Blender

Basics

Classroom Tutorial Book

By James Chronister

 2004 by James Chronister. This document may not be reproduced without permission from the author. You may not bundle this tutorial with any software or documentation that is intended for marketing without expressed written approval from the author. Inquiries and comments can be directed to [email protected]. Information regarding the Blender program and development can be found at www.blender.org.

Table of Contents:
Introduction ................................................................................ 1 Explanation of Rendering and Animation ........................... Basic Commands....................................................................... 2 4

The Blender Interface................................................................ 6 Open, Save and Append ......................................................... 8 Working with Viewports (windows)........................................ 10 Creating and Editing Objects.................................................... 15 Lighting and Cameras................................................................ 24 Importing Objects........................................................................ 28 Materials and Textures.............................................................. 29 World Settings............................................................................. 37 Render Window Settings.......................................................... 40 Raytracing.................................................................................... 43 Animation Basics....................................................................... Adding 3D Text........................................................................... 45 51

NURBS and Meta Shape Basics............................................. 54 Effects (build, wave, particles)................................................ 57

Child-Parent Relationships...................................................... 63 Working with Constraints........................................................ Working with Paths and Curves............................................ Armatures (bones).................................................................... Relative Vertex Keys (mesh deformation)........................... Creating Springs, Screws and Gears.................................... Basic Game Engine Description and Set-up....................... 65 67 70 74 77 81

Practice Exercises

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.

Viewports Practice Exercise...................................................... 14 Creating Objects Practice Exercise..................................... 17 Basic Editing Practice Exercise............................................... 21 More Basic Editing Practice Exercise.................................... 23 Lighting and Camera Practice Exercise................................ 27 Materials and Textures Practice Exercise............................ 36

Adding a World Practice Exercise........................................... 39 Rendering Practice Exercise.................................................... 42 Raytracing Practice Exercise................................................... 44 Animation Basics Practice Exercise...................................... 50 3D Text Practice Exercise......................................................... 53 Meta Shape Practice Exercise................................................. 56 Effects Practice Exercise.......................................................... 62 Child-Parent Relationships Practice Exercise.................... Camera Constraint Practice Exercise................................... 64 66

Paths and Curves Practice Exercise..................................... 69 Working With Armatures Practice Exercise......................... 73 Relative Vertex Keys Practice Exercise.............................. Gear Design Practice Exercise............................................... Game Engine Practice Exercise............................................. 76 80 85

About Blender
How can Blender be free? People usually associate freeware software with the terms bad, with limited features or just a demo. Blender is fully functional. It works as an open-sourced, community development program where people from around the world contribute to its success. Blender is a rendering\animation\game development open-sourced freeware program maintained by the Blender Foundation and can be downloaded, free of charge, from www.blender.org. The goal of the foundation can be summarized as follows: The Blender Foundation is an independent organization (a Dutch stichting), acting as a non-profit public benefit corporation, with the following goals:

To organize a fund raising campaign in order to finance the 100,000 one time license fee To give the worldwide Internet community access to 3D technology in general, with Blender as a core To establish services for active users and developers of Blender To maintain and improve the current Blender product via a public accessible source code system under the GNU GPL license To establish funding or revenue mechanisms that serve the foundations goals and cover the foundations expenses Blender website (blender.org)

Blender can be a difficult program to learn with limitless possibilities. What do you teach in the time you have to teach? Thats a tough question because you cant teach it all. This tutorial book is designed to get you up and running in the basics of creating objects and scenes and animating. The best advice I can give you about learning this program is Dont Give Up! Any rendering and animation program has a tough learning curve and Blender is no exception. After a few weeks, things get easier. This tutorial has been developed to be used in conjunction with daily lesson planning and demonstrations. Because of this, some areas of Blender have not been described as fully as they could be. If you are using this guide as a stand-alone teaching or self-help tool, you may need to seek additional help from reputable places like www.blender.org and www.elysiun.com to make sense of things. These sites give you access to help forums and tutorials. There are literally thousands of Blender users world-wide that browse the forums to give and get advice. Make use of that vast knowledge base!

