Cancel Reply. Receive free assets, news, and resources for architecture. We respect your privacy and do not tolerate spam and will never sell, rent, lease or give away your information name, address, email, etc. Nor will we send you unsolicited email. Panels can also be minimized and maximized to take up less space by clicking on the small triangles found on each. 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 5 viewports, but only one 3D View window discussed on pages and You can change the size of any of these windows by using the LMB and dragging on the line between the viewports. In order to split a viewport, move your cursor over the small triangle in the upper right corner of the 3D View Window.
Joining viewports together works the same way. Click on the triangle and drag over the viewport you wish to remove. I like to traditionally work with 2 views like the example shown below.
Windows can also be split along a vertical line. Some 3D programs traditionally give you 4 viewports that are set-up as front, top, right side, and perspective or camera views. Basically, it is up to what you want to work with. 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. New to Blender 2. Practice is the key. Blender uses the number pad and mouse to control your 3D views and location.
If you were asked to re-design the commands for moving in 3D space, would you use the same configuration, or develop something different? How does working in 3D space relate to math? Where have you ever used the concepts of X,Y, and Z in a math course? Research GPS on the internet.
How does GPS work so that it can determine where you are on a map? In this chapter we will talk about creating basic shapes and using modifiers to form them. Blender has a lot of different object types. Right now we will only discuss Meshes. Call it Sculpture. Since there a variety of operating system and saving structures, you may need to set up folders as needed.
RoboDude Asks: Why do I keep losing my work? Since Blender's file interface differs from most other programs, it can be easy to lose track of where you are saving files and not saving often enough.
Remember to always save your work often! Select Add, then Mesh and select UV Sphere my mesh menu may display more items than your menu due to selecting different add-ons in the preferences menu. You can change these by dragging the mouse in the block or by clicking in the box to type. Your sphere will change to reflect your settings. You can also adjust some other settings there. When you place an object in Blender, it comes into the scene in 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. You can also see and change your mode at the bottom of the viewport. After inserting an object into your scene, always make sure you're in Object Mode. Otherwise, the next object you create will be joined to that mesh! Notice that there are a few more modes than just Edit and Object.
Some of these will be discussed in later chapters. Mesh Types When pressing the space bar and choosing to add a mesh, you will notice several mesh types often called primitives available. More can be added through Add-Ons in the User Preferences menu.
They are: Plane- A simple two-dimensional shape. Can be sub divided and used with proportional vertex editing to make nice hilly terrain or shaped.
Cube- Basic 3D shape. Nice object to start with to shape into rectangles and other shapes. 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. Cylinder- Like a can, with ends closed, but if you leave the ends off, it is a tube. Cone- Basic closed cone shape. Grid- Can be used and extruded like the plane.
Monkey- A fun shape that someone decided to include in the mesh list. Empty Mesh- A mesh without any visible vertices, edges or faces. Torus- A donut shape.
RoboDude Asks: How do I set the quality of a mesh? Remember that after selecting a mesh type, you will see the settings for that mesh at the bottom of the Tool Shelf. Also, don't forget to be in Object Mode when making a new mesh- otherwise, your new mesh will be joined to another mesh. You can also lock numbers. RoboDude Says: If you would like to move something along a straight axis line X,Y,Z , enter the Move command and drag the object the direction you wish to go.
The object will lock on a straight line. In the Move command, you can also type X,Y, or Z. We will look at changing this to an actual metric or imperial system later. Using the Transform Widgets: Rather than typing R,S or G to manipulate an object, you can turn on the widget feature and simply grab the axis you wish to change. 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 make sure you are in Object Mode before creating a new mesh. 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. 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!
Save your work often! Pink dots are unselected vertices while yellow dots are selected vertices. To select multiple vertices, hold down the Shift key while RMB clicking on them. To select vertices in circle select mode, hold down the LMB. To de-select vertices, hold down the mouse wheel.
Viewing Shading Options: In order to be able to see your objects better in object and edit modes, you can change the way your scene is displayed.
All are available in the bottom of the 3D window by the drawing modes. Solid Wireframe Edit Mode Selection Options: By default, you are selecting vertices, but you can also select edges and faces. You can find these options at the bottom of the 3D window while in edit mode. In Solid view, this button will hide back faces, edges and verticies. These 2 buttons not only effect the way things look on the screen, but how they will be rendered in a final image. Be aware that the appearance of objects on the screen are not displayed at the same quality as a final rendered image.
Auto Smooth found in the Object Data buttons is used to smooth objects when faces meet at a certain degree or less while larger angles are kept sharp. This is a great feature when Smooth does not work properly alone. To use Auto Smooth, hit the Auto Smooth button.
Adjust the degree angles as needed. To see a rendered picture of what the camera views, press F Smooth and Auto-Smooth are great for flat objects as well and help rendering. You will make a duplicate of those vertices. When extruding a face, it will extrude in a locked direction, perpendicular to the face.
