diff options
| author | William Reynish <william@reynish.com> | 2009-11-23 17:59:39 +0300 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | William Reynish <william@reynish.com> | 2009-11-23 17:59:39 +0300 |
| commit | 6eaf249bc56ce41ed59e1196e3ba7e08097aa7c9 (patch) | |
| tree | 1033c4477dffa0a77613c45adaeee0d4f4ab43d9 /release/text | |
| parent | cb51710f25fe6736328d6a1b5c1cfccbfd7e567c (diff) | |
Replaced the blender.html file with a new readme.html
The old file was very outdated, messy and included lots of excess information.
The new one is more specific to Blender 2.5 and is more concise, to the point.
Additionally this should mean we can avoid having a release_250.txt file in addition to this, to help clean up the install folder.
Diffstat (limited to 'release/text')
| -rw-r--r-- | release/text/blender.html | 558 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | release/text/readme.html | 73 |
2 files changed, 73 insertions, 558 deletions
diff --git a/release/text/blender.html b/release/text/blender.html deleted file mode 100644 index fa4ddc916f0..00000000000 --- a/release/text/blender.html +++ /dev/null @@ -1,558 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> -<HTML> -<HEAD> - <META HTTP-EQUIV="CONTENT-TYPE" CONTENT="text/html; charset=windows-1252"> - <TITLE>A brief introduction to Blender</TITLE> - <META NAME="GENERATOR" CONTENT="OpenOffice.org 3.1 (Win32)"> - <META NAME="CREATED" CONTENT="0;0"> - <META NAME="CHANGED" CONTENT="20091122;19562400"> -</HEAD> -<BODY LANG="de-DE" DIR="LTR"> -<H1 LANG="en-US" ALIGN=CENTER><A NAME="top"></A>Blender v2.5 alpha 0</H1> -<P><BR><BR> -</P> -<OL> - <LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm"><SPAN LANG="en-US"><A HREF="#intro">About</A> - </SPAN> - </P> - <LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm"><SPAN LANG="en-US"><A HREF="#pack">Package - Contents and Install</A> </SPAN> - </P> - <LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm"><SPAN LANG="en-US"><A HREF="#start">Getting - Started:</A> </SPAN> - </P> - <OL> - <LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm"><SPAN LANG="en-US"><A HREF="#start_run">Running</A> - </SPAN> - </P> - <LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm"><SPAN LANG="en-US"><A HREF="#start_1st">First - steps</A>, <A HREF="#start_3dview">The 3d View</A> </SPAN> - </P> - </OL> - <LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm"><SPAN LANG="en-US"><A HREF="#resources">Resources</A> - </SPAN> - </P> - <LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm"><SPAN LANG="en-US"><A HREF="#trouble">Troubleshooting</A> - </SPAN> - </P> - <LI><P><SPAN LANG="en-US"><A HREF="#faq">(FAQ) A few remarks</A> </SPAN> - </P> -</OL> -<H2 LANG="en-US"><A NAME="intro"></A>1. About</H2> -<P><SPAN LANG="en-US">Welcome to the world of <A HREF="http://www.blender.org/">Blender</A>! -The program you have now in your hands is a free and fully functional -3d modeling, animation, rendering, compositing, video editing and -game creation suite. It is available for Unix-based (Linux, Mac OS X, -etc.) and Windows systems and has a large world-wide community.</SPAN></P> -<P LANG="en-US">Blender is free to be applied for any purpose, -including commercial usage and distribution. It's free and -open-source software, released under the GNU GPL licence. The full -program sources are available on our website.</P> -<P LANG="en-US">For impatient readers, here the two most important -links:</P> -<P><SPAN LANG="en-US"><A HREF="http://www.blender.org/">www.blender.org</A> -the main website<BR><A HREF="http://wiki.blender.org/">wiki.blender.org</A> -the documentation website</SPAN></P> -<P ALIGN=RIGHT><A HREF="#top"><SPAN LANG="en-US">back to top</SPAN></A></P> -<H2 LANG="en-US"><A NAME="pack"></A>2. Package Contents and Install</H2> -<P LANG="en-US">This is what you should get from a downloaded Blender -package:</P> -<UL> - <LI><P LANG="en-US" STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">The Blender program - for some specific platform; - </P> - <LI><P LANG="en-US" STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">This text, with links - and the copyright notice; - </P> - <LI><P LANG="en-US">A basic set of scripts, including importers and - exporters to other 3d formats. - </P> -</UL> -<P LANG="en-US">The latest version for all supported platforms can -always be found at the main Blender site, along with documentation, -sample .blend files, many scripts, plugins and more.</P> -<P><SPAN LANG="en-US">If you are interested in the development of the -program, information for coders and the SVN repository with the -sources can be found at the <A HREF="http://www.blender.org/development/">developer's -section of the site.