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Blender Tutorial - Need for One? Would volunteer writing ;-)

Posted: Fri Apr 12, 2013 3:38 am
by thednx
Hi Guys,

I would like to write a tutorial for Indigo in connection with Blender.
I've written a technical book before, so I have an idea of what I am getting into ;-)

I would not title myself as a Indigo or even Blender professional, I am constantly learning more and fine-tuning.
A little bit more than the basics are there ;-)

Anyhoo, I learn a lot by setting up my own challenges, and I think writing a tutorial would be a great challenge for myself and a benefit for someone who knows even less.

My suggestion: I would be willing to start a tutorial on using Indigo and Blender: not a copy and paste of what already exists but from what I have learned to be a bit lacking in existing documentation (not meant in a bad way).
That means materials, environment settings, tips and tricks. With tons of screenshots.

There are some things that beginners don't "get" as I haven't in the past: and this would be my contribution to the community of Indigo.

-If- someone wants to help in direct writing, great! Otherwise, maybe a little help here or there would be great.
As I speak English and German fluently, the tut could be written in both languages.

Waddya think? (You can contact me at dennis(dot)waldon(att)gmail(dot)com.

Dennis

Re: Blender Tutorial - Need for One? Would volunteer writing

Posted: Fri Apr 12, 2013 4:39 am
by OnoSendai
Hi Dennis,
A tutorial would be fantastic. If you write it we would be very happy to link to it from the tutorials page (http://www.indigorenderer.com/tutorials)

Re: Blender Tutorial - Need for One? Would volunteer writing

Posted: Fri Apr 12, 2013 5:04 am
by StompinTom
thednx wrote:Hi Guys,

I would like to write a tutorial for Indigo in connection with Blender.
I've written a technical book before, so I have an idea of what I am getting into ;-)

I would not title myself as a Indigo or even Blender professional, I am constantly learning more and fine-tuning.
A little bit more than the basics are there ;-)

Anyhoo, I learn a lot by setting up my own challenges, and I think writing a tutorial would be a great challenge for myself and a benefit for someone who knows even less.

My suggestion: I would be willing to start a tutorial on using Indigo and Blender: not a copy and paste of what already exists but from what I have learned to be a bit lacking in existing documentation (not meant in a bad way).
That means materials, environment settings, tips and tricks. With tons of screenshots.

There are some things that beginners don't "get" as I haven't in the past: and this would be my contribution to the community of Indigo.

-If- someone wants to help in direct writing, great! Otherwise, maybe a little help here or there would be great.
As I speak English and German fluently, the tut could be written in both languages.

Waddya think? (You can contact me at dennis(dot)waldon(att)gmail(dot)com.

Dennis
As I mentioned to you before, I would love to help out and provide writing and tips, but I have a serious time shortage until late June.

Good luck!

Re: Blender Tutorial - Need for One? Would volunteer writing

Posted: Fri Apr 12, 2013 6:34 am
by thednx
Kewl. Ok, I'll keep You guys posted. I need a few days to get started...

Re: Blender Tutorial - Need for One? Would volunteer writing

Posted: Fri Apr 12, 2013 10:37 am
by Zom-B
Can't help since I'm not a Blender Guy, but I like the spirit around here a lot!!
But Indigo related questions can be answered by me too, so keep em coming if there are some!

Blender Tutorial - Need for One? Would volunteer writing ;-)

Posted: Fri Apr 12, 2013 1:46 pm
by Headroom
That would be great and I'd love to help. German is my mother tongue and I have lived in the US since 1996.
I've been wanting to do this myself as often the same topics come up over and over again, however, I have to admit that I've lacked a little motivation. It would be much better if we could do this as a team.

Re: Blender Tutorial - Need for One? Would volunteer writing

Posted: Fri Apr 12, 2013 8:15 pm
by SaphireS
Headroom wrote: I've been wanting to do this myself as often the same topics come up over and over again, however, I have to admit that I've lacked a little motivation.
Haha same here! I'm also willing to help.

Re: Blender Tutorial - Need for One? Would volunteer writing

Posted: Wed Apr 17, 2013 9:37 pm
by thednx
Hi,

Just wanted to let you know, still at work on the tutorial ;-)

Am working on uv unwrapping / texturing / normal / displacement mapping at the moment.
Have roughly set up some chapters and the first draft, and for those interested, can be reviewed shortly.

Re: Blender Tutorial - Need for One? Would volunteer writing

Posted: Mon Apr 29, 2013 7:57 pm
by thednx
Hey Everybody,

i have done some writing the last few days, please have a look see. Before you do, please keep this in mind:

- this is a draft, there is still some work to do, so it is -not finished-.
- i have done research / come up with ideas and examples to the best of my ability. Some quotes / links are still missing.
- writing a tutorial for both packages at once with a broad audience in mind is a challenge i try to meet: it is not a pure Blender tutorial and not a pure Indigo tutorial: i am trying to get the right mix for beginners and for those ready to go and just needing to get the gritty details.

please dont rip it completely apart ;-) constructive criticism is appreciated.
I wrote this on my own time, based on my own experience and the intention is to help those where i was (and maybe still am :lol:) lost.

enjoy. (if you notice a chapter or header with no following text: it means that it hasnt been written yet ;-)

Re: Blender Tutorial - Need for One? Would volunteer writing

Posted: Mon Apr 29, 2013 8:19 pm
by Zom-B
That looks really nice dnx,

I just have some stuff to add:

in your example you use a cube as a emitter...
At the point you use IES for lightning each triangle of your emitter mesh starts to emit such an IES light!
For IES use only single triangle polygon :)

Re: Blender Tutorial - Need for One? Would volunteer writing

Posted: Mon Apr 29, 2013 8:36 pm
by thednx
hi,

by the way: pls send requests / corrections and the like to my mail: dennis-dot-waldon-at-gmail-dot-com.
I write a lot on the go, and it lets me group the points together without having to be online all the time ;-)

Re: Blender Tutorial - Need for One? Would volunteer writing

Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2013 11:08 pm
by thednx
[quote="Zom-B"]That looks really nice dnx,

Thx Zom-B...

I just have the feeling that it is not that good somehow? Haven't gotten any feedback besides yours...
Maybe.it needs prettier renders? ;-)

*crickets chirping*

Re: Blender Tutorial - Need for One? Would volunteer writing

Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2013 11:31 pm
by OnoSendai
Will have a look now :)

Re: Blender Tutorial - Need for One? Would volunteer writing

Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2013 11:38 pm
by OnoSendai
Looks great so far. Thanks for working on this!
The part on UV mapping and texturing looks especially useful, I don't know how to do that currently :)

One small correction:

"Albedo is a basic "color" material" (page 5)

Albedo is a attribute/property of a material, not a material type.

Cheers!

Re: Blender Tutorial - Need for One? Would volunteer writing

Posted: Wed May 01, 2013 12:37 am
by thednx
Maybe we can work on a license discount once it is finished ;-) :D 8) :lol: