SAnet Me Blender3DABeginners15StepExercise

Blender 3D: A Beginners 15 Step Exercise Book
Thomas Mc Donald
Copyright © 2016 Thomas Mc Donald
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission
from the author. Reviewers may quote brief passages in reviews.
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Introduction
This book is designed to guide new users of the Blender 3D software through
the interface and as the book progresses we take on some practical exercises
the reader can follow along to. The exercises provides a “learn by doing
approach” that is fundamental to understanding and mastering Blender. The
first section provides information on the different areas within Blender when
you first open the program. Here we quickly cover the main areas and their
functions. The secret to Blender is gaining an understanding of the process,
and theory, and by putting that understanding into practice, practice, practice.
You can quickly go through this book in a day and the reality is most people
don’t have a whole lot of time to spare. If you assign 30 minutes to an hour a
day and follow the exercises, then repeat those exercises until you no longer
need the book. This will give you a strong foundation in understanding the
fundamentals of Blender. Visit https://blenderzen.com/ for more resources.
Getting Started
You may already have a copy of Blender installed on your computer. To get the
latest version of Blender visit www.Blender.org and click the Download button.
This will bring you to the download page. Here you can simply select a Blender
suitable for the operating system you have installed on your computer. There
are three supported, Windows, Mac and the Linux operating system. Choose
between 32bit or 64bit, this will depend on your system hardware, go to your
system settings and check the system type if you are unsure.
BlenderZen.com @2016 All Rights Reserved

Blenders user interface

When you start Blender the program will display the current splash screen. The
splash screen allows you to open a recent project, link to useful resources or
copy saved setting from a previous version. If you are coming from Maya or
3Dsmax you can chose the button configuration of either program. To exit the
splash screen you can simply click into the 3D view or hit the Esc key.

Getting Set up
Blender uses add-on, a feature that extends its functionality through the use of
scripts. These pieces of software code written in python can be enabled or
disabled by going to:
File > User Preferences > Add-ons > Enable the Add-on by clicking and placing
a check mark inside the box. The Add-on will now be activated once you select
Save User Settings. Some Add-ons are switched on by default but please note
the following add-ons need to be enabled to follow along to the exercises in
this book:
Go to File - User Preferences - Add-ons: Enable Mesh: LoopTools
User Interface: Pie Menus Official: Enables short cut keys for efficient
workflow.

Input Devices and Add-ons

The basics requirements to use Blender successfully are a 3 Button Mouse
with scroll wheel and a Keyboard with Numeric Keypad. For keyboards
without Numeric Keypads please follow the instructions below. Blenders
default mouse select mode is with RMB (Right mouse button). To switch this to
LMB (Left mouse button) go to:
File > User Preferences > Input > Select with > Left.
For keyboards without a Numeric Keypad go to:
File > User Preferences > Input > Emulate Numpad > Enable this option by
clicking and placing a check mark inside the box

Another Add-on that needs to be enabled for the exercises that follow in this
book is the Auto Run Python Scripts. To enable this add-on go to:
File > User Preferences > File > Enable > Auto Run Python Scripts
Note: After making changes in User Preferences always Save User Settings
before exiting to update those changes.

The Default screen layout

Blender’s default screen layout (pictured below) is highly customizable and is
arranged into 5 areas containing 5 editors.
The Areas form the screen layout and contain the Editors. They can be dragged
out or squeezed into an arrangement that best suits the user’s workflow and
interface needs.
Editors consist of a header and one or more region. Headers are horizontal
panels top or bottom containing menus and commonly used tools.
Regions contain buttons, menus, and checkboxes. These can be rearranged to

the user’s preferences.

The Editors
The Outliner Editor lists alphabetically by default every object within your
scenes. Here you can easily maintain control of an objects visibility in the scene
or during rendering. Here you can double click an object to rename, select it or
delete it. In a large scene with many objects press the period key to quickly
bring the outliner window right to that object. To avoid accidently selecting or
modifying an object in a scene you can make it disable its selection option.
The Info Editor by default is displayed horizontally across the top of the screen.
This editor contains the main menu bar displaying your current screen layout,
current scene, current engine and resource information.

The Timeline Editor runs horizontally along the bottom of the screen and
provides a visual display for the placement of key frames. These key frames
store an object’s properties (position, scale etc) at a moment in time, allowing
for interpolated animation between a second key frame.
The Properties Editor stores data for the active object and current scene. We
will take a closer look at each tab on the Properties Editor later in this book.
The 3D View is your view to the virtual environment controlled with a

combination of short cut keys and mouse button inputs to model, composite,
animate, and edit within. You can select an object inside the 3D View with the
LMB (Left mouse Button) unless you have chosen the RMB (Right Mouse
Button) as the selection method. Press and hold the MMB (Middle Mouse
Button) to rotate the view or roll the MMB to zoom in and out. The RMB places
the 3D Cursor at a point in 3D space. The default 3D view contains the objects
pictured below. These include the Camera, Lamp, 3D manipulator, 3D Cursor
and the default Cube.

The Objects within the 3D View

The Camera object within Blender acts much like a real world camera. The
rendered scene displayed from the cameras view can be outputted as images
or video. With the Camera selected the properties editor Header contains the
Camera’s settings. The lens type, focal length and depth of field settings etc
can be adjusted here. Everything created in the 3D view will be displayed with
the camera either as an image or image sequence. For this reason it is
important to understand how the camera is controlled.
The default Cube is a mesh object and one of a number of primitive mesh
shapes you can begin modelling with. Press Shift + A (Add menu) to view or
add the other primitive mesh shapes.

The Lamp object is used to add light to a scene. There are four lamp types
supported in Blender each one offering unique shadow and shading options.
Lamps can be easily moved, duplicated and controlled within the scene. The
properties editor header has the settings related to the lamp.
The Manipulator has three separate icons to represent each type of transform
option currently selected. These transform options are Translate, Rotate and
Scale. Used together or separately and accessed through the short cut keys
Ctrl + Spacebar they provide a way of manipulating certain parts of the mesh
quickly. You can change the orientation of the transform manipulator using the
transform orientation menu. These options allow the object, its faces and
edges to be edited in a variety of different rotations relative to themselves or
the global orientation.

The Tool and Properties Shelf
The tool shelf is located on the left hand side of the 3D editor and can be
accessed by the short cut key T. This shelf contains tools that you will access
frequently either from this area or by the use of short cut keys. The tool shelf
options will change depending on the mode selected (Object mode, Edit mode
etc).
When adding a new mesh to the scene initial mesh options become available
on the tool shelf for that mesh. Here you can make any modifications to the
default mesh before continuing. Please note that once any modifications are
made to the mesh in the 3D view, e.g. transform, scale etc these initial options
on the tool shelf will no longer be available. Any further modification will have
to be performed in Edit mode.

The properties shelf is located on the right hand side of the 3D Editor and can
be accessed by the short cut key N. The properties shelf has transform data for
the selected object. The location of the 3D cursor can be controlled here. The
display options for the scene, such as the grid floor and relationship lines can
be controlled here. It also has scene shading options that can be used to
improve visibility while modelling, for example. You can add background
images to the scene to aid in the modelling of objects etc. The properties shelf
data will change depending on the mode selected (Object mode, Edit mode
etc).

Object Interaction Mode
By default Blender begins in Object Mode. Blender is mode based and each
mode within Blender has a specific function. Modes can be accessed through
the shortcut key Tab once an object has been selected. This shortcut displays
the Object interaction menu. The remainder of this book will be dealing with
Object mode and Edit mode. Edit mode is where an object will be modelled
into the desired shape. In Edit mode only the selected mesh object can be
edited. Objects can be joined and edited together or parts of an object can be
separated to form individual objects.

Exercises
The following exercises are conducted with the default Blender setup.
It is important to start by beginning a new scene so go to:
File: New: Reload: Start-Up File
The following add-ons must be enabled in order to complete these exercises:
Go to:
File - User Preferences
Add-ons - Enable: Mesh: LoopTools (Allows the user add additional edges to the mesh in Edit Mode)
Add-ons - Pie Menus Official (Enables short cut keys for efficient workflow) Very last one on list
File - User Preferences

File – Enable - Auto Run Python Scripts
File - User Preferences - Input - Select with Left

For keyboards without a Numeric Keypad go to:
Input - Emulate Numpad (Enable this option by clicking and placing a check mark inside the box)
When all 5 have been enabled be sure and Save User Settings. This ensures the next time you open
Blender that these settings will still be enabled.
The following abbreviations will be used throughout this book and are as follows:
LMB >Left Mouse Button
RMB > Right Mouse Button
MMB> Middle Mouse Button
Each Exercise has a video available to watch on YouTube where the entire
series can be viewed from the playlist “Exercises”.

Exercise 1 Manipulating the Camera
1 Go to File Select New then Select Reload Start-up File

2 Select the Camera with the L.M.B (Left Mouse Button)
(Notice an orange outline around the object once it has been selected)
3 Press Zero (Camera View) with the Cursor in the 3D view

4 Roll Your MMB Once or Twice. Notice the Camera View is Fixed in
Position

5 Press > N (Properties Shelf)

6 Put a Check Mark in the “Lock Camera to View” Box
7 With the Cursor in the 3D View you can now roll the MMB to zoom in
and Out.
8 Press and Hold the MMB and slowly drag the Mouse to Rotate the
Camera View to a position you require.
That completes the exercise
Summary: You Can Toggle back and forth between the Camera view and the
previous view by pressing zero. When there are multiple cameras in the scene,
select the camera and press Ctrl + Zero to make it the active Camera.

Exercise 2 Saving Your Work
1 Go to > File > Select Save

2 Choose the Location you wish to save to
3 Enter a File Name
4 Select the Save Blender File Button on the Top Right of the screen
Summary: Save your work often. Blender has a nice feature when you save
your work; it saves a copy with the file extension .Blend1. This contains the
data prior to you saving your work and can prove very useful if something gets
corrupted or deleted by accident.

