Using Cycles Render Engine in Blender 3D [Video]

This is the code repository for Using Cycles Render Engine in Blender 3D [Video], published by Packt. It contains all the supporting project files necessary to work through the video course from start to finish.

About the Video Course

This video course introduces you to the powerful Cycles Render engine and more advanced materials for objects. Topics covered will range from organic modeling to node materials to particle systems.

We start with a basic understanding of the Cycles Render engine including the differences between the standard and ray-traced engines. After this we delve into organic modeling techniques using curves to create more natural and smooth shapes typically seen in the real world. Next we understand the concept of UV unwrapping to map textures and other 2D media to a 3D object using seams, while also learning how to tweak and modify UV maps as well as multi-channel U layers. The next part will cover a basic setup for a simple Cycles material shader, which includes simple materials, alpha cut-outs, as well as multi-channel and PBR material shaders to create an extensive range of realistic material shaders for the Cycles Render engine ; you will also acquire a good understanding of how the material node editor works. Moving on we will look at object-based lighting and 360 HDRI environment maps to control an entire scene's lighting; you will learn how lighting can affect a scene and which lighting sources you should use. After that we will learn about simple particle systems, hair/fur generation, and how to instantiate objects. You will utilize particle systems to greatly speed up your workflow, making it easier to generate large scenes with hundreds or thousands of objects. Finally, you will learn about fundamental composting workflows through the node editor and use Color management to give a more authentic and photographic image; this will include more advanced composting techniques such as light flares, depth of field, and adding additional external images to the final render.

By the end of the video course you should have a good understanding of how to add advanced post processing to an image before saving it and how to effectively create a realistic scene using the Cycles Render engine.

What You Will Learn

Instructions and Navigation

Assumed Knowledge

To fully benefit from the coverage included in this course, you will need:
This a beginner level course and no prior knowledge is required

Technical Requirements

This course has the following software requirements:
Minimum Hardware Requirements

32-bit dual core 2Ghz CPU with SSE2 support

2 GB RAM

1280×768 Display

Mouse or trackpad

OpenGL 2.1 compatible graphics with 512 MB RAM

Recommended

64-bit quad core CPU

8 GB RAM

Full HD display

Three button mouse

OpenGL 3.2 compatible graphics with 2 GB RAM

Optimal

64-bit eight core CPU

16 GB RAM

Full HD displays

Three button mouse and graphics tablet

Dual OpenGL 3.2 compatible graphics cards with 4 GB RAM

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