Blender is the ultimate graphics application. It can be used for modelling, UV unwrapping, texturing, rigging, water and smoke simulation, skinning, animating, rendering, particle and other simulations, non-linear editing, compositing and interactive 3D applications (including video games, animated film or visual effects). It is free and open source.
I installed it via the Ubuntu Software Centre in Ubuntu 11.04 but found that I only had Blender 2.49, which had a completely different GUI (graphical user interface – the visual windows etc.,) from the Blender shown in the tutorial videos, which made learning it difficult. The software shown in these videos is 2.5. The first stable release was Blender 2.57a. The current release is Blender 2.57b, which is also considered to be stable (although that doesn’t mean that there won’t be some minor bugs). Here’s what I did to install it:
Installation Instructions
Italics = location on system, Bold = all I have typed, Plain Text = Output From Terminal.
First, I opened the Terminal, by opening a shortcut I have but normally you can find it in Applications – Accessories – Terminal. Do not be afraid. This is scary territory for many new linux users but there is nothing to worry about, especially in the case of Blender. Blender is maintained by a large community and some paid staff, via the Blender Institution. I don’t think there is any risk that this is going to harm your machine. It’s just going to give you a version of Blender not yet approved by the Ubuntu community.
Secondly, you have to be online.
Thirdly, everything that follows in bold is what I have typed, everything else is provided for you see what to expect:
ScrapperDuncan@MyLinuxMachine:~$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:cheleb/blender-svn
[sudo] password for ScrapperDuncan: [password]
Executing: gpg –ignore-time-conflict –no-options –no-default-keyring –secret-keyring /etc/apt/secring.gpg –trustdb-name /etc/apt/trustdb.gpg –keyring /etc/apt/trusted.gpg –primary-keyring /etc/apt/trusted.gpg –keyserver hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com:80/ –recv 4D85A105373204F2AFDE7483048A1684108A879C
gpg: requesting key 108A879C from hkp server keyserver.ubuntu.com
gpg: key 108A879C: public key “Launchpad Cheleb’s PPA” imported
gpg: Total number processed: 1
gpg: imported: 1 (RSA: 1)
ScrapperDuncan@MyLinuxMachine:~$ sudo apt-get update
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty InRelease
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-updates InRelease
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-security InRelease
Ign http://archive.canonical.com natty InRelease
Ign http://extras.ubuntu.com natty InRelease
Ign http://ppa.launchpad.net natty InRelease
Ign http://dl.google.com stable InRelease
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com natty Release.gpg
Hit http://archive.canonical.com natty Release.gpg
Get:1 http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-updates Release.gpg [198 B]
Get:2 http://extras.ubuntu.com natty Release.gpg [72 B]
Get:3 http://ppa.launchpad.net natty Release.gpg [316 B]
Hit http://extras.ubuntu.com natty Release
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-security Release.gpg
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com natty Release
Hit http://archive.canonical.com natty Release
Get:4 http://ppa.launchpad.net natty Release [9,738 B]
Get:5 http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-updates Release [27.2 kB]
Hit http://extras.ubuntu.com natty/main Sources
Get:6 http://dl.google.com stable Release.gpg [198 B]
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-security Release
Hit http://archive.canonical.com natty/partner Sources
Hit http://extras.ubuntu.com natty/main i386 Packages
Ign http://extras.ubuntu.com natty/main TranslationIndex
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com natty/main Sources
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com natty/restricted Sources
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com natty/universe Sources
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com natty/multiverse Sources
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com natty/main i386 Packages
Get:7 http://ppa.launchpad.net natty/main Sources [701 B]
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com natty/restricted i386 Packages
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com natty/universe i386 Packages
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com natty/multiverse i386 Packages
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty/main TranslationIndex
Hit http://archive.canonical.com natty/partner i386 Packages
Ign http://archive.canonical.com natty/partner TranslationIndex
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty/multiverse TranslationIndex
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty/restricted TranslationIndex
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty/universe TranslationIndex
Get:8 http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-updates/main Sources [26.2 kB]
Get:9 http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-updates/restricted Sources [14 B]
Get:10 http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-updates/universe Sources [6,916 B]
Get:11 http://ppa.launchpad.net natty/main i386 Packages [1,399 B]
Ign http://ppa.launchpad.net natty/main TranslationIndex
Get:12 http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-updates/multiverse Sources [1,362 B]
Get:13 http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-updates/main i386 Packages [95.2 kB]
Get:14 http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-updates/restricted i386 Packages [14 B]
Get:15 http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-updates/universe i386 Packages [33.7 kB]
Ign http://extras.ubuntu.com natty/main Translation-en_GB
Get:16 http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-updates/multiverse i386 Packages [3,379 B]
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-updates/main TranslationIndex
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-updates/multiverse TranslationIndex
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-updates/restricted TranslationIndex
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-updates/universe TranslationIndex
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-security/main Sources
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-security/restricted Sources
