Blender Course

for Blender v2.
45
Basics
Bas van Dijk
v1.0 – January 2008

Copyright (c) 2008 - Bas van Dijk
You may redistribute and copy this document as long as it remains unchanged and it will
be provided in its original format. No commercial printing of this e-book is allowed.
Preface
BlenderCourse teaches you about 3D modelling and provides you short tutorials about a
specific subject. The main thought is: ‘Just do it!’ During different courses you will learn
various techniques. If necessary, there is a small instruction, but in my opinion you will
learn best by doing the exercises yourself.
BlenderCourse is intended for everyone who can use a computer. This means you must
understand terms as “double click” and “tab-key”.
You do not need any 3D-modelling knowledge; the terms used, will be explained during
the different courses.
If you see an error or something that is not clear, I want to ask you to contact me
through feedback@blendercourse.com. More Blender Course material can be found at
http://www.blendercourse.com.
I would like to thank Erik van der Kouwe, Nynke Dokkum and Andrew Vander Molen for
correcting this document.
Have fun with BlenderCourse!
Bas van Dijk
Wijdewormer, the Netherlands, January 2008

Introduction
During these lessons we are using the 3D modelling tool Blender 3D, but what is this for
kind of tool? With Blender you can create 2D- and 3D-images and it is possible to make
animations/movies.
The “Appendix 4 – Blender gallery” is a small showcase about the possibilities of Blender.
Before you can start with a lesson you first have to read small a piece of text which
describes the techniques of the lesson. At the end of every lesson is an image of “The
challenge”. The idea is that you can reproduce the image by using the techniques learned
during the lesson. The last two chapters do not have a challenge because these are about
animation.
All Blender files are provided with this BlenderCourse. You can find these in the “Course
Material” folder.
This document is using several symbols. Below is the explanation of these symbols:
An arrow () means instruction. This means you have to follow the step after it.
Example: Click with the right mouse button on the object.
A text between < and > means a key on the keyboard.
Example: Press <Enter> to confirm the operation.
A combination of more than one key will be written with the plus sign (+).
Example: Press <Alt> + <F4> to exit the program.
A button on the screen will be written between [ and ].
Example: Click at [OK] to close the window.
If there is an arrow () between two words, this means a click sequence in a
menu.
Example: Choose File Save
A new technique or additional information will be written inside a grey box.
Example:
This is how this technique works.
Table of contents
Results per Course................................................................................................. 7
Course 1 – Mesh and vertex editing I .................................................................... 7
Course 2 – Mesh and vertex editing II ................................................................... 7
Course 3 – Render options and Proportional Editing ................................................ 7
Course 4 – Curves .............................................................................................. 8
Course 5 – Materials and light .............................................................................. 8
Course 1 – Mesh and vertex editing I ....................................................................... 9

Meshes and vertices............................................................................................ 9
Views and axis ................................................................................................... 9
Rendering .......................................................................................................... 9
A house ........................................................................................................... 10
The challenge................................................................................................... 16
Skills from this course ....................................................................................... 17
Course 2 – Mesh and vertex editing II.................................................................... 18

Basic meshes ................................................................................................... 18
Pill .................................................................................................................. 18
Materials ......................................................................................................... 27
The challenge................................................................................................... 30
Course 3 – Render options & Proportional editing .................................................... 31

Scene Panel ..................................................................................................... 31
Image sizes ..................................................................................................... 33
Mountain scenery through Proportional Editing ..................................................... 34
Proportional Edit Falloff ..................................................................................... 39
SubSurf........................................................................................................... 39
Subdivision level............................................................................................... 40
The Challenge .................................................................................................. 42
Course 4 - Curves................................................................................................ 43
A chair out of Curves......................................................................................... 43
Bezier Curve .................................................................................................... 43
Convert to mesh ............................................................................................... 44
The challenge................................................................................................... 54
Course 5 – Materials and light ............................................................................... 55

Materials ......................................................................................................... 55
RGBA colours ................................................................................................... 55
Textures .......................................................................................................... 59
Emitting .......................................................................................................... 61
Light ............................................................................................................... 62
Lamp Panel ...................................................................................................... 67
The challenge................................................................................................... 69
Course 6 – Animation........................................................................................... 70
Frames, keyframes and framerate ...................................................................... 70
Frame navigation.............................................................................................. 70
Video codec ..................................................................................................... 72
Course 7 – Tips and Tricks.................................................................................... 75
Parent/Child..................................................................................................... 75
Change centre of object..................................................................................... 76
Spin ................................................................................................................ 77
Alignment ........................................................................................................ 79
Appendix 1: The installation of Blender .................................................................. 80
Appendix 2: Configure Blender .............................................................................. 84
Appendix 3: Key overview .................................................................................... 91
Appendix 4: Blender gallery .................................................................................. 93
BlenderCourse – Basics v1.0 6

Results per Course
Below are all the results from the different exercises in this BlenderCourse.
Course 1 – Mesh and vertex editing I
House
Course 2 – Mesh and vertex editing II
Pill
Course 3 – Render options and Proportional Editing
Mountain scenery

Course 4 – Curves
Chair
Course 5 – Materials and light
Transparent spheres Wireframe
Marble texture Emitting Marble texture
Spotlight Red Halo

Course 1 – Mesh and vertex editing I
For all lessons in BlenderCourse it is assumed that you have installed Blender (Appendix
1 – The installation of Blender) and configured according to “Appendix 2 – Configure
Blender”. If have not done this already please do so.
Meshes and vertices

A 3D-object, like a cube, sphere or cylinder is called a mesh (figure 1). This cube
consists of eight points. One of these points is called a vertex (plural vertices) they are
red marked in figure 2.
figure 1 figure 2
In case of the cube four vertices make a face. Each face has a minimum of three
vertices.
Views and axis

In 3D space we are using three axis: X-, Y- and Z-axis. In the bottom left of each view
(marked red in figure 3) is shown in which direction these axis are pointing. Figure three
is a screenshot of the front-view. Here you can see that the Z-axis is the vertical one and
the X-axis the horizontal one.
figure 3
Rendering
In Blender we are working with some kind of wireframe (figure 4). This wireframe is not
the actual result of your design (figure 5). The wireframe needs to be “translated” into an
image, this process is called rendering. During this process the CPU calculates things like
light, shadow, reflections etc.
figure 4 figure 5

A house
During this lesson we are going to build a simple house as shown in figure 19. There is a
image below (figure 6) to remind you about the names of the different views.
TOP SIDE
FRONT CAMERA
figure 6
Start Blender.
Move with your mouse cursor to the centre of the cube in the “Front View” and
click with your right mouse button to select.
In the bottom left of the view you can see which object you have selected (marked in red
in figure 7).
figure 7
The horizontal line in the Front View is the 0-line. The cube is located half below this 0-
line. The next steps show you how to move the cube upwards.
Move with the mouse cursor to the centre in the Front View and press <G>
(move), you can now move the cube (move the mouse around and see what the
result is in the other views).
Press <Esc> to cancel the movement; the cube is placed back to its original
location.
You can see moving a cube around is not easy. You can define the axis where the object
needs to move along. In order to do this press <G> and the letter of the axis which you
like to lock (<X>, <Y> or <Z>).
If you hold down <Ctrl> during the movement you make sure the object moves along
the grid.

Move back with your cursor in the centre of the cube in the Front View and press
<G> for move and <Z> to lock the Z-axis.
You can now see the axis which you have locked, in this case the light blue Z-axis (figure
8).
figure 8
Now hold <Ctrl> down while moving the cube upwards till it is on the 0-line.
Click with your left mouse button or press <Enter> to confirm the movement.
If everything worked out well you screen should look like figure 9.
figure 9
This cube is the basis of our house, we only need the roof. In order to build the roof we
need another cube on top. To achieve this we are about to duplicate the old one.
Select in the Front View the cube (move cursor to the centre of the cube and
press the right mouse button).
Press <Shift> + <D> (duplicate object).
You can now move the duplicated cube freely around.
Press <Z> to lock the Z-axis.
Hold down <Ctrl> and move the cube till it is on top of the first one.
Click with the left mouse button or press <Enter> to confirm the movement.
If everything worked out well you now have two cubes as shown in figure 10.

figure 10
The cubes fall almost out of sight. If you use the scroll wheel (<Scrl>) when holding
<Ctrl>, <Alt> of <Shift> you can change this. This only applies to the view in which you
are currently working.
<Alt> + <Scrl> = Zoom view in and out
<Ctrl> + <Scrl> = Move view horizontal
<Shift> + <Scrl> = Move view vertical
Move your cursor in the Front View and hold <Shift> while moving the scroll
wheel downwards till the cubes are in the middle of your view (figure 11).
figure 11
Blender uses two different modes: Object Mode and Edit Mode. In Object Mode you are
working with the object as a whole. In Edit Mode you can edit the object per vertex or
multiple vertices.
You can switch between these modes by pressing <Tab>.
In the Front View select the top cube.
Press <Tab> for switching into Edit Mode.
You have now switched into Edit Mode. You can know this because of all the visible
vertices and the text “Edit Mode” in the view menu bar (red marked figure 12).

figure 12
In the next steps we are going to make the roof sharp.
Press <A> to deselect all vertices.
Press for block selection and drag a rectangle around the topmost two
vertices (figure 13).
figure 13
You can scale objects by pressing <S>, to rotate you can press <R>. Also with these
operations you can use <X>, <Y> and <Z> to lock the axes.
Move your cursor in a corner of the Top View (top left) and press <S> followed by
<X> to lock the X-axis. If we did not lock on the X-axis we would have a pyramid.
Move your cursor to the centre of the view till the roof is getting sharp.
Confirm your operation by pressing the left mouse button or press <Enter>.
If everything worked out well, you now have a house with a sharp roof just as (figure
14).

figure 14
As you can see the house falls partly out of the camera view (bottom right). We are
going to correct this.
Press <Tab> to switch back to Object Mode.
Select (with the right mouse button) the camera in the Front View (marked red in
figure 14). Its colour changes to purple.
Press <G> followed by <Z> and move the camera upwards till the whole house
shows up in the Camera View.
Confirm your movement by pressing the left mouse button or press <Enter>.
You screen should now look like figure 15.
figure 15

It is time to save our work.
In Blender you can save by pressing <Ctrl> + <W> or choose File Save. The first time
Blender prompts you for a filename, every next time your file is overwritten
automatically.
Move you cursor in the Front View and press <Ctrl> + <W>.
The Front View changes into a save dialog (figure 16).
figure 16
Change untitled.blend into bc01.01.blend and press <Enter>.
With the button marked in figure 17, you can change the drive letter.
figure 17
Browse to the folder in which you like to save your file and press [Save File].
Your file is saved; you can see this in the window title of Blender (figure 18). This is the
filename in which your file is saved.
figure 18
Finally we are about to “render” our house. As described earlier, this operation
transforms our wireframe into the final image.
Press <F10> to open the Render Panel (figure 19).
figure 19

Press [Render] or <F12> to start the rendering process.
A window appears, which shows the rendering process (figure 20).
figure 20
The challenge
figure 21 – castle – bc01.02.blend

Skills from this course
Moving, rotating and scaling objects
Locking axis
Editing vertices of an object
Duplicating objects
Saving files
Rendering scenes

Course 2 – Mesh and vertex editing II
In this course we are continuing with editing meshes and also learn some Blender
meshes.
Basic meshes
Before you start drawing your 3D-model, you need to check of which basic meshes your
object consists. In the previous assignment our basic mesh was the “cube”.
Blender contains the following basic meshes: Plane, Cube, Circle, UVSphere, Icosphere,
Cylinder, Tube, Cone, Grid and Monkey.
Figure 1 shows all the renderable meshes. A circle for example is not visible when
rendering.
The mesh Monkey is the mascot of Blender and is named Suzanna. You can use this
mesh as a ready-to-use mesh.
Plane Cube UVSphere IcoSphere Tube
Cylinder Cone Monkey Grid

figure 1
Pill
In this chapter we are about to make a pill (figure 2).
figure 2
The First question we can ask ourselves could be: which basic meshes are we going to
use for making this pill? The most logical answer would be a Cylinder with two UVSpheres
on the end. Instead we are going to use only one mesh: the UVSphere.

Start Blender.
Choose File New (figure 3).
figure 3
Click with the right mouse button on the cube to select.
Press <X> to delete the cube.
A menu appears (figure 4).
figure 4
Choose [Erase Selected].
The cube is deleted now.
Move the mouse cursor to the centre of the Top View.
Press <Spacebar>.
A menu appears.
Choose Add Mesh UVsphere (figure 5).
figure 5
A prompt appears asking you the number of segments and rings.
Press <Enter> twice to confirm the standard number of segments and rings.
You have now added a sphere to your scene (figure 6). We are now going to make a half
of the pill.

figure 6
You have been switched into Edit Mode automatically and can see the yellow vertices of
the sphere.
Working in just a quarter of the screen is sometimes not practical. You can maximize a
view by moving your cursor into a view and press <Ctrl> + <>. With <Ctrl> + <>
you are switch back.
Maximize your Front View by pressing <Ctrl> + <>.
The Front View is maximized now (figure 7).
figure 7
Move your cursor to the centre of the Front View (bottom left) and Zoom in
(Scrollwheel up) till the sphere takes about 25% of the view. (figure 8).
figure 8

Click on the brown box icon in the view menu bar and choose [Wireframe] (figure
9).
figure 9
In order to select multiple vertices we are using Block Select. You use block select by
pressing while in Edit Mode. If you hold down your left mouse button, you can drag
a rectangle around the vertices. All vertices in this rectangle will be selected (yellow
coloured are the selected ones).
In Edit Mode you can press <A> to select or deselect all vertices.
Press <A> to deselect all vertices.
Press and drag a rectangle around all the vertices right from the centre-line
(figure 10).
Do not select the centre line itself, only the vertices on the right side of it!
figure 10

This should be the result after your selection (figure 11).
figure 11
Press <X>.
figure 12
Choose [Vertices].
You are now seeing half a sphere (figure 13).
figure 13
Press <Ctrl> + <> to see all view again. We continue working in the Front View.
Select with the rightmost row of vertices (marked red in figure 13).

Press <E> for Extrude.
A menu appears (figure 14 or figure 15).
figure 14
figure 15
Choose [Only Edges] or [Region].
Press <X> to lock the X-axis.
Move the mouse to the right.
In the bottom left of the view is displayed how for the “pill” is stretched (figure 16).
figure 16
This number consists of a lot of decimals. To adjust till 3.0000 is quite hard.
Press <ESC> to cancel the Extrude operation.
Press again <E> [Region].
Press <3>.
The bottom left of the view menu bar shows 3 (figure 17).
figure 17
Press <Enter> to accept the Extrude operation. You are now having half a pill
(figure 18).

figure 18
In the Camera View (bottom left) you can see the pill is still hollow (figure 19).
figure 19
Click in the view menu bar of Front View (bottom left) at [Mesh].
figure 19
Choose Faces Fill (<Shift> + <F>).
The Camera View (bottom right) shows a “closed” pill now (figure 21).

figure 21
Save your work as bc02.01.blend (<Ctrl> + <W>).
The left part of our pill is ready, now we are continuing with the right part.
Use <Ctrl> + Scrollwheel in the Front View for moving the pill to the left side of
the screen (figure 22).
figure 22
Press <Tab> for Object Mode.
Press <Shift> + <D> to duplicate the mesh.
Press <Enter> to confirm the duplication.
The pill is now duplicated, but the duplications are still on top of each other.
Press <R> for rotate.
Type <1> <8> <0> to rotate the half pill 180 degrees and press <Enter>.
In the Front View there are two half pills over each other (figure 23).
figure 23

Press <G> to move the mesh.
Type <6> and press <Enter>.
The meshes are now tight together (figure 24).
figure 24
Figure 25 shows the red part of the pill is slightly bigger than the white part. We can
achieve this by using the scale method.
figure 25
Select the right part of the pill.
Press in the Side View (top right) <S> for scale.
Type <1> <.> <1> and press<Enter>.
The Front View (bottom left) shows the right part bigger than the left one (figure 26).
Because of the scaling the two parts overlap each other.
figure 26

Press <G> for move.
Type <0> <.> <3> and press <Enter>.
Materials
Blender uses materials. A material describes properties of a material such as colour,
reflection, softness and structure. Course 5 describes materials in more detail.
Select the right part of the capsule.
Press <F5>.
The Material Panel appears (figure 27).
figure 27
Click at [Add New] to add a new material.
You have now added a new material. New Panels appear (figure 28).
figure 28
The materials preview is shown in the Preview Panel. The colour of this object is grey.
The name is “Material.001”.
Click in the textbox which shows the name (marked red in figure 29) and change
Material.001 into Red.
figure 29

Each colour consists of three primitive colours: red, green, blue.
Drag the sliders (marked red in figure 30) according to the following values: R at
1.0, G at 0.0 and B at 0.0.
figure 30
Now select the left part of the pill and make a material called “White” with the
values: R at 1.0, G at 1.0 and B at 1.0.
Select in the Top View (top left) the camera (marked red in figure 31). The
Camera View is shown in the bottom left view.
figure 31
Press <G> to move the camera.
Move the camera in a so the whole pill is displayed in the Camera View.
Save your work (<F2>) as bc02.02.blend
Press <F12> to render your model. If everything worked out fine the image
should look like figure 32.
figure 32

Everything looks serrated. Blender has a technique called smoothing. This makes your
object smoother. The “smoother” your object, the longer it takes to render.
Select the red part of the pill and press <F9> (Editing Panel).
Two Panels appear.
Click [Set Smooth] (figure 33), this makes the mesh look smooth.
Click [Auto Smooth] (figure 33), to autoset the smooth settings.
figure 33
Press <F12> to render.
You can see the red part is a lot smoother than the white part (figure 34).
figure 34
Select the white part.
Make this part also smooth in the same way as we did with the red part.
Press <F12>.
Your pill should look smooth now (figure 35).

figure 35
The challenge
figure 36 – salt cellar – bc02.04.blend

Recognizing basic meshes
Vertex editing
“Smooth” objects
Entering coordinates manually
Naming and recognising Materials
Changing the Material colour

Course 3 – Render options & Proportional editing
During this course we are going to explore a little bit more of the Scene Panel’s
possibilities.
Scene Panel
The Scene Panel shows lots of settings which affects the rendering, for example the
rendered image size.
The render process goal is to render an image or animation. This rendering is done
according to our model. The more effects used, the longer it takes to render your image.
The same hold for the image size: rendering an 5000x5000 image take a lot more time
than a 100x100 image.
We are going to adjust several render setting in order to see their influence on the final
render.
Open bc02.03.blend (<F1>) from the previous course.
Press <F10> for the “Scene Panel” (figure 1).
figure 1
The Scene Panel shows four different Panels: Output, Render Layers, Render, Anim and
Format.
Disable the [OSA] button on the Render Panel, if this one was enabled.
Press <F12>.
Watch closely to the border between the red and the white part of the pill (marked red in
figure 2). This border looks serrated.
figure 2

Blender can apply a technique which is called anti-aliasing. This makes the edges of our
meshes look a lot smoother. Blender calls this technique oversampling (OSA).
Below the [OSA] button on the render panel are several other buttons: [5], [8], [11] and
[16] (marked red in figure 3). This buttons are the grade of anti-aliasing. Keep in mind:
the higher the number, the slower the rending process goes.
figure 3
Click on [OSA] and [5] to enable both (figure 3).
Press <F12>.
The result (figure 4) is smoother borders than figure 2.
figure 4
The render of the previous exercises are rendered at 800 by 600 pixels. This size can be
adjusted in the “Format Panel” (marked red in figure 5).
When you try to click “800” or “600” you can not immediately change these values. In
order to do this you should hold <Shift> while clicking on the value.
figure 5
Hold <Shift> and click with the left Mouse button on 800.
Change 800 into 1024 and press <Enter>.

Change 600 into 768 and press <Enter>.
Image sizes
You can select any size for your image to render. Even though there are a few common
used sizes:
320x240
640x480
1024x768
1280x1024
1600x1200
3200x2400
Press <F12> to render the scene.
You can see the image is rendered larger but is still Sharp. Blender has some predefined
render sizes. You can select these sizes by pressing one of them in the Format Panel
(marked red in figure 6).
figure 6
Sometimes you want to make a test render to see the final result. In this situation you
don’t want to change the image size all the time. For this reason Blender has a couple of
buttons (marked red in figure 7). With these buttons you can adjust the percentage to
render of the specified size.
figure 7
Click on [25%].
Press <F12>.
Now you can see your image rendered at 25% of the original format.

Till now we have rendered images, but not stored them on the hard disk. Blender can
render images in various formats like Jpeg, PNG and BMP.
The image format can be set in the Format Panel (figure 8).
figure 8
Press <F11> to show the last rendered image.
Press <F3> to save your rendered image.
The bottom panel changes into a File Panel.
Type “capsule.jpg” as filename (figure 9).
figure 9
Click on [Save JPEG] (figure 10).
figure 10
The image is saved as “capsule.jpg”.
Mountain scenery through Proportional Editing

This chapter teaches you how to create a mountain scenery with the Proportional Editing
technique.
Start Blender with a new scene.

Erase the cube (select with the right mouse button, press <X> and choose [Erase
Selected]).
Our scene now only contains a lamp and a camera.
Press in the Top View (upper left) on <Spacebar>.
Choose Add Mesh Plane (figure 11).
figure 11
The centre of the scene shows a Plane (figure 12).
figure 12
Press <S> to scale the Plane.
Type <1><0> to scale the Plane times and press <Enter> (figure 13).

figure 13
Zoom the Top View till the whole Plane covers the view (<Alt> + <Scrl>).
The Plane now only consists out of four vertices (marked red in figure 14).
figure 14
Press <F9> to open the Edit Panel.
The third panel is called “Mesh Tools”. This panel contains a button called “Subdivide”
(marked red in figure 15). This divides the mesh.

figure 15
Press the button once and see what happens to the Panel.
The Plane is now splitted and consists out of nine vertices (marked red in figure 16).
figure 16
Click 3 times on [Subdivide].
The Plane consists now out a lot of vertices (figure 17).
figure 17
We are about to enable Proportional Editing.
Click in the Top View bar, at the circle and choose [On] (figure 18).
figure 18
The short key for Proportional Editing is <O> in Edit Mode.
Select in the Top View (with the right mouse button) the vertex shown in figure
19 (4th from left and 4th from the top).

figure 19
Press in the Front View (bottom left) on <G> for move and <Z> to lock the Z-
axis.
Move the mouse upwards.
You will notice the mountain is very sharp instead of smooth (figure 20).
Press <Esc> to cancel the movement.
figure 20
Figure 20 (marked red) shows a grey circle at the initial location of the vertex. The
vertices within this circle will be stretched in the direction of the moving vertex.
Press <G> again and press <Z> to lock the Z-axis.
Move the vertex up again.
Do not confirm the movement yet, first <Page-Up> 10 times on.
<Page-Up> increases the radius. The bigger the radius the more vertices will follow the
movement.
Click to confirm the movement.
The mountain now looks like figure 21.
figure 21

Press <F12> to render the image.
The result should look like figure 22. You will notice the angular look of the mountain.
This is what we are going to change with the “subsurf” technique.
figure 22
Proportional Edit Falloff

There are different ways of creating the “mountain”. The button right from the button to
enable Proportional Editing shows an icon of a sharp chart (figure 23). When clicking this
button a list appears in which you can set the way the vertices are reacting to the
movement of one vertex.
figure 23
SubSurf
SubSurf means Subdivisions Surface. Remember: the more divisions the smoother the
surface. You can specify the amount of divisions. With this you can control the
smoothness of the final result.
The bottom of the screen shows the Modifiers Panel (figure 24). Here are several mesh
modifiers listed.
Click on [Add modifier] and choose [Subsurf]
We choose SubSurf (marked red in figure 24).

figure 24
Watch carefully to the effect of the SubSurf modifier (figure 25). The left image is
without SubSurf the right one with.
figure 25
Subdivision level
The SubSurf modifier panels shows two kind of levels (figure 26). The “Levels” means the
subdivision level shown in the views, the “render levels” means the subdivision level
during render time. For a good result during render time it is recommended to keep the
“Levels” low and only adjust the “Render Levels”. This makes working in the view easier
and faster. Keep in mind: the higher the “Render Levels” the longer the render process
takes.
figure 26
Adjust the Render Levels to 4.
Your mountain should look a lot smoother (figure 27).

figure 27
Press <Tab> for Edit Mode.
Now you can move several other vertices in order to create a mountain scenery.
Experiment with changing the radius with <Page-Up> and <Page-Down>. Keep in
mind if the mountains after rendering don’t look smooth you increase the “Render
Levels”.
Figure 28 shows an example of a possible result for the previous exercise.
figure 28
Save the result (<F2>) as bc03.04.blend

The Challenge
figure 29 – scale – bc03.05.blend

Using Anti-aliasing for renders (OSA)
Saving the render result as JPG file
Changing the resolution of the final render
SubSurf
Proportional Editing

Course 4 - Curves
A chair out of Curves
Blender has the ability to model with curves. These curves can be quite handy when
creating organic shapes like a round vase or tree leaves.
Blender contains two types of curves: Bezier and NURBS. This course focuses on the
Bezier Curves.
Start a blank scene (<Ctrl> + <X>).
Erase the cube (select the cube with the right mouse button. Press <X> and
choose [Erase All]).
Press in the Front View (bottom left) <Space> and choose Add Curve Bezier
Curve (figure 1).
figure 1
Zoom in till the curve fits the screen.
Bezier Curve
The front view now shows a Bezier Curve. This curve has a couple of anchor points.
Each of them has two handles; these handles are used to bend the curve.
Select the left anchor point with the right mouse button (marked red in figure 2).
figure 2
Press <G> to move this anchor point and <Z> to lock the Z-axis.
Notice how the curve reacts on the movement.
Type <1> and confirm the movement with <Enter>.

The curve is now moved upwards (figure 3).
figure 3
Centre the curve in the viewport with <Shift> + <Scrl>.
Select the upper handle (marked red in figure 3).
Press <G> to move and <Z> to lock the Z-axis.
Type <-> <2> and press <Enter>.
The side view shows the seat of the chair (figure 4).
figure 4
Press <Tab> to return to Object Mode.
Convert to mesh
Our curve is just a simple line. We like the seat to have some more depth. We have to
convert our curve into a mesh in order to do this.
Choose in the view bar Object Convert Object Type (<Alt> + <C>) (figure 5).

figure 5
figure 6
Choose [Mesh].
Your curve is now converted into a mesh.
Centre your mesh in the Side View (top right) as shown in figure 7.
figure 7
Press <A> to select all vertices.
Press in the Side View (top right) on <E> for extrude.
A menu appears (figure 8)
figure 8
Choose [Only Edges].

Press <Y> to lock the Y-axis.
The seat now becomes 3D (figure 9).
figure 9
In the Camera View zoom in till the chair fits the viewport. (figure 10).
figure 10
The seat looks a little bit crude.
Press [Set Smooth] the Link and Material Panel (marked red in figure 11).
figure 11
Now you can see the seat having a smooth surface (figure 12).
figure 12

Press <F12> to see the result.
Press <A> twice in order to select all vertices.
In the Front View (bottom left) press <E>.
figure 13
Choose [Region].
Press <Z> in order to lock the Z-axis.
Type <-><0><.><1>.
Now the seat got also depth (figure 14).
figure 14
In the Front View (bottom left) move the view with <Shift> + <Scrl> in such
way, that the chair stands in the upper part of the view (figure 15).

figure 15
Press <Spacebar> and choose Add Curve Bezier Curve.
Select the leftmost handle (marked red in figure 16).
figure 16
Press <G> for move and <X> to lock the X-axis.
Move the selected handle until it touches the side of the seat (figure 17)
Click with the left Mouse button in order to confirm the movement.
figure 17
Type <1><8><0> and press <Enter>.
After rotation the curve should look like figure 18.
figure 18
Select with the right mouse button the most right handle (marked red in figure
18).
Press <G> for move. Move the handle to the position marked red in figure 19 (the
bottom of the view shows the coordinates).

figure 19
Our curve is a little bit too short. This is not a problem. Blender can extend curves with
as much anchor points as you like.
Hold <Ctrl> and click (with the left mouse button) on the spot marked red in
figure 20.
figure 20
The curve has a new anchor point. (figure 21).
figure 21
Select (with the right mouse button) the handle which is marked red in figure 21.
Type <-><1><0><0> and press <Enter>.
Your chair should look like figure 22.
figure 22

In the Side View (top right) press <R> and <X> to lock the X-axis.
Type <2><0> and press <Enter>.
In the Top View (top left) press <Spacebar> and choose Add Curve Bezier
Circle (figure 23).
figure 23
This circle is far too large (figure 24).
figure 24
Press <S> for scaling.
Type <0><.><0><6> and press <Enter> to confirm.
The bottom left of the Side View shows the name of our circle: “CurveCircle” (figure 25).
figure 25

Select our first curve with the right mouse button.
Type in the Curve and Surface Panel at BevObj (Bevel Object) “CurveCircle”
(marked red in figure 26) and press <Enter>.
figure 26
The circle now follows our curve which makes it look like a hollow tube (figure 27).
figure 27
In the Top View (top left) zoom in till the chair fills the view.
Select the CurveCircle.
Press <S> for scale. Notice what happened (the tube is also scaled!).
Select in the Side View (top right) the tube.
Press <Shift> + <D> (duplicate).
Press <Y> to lock the Y-axis.
The chair now has two supporting tubes but one is mirrored! (figure 28).
figure 28

Type <-><4><0> and press <Enter>.
Press <F12> to render the chair.
If we look closely to the chair we still see our CurveCircle (marked red in figure 29). It is
not possible to just delete the circle. If we do, the curve does not know the bevel object
anymore.
figure 29
Select in the Side View (top right) the left support tube.
Press <Shift> and select the right support tube as well.
Convert these into a Mesh just as you did for the seat (<Alt> + <C>).
The supporting tubes appear quite crude.
Press [Set Smooth] (marked red in figure 30).
figure 30
Select in the Top View (top left) the CurveCircle and press <X>.
Choose [Erase Selected].
Render again with <F12>.
The circle no longer appears in our render (figure 31). Finally we scale up our chair
because it appears a little bit small.

figure 31
Select in the Side View (top right) the two supporting tubes and the seat by
holding <Shift>.
Press <S> for scale.
Type <2><.><5> and press <Enter> to confirm.
Press <F12> again to render.
The result is a screen filling chair (figure 32).
figure 32

The challenge
figure 33 – paperclip – bc04.05.blend

Smoothing meshes
Creating Bezier Curves
Adding anchor point to a curve
Bevelling curves
Converting a curve into a mesh

Course 5 – Materials and light
Materials
In course 2 we applied different colours to the pill by using “materials”. This chapter
shows how we can change material properties.
Start a new scene (<Ctrl> + <X>).
Select the cube and delete it from the scene (<X> [Erase Selected]).
In the Top View (top left) press <Spacebar> and choose Add Mesh
UVsphere.
Press [OK] twice.
The centre of your scene now contains a sphere. We are about to smooth this sphere and
add a material.
Press <F9> for the Edit Panel.
Press [Set Smooth].
Press <F5> for the Shading Panel.
Press [Add New] to add a new material to the sphere.
Name the material “YellowPlastic” (marked red in figure 1).
figure 1
RGBA colours
Every colour is built out of the colours Red, Green and Blue. In Blender you can specify a
value for each colour. This value should be between 0.000 and 1.000. Besides R, G and
B, beside these three figure 2 also shows a “A”. This A value represents the Alpha value.
This value means the degree of transparency. 1.000 means opaque, 0.500 means 50%
transparent.
There are three ways to specify a colour value: typing (click on a value while holding
<Shift>), sliders (slide the slider) or click on a colour (a colour pick dialog appears).
Adjust the YellowPlastic colour values to R: 1.000, G: 1.000, B: 0.000 and A:

1.000 (figure 2).

figure 2
The “Preview” Panel shows an example of your material. The six buttons (marked red in
figure 2) specify which object is shown in the Preview Panel.
Press the buttons which are marked red in figure 2 to see the effect.
Set the sphere as preview object.
Press the circle (figure 3) in order to apply anti-aliasing to the preview.
figure 3
Press <F12> the render our scene (figure 4).
figure 4
The sphere does not look like it is made out of plastic because the material does not
reflect the light in a shiny way.
Click on the tab called “Shaders” (figure 5).
figure 5

The tab shows three sliders: Ref (reflection), Spec (specularity) and Hard (hardness).
Reflection specifies the amount of light the material reflects. Specularity specifies the
amount of light which is absorbed. Hardness specifies the hardness of the specularity.
Set hardness to 511 (maximum).
Set specularity to 2.00 (maximum).
Press <F12> to render the scene (figure 6).
figure 6
The surface of the sphere looks a lot glossier.
Press in the Front View (bottom left) <Shift> + <D> to duplicate the sphere.
Type <3> and press <Enter> to confirm the movement.
Right under the Links and Pipeline tab (figure 7) press the arrow button and
choose [Add New] to add a new material.
figure 7
Change the name to BlueTransparant (figure 8).
Adjust the BlueTransparant colour values to R: 0.000, G: 0.000, B: 1.000 and A:

0.500 (figure 8).
figure 8

Press <F12> to render the result (figure 9).
figure 9
Blender does not do what we expected. The blue sphere does not appear transparent
even though we set the Alpha value to 0.500. This is because we made the colour
transparent but not the object itself.
Click on the Links and Pipeline tab (figure 10).
Click on [ZTransp] (marked red in figure 10).
figure 10
Press <F12> to render our scene again.
Now you can see a rendered blue sphere (figure 11).
figure 11

