T4 Bacteriophage Project: An Introduction To Blender

2 Blenderconfiguration that enables you to orient yourself in 3D space easily.Move your mouse cursor to the border of the 3D window and the top menu bar, untilyour cursor becomes a two-headed arrow, then pull it down to see the user preferencemenu, see Figure. 2.2. Click on ’View and Controls’ button to bring up option forview rotation setting. Enable Turntable, Auto Perspective, Around Active andView Name buttons, as shown in Figure. 2.2). Now Blender is ready to use with thesettings to make your work easier. You may slide the user preference menu back up.Importantly, save your setting with File, Save Default Settings or hit Ctrl U.From now on, whenever you restart Blender you will not have to re-enable these settings.2.3 Hotkeys and simple exercises of BlenderTable. 2.2 shows the list of commonly used hot keys in Blender. At this stage, pleasefamiliarise yourself with the keys listed in table (in given order), before moving on to 3Dmodelling. Please attempt the exercise at the end of this section before proceeding tothe next. This exercise will help you greatly in manipulating objects in Blender. Beforeattempting each exercises, press [Shift][c], followed with [c] key to center the view-portand reset the 3D cursor at the origin (0,0,0). More hotkeys will be provided as neededthroughout the manual. By the end of exercise no.5, you should have a basic idea of howto navigate in the 3D space, object transformations, and editing.2.3.1 Exercise 1. Orientation in 3D space, selecting and creating object.Do not proceed until this exercise is fully mastered.1. Start a new scene by pressing [Ctrl][x] keys.2. Select the box object at the origin with [RMB]. It will be highlighted with pinkcolour.3. Drag [MMB] to dolly around the object vertically, 360 .4. Similarly use [MMB] again to dolly around the object horizontally, 360 .5. Zoom out until you can’t see the box anymore, by using the mouse wheel.6. Press [Numpad.] to focus back on the box. This focuses the view-port on theselected object.7. Use MMB to get into perspective view, where the x-y grid touches the middle partof the screen with z-axis points up.8. Pan the camera so that the box object touches the right side of the monitor, byusing [Shift] and drag MMB.9. Pan the camera so that the box object touches the left side of the screen.10. Pan the camera so that the box object sits in the middle of the screen.16

Figure 2.2: User Preferences Menu2.3 Hotkeys and simple exercises of Blender17

2 BlenderKey / MouseactionFunctionLMB click onview-portSet position of 3D cursor.MMB drag onview-portDolly view-port.Ctrl MMBdragZoom view-port. Rolling the mouse wheel does thesame.Shift MMBdragPan view-port.gTranslate tool. Type [g][x] to constrain movement inx-axis, [g][y] to constrain movement in y-axis, and [g][z]constrain movement in Z axis. For greater accuracy, youmay add the value after specifying the constrain axis.For example, [g][z]-5 [enter], will move the object upalong z-axis 5 units.rRotate tool. It has similar features to othertransformation keys: g, r, and s.sScale tool. It has similar features to othertransformation keys: g, r, and s.TABOn selected Object, toggles between object mode andedit mode.Numpad 7Switch to top view.Numpad 1Switch to front view.Numpad 3Switch to right side view.Numpad.Focuses the current view-port to selected object(s).Space barDisplays a compact menu in 3D window.aToggles select all or none.bRectangle selection.bbRay-cast / Paint selection modeTable 2.2: Commonly used shortcuts in Blender18

2.3 Hotkeys and simple exercises of Blender11. Switch to right orthogonal view with [Numpad 3] key.12. Switch to front orthogonal view with [Numpad 1] key.13. Back to top orthogonal view with [Numpad 7] key.14. Deselect the box object by pressing [a] key. You should end up with a view that issimilar to what you started out with.2.3.2 Exercise 2. Transformations, deleting and creating primitives.Do this exercise slowly at first and increase the speed gradually. Do not proceed untilthis exercise is fully mastered.1. Start a new scene by pressing [Ctrl][x] keys.2. Use [MMB] to get into perspective view, where the x-y grid touches the middlepart of the screen with z-axis points up.3. Select the box with [RMB].4. Press [x] to delete the box.5. Create a monkey primitive object by pressing [space bar] key, select add, mesh,and click monkey.6. Rotate the monkey to face you by, pressing [r][x]90, and [enter] key.7. Make the monkey half the size by pressing [s]0.5 and press [enter] key.8. Deselect the object by pressing [a] key. Now the monkey should be in the origin(0,0,0) and looks at you.2.3.3 Exercise 3. More on transformations and object selection.Do this exercise slowly at first and increase the speed gradually. Do not proceed untilthis exercise is fully mastered.1. Start a new scene.2. Delete the box, the lamp, and the default render camera.3. Use MMB to get into perspective view, where the x-y grid touches the middle partof the screen.4. Create 2 monkey primitives.5. Space them apart 5 units (from their centers).6. Transform one monkey to be 2 times bigger along z-axis than the other.7. Rotate both monkeys to face you.8. Use rectangular selection [b] key to select both monkeys on the view-port. Alternatively, LMB on monkey and [shift] select the other.19

