The Blender 3 Quick Start Guide

By Darrin Lile
https://www.DarrinLile.com

Introduction
Blender version 3 is a milestone, not only in Blender history, but in the history of animation
software. No other open source software comes close to Blender’s wide array of tools and
features. It is now accepted and supported by global companies like Adobe, Apple, and
Microsoft and has truly become an indispensable tool in animation pipelines around the world.
And since Blender is free to download and use for any purpose, it is a great tool for learning and
practicing 3D animation for anyone who is interested.

I started playing around with Blender version 2.4 in 2005. I came from
a film background and wondered if I could use Blender for one
particular shot I had in mind. But I soon became fascinated with
Blender’s possibilities, and started focusing on it as my main creative
tool. I’ve used Blender for animation, games, VR, and educational
projects. I have created more than twenty Blender courses, with more
than 30,000 students in 120 countries. My courses can be found on
Udemy, Skillshare, LinkedIn Learning, and on my own website, www.DarrinLile.com. Blender
has been a constant in my life for more than 15 years. But the core of Blender has remained the
same.

It is a tool for artists, to be used in any way that you can imagine. It has evolved and changed
over the years, but that core purpose has never changed. It has become simpler to use and
easier to learn since the early versions of Blender. But it is still a deep and complex piece of
software that is always being updated and expanded. So it can be useful to have a brief,
succinct guide to help artists get started creating their visions in Blender.

That’s what this Quick Start Guide is for. I hope it helps

you start your own journey with Blender; so that you can
begin creating whatever it is you have in your head, bring
it to life, and show it to the world.

Downloading Blender
Blender 3 is available for just about any operating system.
To download Blender just go to www.blender.org and
follow the instructions to download the software. There is
a Download link right on the main page, and the website

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will automatically detect your operating system. Once the file is downloaded to your computer,
just install the software as you would any other program.

The Blender Interface

When you first open Blender, you will be presented with the Splash Screen. Here you can
make some adjustments to the preferences, but at this point, I would suggest that you just use
the default settings that are presented. To get rid of the splash screen you can simply click
anywhere outside the splash screen to remove it from view. If you would ever like to bring it
back, you can click on the Blender icon in the upper left corner and choose Splash Screen.

The Blender interface is split up into several windows or Editors, the largest of which is the 3D
Viewport. By default, this should contain a Cube, a Point Light, and a Camera, and is where
you will be doing most of your work
as you create your scenes. To the
right of the 3D Viewport are two very
important Editors: the Outliner and
the Properties Editor. Each Editor
window has a little icon in the upper
left corner that is a pull-down menu.
This allows you to change the
window to any of Blender’s other
Editors.

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You have a great deal of freedom to customize the Blender interface in any way you like. But if
you ever change things too much and want to go back to Blender’s default interface and
settings, just click File > Defaults > Load Factory Settings.

The Outliner, at the top right of the interface, lists all the
objects in your scene. Notice how it has the Camera, Cube,
and Light listed in a hierarchical structure within a
Collection. You can create, rename, and move Collections
in the Outliner to help you organize your scene. Likewise,
you can move and rename the objects listed from one
Collection to another. I would strongly suggest that you
keep your Outliner clean and organized as you work on
your Blender scenes. A Blender project can grow very
quickly to dozens, or even hundreds, of objects. So
maintaining an organized Outliner can help you keep track
of your project and work efficiently.

Below the Outliner you will find the Properties Editor. This
is a contextual editor, meaning that its contents can change depending on what you have
selected in the 3D Viewport. Arranged vertically along the left side of
the Properties window are various tabs for different property
windows. As you hover the mouse cursor over these tabs you can
see they have names like Render Properties, Output Properties, and
Scene Properties. We will discuss a few of these later.

Below the 3D Viewport is the Timeline. This is used for creating

Blender animations. There are standard transport buttons like Play
and Reverse, and if you click the Play button you can see the cursor
travel along the Timeline. You can also press the Spacebar to start
and stop playback. Keyframes can be placed on the timeline
representing different positions, shapes, or poses for your objects.
When the timeline is played, Blender will transition between these
keyframes and produce movement. These movements can then be
rendered as an animation.

At the top of the Blender interface are tabs for different default Workspaces. These
Workspaces are each built for specific tasks that you might want to perform within Blender.
There are tabs for Layout,
Modeling, Sculpting, UV Editing,
etc. The Blender developers have
created different layout arrangements to help make your work more efficient. These layouts are
very well thought out. I use them quite a lot. But you can also arrange the Blender interface
however you like, and save your own Workspaces.

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Rearranging the Interface
The Blender interface is remarkably customizable. You can resize and rearrange the windows,
and add as many as you like. To change the size of a window, just hover your mouse cursor
over the line between two windows, then click and drag. To add a window, hover the mouse
cursor over a corner between windows until the cursor changes to a cross. Then click and drag
in the direction you would like to create the window.

So let’s say we want to change the interface so that we have two 3D windows side-by-side.
Hover the mouse over the top right corner of the 3D Viewport, then click and drag to the left.
Now let’s add another
window, so we have three
3D Viewports. Once again,
I’ll hover the mouse cursor
over the top corner of the
new window, but this time
I’ll click and drag down.

Now if we want to take the

interface back to the way it
was, as mentioned before,
we can always go to File >
Defaults > Load Factory
Settings. But this will reset
all of our settings in
Blender. And there may be some settings that we don’t want to lose. So you can remove the
new windows by hovering the mouse cursor over the border between two windows,
right-clicking, and selecting Join Areas. Then move the mouse cursor over one of the windows
and click. Keep doing this until you get the interface back to the way
you want it.

To add your own Workspace as a new tab, click on the Plus tab at the
right of the tabs row. You can select from a menu of different
Workspace layouts, or Duplicate the current tab. Once the new tab is
created, you can double-click on the tab to change its name. And you
can right-click on the tab to move it to the front or back of the tabs. Or
right click and delete it.

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The Toolbar and Sidebar
There are two parts of the Blender interface that aren’t quite as obvious as what we’ve covered
so far. These are the Toolbar and the Sidebar.

The Toolbar is the vertical row of icons on the left side of the Blender interface. This is context
sensitive in that it changes depending on what Mode you are in, such as Object Mode, Edit
Mode, etc. We will be discussing Modes soon. But the important thing to remember right now is
that you can hide and reveal the Toolbar by pressing T. So if you need the Toolbar and it isn’t
there for some reason, just press the T key to bring it back.

The Sidebar is hidden by default on the right side of the 3D Viewport. Press the N key to reveal
the Sidebar. This contains three tabs: Item, Tool, and View. The Item tab displays Transform
information about the selected object in the scene. The Tool tab displays settings for the
selected tool in the Toolbar. And the View tab displays settings for the 3D Viewport. The
contents of the Item and Tool tabs can also change depending on what Mode you are in.

Toggle Toolbar = T
Toggle Sidebar = N

Navigation
As you work on your Blender projects you will need to move around within the
3D Viewport. The vertical row of icons on the right side of the 3D Viewport
allows you to adjust and move the view of your scene. Click and drag on the
Magnifier icon to zoom in and out. Click and drag the Hand icon to pan the
view left and right, and up and down. Click on the 3D Axis to tumble around in
the 3D View. Click on the Camera icon to switch to looking through the camera
in the scene. And click on the Grid icon to change from Perspective to
Orthographic view. An orthographic view is one in which there is no perspective
and all of the objects in the scene look as if they are the same distance away.

You can also use the mouse directly to move through the 3D Viewport. For this,
the Middle Mouse Button is king. To Tumble the view, press and hold the Middle
Mouse Button (MMB) and move the mouse. To Pan the view left and right or up and down,
press the Shift key while holding the MMB. And to Zoom, scroll the mouse wheel. Or, you can
also hold the Ctrl key while pressing the MMB.

Tumble = MMB
Pan = Shift + MMB
Zoom = Mouse scroll wheel; Ctrl + MMB

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By default, you will Tumble around the center of the grid, or the World Origin. But you can
change this by “framing” a particular object. To frame an object, select it by clicking with the
mouse and then go to View > Frame Selected. The viewport will zoom into the selected object
and now, when you tumble the view with the MMB, it will be centered on this object. This is a
great way to move around a complex scene and work on specific objects.

Notice that when you choose the View menu, the shortcut
keys are listed next to the menu items. So for “Frame
Selected” you can also press the period key on the
Numpad. If you do not have a Numpad on your keyboard,
you can also press the Tilde key, directly below the Esc key
in the upper left of your keyboard. This will bring up the
Viewpoint menu and you can choose View Selected from
here.

Viewpoints
In addition to the standard Perspective view of the 3D Viewport, you can also look at your scene
from different Viewpoints. You can find these by going to View > Viewpoints. The various
viewpoints will change your view to an orthographic view from a particular direction: Top,
Bottom, Right, Left, etc. This can be helpful when modeling with background images or
blueprints. And once again, you can see the shortcut keys for each of the viewpoints listed in
the menu.

So to switch the viewport to the Top view, press the 7 key

on the Numpad. For the Front, Numpad 1. And for the
Right view, Numpad 3. To go back to the standard
perspective view, just tumble the viewport with the Middle
Mouse Button.

In addition, with the Ctrl button, you can switch to the

opposite view. For example, If the Top view is Numpad 7,
then the bottom view is Ctrl + Numpad 7. Likewise, the
Back view is Ctrl + Numpad 1, and the Left view is Ctrl +
Numpad 3.

Top View = Numpad 7

Bottom View = Ctrl + Numpad 7
Front View = Numpad 1
Back View = Ctrl + Numpad 1
Right View = Numpad 3
Left View = Ctrl + Numpad 3

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Once again, if you do not have a Numpad on your keyboard,
you can press the Tilde key to bring up the Viewpoint Menu.
The Tilde key is the one just below the Esc key.

The Quad View

Each of these Viewpoints is a single view in your 3D
Viewport. But you can also view your scene from four
different angles within one Viewport. Blender’s Quad View allows you to quickly split your 3D
view into quadrants, each with its own Viewpoint. To toggle the Quad View on, press Ctrl + Alt +
Q.

This splits the view into three orthographic views: the Top, Front, and Right; and one
User/Perspective view. You can tumble in the User view (in the top right), but you can only pan
and zoom in the other orthographic views. This is different from creating new Editors in the
interface, as described above. These new windows are all contained within one Editor window.
To exit out of Quad view, press Ctrl + Alt + Q once again.

You may notice that in the Quad View you can not change any of the orthographic views to their
opposites. In other words, you can not change the Top view to the Bottom view with Ctrl + 7. By
default, the orthographic views of the Quad View are locked. But if you need to change your
views, there is a way.

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To unlock the views of the Quad View, press N to open the Sidebar. Click the View tab, and at
the bottom of the panel there is a section called Quad View. In this section, uncheck Lock
Rotation. Now any view can be changed to the desired Viewpoint. A word of warning however:
this can get confusing very quickly. My suggestion is to use this sparingly, and leave the Lock
Rotation enabled the majority of the time.

Selection
The next thing you’ll need to know is how to select objects. It seems pretty basic, and it is. You
just click on an object with the Left Mouse Button (LMB). And like most other programs, if you
press the Shift key and click another object, you will now have two objects selected. And you
can continue to add objects to your selection in this way.

In addition, you can select all of the objects in the scene with the A key. And you can deselect
everything in the scene with Alt + A.

Select an Object = LMB

Add to Selection = Shift + LMB
Select Everything = A key
Deselect Everything = Alt + A

Transforming Objects
In addition to moving around within the 3D Viewport, you will also need to modify your 3D
objects. In the Sidebar on the left there are several tools for transforming objects in Blender.
Notice that there are four sections to the Sidebar when we are in Object Mode. The top section
has two icons, the second section has four, the third has two icons, and the
last has one. For now, let’s focus on the second section. These are the
transform tools.

The first icon in this section is the Move tool. If you select
the default cube and click on this icon, a transform gizmo
will appear over the object. The colored arrows of the
gizmo coincide with the axes of the 3D world in the
viewport: red for the X axis, green for the Y axis, and blue
for the Z axis. If you click and drag on an arrow you can
move the selected object along that axis.

The next icon down is the Rotate tool. Click on this and the gizmo will convert to perpendicular
circles. These can be used to rotate the object around each axis. If you click
and drag on the red circle the object will be rotated around the X axis; green
around the Y axis; blue around the Z axis. Note that there is also a white
circle that wasn’t there with the Move tool. This can be used to turn the
object in relation to the Viewport. Wherever you tumble, the white circle will

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always stay aligned with the view and rotate the object perpendicular to your view.

Next is the Scale tool. This is similar to the Move tool but it has small cubes at the end of the
lines instead of arrows. It also has a white circle around it, just like the
Rotate tool. Click and drag on any one of the colored lines and the object is
scaled along that particular axis. If you click and drag on the white circle, this
will scale the object in all axes at once.

In addition, there is a small white circle in the center of the Move and Scale
tools. For the Move tool, this allows you to move the object in all directions.
For the Scale tool, this is like the larger circle and allows you to scale in all axes at once.

You can also use the Shift and Ctrl keys to modify the functionality of these tools. Using the Shift
key with the Move tool turns off the selected axis. So if you hold Shift and click and drag the Z
axis, the object will move only in the X and Y axes. This has the effect of sliding the object along
a surface. If you hold Ctrl while using the Move tool, you will move the object in 1 meter
increments. And if you hold Ctrl, begin moving the object, and then also hold down the Shift key,
you will move the object in .1 meter increments.

The Ctrl key with the Rotate tool has a similar function. It allows you to rotate the object in 5
degree increments. And once again, if you start moving the object and then also press the Shift
key as well, it will switch to 1 degree increments.

The Shift key with the Scale tool also has the effect of turning off the selected axis. If you hold
Shift and click and drag on the Y axis, the object will scale only in the X and Z axes. When
holding the Ctrl key with the Scale tool, this allows you to scale the object in
.1 meter increments. When you include the Shift key, this becomes .01 meter
increments.

Lastly there is the all-in-one Transform tool button on the left. This
combines all of the gizmos that we’ve discussed, and all of their functionality,
into one somewhat cluttered tool. I personally don’t use this very much. But if
it is something that you like and it improves your workflow, then I encourage
you to use it. For me, in a complicated scene, it can be a little too much information for my brain
to handle.

In addition, there are shortcut keys for Move, Rotate, and Scale. For Move, you can press the G
key (think “g” for grab) and move the mouse. This moves the object freely in 3D space. When
you have placed the object where you would like, click the Left Mouse Button to confirm the
action. Likewise, you can press the R key to Rotate, and the S key to Scale. When you press
one of these keys and move the mouse, however, you don’t have a great deal of control over
how the object is positioned. The object tends to move, rotate, or scale in multiple axes at once.
But you can select a particular axis in which the action should take place by adding an extra
key-press after the shortcut key. For example, let’s say that we’d like to move the Cube in the X

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axis only. You can press the G key for Move and then immediately press the X key. Now when
you move the mouse, the object will be constrained to only moving along the X axis. This works
for Rotation and Scale as well.
And you can get even more fancy with this. Let’s say you wanted to move an object up five
meters, or grid units. You could press G for Move, the Z key for the Z axis, and then press 5.
The object moves up 5 meters. Now just click the mouse or press Enter to confirm the action.
This works with Rotation, but you enter the number of degrees to be rotated. So you could press
R, then Y, type 45, and then press Enter. Your object rotates 45 degrees around the Y axis.
You can also indicate which axis you do not want to be affected by the action. For example, if
you had an object and you wanted to scale it in the X and Y axes, but not in the Z (so it got
wider, but not taller), here’s what you could do. Select the object and press S for Scale, then
press Shift + Z to tell Blender that you do not want the Z axis affected, and then move the
mouse. Now the object scales only in the X and Y axes, increasing its width without increasing
its height.
Move = G
Rotate = R
Scale = S
Constrain to an axis = G, R, or S and then X, Y, or Z
Transform specified amount = G, R, or S, and then X, Y, or Z, and then
the number of units
Transform without specified axis = G, R, or S and then Shift + X, Y, or
Z to choose the axis that will not be affected

Object Mode and Edit Mode

Now that we’ve discussed Blender’s interface, navigation, and transforming objects, we can talk
about some fundamental tools for 3D modeling. So far, we have been moving the default cube
around in Object Mode. But to continue to refine the shape of an object, we need to go into
Edit Mode. There are actually many different modes that an object can be
in, depending on what needs to be done. If you go to the Mode pull-down
menu in the upper left of the Blender interface, you can see all the different
modes that are available for an object. The two that you will probably use
most often are Object Mode and Edit Mode.

If we select Edit Mode from the menu, Blender

changes the way the Cube is displayed. Now we
can see the various components that make up the
Cube: the Vertices, Edges, and Faces. You can
also toggle between Object Mode and Edit Mode by pressing the
Tab key.

You can choose which of the components you would like to work with
when in Edit Mode. Using the three buttons next to the Mode pull-down menu, you can choose

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which component you would like to use as your selection method. The
three buttons are Vertex Select, Edge Select, and Face Select. If you
would like to use shortcut keys instead, you can press the 1 key on the
keyboard for Vertex Select, the 2 key for Edge Select, and the 3 key for
Face Select.

They can also be combined together to allow the user to select more than one kind of
component at a time. Hold the Shift key down while clicking additional buttons to enable this
feature. However, be warned that this can increase the likelihood of choosing and changing the
wrong component. I tend to use only one at a time because I find I make more mistakes with
multiple selection buttons enabled.

Toggle Object/Edit Modes = Tab

Vertex Select = 1 key
Edge Select = 2 key
Face Select = 3 key

Selection in Edit Mode

The methods of selection mentioned above in the Selection section work just as well in Edit
Mode. But there are a few other tips I’d like to mention as well.

To select a loop of edges around an object, press Alt and left click the mouse on one edge.
This will extend the selection along the edge loop. To select a loop of faces, Alt and left click an
edge between two faces. And if you have a component selected, such as a vertex, you can Ctrl
and left click another vertex and Blender will select all of the points in the shortest distance
between them.

And if you want to add to your selection, just include the Shift key. For example, if you have an
edge loop selected and would like to add another, press Shift + Alt and left click.

Creating Objects
Objects are the building blocks of any 3D scene. You can see all
the objects available to create in Blender by going to the Add
Menu. From here you can add Meshes, Curves, Text, Lights,
Cameras, and much more. When constructing 3D models, you
will most often be using the Mesh objects. In the submenu for
Mesh you will find items like Plane, Cube, Circle, Cone, etc.
These can be added to your scene as the foundation for the
object you would like to create.

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For example, if you are creating a 3D model of a bucket, you would probably start with a
Cylinder. Or if you are creating a book, then a Cube might be a good place to start. Most objects
in the real world have a primitive analog that can be used to start the creation process in
Blender.

For this Quick Start Guide we will focus solely on Mesh objects.

Essential Modeling Tools

Blender has what can seem like an infinite number of tools and functions. But you really only
need to know two modeling tools to create almost anything. I like to tell people that you can
create 80% of what’s in the known universe with these two tools. A bit hyperbolic perhaps, but
they’re good to know when first starting out.

The Extrude Tool

The Extrude Tool allows you to create new geometry from an
object. You can extrude vertices, edges, or faces. To Extrude
a face from the default cube, press Tab to switch to Edit
Mode, and then press the 3 key to change to Face Select.
Now select a face and press the E key. When you move the
mouse you will pull new geometry out of the cube. Click the
mouse to complete the process. Notice that the new faces
extend perpendicular to the original face.

There are other forms of the Extrude Tool that can be found in
the Toolbar on the left. When you press the E key you are
using the Extrude Region function. The other functions are
useful, but it is the Extrude Region that you will probably use 90% of the time. So get used to
using the E key before venturing on to the others.

The Extrude Tool is often used when creating things like vehicles or ships, characters, and
objects like furniture. As mentioned before, it is essential for most of the 3D objects that you will
create.

The Loop Cut Tool

The other tool that is good to know right up front is the Loop Cut
Tool. This allows you to add edges and edge loops to your objects.
The shortcut is Ctrl + R. Adding edges to an object also adds
vertices which gives you the ability to reshape and mold your object.
And new edges make new faces, from which you can extrude yet
more faces.

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To add a new edge loop to the cube, in Edit Mode, press Ctrl + R and then hover the mouse
cursor over an edge. A preview of your new edge will be displayed. When you click once this
will drop the edge onto the object, but still allow you to slide the edge back and forth to get it
positioned. Once it is in the proper place, click one more time to complete the process.

You can also add multiple edges at once. Immediately after pressing
Ctrl + R, you can scroll the mouse wheel to add edges to your cut.
Then you can move them as a group after you click the mouse the
first time. Click a second time to complete the tool.

Extrude = E key
Loop Cut = Ctrl + R

The Bevel Tool

There are no perfectly sharp edges in this world. So if you want your 3D models to have a
sense of realism, you can add a bit of a curve to your edges. This is where the Bevel Tool
comes in. In Edit Mode, select an edge on your object,
go to the Edge Menu at the top of the interface, and click
Bevel Edges. Or press Ctrl + E1 and select it from the
menu that comes up in the 3D View. Once you activate
the tool, you can move the mouse to expand the edge.
And by scrolling the mouse wheel you can add more
edges to the bevel, kind of like the Loop Cut tool. The
more edges you add, the more rounded the curve will be.

To complete the tool, simply click the mouse or press

Enter. But once you complete the tool, you will still have
control over the Bevel settings. In the bottom left corner
of the 3D View there will be a Bevel Settings pull-out panel. Here you can continue to adjust the
bevel.

The Importance of Uniform Scale

An important thing to know about Blender is that when running tools like
Bevel, it uses the Scale of the object to figure out how best to apply the
tool. So if you have scaled an object a great deal in one axis, and not the
others, it may adversely affect the results of the tool. For best results, it’s
good to have a uniform scale for the object so that Blender can effectively
apply the tool. In Object Mode, press Ctrl + A and select Scale. This will
reset the Scale in all three axes to 1.0 and allow Blender to give you the
best results when running the tool.

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In addition, the Face Menu can be accessed by pressing Ctrl + F, and the Vertex Menu with Ctrl + V.

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Pivot Points and Origins
You may have noticed that when we were scaling and rotating objects that we were doing so
around a particular point in the object. The little orange dot in the center of an object is its origin.
When an object is created, the origin is located in the exact center of the geometry. And when
we turn on the Move, Rotate, or Scale gizmos, they appear right at the origin of the object. But it
doesn't have to be this way. We can move the object origin to any place in the scene that we
would like. And we can even have the transform manipulator be in a different place than the
object’s origin. This allows for some pretty tricky manipulation of objects and components.

So let’s first work on moving the object origin to a different location on the object itself. If we
press the Tab key to go into Edit Mode and select a corner vertex of the cube, we can now
move the object origin to this point. But we can't do it directly. This is why we need the 3D
Cursor. With a vertex selected on the cube, you can press Shift + S and choose Snap Cursor
to Selected. This will move the 3D Cursor to the
selected vertex.