You can also create a wireframe material which makes the object rendering as a
wireframe.
Click on [Wire] in the Links and Pipeline Panel (marked red in figure 12).
Set to A: 1.000.
figure 12
Press <F12> to render the image.
You can now see the blue sphere being rendered as a blue wireframe (figure 13).
figure 13
Textures
In the previous part we only adjusted the reflection of the material. A material also has
some kind of structure. This structure is defined with one or more textures.
Turn off [Wired] for the “BlueTransparant” material.
Open the Texture Panel (<F6>).
As also shown when working with materials, the Texture Panel also has a Preview Panel
(figure 14), on the right you can see the number of layers a texture can consist of (max.
10). These layers are called Texture Channels (marked red in figure 14).

figure 14
Click on [Add New] to create a new texture.
In the dropdown box below “Texture Type” (figure 15) you can select different types of
textures. Each of these textures has specific properties.
figure 15
Choose for [Marble].
Name your texture “Marble” (marked red in figure 16).
figure 16
You can see the Marble Panel containing several properties which can be adjusted.
Press <F5> for the Material Panel.
Figure 17 (marked red) shows our texture is being used for our new material. The
Preview Panel shows pink marble parts on our material.
figure 17

Press <F12> to render our scene (figure 18)
figure 18
The default colour for a texture is pink. We are about to adjust this colour.
Click on the Map To Panel (figure 19).
figure 19
Change the pink colour to R: 1.000, G: 1.000 and B: 1.000.
You can see the pink colour has become white (figure 20).
figure 20
The Map To Panel allows you to adjust where the texture will be applied to.
Emitting
Like a lamp, a material can emit light. This can be done by changing the emit value of
the material, but also by enabling [Emit] at a texture.
In the Map To Panel click [Emit] (marked red in figure 21).

figure 21
Press <F12> to render your scene.
You can see it looks like the white part of your sphere is emitting light (figure 22).
figure 22
Light
A 3D-scene without light would result in a black image. Blender has five different light
sources: lamp, area, spot, sun and hemi. In this course we are just looking at the lamp
and spot. A spot is a light source which comes from one point where the light spreads in
a cone shape. A lamp is a light source which emits light to every direction.
Erase the cube.
In the Top View (top left) add a plane (<Spacebar> and press [Add] [Mesh]
[Plane]).
In the Top View (top left) press <N>.
The “transform properties” window appears (figure 23).
figure 23

In the transform properties you can adjust the position (Loc), rotation (Rot) and scale
(Scale) of an object.
Set the following values, ScaleX: 10, ScaleY: 10.
Press <N> to close the Transform Properties.
Press <Spacebar> and choose [Add] [Mesh] [UVsphere].
Press <Enter> twice.
Press in the Front View on <N>.
Type for LocZ, 1.0 (figure 24).
figure 24
Press <F9> to open the Edit Panel.
Press [Set Smooth].
Now you can see a shadow appearing at the sphere. This is made by the one and only
lamp in the scene.
figure 25

A lamp appears in a scene as a dot with a dashed circle around (marked red in figure
26).
figure 26
In the Top View press <Spacebar> and choose [Add] [Lamp] [Lamp].
Press <N>.
Fill in these values: LocX: -4, LocY: 3 and LocZ: 4.
You can see a lamp shining from the back of our sphere to the front (figure 27).
figure 27
Press <F12> and imagine where you think the shadow should appear.

The result is not what we expected. The shadow of only one lamp is visible instead of two
shadows (figure 28).
figure 28
Press <F5> for the Shading Panel.
Click on the lamp icon (figure 29) for “Lamp Buttons”.
figure 29
Click in the Shadow and Spot Panel on [Ray Shadow] (figure 30).
figure 30
Press again on <F12>.
Now you see two shadows (figure 31).
figure 31
Select in the Top View, the plane.
You see the plane appearing solid (figure 32).

figure 32
While your mouse cursor is in the Top View press <Z>.
With <Z> you can switch between Shaded and Wireframe mode.
Now we can see the lamps a lot clearer (figure 33).
figure 33
Select the right-hand lamp.
Press <X> to delete the lamp.
We are about to make a spot out of the left lamp.
Select the left-hand lamp.
Press in the Preview Panel on [Spot] (marked red in figure 34).
figure 34
The lamp has become a spot instead of a lamp (figure 35).

figure 35
A spot has a conic shape; this cone shows where the light bundle appears.
Press <N>.
Fill in the following values RotX: 0, RotY: -25, RotZ: -35.
The ground shows the shape of the spot (figure 36).
figure 36
Lamp Panel
The lamp panel (figure 37) is almost the same for all light types. With Dist (Distance) you
can adjust the range of your light. Energy adjusts the intensity of the light and R, G and
B specify the lights colour.

figure 37
Set the lamp colour to R: 1.000, G: 0.000 and B: 0.000 in.
The lamp colour now changed into red.
Click [Halo] in the Shadow and Spot Panel.
When halo is enabled, the beam of light becomes visible.
Set the HaloInt (Halo intensity) to 2.5 (marked red in figure 38).
figure 38
The beam of light has become more dense now (figure 39). In the Shadow and Spot
Panel, SpotSi defines the angle of the beam.
figure 39

The challenge
figure 40 – classic style discofloor – bc05.06.blend

Defining materials
Adjusting the glow and transparency of a material
Rendering objects as wireframe
Creating a texture and assigning it to an object
Emitting a texture
Using Transform Properties (<N>)
Setting shadows for lights
Adjusting light colours
Using spots and lamps
Applying halo to spots
Adjusting the halo colour

Course 6 – Animation
Frames, keyframes and framerate
Until now we only created static images. Blender can do more than this, like animations.
An animation is a sequence of static images. These images are called frames.
An animation shows a number of images per second. This number is called framerate
which has the abbreviation: fps (frames per second). Common used framerates are 25
or 30.
Blender uses keyframes. These keyframes are reference points in the animation.
Imagine an animation which takes for about 90 frames. During these 90 frames a cube
moves from left to right. The advantage of keyframes is the fact you do not have to
define the position of the cube for each frame. They key is to define the position of the
cube for frame 1 and for frame 90. Blender can do the math for you and calculate all the
positions in between.
Computing the duration of an animation is very straightforward. If you want an
animation with a framerate of 30 and you want the animation to have a duration of 3
seconds, the total amount of frames is then 3 x 30 = 90 frames.
The bottom left of each viewport shows the current frame number (marked red in figure
1).
figure 1
Frame navigation
The arrow keys help you in navigating through the frames: <> and <> moves one
frame forward or backward. <> or <> moves 10 frames forward or backward.
Press in the Top View in order to make a new keyframe in frame 1.

