What You'll Find on the DVD

The following list is arranged by category and provides a summary of the software and other goodies you'll find on the DVD. If you need help with installing the items provided on the DVD, refer to the installation instructions in the preceding section.

For each program listed, I provide the program platform (Linux, Windows, or Mac). All programs on this DVD are GNU software, meaning the software is governed by its own license, which is included inside the folder of GNU software on the disc. There are no restrictions on distribution of GNU software other than the fact that source code must be made available. I provide links to the Web site of each piece of GNU software if you're interested in getting the source code.

• Author-created material: For all operating systems. All the examples provided in this book are located in the Author directory on the DVD and work on any machine that can run Blender. I used these .blend files to create many of the figures in this book. For a few chapters, I also include video tutorials that you can use as aids while you work. To play back the tutorials, I recommend you use VLC, also included on the DVD. The structure of the examples directory is

  Author/Chapter01
  Author/Chapter02

• Blender: GNU software. For Linux, Windows, and Mac OS. You can't have a DVD accompanying a book on Blender without including a copy of Blender itself. That would just be crazy! On the DVD is a copy of the latest official release of Blender (as of this writing) for each of the major operating systems, including Windows, Macintosh, and Linux. If you're using a different operating system or if you just want to see whether there's a newer version, head on over to www.blender.org to get a copy of Blender there.
• GIMP: GNU software. For Linux, Windows, and Mac OS. When building your 3D creations, you may find yourself in need of a tool that can do 2D image editing. You may need to adjust the colors on a final render, distort your render in an interesting way, or paint custom textures with a more advanced brush and layer system. A tool that can meet all these needs is GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program).

  Included on the DVD are versions for Windows and Mac OS X. If you're a Linux user, I recommend that you look to your distribution's package-management tool for installing the latest version of GIMP from its online repository. You can find more information on GIMP at its official Web site, www.gimp.org.

• Inkscape: GNU software. For Linux, Windows, and Mac OS. Blender's curves are great in 3D, but if you're working in 2D and you need to use curves to create a scalable image or logo, they're not always the best tool for the job. For that kind of task, Inkscape is the program you want to use. And the cool thing is that Inkscape uses the SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) file format, for which Blender has a good-quality importer. That way, your logo can be brought into Blender and 3D-ified in only a few steps.

  As with GIMP, I include Windows and Mac versions of Inkscape on the DVD. For the Linux version, I suggest using your distribution's package manager. Inkscape is available on all the major ones. You can find out more about Inkscape on its official Web site at www.inkscape.org.

• MakeHuman: GNU software. For Linux, Windows, and Mac OS. Modeling in 3D is difficult and time consuming. It can be even more so if you're trying to create a realistic human model. Fortunately, you have MakeHuman. MakeHuman was originally born as a plug-in for Blender and has since matured into a fully featured tool for generating believable human models for your own projects.

  I include the most recent stable version of MakeHuman on the DVD, Version 0.9.1 RC1, for Linux, Windows, and Mac OS. However, if you feel adventurous, head on over to www.makehuman.org to download the current development version and see all the improvements.

• MyPaint: GNU software. For Linux, Windows, and Mac OS. While GIMP is a great image-editing application with some painting features included, it's not primarily designed as a digital painting program. Its brushes don't always behave like those in more traditional media (pencils, pens, paints, and so on). To fill in this gap, I include MyPaint. With MyPaint, you can more easily paint and draw in a way that looks and feels more like traditional media. MyPaint is one of the first tools I reach for when I want to make a concept sketch or paint a texture or background matte.

  The DVD includes versions for Linux and Windows (Mac OS folks, to install on your machines, you need to use macports). You can find out more about using MyPaint at http://mypaint.intilinux.com.

• Pencil: GNU software. For Linux, Windows, and Mac OS. Pencil is an excellent little program for creating hand-drawn animations on a computer. If you've read through this book, you know that animating in 3D can be a time-consuming process with a large number of steps between concept and completion. For that very reason, it's often nice to create rough test animations to make sure that your timing works. Pencil is a tool that you can use to create these tests. Of course, you can also use Pencil to create fully refined hand-drawn animations as well.

  I include copies of Pencil for Linux, Windows, and Mac OS on this DVD. Be aware, though, that Pencil is a relatively young program — only at version 0.4.4b as of this writing. This means that you may run into a bug here or there. Fortunately, there is some very helpful information on Pencil at its Web site, www.pencil-animation.org.

• Sintel: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. For all operating systems. Sintel is the third open movie project created by the Blender Institute. As with the previous open movies, the purpose was to assemble a small team of 3D artists and create a short movie with Blender. Sintel was the Institute's most ambitious project to date, and because of it, Blender gained quite a few features that you can now take full advantage of.

  The video on the disc is a full HD encoding of the film, so you may want to copy it to your hard drive before playing. Also, I recommend that you use VLC (described next) to view it. You can read more about it and even download the project's .blend files for free at www.sintel.org.

• VLC: GNU software. For Linux, Windows, and Mac OS. VLC is short for Video LAN Client, and it's an excellent media player that plays nearly any sound or movie file that you throw at it. I include it on the DVD because occasionally Windows Media Player or QuickTime have trouble playing some movie formats. If you have problems playing any of the included videos on this DVD in one of those players, give VLC a try. For more information on VLC, check out www.videolan.org/vlc.