The monkey name is Suzanne. CHRIST THEY MAKE IT HARD TO FIND THE FUCKING CURRENT USER GUIDE!!!!!!!!! http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:Manual Template: 2D Template system is where you load a bg image to draw over Layout: The image scaffold/template of face edges that Blender writes for UV mappings. Set of tutorials: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro Vertex Animation / Shape Keys: http://blenderunderground.com/2007/11/15/introducing-character-animation-chapter-5/ .blend files They ALWAYS hold the UI settings. The "LOAD UI" button in the Save window has absolutely no effect. OPENING files is where the "Load UI" has its effect. IMPORTANT: File / New warns you about wiping current work, BUT You get no warning whatsoever when exiting Blender or Opening a new file (thereby closing the current file) regardless of whether you have unsaved work. On Windows, set env var HOME, and mkdir %HOME%\.blender. Each Object has a single data block. The data block type is specific to the object's type. DataBlock types: Mesh, Lamp, Camera, etc. Many .blend models, no full humans though http://www.blendermodels.org/models/ Don't forget the occlusion mode button immediately to right of vertex/edge/face-mode selector buttons. Numerical input. SHIFT-LMB on numeric field to enter value manually. Axis is right-handed, but very different from Java 3D. X -> Y inward (AWAY FROM viewer!) Z ^ Yet for some reason they count angles positive for right rotation :(. OBJ Selection Selected objects are Pink ACTIVE object is LIGHT PINK. Only one! Ctrl-P makes the ACTIVE (LAST) object the parent of the other selecteds. Ctrl-A Effects of scale and rotation of selected objects are applied to vertexes, and the transforms are zeroed. Ortho/Perspective (keypad 5) Normally, the only grid shown is the xy plan grid. But with Ortho only the other plan grids are shown ONLY when viewing exactly orthogonal to it (keypad 1 or 3). This is configurable in View / View Properties. ME stands for MEsh. LAMPs The vertical line under them is just to identify the object as a lamp, and to help tell where it is over the X/Y grid. Turn on Ray Shadow in the Spot Panel. Click the Hand to remove the annoying Object mode vertex arrows on the selected object (they are actually the object "manipulator"). The OOPS schematic has recently become an alternative View in the Outliner window. X-Ray generally means to make the item visible through other items. OBJECT CREATION. Critically Important!!!!! Create an object from Object mode to create a new 3dMesh object. Create an object from Edit mode to add the new geometry to the current obj. Settings under Info / Edit Methods specify whether to automatically switch to Edit Mode and to rotate toward view location. For some reasons, plane meshes are created with winding so that faces aim up; yet circles are created the reverse way. SCALE When you open up a new scene with default settings, the larger gray grid lines are 1.0 unit. COORDINATES +Z is UP! Default View is from Top looking down Z. POLYGONS To add a 2-dimensional polygon, create a circle with that many sides. 1 or 2 human models that probably need some tweaking. http://www.katorlegaz.com/3d_models/ Tutorial for making sword: http://www.gamedev.net/reference/art/features/blender1/ UI Global settings DO NOT GET READ FROM ANY SCENE FILE OTHER THAN $HOME/.B.blend. You must explictly save preference changes (to $HOME/.B.blend) with File / Save Default Settings. Just remove the file to reset. (On Win, choose to store personal data under Applic. Data dir. DEFAULT .blend = $HOME/.B.blend. In this case the .B.blend file shows up under ~/Application Data/Blender Foundation/Blender/.blender, I think). I.e. "Save Default Settings" doesn't just apply to "defaults" startup scene, but to all global settings also. The SR: pulldown at the top sets the Workstation Layout (can use same menu to save your own). Can change the contents of each panel using the far left button on the menu. 3D View ------- C center view on cursor (esp. useful after SHIFT S actions). CENTERING VIEW C to center on 3D Cursor NumPad . to center on Selection ESC backs out of temporary windows, like File selections and Help. Ctrl-Up toggles Maximization of the 3D view. KEYPAD: Some default perspectives + Rotation. The 3D View's View menu lists the keys. +Ctrl to reverse direction This sets the rotation angle for viewing, not the translation! TAB: Toggles between Object mode (default) and Edit mode 3-axis-icon vertexed-square-icon SPACEBAR: Opens toolbox Shift-SPACE toggles the current window to full (Blender) screen. MOUSE SCROLL: Zooms Sceen LEFT MOUSE: Anchor RIGHT MOUSE: Select/Move object. For move, click&drag, but left-mouse-click to place. (or