Hey guys. Some have shown some interest in my 3D fanart of Astroboy and the software I use to create it. If this is in the wrong place, I hope it won't be too much trouble for a mod to move it for me.
This is a an **informal** FAQ for the software, and some resources available, not a tutorial itself. A tutorial from me may follow based on the interest of this FAQ. So here's the long and the short of it:
The Short:
Blender is a free and open source 3D modeling application which is available for all major operating systems. You can download it for free at blender.org. You can also find free video tutorials at blendercookie.com, blenderguru.com, or http://www.gryllus.net If you have questions or need help you can join the forums at Blendernewbies.com, Blenderartists.org, or the #Blender IRC chat channel. For more info, read on.
The Long:
Q: What the heck is this "Blender?"
A: Blender is a free and open source 3D software similar to Maya, 3D studio Max, or the like. If you've seen movies by Pixar, Dreamworks, and the like, or played a game on consoles like Playstation, Xbox, or something similar, you are familiar with the results of what a 3D software like Blender can produce.
Q: I know what 'free' means, but what does 'open source' mean?
A: As you know, free means, 'no payment required', 'available to use with no strings attached.' "Open source" refers to the code that is used to create Blender. It means that the 'source' code is 'open' and available for anyone to download, modify and edit. This is the complete opposite of commercial software which might also be called 'closed source' software. Blender isn't the only free and open source software available, but it is one of the most popular. Other examples include the Firefox browser, and the Linux operating system.
Q: If Blender is so good, why is it free?
A: The story of why Blender is free is the stuff that legends are made of. In short, Blender began as an in-house software for a small company. When the company went bankrupt, one of the chief coders of Blender raised the funds to buy ownernship rights of it, and he made it freely available. Then came the Blender Foundation. That "chief coder's" is Ton Roosendaal. In 2009, he was awarded an honorary doctorate in Technology at the Leeds Metropolitan University for his work on Blender.
Q: What is the Blender Foundation?
A: To quote Wikipedia :
"The Blender Foundation (stichting Blender Foundation) is a non-profit organization responsible for the development of Blender, an open source program for three-dimensional modeling.[1]
The foundation is noted for having produced the animated short films Elephants Dream (2006), Big Buck Bunny (2008) and Sintel (2010).[2][3]"
The Blender Foundation is located in Amsterdam.
Q: How does the Blender Foundation support itself?
A: In addition to the funding the Blender Foundation receives from its sponsors and donors, it also generates income by selling training material about how to use Blender. Each of the training materials published by the Blender Foundation to date is also released under a Creative Commons license. This means you can usually freely and legally distribute training material.
Q: Ok, so what can it do?
A: Blender can do many things including modeling, texturing, lighting, rigging, animating, compositing, rendering, and physics simulation. It even has it's own modest game engine like Unreal Tournament, or Quake. I probably forgot something, but I think that's about it. The Blender Foundation has also created 3 short films to test the software and promote Blender . The 3 short films produced by the Blender Foundation so far are :
Elephants Dream (2006),
Big Buck Bunny (2008),
Sintel (2010).
Q: Hmm, sounds interesting, where can I download it?
A: You can download Blender for free @ Blender.org. It's available for every major platform including Windows, Mac, Linux, and BSD. And compared to other 3D software which can be anywhere from hundreds of megabytes-gigabytes in size, the main version of Blender is usually less than 100 mb. And, because Blender can run from a zipped file without installing it, you can usually run it from a thumb drive.
Q: OMG! I opened it, and it has so many buttons! how can I learn it?
A: Don't worry, there are plenty of tutorials for Blender available for free online which you can find by searching google and youtube. Many of the tutorials are available for free, and some of the very specific and professional are commercial. Here's a short list of sites that offer free video tutorials.
blendercookie.com
blenderguru.com
gryllus.net
blendtuts.com
Blender Nerd
blendertips.com
CG Masters
Blendtuts
CG Boomer
Blender Diplom
Blenducation
Blender Underground
Bits of Blender
Ben Amend
Also, don't forget to join and visit forums if you have more questions. My favorite Blender help site is Blendernewbies.com. but there is also Blenderartists.com, and Blenderunderground.com among others. If you need some immediate help, you can also try the #Blender IRC chat channel.
So what are you waiting for? Go to Blender.org, and download the version appropriate for your operating system and get started. you've got little to lose... and plenty to gain
.
And, BTW, are you spelling my username wrong on purpose now cause once I called you ABo3 instead of AB03? 