Unit of measurement
To set up the unit of measurement in Blender go to the Properties Panel and

select the scene tab. The unit panel contains the unit type. By default the units
are set to blender units with a scale of 1.
The image above shows the cube in front orthographic view. (Press 1 for front
view, press 5 for orthographical view, and roll the mouse wheel to zoom in.)
You will notice the screen is divided into grids of equal length and height. The
cube on screen measures 2 meters and equal in length to two large grid
divisions, each one measuring 1 meter. Zoom in further to reveal each grid
divided into ten equal parts, each measuring 10 centimetres with these divided
into 1mm divisions.
The view info is located at the top left hand side of the screen and displays the
current view type and unit range.

Mesh Selection Mode
The first picture above shows the selected cube in Edit mode (With the cube
selected in object mode press: Tab > Edit mode). You will notice the header of
the 3D view will change to include Vertex, Edge and Face select.

Take the cube in the second picture as an example of selection methods within
Blender. The default cube is a mesh object consisting of three basic elements.
The Cube has 6 Faces, 12 Edges and 8 Vertices. The vertex is a point in 3D
space while 2 connected vertices form an edge and four edges connected form
a face. Each element of the structure Face, edge and vertex are used to edit
the cube.

Exercise 3 Manipulating the Cube
1 Select the Cube LMB

2 Press Tab Select Edit Mode
The cube will be highlighted in orange indicating all parts of it are
selected. If not press A once or twice. (Pressing A selects all or deselects
the current selection)
3 Press S (For Scale)

4 Press Y (Restricts the scaling to the Y Axis)
5 Press 2 (Scales the cube in the Y axis by a factor of 2)
6 Press Enter (Confirms the operation)

7 Press Ctrl + R (Insert a loop cut)

Bring the cursor near to the edge you want to insert the cut
In this case along the X axis
8 Left click once you have the correct position

(Left click again to place in at its current location. Notice that after the
first left click you can edge slide it into position. To be sure of the correct
position right click to place it at the centre of the cube, press ctrl + Z to
undo an operation)
9 Right click to place it at centre

10 Press Ctrl + tab (Mesh Select Mode)
11 Select Face
12 Select the top right face on the cube with the LMB
13 Press E (Extrude)
14 Type 2 and Press Enter
This command extrudes the face in the

positive Z direction by 2 units. By default the cubes dimensions are 2 blender
units x 2 x 2

15 Press Tab and Select Object mode

16 Press N (opens the properties shelf)
(In the Transform panel you will find the dimensions of our cube)
17 Press Ctrl + S (Save your Work)
Summary: The dimensions of the cube can be modified in object mode. It is

possible to change the x, y and z dimensions. The scale of the cube must be
applied once these dimensions have been changed (Ctrl + A calls up the apply
menu. Then select apply) By applying the scale you are essentially telling
Blender this new size is the cubes actual scale. In Edit Mode however every
face edge and vertex can be extended without having to apply the scale.

Viewport Shading
The Viewport Shading menu (Pictured below) and set to solid as default, can
be accessed through the shortcut key Z. The shading menu options display the
object depending on the material applied and or the lighting setup. The most
commonly used shading options when modelling are solid and wireframe
shading.

The 3D Cursor
The 3D Cursor is Blenders placement and pivot tool. The properties shelf holds
the 3D Cursor panel with its x, y and z coordinates. To accurately place objects
within the scene or to one another use the snap menu Shift + S.
Pivot Points
Pivot Points allow for the rotation, scaling and mirroring of objects around a
point in space. The Pivot Point menu provides a list of 5 to choose from each
with their own uses. The Medium Point is the default Pivot Point, uses the
centre mass of an object for determination and is the most commonly used.

Exercise 4 Wireframe Shading
1 In Object Mode Select the Cube

2 Press Tab and Select Edit Mode
3 Press A (Once or twice until everything is deselected)
4 Press Z (Viewport Shading Menu)
5 Select Wireframe
6 Press Ctrl + tab (Mesh select mode)
7 Select Face
(Notice how the small black dot now represents each face of the mesh)

9 Select Edge
Now notice how all the edges of the modified cube become the
selectable regions
10 Press Ctrl + Tab (Mesh select mode)

11 Select Vertex
Notice how the all the vertices become selectable

12 Select one Top Left Vertex with the LMB

13 Press and hold the Shift key
14 Select the second top Vertex
15 Press G (More or Translate)
16 Press Y (Restrict the direction to the Y direction)
17 Press 1 (Move 1 Unit or 1 Meter)
18 Press Enter (Confirm the operation)
Summary: This exercise highlights the difference between the mesh selection
methods and what can be selected when one of the options is active. It is
possible to have all three methods active at once (On the 3D view editor
header, with the shift key held, select the first, second and third)

Exercise 5 Pivot Points
We continue on in Edit Mode:
1 Press A once or twice to deselect everything

2 Press Ctrl + Tab (Mesh select Mode)
3 Select Edge
4 Select the Bottom right side edge with the LMB
5 Press Shift + S (Snap Menu)

6 Select Cursor to selected
7 Press the Period Key (Or Full Stop key for Pivot Menu)
8 Select 3D Cursor
Next we will now duplicate the object and use the 3D Cursor as the pivot
point