When extruding connected vertices only, the extrusion will be free-moving. Feel free to experiment with them. Below are example of a cube, extruded from the right side only right 4 vertices were selected several times using scale and rotate and a pawn extruded from a circle. The Tool Shelf has different commands for edit and object modes. Duplicate or Join selected Objects. Origin: Used to re-center your object's geometry and center point.
Create Tab: Create meshes, curves, lamps, and other objects. The object's origin is the small dot for an object. By default, it is in the middle of the object, but can get moved if you move an object in edit mode moving verticies only and not the entire object. To fix this, or to move it to a usable Grease Pencil: location for example, a Used to make door needs it's origin on the mark-up notes on edge to act like a hinge , your screen.
Helpful Smooth Vertex- Smooths out with smoothing. Goof for Add: game design. Subdivide- cuts selected verticies and provides more detail. Set some basic actions Duplicate- Make copies. Remove: Deletion options, merging of vertices, and removal of double verticies. Proportional Editing now also works in Object Mode! By selecting the prop. You have several options for effecting vertices in proportional editing. We usually use Sharp or Smooth falloff, but feel free free to experiment with the other options.
The examples below are with one vertex selected. You will see a circle on the screen that changes size. Knife Project: The Knife Project tool allows you to project the shape of one mesh onto another one. This is a great feature when you need a group of vertices that match a specific shape, like text or a circle, that can be extruded or have a different material applied.
Here is an example of knife projecting a circle onto a cube. In order to use knife project, select the projected object first the filled circle in this case , then the object to project onto the cube while holding shift.
The object will project according to the view you are in, so select the proper view for projecting. The mesh will project onto the cube. While the problem may not be apparent as you work, problems will occur during rendering or while performing other editing features such as Boolean operations. With experience, you will encounter this problem less frequently. A very common problem seen in many 3d models, even professionally, is shown to the right called Z-Fighting.
Z- Fighting occurs when 2 faces occupy the same space and the program has trouble deciding which one to render. The result is typically a darker area on the model. When you press the button, Blender will tell you if and how many double vertices were found in the top bar.
Removing double faces can be a little more difficult. Many times, removing the double vertices will also take care of the double face problem, but not always. Sometime, the double faces will display differently in the view port, making it easier to recognize them.
The first thing you need to do is create a plane in the top view 7 key. While in edit mode, make sure all vertices are selected vertices are yellow.
Do this a few times. Select a single vertex somewhere near center. Select Smooth Falloff. Select other vertices and falloffs for more hills and shapes. This will smooth the mesh in display and final output.
Your job is to create that logo. This is the basic scene, but as you work through the chapters, you will be encouraged to add more elements and details to your lighthouse and landscape to make it your own. Again, we will be using this file for the next several chapters, so keep it safe and save often!
We will use the left viewport for working in and the right top one for camera and 3D views. Adjust the viewport size similar to shown. For now, you may want to turn off the 3D widgets. Remember that you can close and open the Tool Shelf and Transform panels at any time. Often, you will be unable to see all of the buttons and panels in the Transform and Tool Shelf bars. Scroll your mouse wheel in the panels to view everything.
The plane you created on the previous page will be used for our ground. Our next step is to scale it up a bit. To do this precisely, we will use the Transform Panel. Change the Scale X,Y, and Z to Close the Transform Panel. You may need to zoom out to see the entire plane. In the Tool Shelf, click Subdivide 6 times. Your plane should be well subdivided. Selected While holding down the LMB, select half the vertices as shown. Keep the edge random similar to what is shown so it looks like a rough shoreline.
If you select too many vertices, remember that by holding down the mouse wheel, you can deselect vertices. Your plane will now just look like a line. Move them up about 2 Blender grid blocks. Use your right side viewport to spin around and get a nice look at the landscape. Randomly pull the edges of the cliff up and down to different levels. You may even want to do some of this with proportional editing off. Try selecting a few vertices back on the high flat land and create some hills.
Leave a flat area close to the cliff to place the lighthouse later. Press it and you should see a much better looking landscape you must be in object mode to see the smoothing.
Start by adding an Empty object in the top view 7 number pad key. An Empty is basically used for targeting purposes and does not render as a visible object. Scale it up a bit. Now, RMB click on the camera to select it. We will add a Tracking constraint to the camera to always point toward the Empty. Both objects will be highlighted. A dashed line indicates the link. With the camera selected only, move it around- it always points to the Empty. If the link appears to work backwards, it means you had the Empty selected first.
Use the UNDO command to back up and try again. Try to get the camera low so it looks as though you are viewing the shore line from a boat. Place the Empty on the cliff line. Use the picture below to frame up your view. You do not want to see any edges on your rendering. Feel free to develop and refine the landscape contour any way you wish.
