Introduction to Animation With Blender Sahar Mosleh Ahmad

Introduction to Animation With Blender Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 1

What is Blender? • Blender is an integrated application that enables the creation of a broad range of 2 D and 3 D content. • It provides a broad spectrum of modeling, texturing, lighting, animation and video post-processing functionality in one package. Through it's open architecture • Blender can be used to create 3 D visualizations and cinema quality videos, while the incorporation of a real-time 3 D engine allows for the creation of 3 D interactive content for stand-alone playback. • Originally developed by the company 'Not a Number' (Na. N), Blender now is continued as 'Free Software. It now continues development by the Blender Foundation in the Netherlands. Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 2

Who uses Blender? • Hobbyist/Student that just wants to explore the world of computer graphics (CG) and 3 D animation • 2 -D artist that produces single image art/posters or enhances single images as an image post-processing lab • 2 -D artist or team that produces cartoon/caricature animations for television commercials or shorts (such as “The Magic of Amelia”) • 3 -D artist that works alone or with another person to produce short CG animations, possibly featuring some live action (such as "Suburban Plight"). • 3 -D team that produces an animated (100% CG) movie (such as "Elephant's Dream", "Plumiferos"). Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 3

What do need to know in Blender • Introduction: • Navigating in 3 d, and scene mgt • Models: • Modeling, Modifiers • Lighting: • Working with different types of lights • Shading: • Materials, Textures, Painting, Worlds & Backgrounds • Animation: • Basics, Characters, Advanced, Effects & Physical Sim • Rendering: • Rendering, Compositing, Video Seq Edit Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 4

CG (Computer Graphic) vs Blender • Getting to know Blender and learning Computer Graphics (CG) are two different topics. • CG is learning what a computer model is. Blender teaches you how to develop that model • CG is the study of good lighting techniques. Blender teaches you how to use different kinds of lamps • In general, CG is the study of the conceptual knowledge; however, you can easily learn Blender (or any other CG package). • At a very high level, using Blender can be thought of as knowing how to accomplish imagery within three dimensions of activity: Integration - rendering computer graphics, working with real-world video, or mixing the two. • Animation - posing and making things change shape, either manually or using simulation Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 5

Blender's Interface Concept • The user interface is the vehicle for two-way interaction between the user and the program. The user communicates with the program via the keyboard and the mouse • The interface can be broken down into several key areas: • Windows, • Contexts, • Panels, and • Buttons (controls). • For example, The Button window contains Context buttons which show different groups of Panels and the Panels each show groups of Buttons. • See the next slide Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 6

Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 7

Keyboard and mouse • We use the following conventions to describe user input: • The mouse buttons are called • LMB (left mouse button), • MMB (middle mouse button) and • RMB (right mouse button) • If your mouse has a wheel, MMB refers to clicking the wheel as if it were a button, while MW means rolling the wheel. Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 8

• Blender's interface is designed to be best used with a three-button mouse. • It is perfectly possible to use Blender with a two-button mouse • The wheel would play the role third button • In Apple single-button Mouse. The missing buttons can be emulated with key/mouse-button combos. Buttons LMB MMB RMB 2 -button Mouse LMB (mouse button) Alt LMB RMB Apple Mouse Option LMB (Option/Alt key + mouse button) Command LMB (Command/Apple key + mouse button) • All the Mouse/Keyboard combinations can be expressed with the combos shown in the table. For Example, Shift. Alt RMB becomes Shift. Alt. Command LMB on a single-button mouse. Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 9

The Window System • When you start Blender you may see a console (text) window open and, shortly after, the main user interface window will display. This is the default Blender scene Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 10

The default Scene • The default Blender scene shows the screen you should get after starting Blender for the first time. • By default it is separated into three windows: • The main menu at the top is the header part of a User Interface window • A large 3 D window (3 D Viewport window) • The Buttons Window (at the bottom) • These windows can be further broken down into separate areas. As an introduction we will cover a few of the basic elements: Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 11