A menu appears (figure 2). In this menu you can choose between different kinds of
keyframes. The choice defines which object properties are stored inside the keyframe.
figure 2
Choose [Loc] (location) in order to make a keyframe for the location of the cube.
Press 5 times <> till you reach frame.
Press in the Top View <G> for moving.
Press again in order to create a keyframe for frame 51.
Choose for [Loc] (location).
Keep pressing <>; you will notice that the cube is moving back to its original
position.
Press <F10> for the Scene Panel.
The third Panel from the left shows the Anim Panel. This Panel shows from and to which
frame the animation runs (here 1 to 250) (marked red in figure 3).
figure 3
Change 250 into 75 by holding <Shift> and click on the number “250” and type
75.
Move your cursor inside the Camera View (bottom right) and press <Alt> + <A>.
You now see the animation in the Camera View. The frame number on the bottom left of
the viewport runs through the animation.
Press <Esc> to cancel the animation.

Video codec
JPEG is designed for stills. For animations there are other formats like avi, mpeg and
mov. A raw stored animation can take huge amounts of disk space.
In order to shrink these files, Video Codecs were invented. These codecs “code” the
animation in a very smart way which makes the file smaller.
Click in the Format Panel at [Jpeg] and choose [AVI Codec] (figure 4).
figure 4
A dialog appears in which you can select a codec (figure 5).
figure 5
Choose for [Cinepak Codec by Radius].
Click [OK] to confirm the codec.
In the Scene Panel make sure [OSA] is disabled and the format is [25%] (figure
6).
figure 6
Press [Anim] (marked red in figure 7) in order to start the animation rendering
process.

figure 7
During the animation rendering, your cursor changes into a black box with a number.
This number is the current rendered framenumber.
When the render process has been finished, the render window shows “Fra: 75” in the
top left corner (marked red in figure 8).
figure 8
Press [PLAY] (figure 9) to play the rendered animation.
figure 9
You now see your cube moving in front of the camera.
The animation will be stored as c:\tmp\0001_0075.avi.
Save your work (<F2>) as c06oef01.blend
Select the Camera (figure 10).
figure 10
Press in the Top View.
Choose [LocRot] (Location & Rotation)

Navigate to frame 51 (5× <>).
Press <G> to move the camera.
Move the camera to the point where it shows up in figure 11.
figure 11
Type <1><8><0> and press <Enter>.
Press in order to add a keyframe for frame 50.
Choose [LocRot].
Press <F10> for the Scene Panel.
Change the endframe from 250 into 60 (figure 12).
figure 12
Press in the Camera View Alt> + <A> to view the animation.
Now you can see the change of location and rotation from the camera.
Save your work (<F2>) as c06oef02.blend.

Animating by using keyframes
Defining Video Codecs for your animation
Playing animations
Defining the animation duration

Course 7 – Tips and Tricks
Parent/Child
Sometimes you have an object which needs to have a fixed position with respect to
another object. In this case you want to have the child moving along with the parent.
Start a new scene.
Select the cube.
Duplicate (<Shift> + <D>) the cube in the Front View (bottom left).
Select the lower cube.
Hold <Shift> and select the upper cube.
Press <Ctrl> + .
figure 1
Choose [Make parent]
A dotted line shows the relationship between the objects (marked red in figure 2). The
upper cube has become “parent”, the lower “child”.
figure 2
Select the upper cube.
In the Top View (top left), press <G> for move.

Move the cube randomly.
You now can see the lower cube moving along with the upper cube.
Press <G> and move randomly.
The upper cube does not move along.
Press <Alt> + .
figure 3
Choose [Clear Parent].
The child-parent relation has been removed.
Select the upper cube.
Press <G> to move.
Move the cube randomly.
You now can see the bottom cube not moving along. The parent-child relationship can be
very useful when modelling a animation character. The eyes are child of the head, the
head is child of the body, the hair is also a child of the head etc.
Change centre of object

An object always rotates around its centre (marked red in figure 4). Sometimes you want
to move this centre.
figure 4
Start a new scene.

Click in the Top View (top left) with you left mouse button on the top right corner
of the cube.
Do the same in the Front View (bottom left).
The 3D-cursor moves as shown in figure 5.
figure 5
Select the cube with your right mouse button.
Press <F9> for the Edit Panel.
Click in the Mesh Panel at [Centre Cursor] (figure 6).
figure 6
The centre of the cube has been moved to the location of the 3D-cursor.
In the Top View (top left), press <R> for rotate.
Rotate the cube randomly; you will see the cube rotating around its new centre.
Spin
Sometimes you would like to create multiple instances of an object, rotated over a
certain angle. An example can be the hour dashes on an analogue clock, which is copied
11 times over 360 degrees. Another example can be when drawing a gear.
Start a new scene.
Click in the Front View (bottom left) with the left Mouse button, four grid squares
below the cube in order to move the 3D-cursor (marked red in figure 7).

figure 7
Click [Centre Cursor] in order to change the centre of the cube.
Press <A> to de-select all vertices.
Press <A> to select all vertices.
Below on the Mesh Tools Panel is a textbox with “Degr” for the number of degrees of the
rotation. Steps are the number of steps of the rotation (marked red in figure 8).
figure 8
Set for Degr 360 and for Steps 10.
Press [Spin].
Your cursor changed into an arrow with a question mark.
Click in the Front View (bottom left).
Your cube has been multiplied ten times around 360 degrees (figure 9).
figure 9

Alignment
Placing objects on the grid can be quite difficult. Therefore Blender is equipped with an
alignment function.
Start a new scene.
Press <G> to move the cube.
Move the cube at random.
Press <Shift> + <S>.
figure 10
Selection -> Grid and Selection -> Cursor aligns the object to the grid or to the location
of the 3D-cursor.
Cursor -> Grid and Cursor -> Selection moves the 3D-cursor to the grid or the centre of
the selected objects.
Choose [Selection -> Grid].
The cube is now aligned to the grid.

Appendix 1: The installation of Blender
This appendix provides a step by step guide about the Blender installation progress.
Browse to http://www.blender.org/download/get-blender/.
Click under heading “2.45” on a mirror near you (marked red in figure 1).
figure 1
A window appears (figure 2).
figure 2
Choose [Run].
The installer is now being downloaded (figure 3).
figure 3
When the file is downloaded successfully a security warning appears (figure 4).

figure 4
Choose [Run].
The installation process starts.
Click on [Next >] (figure 5).
figure 5
Click on [I Agree] (figure 6).
figure 6

figure 7
If necessary you can pick the folder in which Blender needs to be installed. If you do not
know what to do just leave the default location.
figure 8
Click on [Install] (figure 9).
figure 9
File files are now being copied to the hard disk (figure 10).

figure 10
Click on [OK] (figure 11)
figure 11
Click on [Finish] to start Blender (figure 12).
figure 12
Blender will be started for the first time (figure 13).
figure 13
The installation is finished. To follow the lessons of BlenderCourse some settings need to
be adjusted. These are described in “Appendix 2 – Configure Blender”.

