A 3-day long, all-round live training course on the more technical subjects of Blender 2.8. From getting to know the Cycles render engine inside out to simulation systems and the allmighty Animation Nodes addon. We expect participants to already know Blender’s basics.

An Epitrochoid is another example of a figure that can be created in Blender using the Animation Nodes addon and a bit of math. Frederik Steinmetz shows how to save a lot of node-wrangling by placing the formulas right inside an expression node.

Animation Nodes in Blender 2.8 can make math less daunting than usual. In the first part of this series Frederik Steinmetz shows how to convert a mathematical formula into an animation nodes tree that procedurally creates the famous trefoil knot.

In Blender 2.8 the camera got viewport widgets as well. One to change the focal length which is always on and one to change the focal plane which needs to be activated first. Gottfried Hofmann gives a quick overview.

In Blender 2.8 light objects in the viewport have widgets that allow for a point-and-shoot lighting workflow, easy resizing and more. Gottfried Hofmann guides you through all of them.

I'm just going to claim: "If you work with cycles on a fairly regular basis, you need The Cycles Encyclopedia." And here is why:

Hurray, the long-awaited update for The Cycles Encyclopedia is finally out. As promised it is free for every user who has already purchased the book. All updates refer to the official Blender 2.79b release. Here is what we added:

Subsurface scattering (SSS) is an essential tool to make organic materials look real. They are probably most commonly used in human skin, but they pretty much apply for any living object, as well as some inanimate ones. Our skin consists of several layers, which all have different colors. Contrary to plastic they are also very heterogenous, meaning they consist of cells, blood, collagen and more. As a result light that penetrates the surface gets scattered.

Blender 2.8 is in it's final stages of development. A lot has happend over the past year. Those used to the interface of Blender 2.7x might not even recognize their favorite 3D application anymore. Follow us on a journey through the development of the Blender 2.8 user interface.