G) (Then, to restrict movement to a single axis, either hit key X, Y, or Z [can also enter # units now and ENTER] single-click middle-mouse button ) (To restrict to grids, hold CTRL key). For Sel, if objects overlap, just keep right-clicking to toggle through 'em. MIDDLE MOUSE: Rotation or Translation of VIEW. (Keypad arrows rotate in incr.) Rotates round stationary point in exact center of view (probably where it intersects with the other 0 plane). SHIFT-Middle-Mouse or SHIFT-Keypad-arrows Translate VIEW CTRL-Middle Mouse zooms scene like mouse scroll, but smoothly HOME: Changes Zoom so screen shows a screen full CTRL: Generally changes changes to be stepped instead of continuous. Transl: Snaps movements to grids just like SHIFT-S snapping. Rotation: 5 degree increments CTRL-SHIFT: Same, but at 1/10 units of Ctrl. CTRL-J. Join multiple objects into last selected object. CTRL-T (in object mode) Just like Ctrl-J, but Tracks the first item to the 2nd. SHIFT: Generally Adds to the selection Keypad-0: View from Camera. Outer dashed main. Inner is TV-safe. (Can't move camera as simple as changing perspectives) Combine with Shift/Ctrl for other actions. View menu for some default perspectives. Ctrl+ reverses axis direction. M: Sets layers for currently selected item. S: Scale (then move mouse without clicking) Toggle middle-mouse or click X/Y/Z to scale only in one direction. This scales the object according to the specified Worldspace axis, NOT THE LOCAL OBJECT AXIS. To scale according to one local axis, you need to key it in to the Tranform Properties window (N). ??ALT-s *in EDIT mode*: Scales along normals. Ctrl-s? A: Toggle selection of All vertices (of currently selected object) or Objs Shift-D: Duplicates (to same location of seld item) Alt-D: Just like Duplicate, but LINKED geometries! PREFER THIS!!! Copies have independent translation/rotation/scaling, but share Materials, geometry. G: == middle mouse button for moving objects R: Rotate object exeactly orthogonally to your view. Press X/Y/Z key to rotate around specified axis instead. E: Extrude (normal extrusion) Can only extrude in Edit mode. To allow extrusion to any direction, MMB. See MODIFIERs below. Extrude means to create Edges. E S: Scaling Extrusion Shift-S: Snap either selected object or cursor to nearest grid intersection. If doesn't appear to work, make sure in Object Mode and make sure only the desired level of grid showing. P: Create new object from selected vertexes DEL == X: Delete. Will get pop-up to select type of item to delete. F: Create Edge or Face (between selected vertexes). Also joins faces into 1. ~: Show all layers SHIFT-F: Faces vertexes (which seems to be needed for visibility for any mode other than WF). / (keypad): Toggle Local/Global. W (in edit mode): Specials menu (incl.subdivide) CTRL-T (in edit mode) Convert polies of selected vertexes to triangles H: Hide Alt-H: Unhide all CTRL-G: Create or add to Group. Unfortunately, no easy way to select objects of a named group. CTRL-M: Mirror-Axis mode. ALT-R from Obj. mode: Reset local rotation. (Even new objects can have non-default rotation, based on view when you add it). ALT-G from Obj. mode: Same, but resets translations. CTRL-LMB Adds a vertex in Edit mode with some object types selected. E.g. works will if editing a plane. N: Transform properties. Numeric attributes for currently selected thing. Rotate all vertexes in Edit mode to rotate without changing axis. LAYERS To select Layers to SHOW: Layer squares in View header, or main keyboard numerals (with Alt for +10). Shift for multi-select. The nearby padlock selects to make these screens Layer-show Independent. To set layer(s) for an Object, "m" or Object Buttons window. *Important* For shading to work, make sure lamp is in all used layers, then RESTART BLENDER. Local Mode (a.o.t. default Global View) only shows the Current item. Keypad /. RENDERING / EXPORTING Frame Render is in the RENDER button in the Scene button panel. Window Render is the 3D View's Render icon button. The Camera view (keypad 0) shows what the frame renderer will show. keypad 0 is togglable (most or all other keypads are not-- will not revert). Orthogonal or normal perspective are changed in the Camera Editing context. For the Window Render, the 3D View's Draw Type, Ortho/Persp, view location all are as you see in the 3D View. Probably all of the remaining is about the Frame Render. Draw Type is always textured. Draw Type setting of 3D View has no effect. In Button Window, choose Scene Context (F10) / Rendering Subcontext. 