Readme

                       Blender V1.7x
						
                Not a Number, the Netherlands
						
						



--------------------- GENERAL INFORMATION----------------------------------

Blender is a free and fully functional 3D modeling/rendering/animation 
package for Unix/Windows/BeOS systems. Blender is distributed without sources, 
it is exclusively developed and maintained by the Dutch company NaN.

This software is free to be applied for any purpose, excluding commercial
distribution. For more about this, read the copyright notice included 
in the download file.

Starting with release 1.7 Blender will unlock certain (new) features and
new development for paying users only. This is the C-Key system. For
only 95 Euro you get texture plugins, postproduction plugins, motion blur,
and much more.
					  
More information about Blender:
- The website:
	http://www.blender.nl
- The HTML manual:
	ftp://ftp.blender.nl/pub/manual_1.5.zip
- The first chapter (PDF) of the new tutorial guide:
	ftp://ftp.blender.nl/pub/chapter-one.zip
- The tutor demo files, including README:
	ftp://ftp.blender.nl/pub/tutor_1.02.zip
	ftp://ftp.blender.nl/pub/tutor_1.6.zip
- The Blender news-server: to post questions and contact other users:
	link at: http://www.blender.nl
- Bug reports can posted at the news-server as well.
- Links to totorials made by users:
	http://www.blender.nl/stuff/
- Links to user sites:
	http://www.blender.nl/users/userlinks.html

The best resource is of course the printed Blender manual.
This wonderfully designed 312 pages book contains tutorials, examples 
and a complete description of every aspect of the interface. 
You can visit the shop page of the Blender site for more about this.

Thank you for downloading Blender, I hope you will enjoy using it.

Ton Roosendaal
Not a Number
ton@blender.nl



----------------------Blender for x86 Windows ---------------------------------

- Installation for x86 Windows 95/98/NT systems.

  Blender is distributed as a single zipped file named
  blender1.7x_Windows.exe where the x is replaced by
  the version number.

  To install Blender you only need to double-click its icon.

  The self expander will create a directory of your choice
  which contains the executable and a few text files. To
  run Blender open Windows Explorer to the directory it
  was expanded into and double click the Blender icon.


- Start Blender

  To start Blender, double click the blender.exe icon.
  When executed the first time, Blender searches for the Windows
  directory, and copies 3 small user files in it:
  - .B.blend  : user definable startup file
  - .Bfs      : textfile, default directories
  - .Bfont    : the default vector font


- OpenGL library

  If you get the error:
	  "cannot find glu32.dll" or
	  "cannot find opengl32.dll" or
  you need to get ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/softlib/mslfiles/opengl95.exe
  and install it.


- 3 Button Mice

  If you have a 3 button mouse, but are unable to use it with Blender
  try going to the Control Panel, and double-clicking the Mouse icon.
  Look for a setting to "Unmap the middle mouse button" or to "Use
  the middle mouse button as the middle mouse button".


- 2 Button Mice

  All aspects of Blender's interface have been designed for use with
  a 3 button mouse. If you only have a 2 button mouse we strongly
  recommend you purchase a 3 button mouse, however, if you are
  unable to do so you can use Alt-left mouse to emulate 
  a middle mouse button.

  If that fails, try loading an alternate driver, for example a
  compatible Logitech driver. Typically the Logitech drivers come
  with middle mouse support enabled.


- Important tips

  - Blender is still being tested for Windows. We try to bring out
    new versions each 2-3 weeks.

  - 3D cards don't work all proper with OpenGL. The most common problem
    is the Zbuffer depth (16 instead of 24/32 bits). To solve for 
    annoying artifacts, set the "ClipSta" value of the Camera at 1.0.
    (in F9 menu with an active Camera Object).

  - If you have errors starting Blender, or Blender displays incorrectly
    try downloading ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/softlib/mslfiles/opengl95.exe
    and unpacking it and copying the opengl32.dll and glu32.dll files
    into the Blender directory.

  - For questions about the Windows Blender you can visit the news-server,
    linked at http://www.blender.nl. There is a special forum for Windows
    related issues.