2 Blender9. Move them 1 unit along z-axis.10. Deselect them by pressing [a] key. Both monkeys should be 1 unit higher than theprevious position.2.3.4 Exercise 4. Object editing, selecting and transformations.1. Start a new scene.2. Select all objects by pressing [a] key, then delete them.3. Use MMB to get into perspective view, where the x-y grid over the distance approximately touches the middle part of the screen.4. Create a monkey primitive object.5. Rotate the monkey object to face you.6. Use MMB to get into perspective view, where the x-y grid touches the middlepart of the screen.7. Get a good close look at the nose.8. Press [Tab] key to get into the edit mode. Now, in edit mode you can change theappearance by modifying the vertices, edges or polygons.9. Now we want to make the nose bigger by modifying the polygons. Press [Ctrl][Tab]key. This displays the selection-mode. Currently, we are in vertices selection mode.Select option number 3, faces.10. All faces are selected by default on new object. Clear all selection by pressing [a]key.11. Select 4 polygons at the tip of the nose.12. Scale them twice the size and move them -1 unit along y-axis. The monkey’s noseshould be bigger, longer and points toward the screen. Use [s] key for scaling, and[g] key for translation. Take note here that all transformations keys ([g],[r], and[s]) are applicable also in the edit mode.13. Deselect everything, by using [a] key.14. Select everything by using box selection key, [b] key, draw a rectangle to cover theentire monkey.15. Deselect everything.16. Select all polygons on the monkey by using [b][b] key. This is the paint selectionmode. The circle on the screen shows the radius of selection, and use LMB to startpainting/selecting faces on the monkey. If the radius of selection too small, youmay increase it by using the mouse wheel. Keep on paint-selecting until all thefaces are selected.17. Deselect everything.20

2.3 Hotkeys and simple exercises of Blender18. Press [Tab] key to leave edit mode. Do not create a new object in edit mode, thatnew object will be part of the object that you are currently editing. Always leaveedit mode when you are done with editing.2.3.5 Exercise 5. More on object editing.1. Start a new scene.2. Select all objects by pressing [a] key, then delete them.3. Use MMB to get into perspective view, where the x-y grid touches the middle partof the screen.4. Create a monkey primitive object.5. Rotate the monkey object to face you. Select the monkey if it is not alreadyselected.6. Delete the other half of the monkey. Firstly, you must be in the edit mode, andselect all the faces on the other half and press [x] to delete. To select the faces, youmay use, [b] or [b]-[b], it is up to you, as long as you can do it fast.7. Make the ear of the other half by 1/2 the size. Correct placement is not importantat this stage. Make sure that it is smaller then the original size. It is up to you ifyou want perform the editing on the vertices, edges or faces. By now you shouldhave a half-monkey on the screen.21

2 Blender22

3 3D Modelling3.1 Scene PreparationIt has never been a good idea to plunge ourselves into a 3D software without knowingthe object we are creating. Although scene preparation could take more time than themodelling process, this step is very crucial in terms of production time. The followingare some of the important questions that we must consider carefully: What is the object? How will the object appear in the scene?– How close will it be from the camera?– What is the background for the object? How will the image appear on publication?– What is the layout; landscape or portrait?– What is the size; A4 or A0?– 100% accurate model, or a simplified model?An initial research on the subject matter is important to get the idea of the shapeand appearance of the object. Google (Figure 3.1) and YouTube (Figure 3.2) are goodresources to search for example images. Familiarising yourself with the shape is veryimportant before sketching and 3D modelling process. As familiarity increases, the 3Dmodelling process becomes easier. We will not be making a 100% physically accuratemodel, since that would be difficult at this stage. We will create a simplified model.I’ll leave the creation of a 100% physically accurate model for your own exercise afterwalking through this manual.In this project, we have defined the object to be T4 Bacteriophage. For simplicity, I’veprovided a sketch as shown in Figure 3.3 of how the scene would appear in a landscapeformat. In this manual, two objects will be created, the virus itself and a simple background object. However, depending on your familiarity with Blender at the end of thismanual, you may improve the overall design of the scene. I would normally do sketcheson paper. In this case I used Inkscape (www.inkscape.org) instead. Study the sketchesas shown in Figure 3.3 and 3.4. In the scene that we are creating, the T4 will be shown asif it lands on flat plane. In Figure 3.4, I’ve identified the basic shapes that make up theshape of T4. You will use this figure as an aid to create the T4 object. The head part isan icosahedral shape. The tail resembles a cylinder shape. We will use only one 6-sided23