2nd section of Render panel OSA = anti-aliaasing 5,8,11,16 are rendering quality (higher takes more time) % is the output scale size (for preview purposes) Format panel. Set size to a preset or specifically. Set pixel aspect ratio. Select output format. F12 == Render Button. Render happens in an independent heavyweight window. After rendering to the Render window, you must still save to a file (F3). ESC aborts rendering. F* toggles the rendering results window J toggles between previous render and current render. REVERTING Screen File / New To COPY in a piece of a Blender file: File / Append. (Material or mesh). Have to use Screen button to update the Outliner / View / Show OOPS schematic (Screen diagram. Appended Meshes don't show up in the 3D Model view until you render. (Use the OOPS Schematic view to verify). Often have to force just to update the normal outliner. Use Add Main Menu to add a mesh (incl. plane). Mode switches to Edit when you add something. Example to apply a Material to a mesh. Shading Context / Material Subcontext. Select target item. Add the material that you have made available. If animated objects have materials which can "slip", then you need to parent an extra object between the material and the animated object. (I don't know parenting order though, see http://www.tellim.com/texture_cd/html/menu4.html ). NEW MATERIAL. Does not work at all as explained in tutorial. I think that in Blender, only Obj mats or Mesh mats effect a mesh at any one time, not both. "Links and Pipeline" panel seems to be the important one for materials under Shading / Materials. Go to Shading context / Materials and "Add New" Link to Object. Then can rename the MA:Material name. CRITICAL: The OB, ME radios toggle the mode of the entire Links and Pipelines panel. Plastic: specular color white, high specularity, high hardness. Metals: specular color not object's normal color. For chain, mat: black + spec: blue. If set Alpha for a material, you will want to turn on ZTransp in the Links and Pipeline panel. (This causes the underlying objects to be drawn). IMPORTANT: To add > 1 material to a single Object or Mesh, you have to go to the Links and Materials of the MESH subcontest, not the one in the Shading Subcontext! !! Each face of the mesh may only be influenced by one material! Partial transparency works! As shown in the OOPS Schematic, Objects are a level above Meshes. Tutorial calls them points-in-space which can be identified by the little dot in the center. I think they are actually parent nodes. An Object is what you select with RMB in Object mode. You apply data blocks, like meshes, to objects. SUBSERFS Spline-based only used in CAD/CAM products Catmull-Clark variety used for character models Use simple control mesh Rarely need subsurf value > 2 Use quads. Avoid triangles. They leave artifacts. MODES Object mode (3-vector icon) is default. Use TAB or pulldown in 3D Model window header to change. Edit mode uses icon showing square w/ vertexes. Can toggle w/ TAB. FILE DIALOG SHORTCUTS Middle-mouse = Open/Save (without confirmation) P = parent dir . = reloade $PWD BUTTONS WINDOW / Shading context (globe Icon = F5) Shading context will automatically select Subcontext for the currently selected object. Subcontexts are always "X buttons". Lamp -> Light material-able object (Meshes or Object) -> Material Shadeless option seems useful, esp. for image mapped materials. "Texture" in Blender seems to encompass both the roughness aspect of a material, and image mapping. This "type" is specified by Texture Type. Shading context / Texture subcontext (F6) ONLY available from Edit mode. Since materials are applied to entire objects, you need to separate objects which need separate materials or textures. Each Material can have a list of 10 Textures. Listed in the Texture panel of the Material subcontext. For some reason, the mapping is specified in this panel under the Map * taps, instead of in the Texture subcontext. Image = Texture Map. Projection specified as Material Property (planar/spherical) Procedural Type. Clouds, wood, etc. Predefined, built-in 3D. Plugin. Custom Environmental Map = Blender-created reflection map. Blender calculates 6 images and combines these. Textures can only be seen applied in Renders. Textures get "filtered", which can make them blurrys, so adjust filter val. The Map Input and Map panel tabs only appear after you add a texture to the Texture tab. Set mapping shape and SizeX/Y/Z UV mapping scales in Materials Map Input panel. Larger numbers shows more COPIES of image file = Reduces input img. Materials Map To panel lets you specify and slide Nor for bump mapping; and select and slide Color for color mix between texture and material. Set repeatX and repeatY in the Map Image panel of the Texture subcontext. I can't get the tiling to work. Always stretches to cover entire. Maybe this just works for UV mapping? *Yes* Learning Materials and Textures