Baton Rouge Blender Classes/Workshops
Cajun Clickers Computer Club
SCHEDULE
Dec 12, 2009 - 3:30-6:00pm - Blender Open Activity Workshop
Jan 2, 2009 - User Interface Introduction/Basic Mesh Modeling
Jan 9, 2009 - User Interface/Modeling Techniques
Jan 16, 2009 - Materials/Textures/Lighting
Jan 23, 2009 - Animation and Rigging Basics
Jan 30, 2009 - Intro to Physics - Particles, Cloth, Softbodies, Fluids
(sorry that this has gotten way out of date - if you're not a regular attendee please email me - teldredge at you're already here.com - so I can put you on the update list, many of the classes/labs are somewhat impromptu these days, a day or two in advance when everyone finds they have the time and lets me know they'd like to have a class or lab)
INTRODUCTION AND GOALS
Hello and thanks for your interest in learning and using Blender: the open-source, cross-platform 3d content creation suite.
My name is Thomas Eldredge and I've been using Blender for several
years. I am very interested in Blender as a tool for art, business,
industry, and especially - education. I see Blender as a wonderful
tool to inspire and empower young people and teach them the basics of
math, programming, and science in a fun and compelling learning
environment. In the future I would like to expand into teaching a full
range of media-production techniques utilizing open-source software.
For now the focus will be on using Blender for modeling, texuring, rigging, animation, rendering, and compositing.
CLASS INFORMATION
These classes are available thanks to the Cajun Clickers Computer Club.
The Cajun Clickers allow non-members to attend and evaluate ONE
workshop for free before joining the club. Membership in the club is
$45 per family per year (this includes free admission to all
Classes/Workshops offered by the Cajun Clickers). This Blender series
is taught in the Cajun Clickers Windows lab (map)
which has 15 well equipped student workstations running Vista, an
instructor station with overhead projector, and internet access. If you
prefer to bring your own laptop you certainly
may do so.
PREREQUISITES
Prospective students should have a basic familiarity with
computers, mouse/keyboard interface, and basic file system operations
(copy/paste/move files). Blender hardware requirements are very low,
but for home use a Pentium 4 with 1Gig of Ram and 10+Megs HD space is recommended
for basic use. An OpenGL graphics card is recommeded. More advanced production
may require additional hardware requirements for comfortable use. It is
also recomended that you download a copy of Blender 2.49b
and install it on your local machine and play around with it a little
bit. Tutorials are available all over the web and any amount of
independent learning is always a positive.
REGISTRATION
Registration through the Cajun Clickers website is recomended. If you have trouble, please email Thomas Eldredge (teldredge at funkboxing dot
com) or use this contact form. This will help me know how many people
to expect and there are a limited number of PC's in the workshop room.
CURRICULUM
The workshop series will cover:
1 - User Interface Introduction/Basic Mesh Modeling
2 - User Interface/Modeling Techniques
3 - Materials/Textures/Lighting
4 - Animation and Rigging Basics
5 - Intro to Physics - Particles, Cloth, Softbodies, Fluids
CLASS PROCEDURE
These classes will be held in a very informal 'workshop' style. The focus on these classes will be to help students gain a
broad, functional knowledge of the Blender program. How a student
applies their Blender skills is up to the student. These classes
will not specifically focus on developing artistic or graphic design
skills.
Students are encouraged to at least download and run Blender before
attending the first User Interface class. Though these classes do not
have to be taken in sequence, students who have no experience with
Blender are strongly encouraged to attend the first two User Interface
classes before any others. Classes will generally be 2-3 hours in
length. We will begin by discussing fundamental 3d concepts, then move
into the actual features in Blender that apply these concepts, then
towards the end of class we may do excersises and/or independent
projects. In addition to regular classes we will also hold 'Open
Activity Workshops' which will be a time for anyone to come in and work
on their own projects, get help, and discuss special topics. Eventually
we will host 'Group Production Workshops' in which experienced users
will work together on a project.
I WANT TO HELP!
If you are in the Baton Rouge area and have experience with Blender and are interested in
helping out, please contact me directly (teldredge at funkboxing dot
com) or use this contact form. I would be very happy to hear
from you. If you are interested in providing material support please
contact me and/or the Cajun Clickers Computer Club to discuss this. If
you are a wiz with web design, or are just a computer genius and want
to help out however you can - please contact me, I could always use
some help with one thing or another.
NOTES
This class is a work-in-progress and will probably be changing
rapidly. Blender is also in a very fast development cycle and will be
releasing 2.5 in the near future. This class will initially focus on
2.49, but as 2.5 is released we will probably begin teaching it in
favor of 2.49. There should not be too much trouble in transitioning
from 2.49 to 2.5, but it's something students should be aware. Keep and
eye on Blender developments at Blender Nation.
CLASS FILES
Downloads for Class (right-click, save-as)
FILES for Animation/Rigging Class
basemesh.blend
ludwig.blend
PAST CLASSES
Dec 5, 2009 - 4:00-6:00pm - Basic Animation and Rigging
Nov 28, 2009 - 4:00-6:00pm - Materials/Textures/Lighting
Nov 21, 2009 - 4:00-6:00pm - Intro to 3D Modeling
Nov 14, 2009 - 6:00-8:00pm - Blender User Interface
Oct 19, 2009 - 6:00-8:00pm - Blender Introduction Lecture