+ B0007 - Blender's Vital Functions+
Instructor - Pradeep Mamgain
+ Vital Functions +
In this tutorial I will talk about Joining & Separating Meshes, Boolean Operations, Grouping Objects, Parenting Objects, Adding Faces, Bevel Command, Subsurf-Modifier, Mirror-Modifier and Select Linked operations.
+ Joining Meshes +
To join two or more meshes togather, shift select the objects and Press CTRL+J key combination to join them. You can also choose same command from Object > Join Objects. New mesh will retain the material applied to them but they will be one object.
+ Separating Meshes +
To break up some portion of the mesh, go to edit mode and make the selection. Press P key to expose the Separate popup menu and select Selected. Blender will break apart the selection. Fig 5.15.
To delete a portion of the mesh, make a selction and hit delete key or X Key on the keyboard.
Selected :- This option separates selection to a new object.
All Loose Parts :- Separates the unselected part of the Mesh.
By Material :- Creates separate mesh objects for each material.
You can also press Y key to split the geometry, how ever splited geometry will remain part of the mesh.
+ Grouping Objects +CTRL+G command groups objects without any kind of transformation relationship. Use group to logically organize the scene. Objects that are part of a group always shows as light green outline.
If you have already one group in the scene, one more option, “Add to Existing Group”, will be visible in the popup menu. To select Grouped Object, press SHIFT+G.
+Adding Faces +
You can create your own face in blender. It is used in the places where you would like to fill the hole in the mesh. Create two cube objects and place them at a distance. Join the two objects by using CTRL+J shortcut. Select edit mode and select 4 vertices as shown. Press F to create a new face between the two cubes. Fig – 5.15.
+ Bevel +
You can create 3DS max style chamfer box in Blender. Drop a cube mesh on the scene. Enter into edit mode. Press W key to activate the specials menu and choose bevel. Fig – 5.16.
+ Booleans +
Booleans operation allow you to cut or join meshed by using other meshes. Create a cone and a cube object. Scale down the cube object and place them as shown in the Fig – 5.17. Select the cube shift select the cone. Press W key to activate the boolean menu and press intersect. When you use the boolean operation a new object is created while the original shapes are retained. If you want to see the shape you just created, either you have to delete the meshed or move them over. Create a cube and uv sphere and place them as shown in fig below.
The Intersect operation creates a new object whose surface encloses the volume common to both original objects. The Union operation creates a new object whose surface encloses the volume of both original objects. The Difference operation is the only one in which the order of selection is important. The active object is subtracted from the selected object.
+ Subdivision Surfaces +
Subdivision Surfaces or generally called SubD surfaces used to create a smooth surface that is easily controlled by relatively few vertices.
Create a cube and select it. Press F9 to switch to Editing Buttons Set in button window. Click on Add modifier button in the modifier panel. From the list of available modifiers select Subsurf. Once you apply the modifier your cube will take a rounded shape. Now we will increase the SubD levels. The first option in the modifier window is Subsuf type which is set to Catmull-Clark by default. Catmull-Clark is a alogorithm for subd surfaces. Next we have levels and render levels. Higher you set the levels the more time this algorithem will be applied. Levels slider only affects the cube in the viewport. If you want to see the smoothing in the render you must change the render levels. Set both options to 3.
Three buttons in the green outline lets you enable modifire during rendering, during interective display and during edit mode. Three buttons in green outline lets you change the order of the modifier, if you have more then one modifier applied to the object and delete the modifier. Copy button copy the modifier and place it at the same place. Apply button applies modifier to the object and removes it from the stack.
Subsurf midifier lets you add more geometry inside of a low poly cage. To see this in action. Add a Monkey mesh to the scene. Apply Subsurf modifier to it. Press TAB to enter in the edit mode and now you can see the high poly geometry is enclosed within the low poly cage. Move few vertices to see how this cage affects the monkey mesh. If you want to collapse the cage to the model click on the
button highlighted green. However you can still edit the outer cage by moving the vertices. 
By default Catmull-Clark is the Subsurf type which divides the geometry as well as smooths it. Other type we have is Simple Sub-Divide which only subdivides the mesh, it doesn’t smooth it.
Optimal Draw lets you skip the drawing/rendering of interior subdivided edges. To see this in action set scene’s draw mode to wireframe and click on the Optimal Draw button.
Subsurf UV button is used to subdivide UV using subsurf.
Subsurf modifier can be applied from the keyborad. Press Ctrl+1 to apply a subsurf with level 1. This key combination works from Ctrl+1 to Ctrl+4.
Now we need our cube back but not that hard edges, we want it little smooth. For this we will use Edge Creasing. Each edge in blender has a value associated with it. By default, it is zero and that’s why our cube turned into a sphere. Press TAB key to enter into edit mode. You would notice that now blender has placed a cage around our sphere, as shown in Fig – 5.20. Now we will crease the edge. Press CTRL+TAB and choose faces. Select a face, now you might ask, we have to crease the edges why we need to select the face? Well !! Selecting a face is a quick way to select the four edges associated with it. Now press SHIFT + E and drag the mosue to the left or to the right. You will get a shape similar to as shown in Fig – 5.20. If you want your cube back, undo the last creasing. Select all four faces. Press SHIFT+E to crease and you get a smooth edges cube back.
You can also apply Subsurf to a object while in object mode by pressing SHIFT+O.
+ Mirror Modifier +
When you model symmetrical models like organic creatures, Mirror modifier is a great time saver. Create a new blender file and add monkey mesh. Press Tab key to enter to edit mode. Switch to top view by pressing 7 and enter into face mode by press Ctrl+Tab and then selecting Face. De-select everything. Box select all the left faces of the Monkey and press X to bring up the erase menu and select Faces. Add mirror modifier from the Modifier panel.
Now when you modify right side vertices, left vertices will get updated automatically. By default X axis is used to mirror the geometry and that is what we need in that case. You can change axis to Y or Z if you need to.
Do clipping button prevents vertices to go thru the mirror when we apply transform option on them.
Merge limit slider controls the Distance from the Axis within which mirror vertices are merged. Now if you want to merge the two halfs into a single mesh, click on the apply button in Mirror modifier sub panel.
+ Parenting +
Parenting is used often in modeling, animation and texturing to make relationship between the objects. When one object is parented to another, the first object is called the child and second called parent to the child. Any translation applied to the parent is reflected in the child as well. You have to select atleat two objects to make a parent child relationship.
When you select multiple objects, active object becomes the parent. Active object is the last object you included in selection. Visually it has lighter pink selection border. Press CTRL+P to make a parent child relationship and delete the relationship press Alt+P.
Press Shift+G with an active object to see the Group Selection Menu.
Children :- Selects all children of the active object.
Immediate Children :- Selects all direct children of the active object.
Parent :- Selects parent of the children.
Siblings (Shared Parents) :- Selects the objects that have the same parent.
Objects of Same Type :- Selects the objects that are same type as the active.
Object on Shared Layer :- Objects that have at least one shared layer.
Object in Same Group :- Selects objects that are a part of the group.
Object Hooks :- Every hook that belongs to a object.
To delete the relationship press Alt+P.
Clear parent , frees the children, which returns to their original location, rotation and size. Clear and Keep transformation, Frees the children and keeps the location, rotation and size given to them by parent. Clear Parent Inverse, Places the children with respect to the parent as if they were placed in the Global reference. This effectively clears the parent's transformation from the children.
+ Select Links +
Press SHIFT+L to select all objects sharing a link with the active one.
Object LPO :- Selects object that share IPO information.
OBData :- Selects object that share data information.
Material :- Selects object that share material Information.
Texture :- Selects object that share Texture information.
+Select All by Type +
To access this selection mode go to Select > Select All by Type in Select window header menu.
+ Random +
Random selects unselected objects based on % probability on currently active layers. When you select this command a numeric selection box pops up where you can type in the percentage value.
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