Rendering a perfume bottle with Blender
Tutorial – Blender
Blender's massive feature set can seem overwhelming at first. Choosing a manageable project can help you get started.
Blender, the free and open source creation suite, includes a modeler, three renderer engines, a compositor, a tracker, a nonlinear video-editing system, a particle system, and the ability to animate physical simulations and export them as video. Suffice it to say, figuring out where to start can be overwhelming. Picking a relatively manageable project is key. An easy way to start is to model a simple item, such as a perfume bottle. For this tutorial, I will model a transparent perfume bottle filled with liquid. By using concrete but varied shapes, a limited scope, and a small number of different materials (i.e., surfaces), this tutorial can help take the frustration out of getting started with Blender. (Note: Having some basic previous experience with Blender will be helpful in this tutorial).
Setup
I always recommend working with the latest version of Blender, which is currently 2.93. However, you will find Blender 2.93 in only a few distributions. For instance, Ubuntu 21.04 includes Blender 2.83.5, and Fedora provides the latest version via updates. If your distribution does not have the current release, you can download the program as a TAR.XZ file from Blender's homepage [1] and unpack the archive on your computer. Then call the program's binary, blender, or create a starter for the desktop environment and link to the TAR.XZ file.
Before getting started, you may want to make a couple of adjustments. If English isn't your first language, you can change the localization in Edit | Preferences… | Interface under Translation. Keep in mind that many of the menus will remain in English (and many online tutorials use English terminology).
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
US / Canada
UK / Australia
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
LibreOffice 25.2 Has Arrived
If you've been hoping for a release that offers more UI customizations, you're in for a treat.
-
TuxCare Has a Big AlmaLinux 9 Announcement in Store
TuxCare announced it has successfully completed a Security Technical Implementation Guide for AlmaLinux OS 9.
-
First Release Candidate for Linux Kernel 6.14 Now Available
Linus Torvalds has officially released the first release candidate for kernel 6.14 and it includes over 500,000 lines of modified code, making for a small release.
-
System76 Refreshes Meerkat Mini PC
If you're looking for a small form factor PC powered by Linux, System76 has exactly what you need in the Meerkat mini PC.
-
Gnome 48 Alpha Ready for Testing
The latest Gnome desktop alpha is now available with plenty of new features and improvements.
-
Wine 10 Includes Plenty to Excite Users
With its latest release, Wine has the usual crop of bug fixes and improvements, along with some exciting new features.
-
Linux Kernel 6.13 Offers Improvements for AMD/Apple Users
The latest Linux kernel is now available, and it includes plenty of improvements, especially for those who use AMD or Apple-based systems.
-
Gnome 48 Debuts New Audio Player
To date, the audio player found within the Gnome desktop has been meh at best, but with the upcoming release that all changes.
-
Plasma 6.3 Ready for Public Beta Testing
Plasma 6.3 will ship with KDE Gear 24.12.1 and KDE Frameworks 6.10, along with some new and exciting features.
-
Budgie 10.10 Scheduled for Q1 2025 with a Surprising Desktop Update
If Budgie is your desktop environment of choice, 2025 is going to be a great year for you.