Introduction to Graphics and Visual Computing

Introduction to Blender
CSEL 301 Module 1
 Blender
• Blender is a free and open-source 3D creation suite that supports
various 3D pipeline tasks, including modeling, animation,
simulation, rendering, compositing, motion tracking, video
editing, and game creation.
• It is suitable for individuals and small studios due to its unified
pipeline and responsive development process.
• Blender is cross-platform and uses OpenGL for a consistent
experience.
 Features of Blender

• Blender is a fully integrated 3D content creation suite, offering a

broad range of essential tools including Modeling, Rendering,
Animation & Rigging, Video Editing, VFX, Compositing,
Texturing, and Many types of Simulations.
• It is cross platform, with an OpenGL GUI that is uniform on all
major platforms (and customizable with Python scripts).
 Features of Blender

• It has a high-quality 3D architecture, enabling fast and efficient

creation workflow.
• It boasts active community support.
• It has a small executable, which is optionally portable.
Interface Controls
 Buttons

Operator Buttons
• Operator buttons execute an Operator which in summary execute
an action when clicked with LMB.
• Operator buttons may be an icon, text, or text with an icon.
 Buttons

Checkboxes & Toggle Buttons

• These controls are used to activate or deactivate options.
Use LMB to change their state.
• A tick is shown on checkboxes when the option is activated.
• Active status on toggle buttons is indicated either by color on the
icon background, or a change in icon graphics.
 Buttons

Dragging
• To change many values at once on or off, you can press
down LMB and drag over multiple buttons.
• This works for checkboxes, toggles and to select a radio button
value.
 Buttons

Radio Buttons
• Radio buttons are used to choose one option from a selection of
options.
• The active button is indicated by a colored background.
 Buttons

Cycling
• Use Ctrl-Wheel while hovering the mouse over radio buttons to
cycle between the options.
 Buttons

Direction Button
• Clicking with LMB in the sphere and dragging the mouse cursor
lets the user change the direction by rotating the sphere.
Shortcuts

• LMB (drag) rotates the direction.

• Ctrl (while dragging) snaps to vertical & diagonal directions
Fields

Text and Search Fields

• Text fields show a rounded rectangular border, and optionally an
icon and/or text inside the border.
• Text fields store text strings and provide the means to edit text
by standard text editing shortcuts.
Fields
Number Fields
• Number fields store values and units.
• The first type of number field shows triangles pointing left (<)
and right (>) on the sides of the field when mouse pointer is over
the field.
• Sliders, a second type of number field, have a colored bar in the
background to display values over a range, e.g. percentage
values.
Fields
Color Fields
• The color field stores a color value. Clicking on it
with LMB opens the Color Picker.
• Color fields with an alpha channel are divided in half: on the left,
the color is shown without an alpha channel, and on the right, it’s
shown with an alpha channel over a checker pattern.
• Colors can be copied to other color fields by dragging and
dropping.
Menus
Popup Menus
• Popup menus list Operators which can be executed by selecting
with LMB or using the generated shortcut indicated by the
underlined character of the operator's name.
• All menu entries show any relevant shortcut keys, which can be
executed without opening the menu.
• All popup menus can be searched by pressing Spacebar and
typing the name of the operator in the menu.
Menus

Collapsing Menus
• Sometimes it’s helpful to gain some extra horizontal space in the
header by collapsing menus.
• This can be accessed from the header context menu:
click RMB on the header and select Collapse Menus.
Menus

Selection Menus
• A Select menu (or “selector” for short) lets you choose between
a set of options.
• It appears as an icon and/or text with a down arrow on the right
side.
Menus

Popover Menus
• Popover menus are similar to Select Menus, but can show more
varied content such as a title, buttons, sliders, etc.
Menus

Context Menus
• Context menus are pop-ups that can be opened with RMB.
• In most editors, it’s also possible to use the Menu key.
• The contents of the menu depend on the location of the mouse
pointer.
Menus

Special Menus
• The Specials pop-up menu is similar to a context menu but is
opened using a button consisting of a down arrow on a dark
background.
Menus

Pie Menus
• A pie menu is a menu whose items are spread radially around the
mouse.
Extended Controls

Data Block Menu

• Let's you select a Data-Block (such as a material) in order to link
it to something else (such as an object).
List View
• This control is useful for managing lists of items.
• In addition to the main list, there is a Filtering panel on the
bottom (hidden by default) and modification buttons on the right.
Extended Controls

Color Picker
• The color picker is a pop-up that lets you define a color value.
• Holding Ctrl while dragging snaps the hue to make it quick to
select primary colors.
Extended Controls

Color Ramp Widget

• Color Ramps specify a color gradient based on color stops.
• Each stop has a position and a color.
• The gradient is then calculated as the interpolation between these
stops using the chosen interpolation method.
Extended Controls

Color Pallet
• Color Palettes are a way of storing a brush’s color so that it can
be used at a later time.
• This is useful when working with several colors at once.
Extended Controls

Curve Widget
• The Curve Widget allows to intuitively map a range of input
values to a set of output values by adjusting a curve, where the X
axis represents the input and the Y axis the output.
Tools and Operators
Tools

Tool Bar
• The Toolbar contains buttons for the various tools.
• Buttons with a small triangle in their bottom right corner are tool
groups which can be opened by holding LMB on them for a
moment (or dragging LMB to open them instantly).
Tools

Pop-Up Tool Bar

• Pressing Shift-Spacebar will pop up a small toolbar right at your
cursor for faster access.
• The shortcuts for selecting the tools are displayed on the right.
Tools

Quick Favorites
• The Quick Favorites menu gathers your favorite tools.
• Any tool or menu item can be added to this pop-up menu via its
context menu.
Tools

Changing Tools
• If you have Alt Click Tool Prompt enabled in the Keymap
Preferences, tapping Alt will display a tool prompt in the Status
Bar.
• You can then press a key to select the corresponding tool or
tap Alt again to cancel the prompt.
Tools

Types of Changing Tool

Fallback Tools
• The fallback tool is the one that’s selected by default.
• You can change it by either holding LMB on the toolbar button
or pressing Alt-W to get a pie menu.
Tools

Types of Changing Tool

Cycling Tools
• Enabling the Cycle option in the keymap editor allows you to
cycle through tools within a group, such as selecting boxes and
circles in the 3D Viewport.
Operators

• Operators execute an action the moment they’re activated, which

makes them different from tools.
• Operators can be started from Operator Buttons, Popup Menus,
or Menu Search.
Operators Properties

• Most operators have properties that can be adjusted to refine

their result.
• First run the operator, then adjust the properties in the Adjust
Last Operation region.
Modal Operators

• Modal operators exist as a concept in between Tools and regular

operators.
• They require some sort of interactive input.
• The action of a modal operator can be confirmed
using LMB or Return.
• To cancel a modal operator, use RMB or Esc.
Slider Operators

• Slider operators are used to interactively adjust a percentage

value in the editor’s Header.
• You can adjust the percentage by dragging the slider left or right.
• This can be made coarser (snapping in 10% increments) by
holding Ctrl and more precise by holding Shift.
• For some sliders, you can toggle “overshoot” with E, which lets
you go beyond the 0-100% range.
Thank You!!!