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CSEL 301 Lecture 1

The document provides an introduction to the open-source 3D creation software Blender. It discusses that Blender supports 3D modeling, animation, rendering and other tasks. It also notes that Blender is cross-platform, has a unified workflow, and active community support. The document then describes various interface elements in Blender like buttons, fields, menus and tools to navigate and execute commands in the software.

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75 views39 pages

CSEL 301 Lecture 1

The document provides an introduction to the open-source 3D creation software Blender. It discusses that Blender supports 3D modeling, animation, rendering and other tasks. It also notes that Blender is cross-platform, has a unified workflow, and active community support. The document then describes various interface elements in Blender like buttons, fields, menus and tools to navigate and execute commands in the software.

Uploaded by

ianpatrickmesias
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Introduction to Graphics and Visual Computing

Introduction to Blender
CSEL 301 Module 1
Blender
• Blender is a free and open-source 3D creation suite that supports
various 3D pipeline tasks, including modeling, animation,
simulation, rendering, compositing, motion tracking, video
editing, and game creation.
• It is suitable for individuals and small studios due to its unified
pipeline and responsive development process.
• Blender is cross-platform and uses OpenGL for a consistent
experience.
Features of Blender

• Blender is a fully integrated 3D content creation suite, offering a


broad range of essential tools including Modeling, Rendering,
Animation & Rigging, Video Editing, VFX, Compositing,
Texturing, and Many types of Simulations.
• It is cross platform, with an OpenGL GUI that is uniform on all
major platforms (and customizable with Python scripts).
Features of Blender

• It has a high-quality 3D architecture, enabling fast and efficient


creation workflow.
• It boasts active community support.
• It has a small executable, which is optionally portable.
Interface Controls
Buttons

Operator Buttons
• Operator buttons execute an Operator which in summary execute
an action when clicked with LMB.
• Operator buttons may be an icon, text, or text with an icon.
Buttons

Checkboxes & Toggle Buttons


• These controls are used to activate or deactivate options.
Use LMB to change their state.
• A tick is shown on checkboxes when the option is activated.
• Active status on toggle buttons is indicated either by color on the
icon background, or a change in icon graphics.
Buttons

Dragging
• To change many values at once on or off, you can press
down LMB and drag over multiple buttons.
• This works for checkboxes, toggles and to select a radio button
value.
Buttons

Radio Buttons
• Radio buttons are used to choose one option from a selection of
options.
• The active button is indicated by a colored background.
Buttons

Cycling
• Use Ctrl-Wheel while hovering the mouse over radio buttons to
cycle between the options.
Buttons

Direction Button
• Clicking with LMB in the sphere and dragging the mouse cursor
lets the user change the direction by rotating the sphere.
Shortcuts

• LMB (drag) rotates the direction.


• Ctrl (while dragging) snaps to vertical & diagonal directions
Fields

Text and Search Fields


• Text fields show a rounded rectangular border, and optionally an
icon and/or text inside the border.
• Text fields store text strings and provide the means to edit text
by standard text editing shortcuts.
Fields
Number Fields
• Number fields store values and units.
• The first type of number field shows triangles pointing left (<)
and right (>) on the sides of the field when mouse pointer is over
the field.
• Sliders, a second type of number field, have a colored bar in the
background to display values over a range, e.g. percentage
values.
Fields
Color Fields
• The color field stores a color value. Clicking on it
with LMB opens the Color Picker.
• Color fields with an alpha channel are divided in half: on the left,
the color is shown without an alpha channel, and on the right, it’s
shown with an alpha channel over a checker pattern.
• Colors can be copied to other color fields by dragging and
dropping.
Menus
Popup Menus
• Popup menus list Operators which can be executed by selecting
with LMB or using the generated shortcut indicated by the
underlined character of the operator's name.
• All menu entries show any relevant shortcut keys, which can be
executed without opening the menu.
• All popup menus can be searched by pressing Spacebar and
typing the name of the operator in the menu.
Menus

