The Essential Blender—New from No Starch Press
Guide to 3D Creation with the Open Source Suite Blender The Essential Blender

San Francisco, CA, September 20, 2007—No Starch Press has a long-standing relationship with the Blender Foundation, the non-profit organization behind the Blender software. The Essential Blender (No Starch Press, Sep 2007, $44.95, ISBN 978-1-59327-166-4) is the most recent product of that cooperation. "I've always been amazed by the Blender community's base of knowledge and desire to teach," said No Starch Press Publisher Bill Pollock. "They wowed us with their Blender 2.3 Guide and they've done it again with The Essential Blender. This is without a doubt the comprehensive and definitive guide to using the latest version of Blender."

Blender is a free and open source 3D design and animation tool that is a real alternative to commercially available 3D design software. A cross-platform software package with millions of downloads annually, Blender is now one of the world's most popular 3D design tools. And although Blender is free, it's serious software—intended for design professionals and others motivated to become 3D artists. That also means that Blender can be just a bit more complex than your basic image editor.

As with prior Blender Foundation publications, amateurs and professionals alike will find that The Essential Blender provides them with the hands-on knowledge they need to help integrate Blender into their work and begin to master its powerful creation tools. Those new to 3D design will find an introductory chapter with relevant terminology and concepts. Then, following a tour of Blender's 3D modeling, animation, and rendering capabilities, readers will learn how best to use Blender for:

• Object manipulation and animation
• Mesh and sculpt modeling and shape animation
• Materials and texturing (including UV unwrapping)
• Lighting and rendering
• Particle animation
• Character rigging and animation
• Node-based composition

The Essential Blender is the product of the combined expertise of key members of the Blender community, including Blender's founder Ton Roosendaal, coupled with the experience of editor Roland Hess. The information in The Essential Blender is sure to help readers at all levels unlock their artistic potential and get the most out of this seriously powerful—and fun—software.

Includes a complete version of Blender 2.44 on the CD-ROM for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux (x86 and PowerPC), Solaris, FreeBSD, and IRIX.

For more information, to schedule an interview with the book's author, or for a review copy of The Essential Blender, please contact Travis Peterson at No Starch Press ([email protected], +1.415.863.9900, x300), or visit www.nostarch.com.

About the Author
A team of the best writers and artists in the Blender community have come together to help create The Essential Blender. Editor Roland Hess is a professional writer who has used Blender for almost a decade. Ton Roosendaal is Blender's creator and the chairman and founder of the Blender Foundation, the non-profit organization that maintains Blender under the GNU/GPL license. He co-authored The Official Blender 2.3 Guide, The Official Blender GameKit (both No Starch Press), and The Official Blender 2.0 Guide (Premier Press).

Additional Resources
Chapter 6: "Character Animation" (PDF)
Table of contents overview
Large cover image

The Essential Blender
by by Ton Roosendaal; Roland Hess (ed.)
September 2007, 376 pp. w/ CD
ISBN 9781593271664, $44.95 USD
[email protected]
1-800-998-9938
1-707-827-7000

Available in fine bookstores everywhere, from www.oreilly.com/nostarch, or directly from No Starch Press (http://www.nostarch.com/, [email protected], 1-800-420-7240).

About No Starch Press
Founded in 1994, No Starch Press is one of the few remaining independent technical book publishers. We publish the finest in geek entertainment—unique books on technology, with a focus on Open Source, security, hacking, programming, alternative operating systems, and LEGO. Our titles have personality, our authors are passionate, and our books tackle topics that people care about. See http://www.nostarch.com/ for a complete catalog. (And most No Starch Press books use RepKover, a lay-flat binding that won't snap shut.)

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