+ Blender Basics : The Blender Interface +
Instructor - Pradeep Mamgain
+ Interface +
Welcome to the world of Blender. Whenever you start learning any 3D package, first thing you should learn that how to navigate in 3d space and what is the process for modifying the preferences according to your needs. Blender’s Interface is quite different from the other 3D applications. This interface is intuitive and has great potential. When you first time launch blender it opens up with three objects a cube, a lamp and a camera as shown in Fig – 1.1.
Cube is a polygonal geometry, lamp is used to illuminate that geometry and camera perspective is used when you render the scene. Now we will customize this default interface so that it somewhat looks like other 3D applications. Blender has a non overlapping layout that makes it different. Place you mouse over the split line between the 3D window and top menu bar, you cursor will change to double headed arrow shape drag down to expose the preference window.
View & Controls :- Settings concerning how the user interface should react to user input, such as which method of rotation should be used in 3D views.
Edit Methods :- Lets you specify the details for the workings of certain editing commands setting undo levels or turning auto key on.
Language & Fonts :- Select an alternative TrueType font for display in the interface, and choose from available interface languages.
Themes :- You can define interface colors and themes from here.
Auto Save :- Auto saves lets you save the backup in case bleder crashes or power is cut off. These files are named Filename.blend1, Filename.blend2, etc.
System & OpenGL :- Here you can set options for sound or graphic output as well you can emulate the Numpad. This is useful when you are working on a laptop. You can set the light scheme for Solid and shaded draw modes from here.
File Paths :- Choose the default paths for various file load dialogs.Now we will customize the interface to suit our needs. I personally like to use MMB drag for panning the 3D view so I will change Middle Mouse Button operation to Pan View. So now you can pan the view using MMB drag, if now you press Shift key while dragging with MMB, you would be able to rotate the view. Also change the Select With option to Left Mouse, this will enable you to select the object with left mouse click.
Have a look at the Veiw Rotation, here we have Trackball and Turntable. Trackball allows you to tumble freely. Turntable used fixed up axis, for orbiting with MMB. Enable Around Selection button under the View Rotatioon option. When this button is enabled, Blender will rotate the view around that selected object.
Zoom to Mouse Position button lets you zoom in towards the mouse pointer position instead of the 2D window center. Auto Perspective button lets you switch between the orthographic and perspective when changing from top/front/side views. When Mini Axis button is enabled, it shows you a small rotating 3D axis icon in the bottom left corner of the 3D view. Size and Bright sliders control the size and brightness of the the mini axis.
Paste on MMB buttons lets you paste the text in the text editor instead of panning. Change current window type to Text Editor by clicking on window type button.
Press Alt+N to start a new text file. Type something. Copy some text, enable Paste on MMB button. Try pasting the text using MMB.
Setting Up Auto Save
Auto Save helps you in avoiding the data loss in case blender crashes or power is cut off. Click on the Auto Save button in the preferences window, outlined in Green Color in Fig – 1.4. Auto Save Temp files lets you enable or disable the auto save, ofcourse we want it on. Next option is minutes which lets you set the time period for auto save, how much time blender to wait before saving files. Open recent button enables you to open the most recently saved temporary file. Recent Files option lets you set the maximum number of recently opend file to remember default is 10. Save preview button enable the automatic saving of preview image in the .blend file. Save Versions buttons lets you specify no of previuos versions of file to save when you manually select File > Save.
Setting Up the Theme
Click on the Themes button in the preferences window to open the theme editor. You can set different themes from here or you can make your own theme. By defautl blender gives you two themes, one is default and another one is rounder corner theme. Click on the Add button to make your custom theme.
Increase the Undo Levels
By default Blender gives you 32 undo levels. Depending on memory of your machine you can alter this number from the undo settings that is located under the Edit Method tab of preferenced window. Make sure that your system is not getting slow down, if it is adjust the slider between values 10-20.
Global Undo works by keeping a full copy of the file itself in the memory. It takes extra memory. Global hotkey for undo is CTRL-Z, and CTRL-SHIFT-Z for redo. In edit Mode, pressing ALT+U to brings up the Edit Mode Undo History while in object mode, it brings up Global Mode Undo History. Edit undo can be memory intensive. A mesh of 64,000 faces and verts can use over 3Mb of RAM per undo step.
Emulating the Numpad
By default Numeric Keys on the Num pad controls the 3D viewport and numeric keys on the main keyboard controls the layers. If you want to control the 3D viewport using the main keyboard numeric keys, you have to emulate the numpad which is found under the System & Open GL panel in preferences window. Go there and enable Emulate Numpad, as shown in Fig – 1.7. This is useful when you are working on the Laptop. If affects the behaviour of the main keyboard’s numeric keys but the num pad keys are not effected by this.
Saving Default Setttings
Now save your settings as default from File > Save Default Settings or press CTRL+U on the keyboard. You can revert back to factory settings by choosing File > Load Factory Settings. Make sure that you do this in the beginning of a session, if your scene is open and you have some elements in the scene, if you press CTRL+U; exactly same elements will be open when you open blender next time. You can set any scene file as default when blender starts up. The scene will be copied into a file called .B.Blend in your home directory.
Button Window
Button window is at the bottom of the interface and one of the most powerful tool in blender. You can execute number of options from the button window. Options changes dynamically as it depends on the type of object you have selected in the 3D window. There are many group of buttons in the window which are arranged in different panels or mini windows.
Use CTRL+ mouse wheel Scroll to zoom in or out in button window area. Use MMB drag to PAN in button window. You can drag panels around to change the order of the panels. You can also align them vertically by right clicking on the negative area on the button window and selecting, vertical. If you set this if free, panels will not snap to each other and you can overlap them. You can also dock panels from one group to another group. Press Home key to fit the contents of the button window.
Button Types
Logic Button :- Logic buttons set is used for game engine.
Scripts Button :- Scripts button sets is used to extend the capabilities of the blender software. Script Buttons allows you to connect different events to objects.
Shading Buttons :- Shortcut key F5. This set of buttons controls the colors and texture of your objects.
Object Buttons :- Shortcut key F7. This set of buttons related to object. It is different from object view of 3D window. TAB key changes object mode to edit mode while when you press F7 blender opens up the object button set at the button window.
Edit Buttons :- Shortcut Key F9. This set of buttons is used to edit objects in edit mode. Hit TAB key after selecting the object to enter in edit mode.
Window Types
Blender’s various functions are accessed through various windows. You can display these various windows in work area. There are icons on the left corner of the windows. You can activate various windows by first clicling on these icons and then selecting the desired window. Fig 1.8.
3D View :-Displays 3D objects and scenes in various modes, including the Object, Edit, and Pose modes, among others. Accessed with Shift+F5.
Buttons :- The main area for buttons, fields, and other controls for a variety of modes and functions. Accessed with Shift+F7.
Outliner :- Allows a graphical overview of all datablocks and the links between them, with multiple display options. Accessed with Shift+F9.
Information/User Preferences :- Allows the user to specify look-and-feel preferences, language preferences, file location defaults, and other preferences.
File Browser/Data Browser :- In File Browser mode, allows the user to open files from the hard drive. In Data Browser mode, allows the user to import or append Blender datablocks from within files on the hard drive. If you press the Shift+F4 key on while file browser is on, you can change its behaviour to data browser.
Timeline :- Displays the progress through time of an animation; allows starting, stopping, and scrubbing through the animation; and allows the user to input the start, end, and current frame directly.
IPO Curve Editor :- Allows selection and editing of IPO curves and keyframes. Which kinds of IPOs are available depends on the selected object and the type selected in the drop-down menu in the IPO Curve Editor header. Accessed with Shift+F6.
Action Editor :- Allows sequences of armature poses to be stored together as actions for subsequent use in nonlinear animation. Accessed with Shift+F12.
NLA Editor :- Allows actions and other animations to be combined in a nonlinear way to form complex animations.
Image Browser :- Allows browsing of images and textures from the hard drive with thumbnails.
Node Editor :- Allows editing and configuring of material, texture, and shading nodes. Scripts Allows the user to browse and execute installed Python scripts.
Text Editor :- Allows text editing. Often used as an area for notes about the blend file or for Python scripting. Python scripts might be executed from the Text Editor using the Alt+P hotkeys. Accessed with shift+F11.
Video Sequence Editor :- Allows nonlinear editing, compositing, and playback of video sequences. Can take still frame or video sequences as input. Accessed with Shift+F8.
Image/UV Editor :- Allows editing of UV face information and image-based textures. Accessed with Shift+F10.
Audio :- Allows audio playback and matching of audio to animation.
+ Download Project +
Dear guest, Only registered members can download projects/footages and Video files.Kindly get registered to download the files. Once you get registered downlaod link will appear here.
+ Other Info +
+ Discuss in Forums