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-security/universe Sources
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-security/multiverse Sources
Ign http://archive.canonical.com natty/partner Translation-en_GB
Ign http://extras.ubuntu.com natty/main Translation-en
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-security/main i386 Packages
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-security/restricted i386 Packages
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-security/universe i386 Packages
Ign http://archive.canonical.com natty/partner Translation-en
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-security/multiverse i386 Packages
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-security/main TranslationIndex
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-security/multiverse TranslationIndex
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-security/restricted TranslationIndex
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-security/universe TranslationIndex
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com natty/main Translation-en_GB
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com natty/multiverse Translation-en_GB
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com natty/restricted Translation-en_GB
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com natty/universe Translation-en_GB
Ign http://ppa.launchpad.net natty/main Translation-en_GB
Ign http://ppa.launchpad.net natty/main Translation-en
Get:17 http://dl.google.com stable Release [1,347 B]
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty/main Translation-en
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty/multiverse Translation-en
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty/restricted Translation-en
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty/universe Translation-en
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-updates/main Translation-en_GB
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-updates/main Translation-en
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-updates/multiverse Translation-en_GB
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-updates/multiverse Translation-en
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-updates/restricted Translation-en_GB
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-updates/restricted Translation-en
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-updates/universe Translation-en_GB
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-updates/universe Translation-en
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-security/main Translation-en_GB
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-security/main Translation-en
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-security/multiverse Translation-en_GB
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-security/multiverse Translation-en
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-security/restricted Translation-en_GB
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-security/restricted Translation-en
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-security/universe Translation-en_GB
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-security/universe Translation-en
Get:18 http://dl.google.com stable/main i386 Packages [1,084 B]
Ign http://dl.google.com stable/main TranslationIndex
Ign http://dl.google.com stable/main Translation-en_GB
Ign http://dl.google.com stable/main Translation-en
Fetched 209 kB in 7s (27.1 kB/s)
Reading package lists… Done
ScrapperDuncan@MyLinuxMachine:~$ sudo apt-get install blender
Reading package lists… Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information… Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
g++-4.4 libftgl2 libstdc++6-4.4-dev libalut0 hal libkprintutils4 libkrossui4
docbook-xsl-doc-html libhal-storage1 libtinyxml2.5.3 smartdimmer hal-info
esound-clients libglademm-2.4-1c2a libkutils4
Use ‘apt-get autoremove’ to remove them.
The following extra packages will be installed:
libdb5.1 libpython3.2 python3.2 python3.2-minimal
Suggested packages:
python3.2-doc python3.2-profiler
The following NEW packages will be installed
libdb5.1 libpython3.2 python3.2 python3.2-minimal
The following packages will be upgraded:
blender
1 upgraded, 4 newly installed, 0 to remove and 34 not upgraded.
Need to get 21.8 MB of archives.
After this operation, 40.2 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? Y
Get:1 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ natty/main python3.2-minimal i386 3.2-1ubuntu1 [1,709 kB]
Get:2 http://ppa.launchpad.net/cheleb/blender-svn/ubuntu/ natty/main blender i386 2.57.1+svn36733~natty1 [14.3 MB]
Get:3 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ natty/main libdb5.1 i386 5.1.19-2ubuntu1 [682 kB]
Get:4 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ natty/main python3.2 i386 3.2-1ubuntu1 [3,828 kB]
Get:5 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ natty/main libpython3.2 i386 3.2-1ubuntu1 [1,207 kB]
Fetched 21.8 MB in 22s (968 kB/s)
Selecting previously deselected package python3.2-minimal.
(Reading database … 275152 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking python3.2-minimal (from …/python3.2-minimal_3.2-1ubuntu1_i386.deb) …
Selecting previously deselected package libdb5.1.
Unpacking libdb5.1 (from …/libdb5.1_5.1.19-2ubuntu1_i386.deb) …
Selecting previously deselected package python3.2.
Unpacking python3.2 (from …/python3.2_3.2-1ubuntu1_i386.deb) …
Selecting previously deselected package libpython3.2.
Unpacking libpython3.2 (from …/libpython3.2_3.2-1ubuntu1_i386.deb) …
Preparing to replace blender 2.49.2~dfsg-2ubuntu4 (using …/blender_2.57.1+svn36733~natty1_i386.deb) …
Unpacking replacement blender …
Processing triggers for man-db …
Processing triggers for bamfdaemon …
Rebuilding /usr/share/applications/bamf.index…
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils …
Processing triggers for python-gmenu …
Rebuilding /usr/share/applications/desktop.en_GB.utf8.cache…
Processing triggers for hicolor-icon-theme …
Processing triggers for python-support …
Setting up python3.2-minimal (3.2-1ubuntu1) …
Setting up libdb5.1 (5.1.19-2ubuntu1) …
Setting up python3.2 (3.2-1ubuntu1) …
Setting up libpython3.2 (3.2-1ubuntu1) …
Setting up blender (2.57.1+svn36733~natty1) …
Processing triggers for libc-bin …
ldconfig deferred processing now taking place
ScrapperDuncan@MyLinuxMachine:~$
You can can type exit to quit the terminal. Blender 2.5 is now installed and you can follow the latest tutorials!