Blender Help

Are you stuck at any point while following the books? Check first the list below, in case your question has an answer. Otherwise, please fill the following form and we'll try to assist you shortly :-)

When you write your question, remember that this is an extra, free service, that we are not obligated to provide (No technical book author provides any kind of personal assistance, if you think about it.) Like when reporting a script's fault, "I don't know what I did, but this is not the result I expect" does not help at all, and we will not be taking the time to chase you for a detailed description. Make sure that you give a description of your problem that anybody can follow, to achieve the same result you have. If we cannot reproduce your result, we will be unable to help, and your request is likely to be ignored. Use the form linked above.




Interface Basics 101

Q

The explanations are clear, but once I get into laying out the panels the same way you ask in page 39, I feel unsure about how to proceed.

A

We will need here to review the procedure explaining how to join the editor windows. This is the detail to remember: We have to remember that if the "separating edges" aren't the same length, we may have to join other windows first.

What does that mean?

When we start Blender the first time, we have five of those editor windows. One is at top, occupying all the horizontal size (the "Info" toolbar with the "File" menu, etc.) Then at the bottom of the screen we have another one also using all the horizontal size (the "Timeline"). Then in the center, we have three windows in two columns. Left column, the "3D View", right column, the "Outliner" at top, the "Properties" at bottom.

Suppose we want to join the "3D View" with the other two at the right. We can't do this in just one step. Why? Because the meeting edge, 3D View vs Outliner + Properties, has not the same length. The "3D View" is larger vertically than the "Outliner". And larger than the "Properties". There are the two edges, one from the Outliner and one from Properties, to meet the only one edge that is the 3D View. But what we can do is first join the two windows at the right, bottom (Outliner) and top (Properties). That makes the central section of the whole screen having two windows, left and right, now having the same length in the meeting edge, and now they can be joined, leaving us with the bigger 3D View in the middle.


Q

At the end of the book, you tell us how to save the layout we made with the 3D view, and UV layout windows. I clicked the little + at the top, beside the layout list. I typed in my layout name (3D & UV), and then clicked the drop down to the left to make sure it was in there. It was in there, but when I click that one, then go back to ""default"", its like it overwrote my default. So I went in and created the same layout again, saved it like before, and then made ANOTHER layout, naming it ""My Default"". (3D & UV has the UV window - My Default doesn't have the UV window) I checked the drop down list again, and they are both in there, but when I click the layout ""3D & UV"", OR ""My Default"", now those, along with the original default are ALL the same layout. So I closed Blender, reopened it, and checked the layout list, but now the ones I created aren't in the list at all. What am I doing wrong?

A

I replied to this, asking:

Did you create the layout name *after* making the changes? If that is the case, then yes, they were first stored under Default (which would be the active at that point), and then saved under 3D & UV. If that is not the case (i.e., you created the layout name *before* making the changes), then I would need a more detailed explanation, because I've tried replicating this, and only have reproduced the case when I created the layout name after making changes in my interface.

The person said: "Ahh ok! I was saving the layout file after doing the changes", so this was the issue.

Then, to this part: So I closed Blender, reopened it, and checked the layout list, but now the ones I created aren't in the list at all. What am I doing wrong?

My answer was: Absolutely nothing wrong. This was on oversight on my side: I didn't note that after you've saved your layout, then you have to "Save Startup File" (CTRL U). That will keep the layouts stored, otherwise they go away.

In the exchange that followed by e-mail, they also asked, after this: Where is the startup file stored?

My answer: It depends of your operating system. Knowing that, is relevant too when you update Blender to a new version, so you can transport your preferences to the new version. You'll find here an explanation of everything (the files involved, where to find them, depending on operating system).


Interface Basics 102

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Interface Basics 103

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Modelling Basics 101

Q

I'm having a problem with the first practice for this lesson. I start out with work area in Object mode and laid out as previous books said would be our normal work layout. I add the mesh box and then the mesh sphere. Positioning them before going on. I add the monkeys head and suddenly everything is linked?!?!

I have deleted and started over again and again and always the same result. I tried to start with the Torus and it worked I duplicated it and moved them as needed but added Monkey head and ... there we are linked again. Undo seems to take them back step by step still linked until gone. I can see no way I am hitting Ctrl-J especially since I have redone it so many times and am so careful to stay away from that key combination. Yet somehow they all link when I add monkey head. What I might be doing wrong?