• Window Type: Allows you to change what kind of window it is. For example, if you want to see the Outliner window you would click and select it. • Main Top Menu: Is the main menu associated with the “User preferences” window type. To actually see the information, you need to click and drag the area between the 3 D window and menu header • Current Screen (default is Model): By default, Blender comes with several pre-configured Screens for you to choose from. (use Hot key: [Ctl ] to toggle different screens) • Current Scene: Having multiple scenes allows you to break up your work into organized patterns. Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 12

• 3 D Transform Manipulator: Is a visual aid in transforming objects. • Objects can also be transformed (grabbed/moved - rotated - scaled) using the keyboard shortcuts : (g/r/s); • Ctrl Space will display the manipulator pop-up. • The manipulator visibility can also be toggled by clicking the "hand" icon on the toolbar. • Shift LMB-clicking an icon will add/remove each manipulator's visibility. • 3 D Cursor: Can have multiple functions. For example, it represents where new objects appear when they are first created; Or it can represent where the base of a rotation will take place. Here is the 3 D Cursor isolated from the rest of the scene: Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 13

• Cube Mesh: By default, a new installation of Blender will always start with a Cube Mesh sitting in the center of Global 3 D space. After a while, you will most likely want to change the "Default" settings; This is done by configuring Blender as you would want it on startup and then saving it as the "Default" using Ctrl U (Save Default Settings). • Light (of type Lamp): By default, a new installation of Blender will always start with a Light source positioned somewhere close to the center of Global 3 D space. • Camera: By default, a new installation of Blender will always start with a Camera positioned somewhere close to the center of Global 3 D space and facing it. • Currently selected object: This field shows the name of the currently selected object. Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 14

• Editing Panel Group: The bottom window displays panels and those panels are grouped. This row of buttons (called Context Buttons) allows you to select which group of panels are shown. Some buttons will display additional buttons (called Sub-Context Buttons) to the right for selection of sub-groups or groups within groups. • Current frame: Blender is a modeling and animation application; As such, you can animate things based on the concept of frames. This field shows what the current frame is. • Viewport shading: You can select the type of interactive shading (called Draw Type: in the Blender shading list) that takes place by clicking this button and selecting from a variety of shading styles. Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 15

• Rotation/Scaling Pivot point: Allows you to select where rotation/scaling will occur. For example, rotation could occur about the object's local origin or about the 3 D Cursor's position, amongst many others. • Panels: Help group and organize related buttons and controls. Some panels are visible or invisible depending on what type of object is selected. • Layers: Make modeling and animating easier. Blender Layers are provided to help distribute your objects into functional regions. For example, one layer many contain a water object and another layer may contain trees, or one layer may contain cameras and lights. Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 16

• The Window Header: Most windows have a header (the strip with a lighter grey background containing icon buttons). We will also refer to the header as the window Tool. Bar. • If present, the header may be at the top or the bottom of a window's area. • If you move the mouse over a window, its header changes to a lighter shade of grey. This means that it is "focused"; All hotkeys you press will now affect the contents of this window. • Menus change with Window Type and the selected object and mode. They show only actions which can be performed. Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 17

• The icon at the left end of a header, with a click of the LMB , allows selection of one of 16 different window types. • Menus allow you to directly access many features and commands. Menus can be hidden and shown via the triangular button next to them. Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 18

• You can hide a particular window's header by moving your mouse over the Window Header that you wish to hide; Then with the mouse cursor still over the Window Header, click RMB to display a popup menu with the name Header; • The Header popup menu has the options, Top, Bottom, No Header, select the No Header menu option to hide the Window Header. Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 19

• You can split a window into two. • Move the mouse over the border of the header of a window until it changes to up and down arrow and click the RMB • Then, a popup menu will be displayed with the options Split Area, Join Areas, No Header. • Split Area: divides the current winder into two • Join Areas: Joins two windows into one • No Header: hides the Window Header. • You can maximize a window to fill the whole screen • choose View → Maximize Window menu entry. • To return to normal size, • use the View → Tile Window • A quicker way to achieve this is to use [Shift Space] or , [Ctrl ↓] or [Ctrl ↑] to toggle between maximized and framed windows. Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 20

• When you split a window into two the new window will start as a clone of the window you split. It can then be set to a different window type, or to display the scene from a different point of view (in the case of the 3 D Window). • You can resize windows by dragging their borders with LMB • You can join two windows into one by clicking a border between two windows with MMB or RMB and choosing Join Areas. • Then you'll be prompted to click on one of the two windows; the one you click will disappear, while the other will be expanded to cover the full area of both windows. • If you press Esc before clicking on one of the windows, the operation will be aborted. Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 21

Console Window • The Console Window is an operating system text window that displays messages about Blender operations, status, and internal errors. • If Blender crashes on you, it is a good idea to check the Console Window for clues. • When Blender is started on a Microsoft Windows OS; The Console Window is first created as a separate window on the desktop; Then assuming the right conditions are met, the main Blender Application window should also appear. Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 22

Window types • The Blender interface, the rectangular window provided by your operating system, is divided up into many rectangular window frames. • Each window frame may contain different types of information, depending upon the Window type. • Each window frame operates independently of the others, and you can have the same type of window in many frames. • For example, you may have several 3 D windows open but each looking at the scene from a different perspective. Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 23

• Scripts window: • user interface for running Python scripts that extend Blender • File Browser: • for storage and retrieval, especially of. blend files • Image Browser: • search your computer for images, seen as thumbnails • Node Editor: • process/enhance images and materials • Buttons Window: • panels that configure objects and set/select options • Outliner: • Helps you find and organize your objects. • User Preferences: • customize Blender to your work style and computer Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 24

• Text Editor: • keep notes and documentation about your project, and write Python scripts. • Audio Window: • see sound files and correlate them to frames • Timeline: • jump to different times (frames) in your animation • Video Sequence Editor - assemble video sequences into a filmstrip • UV/Image Editor - edit and paint pictures • NLA Editor - manage non-linear animation action strips • Action Editor - combine individual actions into action sequences • Ipo Curve Editor - make things move or change • 3 D View - graphical view of your scene Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 25

Blender default scene layout Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 26

• Three Window types are provided in Blender's default scene: • 3 D View : • Provides a graphical view into the scene you are working on. You can view your scene from any angle with a variety of options; • Buttons Window : • Contains most tools for editing objects, surfaces, textures, Lights, and much more. You will need this window constantly if you don't know all hotkeys by heart. • User Preferences (Main menu): This window is usually hidden, so that only the menu part is visible. • It's rarely used though, since it contains global configuration settings. However, the header is frequently used because it provides the only access to a full File menu and to the Add menu. Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 27

Screens • Blender's flexibility with windows lets you create customized working environments for different tasks, such as modeling, animating, and scripting. • It is often useful to quickly switch between different environments within the same file. For each Scene, you need to set the stage by modeling the props, dressing them and painting them through materials, etc. • To do each of these major creative steps, Blender has a set of predefined screens, or window layouts, that show you the types of windows you need to get the job done quickly and efficiently. Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 28

• The screens include: • Animation: • Making actors and other objects move about. • Model: • Creating actors, props, and other objects. • Material: • Painting and texturing surfaces. • Sequence: • Editing scenes into a movie. • Scripting : • Documenting your work, and writing custom animations To change to the next screen alphabetically press Ctrl →; to change to the previous screen alphabetically, press Ctrl ←. • By default, each screen layout remembers the last scene it was used on. Selecting a different layout will switch to the layout and jump to that scene. Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 29

