blender basic operation

introduction

Blender is a powerful 3D modeling software with rich operation functions and tools. As a beginner, learning the basic operations of Blender is essential. In this article, we will introduce the basic operations of Blender, including selection, movement, transformation, adsorption, mode switching, etc., to help readers quickly get started with Blender. Whether you want to make games, animations, models, etc., knowing these basic operations is a must. let's start!

1. Choose

Place the mouse on the frame selection position in the above picture, and press and hold the left button to open the selection option. The default is single selection (adjustment)

In Blender, selection functions are very important, they are used to select specific parts of the model for editing and manipulation. Here are the different uses of the select function:

1. Tweak : The Tweak Selection feature allows you to select and move vertices, edges, or faces of your model by clicking and dragging. This is a fast and straightforward selection method, suitable for selecting and moving individual elements.

2. Box Select : The Box Select feature allows you to select multiple vertices, edges, or faces in a model with a rectangular box. You can create a box by dragging the mouse so that the elements inside the box will be selected. Box selection is suitable for situations where multiple adjacent elements need to be selected.

3. Brush Select : The Brush Select feature allows you to use a brush to select specific parts of your model. You can select the desired elements by dragging the mouse or using shortcut keys to adjust the brush size. This is useful for quick and freer selection of parts of the model.

4. Lasso Select : The lasso select feature allows you to select elements in your model with a freely drawn path. You can select elements on the model by long-pressing the mouse and drawing a path freely. Lasso selection is useful for elements that need to select very specific areas, such as selecting complex shapes of a model.

Use of these options depends on your needs and how you operate. You can switch between them as needed and use them together for more accurate and efficient selection operations.

shortcut key w
Can quickly switch selection options

Of course, it can also be switched in the menu bar, as follows:

Here are two more points

1. Invert
   
   In Blender, the invert selection in the selection function refers to inverting the selection status of the current selection, that is, the originally selected object will become unselected, and the original unselected object will become selected . This feature is very useful for quickly selecting a large number of objects, or excluding certain objects from a series of operations.

For example, suppose you have multiple objects in a scene, and you need to operate on some of them separately, you can reverse the selection through the following steps:

1. First, hold down the Shift key and click to select some objects that need to be operated, and these objects will be selected .

2. Next, by using the shortcut keys Ctrl+I, or selecting "Select" > "Invert Selection" in the top menu bar , the selection state of the selection will be reversed. At this point, previously selected objects will become unselected, and previously unselected objects will be selected.

3. Finally, you can perform any operations or modifications on these newly selected objects without affecting those previously selected objects.

The invert selection function can save a lot of time and effort, especially in complex scenes, or when some specific objects need to be selected precisely.
2. Swipe Press

and hold the c key, and scroll the mouse wheel to change the range of brush selection . As follows:

press esc to exit

Two, mobile

1. xyz axis movement

After clicking the move option on the left side of the above figure, select the object to be moved, and the directions of three arrows will appear, which represent moving along the x, y, and z axes respectively.

2. Move in xyz plane

This small cube represents moving along a certain plane, click and drag the mouse to move the object along a certain plane.

3. Precise movement

On the Tools tab in the toolbar on the right, find and expand the Move tool option.
Move objects precisely by entering numerical values ​​on the X, Y, and Z axes. For example, if you want to move the object 1 unit on the X axis, you would enter "1".

4. Shortcut key to move G

You can also use the shortcut key G to activate the move tool. By pressing the G key, you can directly drag the object.

3. Rotation

The operation of rotation is similar to that of movement, and the three lines represent rotation along three circles
The shortcut key for rotation is R
By pressing the R key, you can move the mouse to rotate the object.
Click the right mouse button or press the Enter key to confirm the rotation operation

4. Scaling

Same as the previous two, no more verbosity
shortcut key S
Press the S key. Then, scale the object or selected geometry by moving the mouse. Press enter or left click to confirm zoom

Five, transformation

Transformation is actually a combination of the previous three, translation, rotation, and scaling.