A

Let's first propose a solution to this issue, so we can continue with the exercise, and then we'll see what could have happened.

We begin by adding one shape, or leaving the original cube if we have it in the scene, that's ok. We have to make sure we're in object mode, hit TAB if we see we are in edit mode (or change from the selector). Then hit A, until we see that nothing is selected (this is not necessary, but it helps in the first times, to make sure we're doing right). So we will need to hit the A key once, or two times at most.

Then we add the next shape. Again, we make sure that we are not into edit mode before continuing. We change back to object mode if we are in edit mode. Again, hit A until we see that nothing is selected.

And we repeat, to add the next shape, and so on until the end.

This is not the process we will normally follow, but in our first times, this will assure us that nothing else is added in other than object mode, and will allow us to work our way until feeling more sure.

Now, what could have happened?

There's a setting in preferences, under "Editing", that if checked, makes us to enter into edit mode as soon as we add a new mesh primitive. If we continue to be in edit mode, and we then add another primitive, that new one is going to be linked to the one in edit mode.

The setting is "New Objects: Enter Edit Mode", and in the book devoted to preferences, the suggestion is to tick this box, which will be useful in the future. However, we can untick it for now, if this is confusing us.

Modelling Basics 102

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Modelling Basics 103

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Modelling Basics 104

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Modelling Basics 105 (Exercises)

Q

On page 9, the landscape-y test, my 30x50 grid isn't square like yours. I am putting in size 5 on the left hand object tools window, and the right side properties window I am putting the dimensions in as X 50, Y 30, and Z I'm leaving alone. It looks like a rectangle.

A

This is how I create it. I've noticed that in Blender 2.69 there's a parameter named differently. Instead of "size" now they use the word "radius". Anyway:

  • I go to the Top View (NUM KEY 7)
  • I always work in Orthographic mode (NUM KEY 5 to switch between orthographic and perspective)
  • Then SHIFT A for the "Add" menu, and select Mesh: Grid
  • Immediately after that, I hit F6. That brings up a pop up window (Mac users have trouble with this. If you're a Mac user, next point tells you what to do.)
  • You get the same result by scrolling down the toolshelf (T key over the 3D View), to the bottom. Both ways, you're gaining access to the window that allows you to change some parameters right after adding a mesh object.
  • In that window, I change the following parameters:
    X Subdivisions: 50
    Y Subdivisions: 30
    Radius: 5

That way, you get a square grid (radius is a value applied to both X and Y), but you will notice, once you enter into edit mode, that the grid is made of rectangles, because there are more X subdivisions than Y ones :-)

Q

I started to work on the chair on page ten and I'd like to start with the legs. I began with a cube to create the first leg, and then I realized there's not enough faces on the cube to make the leg wavy. I don't see any object that has more faces on it besides spheres. I don't recall being taught how to add faces to an object, so the only other thing I can think of is to begin linking cubes together to get more faces.

A

There are several ways to make this. Once we learn curves, the legs become a very easy and quick one, but the purpose of this exercise was to practice with extruding.

So this is how you could proceed, with the knowledge of "modelling basics":

  • You start by adding a box, that's correct
  • Resize it to make it thin, the first "segment"
  • Enter into edit mode and select the top face
  • Go to right view (NUM KEY 3)
  • E to extrude, move and rotate the face to place the second segment, left click to confirm
  • Again, E to extrude, move and rotate the face to place the third segment, left click to confirm
  • Repeat until you have all the segments :-)


UV Mapping & Texturing Basics 101

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UV Mapping & Texturing Basics 102

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UV Mapping & Texturing Basics 103

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UV Mapping & Texturing Basics 104

Q

The procedure explained in pages 14 and 15, to bend a grid using the Warp tool, doesn't work.

A

Do not get frustrated if the Warp method explained in that book doesn't work. The way that tool works, changed. I haven't had the time yet to explore new ways of achieving the same, but for sure the way explained in that book, will not work with the new Blender versions. You can use Blender 2.67 for it, then continue your work in newer versions. Remember that you can work with different Blender versions in your computer. When I have that sorted out, I will publish it here.


UV Mapping & Texturing Basics 105

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UV Mapping & Texturing Basics 106

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UV Mapping & Texturing Basics 107

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Curves 101

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Curves 102

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Curves 103

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