How to Make a Delicious Soft Drink in Blender 2.5: Part One

Sorry, Hester, but there was something wrong with Blender 2.4 on my computer, so I can't do the tree tutorial quite yet. But in the meantime, here's a 2.5 tutorial.

The final render result of this tutorial

1.Start with the default screen of Blender 2.5. Delete the default cube and add a circle. Click on "fill" in the "add circle" panel on the left. Then tab to edit mode, and extrude the circle (E>1). Then tab back to object mode and scale it (S>X>shift+Z>2). Then go back to edit mode. All the topmost vertices will probably be selected. If they're not, de-select everything and select them. Then hit E>S>X>shift+Z>1.3. Then hit E>5. When you hit E, your extrusion should already be locked onto the Z axis. If it is, you should see a blue line through your mesh. If it isn't, then you won't see anything. In that case, press Z after you press E. With the topmost vertices still selected, press X or Delete, then choose "faces" from the menu that pops up. Then select the topmost vertices and hit E>S>1.1.

2.Back in object mode, click on "smooth" in the sading panel. Then go to the checkerboard circle (the materials panel) and... wait! If I were anyone else, I'd tell you to add a new material. But don't. If you click on the checkerboard circle (browse ID data), you'll see that Blender comes with a material named "material" by default. I'm big on not having extra materials and textures, so select the default material. And if there isn't one, add one. Name it "CupTransp." Go down and select the box next to the word "tranparency." Then open that panel, and change the type of transparancy to RayTrace. Turn the fresnel up to "2.5."

3.Then go to the Textures panel and click on the Browse ID Data button (the checkerboard square) and click on "Tex." If there isn't a default texture already, add a new one. Name your texture "CupTex." Change the texture type to "Blend." Then change the Blend to "Diagonal." Then scroll down and change the color of the texture from pink to gray.

4.Next, select the default lamp and hit G>-Y>3, then G>Z>4. Then go to the lamp panels and change it to a hemi, and give it a slightly yellow color. Change the energy level up to 1.450. Now for rigging the camera. Select your cup, then tab to edit mode. Now, this step has to be done in edit mode. Select all the vertices with either Ctrl+L or A. Then hit G>-Z>3. Then tab back to object mode and do the same agian, but on the positive-Z axis. That has just moved the object center (the orange dot) to the actual center of the cup. Slect the camera, the Shift+select the cup. Hit Ctrl+T, then click on "Damped track to constraint." Then go to top view and select only the camera, then hit G>X>5, and G>-Y>5. Then G>Z>6. Then render your cup with F12.

The result should look something like this.