Product Description
Blender is the first and only fully-integrated 3D graphics creation suite allowing modeling, animation, rendering, post-production, and realtime interactive 3D with cross-platform compatibility--all for free. Originally developed by Not a Number (NaN) as a commercial product, Blender has since been released as free software, with the sources available under GNU GPL. The Official Blender 2.3 Guide is an introduction to the sometimes complicated Blender interface and a complete guide to everything that Blender can do. Written by the designers who created and currently maintain Blender, the book covers methods of designing models, materials, and light; rendering 3D scenes; creating 3D animations; as well as advanced topics such as using Blender as a video editor. Includes a 4-color insert and a CD-ROM containing Blender for all platforms.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.0 based on 13 reviews)

A needle in a haystack...

I liked Cartsen Wartmann's book better than this one. This book has everything, and it is free online, but there is so much in it, it is a bit overwhelming for the newbie who just wants to learn the basis one step at a time. I ended up selling my copy of this book and buying the Blender Book by Carsten and I am happier with the older book.
October 06, 2006

Review of "The official Blender 2.3 Guide"

It's nice having a comprehensive source for Blender and I do find the information useful.

My main criticism is on the screen captures. They are all set in grey scale on a dark grey background making distinguishing different elements difficult. Most troubling, especially for a 40-something like myself, are the tiny screen captures of the palettes. It is almost impossible to make out any detail in these images without the use of a magnifying lens.

I think this issue is a publication one. The publishers probably pushed for these tiny images because larger ones would have made the 768 page book a much bigger one with a larger cost; probably a major concern for them.

I've found the online image of the book much more legible but also much less convenient.

So we have a convenient resource (the book) that is hard to use because of legibility issues in the images and an inconvenient resource (the online image) that is much easier to read. Sadly, not the best of both worlds.
September 04, 2006

I still bought it.

Yes, it has grammar issues. But if you can understand the intent, then you can learn & get your work done.

Yes, its available in electronic format. But Blender loves to run full screen & I hated toggling between it other on-line tutorials.

Bottom-line, I still bought the book and am not dissappointed in the investment.
June 13, 2006

Excellent resource, but would have benefited by better editing

The information contained in the book is extremely useful for a Blender novice. It's laid out in a logical fashion, the text is supported by helpful examples, and unlike many online resources, all of the screenshots and examples pertain to one single version of Blender (with the exception of the final chapter, which details enhancements made to the application after the main text of the book had been written).

My only complaint about the book is that it is occasionally difficult to read; some sections were written by authors for whom English was not a primary language, and syntax idiomatic of other languages sometimes obscured the intent of certain passages. The book would have benefited greatly by the employment of a human proofreader, as well as an editor willing to revise the occasionally unprofessional or unclear language.
May 29, 2006

It's better online, and it's free!

Being a freely available program under the GNU GPL license, I believe in supporting this magnificent program by purchasing the guides - however...
When working from the book, there have been numerous menu changes between the version the book is written for (2.3) and the current version. This leaves you searching around for stuff and wasting a lot of time. I also ran into a problem with being unable to select a group of points as described in the book. I joined a blender forum, posted my question, and had an answer within 10 minutes. Make use of forums - their response time is like calling 911! When I decided to see what the version of the same tutorial that I had difficulty with was like in the online version, wouldn't you know, it gave a complete warning, with illustrations, about the problem I had encountered and how to deal with it! It also reflected the procedural steps for the latest version (menu item location changes, etc.).
If you are thinking that you will get a little something extra by buying the book, DON'T. The entire contents of the book are available online at blender.org, and are updated continuously. If you do buy this book to help support the cause, do as another reader suggested and install the older version of the program from the CD accompanying the book.
I would recommend finding other ways to financially support the Blender organization and skip purchasing the book. The reason I rate it 3 stars is because it was a sincere, effective effort for the version accompanying the book. I understand that the author's primary language is not english, and he did a much better job than I would do trying to write a book in italian. However, it seems that nobody in the publishing process with an average American or British grasp of the language bothered to edit the book before print. How can an organization go to the trouble of printing a book that is very well laid out and attractive and not actually edit the text to remove the awkward phrasing of a foreign author?
Bottom line: Support the cause, skip the book. It's better online.
May 25, 2006

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