Posted a Day Ahead and Texture Baking

Thought I should give everyone a heads up for Blender User Group tomorrow.  We will be going over texture baking in the Blender internal render engine.

(There are zero lights in this render).

This is a awesome tool that can be used to improve render times, and create great textures for video games, among other things.  Here is a link to the wiki  http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:2.6/Manual/Render/Bake   We encourage you to review some of the terms so not everything is unfamiliar to you.

We will be meeting at the same place and time.  Check the meeting schedule page if you don't know when or where.

See you all there!

Time for some Cycles Fun

Good morning everyone.  Hope to see you all at Blender User Group this evening.  Same place and same time.

And a small note on what we will be cover this evening, for instruction.  We will be doing a small introduction to the Blender Cycles render engine.  This engine provides a way to achieve highly realistic lighting effects, in a relatively short period of time.

If you wish to dig into it before user group this evening here are a few links to some great resources

Cycles wiki page
Blender Cookie - Intro Tutorial
Blender Guru - Introduction to Cycles

See you all there!

Gettin Together

User group this evening!  Same place same time.  See you all there!

Modeling!

Just a reminder about our meeting this evening.  We will be going over some modeling tricks that were introduced with Bmesh in the latest version of Blender.

Also, we will be going over the pros and cons of Ngon modeling.  And show some examples of when and where to use them.

Here is a post that briefly goes over some of the new modeling features.

http://gamefromscratch.com/post/2012/04/20/Blender-BMesh-in-action%E2%80%A6-what%E2%80%99s-so-special-about-ngons-anyways.aspx

See you all there.

The Group is Meeting again

Quick reminder to everyone for this evening. We have Blender User Group at the Salt Lake Public Library, in conference room 3, at 7:00PM. Sorry for the late reminder, again. But, a little on what we have planned for this evening. Will Thorup is going to follow up, for just a moment, on UV unwrapping, to see if anyone still has some unanswered question. Then we will spend the rest of the time on modeling. We are going to teach how to setup reference images, and begin modeling from those reference images. Hope to see you all there!

Our Next Meet-Up

I just wanted to remind everyone of our next meetup this coming week on Tuesday.  It is on the 3rd floor in Conference Room 3.  We hope to see you all there.

Also, if you haven't been keeping an eye on Blender.org they just posted about there new way of tracking all the different Blender groups around the world.  Click here to see that post.

I have already started the meetup for Salt Lake City users, here.  And I think it would be awesome if we all could RSVP and show the rest of the world our strong little group we have started in Utah.

There is one downside to the process though.  You need a facebook account, or sign-up for a meetup.com account.  But if that isn't an issue for you, I hope you can find the time to head on over and RSVP.

Thank you!

Request for Content

Hello everyone!

We have a user group coming up this Tuesday.  And we wanted to make a call out to anyone one who would want to show and/or explain some work they are doing in blender.  Something that will fit in 15 to 30 minutes will be good enough.  Go ahead and reply to this post/email, if you are interested, and we will get back to you about it.  And if you can't share this week, there is always plenty of time in the future.  No pressure, but we want to make sure that everyone who attends has the chance to support the group, and advance the use of Blender in Utah,  by sharing what they know.

Plus, who really wants to hear Jacob, Bryce and Will talk all evening?

We Got Them!

Okay.  I messed up with the reservations.  The great people at Salt Lake City Public Library were on the ball, while I wasn't paying attention to the inbox where they were sending the reservations.  So we have missed a few Blender User Groups, but there are still plenty more we can all enjoy. Look at the schedule here .

Our next User Group will be March 6th 7:00 to 8:45 pm at Salt Lake Public Library.  And I think we are planning on making it a show-and-tell session for those who would like to share anything they have worked on over the holidays.  And we will be providing basic training for anyone new to the group.  So bring your friends to blend.

Also, a little reminder.  If you have not signed up in the Google group, to the right, I encourage you to do so.  You will receive instant updates for this blog!

Sorry...

Sorry everyone for the lack of updates.  I emailed the library,  over a week ago, with still no response.  I will call them soon and let you all know the verdict.

Getting ready to make reservations.

I am getting ready to make the reservations for Blender User Group for the next six months.  But, before I do that, I want to get opinions on how often we should do the user group.  Before, we were doing it about every two weeks.  But we can change this to every three weeks, or every month.

Let me know what you think.  Thanks!

Lets Do It!

It looks like we are going to have our meeting this evening!  See you all there.

Who's Going to Come?

Realizing that we are so close to the holidays, I thought it might be a good idea to find out who will be able to make it to tonight's Blender User Group meeting.  The holidays usually get busy for everyone.

So, if you could send a "yea" or "nay" to blenderusergrouputah@gmail.com , we can decided whether we will be doing a meeting or not.  If we have around 4 people, besides Will Thorup, Jacob and Bryce,  we will do it.  Less than 4 we will cancel.