Now if we press Tab and go back into Object

Mode, we can right-click and go to Set Origin >
Origin to 3D Cursor. The origin of the object has
now been moved to where the 3D cursor is. If we
enable the Rotate tool, the cube now rotates
around the corner of the object. This is great if we
need to animate something like a door. We can
move the object origin to where the hinges would be and when we rotate the door it opens and
closes.

But you can also move the pivot point temporarily, without moving the object origin. For this we
use the Pivot Point menu. Let’s say you’ve got a complicated model, like a motorcycle, with
multiple objects, and you’d like to scale the entire model
down so it’s a bit smaller. But you don’t want to move the
origin of each of the many objects in your model. You
could first move the 3D Cursor to the center of the grid
with Shift + S > Cursor to World Origin. And then you
could use the Pivot Point pull-down menu at the top of the
screen to choose the 3D Cursor. Now all of the selected
objects will scale from this point.

Median Point is the default setting of this menu. And the menu can also be accessed by
pressing the period key.

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Transform Orientations
While we’re at the top of the Blender interface, let’s talk about the pull-down menu that says
Global. This is the Transform Orientations menu. There are several options in this menu, but
the main ones that you need to know about are the Global and Local menu items. These
change the axes along which you move an object.

When you first open Blender, this option is set to Global. This
means that your Move Gizmo will always be aligned to the
World or Global axes in the 3D View. The Z axis is always up
and down. The Y axis is always forward and back. And the X
axis is always right and left.

But when you change the Transform Orientation to Local, the

axes change to match the selected object. So when you rotate
an object, the Z axis of your Move
Gizmo turns along with the rotation of the object. This can be very
helpful for placing an object precisely along a particular path. Not too
long ago I was modeling that motorcycle mentioned above. And I was
able to turn the handle grips and then slide them into place onto the
handlebars using Local Orientation.

Give it a try. Select the cube and rotate it. Then change to Local
orientation. Notice how the transform gizmo changes to align with the
object.

This menu can also be accessed by pressing the coma key.

Essential Modifiers
In addition to the fundamental modeling tools of Extrude and Loop Cut, there are
some basic Modifiers that you may find useful as you begin your Blender journey.
Modifiers are non-destructive tools that can be used in many situations. They can
modify the geometry of an object while allowing you to adjust its effects in real time.

The Modifiers panel can be found in the Properties Editor on the right side of the
interface. Click the tab with the wrench.

The Subdivision Surface Modifier

One of the most useful modifiers for getting smooth curves on your models in the Subdivision
Surface modifier. In the Modifiers Editor, click the Add Modifier menu and select Subdivision
Surface. This non-destructively adds geometry to the object to try and round off the corners.
You can adjust the number of Levels of subdivision for both the 3D Viewport and for the Render
of the scene. This is a great tool for adding realistic edges to your objects.

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Much like the Bevel tool, the Subdiv modifier can give you
rounded edges that light can catch to make the object seem
more real. As mentioned before, there are no perfectly sharp
edges in the real world, so adding a bit of a curve can help
with realism.

But whereas the Bevel tool adds new edges on the corner of
the object, you will need to add extra edges on either side of
the corner to sharpen and control the roundness. The closer you bring the new vertices to the
corner, the sharper the edge will be. If you get the new
vertices too close to the edge it will create some
artifacts, so keep a bit of distance for the curving to
work.

Once you are pleased with the results of the

Subdivision Surface modifier, you can keep it on the
object in case you would like to make further
adjustments later. Or if you are planning on taking the
model out of Blender to another 3D program, like a
game engine, you can apply the modifier and make the
new geometry permanent.

Other 3D programs may have similar types of modifier

functions, but they do not use the same code or algorithms as Blender. So when taking a model
into the Unity or Unreal game engines, or to texturing programs like Adobe’s Substance Painter,
the geometry needs to be finalized by applying the modifier. To do this, first Tab back into Object
mode. Then you can simply pull the menu down in the Subdivision Surface modifier and click
Apply. Now you will be able to Tab into Edit Mode and see and work with the new finalized
polygons.

But a caveat here. Subdividing objects like this only works well with Quads, or four-sided
polygons. Tris, or three-sided polygons can sometimes work. But Ngons, polygons with more
than four sides, are pretty much out of the question when using Subdivisions. The results are
just too unpredictable to be useful in most situations.

The Mirror Modifier

The Mirror Modifier is a great help when modeling
symmetrical objects like cars and characters, anything that is
the same on both sides. The tricky part is that you need to
ensure that the centerline of the object is exactly aligned with
the center of the Mirror. But it can also be used for objects
that do not meet in the middle, like tires on either side of a
vehicle. The good thing about the Mirror Modifier is that it is

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non-destructive and updates in real time as you work. So it’s great for modeling heads. You can
just work on one side of the head and the other side will automatically update to match.