9 Press A once or twice to select everything to mirror with
10 Press Shift + D (Duplicate)

11 Press the RMB (Right Mouse Button) to snap the duplicate to its origin
12 Press Ctrl + M (Mirror)
13 Press Y (Selects the Axis to mirror along)
14 Press Enter (Confirms the Operation)
Next we need to delete unwanted internal walls

15 Press Ctrl +Tab

16 Select Face
17 Select the two internal faces in the centre by holding the shift key and
selecting both.
18 Press X (Delete)
19 Press Z and Select Solid (Notice how the new faces are a darker
shading indicating their normal’s are pointing inward)
20 Select all the faces by pressing A once or twice

21 With all the faces selected Press Ctrl + N (Recalculates the direction
the faces are pointing)

Summary: When an object is duplicated in Edit mode the duplicate becomes

part of that object. In Object Mode when an object is duplicated it becomes an
individual object. To join two separate objects in Object Mode simply select
them by press and holding Shift, once selected press Ctrl + J (Join). To separate
an object or part of an object in edit mode select the piece you want separated
and press P (Separate Menu) and select selection. When you tab back to object
mode this separated part will now be a separate object.
Using the 3D Cursor as a pivot point allows rotation, scaling, mirroring etc
around a chosen point.

Layers
Layers are used as a way to separate objects within the scene and provides the
user control over how an object is lit, how forces affect them and how they are
rendered and the properties applied. In this way layers help organise the
objects within the scene allowing efficiency and creating the ability for
uncluttered workflow. The Active layer has a darker shade when on. When an
object is selected a small orange circle indicates the layer the object is placed
on. To move an object to a different layer select the object, press M and select
the layer you wish to move it to.

Proportional Editing
Proportional Editing Shortcut key “O” is a transformational tool for editing

faces, edges and vertices. Using proportional editing on one or more parts of
the mesh causes connected mesh elements to be affected depending on their
location relative to that element being transformed. Mesh elements will be
affected greater or less depending on the area of influence being exerted. The
area of influence can be adjusted with the Middle Mouse Button. Proportional
editing allows for smooth deformation of the mesh without leaving bumps and
uneven patches that can happen when using the normal transformation
options. Proportional editing has Falloff options that provide many ways to
deform the mesh. The smooth option is set as the default option.

Snap Options
There are two Snap features in Blender. The first one we discuss is contained
on the 3D Editor’s Header and is represented by the magnet icon. This feature
is referred to as Snap during transform and when enabled the selected object
will translate, scale or rotate in increments based on the zoom level and the
element selected. Snap is set to increment as default and can be changed to
the other options through the menu.
The second snap feature allows your selection or cursor to be placed at a

chosen point by using the shortcut keys Shift +S or from the 3D Editor Mesh
menu Snap. This option is very useful for setting origin points of objects or
accurately adding mesh objects to a predetermined point in the scene.

Exercise 6 Snapping
To begin put the 3D cursor back to Median Point
1 Press the period key > choose > Median

With the object selected

3 Press A once or twice to select everything
4 Press T to open the Tool Shelf (Unless already open)
5 With the tool tab selected scroll down and Select remove doubles
(This removes any extra mesh geometry like faces or edges etc
that get created by performing the same operation such as
duplicate or extrude more than once)
Notice the Info editor on the Resource Information tab that 6 Vertices have
been removed. Extra geometry can inhibit our ability to select the edges or
vertices we want to and should be removed when possible.

6 Press Ctrl +Tab

7 Select Edge
8 Press Z and Select Wireframe and Press A to deselect everything
9 Press and hold the Shift key and Select the two edges shown in the
picture
10 Type 3 (Right Perspective)

11 Type 5 (Right Orthographic)
Turn on Snap (Select the magnet icon on the 3D View Header)

12 Select the Z directional arrow on the 3D cursor by selecting it and

holding down the mouse button. Drag the cursor upwards and
notice the edge snapping to the grid divisions. Please note that
depending on the distance of the zoom the snapping will be in
increments of centimetres or millimetres. This will be displayed
on the top left of the 3D View. We want to go up 1 meter or in
this instance to the green line.
Summary: Use the Snap during transform option whenever you need to
accurately place or move objects within your scene. There are multiple options
available to choose from in the menu.

Exercise 7 Adding Objects
1 Press and hold the middle mouse button and Rotate the view back
around out of orthographic
2 Select the front Vertex shown in the picture with the LMB

4 Select Cursor to Selected
5 Press Tab and Select Object Mode
6 Press Shift + A (Add Menu)
7 Select Cylinder
Notice how the cylinder has been added to the scene with its origin at the 3D
cursor.