I will post the verdict around 5 pm today.

And a little note about our meetings for next year. Nothing has been scheduled so far.  The Salt Lake Public Library will only let you submit a reservation application at certain times.  I am waiting for that time.  But I will post the new dates as soon as I get them.

Also, sorry for the late post.  I will try to do this at least a day ahead in the future.

Reminder for 12/6 Meeting

This is just a quick reminder for tomorrows meeting.  And an update on location.

I managed to get a room that is slightly bigger than our last one.  It is still at Salt Lake City Public Libray in conference room L-1 by the Children's Department.  I am not sure where it is personally, but I am sure the person at the front desk will help out.  So make sure to ask someone who is working there if you can't find it.

Also,  just a little bit about what we might do.  We had allot of people last time who had used Blender for the first time, that night.  If we have some of you along with some more new people, we will be going over the basics again.  And if we need to we can switch into smaller groups, teaching specific needs or wants.  There will also be some insight on some more advanced stuff if you are interested.

If you have any questions, go ahead and email blenderusergrouputah@gmail.com .

Other than that, come, have fun, and mingle with the Blender users of Utah!

A Little Correction...

I am sorry.  I believe that I advertised that there would be a Blender User Group this week.  But double checking the meeting schedule revealed to me that I was wrong.  So everyone, not this week, but next.

Also a note on next week.  I was able to switch to a bigger accommodations.  At least that is what they told me.  So there should be a little more seating and table space.  (It was a bit cramped last time, don't you think?)

Invite your friends!

Blender User Group Tonight!

Hi everyone we are doing Blender User Group this evening.  It will be at the Salt Lake public library again.  Go ahead and check the meeting schedules for the time and address.

We won't be doing anything specific this evening, but we are providing a time to talk and teach anyone who comes what they want to learn.

Also,  a little bit about parking again.   I gave a little of misinformation on the parking prices for the underground parking at the library.  It is actually $1.50 for every half hour.  So if you use the underground parking it will be about $6 if you come at 7:00pm.  Not the best, I know, so make sure that there aren't any empty parking spaces above ground.

Hope to see you there!

Tonights User Group

Ok everyone!  W have another user group this evening at 7pm.  If you check the meeting schedule you will see that this time it is located out in Bountiful.  This is still the plan, but is subject to change.  I will post the final decision on the location around 5pm this afternoon.  I will post the address to the new location here.

Also, just a reminder.  There was a small activity that was given a few weeks ago.  It is at the bottom of this post.  If you haven't put together a still life yet, now is the time to do it.  Any time in Blender is well spent.

Remember to invite friends and family that may be interested.  See you all there!

Oct 18th Activity

Before I forget. Here are a few of the logo animations from a few of the people that attended the user group last night. (The assignment is below).

Ok everyone, here is the activity for next time.

Put together a simple still life. This includes constructing a simple enviroment, 3 different still life objects, and a well lit scene.

Here is an example:

Have fun, and we will see you on the 18th.

Oct 4th Meeting

Looking forward to everyone's logo intros. We will spend just a few minutes at the beginning of our next Blender User Group session looking at and discussing any questions or problems you may have run into. Also if there is something new that you learned during the project, this would be a good time to share it with everyone as well.

Speaking of our next session, it is tomorrow! It will be at the Salt Lake City Public Library again, but it will be in conference room 2, instead of conference room D. Check it out at the schedule here. I believe that conference room 2 is on the second floor. If you can't find it yourself, go ahead and ask somebody at the front desk on the 1st floor, they can help.

Also, a small note on parking. Often you can find free parking on the streets that border the library, but if you are unable to find parking above ground, there is parking below the library. It is about $1.50 for 2 hours. Which, if you come no earlier than 6:45pm, will be plenty of time to attend the user group.

And for a little preview of what we will go over tonight. We will be learning about material shaders, and textures. So if you want search 'materials' and 'textures' for Blender 2.59, you can get a leg up on what we will be covering tonight.

One last thing. For those who have been attending for the last while, if there is anyone you know who would be interested in learning the basics of Blender, bring them with. We have enough people to help out anyone who is just starting to those who have been using the program for years. In other words, bring your friends!

Hope to see you all there!

This is a quick reminder to you all about User Group this evening. Do all you can to get there at 7:00pm sharp. Time is a little more precious than before because of who is accommodating us now.

Also here is a little preview of what will be taught this evening.



We will be going over cloth simulation, to make a flag, and particles, for the lawn. Also, if we have some time we will jump into the node editor to add some filters and color correct the image.

Here are some references and tutorials for what we will be going over it you want to get a head start.

Waving grass tutorial - We wont be going into this much detail, but the information about setting up the particle system and the material can be very helpful for getting started.

And here is a Cloth Flag video tutorial on YouTube by CleverNameStudios