3 3D ModellingFigure 3.1: Research on GoogleFigure 3.2: Research on Youtube24

3.2 Modelling the shape of T4 Bacteriophagecylinder for the tail part, since all need to be the same objects. We will do extrusionalong the tail part to create the whiskers and the fibre tails.3.2 Modelling the shape of T4 BacteriophagePlease read through this section entirely before attempting it on Blender. If you are newto Blender, do not attempt this part without completing section 2.3. Throughout thissection, even it is not explicitly mentioned, you will switch between perspective view (bydragging MMB around) and front orthogonal view (by pressing Numpad1 key) manytimes in assessing the shape that you are creating.Stepno.Screen-shotsDescriptions1Delete the default box inthe scene.2Switch to front orthogonalview by pressingNumpad1 key and loadthe background image tohelp you in the modellingprocess by clicking View,Background images (apanel will appear on your3D window), Usebackground images andload the backgroundimage “sketch.png” that isprovided with this manual(T4 Bacteriophage Project.zip).Change the Blend valueto 0. Let the Backgroundimage panel floats on yourscreen for now.25

3 3D n the backgroundimage of the T4 object, sothat the bottom part of itsits at the origin.4Create an icosahedron bypressing, [Space Bar],Add, Mesh, Icosphere,set the subdivision to 1.Move it to the designatedplace as marked by thebackground image.5Create a 6 sided cylinder,by pressing [Space bar],Add, Mesh, Cylinder,enable Caps and set thenumber of vertices to 6.Scale and position thiscylinder to the designatedplace according to thesketch. Rotate thecylinder -15 degrees alongz-axis.

3.2 Modelling the shape of T4 BacteriophageStepno.Screen-shotsDescriptions6The cylinder does nothave sufficient number ofsurfaces to work on. Wemust subdivide thecylinder along the lengthof the cylinder. While the6-sided cylinder is stillselected, enter edit modeby pressing [Tab] key.Switch to edge selectionmode by pressing,[Ctrl][Tab], 2.7By now, all edges of thecylinder are selected,press [a] key to deselectthem all. Now, select onlythe vertical edges of thecylinder and press [w],click Subdivide Multi,set number of subdivisionto 3.8Now you have 3 new setsof edges on the cylinder.Move the new set of edgeson top, to the top of thetail sheath, just below thewhiskers.27

3 3D ModellingStepno.28Screen-shotsDescriptions9Move the new set of edgesat bottom, to the bottomof the tail sheath, justbelow the tail fibres.Lastly, the new set ofedges in the middle,downwards, slightly abovethe tail fibre. We will doextrusion on these newlycreated faces to create thewhiskers and the tailfibres.10Let us now make theplates (or the disc shape).The first one is for thewhiskers, and the otherone below is for the tailfibres. Now, select the6 faces on the top of thecylinder.11Now, we want to expandit along xy-plane. Press[e] key for extrusion menuand choose Region.12If you move the mouse,the extrusion do notappear correct, this isfine.

3.2 Modelling the shape of T4 kly press [Esc] thenscale the newly createdfaces (which you can’tsee) along xy-plane, bypressing [s][x], input 2.5,[enter], followed with,[s][y], input 2.5, [enter].14You should havesomething similar to theimage shown on the left.15Do the same procedurefor the bottom part of thecylinder. You should endup with a dumb-bellshape as shown on theleft.29

3 3D ModellingStepno.161730Screen-shotsDescriptionsLet us make the whiskersby using 2 extrusions.Select the 6 faces of thetop dumb-bell, and doextrusions on individualfaces, press [e], and clickindividual faces.Extrude this one about1/3 length of thewhiskers. Switch thepivot mode toIndividual Centers.Now press [s] to scale thefaces individually.If the faces are not scalingin respect of their owncenters, it is because youdo not have the pivotingmode asIndividual Centres.Do another extrusionuntil it reaches the fulllength of the whiskers.Scale down the faces atthe tip too.

3.2 Modelling the shape of T4 BacteriophageStepno.Screen-shotsDescriptions18Your model shouldresemble the image shownon the left.19Do the same procedure ofcreating whiskers in orderto create the fibre tails.20The first extrusion shouldbe just short, not morethan the ball joint asshown on the backgroundimage.21The subsequent extrusionshould reach only at theball joint marked on thesketch.31

3 3D ModellingStepno.32Screen-shotsDescriptions22Now create 3 extrusionsat the joint for a betterbending effect.23Extrude the faces fromthe joint all the way tothe length of the fibretails.24Scale down the tip of thefibre tails. If your scalingis messy, it is because youdo not have the pivotingmode asIndividual Centres.25At this stage you shouldhave your object similarto image shown on theleft.

3.2 Modelling the shape of T4 BacteriophageStepno.Screen-shotsDescriptions26Is it not entirelycomplete, we still need tocreate that teeth-lookingobject at the bottom ofthe cylinder.27Select 6 faces at thebottom of the cylinder asshown on the left. Switchthe pivot mode toIndividual Centres, ifyou happened to switchedinto different pivotingmode .28Press [e] to extrusion, andselect individual faces.Extrude them down, andscale them down.Remember, if the facesare not scaling in respectof their own centers, it isbecause you don’t havethe pivoting mode asIndividual Centres.29At this stage, you shouldhave created the T4object as shown.Save your work frequently. This is the end of the 3D modelling phase. The T4 modelis at its default pose. So why did the author specify the default pose as such? Why33

3 3D ModellingFigure 3.3: The sketch of the scene.34

Figure 3.4: The sketch of T4 object to aid in modelling process.3.2 Modelling the shape of T4 Bacteriophage35

3 3D ModellingFigure 3.5: A render of T4 with no armature and plain material.not all fibre tails up or down, or even bent? The reason was that the modelling processand rigging would be simpler and visually nicer. Rigging is a term to signify a processof setting up an armature, which contains bonesto pose or animate a 3D object. In thenext section, we will prepare an armature, which enables us to pose the T4 object asshown in Figure 3.3.3.3 Modelling the backgroundModelling the background or the 3D environment is as crucial as the main object itself.Normally, stage or world design is separated from character design. Many books on themarket treat these two subjects separately. However, the background of the T4 objectis simple enough to be included in this chapter. Why do we need a background? Tocreate and support the atmosphere of the storyline, which the director has in mind. Forexample, to show off the piloting agility of the main hero, the director would pick adifficult terrain to portray the scene, such as; narrow canyons or underground caves.36

3.3 Modelling the backgroundIn this project, we want to accentuate the 3D presentation of T4 object. For this reason,we will use a dark-coloured background. This background will receive lights and shadows,which will enhance the depth of the image (otherwise it will look plain and boring).To create the background object as shown in Figure 3.6, follow these steps:1. Create a plane2. Position the plane to touch the fibre tails of the T4 object3. Switch to Edit mode4. Switch to Edges selection mode5. Select the edges where the bending will occur6. Press [w] key to bring up the special menu7. Choose Subdivide Multi, and set the number of subdivision to 68. Translate one edge at a time to obtain the backdrop shape9. Switch to Object modeOnce you have the background in your scene, click [smooth] button in Buttons window.Bear in mind, this button DOES NOT smoothen out objects, it only change how thelights will act on that object. By enabling this button, this object will appear smoother.You should be able to make this easily after completing the previous section.37

3 3D ModellingFigure 3.6: The background, which is made out of a subdivided plane is shown in edit mode. The T4 object stands on thebackground object.38

4 RiggingRigging is the process of setting up bones for posing or animating objects. Think of itas bones and muscles in your body. Bones are 3D objects that deform other objects. Inthis chapter we will learn how to create an Inverse Kinematic (IK) setup. Why IK andnot using Forward Kinematic (FK)? If you have a robot arm with 8 joints, with FK, youhave to rotate the joints one-by-one to get the robot’s hand to reach a point in space.With IK systems, you put the robot’s hand where it would be in a space, then all jointswill be automa

Blender 2.6x and has many changes from Blender 2.49b. However, the method given in this book can be applied when Blender 2.60 is released. T4_Bacteriophage_Project.zip This file contains Blender files that are used in the production of this manual. These Blender files are provided to acco