Notice on the Tool Shelf the initial settings for the cylinder that include the
vertices count, Radius, depth and Cap Fill Type. We will leave these unchanged
but for future reference once you move, rotate etc these settings will no
longer be available and any changes will have to be done manually in Edit
Mode.
8 Press R (Rotate)
9 Press Y (Restrict the operation to the Y Axis)
10 Type 90 (Rotates the object along the Y Axis by 90 degrees)
11 Press S (To scale)
12 Type .8 and Press Enter (Scales it down by 20 percent)
13 Press G (Translate)
14 Press Z (Restrict to the Z Axis)
15 Type -1 and Press Enter (Move the cylinder down the Z Axis by 1 unit)
16 Press S (Scale)
17 Press X (Restrict to the X Axis)
18 Type .3 (Reduces the cylinder by 70 percent in the X Axis)

Summary: This is an example of both snapping features in Blender, the first

using the incremental snap feature to accurately adjust edge positions and
allow units of measure to determine their movement. The second one involved
placing the 3D cursor at a specific point then adding an object into the scene at
that exact point. This second method is also used to change the origin point of
an object quickly and accurately.
The Properties Editor

The Properties Editor has a row of icons displayed on its header and used to
change properties for the active object and active scene. The first is the Render
tab and allows control over the render output properties. The options include
the render button that will render the current frame and the animation button
that will render all frames in the current frame range. Other options include
setting the image size, the image quality, or when setting up an image
sequence, the frame rate. In order to render the scene must have an active
camera.

Render Layers allow you render certain layers of your scene separately. The
advantage to this is in compositing where you can adjust individual elements
differently. This also allows you to re-render individual layers rather than
having to waste time rendering everything in the scene.

The Scene tab contains properties relating to the active scene including units,
physics and colour management. Also switch between cameras within the
scene.
The World tab provides properties for the environment lighting, ambient
occlusion, mist and sky colour. Depending on the render engine used, the
options for the world settings will change. Here you can add HDR images for
effective lighting.

The Object tab displays data for the selected or active object including
transformation, display and duplication setting.

The constraints tab provides the ability to control an object’s behaviour with
tracking, transformation and other aspects of the relationships with other
objects within the scene.
The Object Modifiers tab provides time saving operations to complicated tasks
such as subdividing the surface of an object, adding a mirror modifier to
duplicate in real time the modifications to the mesh on the opposite side. They
also include simulate modifiers

The Object Data tab contains information specific to the current object such as
vertex groups, shape keys and UV Maps etc.

The Material tab allows you to set up material for an object or part of an
object. Depending on the render engine chosen the results will vary. With the
cycles render engine enabled the nodes tabs provides a graphical node setup.
The Textures tab provides the mapping options to apply a texture to a

material. The texture can be added to display specularity, reflections, or a
pattern with apparent 3-dimensional depth.

The Particles tab controls any Particles systems deployed in the scene. There
are two main types of particle systems you can choose from, Emitter and Hair,
each with their own unique properties. Particles systems can be used to
simulate hair, fur, grass or birds and fish. Particles systems are emitted from
the selected mesh object up to a maximum of 100,000 and each mesh may
contain many particle systems. Particle systems can be influenced by force
fields etc and require large amounts of computer memory.

The physics tab has controls for simulating real world phenomena in Blender.
With an object selected you can choose from a range of options each with
their own unique properties.

Exercise 8 Modifiers
With the Cylinder selected, Press Z and select Solid

2 Press Ctrl + Tab (Mesh select mode) and Select Face
3 Press A (To De-select everything)
4 Select the front face and Press I (Insert)
5 Type .2 and Press Enter (Inserts a new ring of faces)
6 Press the Backslash key or the ~ line (Isolates the object)

7 Press Ctrl + R (Insert Loop cuts)
8 Hover the cursor over the outer faces of the cylinder and begin by
placing the edge along the Y axis
9 Roll the MMB forward once until a second edge is displayed
10 Press the Left mouse button once and
11 Press the Right mouse button to snap them at insertion point

12 Press S then X (Scale along the X axis)

13 Drag the edge loops out towards the edge by dragging the cursor
14 Press the LMB to confirm position
15 Press Ctrl + Tab (Mesh Select Mode)

16 Select Face
17 Select the Centre Face
18 Press E (Extrude)
19 Press X then -.15
20 Press Enter (Extrudes the Face along the X axis in the negative
direction)
21 Go to the Modifiers tab on the properties editor (You may have to
drag this editor out to find the modifier tab)
22 Select Add modifier
23 Select Subdivision Surface (A Subdivision modifier is added)
24 On the modifier properties enable “Adjust modifier cage to modifier
result”

25 Press Ctrl + R (Insert Edge Loop)

26 Hover the mouse around the internal edge
27 Press the Left mouse button to place it
28 Push the cursor inwards until the edge loop goes as far as it can
29 Press the Left mouse button to lock it into place
30 Press the Backslash key to exit local view

Summary: The subdivision modifier is now added to this object and displayed
in the modifier section. The subdivision modifier provides a smoothing effect
to the faces of the mesh. Multiple modifiers can be added to an object and
“stacked” one underneath the other. The order of this stack will influence the
modifier and the affect it has on the object. The modifiers can be rearranged
by using the up and down arrows on the header. To apply a modifier the object
must be in Object mode. Applying modifiers causes a permanent change to the
object, in the case of the subdivision surface modifier it increases the number
of faces and can affect the response of the computer’s memory if the scene
has lots of these modifiers.