from the current manual. Turn on the preview OSA option if your computer is fast enough. Shading button panel. Links and Pipeline. ADD NEW or use the pulldown to select an existing in this scene. Remember ME=Mesh (Object) MA=Material If click the Num-of-users field, change it to a non-shared material. (Only appears if there is > 1 user!) Choose OB or ME to allow the setting to be OBJ-specific or not. Y Mat X says which material of the object it is, #X of total Y. Material Col = Diffuse color, Spe = Specular, Mir = Mirror color MESHES Each object has a "Pivot Point" shown as a pink dot. JOINING MESHES. In Object mode, B, draw rect. around objects, Ctrl-J. (B ADDS to selection, so use A too. rect. just needs to include any piece of the mesh). Joins other Selectees into the Active object. PARENTING. Ctrl-P. Childs other Selectees to Active object parent. DE-PARENTING: Alt-P. EDIT MODE SELECTIONS Whatever mode you are selecting in, entities with all components selected automatically get selected themselves. I.e., if you have quad polies and select the 4 vertexes of a rectangle, 4 edges and 1 face will get selected implicitly (watch the counts in the title bar). EDIT MODE DELETIONS Current mode makes no difference. All that matters is the type you select in the Delete menu, and the items OF THAT TYPE that are selected (regardless of how they got selected). Edges can't exist with only one vertex, and faces can't exist without all edges and vertexes. Consequently, deleting items of type X will automatically delete dependent HIGHER-LEVEL items. This can result in orphaned vertexes and face-orphaned edges. BUT deleting faces deletes component edges unless they belong to adjoining faces or if you select the Only option. RAGGED EDGES You can straighten edges by using using a Boolean modifier with a cube, and apply. Even with "difference", this will add the cube vertexes to the original mesh, but these are easy enough to remove manually. (Tut says that this faces the join plane, but that doesn't happen for me. SELECTING vertexes It's difficult to tell if a vertex is selected which is right over the object origin, since the origin color of pink overrides. Use Edit mode to see vertexes. Selecteds = Yellow. Unselected = Pink. A toggles all on/off. B to draw a Box (rectangle) around vertexes to select. (Click and drag with MMB instead of LMB to Subtract from prev. selectn.) B B to paint over vertexes to select (+ and - to modify brush size). FACE SELECTION It is often VERY DIFFICULT to tell if a face is selected. (keep an eye on the face count in title bar). Not perfect, but this works pretty well: Light object well (lamps from all directions, but pretty far away). Edit mode Textured draw mode Occluded BG Face sel mode Active object has dotted white pattern. Non-active selecteds turn Pink. Difficult to see if face normal set correctly and face well lit. Workaround Shift-sel ANOTHER object then de-sel it immediately. The target object will be Pink (without dots). CONES When created, the tip points at you. NORMALS With Face mode, Solid mode White front, Black back (in Edit mode, SELd obj. is also pinkish) With Face mode, Textured mode, Object mode White front, transparent back Specials menu (Edit mode W) change Normal on a face. Edit mode CTRL-N Sets all normals outward. Don't forget to set Horizon color for World object (and Zenith if you have a high-pointing camera). SCRIPTING Open your *.py file into Text Editor (and Reopen!) and execute with Alt-P. OR, better New text file, and add execfile("path/to/script.py") And alt-P it execute external script Stdout goes to stdout of where you invoked "blender". Load blender files using LibData module: http://www.blender.org/documentation/245PythonDoc/LibData-module.html PROPORTIONAL EDITING: O tlbbles what?? Instead of just transforming 1 vertex, neighbors are influenced too. Use MW button to adjust sphere-of-influence. LOOPS (to add radial vertexes onto a loop) Ctrl R, LMB to move loop, MMB to cut (making new vertexes). Alt-RMB selects outer edge of loop OBJ Not exporting any reference to my image map file. After you select image to load for an image map, you must manually update the file path to make it relative. ARMATURES The armature object will be the parent of the skin mesh object. SAYS THE OPPOSITE OF THIS BELOW! Editing mode positions are bones with Rest position. Pose mode positions bones in (a single?) pose position. Eyeballs should just be parented to the head bone, not weighted. Clear rotations to work with them. ALT-R. Octahedron draw type: Each bone has a Root/Head (thick end) and Tip/Tail "endpoint". Select entire bone in Edit mode by clicking its middle. Lengthen bones by translating (G) an end. Add child bones by extruding the