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[edit] Chapter 0: How to get Blender and Install it

By Roland Hess

[edit] WHERE TO GET BLENDER

If you have the disk that came with this book, a version of Blender for several operating systems can be found on it in the folder called "blender." If you do not have access to the disk, Blender can be downloaded for free from the Download section of the official Blender website:

http://www.blender.org/

The officially supported platforms are: Windows (98/2000/XP/Vista), Macintosh OS X (both PowerPC and Intel), Linux on Intel and PPC, Solaris and FreeBSD.

Figure 00.01: Downloading Blender.

[edit] HOW TO INSTALL BLENDER

The great news is that Blender is almost entirely self-contained. It will not add files all over your system directories or change your system's settings.

Find your operating system below:

[edit] Windows

The installer is called "blender-2.49b-avifix-windows.exe". Double-clicking will run an installation wizard that copies Blender to your hard drive and registers Blender's .blend file type with Windows. It will also create a Blender program group in your Start menu and add an icon to your desktop, if you choose. Simply accept the wizard's defaults for a trouble-free installation.

To run Blender afterward, either double-click the shortcut that was added to your desktop, or find "Blender" in the "Blender Foundation" folder that has been added to your Start menu.

[edit] Macintosh OS X

Depending on whether you have one of the older PowerPC-based Macs (G5, G4), or one of the newer Intel macs (Mac Pro, newer iMacs, MacBook Pro, etc.), find the appropriate folder.

• MacPPC: The file is called "blender-2.49b-OSX-10.3-py2.3.tar.bz2". This version of Blender works with OS X version 10.3 or later.
• MacIntel: The file is called "blender-2.49b-OSX-10.5-py2.5-intel.zip". This version of Blender works with OS X version 10.5 or later.

When copied to your desktop and decompressed, either of these files creates a folder with everything you need inside. This folder may be moved into your Applications folder. To run Blender, simply double-click on the Blender icon inside the folder. No installation procedure is needed.

[edit] Linux

The Linux version of Blender comes in two flavors, one for Intel machines and one for PowerPC. You will find the archive file inside the appropriate folder:

• LinuxIntel: The file is called "blender-2.49b-linux-glibc232-py25-i386.tar.bz2"
• LinuxPPC: The file is called "blender-2.49b-linux-glibc2.3.2-powerpc.tar.bz2"

Both versions use Python 2.5, and require glibc 2.3.6. The archive can be decompressed, and the resulting folder moved to the location of your choice in your Home directory.

[edit] Solaris

The Solaris version, called "blender-2.49b-solaris-2.10-sparc_64-py2.5.tar.bz2", in the Solaris folder, requires Solaris 2.10 / Sparc. The unzipped directory can be moved to the path of your choosing.

[edit] Irix

The Irix version, called "blender-2.49b-irix-6.5-mips-py2.5.tar.gz", in the Irix folder, requires Irix 6.5. The unzipped directory can be moved to the path of your choosing.

[edit] TROUBLESHOOTING

Blender will not run at all...

[edit] Windows

One of the major reasons that Blender can (rarely) fail on a Windows system is a lack of proper support for OpenGL. OpenGL is a cross-platform industry standard library, and the graphics system that Blender uses. Almost all video cards support OpenGL, but some support it better than others. If Blender will not run on your Windows system at all, try to update your video card drivers.

[edit] Mac OS X

Most likely, you are using the wrong version of Blender for your computer (Intel vs. PPC). Try the other one.

Blender runs, but it seems to get slower and slower as you work...

This is called the "ATI" bug. Certain versions of the ATI Catalyst drivers (around 3.1 and up) have problems the heavy use that Blender makes of OpenGL. Currently, the only way around this is to revert to an older version of their OpenGL driver.

Blender runs, but the display is blurry/shows strange colors/etc...

Most likely, OpenGL anti-aliasing has been enabled in your video card settings. Disabling video-card based anti-aliasing will solve this problem. Also, if color problems persist, or buttons seem to be blacked out, try setting a different color depth to your monitor (16-bit, 24-bit, etc.).