</A></SPAN></P> -<H3 LANG="en-US"><A NAME="start_install"></A>Installation notes:</H3> -<P LANG="en-US">Installing is mostly a matter of executing a -self-installer package or unpacking it to some folder. Blender has a -minimum of system dependencies (like OpenGL and SDL), and doesn't -install by overwriting libraries in your system. There are also some -extra files needed for a good install, like standard python scripts, -but these are optional. Typically these will go to your -HOME/.blender/ directory. Below you find instructions for it per OS. -</P> -<P LANG="en-US"><B>Windows:</B> The .zip download has a .blender -directory included, which can be manually copied.<BR>Also note that -Blender comes with some dll files, which have to reside next to -blender.exe.</P> -<P LANG="en-US"><B>Linux, FreeBSD, Irix, Solaris:</B> after unpacking -the distribution, you can copy the .blender directory from it to your -home directory. -</P> -<P LANG="en-US"><B>OSX:</B> the .blender directory is in -Blender.app/Contents/Resources/. This is being located by default. If -you like to alter some of the files, copy this directory to your home -dir.</P> -<P LANG="en-US"><B>Other settings:</B><BR>There are many paths you -can set in Blender itself, to tell it where to look for your -collections of texture and sound files, fonts, plugins and additional -scripts, besides where it should save rendered images, temporary -data, etc. If you're only starting, there's no need to worry about -this now. -</P> -<P LANG="en-US"><B>Python:</B><BR>Blender 2.5x use Python 3.1 as -scripting language for im/exporters, UI buttons layout and other -areas like presets. On Windows, Python 3.1 is included in the zip -package from blender.org. -</P> -<P LANG="en-US">On other platforms Python is usually a standard -component nowadays, so unless there's a version mismatch or an -incomplete Python installation, there should be no problems.</P> -<P LANG="en-US">Even if you do have the right version of Python -installed you may need to tell the embedded Python interpreter where -the installation is. To do that it's enough to set a system variable -called PYTHON to the full path to the stand-alone Python executable -(to find out execute "import sys; print (sys.executable)" -inside the stand-alone interpreter, not in Blender). In Blender 2.5 -alpha 0, Python 3.1 is linked to your Blender binary, so you have -to use a Python 3.1.x version. -</P> -<P ALIGN=RIGHT><A HREF="#top"><SPAN LANG="en-US">back to top</SPAN></A></P> -<H2 LANG="en-US"><A NAME="start"></A>3. Getting Started</H2> -<P LANG="en-US">Blender's main strength is at modeling, animating and -rendering 3d scenes, from simple cubes and monkey heads to the -complex environments found in videogames and movies with computer -graphics (CG) art.</P> -<P><STRONG><SPAN LANG="en-US">Rendering</SPAN></STRONG> <SPAN LANG="en-US">is -the process of generating 2d images from 3d data (basically lit 3d -models) as if viewed by a virtual camera. In simple terms, rendering -is like taking a picture of the scene, but with many more ways to -influence the results. Blender comes with a very flexible renderer -and a Povray Render Exporter script. By </SPAN><STRONG><SPAN LANG="en-US">animating</SPAN></STRONG> -<SPAN LANG="en-US">the data and rendering pictures of each successive -frame, movie sequences can be created.</SPAN></P> -<P><SPAN LANG="en-US">In </SPAN><STRONG><SPAN LANG="en-US">compositing</SPAN></STRONG> -<SPAN LANG="en-US">a set of techniques is used to add effects to -rendered images and combine these into a single frame. This is how, -for example, artists add laser beams, glows and dinosaurs to motion -pictures. Blender also has builtin support for video sequence editing -and sound synchronization.</SPAN></P> -<P><SPAN LANG="en-US">The </SPAN><STRONG><SPAN LANG="en-US">game -engine</SPAN></STRONG> <SPAN LANG="en-US">inside Blender lets users -create and play nifty 3d games, complete with 3d graphics, sound, -physics and scripted rules. </SPAN> -</P> -<P><SPAN LANG="en-US">Via </SPAN><STRONG><SPAN LANG="en-US">scripting</SPAN></STRONG> -<SPAN LANG="en-US">the program's functionality can be automated and -extended in real-time with important new capabilities. True -displacement mapping, for example, is now part of the core program, -but before that it was already possible using scripts. Since they are -written in a nice higher-level programming language -- <A HREF="http://www.python.org/">Python</A> -in our case -- development is considerably faster and easier than -normal C/C++ coding. Naturally, they run slower than compiled code, -but still fast enough for </SPAN><EM><SPAN LANG="en-US">many</SPAN></EM> -<SPAN LANG="en-US">purposes or for mixed approaches like some plugins -use.</SPAN></P> -<H3 LANG="en-US"><A NAME="start_run"></A>Running:</H3> -<P LANG="en-US">Depending on your platform, the installation may have -put an icon on your desktop and a menu entry for Blender. If not, -it's not hard to do that yourself for your favorite window manager.</P> -<P LANG="en-US">But for more flexibility, you can execute Blender -from a shell window or command-line prompt. Try "blender -h" -to see all available options.</P> -<P><SPAN LANG="en-US">Blender saves data in its own custom binary -format, using ".blend" as extension. The default start-up -configuration is saved in a file in your home directory called -.B.blend. To save your changes to it, click on </SPAN><STRONG><SPAN LANG="en-US">File->User -Preferences->Save as Default</SPAN></STRONG> <SPAN LANG="en-US">or -use the Control+U shortcut directly.</SPAN></P> -<H3 LANG="en-US"><A NAME="start_1st"></A>First steps:</H3> -<P><SPAN LANG="en-US">This is the point where we stop and warn -newcomers that 3d Computer Graphics is a vast field and Blender has a -lot of packed functionality. If you already tried to run it and fell -victim to the "too many buttons!" syndrome, just relax and -<A HREF="#faq_2">read this part</A> of the F.A.Q. </SPAN> -</P> -<P><SPAN LANG="en-US">Hoping the explanations helped, let's start -Blender and take a look at it. At the top header you can see the main -menu. Under "File" you'll find entries to save, load and -quit. If </SPAN><EM><SPAN LANG="en-US">someone</SPAN></EM> <SPAN LANG="en-US">ever -messes with your workspace and you can't find your way around: use -the menu </SPAN><STRONG><SPAN LANG="en-US">File->New</SPAN></STRONG><SPAN LANG="en-US">.</SPAN></P> -<P LANG="en-US">Blender's screen is divided in "areas". -Each of them has a top or bottom header and can show any of the -available built in applications (called "spaces", like the -3d View, the Text Editor, etc). If you started with a default -configuration, there should now be five areas: -</P> -<UL> - <LI><P LANG="en-US" STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">A thin strip at the - top where you can see the main menus and some important basic - functions like search and the new Engine drop down menu; - </P> - <LI><P LANG="en-US" STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">On the left:</P> - <UL> - <LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm"><SPAN LANG="en-US">A big one, the - </SPAN><STRONG><SPAN LANG="en-US">3d View</SPAN></STRONG><SPAN LANG="en-US">, - where you model and preview your scenes and the new toolbar on the - left; </SPAN> - </P> - <LI><P><SPAN LANG="en-US">A smaller one at the bottom, the - </SPAN><STRONG><SPAN LANG="en-US">Timeline</SPAN></STRONG><SPAN LANG="en-US">, - where you can playback your animations and change basic animation - settings.</SPAN></P> - </UL> - <LI><P LANG="en-US" STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">On the right:</P> - <UL> - <LI><P LANG="en-US" STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">A small one on top, - the O<B>utliner</B>, which gives you access over your objects and - it's underlying data.</P> - <LI><P LANG="en-US" STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">Beneath that, the - <B>Properties Window</B>, which contains most buttons and settings. - </P> - </UL> -</UL> -<P LANG="en-US">These are the five most important spaces, at least -when you are starting. At the left corner of each header you can find -the "Window Types" button, which is like the "Start" -buttom of many desktop environments. Clicking on it lets you change -what is shown in that area.</P> -<P><STRONG><SPAN LANG="en-US">Highly configurable workspace</SPAN></STRONG></P> -<P LANG="en-US">Blender's interface has been considerably improved -for the 2.5x series. Besides the goals of exposing functionality via -menus and adding tooltips for all buttons, there are even more ways -now to change your workspace.</P> -<P LANG="en-US">Editor areas can be split and joined with the new -window split action zone. Dragging the zone inside the editor area -with LMB interactively splits a new window in between, dragging the -zone into another editor area joins it. Alt-LMB dragging the zone -swaps the area with another. -</P> -<P LANG="en-US">There should be a button with "Default" in -the top header. It has some preset workspaces that can be tried now -for a tour of the possibilities. When you change your current setup -to something worth keeping, that same button has the option to save -the new screen.</P> -<P LANG="en-US">The User Preferences space has many options there -that you may want to tweak, like turning button tooltips on/off, -setting paths, etc. Just remember to save your configuration if you -want to keep it for the next session). Since these preferences are -not saved in regular .blend files, the presets will retain working -even when loading files from others. Note however, that the -arrangement of the UI itself - its screens and windows - are always -saved in each file. -</P> -<H3 LANG="en-US"><A NAME="start_3dview"></A>The 3d View:</H3> -<P><STRONG><SPAN LANG="en-US">Mouse buttons and the toolbox</SPAN></STRONG></P> -<P LANG="en-US">Pressing Shift+A while the mouse pointer is inside a -3d View space will open up the Add menu, where you can add new -objects to your scene.</P> -<P LANG="en-US">This is how the mouse buttons work in this space: -</P> -<UL> - <LI><P LANG="en-US" STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">Left button: anchor - the 3d cursor in a new location -- it defines where your next added - object will appear, among other things. - </P> - <LI><P LANG="en-US" STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">Right button: - selection. If you hold it and move, you can move the selected item - around. - </P> - <LI><P LANG="en-US">Middle button: 3d space rotation or translation - -- choose which one in one of the User Preferences tabs. - </P> -</UL> -<P LANG="en-US">Combinations of mouse buttons and Shift or Control -will give you additional options like zooming, panning and restricted -movement. 3d scenes can be seen from any position and orientation, -but there are some default ones you can reach with Numpad buttons or -the "View" menu in the 3d View's header.</P> -<P><STRONG><SPAN LANG="en-US">Edit Mode</SPAN></STRONG></P> -<P LANG="en-US">When you want to edit the vertices of a mesh, for -example, it's necessary to select the object and enter "Edit -Mode", either using the 3d View header "Mode" button -or by pressing TAB on your keyboard (press it again to return to -object mode).</P> -<P><STRONG><SPAN LANG="en-US">And this was only the beginning ...</SPAN></STRONG></P> -<P LANG="en-US">The above guidelines should have given new users -enough to start playing with the interface. The next section lists -online references that can actually teach about 3d and this program, -but it's a good idea to spend some time just playing with Blender, -looking at menus and finding what mouse actions do in each space.</P> -<P ALIGN=RIGHT><A HREF="#top"><SPAN LANG="en-US">back to top</SPAN></A></P> -<H2 LANG="en-US"><A NAME="resources"></A>4. Resources</H2> -<UL> - <LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm"><SPAN LANG="en-US"><A HREF="http://www.blender.org/">www.blender.org</A> - - the general site, with documentation and downloads </SPAN> - </P> - <LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm"><SPAN LANG="en-US"><A HREF="http://www.blenderartists.org/">www.blenderartists.org</A> - - the main user community web site </SPAN> - </P> - <LI><P><SPAN LANG="en-US"><A HREF="http://projects.blender.org/">projects.blender.org</A> - - the project's site </SPAN> - </P> -</UL> -<P><SPAN LANG="en-US">This short presentation is meant to guide -newcomers to Blender through their </SPAN><EM><SPAN LANG="en-US">very -first</SPAN></EM> <SPAN LANG="en-US">steps, giving directions to -where you can find the resources you will need. We can't teach you 3d -in these few lines of text, that would take a lengthy book.</SPAN></P> -<P LANG="en-US">IRC users are invited to try #blenderchat or #blender -on irc.freenode.net .</P> -<P LANG="en-US">There are also local Blender community sites in some -countries, that should be listed at the Community section of the main -site.</P> -<P><SPAN LANG="en-US">If you are a coder wanting to get in touch with -Blender development, a good read is the "Get Involved" page -at <A HREF="http://www.blender.org/community/get-involved/">www.blender.org</A>. -A good way to start is to follow the mailing lists for a while and -check bug reports, to see if you can fix one. On irc.freenode.net: -#blendercoders you'll find many active developers, here also the -weekly meetings take place.</SPAN></P> -<H3 LANG="en-US"><A NAME="resources_xtra"></A>Other useful links</H3> -<P LANG="en-US">In the realm of open-source cg programs, it's a -pleasure to mention other great projects that can help you achieve -your visions. Note that these programs are completely independent -from Blender and have their own sites, documentation and support -channels. Note also that this list is not complete and should be -updated on future versions of this text.