Python can be used for all kinds of things in Blender; for everything from automating tasks to creating custom UIs to developing entirely new, advanced tools like the RetopoFlow tool.
In many ways it is the advanced artists true best friend, as it allows you to push Blender much further than before and to shape it better fit your own needs and workflow. In this course you will learn how to manipulate Blender objects with handler functions. Handler functions are extremely powerful because you can use them do exactly what you want, when you want (such as moving an object on each frame change). It's possible to create this effect using functions that execute every time the frame in the current/specified Blender scene changes. When combined with the fact that we can access nearly everything in Blender through Python, the possibilities become endless.
Learn to extend your abilities
Through this three part course you will quickly learn how to utilize Blender's Python handler functions to extend your abilities.
- In the first video, you'll go through a basic introduction to handler functions in Blender, learning what they are, how to use them, and why they're powerful.
- During the second video you'll adapt a statistical moving average to make one object smoothly trail another object (such as a camera trying to follow a target).
- Then in the final video you'll learn how to write a full script to create the trail effect shown above, again using the moving average.
New to Python?
To successfully follow along with this course, some prior Python knowledge is required. No need to worry though, if you are a total newbie to Python you can quickly catch up at http://www.codecademy.com/en/tracks/python. Python is not hard to learn. You can also check out the rest of the Python tutorials here on Blender Cookie.