Tip. If need to connect to Root, you extrude from Root and manually Parent, but must disable Con. Remember to disable Con before de-parenting a bone. Start with lower spine, since that must be the parent bone. The bones don't need to be entirely within body. This can allow them to be easily seen and manipulated. Remember to turn on Armature / X-Axis Mirror Edit if you want to dup bones. Name consistently like "right.X" or "X.r" so mirroring tools will work. Use Draw Names to verify all named correctly. To adjust positions, must turn off "Subsurf in interactive view" for any Subsurf modifiers, then use Wirefreame view (in Armature Edit mode). The "Con" button (sometimes truncated to "Co") is tiny, and appears right beside the Parent specifier field in the Edit buttons ONLY IF PARENTED. You know you're in pose mode when selected bones are outlined in lt. blue. "Con" button prohibits independent translation, and permits for IK connections (leaving FK parenting in place). Forces connect to parent's Tip. The light-blue selection is very different from normal select. Not constrained by selection settings and shows up as very pale indicator in the Outliner. Reset poses with ALT-R and ALT-G, of course. To join bones to mesh, select Mesh object, add Armature modifier and select only Vertex Groups. To make a bone a "controlling bone", set parent to none (empty pulldown item). Make Track To object constraint of eye meshes, specifying axes, to point eyeballs. In example, they point to virtual bone. Entire armature's parent is the body/skin mesh. When Ctrl-P to do that, can have auto-associate skin to amature. DE-PARENTING: Alt-P. Need to deal with "Bone Roll" unless character is created in 0 pose. (Though recent Blender improvements supposedly make these settings easier). SHIFT-A in Edit mode brings up a menu which includes Add Bone. WEIGHT PAINTING This is just a graphical way to assign vertex armature weights (a.o.t. envelopes). Choose a Skeleton draw mode less obtrusive than Octs. Pose mode -> select mesh -> Weight Paint mode. Modify Paint panel. Weight: 1.0 Opacity: 1.0 All Faces: OFF Vertex Dist: OFF SOFT: ON (optional) Select bones with RMB + paint with LMV. Can rotate bones (but I think need to return to Armature mode to Reset rotations/transl.) X-MIRROR: if want it Use Clear button to reset all paintings for the selected bone. To paint internal vertexes, move the member then paint the left-overs. POSER Wavefront Import Replaces spaces in just marterial names with _ (spaces allowed in o names) o names are used for Blender Object and Mesh. POSER DOES NOT KNOW THE DEFAULT MATERIALS! If you specify "usemtl x", it will load a new material with name "x" with all default settings. Chokes with no material name (which is supposed to default to "white"). Following apply to single-object files. Need to test with multiples. Just adds the item(s) to the current scene. Loads the object(s) to center Obj/Grp/Mat Vert-Ord radios (only work if faces present) If don't set, Obj and Mesh will be named from input file name. ALWAYS changes input axes, interpreting v values as X, Z, -Y. POSER Wavefront Export Replaces spaces in names with _ Writes "o" with name ObjectName_MeshName (if they differ), if they are the same, just names "o" with that name. Defaults to 90% rotation to write values to X, Z, -Y. Single Frame De-select Universe, then select target and de-select GoalCenterOfMass (incl. the nested one). Enter full filename with ".obj" extension, so you don't get all uppercase. Change checkbox to have only these selected Include body part names in polygon groups Weld body part seams As Morp Target Mtl export. From 3 color specs in Material panel: Col = Diffuse color, Spe = Specular, Mir = Mirror color 50% -> Kd 60% -> s 0? DAE Imports Seems to work only if import into new scene. Creates 2 useless scenes too. DAE Exports Croaks if version of Python is not what you want. The error messages incorrectly identify the import script as the export script. (silently sometimes). The "sampled" export settings makes no difference (at least without animations). Animation Bones (nodes) have null children (instead of 0-element children). Skin Node imports. Creates a SkinNode which is parent of a Node named after what seems to be a new Node named after a non-vertex-mapped bone. All components (vertex groups?) get their own TriMesh child of nvmBoneNode. getModel() imports (as long as you use Selected Objects, regardless of Current Scene setting). Node with name specified to the .load() method. Scene node Nodes for Blender OBJECTS (top-level) [Skin wrapper node. *ME-skin_node] Mesh node. *ME Node-- NOT A GEOMETRY/MESH! *ME + unique. Real GEO components (from what???)