The following is my review of this Blender 3D related book.

Firstly, I will like to state that, with the exception of having created 3D contents (modellings/texture creation) for realtime-based engines for several clients, I have no prior background in actual game creation whatever. As such, my review will be purely from the perspective of a newbie in this area.

Generally, the book is fairly easy to follow. By the end of the first chapter, one should have acquired a fair understanding of how interactivity can be injected into a 3D environment. In this chapter, the Logic editor, which controls game interactivity, is introduced with a short exercise.

At times, the written instructions given in the book is not entirely clear. However, the condition is not insurmountable. This is mainly due to the fact that much of the steps are accompanied by screenshots, making it possible to follow the process in spite of occasional non-clarity in written instruction.

Not much is talked about with regards to 3D content creation for game. This book covers the actual game creation itself with emphasis on injecting interactivity, animating the game characters and game logics. If you are seeking information on 3D modelling/texturing for game creation, you will perhaps have to rely on a different resource. On a positive note, by excluding 3D content creation which is a fairly different area of game creation, the delivery of the teaching content in this book is actually pretty straightforward.

From the standpoint of a beginner, the book covers pretty much what is required to make a very basic game. In this book, you will learn things like:

1. how to create a basic ’start the game’ interface

2. how to make objects interact as if they are physical obstacles.

3. how to create a basic game with different levels of gameplay.

On another positive note, there are also significant information about how the completed game can be published and distributed. The book shows you how you can distribute your game as a standalone distributable. Additionally it also show you how the game can be displayed and play via the internet.

My personal opinion is that a Game Engine (such as Blender’s) need not be just for game creation only. It has the potential for creating other applications as well. For example, it can be used as an interactive instructional platform for explaining and teaching purposes. As such, I view books such as Blender Game Engine – Beginner’s Guide as not just for people who want to create games. Potentially, persons seeking to inject interactivity in various types of application involving 3D environments may find such a book of use.

As of this writing, teaching materials pertaining to the Game Engine for Blender 2.5/2.6 series are scarce. Blender Game Engine – Beginner’s Guide is perhaps one of your best bet for learning this aspect of Blender, the powerful opensource 3D content creation software.

Blender Game Engine – Beginner’s Guide can be purchased from http://www.packtpub.com/blender-game-engine-beginners-guide/book

Blender 3D Basics is a 400 plus page book from Packt. It is written by Gordon C Fisher.

The following is my review of this book.

Essentially,  this book uses Blender 3D as a platform to teach 3D fundamentals and workflow. The earlier portion of the book gave an overview with regards to the history of animation. It also made suggestion about potential applications and benefits of using Blender.

The Book covers essential Blender knowledge via projects and exercises. Each section of the project is broken down as manageable and digestible pieces of exercises.

All fundamentals of 3D are clearly covered including subjects such as:

• Interface usage and customisation
• Modelling
• Lighting
• Rendering
• Basic Animation
• Post effect compositing

Compared to many other Books on the topic, Blender 3D Basics is relatively easy to understand. The author is thorough in the introduction of working principles and explains stuffs well. The style of writing do not take for granted that Readers already knew certain knowledge. With many software-related books, authors tend to skip through steps assuming that readers already knew how to do certain things, which at times can lead to Readers feeling frustrated. But Blender 3D Basics clearly do not make such assumptions and mistakes.

Many of the exercises are accompanied by supporting files that can be downloaded from the designated website. The book also introduces the usage of some add-ons (plugins) to get certain things done.

This book is not a reference guide and will not cover everything about Blender (is it even possible?).

If you already know Blender, this book may not be as useful, although one may discover a new trick or two. However for someone who is new to Blender and 3D in general, this book is an ideal starting platform. With Blender being a software with a potentially high learning curve, Blender 3D Basics does a remarkable job of making the learning as easy as possible. Therefore, this book may prove to be a time-saver for some Readers.

Due to the easy-to-understand style of writing, this book may proved beneficial towards a Newbies’ success in learning  Blender as well as 3D in general.

Blender 3D Basics can be purchased from http://www.packtpub.com/blender-3D-basics-complete-novices-guide/book

Blender 2.5 Hotshot is written in a practical hands-on manner. The tools and functions of  Blender 3D are introduced through actual creation of the various projects that are included in the book. The projects do not demand a high level of artistic attribute from the Reader. However, the reading can still be quite intensive at times.

Through these projects, the Reader gets to learn a comprehensive set of tools and techniques found within Blender 3D. The kind of stuffs that one will learn along the way include:

• 3D Modelling
• Node compositing
• Rigging
• Animation
• Video editing and compositing
• Game engine function and interactivity.

Of course, there are lots of other techniques being presented as well. For instance, the book also cover the usage of certain interesting scripts and add-ons that will help in accelerating certain tasks.

The advantage of such a tutorial-based delivery is that the Reader gets to appreciate and understand how certain things can be achieved instead of merely knowing how the tools work. For instance, instead of merely explaining what subsurface scattering is, the book’s presentation allows the Reader to understand this parameter through the application of material for certain 3D objects.

An interesting and nice aspect of the book is that the numerical settings for various tool options and parameters are systemically defined and laid out. This mode of presentation provides the Reader with insights into what are good value ranges to use for certain tool options in order to achieve intended results. In my opinion, this area is underestimated in many books but nevertheless have tangible benefits to a learner. The author puts nice attention into explaining sub options and parameters of tools.

Who will benefit from the Book? In my opinion, this book is for persons who will like to put the tool available in Blender into practice. Through the tutorials in the book, one will better appreciate how the various tools come together for the creation of certain results.

Although Blender is a professional-level 3D tool, it is also open sourced and thus free. What this implies is that anyone can download and use it freely either for fun or for commercial purposes. Personally, I think this book  will appeal more to persons who will like to learn Blender and 3D for fun and as a hobby.