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Rendering and Animation Basics

RENDERING: A rendering is a pictorial output of a 3D scene or object. Features like materials, lighting, oversampling and shadows control the effects and quality of the rendering. The more of these features you add, the more realistic your scene become, but also lengthens rendering times. Materials and Textures: You can control they way an object appears by applying color and textures. Materials provide realism with added effects. You an control glossiness (specularity), self-emitting lighting characteristics, transparency and pattern repetition. Textures can be made from any scanned photograph or drawn object in paint. The file needs to be saved as a jpeg or bitmap in most cases, depending on the program. For Blender, the image should be square and based off of 8 x 8 pixels (16x16, 64x64, 256x256), however, off size and rectangular images usually work also. Higher pixel images provide sharper images, but increase file sizes. Lighting: Lighting provides the realism to your scene through reflections and shadows. You can control the type of light, intensity and color. Some lights can give a fog or dusty look with a halo or volume lighting effect. Illumination distances can also be set. Cameras: Your camera is your point-of-view for the scene. Just like a real camera, you can control lens length to achieve close-ups or wide angles. Clipping distance can also be set to control how far and near the camera sees. ANIMATION: An animation is a series of rendered images that form a movie. The quality of your movie is controlled by all of the above mentioned features including frames per second (fps), output size, file type and compression. The most common method of animation is called keyframing. Key frames are created at various points in the animation while the computer generates all of the transition frames between the two keys. Basic animation options include changing size, rotation and location of objects.

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Time Factors: In order to animate, you must first set the length of your animation in frames and your frames per second (fps). The length in time can be calculated from these. Frame Rate Options: NTSC- U.S. and Japan video standard of 30 fps Film- Movie standard of 24 fps PAL- European video standard of 25 fps Custom- set your own fps *We typically use a frame rate of 15 fps because most computers will display this rate smoothly, rendering times are shorter, and the animation quality is still high. With better computers, weve been using 25 fps more often. Creating Keys: A key is placed at the beginning and end of a desired move, size change or rotation of an object. Think in terms of how long you want a change to occur and relate it to your fps. For example, if you want an object to move from point A to point B in 2 seconds and you have 15 fps, place 2 keys 30 frames apart. Following Paths and Objects: In most animation programs, a camera can follow a path or object (or both) as it moves. This feature saves a lot of animation time and reduces the number of keys needed. Output Options: We typically save our movies in AVI format for windows. This type of file plays easily on most media players. Compression agents allow us to control file size to a degree. However, animations can be rather large in size and may take up to several hundred megabytes of disk space. A compression agent, which we found to work well with most computers, is Indeo 5.1. For good output size, we typically use a resolution of 640 x 480 pixels. This is considered low resolution for computers and produces good full-screen quality when played. Real-Time Animation (Blender only): Real-time animation allows you to add physical properties to your objects and use the keyboard and other features to control them. You can create actors, change masses, control dampening (friction), set force and torque in x, y, and z planes and create relationships with other objects within the scene. With time and practice, interesting 3D games and real-time architectural walk-throughs can be created.

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Basic Blender Commands

This is just a partial list of Blender commands. Please visit the Blender.org website for more details and tutorials

Toggles between edit mode (vertex editing) and object select mode. If youre in edit mode when you create a new object, it will be joined to the selected object. O keyThe O key (not zero) will put you into proportional vertex editing while in edit mode. A keyWhile in edit mode its good for selecting all vertices for commands like remove doubles and subdivide. A twice will clear selected and reselect. B keyGives you a box (window drag) to select multiple objects. In edit mode, works the same to select multiple vertices, but hitting B twice gives you a circle select that can be sized by scrolling the mouse wheel. Space BarBrings up the tools menu where you can add meshes, cameras, lights, etc. Number Pad- Controls your views. 7 top, 1 front, 3 side, 0 camera, 5 perspective, . Zooms on selected object, + and zoom in and out. The +- buttons also control affected vertices size in proportional vertex editing. MouseLeft to manipulate, right to select, center wheel to zoom and rotate view. If you hold down shift and center wheel you can pan around on the screen. Shift KeyHold down the shift key to make multiple selections with the right mouse button. Arrow Keys- Used to advance frames in animation. Left/right goes 1 frame at a time, up/down goes 10 frames at a time. R keyRotates an object or selected vertices. S keyScales a selected object or vertices. G keyGrabs or moves the object or selected vertices. P keyWhile in edit mode, selected vertices can be separated into a single object by pressing P. Shift-DDuplicates or copies selected objects or selected vertices. E keyWhile in edit mode, selected vertices can be extruded by pressing E. U keyIn Object Mode, brings up the Single-User menu to unlink materials, animations (IPOs), etc. for linked or copied objects. Undo command. Only works in edit mode and can now go back multiple steps. Sorry, no system-wide undo command. M keyMoves selected objects to other layers. Mirror- while in edit mode, M will give you a mirror command. Z keyToggles view from wireframe to solid. Alt ZToggles a rough texture/shaded view. P keyStarts game mode ATL/CTRL P-Creates or breaks child/parent relationships. To create C/P relationships, hold down shift key and select child first, then parent. Hit Ctrl P. To clear a relationship, do the same except hit Alt P. N keyBrings up the numeric info. on a selected object (location, rotation and size). Info. can then be changed in the window. Ctrl JJoins selected objects together. Alt APlays animation in selected window. Your cursor must be in that window for it to play. F keyMakes a face in edit mode of the selected vertices. You can only select 3-4 vertices at a time to make a face. W keyBoolean expression to union, create a difference, or subtract objects from one another. W will also give you a specials menu while in edit mode. X or Delete- Delete selected objects, vertices or faces. Function Keys-F1-Load File; F2-Save File; F3-Save Image; F4-Lamp Buttons; F5-Material Buttons; F6-Texture Buttons; F7-Animation Buttons; F8-Real Time Buttons; F9Edit Buttons; F10-Display Buttons; F11-Last Render; F12-Render