The more time you spend with it, the quicker you will become comfortable with the program and the more realistic it will become. Use the default setting of 32 vertices, radius of 1, and Fill Type- Triangle Fan. These setting will be fine for what we are making. Depending on what you are making and what it will be used for, you may require more or less vertices.
You will now need to switch to the Front View 1 so the circle appears as a line. If you filled the circle, it will extrude on the Z axis automatically. Extrude the lighthouse about 3 Blender grid blocks high and LMB click to place them. This is your lighthouse- feel free to adjust sizes as desired. Remember to stay in the front view throughout this process! Rotated views can cause a distorted lighthouse.
It is now time to make the small walkway around the top. This will place the new extruded vertices right on top of the old ones. Pull your mouse away from the lighthouse and scale the walkway outward as desired.
LMB click when you have a good size. Extrude again to give the walkway some height. Continue extruding and shaping to get the light area and the roof. The point of the roof will actually have 32 vertices which you could scale very small so that it appears to be a single point, but we will use a Tool Shelf command to correct this. You will see that 31 vertices are being removed, leaving only one at the center. The lighthouse looks good, but angular.
It will take more than Smooth Shading to make it look good. Some edges actually need to stay sharp. This is where Auto Smooth becomes important. Select the lighthouse again. Ignore how the lighthouse look on the screen. Some things are smooth that should remain sharp and some other strange edge effects.
You will notice a degree angle below the Auto Smooth button. Leaving it a the default of 30 degrees should work well, but feel free to experiment with other setting. Basically, this setting determines which faces are smoothed and which ones are kept sharp. We are finished with our lighthouse for now. If you have the time, feel free to modify the lighthouse, change the style, add more features, etc. A good possible addition could be to use Torus and cylinder meshes to create a railing around the walkway.
Remember, the Torus mesh features can be adjusted in the bottom half of the Tool Shelf. They will retain any materials you have placed on them, but will be one object. Also available in the Tool Shelf. Separating Meshes: In order to break up a mesh, you need to be in edit mode Tab Key and select the vertices you wish to separate from the rest of the mesh. You also an option to separate all loose parts. Select the option of what you wish to delete. 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 vertices you wish to face together you are limited to 4 vertices in a group. A face will be formed. Here is an example of 2 cubes joined together with a space that needs filled between them. In edit mode, select the 4 vertices hold down shift key and right click on them , then type F.
A face will be created. Ctrl-F will give a Face Specials menu of options that will allow a larger set of closed vertices to be faced with additional options. Using Alt- F will fill a larger area automatically. RoboDude Says: Adding and deleting faces and vertices are the basics in any model construction.
It is important to become comfortable with these operations while knowing how to accurately work within your viewports. In other words, A mesh can be made combining 2 meshes different from the Join command.
When using Join, the 2 shapes still retain all vertices. When using Boolean, a new shape is calculated union and removes interior geometry. A mesh can also be used to cut a hole in another mesh difference and a shape can also be made from where the 2 shape intersect with one another intersect.
In the sample shown below, a cube and a sphere have been placed overlapping each other. With the cube selected, we will be applying a Boolean Modifier. This is the first time we have accessed the Modifier buttons. If the resolution of your computer if not set so that you are able to see the Modifiers button, hold down your mouse wheel to scroll over the buttons to gain access to it. You will see a variety of modifiers that can be added and many will be discussed later.
For now, select the Boolean modifier. In the Boolean panel, you will see a block where you can select the object you wish to use to modify the cube. Clicking in the box will give you a drop down of all objects in the scene. Selecting the sphere will display the changes to the cube.
We are going to use Boolean operations to cut some simple windows in your lighthouse. Using your principle views of 1, 3, and 7, place the cube in a good location for a window. With the cube still selected, make note of the cube's name, displayed in the lower left corner of the viewport.
We will need to know that name later. The name can also be changed in the Transform window. Go to the Modifiers Panel and add a Boolean Modifier. Select the Cube from the list under Object. You can even use different mesh shapes to cut other window and door shapes.
Remember to add the Boolean Modifier to the lighthouse and not the cube! Adjust the options as required. Do you want an amazing website?
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Message Please enter your message. Thank you for contacting us. We will reply to you in next 2 working days. It is built for a wide range of skill levels and offers a convenient interface for newcomers. The program contains a graphical user interface and is composed of three main windows. These windows are the 3D View, Properties, and Outliner. The 3D View shows the object being worked on in a 3D space.
The Properties window displays at Blender download for Windows the properties of the object. The Outliner window displays the object's hierarchy. Free Blender app is easy to use and is designed with a clean interface. It is easy to learn and offers a wide range of tools for usability. The program's interface is easy to use and is quite intuitive.
There is a lot of help available for new users via documentation and online tutorials. There is also a lot of documentation available to learn from. Blender free app offers a wide range of functionality, including animation, modeling, simulation, rendering, post-production, interactive development, and education. The program has a lot of functionality. It can be used to create, animate, sculpt, or render 3D objects.
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