Blender 2.5 Hot Shot provides a general all-round understanding of how 3D tasks and projects can be executed using Blender. It is not specializing in any particular area of 3D, but provides good practical tutorials on fundamental principles pertaining to 3D creation.

Click the link below to find out more about it.

http://www.packtpub.com/blender-2-5-project-development-hotshot/book

Now, it should be noted that although I use Blender quite a bit, the work we do here in Studiorola are mainly in the areas of 3D modelling, rendering and visualisation. If a project involves animation, our nature of work will be mainly in the area of product or mechanical based  animation. As such, character animation was never my specialty. So the review will be based on and filtered through my own understanding (or lack) of the subject matter.

This book offers close explorations with regards to the practical application and methods for Character Animation. At times, it covers the finer details of how certain more unusual movement can be done. For example, how does one rig an object that can curl (such as a tail)? Since, there are entire books dedicated to character animation using Blender, how does this one fit into the big picture? Most  (if not all) of the other ones out there covers a broad range of principles leading up to the final output of an animated movie. For this book, the approach is different. This one breaks down different techniques (related to character animation) into smaller ‘bite size’ sections. In all 50 pieces of ‘recipes’ are included in the book.

The information in the cook book are presented in ‘digestible’ portions. There are very few lengthy passages…rarely will the Reader see an entire page fully filled with words. This is a good thing. The information are always presented in a concise yet clear manner. This greatly reduces the ‘heaviness’ found in some other related books.  The result of such a style of delivery is increased ease in understanding the subjects at hand. Additionally, the tutorials/recipes are accompanied by supporting Blend files.

Character Animation is a tough subject to cover and getting good results can be tricky. The author really explains things very well. For many instances, he will explain why certain things should not be done in a particular way although that particular way may seems more logical. The ‘why’s are supported by ‘how’ certain things should be done instead. That way, potential pitfalls and their corresponding solutions are explained.

Based on my somewhat  limited knowledge of character animation, the book is very up-to-date. For instance, topics on ‘Rigify’ which is a very recent ‘add on’ development for Blender (that will promise to make life easier for rigger) are included in this book.

Blender 2.5 Character Animation Cook Book contains many valuable tips and techniques. To have the book with you is like having an experienced animator sitting beside you pointing out the finer points pertaining to ways of achieving certain results and effects.

The book is very systemically structured. The topics and purpose of each section are clearly defined. This clarity in the presentation makes it easy for the reader to find information fast. As such it will serve as an excellent reference book.  In all there are 10 chapters, each one covering a specific area pertaining to Character Animation.

Who will find this book useful? To be able to benefit well from the book, the Reader should have a basic working knowledge of Blender. Blender 2.5 Character Animation Cook Book is not meant for beginners to 3D or Blender in general. This book is for someone who want to learn the finer points of  character animation. Since this book is written for Blender 2.5, I will expect this book to remain very relevant for a long time.

To find out more about Blender 2.5 Character Animation Cook Book, click the link below:

http://www.packtpub.com/blender-2-5-character-animation-cookbook/book

The thing I like about buying books in China is that the books there are very affordable. Often they will only cost a fraction of what you get for a similar book in English. And just in case, you think that the content are second-rated, you will be sorely surprised. Some of the best 3D related books that I have bought are in Chinese, from China.

Now, not too far from the hotel that I was staying, there was a bookstore. I was pleasantly surprised that they carry a lot of 3D and Design related books. Of the 3D computer books, most of which are related to 3DS MAX (as expected). There are also a significant number of books related to Vray. Of course, all the books are in Chinese. Below is a photo of the bookshop 新华书店.

Now, my primary reason for being in a bookshop is to look for Blender3D related book. I was not disappointed. I was happy to find the Blender 权威指南 the Definitive Guide there.  This is a book by Ethan Luo who is an expert Blender user who did the award winning ‘Floating’ which won the Blender World Cup 2009. The book costs 89 RMB, which is approximately 14 USD. For a book of this caliber, it is a real bargain.

This book is written in simplified Chinese and it may seems awkward that this review of it is in English. Unfortunately, English (to me) is an easier-to-type language than Chinese.

Here is my take on this book:

This is a 600+ page book.

The first portion contains interviews and descriptions of notable personalities in the Blender community. It also contain interesting peeps into what certain established Mainland Chinese Blender users think about the software.

The Guide Book covers most of the features and tools of Blender 2.5 series and more. All tools are described in clarity and there are ample examples to illustrate the effects of some of them. When you read the book, you can feel that the author is doing his utmost to point out subtleties among the various options of the tools. At times, it feels like one is given free lessons on what goes on behind the inner workings of the options. Additionally, you will also be amazed at how much the author knows about Blender.

The book really is in several distinct parts. The front portion of the book is mainly is about how to operate Blender and its myriad  features and tools. The second part is tutorial-styled that shows how Blender can be used to create high quality work. I thought the selection of a hard-edge machine modeling and a organic-style human modelling shows a very wide and thus suitable scope of instruction that demonstrated not only Blender’s depth, but also the author’s mastery of the software and 3D-related techniques as well. I certainly learnt some cool stuffs from the materials in this book.

This book also covers the other  software programs that support Blender, notably the external renderers such as Yafaray and Luxrender. There is a tutorial-styled chapter that is devoted to the usage of Yafaray. In this case, it involves an interior design-styled modelling and rendering exercise.

Books about Blender written in the Chinese language are sparse. Luckily, there is a very good one to fill in the missing gap. This book is written by a great Blender user who have great mastery in terms of artistic expression as well as technical-know how of 3D.

For one who can read Chinese and is into Blender or 3D in general, I highly recommend this book.