TAB key-

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I Key-

The I key is used to insert animation keys for various things. Objects can be animated with basic Rotation, Location and Size keys and combinations there of. If your cursor is down in the buttons portion of the screen, animation keys can be added to lights, materials and world settings.

Ctrl 0-

If using multiple cameras, this will switch to the selected camera. (Number pad 0) ArmaturesMeshes can be controlled by bones or armatures. Create a mesh with vertices at the joint locations, then create an armature string within it. Child/Parent the mesh to the armature using the armature option. You can then animate the armature in Pose Mode. Ctrl-TabPuts you into Pose mode for manipulating armatures. Import/Export- Blender accepts .DXF and VRML(.wrl) files. Just use the OPEN option from the file menu to insert these types of files into an already existing scene. When inserting other Blender files or objects into another scene, use the APPEND option from the file menu and select the appropriate options. Multiple objects can be selected with Shift-Right mouse button. Springs/Screw-Blender can create these objects in the edit buttons. You need a profile of the object, the cursor at the center of revolution, and 2 vertices to show the length of the revolution. The profile and the length vertices need to be in the same object. All vertices need to be selected when performing the operation. You will also need to be in the front view. There are several tutorials to help with this operation. Results are great! Multiple Viewports- To create multiple viewports, move your cursor over the edge of the viewport (to start, you only have the drawing window and the button windowmove your cursor to the break between them). Right click on the break and select split area. Blender will break the area that you brought the cursor from

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The Blender Interface

When I first looked at Blender and read some tutorials I thought that this looked easy and made sense. After taking the program for a test run, I decided to forget about it for a while because I couldnt make anything. The interface is different than any other programs Ive experienced before. After a few week however, things began to make sense and I realized the potential of the program. Heres what you are looking at when you open the program:

3D Window Plane and Cursor

Camera Layers Window Type Menu Buttons Window

You are looking down at a scene consisting of a plane and a camera (top view). Newer versions of Blender may open with different scenes (a cube instead of a plane and a light), but the idea stays the same. The cursor in the middle of the plane is used to locate where new items will be placed along with some other uses. It can be moved around on the screen by clicking the Left Mouse Button (LMB). Along with familiar pull-down menus like other programs, you have a viewport along the bottom that changes every time you select a different button. This Buttons Window can be changed around, but for now, lets keep it where its at. Blender works with layers much like other programs where objects can be placed in different layers and displayed as needed. Its a good idea to get comfortable with layers because as your scenes get bigger, turning layers on and off help with the speed of your work and being able to see things better. To change things between layers, select the object with the Right Mouse Button (RMB) and type M for move. Try it with the plane and change layers. By the way, if you put it in a layer thats turned off, it will disappear. To turn that layer visible, click on that button. To turn on multiple layers, hold down Shift and click on the buttons. Page 6

Window Types Blender has a variety of different window types and every window can be set to any type. For example, your initial screen has 3 windows, the top one with the toolbars, the 3D window, and the bottom buttons window. You can set all 3 of them to display the buttons if you like (but Im not sure why you would want to). The various window types are as follows:

The window types that we are most interested in right now are: File/Image Browsers- comes up automatically on demand in most cases Buttons Window- for commands User Preferences- menus and options UV/Image Editor- for applying game textures Action Editor- for animations Ipo Curve Editor- also for animations 3D View- to see our work and model items

The User Preferences Window If you place your mouse on the line between the 3D window and the User Preferences window (at the top), hold down the Left Mouse Button (LMB) and drag down, you will expose a number of setting options at the top of the screen.

Settings of interest to us at this time View and Controls- tool tips and mouse settings Edit Methods- how things are linked and duplicated Language and Fonts- text style and sizes System and OpenGL- change some system settings File Paths- tells Blender where to look for certain things

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Open, Save and Append

Blender utilizes commands similar to other programs when it comes to saving and opening your work with a few exceptions. Other programs use import and insert commands to bring other files together. Blender just uses Open and Append. If you are bringing elements in from another Blender (.blend) file, you use Append. If you are bringing other types of files into Blender, you only need to use the Open command and this will insert the other file types into your Blender file. Blender accepts VRML (.wrl) and .DXF files into the program. This is ideal because most 3D drawing programs (like all our applications) use these types of files to export work. Blender does an excellent job of accepting work from other programs. We rarely see any problems with our imported models. The Save Command When you first start working with Blender, it seems almost impossible to figure out how to save your work. The file interface almost resembles old MS-DOS. Also, every time you save over an existing file, your previous save becomes a back-up file and is saved with a new extension (.blend1). This always gives you a back-up if a problem occurs. Heres what you see when you hit the save command:

Path where work will be saved File name typed here P takes you back to the parent directory (back 1 folder) Hold down mouse button to view all drives

After you type file name and hit enter, hit save Files and folders at current locations

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The Append Command When you need to insert elements from one Blender (.blend) file into another one, you need to use the Append command from the file pull-down menu. While in Append, you need to navigate to the Blender file you wish to insert from, then select what you want to append into the open file. You can append anything from cameras, lights meshes, materials, textures, scenes and objects. For most purposes, use the Object option. By appending objects, any materials, textures and animations that are linked to that object will automatically come in with it. Right Mouse Button (RMB) clicking on objects will select\deselect them. Typing A will select them all. After you select all objects to append, click the Load Library button in the upper right corner of the screen.

Packing Data If you plan to open this file on other computers, you will need to select the Pack Data option in the file menu. Textures and sounds are not automatically included in your Blender file in order to keep the file size down. Every time your file opens, it looks for the textures and sounds and places them into your model. If it cant find the files, you wont have any textures and sounds. If you pack data, those files are included with the .blend file so they can be opened anywhere, however, your file size may explode. When data is packed, a small package shows up on the top of your screen letting you know that the file is packed. You can also unpack data to bring the file size back down. Page 9

Working with Viewports (windows)

Most times, you need more than one 3D window to work with since youre trying to locate objects in three dimensions. Most rendering and animations programs allow for multiple viewports along with graphical views of various data. Blender allows the same. Remember that Blender starts with 3 viewports that are set to User Preferences, 3D Window and the Buttons Window. You can change the size of any of these windows by using the LMB and draging on the line between the viewports. You will notice the arrow pointer changes to a double headed arrow while over the line. In order to split the screen and create another viewport, while the cursor is over the line, Right Click (RMB) and select Split Screen. Drag the line to a desired location and size. You need to watch which side you approach the line from because that is the side that will be split! Joining viewport together works the same way. Theres no limit to the number of times you can split your windows. I like to traditionally work with 2 views like the example shown below. I use the left view to flip between my principle views (top, front, side) and the right view for camera view and animation tracks (which well discuss later).

Windows can also be split along a vertical line. Some 3D programs traditionally give you 4 viewports that are setup as front, top, right side, and perspective or camera views. Basically, it is up to what you want to work with.

