{37}{144}Part 2 - Blender on Efika
{157}{}Now I'm going to show you
{235}{}How Blender is running on Efika
{331}{}It may seem that such a big application
{502}{}will have real trouble on 128
{600}{}- or even 72 right now - megabytes of RAM.
{691}{}Of course we cannot make Shrek 4 on Efika...
{840}{}But for smaller works Efika is more than enough
{970}{}As not every paintbrush and palette
{1036}{}are used to paint Mona Lisa.
{1123}{}There are plenty of simplier and less demanding tasks
{1310}{}As Amiga-like systems rule when it comes to icons ;)
{1376}{}I will try to make some nice icon with Blender.
{1471}{}It will be a nice object
{1537}{}of a light emmiting diode.
{1607}{}An interesting one because
{1670}{}I will make it emiting a ligth literally.
{1791}{}It turns out that for such simple utility works
{1907}{}Efika has enough computing power.
{1967}{}Let's start the work.
{2003}{}I'm running Blender now.
{2129}{}It is worth noting that Blender ports for MorphOS
{2270}{}follow main source tree very closely.
{2493}{}We have version 2.46 here, a quite fresh one.
{2605}{2770}I have to say now, that experienced|3D modellers and Blender users
{2772}{}will laugh a bit at my way of using the application.
{2894}{}I'm not a 3D professionalist
{2986}{}but can create something simple.
{3092}{}So we start from deleting...
{3337}{}...deleting the default cube
{3432}{}which is created for us by Blender.
{3523}{}Then we start our modelling
{3621}{3749}from inserting a sphere.
{3759}{}We will extrude the sphere then.
{3831}{}Extrusion is commonly used for modelling in Blender.
{4007}{}We have two kinds of sphere in Blender.
{4108}{}Icosphere is made of regular polygons
{4186}{}and UVSphere looks like a globe model
{4258}{}with a grid of meridians and parallels.
{4315}{}The second one is better for me
{4357}{}as I can cut a half of it easily.
{4471}{}Let's use default parameters.
{4566}{}We have our ball here.
{4650}{}Unfortunately using Blender without|numeric keyboard pad is not easy.
{4747}{}Especially when holding the microphone in one hand.
{5413}{}I have a keyboard without numpad here.
{5518}{}It does not mean Efika can't handle numpad, of course.
{5628}{}I just have to switch view with menus,|while doing it with numpad is much faster.
{5950}{}Modeller speed on Efika is very good.
{6140}{}As you can see, view panning and rotation is realtime.
{6218}{}Let's look at memory consumption.
{6262}{}The modeller does not use much memory.
{6381}{}About 30 MB right now.
{6497}{}Blender needs more memory when rendering.
{6568}{}Then we won't be able to render very big images
{6681}{}like 1920 x 1280.
{6789}{6998}Of course we need not such resolutions|for rendering an icon.
{7011}{7183}Let's switch into object edit mode now.
{7221}{}I'm going to switch shading off.
{7295}{}Not because it is slow,|just using wireframe is more comfortable.
{7459}{}I'm moving diode pins...
{7529}{}...along the Z axis.
{8158}{}A bit to the back, it will be|obvious in a moment why I do it.
{8282}{8506}Diode pins are flat objects now,|I'm going to make them threedimensional.
{8889}{}This one is now moved back too.
{8955}{9140}Now I will use a nice Blender feature: layers.
{9132}{}Objects on currently not edited|layers may be switched off.
{9254}{}I will not edit the LED body now, I'm going to edit pins.
{9370}{9623}That is why I will put pins on the second layer.
{10191}{}The second pin to layer 2 too...
{10269}{}They disappeared now, as only the layer 1 is displayed.
{10389}{}Now only the layer 2.
{10435}{}Now I can use shift to turn both on.
{10699}{}Let's get rid of the LED body for now.
{10768}{}Time to edit pins.
{10999}{}I'm going to model diode junction supports.
{11348}{}I select an edge...
{11412}{}Cut it...
{11548}{}Additional vertice appears.
{11600}{}We will need one more, so I'll cut again.
{11717}{}But I have to select the right edge first.
{11948}{}Now I will edit single vertices.
{13090}{}Similar operation with the second pin.
{13275}{}I select the object and enter the edit mode.
{13398}{}I'll cut this edge too.
{13660}{}These supports are in every LED|(one can look at the real thing to verify).
{13814}{}Here, inside, a light source is placed.
{13938}{}The source has following parameters.
{14026}{}The colour is red, source energy is turned up to 3.6.
{14231}{}And what is important - materials of the objects.
{14320}{}Modelling is the first difficult thing,|especially for beginners like me.
{14481}{}The second one, even more difficult, requiring lots of experimenting
{14570}{}is the proper setting of materials parameters.
{14669}{14814}Diode pins use a "simple" material
{14825}{}It has just the colour set to light gray.
{14932}{}Colour of possible reflections is a ligth gray too.
{15030}{}Finally it has not default shading settings.
{15122}{}Light reflection is increased
{15183}{}because pins are metallic|and covered with tin, so they just shine.
{15304}{}That is why I have increased|specularity (shining "power") significantly.
{15465}{}Specularity hardness is increased as well.
{15534}{15812}Specularity hardness is low for plastic, soft|surfaces and high for metallic ones.
{15830}{}That is why I've increased specularity hardness.
{15938}{}Then the most important thing - a material for the LED body.
{16074}{}Colours are red of course.
