for Blender v2.

42a

Software Box
Bas van Dijk

v1.1 – February 2007

Copyright (c) 2007 - Bas van Dijk

You may redistribute and copy this document as long as it keeps unchanged and it is
provided in its original format. No commercial printing of this e-book is allowed.
Preface
BlenderCourse teaches you about 3D modelling and provides you short tutorials about a
specific subject. The main thought is: Just do it! During different courses you learn
various techniques. If necessary there is a small instruction, but in my opinion you learn
best when doing the exercise by yourself.

BlenderCourse is intended for everyone who can use a computer. This means you
understand terms as “double click” and “tab-key”.

You do not need any 3D-modelling knowledge; the terms used will be explained during
the different courses.

If you see an error or something is not clear, I want to ask you to contact me through
feedback@blendercourse.com. More Blender Course material can be found at
http://www.blendercourse.com.

I would like to thank Erik van der Kouwe and Nynke Dokkum for correcting this
document.

Have fun with BlenderCourse!

Bas van Dijk

Wijdewormer, the Netherlands, February 2007

Introduction
During these lessons we are using the 3D modelling tool Blender 3D, but what is this for
kind of tool? With Blender you can create 2D- and 3D-images and it is possible to make
animations/movies.

The “Appendix 4 – Blender gallery” is a small showcase about the possibilities of Blender.

Before you can start with a lesson you first have to read small a piece of text which
describes the techniques of the lesson. At the end of every lesson is an image of “The
challenge”. The idea is that you can reproduce the image by using the techniques learned
during the lesson. The last two chapters do not have a challenge because these are about
animation.

All Blender files are provided with this BlenderCourse. You can find these in the “Course
Material” folder.

This document is using several symbols. Below is the explanation of these symbols:

An arrow () means instruction. This means you have to follow the step after it.

Example:  Click with the right mouse button on the object.

A text between < and > means a key on the keyboard.

Example: Press <Enter> to confirm the operation.

A combination of more than one key will be written with the plus sign (+).

Example: Press <Alt> + <F4> to exit the program.

A button on the screen will be written between [ and ].

Example: Click at [OK] to close the window.

If there is an arrow () between two words, this means a click sequence in a
menu.

Example: Choose File  Save

A new technique or additional information will be written inside a grey box.

Example:
This is how this technique works.
What are we going to do?
This Blender Course teaches you how to create a ‘software box’ as shown below.

The final result after this BlenderCourse

Basic scene

 Start Blender.

 Choose File  New (figure 1).

figure 1

 Select the cube by clicking with the right mousebutton at the cube..

 In the Top View, press <S> for scale and <Y> to lock the Y-axis.

 Type 0.2 and press <Enter>.

 In the Front View, press <S> for scale and <Z> to lock the Z-axis.

 Type 1.4 and press <Enter>.

 In the Front View, press <G> for move and <Z> to lock the Z-axis.

 Type 1.4 en druk vervolgens op <Enter>.

As you can see the box falls out of the Camera View (figure 2).

BlenderCourse – Software Box v1.1

 figure 2

 Select the camera by clicking with the right mouse button.

 In the Side View, press <G> for move and <Z> to lock the Z-axis.

 Type 1.4 and press <Enter>.

As we can see the box fits now inside the Camera View.

 In the Top View press <Spacebar> and choose Add  Mesh  Plane for adding a
plane to our scene (figure 3).

figure 3

 Press <S> for scale, type 30 and press <Enter>.

 Press <F12> to render.

BlenderCourse – Software Box v1.1

If everything goes fine you should see the following render:

 Save your work (<F2>) as bcbox.01.blend

Textures
 Change the Front View into the UV/Image Editor by pressing the button on the
bottom left in the view and select [UV/Image Editor (figure 4).

figure 4

 Select the box by clicking with the right mouse.

 Press <F> to change from Object Mode to UV Face Select mode.

 In Camera View select with the right mouse button the front of the box.

If you did everything correct, you should see everything as shown in figure 5.

BlenderCourse – Software Box v1.1

 figure 5

 Choose in the UV Editor UV’s  Snap to Pixels (figure 6).

figure 6

 Choose in the UV Editor Image  Open.

 Browse to the folder containing the Course files and select box.png.

 Press [Open Image].

The texture is now loaded into our scene (figure 7).

figure 7

BlenderCourse – Software Box v1.1

  In the Camera View press <Alt> + <Z> for Texture Mode and zoom in the UV
Editor till the texture fits in the screen (figure 8).

figure 8

The vertices shown in the UV Editor are the same vertices as the selected vertices on the
front of our box.

 Click in the UV Editor, with the right Mouse button on the top left vertex.

 Select while holding <Shift> the bottom left vertex.

 Press <G> for move and <X> to lock the X-axis.

 Move the boundary between the two texture pieces and press <Enter> (figure 9).

figure 9

There is something weird going on, our texture is upside-down! The next steps will solve
this problem.

 In the Camera View press <R> to rotate the UV co-ordinates.

 Choose [UV Co-ordinates] (figure 10).

BlenderCourse – Software Box v1.1

 figure 10

 Repeat the previous two steps once.

Our texture is now displayed the correct way.

 Select the side of the box.

 Repeat the learned steps to set the texture for this side.

 Save your work (<F2>) as bcbox.02.blend

Finishing touch
 Press <F12> to render.

We will see that none of our textures are displayed.

 Press <Alt> + <Z> to leave the Texture Modus.

 Press <F> to leave the Face Select modus.

 Press <F5> for the Material Panel.

 Press [TexFace] to activate the textures (marked red in figure 11).

figure 11

 Press <F12> to render.

The textures are displayed correctly.

BlenderCourse – Software Box v1.1

  Selecteer the camera and click in the Material Panel on the globe icon (marked red
in figure 12).

figure 12

 Adjust the HoR, HoG en HoB scrollbars to 1.0 so the blue becomes white. This is
the ambient color.

 Click on the tab Amb Occ (Ambient Occlusion) (figure 13).

 Press [Ambient Occlusion]

 Press [Use Distances] and set 3.0 for DistF 3.0.

figure 13

 Press <F11> for render settings.

 Set [OSA] to [16].

 Make sure you have enabled [Ray] (Raytracing).

figure 14

 Press <F12> to render.

BlenderCourse – Software Box v1.1

Your box should look like this:

 Save your work (<F2>) as bcbox.03.blend

BlenderCourse – Software Box v1.1

References
The following references are used for this Blender Course.

Raive Studios, Creating a software box

Visited June 15th 2006 at:
http://www.raivestudios.com/tutorials/blender/softwarebox/

BlenderCourse – Software Box v1.1