</P> -<DL> - <DT><SPAN LANG="en-US"><A HREF="http://www.gimp.org/">The Gimp</A> </SPAN> - </DT><DD LANG="en-US" STYLE="margin-bottom: 0.5cm"> - The mighty GNU Image Manipulation Program. In 3d work it is a - valuable resource to create, convert and, of course, manipulate - texture images. It is also useful for work with rendered pictures, - for example to add 2d text, logos or to touch-up, apply factory or - hand-made effects and compose with other images. - </DD></DL> -<H4 LANG="en-US"> -Renderers:</H4> -<DL> - <DT><SPAN LANG="en-US"><A HREF="http://www.povray.org/">Povray</A> </SPAN> - </DT><DD LANG="en-US"> - One of the best and most popular renderers in the world. There is a - script to export Blender scenes to be rendered with it, delivered - with 2.5. - </DD><DT> - <SPAN LANG="en-US"><A HREF="https://renderman.pixar.com/">Renderman-compliant:</A> - open-source: <A HREF="http://www.aqsis.org/">Aqsis</A>, <A HREF="http://pixie.sf.net/">Pixie</A>. - Closed-source: <A HREF="http://www.3delight.com/">3delight</A>. </SPAN> - </DT><DD STYLE="margin-bottom: 0.5cm"> - <SPAN LANG="en-US">The Renderman spec was created by Pixar years ago - to define both a standard and powerful representation of 3d data for - renderers and the expected quality of the renderization itself. - Think about 3d art from some movie -- it was much probably created - by Pixar's own Photorealistic Renderman (PRMan) renderer. This is a - good site to learn more: <A HREF="http://www.rendermanacademy.com/">The - Renderman Academy</A>. Neither Pixar nor its products are affiliated - with Blender. </SPAN> - </DD></DL> -<P ALIGN=RIGHT> -<A HREF="#top"><SPAN LANG="en-US">back to top</SPAN></A></P> -<H2 LANG="en-US"><A NAME="trouble"></A>5. Troubleshooting</H2> -<P LANG="en-US">If something isn't working, please read this entire -section before looking for help.</P> -<UL> - <LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm"><SPAN LANG="en-US"><A HREF="#trouble_gen">General - start-up and usage problems</A> </SPAN> - </P> - <LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm"><SPAN LANG="en-US"><A HREF="#trouble_vdo">Video - card blues</A> </SPAN> - </P> - <LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm"><SPAN LANG="en-US"><A HREF="#trouble_py">Scripts</A> - </SPAN> - </P> - <LI><P><SPAN LANG="en-US"><A HREF="#trouble_bugt">The Bug Tracker</A> - </SPAN> - </P> -</UL> -<H3 LANG="en-US"><A NAME="trouble_gen"></A>General start-up and usage -problems</H3> -<P><SPAN LANG="en-US">If the program crashes or something isn't -working properly, try running Blender in </SPAN><STRONG><SPAN LANG="en-US">debug -mode:</SPAN></STRONG> <SPAN LANG="en-US">execute it as "blender --d" from a command prompt. This might give some info about what -is wrong. There are also other options that might be useful, "blender --h" lists all of them.<BR>Most likely an immediate crash is due -to Blender's need for a compliant and stable working OpenGL.</SPAN></P> -<H3 LANG="en-US"><A NAME="trouble_vdo"></A>Video card blues</H3> -<P LANG="en-US">Although OpenGL is cherished as an excellent cross -platform library, the enormous growth of different 3d cards have made -this a complicated affair for Blender. Unlike other programs - or 3d -games - Blender utilizes OpenGL for its entire GUI, including buttons -and pulldown menus. That means also the 2D options for OpenGL should -work good, something easily ignored or badly tested by 3d card -manufacturers, who target more at the latest SFX features for new 3d -games.<BR>In general Blender performs very well on 3d cards from -renowned brands, such as NVIDIA, ATI or 3dLabs.</P> -<H3 LANG="en-US"><A NAME="trouble_py"></A>Scripts</H3> -<P><SPAN LANG="en-US">To be sure that some functionality is scripted: -all scripts in Blender can be accessed from the "Scripts" -menu in the Scripts Window's header, even if the same functionality -is also in another menu somewhere. If you see an entry in one of the -submenus there, it refers to a script. Please don't report problems -with scripts to the bug tracker or other normal Blender channels. You -should find the author's site or contact email in the script's text -itself, but usually the Python & Plugins forum at -<A HREF="http://www.blenderartists.org/">Blenderartists.org</A> is -used for posting announcements, questions, suggestions and bug -reports related to scripts. It's the recommended place to look first, -specially if no site was specified at the script's window or source -file(s).</SPAN></P> -<P><SPAN LANG="en-US">If some or all scripts that should appear in -menus are not there, running Blender in <A HREF="#trouble_gen">debug -mode </A>can possibly inform what is wrong. Make sure the reported -dir(s) really exist.</SPAN></P> -<H3 LANG="en-US"><A NAME="trouble_bugt"></A>The Bug Tracker</H3> -<P><SPAN LANG="en-US">If you really think you found a new bug in -Blender, check the Bug Tracker entries at <A HREF="https://projects.blender.org/tracker/?atid=498&group_id=9&func=browse">the -projects site</A> and if it was not reported yet, please log in (or -register) and fill in detailed information about the error. A small -.blend file or script (if it is a problem with the Blender Python -API) showcasing the bug can help a lot.</SPAN></P> -<P ALIGN=RIGHT><A HREF="#top"><SPAN LANG="en-US">back to top</SPAN></A></P> -<H2 LANG="en-US"><A NAME="faq"></A>6. (FAQ) A few remarks</H2> -<OL> - <LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm"><SPAN LANG="en-US"><A HREF="#faq_1">Quick - tips.