Adding a new Screen • As you scroll through the Screen list, you will see that one of the options is to Add New - namely, add a new window layout. • Click the up and down arrow and select ADD NEW. When you click this, a new frame layout is created based on your current layout. • Give the new screen a name that starts with a number so that you can predictably scroll to it using the arrow keys. • You can rename the layout by LMB into the field and typing a new name, or clicking again to position the cursor in the field to edit. For example you could use the name "6 -My. Screen". • You can delete a screen by using the Delete datablock button (the button marked as “x”) and confirm by clicking Delete current screen in the pop-up dialog box. Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 30

Scenes • It is also possible to have several scenes within the same Blender file. Scenes may use one another's objects or be completely separate from one another. • You can select and create scenes with the SCE menu buttons in the User Preferences Window header (Screen and Scene selectors). • Click the up and down arrow and select ADD NEW to create a new scene. Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 31

• Empty: creates an empty scene. • Link Objects creates the new scene with the same contents as the currently selected scene. Changes in one scene will also modify the other. • Link Ob. Data creates the new scene based on the currently selected scene, with links to the same meshes, materials, and so on. This means that you can change objects' positions and related properties, but modifications to the meshes, materials, and so on will also affect other scenes unless you manually make single-user copies. • Full Copy creates a fully independent scene with copies of the currently selected scene's contents. • You can delete a scene by clicking the x button Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 32

Configuration • The Info window (User Preferences) is where you customize and control Blender. By default this window is located at the top and only the header is visible. Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 33

The Button Window • The Button Window shows six main Contexts, which can be chosen via the first icon row in the header (Contexts and Sub. Contexts Example). • Each of these might be subdivided into a variable number of subcontexts, which can be chosen via the second icon row in the header (Contexts and Sub-Contexts Example), or cycled through by pressing the same Context button again: • You can move the mouse over each small button to see its meaning Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 34

• Once the Contexts is selected by the user, the sub-context is usually determined by Blender on the basis of the active Object. • For example, with the Shading context, if a Lamp Object is selected then the sub-context shows Lamp Buttons. Or • If a Mesh or other renderable Object is selected, then Material Buttons is the active sub-context, or • if a Camera is selected the active sub-context is World. • The Buttons in each context are grouped into Panels. • The menu of available options, shown in a window's header, may change depending on the mode of that window. • For example, in the 3 D View window, the Object menu in Object mode changes to a Mesh operations menu in Edit mode, and a paint menu in Vertex Paint mode. Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 35

Menu • Blender contains many menus each of which is accessible from either the window headers or directly at the mouse's location using Hotkeys. • For example, you can access the Toolbox in the 3 D window using either the mouse or the keyboard. • From the keyboard you would use the SPACE. • To access it using the mouse just hold down the LMB or RMB buttons for a few seconds and the Toolbox will pop-up. • While you are using Blender be aware of what mode and types of object are selected. This helps in knowing what hotkeys work at what times. Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 36

Panels • Panels generally appear in the Buttons window and by default the Buttons window is at the bottom; see (Buttons window). The Buttons window includes the Button window header and panels. • Each button on the Buttons header groups panels together into what is called a Context. And those Contexts are grouped further into Sub-Contexts. For example, all Material panels are grouped under the Shading context and Material sub-context. Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 37

• The panels are not fixed in position relative to the window. They can be moved around the window by LMB clicking and dragging on the respective panel header. • Panels can be aligned by RMB on the Buttons Window and choosing the desired layout from the Menu which appears (Button Window Menu. ). • Using MW scrolls the Panels in their aligned direction and CTRL MW and Ctrl MMB zooms the Panels in and out. • Single Panels can be collapsed/expanded by LMB clicking the triangle on the left side of their header. • Particularly complex Panels are organized in Tabs. Clicking LMB on a Tab in the Panel header changes the buttons shown in (Panel with Tabs Example. ). • Tabs can be "torn out" of a Panel to form independent panels by clicking LMB on their header and dragging them out. In a similar way separate Panels can be turned into a single Panel with Tabs by dropping one Panel's header into another. Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 38