In the Mirror Modifier panel you can select which axis to mirror along, and turn on Clipping. This
will ensure that any vertex that gets to the center line will automatically be merged, or clipped,
with the mirror vertex. This is handy so you don’t have to continually fight to keep points aligned
down the center of the object.

By default, this modifier mirrors around the Origin of the

object. So if the Origin isn’t on the centerline, you will need to
move it by placing the 3D Cursor where it needs to be, and
then moving the Origin to the 3D Cursor (as described in the
Pivot Points and Origins section). Or, if you would like, there
is also a field in the modifier panel that allows you to mirror
around a particular object.

Clicking in the Mirror Object field allows you to select

another object in the scene around which you would like to
mirror. You can also click the eyedropper and select the object in the 3D View. I personally like
to create an Empty object in the center of the grid and use this as the Mirror Object. An Empty is
an object that has a location, but has no geometry. So it won’t be seen in a render and you can
hide it in the Outliner so it won’t be in the way in the 3D View. Create an Empty by pressing Shift
+ A and then selecting Empty. There are several different kinds, but I usually choose Plain Axes.

If you use an Empty for your Mirror Object you don’t have to worry about where the Origin of the
object is. It can be anywhere in the scene and you will still be able to use the Mirror Modifier.

The Boolean Modifier

If you want to cut holes or portions out of a 3D object, the
Boolean Modifier is definitely one to try. It uses a cutter object
to remove a portion from your main object. But this tool can
be a little tricky to use. I think it is fairly well known that, at the
time of this writing, Blender’s Boolean Modifier isn’t the
greatest tool in the shed. But it has gotten better and the
development team is continuing to improve it. That said, it is
still incredibly useful and is worth the patience it sometimes
requires to get the results you’re looking for.

To use the Boolean

Modifier, you need two
objects: your main object
that you want to cut into, and the cutting object. The good
news is that you can model an object that is exactly the size
and shape of the cut you want to make. The bad news is that

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objects that are too complicated can confuse Blender and you may not get the results you want.
And what exactly Blender thinks is too complicated can oftentimes be difficult to discern.

So let’s keep this example pretty straight forward. I've created

a cube called Main, and a cylinder called Cutter. I’ll select the
cube and create a Boolean Modifier in the Modifier panel. In
the Object field I’ll select the Cutter object and choose
Difference. Now in the pull-down menu of the Modifier I’ll click
Apply.

If we then move the cylinder we can see that we’ve cut a hole
in the cube. This is a powerful tool for creating complex
objects, but a downside is that it can create a mess with the
polygon structure of the object. Recall from the Subdivision
Surface section that Ngons are not good for subdividing. Well, Booleans almost always create
Ngons. So if you really need to use a Boolean on a subdivided mesh, then you will most likely
need to Apply the Subdivision Surface Modifier before you use the Boolean modifier.

The Solidify Modifier

The Solidify Modifier just adds thickness to a flat object. It doesn’t sound that exciting, but it can
be a lifesaver when creating complex or oddly shaped objects. The key takeaway here is that it
is often easier to mold a two-dimensional flat object into a particular shape and then add
thickness, than it is to try to bend or warp an object with thickness. You can adjust the Thickness
in the modifier’s settings, as well as ensure that it has even thickness.

Keep in mind that if you give the Solidify modifier a negative thickness you will flip the direction
of the polygons and get flipped Normals. We will talk about
flipped Normals shortly, but I wanted to mention that here as a
warning.

The Modifier Stack

Blender’s modifier stack works from the top down. The modifier
at the top of the list affects the model first, and then the next
modifier affects the results of the previous one. And so on. So
the order in which the modifiers are stacked makes a
difference in the effect you get on your object.

You can move the modifiers up and down using the two little
lines in the upper right corner of the panel. Click and drag on
this to reorder the modifiers and see what effects they have.

You can Apply the modifier to make its effects permanent on the model. To do this, click the
pull-down arrow at the top of the modifier’s panel and choose Apply. But Blender wants you to

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Apply modifiers from the top down. In fact, if you try to Apply a modifier that isn’t on the top, it
will give you a warning at the bottom of the interface to let you know that this may not be a good
idea.

Shade Smooth
When you first create an object, the facets of the polygons are clearly visible. If you would like to
smooth the object so the polygons aren’t so prominent, you can use the Shade Smooth tool.
This does not round off the corners like the Subdivision Surface Modifier, but it applies a
smoothing attribute to each of the faces, making it appear that the object is smoother than it
actually is. It’s really just a visual trick. It provides the illusion of a smooth surface.