</A> </SPAN> - </P> - <LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm"><SPAN LANG="en-US"><A HREF="#faq_2">What's - up with the interface?</A> </SPAN> - </P> - <LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm"><SPAN LANG="en-US"><A HREF="#faq_3">How - good is Blender? How does it compare to other 3d programs?</A> </SPAN> - </P> - <LI><P><SPAN LANG="en-US"><A HREF="#faq_4">Something doesn't work, - what do I do?</A> </SPAN> - </P> -</OL> -<H3 LANG="en-US"><A NAME="faq_1"></A>Quick tips:</H3> -<P><STRONG><SPAN LANG="en-US">Rendering</SPAN></STRONG><SPAN LANG="en-US">: -to see something when you render (F12) an image, make sure the scene -has a camera pointing at your models (camera view is NumPad 0) and at -least one light properly placed. Otherwise you'll only get a black -rectangle.</SPAN></P> -<P LANG="en-US">Setting texture map input to "uv" in the -Material Buttons window is not enough to assign a texture image and -uv data to a mesh. It's necessary to select the mesh, enter edit -mode, indicate face selection mode (modes can be accessed in the 3d -view's header), load an image in the UV/Image Editor window and then -define a mapping (or unwrapping). Only then the mesh will have uv -data available for exporting.</P> -<P><SPAN LANG="en-US">If you want the fastest possible access to -Blender's functionality, remember what a </SPAN><CITE><SPAN LANG="en-US">wise -power user</SPAN></CITE> <SPAN LANG="en-US">wrote: "keep one -hand on the keyboard and the other on the mouse". Learn and use -the shortcuts, configure your workspace to your needs.</SPAN></P> -<H3 LANG="en-US"><A NAME="faq_2"></A>What's up with the interface?</H3> -<P LANG="en-US">Blender uses a couple of innovative paradigms in the -UI, not following more common, somewhat standard rules for user -interfaces. In the past years several of our interface concepts have -been adopted in more programs though, especially using a configurable -non-overlapping subdivision layout and the paradigm to never block -the UI from working by offering all editors and options in parallel. -<BR>Typically free programs offer easy-to-use interfaces for large -audiences. Blender however is, like other high-end 3d tools, meant to -be a powerful production tool for professionals and 3d enthusiasts, -for people who are dedicated to become 3d artists with enough time -and motivation to master the software. <BR>This also has its origins -in the 90ies, when Blender was born as an in-house studio tool, -optimized to speed up daily heavy work, and not to please everyone. -But it's true that you can consider Blender's interface to be not -very newbie-friendly. Luckily you only have to learn it once, and -once you get the basics it'll feel like 2nd nature!</P> -<P LANG="en-US">Blender also has been considerably improved since the -2.3x series, exposing most functionality via menus, adding panels, -color "themability", tooltips for all buttons and -internationalization support. This is an ongoing effort or, better, a -goal to keep the best ideas in Blender's design while expanding and -making it more user-friendly.</P> -<P LANG="en-US"><B>Too many buttons!</B></P> -<P><SPAN LANG="en-US">Again, 3d Computer Graphics is a vast and fun -field. If you're only starting, Blender can seem daunting, specially -because of all its packed functionality. Don't let that upset you, -there is no need to care about </SPAN><EM><SPAN LANG="en-US">all</SPAN></EM> -<SPAN LANG="en-US">those buttons right now -- or ever.</SPAN></P> -<P LANG="en-US">There are basic things all users should learn early -up:</P> -<UL> - <LI><P LANG="en-US" STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">Start the program and - access the main menus; - </P> - <LI><P LANG="en-US" STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">Find and configure - user preferences; - </P> - <LI><P LANG="en-US" STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">Basic scene set-up: - how to add and transform (move, scale, rotate) lights, cameras and - objects; - </P> - <LI><P LANG="en-US" STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">Create and link - materials to objects, at least to color them; - </P> - <LI><P LANG="en-US">Render your scenes. - </P> -</UL> -<P LANG="en-US">One hour is enough time to assimilate and practice -that before going on with basic mesh editing and texturing, for -example. There are many different areas to learn about. Taste, -interaction with other users and your main interests (game art, -rendered stills, movies) will guide you and define the skills you'll -want to master. Then it goes like a spiral: practice something for a -while, study and find about new tricks or whole new areas, practice a -little more and so on. Soon you'll become pleased to have all those -buttons to play with. A few more months and you'll probably be back -asking for more ... -</P> -<H3 LANG="en-US"><A NAME="faq_3"></A>How good is Blender?