Exercise 9 Material
We are going to use the cycles render engine to render material in the
following exercise. Please go to the Info Editor and change the engine type to
Cycles.
1 With the Cylinder selected go to the properties editor and Select the
Material tab
2 Select New
3 Double click “Material” and rename to Tyre
4 Select the + sign to the right of the material slot
5 Select new
6 Double click this new material and rename it “Hub”
7 Left Click into the Colour swatch and drag down the slider on the right
hand side until it becomes a dark colour
8 Select the Hub material
9 Change the surface type to Glossy
10 Change the roughness value to .5
Now back in the 3D View


13 Select Face
14 Select the inner face of the cylinder
15 Press Ctrl and “+”Twice (Increases the face selection)
16 Select the material “Hub”

17 Select Assign
18 Save you work
We will need to change lighting and world settings later but to ensure
that the material applied back in the 3D view -
19 Press Z and Select Rendered (Shows a Rendered Preview)

Exercise 10 World Settings and Lamp
Go to the World tab on the properties editor:
1 Select Use Nodes

2 Go to the colour setting and Select the small tab to the right side of
the colour swatch
3 Select Sky Texture from the list of textures

4 Set the strength value to 4 (Increases the brightness)
5 Go to the Outliner Editor and Select the Lamp
6 Now go to the Properties Editor Header and select the object data tab
7 With the point lamp setting selected set the size to 3
8 Select the Use Nodes button
9 Set the strength to 1000


Exercise 11 Rotating the Wheels
1 In the 3D view with the wheel selected Press N

We now need to Apply our rotation and scale transforms to ‘0’s and ‘1’s
respectively.
2 Press Ctrl + A (Apply menu)

3 Select Rotation & Scale (They return to ‘0’s and ‘1’s)
4 Right click on the X Rotation and Select Add single Driver
5 Lock both the Y and Z Axis by clicking the lock icons to the right
hand side of the rotation box

6 Change the Timeline Editor to the Graph Editor and expand the Graph
Editor Area
7 On the Graph Editor header change F-Curve to Drivers mode
8 Select the X Euler Rotation
9 In the graph area press N (Properties Shelf)
10 Scroll down to the bottom of the properties shelf and change X
Location to Y Location
11 In the Expr box change the value to Var*-1
12 In the OB/Bon box Select Cube
13 Back in the 3D View with the wheel selected Press and hold shift and
select the main body (Cube)
14 Press Ctrl + P (Set Parent Menu)
15 Select Object (Keep Transforms)
Next we want to mirror the Wheel to the four corners of the car

16 Select the main body (Cube)

19 Select Edge
20 Press the MMB and rotate the car until you can see the underneath
21 Select the middle edge on the bottom

23 Select Cursor to Selected
24 Press the period key or full stop
25 Select 3D Cursor
25 Press Tab Select Object Mode
27 Select the Wheel
29 Right Click to place it at its origin
31 Press Y (To Mirror along the Y axis)
With the new wheel still selected

33 Press Ctrl + A (Apply Menu)

34 Select Scale
36 Press A to select all the vertices
37 Press T for the Tool Shelf (Unless otherwise open)
38 Select the shading/UV’s tab on the tool shelf
39 Select Recalculate (Flips the direction of the meshes faces)
40 Press tab Select Object Mode
41 Press and hold Shift and select the second wheel
43 Right Click to place them at their origin
45 Press X (Mirror along the X axis)
46 Press Enter (To confirm the operation)
47 In the Outliner Editor expand the cube hierarchy by clicking the plus
sign beside Cube. You will notice four cylinders listed, these are
the four wheels and can be renamed if you wish. Click the white
arrow beside each of the cylinders. This restricts accidental
movement or changes in the viewport. If there are more than 4
cylinders listed you can delete the extra ones in the 3D view. Note
Ctrl + Z to undo an unexpected operation.

Summary: The four wheels can now be controlled by the movement of the
main car body (Cube).
You can now change the bottom editor back from the graph editor to the
timeline Editor for use in later exercises.

Exercise 12 Adding Material to the car
In this exercise we will add material to the cars main body
1 First Select the car body

On the properties editor Select the material tab
2 Select New and Double Click and rename to Car body

3 Select Use Nodes
4 Click into Diffuse and Select Glossy BSDF
5 Click into the colour swatch and select a colour
6 Change the roughness to .8

7 Back in the 3D view bring the car into view, rotate and zoom if
necessary. When you have the car in a good viewing position
Press Ctrl + Alt + Zero
8 Press N (Properties Shelf)
9 Put a Check mark in lock camera to view and position the car so you
have a good view of the front and near side
10 You can uncheck Lock camera to view
11 Press Z Select Rendered
This gives a preview of the scene and the materials

12 Press Z and Select Solid

15 Select Face
16 Select the windshield
17 Press I (Insert)
18 Type .1
19 Press Enter
20 Now on the Material tab Press the plus sign to add a new material slot
21 Double click it and rename it to Windshield
22 Change the surface type to Glass BSDF
23 Select the Assign Button (This assigns the windshield material to the
selected face)
24 Press Z and Select Rendered
25 Repeat this process for all the windows in the car

26 You can Press zero to exit camera view to select the windows at the
opposite side of the car and press Zero anytime to return to the
camera view
The Process: Select the face Press I (Insert) Type .1 Press Enter (Confirms
operation)

