Here we take a look at how to set up Spline IK to deform a cylinder type mesh. This could be used to animate rope, pipes, tails, tentacles, objects along those lines. Firstly we create a rig to deform the cylinder nicely, and then use the curve to control the movements of those bones. A [...]

Here I try to observe the way edges can be rounded out using the bevel tool, and also how to achieve this effect using subdivision surfaces. How to control subdivision surfaces with edge loops and topology to make smooth looking curves and surfaces and some things to be avoided.

Virtually everything in Blender can be referred to as a “Datablock” At times this behaviour can be confusing! Hopefully this video will demystify the Datablock concept somewhat. How to link datablocks between objects and how to unlink them and generally get a feel for what it’s all about.

A while ago cgcookie made a character builder and rig for their animation training toolkit DVD. The rig is released now under a creative commons license for us to use. This video shows how to use the character builder, how to prepare the file for being used as a library file for linking in to [...]

In this Blender 2.6 video, I take a look at 3 ways bones can be used to move objects and deform meshes, via parenting, bone envelopes and vertex groups.

Here I take a bare bones look at the NLA editor, and the concept behind how actions can be combined there, to create more complex animations.

Often you may wish to change the camera that is rendering during an animation. This is done quite easily by attaching the cameras to markers on the time line and this quick video will show how.  

Here I try to give a basic introduction to the Blender 2.63 user interface, a quick delve in to the user preferences and basic navigation around the 3D scene.

A quick look at how to manipulate our objects in 3d space, basic camera movement and setup, taking the first render of our objects

A delve into edit mode, demonstrating numerous tools and techniques.