Part I: Creating a Character with Blender

Before you do any actual character animation, you need a character to animate. The goal of the first part of this book is to get you comfortable enough with the modeling and rigging tools in Blender to translate your own ideas into actual 3D characters. Blender has powerful mesh modeling tools and a very flexible system for creating materials and textures. It also boasts a state-of-the-art armature system that will enable you to create complex, highly poseable rigs for your characters. By the end of this part of the book, you will have a fully rigged character completed, which you can use to follow the animation tutorials in the following part. More importantly, you will have gained the skills to create your own character.

Chapter 1: Blender Basics: Interface and Objects

Chapter 2: Working with Meshes

Chapter 3: Completing the Model with Materials, Textures, and Hair

Chapter 4: Armatures and Rigging

Chapter 5: Shape Keys and Facial Rigging