Thursday 12 October 2017

Blender modeling Notes


This  page documents my first steps learning blender. I'll also add to the page over the next week or two as I explore more of what blender can do. So far I'm really impressed.

Click HERE for an older interview with  Ton Roosendaal. It gives some history and context to blender.

Note: Page last added to  on 18/10/17
As blender relies heavily on numPad keys,  and the "emulate numpad" overrides various shortcuts, I'm using a numPad keyboard for easy access on the left of my keyboard.
numPad
Hotkeys:
Navigation:
  • MMB = Orbit
  • Ctl + shift + Middle Click /or/ Scroll Wheel = Zoom
  • Shift + F5 = Viewport
  • 0(numPad) = Camera Mode (Enter/Exit)
  • 5 = Orthographic Perspective
  • 1/3/7(numPad) = Front/Right/Top View
  • Ctl + 1/3/7(numPad) = Back/Left/Bottom
  • Home = Frame All
  • .(numPad) = Frame Selection
  • Shift + C = Reset Viewport
  • Shift + F = Video Game Navigation
Object Viewing - In Viewport:
  • /(numPad = Frame Selection
  • Z = Wireframe
  • Alt + Z = Toggle Texture/Shader
  • Shift + Z = Toggle rendered/Shaded
  • (Shift + B + release) + Drag = Zoom into Portion
Editing/Creating Objects:
  • Shift + A = Add Objects
  • Ctl + Tab = Switch Edge/Vertex/Face panel
  • Tab = Edit Object Mode
  • Left Click = Move 3D Cursor
  • Ctl + A = Apply objects transformations (like freeze trans)
  • Y = Edge Split
  • Ctl + 1/2/3/0 = Subdivision Amount
  • Ctl + # = Add Subdivisions
  • U = UV uwrap
  • K = Knife Tool
  • I = Inset
  • E = Extrude
  • Alt + M = Merge Vertices (options panel ex: merge to centre)
  • Ctl + R = Loop Cut(Scroll wheel to add loops - pre right click)
  • Ctl + J = Join Objects
  • Ctl + B =Bevel (scroll for subdivs)
  • G + G = Slide Vert/Edge/Face
  • V = Rip
  • Alt + V = Duplicate Edge Loop on Object
  • F = Fill/Bridge Edges/Verts
  • P = Separate Selected (Verts/Face/Edge)
  • G + O = Offset and slide vert across edge
Within the Sculpt Brush
  • D = Draw Tool
  • Click + Drag = Add
  • Shift + Click + Drag = Subtract
  • F + Drag = Brush Radius
  • Shift + F + Drag = Brush Strength
  • C = Clay Brush
  • 2 = Clay Brush
  • G = Grab Brush
  • 7 = Grab Brush
  • I = Inflate/Deflate Brush
  • 8 = Inflate/Deflate
  • Shift+5 = SculptDraw
  • Shift+6 = Smooth
  • S = Smooth Brush
  • Shift+C = Crease Brush
  • L = Layer Brush
  • 9 = Layer Brush
  • M = Mask Painting
  • 0 = Mask
  • K = Snake Hook Brush
  • Shift+T = Flatten/Contrast Brush
  • P = Pinch/Magnify Brush
  • 1 = Blob Brush
  • 3 = Clay Strips Brush
  • 4 = Crease Brush
  • 5 = Fill/Deepen
  • 6 = Flatten/Contrast Brush
  • Shift+1 = Nudge Brush
  • Shift+2 = Pinch/Magnify Brush
  • Shift+3 = Rotate
  • Shift+4 = Scrape/Peaks
  • Shift+7 = Snake Hook
  • Shift+8 = Thumb

Moving Objects:
  • G = Move  (+ X/Y/Z to Constrain)
  • S = Scale   (+ X/Y/Z to Constrain)
  • R = Rotate (+ X/Y/Z to Constrain)
  • G + 5 = Move 5 Units
  • R + 2 = Rotate 2 Units
  • W = Panel (select Bridge)
  • Shift + C = Cursor at 000 (plus frame focus)
Selecting;
  • A = Select/Deselect All
  • B(release) + Drag = Box Selection
  • B(release) + Drag + Shift = Box Deselect
  • B(release) + Left Click(drag) = Rectangle Select(add)
  • B(release) + Middle Click(drag) = Rectangle Select(Remove)
  • C + Left Click = Circle Selection(add) - (+ Scroll for Circle Radius change)
  • C(release) + Shift = Circle Selection(remove) - (+ Scroll for Circle Radius change)
  • Ctl + Left Click - Lasso Selection(add)
  • Ctl + Shift + Left Click - Lasso Selection(add)
  • Alt + Right Click = Select Edge Loop
  • Ctl + Alt + Right Click = Select Edge Ring
  • L = Select shared Verts/Edges/Faces
  • Ctl + +(numPad) / -(numPad) = Grow/Shrink Selection
Duplicating/Deleting/History/Hiding Objects:
  • H = Hide
  • Shift + H = Hide Unselected
  • Alt + H = Unhide
  • X = Delete Panel
  • Shift + D = Duplicate
  • Alt + Shift + D = Duplicate
  • Ctl + Alt + Z = Undo History Panel
Snapping/Cursor;
  • Shift + S = Snap Cursor to Selection
  • Ctl + Shift + Alt + C = Set Origin (Geo to Origin/Origin to 3D cursor etc)
  • Shift + S = Cursor options (ex: Cursor to center)
Animation:
  • Alt + A = Play/Pause
  • Shift + Alt + A = Play in Reverse
  • Left/Right Arrows = Next/Previous Frame
  • shift Left/Right Arrows = Beginning/End of Timeline
  • Shift + Up/Down Arrows = Jump Forward/Back 10 Frames
Windows & Panels:
  • Shift + Spacebar = Window Focus
  • Ctl + Ring Arrow = Scroll through window setups
  • Shift F4 = Python Console
  • Shift + F10 = UV Unwrap Window
  • F10 = Image Window
  • Shift + F7 = Editing Window (modifiers etc)
  • N = Transform Window Toggle
  • T = Tool Bar Toggle
  • Ctl + I = Invert Selection
  • Shift + F9 = Outliner
  • Shift + F3 = Node Editor
  • Shift + F11 = Text Editor
  • Shift + F7 = Properties Editor
  • Shift + F2 = Logic Editor
  • Ctl + .(NumPad) = Object Focus
  • Spacebar = Search Menu
Layers:
  • M = Move object to Layer Panel
  • 1/2/3/4 etc = Layer number
Changes - By right clicking on a menu we can add a shortcut hotkey to an item. We can also add it directly into user Preferences/Input:

addHotKeySmoothShade01
Hotkeys added:
  • Ctl + ` = Smooth Shade
I also switched the '"select with" mouse buttons around:
mouseClickSwap
I'm used to the way the Maya Viewport looks so I installed the following "Maya Lover" Theme from Here. It's just cosmetic but I like it.
mayaTheme
Modeling Practice - Ant (I'll document my first modeling attempt in blender)
  • Shift + S to center the cursor via the panel
  • Shift + A to add - mesh - cube
BLENDER_ANT_01
  •  Ctl + R to place a loop cut through the center of the object
  • Z to make the object transparent (so we can select the back faces)
  • 1(numpad) to switch to front view
  • B + Release + drag for rectangular selection of left side faces
BLENDER_ANT_02
  • Spacebar - "type add m" bring up the add modifier panel
  • Add mirror modifier
BLENDER_ANT_03
BLENDER_ANT_04.jpg
  • To constrain the central verts to the Y and Z axis we need to enable "clipping":
  • To see the mirrored mesh we need to turn on "cage to modified result":
BLENDER_ANT_05
  • Show the back facing verts so we can select them
BLENDER_ANT_06
  • Base mesh for the head, abdomen and thorax.
BLENDER_ANT_07
BLENDER_ANT_08
  • Extruding some legs
BLENDER_ANT_09
  • Within the transforms window(N) / display / Shading there are a number of Metcap shaders which are excellent for picking up surface imperfections while modeling.
BLENDER_ANT_10
  • Subdivisions with cage
BLENDER_ANT_11
  • To isolate an area for modeling the details we select the faces we want to isolate and Shift + H.
BLENDER_ANT_12
  • A little more tweaking
ant04
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Testing Out the Sculpt Brush
  • Before starting to sculpt - Apply Mirror Modifier and delete Subsurface Modifier if we are starting from a model created with the above method
BLENDER_ANT_13
  • Spacebar + "add m" to add modifier  Multiresolution
BLENDER_ANT_14
  • Switch to sculpt mode
  • For roughing in a sculpt we can switch to Dyntopo
BLENDER_ANT_16
  • Choose Brush and start sculpting
BLENDER_ANT_17
  • Hotkeys of Note: F = Brush Radius Shift F = Brush Strength
  • Sculpting from a poly UV Sphere, (in Dyntopo mode), allows us to sculpt in a similar way to zbrush - as we would in real life with clay.
faceSculpt01
Once we are happy with a Dyntopo sculpt we can retopologize the mesh in one of two ways:
  1. The easy way is to buy a script like "RetopoFlow" which appears to be similar to Maya's quad draw tools.
  2. The second/free way  is explained HERE  by Zacharias Reinhardt.
Process notes:
  • Create plane with cursor at 000.
  • Ctl + R to slice in half /  delete Left Side
  • Add Mirror modifier / enable clipping
  • Add Subsurf modifier / set as simple (not Catmull-clark)
  • Add a Shrink Wrap modifier / choose target mesh / set the offest to .002 / enable "keep above surface" / make sure the triangle icon is enbled so that we see the Verts.
  • To avoid selecting verts on the other side - (alt + b = Clipping border) - (alt + b to remove clipping border).
Alpha brushes in sculpt mode:
BLENDER_ANT_22
  • choose brush mapping style
BLENDER_ANT_23
  • We can use a stencil - (note hotkeys: RMB = move stencil / shift + RMB = Scale Stencil / Ctl + RMB = Rotate stencil)
BLENDER_ANT_24
  • Some details added to the mesh with alpha brushes
details
  • With a shiny gold met material we can see more details
BLENDER_ANT_26

Modeling with Blender's Skin Modifier

Setup:
  • Create plain(shift + C to center Pivot) / Alt + M  / Merge at center / Edit Mode / Spacebar/"Add Modifier"/ Mirror/Skin/SubDiv 
Modeling:
  • Extrude + G + Move / Ctl + A(x,y,z) for Scale / Ctl + R = Add Vert
Test - Bipedal Character:
  • Starting with Torso and Feet - a little bit tricky
new01b
  • Attempt at constructing the hand
hand01
  • Base mesh completed
baseMesh02
  • From here we could use the sculpt tools to refine the character and then retopologize the mesh once we are happy.
 In sculpt mode - start clay style sculpting:
  • Clay Brush / Area Plane 
  •  Dyntopo Enabled / + Subdivide Edges / + Brush Detail
  •  Ogre type creature created from the base mesh using the above brush settings


Blender is a much loved, free and open source 3D application with a thriving user community. It was originally created by Ton Roosendaal as an in house software tool at  NeoGeo - an animation studio he co-founded. It was later released as free creation tool.
Visit:
Open Project Films created by the Blender foundation: