Cool things in Blender that aren't so obvious

#121

In the text window (where you load and write Python scripts), if you have a line that extends off the end of the screen, you can middle-click-drag the screen left and right, as there is no left<->right scroll bar. Been using Blender for years and just learned this the other day!

#122

measuring, length, distance on an object.

Hit “F9” (editing), you should have split (2) windows. One “3d” the other “buttons”
go to the Mesh Tools 1 panel and press the Edge Length, Edge Angles and the dimensions will appear on your selections in the 3d view.

#123

  1. You can use right mouse button to select multiple items to append. Doesn’t seem to work with files.

  2. You can scale simultaneously on two axis’ this way:
    For widget people:
    Select scaling mode and select the axis not to scale with selecting button at the same time as you hit shift.

For non-widget people:
Hit s, hit shift and the key of axis not to scale. You can hit it again to scale on special axis (global, local, normal, view) selected by alt-space. Normally it is local.

#124

are there any shortcuts for toggling vertex, edge and face mode. I thinkl i could be a boon while modelling. pls suggest.

#125

Hi Karthik.

In edit mode use CTRL+TAB to toggle the modes from the menu.

Cheers,
Satish.

#126

I started a wikipage in the Blender 3D noob to pro wikibook with these things. I only wrote in one thing for now, I hope you’ll fill in too!

Here’s the link, I put it under the Miscellaneous tutorials section:
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro/Cool_Things

#127

One thing that’s extremely useful but wasn’t so obvious to me was a method to align selected vertices onto a plane. It’s done simply by using scale transformation and restricting the axis complementary to the plane you want to end up with: S,X (for ZY plane), 0. And voila! your vertices are nicely aligned onto a ZY plane.

#128

Yeah this is a good one, I use it all the time.

#129

sorry dont mean to rain on anyones parade but alot of the stuff I have read can indeaded be found in the the 2.3 manual, There are a few things that were left out of the printed manual but they can be found in the wiki online version. Under help in blender 4.2 go to maual and it will take you there

#130

If you hold Ctrl when clicking on ‘load image’ or a similar button it uses the image browser instead. This is undocumented because it is an unstable feature.

#131

Thats neat.

#132

yeah thats a really cool feature :slight_smile:

#133

Wow, threshearrod, can you send me a copy of Blender 4.2?

If you have Ton’s number, give him a call and tell him you have Blender 4.2. I’m sure he would love to try out a version of Blender which he hasn’t even made.:smiley:

#134

I am new to all this and having trouble understanding the very basics of where to even load files from yafray and blender. Have had no training and am trying to teach self as am on a limited income. Any tutorials on the very basics? Thanks for any help.

#135

First, this is the wrong thread for asking questions.

Second - try here http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro

third - You’ll find a lot of inforamtion at http://blenderartists.org/forum/ and http://www.blender.org/cms/Home.2.0.html

And for Blender related news and tutorials http://www.blendernation.com/

Welcome and Happy Blending

#136

shift + c resets the 3d cursor. however it doesnt align you to it you have to the press C

#137

I have only recently started using 2.42 (was on 2.37 IIRC before that) and found the Preview button - shift-p in object mode. Rather than rendering the entire scene, I can focus on just the parts I was recently modelling and see what it will look like rendered. Plus, the window is scalable by tugging on the bottom right corner, and “minimizable” so I can move it out of the way, but still have it near.

VERY neat feature IMHO.

(Post #2 here, so hopefully this will validate.) :wink: :slight_smile:

#138

hi, im new to blender and python, i want to learn them. can you give me an idea if say example, we have finished already the design but we need to put a button that will trigger the zoom view or distance of the camera, can we do it automatically with blender or we need to code python scripts for it to work?

Let say the design is done and saved already in blend file, now how can we make it zoom in to a certain area by using the mouse or a generated button, that the viewers will need to press if they want closer view to our artwork/design.

any idea about it?

#139

any one pls. explain the idea on how we can make a design interactive

#140

I think the game engine is what you are looking for, but you will still probably need some python to do what you want. There was a (fairly old) book on the Blender game engine released by NoStarch publishing - it should still be relevant if you can find a copy. Also there are a bunch of resources in the Blender manual, the wiki, and at the Blenderartists forum. Google is your friend :slight_smile:

BTW: This thread is for sharing Blender secrets you know, not asking for things you don’t know about.

Umm… ‘f’ controls brush size in sculpt mode and ‘shift-f’ controls strength!
Oh yeah, and ‘x’ is the better delete button! Much easier to reach from the home row :wink: