Blender 3D Basics: The complete novice's guide to 3D modeling and animation

You selected the line between two windows and moved it to resize the windows. Blender's windows do not overlap. If you make one bigger, the one next to it gets smaller. Unlike many window-based interfaces, you don't end up with a stack of windows that you have to search through to find which window you were working in.

The Header can be at the top or the bottom of the window. If it is at the bottom, you can flip it to the top. If it is at the top, you can flip it to the bottom. Set it the way you prefer.

Blender gives you a lot of flexibility. If you need to, it allows any window to use the entire screen and you can quickly change it back to tiled windows when you are done. This is great when you need an extra big view of the 3D View window to select tiny parts or details.

To join two windows, you selected the diagonal lines in the corner of a window and moved the mouse vertically toward the window next to it...

You looked at the Tool Shelf and Properties Panel as shown in the following screenshot. You also learned how to toggle the Tool Shelf and the Properties Panel on and off.

The Tool Shelf gives you control over the current object and the Properties Panel lets you set things like the location of the 3D Cursor and the location, rotation, and scaling of the...

That isn't too difficult. Pressing the middle mouse button (MMB) and moving the mouse revolves your view around the origin.

To zoom in and out of the 3D View you press the Ctrl key and hold down the middle mouse button (MMB) while you move the cursor up and down over the 3D View.

Pressing the Shift key and holding down the middle mouse button (MMB) while you move the cursor in the 3D View pans the 3D View. Panning is moving your viewpoint horizontally or vertically. Very good, now you know how to navigate in the 3D View.

Now, try and maneuver the cube and grid into different angles. Try for dynamic looking or weird angles...

You loaded a fresh copy of the default Blender scene and then used the Numpad to control from which direction you were viewing the scene. When you pressed the 7 on the Numpad, Blender displayed the top view. When you pressed the 1 on the Numpad, Blender displayed the front view and when you pressed the 3 on the Numpad, Blender displayed the right side view. Note that these changes are shown...

You know to use the 1, 3, and 7 keys on the Numpad to change views. To see from the opposing angle of a view, you press the Ctrl key and the number for the view on the Numpad. Ctrl+7 shows the bottom view. Ctrl+1 shows the back view and Ctrl+3 shows the left side view.

When you pressed the 0 key on the Numpad, Blender displayed the Camera View. It also applied a gray mask called the passepartout to mark the limits of the image that will be created. The following screenshot shows the cube seen through the passepartout on the left and the rendering of that scene on the right.

Just to be sure, after pressing the 0 key, you tried doing a test render to compare what is rendered in the camera with the Camera View. Of course they looked the same. But you also discovered that if you want to see a previously rendered image, that you press the F11 key. Did you notice the difference in the shading between the 3D View and the rendering as shown in the previous screenshot? The lamp is to the right side of the camera in the scene. So in the rendered image, the darkest side...

Pressing the 7 key, you shifted to the top view. This let you see how pressing the 4 key rotates the view counter-clockwise. Pressing the 6 key rotates the view clockwise. This is useful when you want to inspect an object carefully. It lets you rotate around the scene in 15 degree steps and the motion is repeatable so you can easily return to an earlier angle if you want.

Pressing the 3 key, you shifted to the right side view. Pressing the 2 key rotates the view so the front goes up. Pressing the 8 key rotates the view so the front goes down. Pressing the 1 key, you shifted to the front view. Pressing the 2 key rotates the view so the front goes up. Pressing the 8 key rotates the view so the front goes down. The 2 and 8 keys are not connected to a particular axis the way the 4 and 6 keys are. Don't worry about memorizing all these. You can always try the numbers on the Numpad to remember what does what and there's...

Pressing the "+" key on the Numpad zooms into the scene by steps and pressing the "-" key on the Numpad zooms out. To fill the view with the active object, you press the "." key on the Numpad, which makes it easy to focus on what you are working on. Pressing the Home key on the keyboard lets you see everything in the scene so you can get your bearings, get an overview of the scene, or switch to working on a different object.

If you are emulating the Numpad, the regular plus and minus keys should...

You got a little practice in using the Numpad to move the view. Then, when you press the Ctrl key, the Alt key, and the 0 key on the Numpad, Blender matches the camera's view to the current view, as seen in the following screenshot. Pressing the 7 key moves you to the top view, so that you can see that when you press the 0 key on the Numpad to get the camera view, that it matches the angle you had selected.

When you press the 5 key on the Numpad, the 3D View switches between Perspective and Orthographic views as in the previous illustration.

Now it's time to play. Using what you have learned about navigating in the 3D view, experiment by finding different angles to view the scene and shifting between Perspective and Orthographic views and see how they compare. Be sure to try views like top, left, and front, as well as using the 2, 4, 6, and 8 keys to gently rotate the scene. Or you can use the Alt key and your mouse if you like.

When you press the Ctrl key, the Alt key, and the Q key, Blender toggles the Quad view on and off. The Quad view gives you three Orthographic views and the Camera view.