[:w Base bone (top-level bone in the Armature) Exact bone hierarchy from the Armature The Skin wrapper node will only exist for Objects which have an Armature Modifier. count attr is number of elements (which SHOULD BE to equal the skin mesh vertex count in the posit. techn. accessor) OFF BY 1 in pointy_arma.dae! in pointy_arma.dae, alternates a 0-to-100 count with integers (100). ENTIRELY DIFFERENT IN man.dae el. count = 2 * sum( values). (vcount X bone combinations) Pairs of (index-into-bone-List, index-into-WEIGHT-array). Each such pairing effects all target vertexes of the encompassing . vertMap maps by simple ascending integers (exactly like an array), with values being vertexes referenced by triangle and index within triangle. I think vertKey may just be the absolute number of an effected vertex in the top-level mesh. Are the vertMap elements just multiple refs to the same vertex from the different pollies to which it belongs, indexed on the singular polies? Funny that we would need to apply an influence to the same vertex 3 times if it belongs to 3 different triangles, but that could well be. DRAW TYPES The only place that Object defaultColors are visible is the Renderer, IFF a material with ObColor flag set. Object default colors aren't visible anywhere (not surprising, since no widget to set the color). Right now, I am very confused about how to do a render showing both shading + texture + material effects. SOLID SHADED CRAZY. Seems like intention is to show sided and lit faces as shaded, but often it does not, and sometimes shows the opposite. TEXTURED BACK FACES ARE ALWAYS INVISIBLE, regaredless of Mesh Double-Sided setting. NO LIGHTS: Front face shows material or vertex coloring. LIGHTS: Front faces shows material or vertex lighting diminished by lack of illumination. If only lights are behind, they will be black. VERTEX PAINTING Can always see vertex paint ON FRONT SIDES in Textured mode (assuming proper illumination or lights off). It exports the colorBuf fine without it, and JME uses them. ONLY IF YOU WANT TO VIEW WITH Blender's Renderer: Add a material of type VCol Paint. (This is very different from jME, where vert colors appear only with lights off). Select mode Vertex Paint. Verify that a Vertex Color layer shows up in the Editing btns panel Mesh tab. N to get a Color-picker pop-up. Edit mode / Paint panel to set opacity and brush settings. Vertex colors are basic elements of a mesh. Visibility in Renderer: Sidedness/Facing. Shows paint on both sides, regardless of the Double-Sided mesh setting, similarly to jME. Visibility in 3D view depends upon Draw Mode. Textured: Only object front is shown, regardless of Double-Sided Mesh setting. The effect is reduced by light (even with no mats involved). * N.b. Mesh Double-Sidedness has no effect that I can see anywhere. MIRRORING Vertex Mirroring (mirror continuously and automatically as you work) Add the Mirror Modifier in the Edit Button panel. Set the axis perp. to mirror pane. Set Merge Limit to suck close vertexes right onto the mirror plane. Clipping prevents any vertex from moving across the mirror plane. OR Put cursor on axis of symmetry then make a linked up (Object ALT-d) and set scale of that axis for the new object to -1. Object Mirroring Change the Pivot Point to the 3D Cursor (in 3D View toolbar). Put cursor on mirror line. (Probably snapping to grid with SHIFT-S). Shift-D (or Alt-D?) ESC (to prevent moving); CTRL-M X/Y/Z. Ctrl-M from Object mode or M in Edit mode MODIFIERS Modifiers, like Mirror, are temporary editor helpers. When you are done using them, go to Object mode and click Apply. That applies the effects and wipes the modifier. OUTLINER Often have to Ctrl-UPARROW twice to get it to update. Top-level Armature Objects have 2 mutually-exclusive children (i.e. can only use one of these at a time). Both of these contain the same bones. Armature: Selecting anything in this branch switches to edit mode and does a normal bone select. Pose: Selecting anything in this branch switches to Pose mode and light-blue selects a bone for posing. ANIMATION ACTION EDITOR Green line = Current frame. Can move with arrow keys. Yellow diamond = Key frame. MAKE SURE THAT ALL BONES ARE SELECTED BEFORE | (save key frame)!!!!!! (if | doesn't work, use the Pose menu) Use LocRot for normal joint FK!!!! In Pose Mode with cursor over 3D Window, arrow keys nav through frames. Up/Down fast; L/R singly. Use 3D View tool bar buttons at far right to frames poses. For cycles which will repeat, generally want to copy frame 1 to last (where final frame is for interpolation and will not be exported). In Render Anim panel, set frame start and stop. CANNOT VIEW ANIMATIONS UNTIL DO AN EXTERNAL RENDER. Set format to ffmpeg to an animation export type. Remember to rename the