Introduction

Key Terms important

• Mesh - A 3D object made of vertices, edges, and faces
• Vertex - A point defining a mesh
• Edge - A straight line connecting two vertices
• Face - A surface connecting at least 3 vertices and edges (also called a Poly or Polygon)
• Normal - A vector perpendicular to a face which is used for collision and rendering
• (Bezier) Curve - A 2D or 3D line defined by a polynomial function
• Texture - A 2D image
• UV Map - A mapping of a 2D image onto a 3D surface
• Material - All aspects of an object’s surface properties
• Global Coordinates - Z (blue) is up, and X (red) and Y (green) are along the ground grid
• Local Coordinates - All coordinates are rotated relative to the active object

The Hottest Hotkeys

Blender probably has the most hotkeys of any software in existence, since they are contextual and have multiple possible combinations. That can make it intimidating, but I promise it's extremely powerful once you know them. Try to memorize these hotkeys, and consider everything else a bonus.

• Ctrl + S - Save! - Blender has gotten much, much more stable over the years, but still save often
• Tab - Toggle Edit/Object Modes
• Z - Viewport modes wheel
• Alt + Z - Toggle X-ray view
• Shift + Space - Favorite shortcuts menu
• A - Select all
• Alt + A / A A - Deselect all
• Shift + A - Add object
• X / Delete - Delete object
• G - Grab - Translate selection
• R - Rotate - Rotate selection
• S - Scale - Scale selection
• ___ + X - Limit operation to global X axis
• ___ + Y - Limit operation to global Y axis
• ___ + Z - Limit operation to global Z axis
• ___ + X X - Limit operation to local X axis
• ___ + Y Y - Limit operation to local Y axis
• ___ + Z Z - Limit operation to local Z axis
• ___ + Shift X - Lock X axis during operation
• ___ + Shift Y - Lock Y axis during operation
• ___ + Shift Z - Lock Z axis during operation
• B - Box select - Left click to add, Wheel click to subtract
• C - Circle select - Left click to add, Wheel click to subtract
• ___ + Right Click - Cancel operation - Right click is your panic button!
• ___ + Shift - Switch operation to very fine control
• ___ + Ctrl - Snap operation to even intervals
• Ctrl + Z - Undo - Also a panic button
• Ctrl + Shift + Z - Redo (common in Python programs)
• . > Pivot Point Wheel - Set centerpoint of operation

Navigating Around important

• Wheel Click - Rotate the view
• Shift + Wheel Click- Pan the view
• Scroll Wheel - Zoom the 3D view
• Shift + C / Home - Center view on average location of all objects
• Alt + Wheel Click - Center view on mouse click location

View Hotkeys

• Numpad 0 - Camera view
• Numpad 1 - Front view
• Numpad 2 - Rotate view down
• Numpad 3 - Right side view
• Numpad 4 - Rotate view left
• Numpad 5 - Toggle orthographic/perspective view
• Numpad 6 - Rotate view right
• Numpad 7 - Top view
• Numpad 8 - Rotate view up
• Numpad 9 / Ctrl + Numpad ___ - Opposite of current view
• / (Forward Slash) - Enter/Exit local view (hide all except active object)
• Ctrl + Space - Maximize/Restore current subwindow
• Numpad . - Center view on selection