Blender Tutorial (Tips/Hints)

Note: There is other versions of Blender out now. I haven't tried to use them yet. I'm only using Blender 2.49b and Python 2.6.

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Programs that you need to install onto your computer:
- Blender 2.49b
- Python 2.6 (only need this if you're going to export and import different extensions, such as .elu, .ani, .3ds, etc...)

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Hotkeys/Keys

Editing Mode

G - Grab (move the selected verts)
S - Scale (increases/decreases the amount of space between the selected verts)
R - Rotate (rotates the selected verts)
A - Selects/deselects all verts
L - If you have your mouse hovering over near a vert and press L, it should select all of the verts within the shape.
U (Project from View) - Make sure you have two or more split screw, one in 3D View and the other in UV/Image Editor view. This will bring the selected verts into the UV/Image Editor view.
Space Bar (Add)- Add in certain things such as (shape, mesh, etc..)
F - This one is hard to explain, it's like creating a face (must have 3-4 verts selected) and edge (2 verts selected).
B (press once) - You will see this vertical and horizontal (grey) lines across Blender in the 3D view. Like this: B x1
B (press twice) - You will be able to see a circle (grey) around your mouse/+ cursor. You can also use the scoll up/down to increase/decrease the size of the circle. Like this B x2
Shift+D - This just simple duplicate the selected verts.
Alt+M - Brings the selected verts to a certain point together, either "At Center", "At First", "At Last", "At Cursor", or "Collapse".
Z - Change from either Wireframe to Solid or Solid to Wireframe.
Tab - Change from either Editing Mode to Object Mode or the other way around.
E - Extrude (similar to extend)
Ctrl+N - Recalculate the texturing within the selected verts (sometimes it glitches/bugges, so you might have to manuelly do some of it, depending on the the model)
Right Click (hovering over a nearby vert) - This allows you to select the nearest vert that your mouse is by.
Middle Click (Scroll Click) - This have some other functions that you can do. If you want to move your view, you can simply just hold Shift+Middle Click and move your mouse. If you are trying to just view around the model you want to see, you can just hold the Middle Click and move your mouse.
Ctrl+R - This allows you to divide, but adds verts. You can increase/decrease the lines within using srcoll up/down.[/li]

Numpad:

1 - Views in the axis of Z and X
3 - Views in the axis of Z and Y
7 - Views in the asix of Y and X

I think that's about if for the keys and such.

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Couple of Tips:



This is one of the tricks that my brother taught me. See that light-lime color line, to do that, you must know how to use your middle click. For example: After you selected the verts, press G (Grab) and then hold the middle button going up/down, until you see a light-lime color line. This allows you to just move the selected verts either up or down only.



This is similar to the light-lime color line above. All you need to do is the same directions above, but instead of doing up/down, you go left/right.





To get something like this, you must hover your mouse cursor over the file menu and right click, then you can either choose Slip Screen, Join Areas, or No Header.



This view that I'm showing you is the UV/Image Editor view. It's really useful for your images to texture your model.

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Sorry if this didn't help, I tried my best to put in a simple way.