exported file from *.dvd to *.mpg. Where did that default come from???? Click ANIM to export, then wait for pause cursor to revert. Thereafter, the PLAY button will play back the exported file. Working with shared meshes. Vertex Groups are properties of Objects, not meshes. Modularity. Append = copy ext. elements in. Link = ref ext. elements. Probably best off to convert items to .blend files before using modular parts. Can then load (append or link) objects from the .blend file. Append is default mode for Load. Select Link to link. By default location of item will be same as from source file. At Cursor to locate... Also consider the Blender Library script for managing libraries. Ext. LINKS REMEMBER TO SET ACTIVE SCENE!!!! Or Object will be added to same scene as in the source file! Can't load parent-child relationships at all. Since the PARENTING relationship is saved in Blender Objects, you can make links parents but not children. Links have a "Li" BOX in the Outliner. You can't edit them. Links select as cyan instead of pink. Since location, scale, rotation are properties of an object, you can't change these (incl. relocate) for linked objects. Proxies allow you to save local settings to a link. Select the proxy and Ctrl-Alt-P. APPENDING just createst copies and requires no special consideration thereafter. LINKs can't be modified or even relocated ("At Cursor" just don't work). Therefore, CTRL-ALT-p CHANGES a link to a proxy. USE OF MATERIALS & TEXTURES CD Docs say to open file material/*.blend. Nav to Object/mat_*. I say to open file material/*.blend. Nav to the exact material. (Though you said to load only the mat, this will load the parent mat_* object). Select the loaded mat_* object in the frame and click F5. I say to click F to Fake a parent for the Material, then delete mat_* object. IF YOU DO NOT CLICK F, THEN MATERIAL WILL BE LOST IF YOU EVER SAVE THE .blend WHEN THE MAT ISN'T LINKED TO ANY OBJ. NOT THERE!: Click and hold MenuButton (white hyphen?) in MaterialButtons header for pd. Export to JME v2. jmeXMLExport_V2.py Windowed mode work-around: blender -p x y w h TERRAIN. Some tutorials: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro/How_to_Do_Procedural_Landscape_Modeling TEXTURE MAPS Step By Step UNFORTUNATELY, THIS PROCEURE IS FOR NON-PORTABLE ORCO MAPPING Shading Btns: Add Mat. Text Links (MTex objects) live in Materials (up to 10 of them). Texture tab: Add a texture Texture Btns: These are the globally shared Texture objects. Select Texture Type Image tab: Load Image (ignore misleading tool-tip) Image probably has to be a round power of 2 multiple. (Image should now show up in the preview tab) Image should now show up in a render. (As always, move lamp if it's not shining on the surface). MAP INPUT TAB: Default: ORCO (Original Coordinates) of your mesh, with a FLAT mapping x:x y:y z:z. Usually want to choose method UV or Orco. Map To: Image pixels effecting COLOR. The color chooser is generally not used, 'cause it's for non-RGB images. * The X/Y/Z mappings are ORCO-Specific, I think The Texture Btns / Map Image Some seems duplicative to the MTex Lots of useful stuf.f. Mirr settings cause repeated images to alternate hor. or vert. mirrored versions. settings. I suppose the MTex settings would override. UV MAPPING. You create the UV Layer independently of the Mat mapping. LSCM is the now deprecated name for the unwrapping algorithm used. * The X/Y/Z mappings are ORCO-Specific, I think. Most settings in the Map Image tab of Texture Btns are UV-specific. To see seams in the UV/Image Editor, tab to go into Edit mode. You can't paint right on the unwrapped layout lines. The closest you can get is to have 2 windows open: 3D View in Texture Edit mode. UV/Image Editor in Edit mode. Toggle back and forth between Object mode, where you have the N pallet; and Edit mode, where you can see the grids. (See below about Sticky Vertex UV Mapping) IA. CREATE PER-FACE UV MAPPING With External Editor 1. Cut seams with Ctrl-E in regular edit window. (vert or edge. Marked brown) 2. With ALL verts, edges, or faces selected (in Edit mode obviously), U, Unwrap. Verify that this created either a UV Texture (face UV) layer in the Mesh tab of the Editing btns panel. 3. Open a UV/Image Editor window IMMEDIATELY (you will see what unwrapped). Can monkey with the unwrapping at this point with pinning P, etc. Select all and Rotate with CTRL if the orientation is wrong in the 3D view. It often orients faces backwards and there is no way to rotate in that direction. Since the uv values are 2-dimensional, not 3, just rotate how you have to to get the output to look right. (TIP: Can rotate just one face by selecting face then Unlinking it). 