1. Transform coordinate system

• Global Coordinate System : By default, transformations are done relative to the global coordinate system. This means that when moving, rotating or scaling an object, its position and orientation are relative to the global origin (0,0,0).
• Local Coordinate System : You can switch the transform coordinate system to a local coordinate system. In the 3D view, select an object and press the '/' key to enable the local coordinate system. After switching to the local coordinate system, the transformation will be relative to the object's local origin.
  
  

hot key","

2. Transform the axis:

• Origin : The transformation axis defaults to the origin of the object, which is the center of the object . You can choose a different axis option in the toolbar of the 3D view, for example: Individual Origins (individual origin), 3D Cursor (3D cursor), Median Point (midpoint), etc.
  
  3d cursor pivot point.
  

• Customization : You can also set the transform pivot to any point on the object. In Edit Mode, select one or more vertices, edges or faces, and press Shift + S to select "Cursor > Origin of Selected Objects". Afterwards, you can use the cursor as the transformation pivot. You can do this by pressing the . (decimal point) key in the 3D view to focus the view on the cursor and setting the pivot point to "3D Cursor" in the Action toolbar.

6. Adsorption

The adsorption function can help users align the vertices, edges or faces of one object to the surface, edge or grid of another object. The

default is incremental adsorption, and we can choose different adsorption methods, as shown in the figure above.

7. Mode switching

In Blender, here are brief descriptions and examples of common modes of operation and their uses:

1. Object Mode : Used to move, rotate, and scale the entire object. For example, object mode allows you to select an object and move it to another location in the scene.

2. Edit Mode : Used to edit the geometry of an object, such as moving, rotating, and scaling individual vertices, edges, and faces. For example, edit mode allows you to select a model's vertices and move them to modify the model's shape.

3. Sculpt Mode : It is used to freely sculpt objects and increase details. For example, sculpting mode allows you to add details such as wrinkles, folds, and texture.

4. Vertex Mode: Used to edit the vertices of the object. For example, Vertex mode lets you select individual vertices and move, merge, or delete them.

5. Weight Mode : Used to edit weights on objects (used in skeletal animation). For example, in weight mode, you can adjust how much a vertex influences a particular bone.

6. Texture Paint Mode : Used for hand-painted textures on the surface of objects. For example, texture mode allows you to paint your model, add a painterly effect, or paint details directly.

It should be noted that different modes are suitable for different operation and editing needs. Depending on your specific design or modeling task, you can switch between these modes for a better editing and authoring experience.

shortcut key tab
Press tab to switch modes.

8. Combination and separation of objects

1. Merge

You can see that these are two objects, we can select these two objects, and then press ctrl+jto merge the two objects into one

2. Separation

Press tab to switch to edit mode, select one of the objects,

find the grid, separate, select the item

Nine, set the parent-child relationship

shortcut key ctrl+p
In Blender, parent-child relationships are used to relate one object to another and to some extent affect their transformation and animation behavior. By creating a parent-child relationship, we can achieve the following functions:

1. Object movement association: You can set one object as the parent object of another object, so that when the parent object moves, all child objects will also move . For example, create a cup and a lid, and set the lid as a child object of the cup. When the cup is moved, the lid will automatically follow the movement.

2. Rotation association of objects: Parent-child relationship can also be used to implement rotation association of objects. For example, create a model of a robotic arm and make each joint a child of the previous joint. In this way, when the first joint is rotated, the subsequent joints will automatically follow the rotation to achieve the natural movement of the robotic arm.

3. Animation Wiring of Objects: By making an object a child of another object, animations can be applied to the parent object and affect all child objects. For example, if you create a gun model and set the gun body as the parent object of the gun, you can use animation to add a recoil effect to the gun body, and the gun will automatically follow and generate corresponding animation effects.

4. Hierarchy management and organization: Parent-child relationships help us manage and organize object hierarchies in our scene. For example, each element in the scene (such as trees, buildings, etc.) can be set as a sub-object of an empty object, so that the overall movement, scaling and rotation operations can be conveniently performed.

In short, the parent-child relationship is very important in Blender, it can simplify the association and action control between objects in the scene, and improve work efficiency.

Select these two objects and set the plane as the parent.

Now we move the plane, and the cube will move accordingly.
But we move the cube alone, the plane doesn't move.