Exercise 13 Adding a ground plane
We begin this exercise in Object mode and out of camera view. First we need
to position the car on the grid floor
1 With the car selected Turn on snapping on the 3D view header and
choose increment from the menu
2 Press 3 (Right View)
3 Press 5 if necessary for right orthographic view
4 Select the manipulator by the Z directional arrow and drag it up
(Zoom in if necessary and the car should snap incrementally up
until it reaches the green line)
5 Turn snapping off (Shift + Tab)

6 Press Shift + S (Snap Menu) Select Cursor to Centre

8 Select Mesh Plane
9 Press and hold the MMB to rotate the plane to a better viewing angle
10 Press S (Scale)
11 Type 10 (Scales the plane up by a factor of 10)
13 Press 7 (Top View)
14 Press Ctrl + R (Insert edge loop)
15 Bring your cursor to the Y axis and Roll the MMB to add a second
edge loop

16 Left click once when the direction is correct

17 Right click to snap them to centre
18 Press S (Scale)
19 Press X (Scales them along the X axis)
20 Drag the cursor and bring them out to the edge
21 Left click to confirm the operation
22 Press Ctrl + R (Add two more edge loops)
23 Position over the Y axis and Roll the MMB once to add a second loop
cut
24 Left click once when the direction is correct
25 Right click to snap them to centre
26 Press S (Scale)
27 Press X (Scales them along the X axis)
28 Drag the cursor and move them inwards
29 Left click to confirm the operation


31 Select Face
32 Go to the Properties Editor and Select the Materials Tab
33 Select New
34 Double Click on the material name and rename it Road
35 Click into the colour swatch and drag the cursor on the right down to
darken the colour
36 Select the two outer faces, one on the left and the other on the right
(Select the first, press and hold shift to select the second)
37 On the material tab click the plus sign to add a new material slot
38 Select New
39 Double click the new material and rename it to Grass
40 Change the colour to a dark green
41 Select Assign (This assigned the material to the selected parts of the
plane)

42 Select the centre face

43 Click the plus sign to add a new material slot
44 Select New
45 Double click this new material and rename it White Line
46 Select Assign

Exercise 14 Key frames
The next exercise looks at adding animation to the scene. Here we will have
the car travel along the road with the camera capturing the action. With the
Road selected:
1 Press the period key and select Median point
2 Press Tab Select Object Mode

3 Press S (Scale)
4 Press Y (Scale the plane in the Y axis)
5 Type 10 (Scales the plane along the Y axis by a factor of 10)
6 Enter (Confirms the operation)
7 Select the car and drag it back along the Y axis to the beginning of the
road
8 Next select the camera

10 In the transform panel in the rotation settings Enter a value of
X = 90

11 Next, hover the cursor in the top right hand corner of the 3D view until
the cursor changes to a narrow cross icon, then Press and hold
the LMB and drag this new window out into the centre of the
screen. In the Left hand window over the cursor and Press Zero
(Camera View) and in the Right hand window with the camera
selected drag the camera nearer the car with the manipulator
and frame it up
Next we will add key frames for both the camera and the car. The timeline will
need to be the Editor at the bottom of the screen

Start frame =1, End Frame =250 and Current Frame =1

These are the three frame settings we change as we progress through this
exercise. Notice the start frame is set to 1 the end is set to 250, which will be
the length of the animation. 250 is the number of frames @ 24 frames per
second will produce an animation of just over 10 seconds.
With the start frame set at 1
12 Select the car and Press I (Inserts a Key Frame represented by a

small yellow line on the TimeLine)
13 Select Location (Inserts a key frame for the car at the current location)
14 Type 250 into the current frame box and press enter
15 Drag the manipulator Gizmo along the Y axis with the Y (Green)
directional arrow until you reach the end of the road
16 Press I and Select Location (Inserts a key frame for the cars location
at the current frame of 250)
17 Type 1 into the current frame box and press enter
Notice how the car now goes back to its saved position on the first key
frame

18 Next Select the camera

Now let’s add a marker to the first frame and bind the camera to
this marker
With the current frame at 1 and with the cursor on the timeline
19 Press M (Adds Marker to the timeline)
Next we want to bind the camera to the marker
With the camera still selected and with the cursor in the timeline
20 Press Ctrl + B (Binds the Camera to the marker)
To confirm this action has been successful press T for the Tool
Shelf. On the bottom should be a new panel with a simple text
reading Bind Camera to Markers. You may have to scroll the
MMB to bring the text into view.
Now back in the 3D View and the camera set up with the car in view
21 Press I (Inserts a Key Frame)

22 Select LocRot (Inserts a key frame for the cameras current location
and rotation)
23 Type 48 into the current key frame box
Notice the car has moved forward
For the next camera position use the manipulator and rotate the camera
to keep the car in shot

24 Press R (Rotate)
25 Press Z (Restricts the rotation to the Z Axis)
26 Drag the cursor to rotate the camera and get the car in shot and Press
the LMB to confirm the operation
27 Press I (Insert menu)
28 Select LocRot (Inserts a Key frame for the cameras current location
and rotation)
Now let’s add a second camera to the scene and jump from one camera
to the other as the car travels along the road

30 Select Cursor to centre
32 Select Camera from the list
34 In the Transform panel in the rotation options Enter X: 90 Y:0 Z:0
Next we want to add a tracking constraint to the camera and have it track the
car as it approaches and passes by.

35 Go to the Properties Editor and Select the Constraints tab

36 Select Add Object Constraint
37 Select Damped Track
38 Select the Target (The icon of the box)
39 Select Cube (This is the car object)
40 Select the “To” Axis and select the one that points the camera in the
direction of the car
In my scene it is the –Z axis
41 Next drag the camera forward along the X Axis to the front of the road
and drag it up slightly in the Z direction so it is above the road
42 Now let’s add a marker for this camera on the Timeline Editor
43 Set the current frame to 48
With the new camera selected and the cursor on the timeline
44 Press M (Adds a marker to the timeline at the current frame)

45 Press Ctrl + B (Binds the selected camera to that marker)
46 Now set the current frame to 1
47 Press play on the Timeline controls and the cameras should switch
from one to the other at the markers as the animation is played
out through the cameras

Summary: This is a very simple exercise on the timeline and animation within
Blender. You can delete key frames if you are unhappy with the result by
placing the green Timeline marker on the yellow key frame and Pressing Alt + I
and Selecting Delete Key frame.

Exercise 15 Render the Animation
1 Go to the Render Tab on the Properties Editor

2 In the Dimensions Panel increase the resolution to 100% if you want
the image to be full size.
3 Select a destination folder in the Output Panel (This is where the
rendered PNG’s will be saved)
4 Also in the Output Panel ensure that the file format is PNG
5 Open the Sampling Panel and change the render samples to
something greater than 10. (This creates a trade off .The higher
the value the better quality of the rendered image, but the
longer each image will take to render. The preview value is the
quality you see when you Press Z and select rendered)
If you are test rendering leave these value low as the render time will
increase. Once the scene is how you want it increase the values for the
best quality you desire.

6 With those basic settings in place you can Click the animation button.
It is a good idea to save your work prior to rendering just in
case of a crash.
Blender will then begin to render each frame into the folder you
selected. When this rendering process is complete I like to start a New
Project to keep the editing separate from the final scene, that way the
changes made won’t affect the final scene if I need to return to change
something.
7 Go to File and Select New Reload Start-up File

8 Go to the Info Editor and the scene layout tab
9 Click in the menu and select Video Editing Screen Layout

10 Save the .Blend file

This is Blenders very powerful and easy to use video editor. This screen
arrangement provides you with everything you need to add back in the
images, add sound, view the results and export to a wide selection of
available formats.
11 Select Add on the video Sequence Editor

12 Select Image
13 Navigate to the folder where you saved the rendered images and
Press A to select all the Images
14 Press the add images button on the top right hand side of the page
15 Back in the video editor you can Press play to view the image strip in
sequence
16 Next we need to open a properties Editor attention
17 Next we need to change the Graph Editor on the top left hand side to a
Properties Editor.

18 Select the Render Tab
19 Go to the Dimension panel and select HDTV 720p from the render
presets menu
20 Increase the resolution to 100%
21 Select an output folder
Next go to the output section
22 Change PNG to Xvid
Next go to the Encoding Panel
23 Change the format to Xvid
24 Select MP3 from the Audio Codex Menu

25 Scroll back to the top and Select Animation
The images will be outputted in Xvid format and can be played on a media player
such as VLC which is available to download online.
Well Done! By completing the foregoing exercises you now have the tools to
create images limited only by your imagination.
Remember to re-do the exercises until you are completely familiar with the
commands.
Have fun devising your creations.

Visit https://blenderzen.com/ for more Blender information and tutorials.

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Blender 3D: A Beginners 15 Step Exercise Book

Copyright © 2016 Thomas Mc Donald

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Blenders user interface

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Go to File - User Preferences - Add-ons: Enable Mesh: LoopTools

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Input Devices and Add-ons

For keyboards without a Numeric Keypad go to:

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The Default screen layout

Regions contain buttons, menus, and checkboxes. These can be rearranged to

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The 3D View is your view to the virtual environment controlled with a

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The Objects within the 3D View

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The Tool and Properties Shelf

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Object Interaction Mode

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File - User Preferences

File - User Preferences - Input - Select with Left

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Exercise 1 Manipulating the Camera

1 Go to File Select New then Select Reload Start-up File

3 Press Zero (Camera View) with the Cursor in the 3D view

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5 Press > N (Properties Shelf)

That completes the exercise

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Exercise 2 Saving Your Work

1 Go to > File > Select Save

That completes the exercise

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To set up the unit of measurement in Blender go to the Properties Panel and

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Mesh Selection Mode

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Exercise 3 Manipulating the Cube

1 Select the Cube LMB

3 Press S (For Scale)

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7 Press Ctrl + R (Insert a loop cut)

8 Left click once you have the correct position

9 Right click to place it at centre

This command extrudes the face in the

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15 Press Tab and Select Object mode

17 Press Ctrl + S (Save your Work)

That completes the exercise

Summary: The dimensions of the cube can be modified in object mode. It is

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