4. UVs / Scripts / Save UV Face Layout Select options: Wrap, All Faces. Consider Object, Edit, Editor. Set size. [External editor not working for me any more. [Image / New Image, Image / Save not working for me any more?] 5*. Edit Image Externally* 6. Back in UV/Image Editor window, Image / Open. Place it right over model. OR IB. CREATE PER-FACE UV MAPPING Internally (or use an existing image) 1. With ALL verts, edges, or faces selected (in Edit mode obviously), U then "Unwrap (Smart projections)" with all defaults. Verify that this created either a UV Texture (face UV) layer in the Mesh tab of the Editing btns panel. 3. Open a UV/Image Editor window IMMEDIATELY (you will see what unwrapped). Select all and Rotate if the orientation is wrong in the 3D view. 4. To draw yourself, do Image / New Image; to use existing image Image / Open. 5. If drawing yourself, save the image to someplace (you will need the path below). Image / Save As. UNWRAPPING TRICK If lack of a good loop prevents you from getting a good seam, and you can afford some extra polies, use the tactic above under "RAGGED EDGE" to make a perfect loop. Should now be visible in 3D view (w/ Texture Draw Type), and you can now paint on it with Texture Paint. (But you could lose changes if you don't finish linking up the parts). 3D view, previews, and Render will all update automatically. Just remember to go back to UV/Image Editor to persist changes to the image when done. II. HOOK UV MAPPING INTO MAT 1. Create a materials. 2. If editing externally: Materials / Material tab (main one with mat colors). Select TexFace. (I think this associates the UV Editor with the UV Map?) Has no effect if editing internally. 3. Create Texture object by clicking new in the Materials / Texture tab. 4. In the Materials / Map Input tab, select UV for faceUV or Stick for sticky verts, and Flat. III. HOOK IMAGE FILE INTO Texture OBJECT (for Exports and to allow tunings). (And to see in previews and in Renderings, at least for internally editing). 1. Material Btns, Texture subcontext / Select Image type 2. In Image tab, Load and select it from drop-down. Videos on UV texturing with unwrapping: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVabY9oIde4&feature=channel_page STICKY UV MAPPING (I.e. setting vert.uvco Vectors). For some damned reason, values assigned are -1 to 1 instead of 0 to 1 as uv should be. In mesh / Mesh tag, click Sticky "Make". This sets values as they are INSIDE OF THE CAMERA'S OUTER DASHED LINE. You can transl/rotate/scale the target object, and change the camera's transl and rotation (but scale is ineffective) and Lense val, but if you want them set back you will have to do so manually since Undoing would undo the uv values too. BONES Armature Action animations are just refs to IPOs. Object.Pose.Rot keys are just quat ipos, for example. Axes IF YOU rotate graphically and never Ctrl-N: Always +Y TO tip/tail. THIS IS THE ONLY ONE YOU CAN ALWAYS DEPEND ON!!! Z upward when rotated sideways, towards F when tail up, B when tail down X is the corresponding RH convention direction Ctrl-N makes funky rotations that I can't figure out. SCULPTING (generally) "w" (Special menu), Merge to join vertexes, etc. into one. CTRL-r followed by MMB to center (ENTER instead to place manually). Loop cut is awesome. It adds edges in loops. MW to increase number of loops. "k" is similar for edges: Will cut only a subset of selected edges. Draw through the (selected) edges to cut. Automatically adds faces to continue existing faces. Does not add internal face(s). Try to use 6 or 8 edges/vertexes for circles to extend. Use even number. "w", Smooth. Use on loops. I don't get what this does. JOINTS Add a face to front and remove a face from back. Non-hinge side: Select faces. "k" Knife cut, Midpoints to add faces to front. For hinge side: Move the vertexes to center the edge in the gap. Usually model 4 fingers from 1 box + thumb. Include thumb joint. (A "mitten"). In-depth discussion of smoothing/normals: http://feeblemind.tuxfamily.org/dotclear/index.php/2007/08/13/88-how-to-solve-blenders-smoothing-problems MULTIPLE MATS/TEXTURES A Blender Mesh object must have exactly 1 Mesh comp. (which may have 0 verts), but may nest other Objects. A Blender Empty object must have exactly 0 Mesh comps, but may nest other Objects. Can only add Mats to real Meshes, not Empty's or Armatures. Texture Channels: Multiple textures in a single Material (== matl.textures[]. Actives indicated by matl.enabledTextures[] indexes.) This is the Texture panel in the Materials button panel. Channels lower down replace/overwrite higher channels. Texture Channels by default use the Active UV Layer. Only depend on this if you have only one Channel. Otherwise, fill in the "UV:" field (which holds the UV Layer name).