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The Buttons Window Option: Traditionally, Blender has placed the Buttons Window at the bottom of the screen, but has recently given us an option to arrange them vertically on the side like some other 3D programs out there. This has been done in an effort to make learning the program easier for new users. You first need to split your 3D window in half, then select the Buttons Window type from the menu. Looks good, but needs some adjustment. The buttons are arranged horizontally and off the screen. To change the arrangement, Right Click

(RMB) in the window and select Vertical. Adjust the windows to a desired size and use the plus and minus keys on the number pad to zoom in and out on the buttons to get them sized to fill the screen. Hold down the mouse wheel (dont scroll) to move the buttons around. The only problem with this method is that the buttons at the bottom of the window are still off the screen. In order to access those buttons, you need to hold down the center wheel on the buttons and drag the buttons around. I still prefer the buttons window at the bottom of the screen, but this is another option available.

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Moving Around in 3D Space: In a 3D program, not only do you have to worry about where you are in 2 dimensions (height and width), but you also need to consider depth (how close or far away). Before you can work in 3D space, you should have some skills in 2D drawing and layout. Moving around in the 3D window is controlled by the mouse and the keyboard number pad. Think of a standard 3-view orthographic drawing- top, front and right side views. These views match up with the number pad 7,1 and 3 keys (look at their arrangement on the keyboardjust like the views). Put your cursor in the 3D window and try typing those numbers. Typing 0 will put you into camera view (what the camera sees). limits of what the camera sees The camera is represented by 3 lines. The outer solid line is what you can click to select the camera. The outer dashed line represents the limits of what the camera can see. The inner dashed line helps with centering your scene.

The number pad 5 key will toggle you between perspective and orthographic views. The number pad arrow keys (2,4,6,8) will rotate you around in 3D space. The + and - keys on the number pad will zoom in and out. The number pad . (period) key will center your view up on the selected object on your screen. The mouse serves a number of functions. The Left Mouse Button (LMB) will move the 3D cursor around on the screen and for dragging windows for selecting objects. Wherever the 3D cursor is located is where the next item you create will be placed. The 3D cursor serves other purposes that we will discuss later. The Right Mouse Button (RMB) is used to select object or vertices (in edit mode). The mouse wheel serves 2 purposes. Scrolling the wheel zooms in and out (like the + and - keys). Holding down the mouse wheel will let you rotate the view. Holding down Shift and Mouse Wheel will let you pan around on the screen. Practice using these controls before moving on to other lessons. Without getting a grasp on working in 3D space, you will have a difficult time creating and modifying objects. Now that you know what youre looking at and how to move around on the screen, we can begin making objects in Blender!

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Typical Views and Buttons: Here are some typical views used to model in 3D and the buttons on the number pad to go along with them. In order to make them work, you need to have the Num Lock button pressed. Get use to working with the principle views (top, front, side) in orthographic mode when locating the 3D cursor. You will usually need to check the location of the cursor in at least 2 views when placing objects.

Top View (7 key)

Free-rotation orthographic view

Side View (3 key) Front View (1 key)

Camera View (0 key)

Perspective Views (5 key toggles between orthographic and perspective views)

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Viewports Practice Exercise

In order to get some experience with these commands, set up the following screen, then call the instructor.

Top View

Perspective or Camera View

Front View

Right Side View

Be prepared to be able to demonstrate the following techniques to the instructor when asked: Panning around on the screen Zooming Changing window types Centering the view on a certain object Switching views (top, front, side, camera, free-rotate)

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Creating and Editing Objects

Now that we know how to move around in Blender, lets start doing some basic building and shaping. In this chapter we will talk about creating basic shapes and using modifiers to form them. There are a lot of different types of things to draw in Blender. Right now we will only dicuss Meshes. Start a new drawing in Blender and save it in your My Documents directory. Call it Sculpture. In Windows XP, in order to get to your My Documents folder, do the following: 1. Go to File- Save 2. Select the C: drive (see page 8 in Open, Save, annd Append chapter) 3. Click on the Documents and Settings folder, find your login folder. 4. In your folder you will find My Documents 5. Type in the file name (Sculpture), hit enter, then Save ** Blender doesnt have a generic Undo command nor does it warn you to save.** **Save your file often so you dont lose a lot of your work!** Placing Objects On Your Screen The 3D Cursor (bullseye) location is used to place new objects. Use the left mouse button to move the cursor in 3D space When you have it in a good location, press the Space Bar to bring up the insert menu. Select Add, then Mesh and select UV Sphere. You will then be asked how many segments and rings you want. You can change these by draging the mouse in the block or by holding down the Shift key and clicking in the box. This will allow you to type in a number. You can keep it at 32 for now. After that, your sphere will be displayed on the screen. Edit Mode When you place an object in Blender, it comes into the scene in Edit Mode. There are basically 2 states in Blender- Edit Mode and Object Mode. Edit mode is intended for modifying the shape of the object by selecting vertices on the object. Object mode affects the object as a whole. The Tab button toggles you between the two. After inserting an object into your scene, press the Tab key to exit edit mode. Otherwise, the next object you create will be joined to that mesh! Page 15 Object Mode

Mesh Types:

PlaneCubeCircle-

A simple two-dimensional shape ideal for grounds. Can be sub-divided and used with proportional vertex editing to make nice hilly terrain. Basic 3D shape. Nice object to start with to shape into rectangles and other shapes. Wont display as a 3D object, but can be extruded and shaped.

UV Sphere- A sphere generated with rings and segments, like the latitude and longitude of the earth. Icosphere- A sphere generated with triangular shapes. Like Epcot Center . CylinderTubeConeGridMonkeyBasic Mesh Notes: Remember that whenever you create something new, it enters your scene in Edit Mode. Any new objects you create while in edit mode for the previously selected object will be joined to that object. After you create a new object, remember to hit the Tab key to exit edit mode. Also, remember that a new object will be created where the 3D cursor is located. The three main modifiers you can use to change an object (outside of edit mode) are moving it, resizing (scaling) it or rotating it. G key- move or grab S key- sizing or scaling R key- rotate If you would like to do any of these operations through an exact number (i.e. rotate 90 deg. on x axis), type N key to bring up a numeric window. Page 16 Like a can, closed with a top and bottom. Just like the cylinder, except open at ends. Basic closed cone shape. Can be used and extruded like the plane. A fun shape that someone decided to include in the mesh list.

Creating Objects Practice Exercise

Create a sculpture using at least 1 of every type of mesh found in the Add-Mesh menu (do not use grid or circle). Remember to exit edit mode (Tab key) after every object you create. Use a plane for the ground and scale it large. Divide your 3D window into two so you can have one working view and one camera view. Use the RMB to select objects on the screen. Experiment with sizing and rotating objects. New commands: (S key)- to change the size/scale of the object. (R key)- to rotate the object. (G key)- to change the location of objects. (Z key)- used to toggle the window from wireframe to shaded view. Remember to make use of the number keys 1,3 and 7 to change your principle views! Also play with the camera location and angle to get a nice view!
** You do not have to make a monkey-this is just an example of using the meshes! **

Size Rotate Move Shaded

** Call the instructor when finished**

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Basic Mesh Editing: After you have created a mesh, you can go into edit mode (Tab key) and change its shape. In edit mode, you can work with the shapes individual verticies (mesh intersections) to create the shape you want. You know youre in edit mode when you see pink or yellow dots on the selected object. Pink dots are unselected verticies while yellow dots are selected verticies.

Selecting Verticies:

Edit Mode for Sphere

Object Select Mode for Sphere

While in edit mode, to select a single vertex, RMB click on the vertex. To select multiple verticies, hold down the Shift key while RMB clicking on them. To drag a window around verticies, type B key and drag a window to select. Typing the B key twice will bring up a circular selection tool that can be sized by pressing the + or - keys on the number pad. Scrolling the center mouse wheel will do the same as + and - keys. Pressing Esc will get you out of the circular selection tool. In order to select all verticies or deselect currently selected ones, hit the A key (for all) once or twice. Basic Modifiers: After selecting the verticies, you can use the same basic modifiers we talked about in the previous exercise (G-grab or move, S-scale, R-rotate). Creating More Verticies: Sometimes you need to add more verticies to some or all of the mesh in order to manipulate it to your desired detail. To do this, you must first select all the verticies you wish to split, then find the edit menu. Look at the bottom Buttons Window and find the edit button (looks like a plane in edit mode). Find the Subdivide button and click it as many times as you need to.

