Book Image

Blender 3D Basics Beginner's Guide Second Edition

By : Gordon Fisher
Book Image

Blender 3D Basics Beginner's Guide Second Edition

By: Gordon Fisher

Overview of this book

This book teaches you how to model a nautical scene, complete with boats and water, and then add materials, lighting, and animation. It demystifies the Blender interface and explains what each tool does so that you will be left with a thorough understanding of 3D. This book starts with an introduction to Blender and some background on the principles of animation, how they are applied to computer animation, and how these principles make animation better. Furthermore, the book helps you advance through various aspects of animation design such as modeling, lighting, camera work, and animation through the Blender interface with the help of several simple projects. Each project will help you practice what you have learned and do more advanced work in all areas.
Table of Contents (20 chapters)
Blender 3D Basics Beginner's Guide Second Edition
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
3
Controlling the Lamp, the Camera, and Animating Objects
Index

Time for action – discovering your tools


The 3D View has three major control panels: the Header, which we have examined; the Tool Shelf on the left side, which says Transform at the top and has some tabs on the left; and the Properties Panel, which is hidden by default:

  1. Close Blender and open it again.

  2. With your mouse over the 3D View, press the N key. The Properties Panel appears. It has controls to change the location, rotation, and scaling of objects.

  3. Press the N key again. The Properties Panel disappears.

  4. Press the T key. The Tool Shelf disappears.

  5. Press the T key again. The Tool Shelf reappears and contains many controls used when building objects.

  6. When you have closed the Tool Shelf or the Properties Panel, note the small gray tab on the side of the 3D View window. If you click on that, the panel will reopen.

What just happened?

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