3D for iPhone Apps with Blender and SIO2: Your Guide to Creating 3D Games and More with Open-Source Software [Paperback]

Tony Mullen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 15, 2010

Create exciting, interactive 3D apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch

What a combination-using free, open-source Blender software and the SI02 game engine to create very cool 3D characters and games for the very hot devices of the moment, the iPhone and iPod Touch. Whether you're coming to this as an iPhone developer or as a Blender artist, this book is for you. Learn how to create 3D content using Blender's WYSIWYG approach, find helpful information on Xcode and other iPhone SDK topics, master physical collisions, and acquire the skills you need to bridge both worlds with fun, compelling content.

• Shows you what you need to know to use Blender software, the SI02 game engine, and iPhone SDK to create interactive 3D content for the iPhone and iPod Touch
• Walks you through a series of tutorials that you can use as starting points for your own creations
• Provides enough information on the iPhone software developer kit (SDK) to get you started quickly
• Covers Blender's physics simulation library, Bullet, and Blender's robust collision functionality

Bridge the exciting worlds of Blender and iPhone app development in an easy-to-follow pipeline with this one-of-a-kind guide.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Create dynamic 3D content for the iPhone

Take your design skills for the iPhone and iPod touch to new levels. Whether you're an iPhone application developer or a creative artist, this innovative guide shows you how to combine the best of both worlds using Blender, the SIO2 game engine, and the iPhone SDK. You'll create 3D animated characters, game environments, and physical collisions in a series of self-contained tutorials that you can move through at your own pace.

Examine Blender's WYSIWYG approach; find helpful information on Xcode and other iPhone SDK programming tools; learn physics simulation; and acquire the skills you need to create compelling, interactive, 3D apps and games.

• Explore 3D development for the iPhone and how to use the iPhone SDK

• Make your Blender designs interactive using the SIO2 game engine

• Discover how to light moving objects realistically

• Model ground and sky with SIO2 and immerse your players in a 3D world

• Master billboarding, a practical way to use 2D images in 3D environments

• Create invisible, low-poly collision maps to guide or control your character's movement

• Access Bullet, Blender's physics simulation library, for advanced functionality

• Animate characters in Blender—and add buttons, icons, and more with widgets

• Find complete code for all templates used in the book

Create multi-touch interactive apps with 3D objects, textures, and real-time lighting

Rig and animate 3D characters for your iPhone apps

Produce rich, immersive 3D environments with realistic physics for users to navigate

About the Author

Tony Mullen is a 3D artist and programmer residing in Tokyo, where he lectures in computer science at Tsuda College. He has written numerous magazine articles on Blender and graphics programming on the Mac for the Japanese magazine MacPeople. He is also the author or coauthor of several Blender-related books, including Introducing Character Animation with Blender; Bounce, Tumble, and Splash!: Simulating the Physical World with Blender 3D; and Mastering Blender, all from Sybex.

Product Details

• Paperback: 328 pages
• Publisher: Sybex; 1 edition (February 15, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470574925
• ISBN-13: 978-0470574928
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 0.6 x 9.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #927,875 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I'm a lecturer in computer science at Tsuda College, Tokyo and an independent filmmaker. I'm interested in animation of all kinds, but especially in CG animation using Blender, the open source 3D modeling and animation package.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars No Longer Relevant February 26, 2011

By Innocente

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

The one star rating is not so much a direct comment on the skill of the author or the content when it was first published, as it is a statement of the book's usefulness today.

The SIO2 of today is NOT the SI02 when this book was published.

SIO2 is NO LONGER a free engine. It now costs about $400 for the base system, and another $400 for the commercial distribution system. There is a 'Free Trial', but you cannot publish with it.

The English that appears on the site is very poor, and shows a foreign influence. Not necessarily bad, just indicative of the lack of care they have taken for what is now an expensive engine. The site has also been modeled after the Unity site, with very similar interactions, but MUCH less information on the Engine.

Note that there is still no integrated editor with SI02, you still have to do ALL the asset work in Blender, Maya, or the like.

All in all, this fine book is now made useless, sad to say.

My recommendation, if you want a commercial engine, is to go with Unity. You get the full engine for free to learn on. The iApp version is very expensive ($400 to start, then $3000 for the real commercial version). However, it does have an integrated IDE, and is far more polished.

Just be aware that if you do go with SI02, that this book is NOT going to help you. Not one bit.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Nice Work. Good for beginners. March 17, 2010

By Pat B. Ferguson

Format:Paperback

About two weeks ago, I was not even a Mac user, much less an Objective-C programmer. I got this book, and Sam's teach yourself iPhone Development in 24 hours. Well here I am two weeks later, and I made some 2D stuff on my iPod Touch using Sam's book, and I made some 3D geometry with physics using this book. If you have minimal programming experience, and a bit of 3D, you ca do it too.

Sometimes I had to go back and forth to troubleshoot why my 3D was not showing up, or the physics was not working properly, but once I knew what to look out for, I quickly resolved any issues.

All in all, I think this book is an excellent book for those wanting to get a start making 3D games for the iPhone/iPod Touch. This was just what I needed. Nice Work!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars short but packed. recommend for new iPhone 3D developers June 7, 2010

By Q. Lin

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Friendly casual writing throughout the book, quite easy to read.

The book comes with couple of exercises on xcode, and blender of course, together with nice explanation on what's happening, how and why.

Really nothing to complain, except two small issues stopping me click on 5 stars.

1. The book title says
"3D for iPhone Apps with Blender and SIO2: Your Guide to Creating 3D Games and More with Open-Source Software"
however I find the book lacking detail on how to apply animation and physics into real game use.

"3D for iPhone Apps with Blender and SIO2: Your Guide to Creating 3D Apps" would probably be more appropriate

2. sometimes the steps in the tutorial are not clear enough, which take me going back & forth on the book, on Blender, and on the source code.
As "E. Ward" mentioned. The tutorial steps can be in point form (not necessary with arrow), pretend us readers are idiot, tell us what exactly to click on, to type, etc. minimize the chance readers can go wrong.

Still a very good book and will defiantly recommend others.
And after reading this book, I've brought "Mastering Blender", as well as "Blender Studio Projects: Digital Movie-Making", both by Tony Mullen too.
(just before writing this review)