No Starch Press releases "The Official Blender 2.3 Guide"

No Starch Press releases "The Official Blender 2.3 Guide"

For Immediate Release
For more information, to request a review copy, or to schedule an
interview, contact Leigh Sacks (leigh@nostarch.com or 415.863.9900)

THE OFFICIAL BLENDER 2.3 GUIDE
Official Guide to Blender, the Free 3D Creation Suite

San Francisco, CA - Blender is a free, fully-integrated 3D graphics
creation suite that allows modeling, animation, rendering,
post-production, and realtime interactive 3D with cross-platform
compatibility (Windows, Linux, Irix, Sun Solaris, FreeBSD, and Mac OS X).
Originally developed by Not a Number (NaN) as a commercial product,
Blender has since been released as free software under the GNU GPL, and
has well over 250,000 registered users. It is a perfect tool for
beginners, students, and designers who want to include 3D creation as part
of their portfolio offering or dabble in 3D design and animation.

"The Official Blender 2.3 Guide" (No Starch Press, June 04, $49.95, with
CD-ROM) is a complete guide to Blender, written and produced by the
Blender community, with the support of the Blender Foundation. The book
includes a CD-ROM with versions of Blender for all platforms (Windows,
Mac, Linux, and more), example files and python scripts, image galleries
and movies, and all files needed for the book's tutorials. A full color
insert demonstrates Blender's capabilities, with stunning clarity and
vibrant color. Readers will find:

* Methods for designing models, defining materials, and simulating light,
as well as design basics and advanced techniques
* Instructions for rendering 3D scenes, including special effects like
motion blur and cartoon edges
* Help creating 3D animations: moving objects in time, deforming objects,
and animating characters
* Tutorials for using Blender as a video editor with the advanced sequence
editor that gives animations a professional finish
* Ways to extend Blender with Python scripting and binary plugins to
create the perfect customized software suite for specific design needs

"The Official Blender 2.3 Guide" was written, developed, and produced by
the Blender Foundation, but is being printed and distributed by No Starch
Press. As No Starch Press publisher William Pollock explains, "As an open
source application, Blender is a moving target. We felt it was important
to bring the book to the wider Blender community now, as it was delivered
to us, rather than spend months editing it as we often do. This book is a
great example of how an open source community can produce something of
real value to its members and how we as a publisher can enable that," adds
Pollock.

"A crucial part of the Blender Foundation strategy is to establish a solid
network of commercial partners around our open source projects,"
elaborates Blender founder Ton Roosendaal, who is also co-author of "The
Official Blender 2.3 Guide". "No Starch Press was one of the first to
recognize this opportunity, and we are proud to continue working with them
as our publishing partner. No Starch Press will ensure that this book is
in all bookstores in the US, and will help the book, and Blender itself,
reach a wider audience."

THE OFFICIAL BLENDER 2.3 GUIDE
Free 3D Creation Suite for Modeling, Animation, and Rendering
Produced and Edited by Ton Roosendaal and Stefano Selleri
ISBN 1593270410, June 2004, US $49.95 ($69.95 Cdn), 768 pp. + 16 pp. color
insert, w/CD-ROM
Available at fine bookstores everywhere, from www.oreilly.com/nostarch, or
directly from No Starch Press (www.nostarch.com, orders@nostarch.com, and
800.420.7240)
No Starch Press titles are distributed throughout the U.S. by O'Reilly Media, Inc.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
www.blender.org; www.blender3d.org
Table of contents: http://www.nostarch.com/officialblender_toc.htm
Cover image: http://www.nostarch.com/officialblender_big.htm
Sample chapter: http://www.nostarch.com/download/officialblender_ch7.pdf

ABOUT THE AUTHORS
The Blender Foundation is the non-profit organization that maintains
Blender under the GNU GPL license. Chairman Ton Roosendaal is Blender's
creator and the founder of the non-profit Blender Foundation. He is the
co-author of "The Official Blender GameKit" (No Starch Press) and "The
Official Blender 2.0 Guide" (Premier Press). Stefano Selleri is an
Assistant Professor at the University of Florence, Italy. He has been
working with 3D design since 1995 and with Blender since 1999.

ABOUT NO STARCH PRESS
Since 1994, No Starch Press has published unique books on technology, with
a focus on Open Source, security, hacking, web development, programming,
gaming, and alternative operating systems. Our titles have personality,
our authors are passionate, and our books tackle topics that people care
about.

For more information, to request a review copy, or to schedule an
interview, contact Leigh Sacks (leigh@nostarch.com or 415.863.9900).