynamic lighting, mapping models, GLSL vertexPaint texture blending, toon shading, animated materials, normal mapping and parallax mapping, playback of games and interactive 3D content, and more.
Blender also has many remarkable features when it comes to physics and particles, imaging and compositing, and files management.
Blender supports the following operating systems:
Windows 2000, XP, Vista
Mac OS X (PPC and Intel)
Linux (i386)
Linux (PPC)
FreeBSD 5.4 (i386)
SGI Irix 6.5
Sun Solaris 2.8 (sparc)
Well, this is just a quick overview of Blender, for more information please head to their website, download the software and give it a try.
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