By pressing the W key will give you a shortcut menu in edit mode where you can select subdivide also. Page 18

Specials Menu: In edit mode, pressing the W key will bring up a shortcut menu that will give you a variety of editing options. Most of these options can also be selected in the edit buttons as discussed on the previous page. A neat new command that appears in the specials menu is the bevel command. Center Points: Every object you create in Blender has a small dot somewhere in the object (by default, usually in the center of that object). This is the objects center, or pivot point. Beginners in Blender often get these center points moved around to ponts other than where they want them. This happens because they move all the verticies of the object in edit mode, but the center point fails to move. if you want to move an entire object, hit tab to get out of edit mode and into object select mode. Using the G key to move the object in this mode will move the center point along with the object. If you ever need to relocate an objects center point, move the 3D cursor to the desired center location, then find the Centre Cursor button in the edit buttons. This will change the objects center location. You also have 2 other center options in the edit panel to experiment with.

Extruding shapes: Shapes can be lengthened by selecting a group of verticies, then by pressing the E key and confirming by clicking ok, you will make a duplicate of those verticies. They can then be G (moved), S (scaled), and R (rotated).

Extrude is a great command for making long tubes and tunnels. It is also good when you dont want to subdivide an object too much in order to add detail.

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Proportional Vertex Editing: Proportional Vertex Editing is used to create a flow in the shape when editing vertices. To turn proportional vertex editing on, press the O key while in edit mode. This will activate a small panel in the tool bar that lets you pick sharp or smooth falloff.

Proportional Vertex Editing Off

Proportional Vertex Editing On

Sharp Falloff

Smooth Falloff

The number of effected verticies is controlled by the + and - arrows on the number pad or by scrolling the center mouse wheel.
Small Area Large Area

Creating Ground: You can use proportional vertex editing to creat flowing landscape easily. The first thing you need to do is create a plane in the top view (7 key). While in edit mode, make sure all verticies are selected (verticies are yellow). You can use the A key to select them all. Press W key for specials menu, then select Subdivide. Do this a few times. Select a single vertex somewhere near center. Next, switch to a front view (1 key on number pad) and press the O key to enter proportional vertex editing mode. Select sharp or smooth falloff depending on what effect you want. Type G to grab (move) the vertex. Use the + - keys on number pad or scroll mouse wheel to change the size of the selection. Experiment with different size selections and different falloffs. To see your final work in a smooth display, exit edit mode (Tab key) and ,with the object selected, go to the edit buttons and find the Set Smooth button. This will smooth the mesh in display and final output. Finally, hit the Z key to shade your view. Page 20

Basic Editing Practice Exercise

Open your Sculpture file from the previous exercise and modify it using the basic editing commands discussed in this section. Modify the ground that your sculpture rests on with the proportional vertex editing tool. Use extrude to add a new object or modify an existing object. Modify several of your shapes by subdividing, moving or scaling verticies in edit mode. Use the Set Smooth in the edit buttons to smooth several of your shapes in shaded view (Z key).

** Call the instructor when finished**

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More Basic Editing: Now that you have some experience with basic editing, heres a few more options: Joining Meshes: To join 2 or more meshes together, Hold down the Shift key to select them, then press Ctrl and J to join them. The will retain any materials you have placed on them, but will be one object. Separating Meshes: In order to break up a mesh, you need to be in edit mode (Tab Key) and select the verticies you wish to separate from the rest of the mesh. With verticies selected, type the P key (I like to think of it as partition) and select your option. The newer Blender releases give you an option to separate all loose parts. Deleting Vertices: If you want to make a hole in a mesh, select the verticies you wish to remove, then hit the Delete key. Adding Faces: Sometimes, you need to fill in holes in a mesh by creating your own faces. To do this, go into edit mode and select the verticies you wish to face together (you are limited to 4 verticies in a group). With verticies selected, hit the F key. A face will be formed. Boolean Operations: Boolean operations allow you to cut or join meshes by using other meshes. This is done by selecting the 2 meshes (not in edit mode), then typing the W key. You will see the options Intersection, Union, and Difference. Below, you will see the results of each:
Basic shapes (before boolean operation)- Cube selected 1st Intersection Option Basic shapes (before boolean operation)- Cylinder selected 1st Intersection Option

Union Option

Union Option

Difference option

Difference option

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More Basic Editing Practice Exercise

Create a simple house model like the one shown below using all your editing skills. Save the file as House. Begin by creating a cube. Create a slightly smaller cube inside the first cube and use boolean difference to subtract it from the larger one. This will make the house hollow. Creat a roof using a cube and shape it in edit mode. Create smaller cubes to subtract out the doors and windows. Add a plane for ground. Feel free to add other details to the structure.

** Call the instructor when finished**

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