To enable smoothing, select the object in Object Mode,

right-click and choose Shade Smooth. You can also
right-click and choose Shade Flat to disable the
smoothing. In addition, you can Tab into Edit Mode,
select some faces, right-click and choose Shade
Smooth, and this will smooth just those faces.

There is also a menu item called Shade Auto Smooth. When you first click this there may not
be much of a difference. But if you go to the Object Data Properties tab in the Properties Editor,
and expand the Normals section, you can increase the smoothing angle. This gives you more
control as to how much the object should be smoothed.
Be aware that if you want to go back to Shade Flat you
will need to uncheck the box here in the Normals
section, or right-click and choose Shade Smooth again
in Object Mode.

Normals
When you enable the Shade Smooth tool, Blender interpolates
the Normals of the polygons to make them seem smooth. But
what are Normals? In geometry, a normal is something that is
perpendicular to a particular object. Here in Blender, the
Normals are imaginary perpendicular lines coming out of the
front of each polygon. They help define what is the front and
what is the back of the polygons. And this is important because
in game engines and many other 3D programs, textures can
only be applied to the front of polygons. And in fact, in many instances, the back of the polygons

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are transparent. That’s why it’s important to make sure that all of the Normals of your object are
facing toward the outside of the object. Having flipped Normals can cause problems.

There are two ways to check your Normals. One is to Tab into Edit Mode, pull
down the Overlays menu in the upper right of the 3D View, and enable Face
Normals at the bottom of the menu. This allows you to
visualize the normals and in which direction they are
pointing. But if it is a complex model, all those lines can
make it difficult to see which direction some normals are
facing.

The better way I think is to turn on Face Orientation in the Overlays menu. This can be done
either in Object Mode or Edit Mode and makes the front of
each polygon blue, and the back of each polygon red. This
is a much more intuitive way of seeing the orientation of
the normals.

If there are flipped normals, Tab into Edit Mode, select all polygons with the A key, and go to
Mesh > Normals > Recalculate Outside. The shortcut for this is Shift + N.

Collections
Collections are a great way to stay organized as the
number of objects in your scene grows. I think it is very
important to name your objects as you create them. You
can rename objects by double-clicking them in the
Outliner, or by selecting the object in the 3D View and
pressing F2. But it is also helpful to group similar objects
together, and Collections are Blender’s version of
groups.

In the Outliner, you can create a new Collection by right-clicking and choosing New Collection
from the menu. You can then rename it, drag and drop objects into the Collection, and even
drag Collections into Collections. The Outliner also allows you to hide objects and Collections in
the scene by clicking the Eye Icon.

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Hiding and Isolating Objects
There are times when you are working on an object in a complicated scene and it would be nice
to hide the other objects around it to get a better view. To hide an object in the 3D View, select it
and press the H key. To hide all of the objects that are not selected, press Shift + H. And to
unhide all objects press Alt + H.

In addition you can isolate an object from the rest of the scene by pressing the forward slash: /.
This enables Local mode. Press the forward slash key once more to toggle out of Local mode.

Hide Selected = H
Hide Unselected = Shift + H
Unhide All = Alt + H
Local Mode = /

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Next Steps
I hope this Quick Start Guide has helped provide you with a solid foundation in Blender. From
here you can start focusing on your own particular creative interests. Are you interested in
creating vehicles in Blender? Architectural visualizations? Characters for animations or games?
Whatever you are interested in creating, I probably have a Blender course that can help you
reach your goals. Please take a look at my newest Blender courses at DarrinLile.com.

Blender has so much to offer and there is always something new to learn. Get these and other
great Blender courses at www.DarrinLile.com.

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Essential Shortcuts
Lastly, here is a recap of all the shortcuts that were mentioned in this guide.

Navigation Tumble = MMB

Pan = Shift + MMB
Zoom = Mouse scroll wheel, Ctrl + MMB
Frame Selected = Numpad period

Interface Top View = Numpad 7

Bottom View = Ctrl + Numpad 7
Front View = Numpad 1
Back View = Ctrl + Numpad 1
Right View = Numpad 3
Left View = Ctrl + Numpad 3
Toggle Perspective/Orthographic = Numpad 5
Ctrl + Alt + Q = Quad View

Transform Move = G
Rotate = R
Scale = S
Constrain to an axis = G, R, or S and then X, Y, or Z
Transform specified amount = G, R, or S, and then X, Y, or Z, and then
the number of units
Transform without specified axis = G, R, or S and then Shift + X, Y, or
Z to choose the axis that will not be affected

Object/Edit Mode Toggle Object/Edit Modes = Tab

Vertex Select = 1 key
Edge Select = 2 key
Face Select = 3 key

Modeling Tools Extrude = E key

Loop Cut = Ctrl + R

Hiding and Unhiding Hide Selected = H

Hide Unselected = Shift + H
Unhide All = Alt + H
Local Mode = /

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