---

I wanted to write a bit about a free open source program called “Blender”. It’s been said from time to time that free open source software can’t be counted on to be very good. Basically the notion is, “it’s free, and the source code is available to use for any purpose including commercial use. It’s written by a bunch of volunteer programmers scattered all over the world. Don’t expect too much. Be realistic.”

Blender turns these ideas on their side. Blender is a commercial grade three dimensional modeling application that is used to create any kind of three dimensional computer generated image you can imagine. Among the many features Blender has, is the ability to link images into video frames to create movies. It has game creation tools to develop full video game visuals, both real time and cut scenes. It has python scripting integration. Texture creation and mapping. Lighting effects. Camera angles. And so very much more. So much in fact, that I can’t begin to do it justice.

Blender is incredibly easy, or incredibly complex, depending on your level of expertise, and what you’re trying to accomplish. The potential complexity is due to the powerful combination of flexibility and capabilities that this amazing package provides. In spite of this, the new user will find the learning curve less painful than might be expected due to a plethora of community support, forums, documentation, and even video tutorials. The user interface has been developed into a good balance of power, functionality, and ease of use. Having said that, it can be daunting the first time you see it. Blender is a type of software called a “rendering engine”. A graphics rendering engine takes visual input from the user interface and creates it into a series of  mathematical representations. The final step in the process is the actual rendering of the image. In this step, all of the mathematical instructions associated with the image creation process such as wire framing, texture mapping, layering and so on, are processed by the computer into the final image. This is how many of the special effects for The Lord of the rings trilogy were made, and it’s how Pixar does their magic. You can do the same thing with just as powerful a suite of tools for zero bucks. Rendering is what separates the best of the two dimensional, from the three dimensional scene. Texture mapping allows the scene to be rendered photo realistically if the artist desires it. In this case, you literally can’t tell the difference from the real thing once the rendering process has completed. In the egg scene, if you didn’t see the fried egg inside the broken egg shell you probably wouldn’t realize the scene is completely artificial. The unreal can be created to look real, and the real can be created to look other worldly. A creative mix of the photo realistic and the imagined is an art form all its own. Visually, anything is possible.  This is the true magic of Blender. It’s a powerful tool that allows for endless creation, and it’s free. Once you’ve used Blender, I think you will understand why I keep restating  the word free. This is an uber-powerful package, comparable to commercial applications costing thousands of dollars.

Image rendering is a really interesting process. You will initially create simple shapes from the shape modeler. This tool allows you to pick a shape, for instance a rectangle, and attach connection points that act like puppet strings. With these ’strings’ you can change the angles of the shape, modify it to show new connection points, even add other shapes to it . I had some creative fun with this, in the beginning. I would take a circle, create connection points, and pull spikes out of the virtual fabric of the shape. I then used the render command to create it into an interesting three dimensional object that was sort of mindless modern art. There are a lot of easy to do things for beginners that you can experiment with to get some fun results.

The process for a more mature scene is a bit more complex and can include camera angles, lighting effects, layering, wire framing, texture mapping and more. When the render is started, you can be looking at a long process. Depending on the complexity of the scene(s) and the speed of your computer, it’s not unusual for this process to take hours or even days.  It’s for this reason that in major movies containing a lot of rendering,  just to crunch the rendering numbers, powerful computers are often linked together into a dedicated network  called a “server farm”.

Blender is open source software. This means that, within the terms of the GNU General Public License, the end user, that would be you, is allowed to make as many copies of it as they want, distribute the copies for free, even modify the source code (which is available free) to meet your own needs. Blender has a GPL FAQ page that makes understanding the licensing simpler.

Blender is a amazing application that the amateur and serious artist will love. Heck, it’s just plain fun, no matter what your experience level. Get it at: http://www.blender.org/

---