{16150}{}The key material property is transparency.
{16254}{}We can go the easy way and use|so-called "Z-buffer transparency", but...
{16412}{}this kind of transparency can|be compared to MorphOS windows transparency.
{16500}{}We just can see other object through the transparent one.
{16559}{16775}I'm demanding here and load Blender|with more work using raytraced transparency,
{16773}{}Which takes for example light refraction|in the material into account.
{16943}{}This way the diode will look much more realistic.
{17030}{}I've turned transparency on, refraction coefficient is 1.3.
{17148}{}Here is transparency level.
{17248}{}It is 1.54.
{17343}{17447}Then blending factor.
{17448}{}It controls material turbidity.
{17549}{}For example glass has very low turbidity,|while LED is a bit opaque inside.
{17688}{}There are fully transparent LEDs, but we model an ordinary one.
{17828}{}Hence our parameters of the material.
{17947}{}Our objects are ready now.
{18022}{}View from the camera.
{18169}{}Let's turn all the layers on, to see the complete scene.
{18269}{18528}We can crop the view now, by moving|the camera along its local Z axis for example
{18525}{}or rotating it around.
{18631}{}We are ready to render the thing now.
{18717}{}We have to remember about Efika specificity however,|which is called "128 MB RAM" ;-).
{18890}{}That is why render size should be rather small.
{18981}{}Render should be also split in many parts.
{19120}{}Let's set render parameters now.
{19204}{}I will render it in 256 x 256 resolution,|because it will be an icon.
{19349}{}I will scale it down then.
{19393}{}For this reason I can turn anti-aliasing (smoothing) off.
{19562}{}It is turned off already, because Blender|has saved this setting in my project.
{19770}{}Image size is 256 x 256.
{19865}{}Here I specify render splitting, so Blender|will render the image in smaller chunks.
{20052}{}Four rows and four columns gives us 16 render parts.
{20160}{}Image saving - it is an icon, so PNG format with alpha channel.
{20332}{}I'll try to make Efika render the image now.
{20514}{}We can see how much memory is used, about 8 MB, so not bad.
{20650}{20846}Now I've moved the window while|Blender is busy, so no redraw for now.
{20888}{}In spite the object is simple (it has only 667 faces)
{21013}{21207}CPU is quite busy because of the raytraced transparency I've used.
{21210}{}That is why it takes so long.
{21391}{}I have to admit, that it looks|a bit less realistic on the big screen.
{21545}{}It is because the screen reflects the light,|while CRT or LCD display emmits it, just like a LED.
{21725}{}On a monitor it looks even better.
{21811}{}It's not that bad anyway, considering it's an amateur work :-).
{21957}{22087}Now we can save the image to a file.
{22235}{}Let's name it "dioda2", because "dioda" is here already.
{22304}{}We save it as PNG with alpha channel.
{22535}{22680}We are done with the Blender part of job now.
{22676}{}It has taken some time, but I wanted to show live|that Blender on Efika is really usable.
{22860}{}It is not like it crashes every minute|because of memory outage, or something like that.
{22987}{}One can just work with the program.
{23069}{}Of course loading a scene with a million|or more faces can lead to "out of memory" message.
{23229}{}But for Blender learning and simple works Efika is enough.
{23324}{}I've learned Blender basics while making this icon.
{23387}{}I've started from reading QuickStart PDF|distributed with the program.
{23488}{}It contains introduction and advices for beginners.
{23596}{}Efika is a nice "learnstation" for Blender.
{23710}{}This is not the end of our work yet.|I will make a desktop icon from the image.
{24128}{}The image file is named "dioda2.png".
{24219}{}Ambient image viewer ignores alpha channel
{24322}{}that is why the blue background is still here.
{24413}{}I'll use an excellent, Polish application|ShowGirls for the icon processing.
{24608}{}ShowGirls is written by Michal "Kiero" Wozniak.
{24822}{24965}Let's load the image into ShowGirls.
{24968}{}We can see a typical gray background checkerboard.|It means the image is loaded with alpha.
{25137}{}What left to do? Showing all ShowGirls features|would require an additional hour or two.
{25330}{25490}I will just show operators needed for our task.
{25485}{}The first operation is cropping.
{25604}{}Let's cut it a bit...
{25841}{}That will make it.
{25880}{26070}Executing... Then we can scale the icon|to the typical 64 x 64 size.
{26075}{}So nice, we even have a preset here.|I've used it before a few times.
{26280}{}Lanczos filter is one of the best IMHO.
{26394}{}For such small images it is very fast, even on Efika.
{26468}{}It takes a few seconds however|when scaling photos from a digital camera.
{26588}{}It can be done however. Scaling...
{26708}{26885}Then the last operation - saving an icon|in PNG format changing the extension to ".info".
{26892}{}Ambient will recognize it as an icon automagically.
{27039}{}Saving...
{27179}{}I have some previous work here, so let's delete it to avoid mess.
{27307}{}Now we have only Blender icon and our LED icon in the drawer.
{27510}{}Here it is.
{27576}{}Looks quite good in my opinion.
{27640}{}Lighting effect can be seen better on a monitor.
{27768}{}It looks good on any background|because of rendered alpha channel.
{27958}{28324}Most of MorphOS icons are 3D renders.
{28325}{}Now we can (using an Efika) join|the elite group of MorphOS icon designers ;-).
{28433}{}That's the end, thank you for attention.
{28583}{}THE END