Appendix 2: Configure Blender
This appendix helps you to configure Blender in a way you can work with comfortably. If
after these steps, you do not get it, you can use the “B.blend” file from this course file.
Copy this file in the subfolder “.blender” of your Blender installation folder (e.g.
C:\Program Files\Blender Foundation\Blender). But I still recommend you to follow the
steps below to get familiar with the Blender environment.
When starting Blender you can see our screen consisting of three parts: menu bar, a
window with a centred square and a window with some buttons. These windows are
called “Panels”.
The square is the top view of a cube. For easy 3D modelling we like to have multiple
views. These views are: front-view, top-view, side-view and camera-view.
The next steps will guide you into how to create these views.
Click with the right mouse button on the border between the panel containing the
cube and the bottom panel (red spot in figure 1).
figure 1
Click with the left mouse button on [Split Area].
Move with the cursor to the centre of the cube. You see a vertical line following
your cursor (figure 2).
Click with the left mouse button as soon as the line intersects with the centre of
the cube.
figure 2
Now you are having two views next to each other. Both views show the top-view of the
cube (figure 3).

figure 3
Right now we have two views, but initially we want to have four. To make four views we
have to split up each view again.
Click with your right mouse button on the border between both views (red spot in
figure 4).
Another menu appears (figure 4).
Click with your left mouse button on [Split Area].
figure 4
Again there is a line which splits the views.
Move your mouse cursor to the centre of the right view.
Click with your left mouse button to confirm the split-up.
Now you have three views each representing the cube’s top-view (figure 5).
figure 5

Click with your right mouse button on the vertical border in the centre of your
screen (red spot in figure 6).
figure 6
Choose [Split Area].
Move your mouse cursor to the centre of the left view.
Click with the left mouse button to confirm.
If everything worked out well you have four views (figure 7).
figure 7
All the four views are top-views now, in the next steps we are about to change this.
There is a menu bar located under each view (figure 8). With this menu you can adjust
several settings for this view.
figure 8

Click in the menu bar of the bottom left view on [View] (marked red in figure 8).
Click on [Front].
figure 9
The view has been changed from top-view into front-view (figure 10).
figure 10
Now click on [View] in the menu bar of the top right view and choose [Side]
(figure 11).

figure 11
Your screen should look like figure 12.
figure 12
We are now going to adjust the bottom right view.
Click on [View] in the menu bar of the bottom right view and choose [Camera]
(figure 13).

figure 13
All views are now properly adjusted. The top left view does not need any adjustment
since it is already displaying the top-view. Your screen should look like figure 14 (the
names of the views are displayed in the red boxes).
TOP SIDE
FRONT CAMERA
figure 14
Because we do not want to do previous instructions every time we start Blender we are
going to save them as default.
Click on [File] which is located on the top left of your screen and choose [Save
Default Settings] (figure 15).
You do not get any message about this saving.

figure 15
The settings are now saved as the standard settings for each new scene.

Appendix 3: Key overview
Object Mode
<G> <X> Move over X-axis
<G> <Y> Move over Y-axis
<G> <Z> Move over Z-axis
<S> <X> Scale on X-axis

<S> <Y> Scale on Y-axis
<S> <Z> Scale on Z-axis
<R> <X> Rotate over X-axis

<R> <Y> Rotate over Y-axis
<R> <Z> Rotate over Z-axis
<Ctrl> + <> Maximise view

<Ctrl> + <> Back to previous size
<Alt> + <C> Convert object type

<Alt> + <A> Playback Animation
<Ctrl> + <W> Save

<Ctrl> + <O> Open last used file
<F1> Open
<F2> Save as
<F3> Save render
<F5> Shading Panel
<F6> Texture Panel
<F9> Editing Panel
<F11> Show latest render
<F12> Render scene
<Scrl> Zoom view in and out

<Ctrl> + <Scrl> Move view horizontal
<Shift> + <Scrl> Move view vertical

<Q> Quit Blender
<X> Delete
<N> Transform Properties
 Insert Keyframe
Edit Mode
<A> Select or deselect all vertices
 Block selection
<E> Extrude
<O> Proportional Editing
<Shift> + <F> Face Fill

Appendix 4: Blender gallery
Richie
SpeedTiti

SpeedTiti
Malefico Andauer

Zoltan Miklosi
Bas van Dijk
More images can be found at http://www.blender.org/features-gallery/gallery/images/.
All images are copyrighted by their owner. BlenderCourse has explicit permission for using these images from
their owners. These images are not allowed to be copied or whatsoever. Contact the owners if you want to use
them.

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Have fun with BlenderCourse!

Bas van Dijk

Wijdewormer, the Netherlands, January 2008

Example: Click with the right mouse button on the object.

A text between < and > means a key on the keyboard.

Example: Press <Enter> to confirm the operation.

Example: Press <Alt> + <F4> to exit the program.

A button on the screen will be written between [ and ].

Example: Click at [OK] to close the window.

Example: Choose File Save

A new technique or additional information will be written inside a grey box.

Course 1 – Mesh and vertex editing I ....................................................................... 9

Course 2 – Mesh and vertex editing II.................................................................... 18

Course 3 – Render options & Proportional editing .................................................... 31

Course 5 – Materials and light ............................................................................... 55

Appendix 1: The installation of Blender .................................................................. 80

Appendix 2: Configure Blender .............................................................................. 84

Appendix 3: Key overview .................................................................................... 91

Appendix 4: Blender gallery .................................................................................. 93

BlenderCourse – Basics v1.0 6

Course 1 – Mesh and vertex editing I

Course 2 – Mesh and vertex editing II

Course 3 – Render options and Proportional Editing

BlenderCourse – Basics v1.0 7

Course 5 – Materials and light

Transparent spheres Wireframe

Marble texture Emitting Marble texture

Spotlight Red Halo

BlenderCourse – Basics v1.0 8

Meshes and vertices

Views and axis

BlenderCourse – Basics v1.0 9

BlenderCourse – Basics v1.0 10

Press <Shift> + <D> (duplicate object).

You can now move the duplicated cube freely around.

Press <Z> to lock the Z-axis.

BlenderCourse – Basics v1.0 11

In the Front View select the top cube.

Press <Tab> for switching into Edit Mode.

BlenderCourse – Basics v1.0 12

In the next steps we are going to make the roof sharp.

Press <A> to deselect all vertices.

BlenderCourse – Basics v1.0 13

Press <Tab> to switch back to Object Mode.

You screen should now look like figure 15.

BlenderCourse – Basics v1.0 14

The Front View changes into a save dialog (figure 16).

Change untitled.blend into bc01.01.blend and press <Enter>.

Press <F10> to open the Render Panel (figure 19).

BlenderCourse – Basics v1.0 15

A window appears, which shows the rendering process (figure 20).

figure 21 – castle – bc01.02.blend

BlenderCourse – Basics v1.0 16

BlenderCourse – Basics v1.0 17

Plane Cube UVSphere IcoSphere Tube

Cylinder Cone Monkey Grid

BlenderCourse – Basics v1.0 18

Choose File New (figure 3).

Click with the right mouse button on the cube to select.

Press <X> to delete the cube.

A menu appears (figure 4).