A great time saver. I'm only using this book as a blender scripting reference but it has already saved me hours of frustration. No where else have I found a decent explanation of the problems I was having in the use of the import statement or the simple use of the reload command to solve these problems.The subject areas I have referenced have only lightly skimmed the scripting details but they have got me started and I can then soon find the relevant detail in the blender python API or else where on the net.If the author produces a new edition for the expected blender 2.5X API I will be purchasing it too but I suspect that the Blender 2.49 will be my work horse for some time yet.
Very useful book for Blender users This original review was first published on my personal Blog at []I've got recently from Packt Publishing an ebook copy of Blender 2.49 Scripting by Michael Anders.For those who don't already know Blender uses Python as its scripting language. With Python you can extend Blender capabilities and automate tasks that would be too tedious difficult or impossible to do by hand.
Good book but already outofdate While the book provides valuable information about scripting using the Blender API library under version 2.49 this library is soon to be obsolete. Version 2.55 currently in betatesting and soon to be released no longer support the Blender API interface to python and is replaced by the new bpy API. This book is applicable only to the current 2.49 Blender version and will soon become obsolete with the release of 2.55A similar reference to scripting under 2.55 using the bpy API would be very useful but this isn't that reference. So while it may be instructive learning the Blender API from this text it doesn't address the future Blender versions. As difficult as it can be staying current with the latest software this text provides no help achieving that goal.
With all the scripting changes . With all the recent scripting changes I'm kind of in the middle with this book it's the best scripting book I have for blender but if someone was going to learn blender scripting maybe waiting a few months and learning scripting on 2.5 might be better. So from a content on 2.49 scripting I'd give it a 5 Star but from someone learning scripting 2.5 seems to be the way to go but 2.5 is changing so much so should i just do the scripts in 2.49 [blender brain loop begins].When 2.5 stabalizes I will for sure purchase a update of this bookhoping by then the cuda support is done otherwise i'd just script directly to the cuda interface but that's such a hassle i guess i could script to old school blender [blender brain loop begins].
A good book that's long overdue This book review turned out to be quite easy. In short the book is ideal if you want to get up to speed with Python scripting in Blender 2.49.The lessons are presented in a clear stepbystep fashion with very practical applications. And the book covers quite a wide range of subjects.There's really not a whole lot more to say. Take a look at the Table of Contents and the sample chapter to confirm its value. If you're interested in Python scripting in Blender then I think you'll see that this is a definite musthave resource.BTW the book also provides a URL for downloading the code used in the book.Even though the Python API is changing in Blender 2.5 you'll still be ahead of the game by learning the current API. It will be quite some time before the Python API in Blender 2.5 is as complete as what's available in Blender 2.49.The author acknowledges the pending 2.5 version of Blender so hopefully there will be an edition released for Blender 2.5 when that becomes feasible.There's so much more to Blender when you consider the power of Python scripting in Blender and this book will get you off to a strong start in the right direction.
Adapt Blender To Your Needs With Blender 2.49 Scripting we go a step further with the popular open source modeling and rendering package Blender 3D scripting. And through scripting you will learn how to adapt and extend Blender to your needs.Remember that both Blender and Python run on Windows Linux and Mac. So what you learn with this book and others by Packt Publishing about Blender and Python can be applied to whatever OS you use in the future what is an obvious advantage.The author Michel J. Anders will tell us how to use the Python programming language to build scripts that can automate and extend the features of Blender.Michel Anders studied chemistry and physics and spent long time in computer simulations and worked as an IT manager for different companies and is now the manages the R&D department of Aia Software.To read this book you will need to have some slight knowledge of Python but you don't have to be an expert. It is more important that you understand the geometry and modeling part than the programming something that you already do if you understand and use Blender.In fact you are introduced to the Python builtin editor in chapter 1 and tells you how to write scripts and distribute them to others. You are told how to install Python and run simple scripts and integrate them into Blender menu system.This first chapter gives you an overview of what kind of things can be done with scripting and the structure of python modules in Blender.After this introduction the following chapter tell you how to do more exciting things like creating and editing objects with scripts design a GUI for the script group objects and change their parent with the example of a sunflower or run Blender from the command line and render scenes in the background. You also learn to make calculations like determining the volume of a mesh may be useful for 3D printing select different parts of that mesh or determine the center of mass of the object.Chapters 3 is about vertex groups bones and materials and how to control them with scripting. On the 4th chapter you are introduced to pydrivers and constraints. If this sounds strange for you you must know that they are employed to achieve things like restriction in bone movement joint limits or align objects through scripting.With Python you can also write scripts that are coordinated to act on every frame of an animation. Chapter 5 has a brilliant example of use that consists in a script that calculates the shape of the trace of caterpillar wheels and impress them on a terrain.Chapter 6 has more stunning examples this time a snake that swallows an egg and how it alters her shape as she eats it and a mesh animation depending on a sound that is being played. This part gets deeper in some previous lessons and studies the creation of complex actions combining all the previous knowledge.
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