The book is available just about anywhere you can purchase books, including Amazon and the Blender e-shop. Wiley Publishing has also provided a PDF file with the full table of contents as well as a sample chapter of the book. Use the following link to download the Blender For Dummies Sample Chapter.

A website has also been created to support the book at www.blenderbasics.com. The site currently has all of the project files included on the Blender For Dummies CD and will also be the home of a number of video tutorials to assist with the concepts covered in the book.

Stay tuned to this site for more Blender-training news from Hand Turkey Studios in the near future.

In a partnership with CG Channel and cmiVFX, a second episode of free online tutorials was launched. This time around it’s a tutorial by Hand Turkey Studios’ Jason van Gumster covering composting techniques with render passes in Blender.

Registration is free, sign up today to get your free tutorial.

Update: We’ve decided to release the .blend file for this tutorial. You can find out more about this on sheep-dot.


http://www.cgchannel.com/
http://cgchannel.com/news/viewfeature.jsp?newsid=6763

We’re quite pleased with their assessment and even happier to announce that we’re working with CmiVFX on the second advanced training DVD for Blender in that series. Look for an official announcement of the DVD to come in the near future!

The Digital Animation track at Red Hat High was the most popular track with students in 2006 and had the largest class size this year with 15 students attending. Other tracks at the camp included Audio, Illustration, Digital Darkroom, and Programming featuring other open source tools such as Hydrogen, Audacity, Inkscape, and The GIMP.

Red Hat intends to expand the Red Hat High program to other locations throughout the world and is in the process of developing materials to aid teachers in developing curricula that suit their needs. The team of Blender instructors is actively involved in this process. As part of this, Jason will be giving a QuickTake presentation about Red Hat High at this year’s SIGGRAPH conference in San Diego.

More Information

• Video of student work on Sheep-dot
• Article on Blender Nation
• Red Hat Magazine Articles
  • Red Hat High 2007: Getting Started
  • Red Hat High 2007: Update
• Red Hat High flickr stream

Blender Basics
Date: Saturday, 9 June 2007
Time: 2:00 PM – 6:00 PM
Location: Apex Digital (900 West Broad St., Richmond, VA 23221 – map)
Cost: $50, payable via Cash, Check or Credit Card via Paypal

Basics II: Organic Modeling & Materials
Date: Saturday, 16 June 2007
Time: 2:00 PM – 6:00 PM
Location: Apex Digital (900 West Broad St., Richmond, VA 23221 – map)
Cost: $50, payable via Cash, Check or Credit Card via Paypal

Also, we are offering a $10 discount if you attend both workshops!

If you’re interested in attending, please send an email to info@handturkeystudios.com.

Descriptions of each of these workshops can be found on the Workshops page of this site. Copies of Blender for all modern computing platforms and all files used in the workshop will be made available on DVD for course participants.

There is limited space available, so please confirm your attendance early.

You may notice that we’re holding our workshop at a new location. This location has computers on-site, so bringing your own computer or laptop is not necessary. However, you are more than welcome to bring your own machine if you’d like. If you have any questions please do not hesitate in contacting us.

Date: Friday, 23 February 2007
Time: 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM
Location: The Work Factory (1113 West Main St., Richmond, VA 23220 – map)
Cost: $45, payable via Cash, Check or Credit Card via Paypal

If you’re interested in attending, please send an email to info@handturkeystudios.com.

We will cover the basics of using Blender; becoming familiar with its interface and creating a 3D model and a small animation. Copies of Blender for all modern computing platforms and all files used in the workshop will be made available on DVD for course participants.

There is limited space available, so please confirm your attendance early.

We will have a very limited number of computers on hand, so if you have laptop, it is highly recommended that you bring it with you. If you have any questions please do not hesitate in contacting us.

Hand Turkey Studios has teamed up with the visual effects training professionals at cmiVFX to announce professional grade training for the Blender community and visual effects artists at large.

Blender is the most reknowned open source 3D modeling and animation suite; a freely available tool capable of producing stunning still images and animations. This is the first release in a series of DVD’s that will become a definitive resource in professional Blender training. And we are starting with one of the most compelling and in-demand features: integrated fluid simulation.

Hand Turkey’s Jason van Gumster, an avid Blender user and active member of the community, walks you through the intricacies and idiosyncrasies of this very powerful tool; destroying cities, turning on faucets, and melting characters along the way. Blender’s fluid simulation uses the Lattice-Boltzmann Method, which is attractive due to its simplicity, flexibility, and efficiency. It can, however, be computationally and memory intensive, so we provide tips and tricks along the way to help your simulations bake faster.

About Blender
Blender is an Open Source 3D modeling and animation suite that was initially developed by Ton Roosendaal as an in-house tool for the Dutch animation company he co-founded, NeoGeo. A new company, Not a Number, was spun off to develop Blender as commercial software. Three years later, Not a Number was forced closed its doors. However, by that point, Blender had a huge, enthusiastic, and loyal user base. Ton formed the Blender Foundation in 2002 and struck a deal with investors of Not a Number: If the community could raise 100,000 Euro in 6 months, the Foundation could buy the rights to the Blender source and ultimately open source it. That money was raised in 7 weeks. Since then, Blender has been in the hands of the community and has grown in functionality and usability by leaps and bounds. And the story continues… Download blender for free.

For more information about cmiVFX and the best High-End, High-Def training, please visit their website at http://www.cmivfx.com.

Date: Friday, 12 January 2007
Time: 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM
Location: The Work Factory (1113 West Main St., Richmond, VA 23220 – map)
Cost: $45, payable via Cash, Check or Credit Card via Paypal

If you’re interested in attending, please send an email to info@handturkeystudios.com.

We will cover the basics of using Blender; becoming familiar with its interface and creating a 3D model and a small animation. Copies of Blender for all modern computing platforms and all files used in the workshop will be made available on CD for course participants.

There is limited space available, so please confirm your attendance early.

We will have a very limited number of computers on hand, so if you have laptop, it is highly recommended that you bring it with you. If you have any questions please do not hesitate in contacting us.

Among the companies that worked with Red Hat to bring this camp to life is Hand Turkey Studios, a Richmond-based animation and print design company. Co-owner and Lead Animator, Jason van Gumster (nicknamed ‘Groo’), taught the students in the 3D modeling & animation track.

“It’s really quite excellent,” said van Gumster. “Not only are the students able to create something really cool this week, but because they’re doing it with free software, they can work even more with their newly found tools and skills after the camp is over.”

Unfortunately, many groups are underrepresented in the technology fields today. Red Hat High was created by Red Hat to bring together 50 students for one week to experience the power of technology and creativity through collaboration. Technology innovation depends on joining people of diverse backgrounds with broad and valuable perspectives within a safe, creative environment. Eighth and ninth graders from a range of backgrounds were nominated by their educators and/or other adult mentors who believe they have a promising interest in technology for Red Hat High. To learn more, please visit: http://www.redhathigh.org.