</H3> -<P LANG="en-US">If you ever get the impression that it's not possible -to create great looking or complex works with Blender, rejoice -- you -are just plainly uninformed, as browsing blender.org galleries and -community forums can easily confirm.</P> -<H3 LANG="en-US">How does it compare to other 3d programs?</H3> -<P LANG="en-US">In short: it takes considerable dedication to become -good, no matter which program you work with, as long as it is good -enough not to get in your way. Blender has, like the others, its -strong and weak points.</P> -<P LANG="en-US">Compared to commercial alternatives, Blender misses -some features and isn't as "newbie-friendly". It doesn't -come packed with "one-click" or "wizard" -functionality, where you get much faster results in detriment of -flexibility and value. It also isn't bundled with tens of megabytes -of sample models, texture images, tutorials, etc. (which only partly -explains how Blender can fit in such a small download).</P> -<P><SPAN LANG="en-US">Thankfully, these are relatively minor -shortcomings. Many of Blender's modeling, animation and -rendering/compositing features are up-to-par with the industry -standards. The pace at which features are being added or polished in -Blender is impressive, now that it's a well stablished open source -project. We get daily feedback from professionals and studios using -Blender, and results from the Blender Foundation's Open Movie/Game -projects such as <A HREF="http://www.bigbuckbunny.org/">Big Buck -Bunny</A> and <A HREF="http://www.yofrankie.org/">Yo Frankie!</A> -have set a reference standard for what a program like Blender can -achieve. More: through plugins and scripting, many repetitive or -otherwise cumbersome tasks can be made trivial. But plugin and script -authors go further, teaching Blender new tricks, from importers and -exporters to more advanced "applications".</SPAN></P> -<P><SPAN LANG="en-US">About goodies, there are many places where you -can get them (check <A HREF="#resources">resources</A>). Besides the -many available Blender books, the main site and blenderartists.org -are the best ones to start. For free texture images, a simple search -for "free textures" should bring many results, just pay -attention to their licenses if you plan to release your work later.</SPAN></P> -<P LANG="en-US">Commercial packages might make it easier for newbies -to produce nice looking material, but only another newbie would -praise the results. There's a huge difference between what a skilled -artist and someone poking at buttons and using presets can -accomplish.</P> -<P LANG="en-US">Last but best of all: Blender is open-source, free -for all to use, study and improve.</P> -<HR> -<P LANG="en-US">Thanks for reading, we hope you enjoy Blender!</P> -<P LANG="en-US"><FONT SIZE=2>Document version 1.2, November 2009</FONT></P> -<P ALIGN=RIGHT><A HREF="#top"><SPAN LANG="en-US">back to top</SPAN></A></P> -</BODY> -</HTML>
\ No newline at end of file diff --git a/release/text/readme.html b/release/text/readme.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000000..175e8763ef1 --- /dev/null +++ b/release/text/readme.html @@ -0,0 +1,73 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd"> +<html> +<head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css"> + <title></title> + <style type="text/css"> + p.title {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; text-align: center; font: 22.0px Helvetica} + p.footer {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; text-align: center; font: 13.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px} + p.header {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font: 16.0px Helvetica} + p.body {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font: 13.0px Helvetica} + </style> +</head> +<body> +<p class="title"><b>Blender 2.5 Alpha 0</b></p> +<p><br></p> +<p class="header"><b>About</b></p> +<p class="body">Welcome to Blender, the free, open source 3D application for modeling, animation, rendering, compositing, video editing and game creation. Blender is available for Linux, Mac OS X, Windows, Solaris and Irix and has a large world-wide community.</p> +<p class="body">Blender can be used freely for any purpose, including commercial use and distribution. It's free and open-source software, released under the GNU GPL licence. The entire source code is available on our website.</p> +<p class="body">For more information, visit <a href="http://www.blender.org">blender.org</a>.