Bounce, Tumble, and Splash!: Simulating the Physical World with Blender 3D

403 Pages·2008·32.8 MB·English

by  Tony Mullen

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Bounce
Tumble,
and Splash!
Simulating the Physical
World with Blender 3D
Tony Mullen
WILEY PUBLISHING, INC.
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Bounce,
Tumble,
and Splash!
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Bounce
Tumble,
and Splash!
Simulating the Physical
World with Blender 3D
Tony Mullen
WILEY PUBLISHING, INC.
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Acquisitions Editor: Mariann Barsolo
Development Editor: Kathryn Duggan
Technical Editor: Roland Hess
Production Editor: Elizabeth Ginns Britten
Copy Editor: Sharon Wilkey
Production Manager: Tim Tate
Vice President and Executive Group Publisher: Richard Swadley
Vice President and Executive Publisher: Joseph B. Wikert
Vice President and Publisher: Neil Edde
Project Manager, I: Laura Moss-Hollister
Media Associate Producer: Kit Malone
Media Quality Assurance: Josh Frank
Compositor and Book Designer: Kate Kaminski, Happenstance Type-O-Rama
Proofreader: C.M. Jones
Indexer: Ted Laux
Cover Designer: Ryan Sneed
Cover Images: Milos Zajíc (school corridor)
Mike Pan (strawberries and milk)
Luma Studios (ClubSilo racing game)
Tony Mullen (pop bottle and boxes tumbling)
© Blender Foundation | peach.blender.org (cartoon animals)
Copyright © 2008 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published simultaneously in Canada
ISBN: 978-0-470-19280-1
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Mullen, Tony, 1971-
Bounce, tumble, and splash! : simulating the physical world with Blender 3D / Tony Mullen. -- 1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-0-470-19280-1 (paper/cd-rom)
1. Computer graphics. 2. Computer simulation. 3. Blender (Computer file) 4. Computer animation. 5. Three-dimensional display systems. I. Title.
T385.M8425 2008
006.6'96--dc22
2008014650
TRADEMARKS: Wiley, the Wiley logo, and the Sybex logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates, in the United
States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing,
Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.
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Dear Reader,
Thank you for choosing Bounce, Tumble, and Splash! Simulating the Physical World
with Blender 3D. This book is part of a family of premium-quality Sybex books, all of
which are written by outstanding authors who combine practical experience with a gift
for teaching.
Sybex was founded in 1976. More than thirty years later, we’re still committed
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To Yuka
Acknowledgments
One of the most frequent things I hear from people seeing Blender for the first time is,
“Wow, and this is free?” Of course, in the sense of freeas in free software, it most cer-
tainly is. It is free for users to copy and distribute, and it is free to be developed and
modified by anybody who wants to do so. But the truth is that nothing as good as
Blender comes without a cost. The cost of Blender is paid in the form of countless hours
donated by the dedicated and highly skilled team of volunteer developers who make
Blender what it is. For this reason, I would first and foremost like to thank them, the
Blender developers, and Ton Roosendaal, Blender’s own “benevolent dictator for life,”
for all their hard work and dedication. Without them, there would be no Blender. Please
visit http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/List_of_Contributorsfor a complete list of the cur-
rent developers and the specific work they have done.
I would especially like to thank some of the developers who have been particu-
larly helpful to me in my work on this book: Martin Poirier (theeth), Janne Karhu
(jahka), Daniel Genrich (Genscher), Jens Ole Wund (bjornmose), Dolf Veenlivet
(macouno), Joe Eagar (joeedh), Ramon Carlos Ruiz (RCruiz), Erwin Coumans, and Nils
Theurey for their patience and responsiveness to my various questions and pestering. I’d
like to give a special thank you to Tom Musgrove (LetterRip) and all those who worked
to prepare the 2.46 release for placing such a high priority on maintaining a release
schedule that facilitates the creation of good documentation, and also to Roland Hess
for his work as technical editor of this book.
Thanks also to the Peach team of developers and artists: Campbell Barton, Sacha
Goedegebure, Andy Goralczyk, William Reynish, Enrico Valenza, Brecht van Lommel,
and Nathan Vegdahl, for raising the bar yet again for Blender features and artwork, and
for putting up with me hanging around, drinking their espresso, and peeking over their
shoulders for a week. Many other developers and users have also helped me in various
ways, and I’m very grateful for all the support I’ve received from the Blender commu-
nity. I can’t begin to list all of the individuals at BlenderArtists.org whose artwork, com-
ments, and tutorials have helped me to learn what I know about Blender, but if you
spend a little time reading the forums, you will know who many of them are soon
enough. Thanks also to Bart Veldhuizen and all the contributors to BlenderNation.com
for their support and for the great service they provide the Blender community.