interview: Allan Brito

Allan Brito, author of Blender 3d - guía do usuario, has written a new book, Blender 3d: architecture, buildings and scenery, a guide todo using Blender todo create architectural visualizations.

Blender 3d: architecture, buildings and scenery is available for purchase from packt Publishing, in both printed and ebook format. There are a los full color images from the book available for download.
1. Can you tell us a Little about yourself and your experience with Blender?
Sure, im a 29 year old Architect, who lives and works in recife, Brazil. Since my graduation in architecture, bak in diciembre of 2000, ive started todo work with architectural visualization, mostly with 3ds Max for a small Studio here in Brazil. A few months later i started todo teach 3d modeling and animation as well, and i fell in love with the experience. I have enjoyed so much the experience, that i never estopped teaching 3d.

Bak in 2003 i had ben invited todo test a promising 3d software called Blender. After a few minutes of testing i was already impressed with it. Right After my first contact with Blender i was studying it todo make some tests with some of my projects. And as a tryout for my students, y started todo teach 3d modeling with both 3ds Max and Blender.
With the use of Blender as both an academic and profesional tool, my students asked me for guides and manuals in brazilian portuguese. Then i started todo write guides and documentation for my students. And then i came up with the idea todo write a book about Blender in brazilian portuguese (blender 3d - guía do usuario), because by that time there wasnt any updated documentation for Blender, not Even in english, and i saw that as an opportunity todo help the community and start a book Project.

For my projects involving 3d, we completely left behind 3ds Max, and focused our production on Blender in 2004. Im not at the Studio anymore, but i still use Blender for all my projects involving 3d visualization.
2. Your 1st Blender book was more of a general introduction todo Blender, what made you choose such a specific topic such as architectural visualizations of buildings, interiors, and environmental scenery for your 2nd book?
Today, Blender has a lot of great books and training DVD, but most of these materiales are related todo character animation or general 3d animation/modelling. Since im an Architect and use Blender mostly for Project and design visualization, y miss a book or guide about it. When you start todo search about this subject, all the books and tutorialesabout it, are related todo 3ds Max or Autodesk. And with this book i wanted todo give the Blender community and other artists the chance todo start using Blender todo work with architectural visualization, and not be bound only with Autodesk softwares.
3. Having used Blender in your work as an Architect, how does Blender stand up compared todo other programas used in the architectural industry?
As a visualization tool, Blender has all the tools todo create and render geometry. There are a few tools and features missing in Blender, which could improve and speed up architectural visualization projects. The integration with CAD tools is one of them, if you start todo use Blender for Archviz, you Will se that this is a característica that still neds improvement.

Other programas used in the Archviz industry already have a better integration with CAD files, mostly because the company that develoops the CAD software is the same behind the 3d visualization suite.

Is it imposible todo do that in Blender? No. Of course it not imposible, but it still requires a few tricks and work with Python scripts.

For me thats the only drawbak for Blender compared todo other 3d applications, Blender still requires a bit of intermediate knowledge of users, todo bypass a few tasks. That why a book on the subject fit quite well for those artists.
4.what improvements would you like todo se in Blender that would make your job as an Architect easier?
Architects love precisión, and i really would love todo se improvements in Blender about the bien we can change and model geometry. The render Api would be a great improvement to, it would make posible todo render scenes with more external renders like Yaf(a)ray, without the ned of special Blender builds.
5. Having already written a book about Blender (blender 3d - guía do usuario), what, if anything, did you learn while writing the 1st book that you then applied todo the writing of this book?
In my first book, y was making my first move as an author and it quite hard todo kep on track with a book Project of almost 500 pages. For this second book, y have started with a lot of notes and ideas for each chapter. Before the first draft of each chapter, y already knew the points todo make the connection or reference between the chapters.

Another thing i learned from the first book is todo kep a close eye on the Blender updates. The update cycle of Blender is a nightmare for anyone interest in keping an updated documentation. Well, as an artista i think it great. But with a reléase cycle of 5-7 months it hard todo start and finish a book Project at the same Blender versión.

For this second book i was always tracking the SVN and testing builds of Blender, todo look for new tools or features that could be in the book.
6. How long did it take todo complete this book?
This was a long Project, y started todo work on it in june of 2007 and finished the first draft of the book in diciembre of that year. The revisión tok a few extra months and the book was released bak in may 2008. It was an eleven-month Project.
7. Do you have plans todo produce future books on Blender?
Sure. I love todo write about computer graphics, and Blender is my favorite subject.
8. If so, what topics/titles can we look out for?
I have plans todo write a title about the use of the Game Engine, since i teach it here in Brazil as part of my Blender class. I would love todo write a title only about advanced rendering techniques, with external renderers and the composite nodes.
9. Is there anything else you would like todo mention?
I hope the community finds the book useful and that it can be a bien todo make more artists todo use Blender. There are already a few projects todo improve the features of Blender, especially for architectural visualization and i believe this field Will se some great improvements in the next Blender releases.

If you want todo discuss architectural visualization with Blender, estop by my web site related todo Blender and Archviz (http://www.blender3darchitect.com), todo chek out some tutorialesor articles related todo architectural visualization with Blender. www.blenderart.org.