Clear parent-child relationship
In Blender operation, parent-child relationship is used to bind one object to another object and establish the transformation relationship between them. Clearing the parent-child relationship and clearing and keeping the transformation result are two different operations.

1. Clear parent-child relationship :
   When clearing the parent-child relationship, the child object will detach from the parent object and maintain its current position, rotation and scale. This means that the child object will no longer maintain any transformation relationship with the parent object, but will exist independently of the parent object.

For example: Suppose there are three objects A, B and C in a scene, where B is a sub-object of A, and C is a sub-object of B. When we clear the parent-child relationship of A and B, B will remain at the same position, rotation, and scale as A's previous transformation, but will no longer follow A's transformation.

2. Clear and Keep Transformation Result :
   When clearing and keeping the transformation result, the child object will maintain the position, rotation and scale state in the world coordinate system. This means that the child object will detach from the parent object and maintain the same position, rotation and scale state as the parent object's previous transformation, and will no longer be affected by the parent object's transformation.

For example: Suppose there are three objects A, B and C in a scene, where B is a sub-object of A, and C is a sub-object of B. When we clear and keep the transformation results of A and B, B will remain in the same position, rotation and scale state as A's previous transformation, and will no longer follow A's transformation. Likewise, C will remain at the same position, rotation, and scale as B's previous transformation, and will no longer follow B's transformation.

Summary:
Clearing the parent-child relationship means that the child object is unbound from the parent object and maintains the current transformation state; clearing and keeping the transformation result means that the child object is unbound from the parent object, but the relative transformation state before the parent-child object remains unchanged.

10. Overlays and Quick Favorites

1. Overlays

2. Quick Favorites

We can add some operations to the quick favorites, so that directly using the q key can display shortcuts for some cumbersome operations.

Quick Favorites in Blender is a powerful tool for quickly storing and accessing frequently used objects, materials, textures, nodes and settings, etc. It provides a quick access list organized by category for frequently used elements in the project.

Here are some uses for Quick Favorites:

1. Quick access to commonly used objects and models: You can quickly add commonly used models, objects and scenes to favorites for easy reuse in projects.

2. Store and access frequently used materials and maps: Customized materials and maps can be stored as favorites for reuse in different projects.

3. Quick access to commonly used node settings: You can add frequently used node settings to favorites, such as rendering settings, lighting settings, etc., to facilitate quick application in different projects.

4. Favorite and access frequently used render and output settings: Frequently used render and output settings can be stored as favorites for quick configuration in different projects.

5. Quick access to commonly used shortcuts and custom tools: You can add customized shortcuts and tools to favorites for quick recall during operations.

All in all, Quick Favorites provides users with the ability to quickly and easily store and access frequently used elements and settings, improving work efficiency and workflow.

11. View shader method

In Blender, there are the following view shader methods:

1. Solid (entity) view: In this mode, the object is displayed in its solid basic style and colored with the set color. This view shader method is mainly used to see the overall appearance of the object.

2. Wireframe view: In this mode, objects are displayed with their borders and lines, allowing you to see the geometry of objects more clearly. This view shader method is mainly used to view the topology of objects and the connection of lines.

3. Material view: In this mode, the object is displayed in the form of the material it is applied to. This view shader method is mainly used to view the material effect and color of the object.

4. Rendered view: In this mode, real-time rendering will be performed, and the lighting and material effects in the scene will be applied to the objects for display. This view shader approach is mainly used to see the final rendering of the scene in real time.

5. LookDev (appearance development) view: In this mode, objects are displayed in a way that is closer to the actual rendering effect, and different environmental lighting and material effects can be viewed in real time. This view shader method is mainly used to simulate the appearance of objects in different scenes.

6. Texture view: In this mode, the object is displayed as an image of the texture it has applied to it. This view shader method is mainly used to view the texture mapping effect of the object.

Each view shader method has its own specific purpose, and you can switch between different methods as needed to better display and edit the model.

Summarize

In Blender, basic operations are very important, mastering these operations can make it easier for you to do modeling, animation production and other work. This article introduces the basic operations of Blender such as selection, movement, transformation, adsorption, mode switching, etc., hoping to be helpful to beginners. Of course, Blender is very feature-rich, and there are many other features and tools waiting for you to explore.