Collapsing Menus
• Sometimes it’s helpful to gain some extra horizontal space in the
header by collapsing menus.
• This can be accessed from the header context menu:
click RMB on the header and select Collapse Menus.
Menus

Selection Menus
• A Select menu (or “selector” for short) lets you choose between
a set of options.
• It appears as an icon and/or text with a down arrow on the right
side.
Menus

Popover Menus
• Popover menus are similar to Select Menus, but can show more
varied content such as a title, buttons, sliders, etc.
Menus

Context Menus
• Context menus are pop-ups that can be opened with RMB.
• In most editors, it’s also possible to use the Menu key.
• The contents of the menu depend on the location of the mouse
pointer.
Menus

Special Menus
• The Specials pop-up menu is similar to a context menu but is
opened using a button consisting of a down arrow on a dark
background.
Menus

Pie Menus
• A pie menu is a menu whose items are spread radially around the
mouse.
Extended Controls

Data Block Menu


• Let's you select a Data-Block (such as a material) in order to link
it to something else (such as an object).
List View
• This control is useful for managing lists of items.
• In addition to the main list, there is a Filtering panel on the
bottom (hidden by default) and modification buttons on the right.
Extended Controls

Color Picker
• The color picker is a pop-up that lets you define a color value.
• Holding Ctrl while dragging snaps the hue to make it quick to
select primary colors.
Extended Controls

Color Ramp Widget


• Color Ramps specify a color gradient based on color stops.
• Each stop has a position and a color.
• The gradient is then calculated as the interpolation between these
stops using the chosen interpolation method.
Extended Controls

Color Pallet
• Color Palettes are a way of storing a brush’s color so that it can
be used at a later time.
• This is useful when working with several colors at once.
Extended Controls

Curve Widget
• The Curve Widget allows to intuitively map a range of input
values to a set of output values by adjusting a curve, where the X
axis represents the input and the Y axis the output.
Tools and Operators
Tools

Tool Bar
• The Toolbar contains buttons for the various tools.
• Buttons with a small triangle in their bottom right corner are tool
groups which can be opened by holding LMB on them for a
moment (or dragging LMB to open them instantly).
Tools

Pop-Up Tool Bar


• Pressing Shift-Spacebar will pop up a small toolbar right at your
cursor for faster access.
• The shortcuts for selecting the tools are displayed on the right.
Tools

Quick Favorites
• The Quick Favorites menu gathers your favorite tools.
• Any tool or menu item can be added to this pop-up menu via its
context menu.
Tools

Changing Tools
• If you have Alt Click Tool Prompt enabled in the Keymap
Preferences, tapping Alt will display a tool prompt in the Status
Bar.
• You can then press a key to select the corresponding tool or
tap Alt again to cancel the prompt.
Tools

Types of Changing Tool


Fallback Tools
• The fallback tool is the one that’s selected by default.
• You can change it by either holding LMB on the toolbar button
or pressing Alt-W to get a pie menu.
Tools

Types of Changing Tool


Cycling Tools
• Enabling the Cycle option in the keymap editor allows you to
cycle through tools within a group, such as selecting boxes and
circles in the 3D Viewport.
Operators

• Operators execute an action the moment they’re activated, which


makes them different from tools.
• Operators can be started from Operator Buttons, Popup Menus,
or Menu Search.
Operators Properties

• Most operators have properties that can be adjusted to refine


their result.
• First run the operator, then adjust the properties in the Adjust
Last Operation region.
Modal Operators

• Modal operators exist as a concept in between Tools and regular


operators.
• They require some sort of interactive input.
• The action of a modal operator can be confirmed
using LMB or Return.
• To cancel a modal operator, use RMB or Esc.
Slider Operators

• Slider operators are used to interactively adjust a percentage


value in the editor’s Header.
• You can adjust the percentage by dragging the slider left or right.
• This can be made coarser (snapping in 10% increments) by
holding Ctrl and more precise by holding Shift.
• For some sliders, you can toggle “overshoot” with E, which lets
you go beyond the 0-100% range.
Thank You!!!

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