</p> +<p><br></p> +<p class="header"><b>2.5 BETA0</b></p> +<p class="body">The Blender Foundation and online developer community is proud to present Blender 2.5 Beta 0. This release is the first official testing release of the Blender 2.5 series, and represents the culmination of many years of redesign and development work. More information about this release is available <a href="http://www.blender.org/development/release-logs/blender-250/">here</a>.</p> +<p class="body">What to Expect:</p> +<p class="body"> • Big improvements - This is our most exciting version to date, already a significant improvement in many ways over 2.49</p> +<p class="body"> • Missing/Incomplete Features - Although most of it is there, not all functionality from pre-2.5 versions has been restored yet. Some functionality may be re-implemented a different way.</p> +<p class="body"> • Bugs - We've fixed a lot lately, but there are still quite a few bugs. This is beta software, we're still working on it!</p> +<p class="body"> • Changes - If you're used to the old Blenders, Blender 2.5 may seem quite different at first, but it won't be long before it grows on you even more than before.</p> +<p><br></p> +<p class="header"><b>Bugs</b></p> +<p class="body">Blender 2.5 Alpha0 is unfinished software. If you encounter a bug, please help us by posting it in the bug tracker or using Help → Report a Bug from inside Blender 2.5. If it wasn’t reported yet, please log in (or register) and fill in detailed information about the error. Please post detailed instructions on how to reproduce it or post a .blend file showcasing the bug.</p> +<p><br></p> +<p class="header"><b>Package Contents</b></p> +<p class="body">The downloaded Blender package includes:</p> +<p class="body"> • The Blender application for the chosen operating system.</p> +<p class="body"> • Scripts for importing and exporters to other 3d formats.</p> +<p class="body"> • Readme and copyright files.</p> +<p><br></p> +<p class="header"><b>Installation</b></p> +<p class="body"><b>Windows: </b>The download .zip contains a Blender folder. You may put this anywhere on your hard drive. To launch Blender, double-click on Blender.exe.<br> +Install scripts by putting them in the .blender/scripts folder next to the executable.</p> +<p class="body"><b>Linux, FreeBSD, Irix, Solaris: </b>Unpack the distribution, copy the .blender directory from it to your home directory. Then run the Blender executable.<br> +Install scripts by putting them in the .blender/scripts inside your home folder.</p> +<p class="body"><b>Mac OS X: </b>The downloaded package includes blender.app. Optionally copy this to your Applications folder, and add it to the dock by dragging it from there to the dock.<br> +Install scripts by putting them in the .blender/scripts inside your home folder. If the folder does not exist, you can create it manually.</p> +<p><br></p> +<p class="header"><b>Getting Started</b></p> +<p class="body">When opening Blender, you’ll see large 3D view in the center, a Toolbar on the left, a Properties area on the right and a Timeline at the bottom.</p> +<p class="body">Orbit around in the 3D view by holding the middle mouse button and dragging. Alternatively, hold the alt key and drag the left mouse button. Additionally, hold Shift to pan the view and Ctrl to zoom.</p> +<p class="body">Select objects using the right mouse button. With the object selected, perform actions by clicking any of the tool buttons on the left, or make changes to its properties by altering any of the setting on the right.</p> +<p class="body">For more information on how to use Blender, watch tutorials <a href="http://www.blender.org/education-help/">here</a> or read the manual <a href="wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:Manual">here</a>.</p> +<p><br></p> +<p class="header"><b>Links</b></p> +<p class="body">Users:</p> +<p class="body"> General information <a href="http://www.blender.org">www.blender.org</a> <br> + Full release log <a href="http://www.blender.org/development/release-logs/blender-250/">www.blender.org/development/release-logs/blender-250/</a><br> + Tutorials <a href="http://www.blender.org/education-help/">www.blender.org/education-help/</a> <br> + Manual <a href="wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:Manual">wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:Manual</a><br> + User Forum <a href="http://www.blenderartists.org">www.blenderartists.org</a><br> + IRC #blender<br> +</p> +<p class="body">Developers:</p> +<p class="body"> Development <a href="http://www.blender.org/development/">www.blender.org/development/</a><br> + SVN and Bug Tracker <a href="http://projects.blender.org">projects.blender.org</a><br> + Get Involved <a href="http://www.blender.org/community/get-involved/">www.blender.org/community/get-involved/</a><br> + IRC #blendercoders</p> +<p><br></p> +<p><br></p><p class="footer">Blender is open-source and free for all to use.</p> +<p><br></p> +<p class="footer">Enjoy.</p> +<p><br></p> +</body> +</html> |