- [Narrator] Let's get started by taking a look at the default Blender interface. Now this is the interface you should see when you first open Blender. Now, if you've opened an existing file or worked with Blender before, you may see a different layout or a different interface, and that's because the layout is actually saved with the file. But just know that you always can get back to this default interface. And I'll show you how to do that in just a little bit. Now the interface is composed of individual panels. And inside each panel is what is called an editor.
And you can tell what the editors are because they have a little bit of an icon here either at the top left or at the bottom left. So if we go up here to this top left, you can see that we have this editor here. And this is called an info or an information editor. And this is really just the main menu bar of the system. And so, in this main menu bar, we have a File menu that allows us to open, close, save, and import files. We have a Render menu which allows you to render images.
We also have the ability to work with windows as well as the help system. Now, in addition to this, we have a number of preset layouts that we can use. So here we have the default layout. And if I pull this menu down, you can see we have a number of different layouts that we can use. So if I wanted to do, say, animation I could go to an animation menu system that would help me animate better. Or, if I was doing UV editing, I could go into that menu system.
Now, I'm going to go back to the default layout. Now in addition to the saved layouts, we also have the ability to select the renderer. And if you have a third-party renderer, you would see it here. And as well as that, we have some information about the current object that's selected. Now over here on the right, we have two editors. The first one, on the top right corner, is called the outliner. And this is where we have all of the objects in our scene.
So if we want to take a look at the objects by name, we can do that. Now this list is scrolling just a little bit, and that's because it's kind of tight on my screen. But I can expand that by reshaping that window. Now all I have to do is hover over the border between this editor and the next one. Left click and drag, and I can resize them. So now I've got this sized the way that I want. And you can also do this horizontally. So if I hover over this border, I can make this wider or narrower.
Now, below the outliner we have what's called the properties panel. Now this panel is somewhat context-specific. So it will change depending upon what object you have selected. So you can see that the cube here is highlighted, and that's the object that I have selected. And so, these are all the options I have for this object. Now if I select the camera, notice how these change. Now this properties panel has a number of different tabs here that you can use to affect your scene.
Now the one here on the far left is your scene data. And this is all of your rendering data. We also have render layers. We have data for the entire world. We have data for the individual object as well as things such as materials if the object has a material. Now if we go to a different object such as the camera, notice how we have different tabs. Now a camera has a specific tab for the camera which allows you to adjust things such as focal length.
Now along the bottom of the screen here we have all of our animation controls. And these allow you to create animation by setting keyframes as well as edit animation and do playback. Now finally, we have one additional editor here, and that's the viewport. Now this big window here including this sidebar is what's called a viewport. And this allows you to see the objects in the scene as well as manipulate them.
Now this is also where we can create objects. So we have along the side panel here a number of tabs that allow you to create all sorts of different objects as well. Now if we want to, we can change any editor into any other type of editor. So if I go over here to this Properties panel, you can see I can pull this down and I have any number of different types of editors that I can use. So if I wanted to, I could change this to, say, a file browser.
And that would allow me to browse my file system. Or if I wanted to change it to user preferences, I could. Or, going down here to the bottom, I can change it back to a properties panel. And I can really do that with any window in here. So if I wanted to change this here to a dope sheet, I could that or just change it back to a 3D view. So these are some of the basics of the Blender interface. And as you can see, the interface can be very configurable, but we always can get back to our default settings if we want which is what we're going to be using for most of the course.
Author
Updated
8/16/2017Released
2/24/2012- Navigating in 3D space
- Selecting, rotating, and scaling objects
- Using Snap to move objects precisely
- Creating mesh primitives and extrusions
- Subdividing meshes
- Creating a simple creature
- Joining mesh objects and stitching vertices
- Organizing a scene with layers, groups, and hierarchies
- Assigning glossy and reflective materials to objects
- Creating bump maps
- Creating sky and ambient light
- Understanding ambient occlusion
- Adding motion blur and depth of field
- Editing animation in the Graph Editor
- Building and animating a simple character
Skill Level Beginner
Duration
Views
Q: This course was updated on 8/12/2014. What changed?
A: We added a single movie on unwrapping objects, a technique that works differently in Blender 2.7. The rest of the instructions in the course work equally well with Blender 2.6 and Blender 2.7.
Q: This course was updated on 06/20/2017. What changed?
A: The following topic was updated: using the Node Editor.
Related Courses
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Deke's Techniques
with Deke McClelland156h 54m Intermediate
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Introduction
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Welcome1m 8s
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Download Blender26s
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1. The Blender Interface
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Navigating in 3D space4m 59s
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Configuring user preferences6m 27s
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2. Selecting and Translating Objects
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Selecting objects6m 12s
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Moving objects4m 35s
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Rotating objects2m 48s
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Scaling objects2m 16s
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Changing an object's origin5m 27s
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Selecting pivot points3m 22s
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3. Modeling
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Creating mesh primitives6m 36s
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Editing mesh objects7m 39s
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Proportional editing3m 52s
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Sculpt mode5m 3s
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Extrusions5m 18s
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Smooth shading objects2m 23s
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Subdividing meshes5m 12s
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4. Advanced Modeling
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Working with modifiers5m 52s
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Creating a simple creature7m 54s
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Joining mesh objects3m 37s
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Stitching vertices4m 52s
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Finalizing a simple creature4m 48s
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Creating text3m 29s
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Boolean tools2m 59s
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Vertex groups4m 51s
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5. Staying Organized
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Using the Outliner8m 22s
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Using layers4m 30s
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Creating groups2m 48s
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Working with scenes4m 2s
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Creating hierarchies2m 54s
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6. Applying Materials
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Diffuse shaders6m 47s
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Working with specularity5m 56s
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Additional shading options2m 37s
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Creating reflections8m 29s
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Subsurface scattering5m 59s
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7. Adding Textures
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Adding a simple texture6m 11s
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Using bitmaps6m 53s
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Using UV projections5m 56s
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UV mapping a character6m 35s
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Fine-tuning UV mapping6m 7s
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Displacement mapping3m 48s
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Using the node editor5m 58s
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8. Working with Light
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Adding lamps to a scene8m 44s
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Using spot lamps4m 20s
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Fine-tuning buffer shadows6m 19s
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Using Hemi lamps2m 32s
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Working with Area lamps5m 17s
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Adding background images3m 19s
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Creating sunlight6m 6s
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Ambient occlusion7m 11s
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9. Cameras and Rendering
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Working with cameras4m 47s
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Render properties5m 7s
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Rendering animation5m 13s
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Adding motion blur4m 10s
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Creating depth of field7m 8s
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10. Basic Animation
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Animating objects6m 26s
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Using the Dope Sheet4m 53s
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Path animation4m 32s
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11. Character Rigging
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Understanding armatures6m 2s
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Animating in Pose mode2m 47s
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Creating a test animation9m 24s
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12. Rendering in Cycles
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Working with image maps2m 26s
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Create lights in cycles9m 1s
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Lighting a scene in cycles9m 19s
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Conclusion
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Next steps15s
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Video: Overview of the Blender interface