Buttons and Controls • Buttons are mostly grouped in the Button Window. But they can appear in other Windows too. • Operation Button: These are buttons that perform an operation when they are clicked (with LMB). They can be identified by their brownish color in the default Blender scheme (An operation button). • Toggle Button: Toggle buttons come in various sizes and colors (Toggle buttons). The colors green, violet, and grey do not change functionality, they just help the eye to group the buttons and recognize the contents of the interface more quickly. Clicking this type of button does not perform any operation, but only toggles a state. Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 39

• Number Buttons: Number buttons (Number buttons) can be identified by their captions, which contain a colon followed by a number. Number buttons are handled in several ways: • To increase the value, click LMB on the right of the button, where the small triangle is shown; • to decrease it, click on the left of the button, where another triangle is shown. • To change the value in a wider range, hold down LMB and drag the mouse to the left or right. • If you hold CTRL while doing this, the value is changed in discrete steps; • if you hold SHIFT, you'll have finer control over the values. • You can enter a value directly by holding SHIFT and clicking LM. Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 40

• Menu Buttons: Use the Menu buttons to choose from dynamically created lists. Menu buttons are principally used to link Data. Blocks to each other. • Data. Blocks are structures like Meshes, Objects, Materials, Textures, and so on; by linking a Material to an Object, you assign it. ) Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 41

• You can see an example for such a block of buttons in (Datablock link buttons). • The first button (with the tiny up and down pointing triangles) opens a menu that lets you select the Data. Block to link to by holding down LMB and releasing it over the requested item. • The second button displays the type and name of the linked Data. Block and lets you edit its name after clicking LMB. • The "X" button clears the link. • The "car" button generates an automatic name for the Data. Block. • And the "F" button specifies whether the Data. Block should be saved in the file even if it is unused (unlinked). Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 42

Color Selector controls • Some controls pop-up a dialog panel. For example, Color controls, when clicked, will pop up a Color Selector dialog; Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 43

Cascade Buttons • Occasionally, some buttons actually reveal addition buttons. • For example, the Ramps panel has a Cascade button called Colorband that reveals additional buttons dealing with colorbanding Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 44

Opening Files: (Mode: All Modes, Hotkey: F 1, Menu: File → Open ) • Blender uses the. blend file format to save nearly everything: Objects, Scenes, Textures, and even all your user interface window settings. • To load a Blender file from disk, press F 1. The window underneath the mouse pointer then temporarily becomes the File Selection window • The bar on the left can be dragged with LMB for scrolling. • To load a file, select it with RMB and then press Enter, or click the Open File can also be loaded by clicking it with the MMB Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 45

Navigating your Hard Disk • The upper text box displays the current directory path, and the lower text box contains the selected filename. • (P) moves you up to the parent directory. • The button beneath, with the up and down arrow, maintains a list of recently used paths and on the windows platform a list of all drives (C: , D: , etc. ). • The breadcrumb files (. and. . ) refer to the current directory and upper-level directory, respectively Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 46

Saving Files: Mode: All Modes, Hotkey: F 2, Menu: File →Save • Saving files is like loading files. When you press F 2, the window underneath the mouse pointer temporarily changes into a File Selection Window • Click the lower edit box to enter a filename. If it doesn't end with ". blend, " the extension is automatically appended. • Then press Enter or click the Save File button to save the file. • If a file with the same name already exists, you will have to confirm that you want to save the file at the overwrite prompt. Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 47

Rendering Mode: All Modes Panel: Render Context → Render Hotkey: F 12 Menu: Render → Render Current Frame Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 48

• The render settings are in the Scene Context and Rendering Buttons Sub-context (Rendering options in the Rendering Buttons. ) which is reached by clicking the , or by pressing F 10. • In the Output panel, the top field contains the path increment (default: "/tmp/") and optionally a filename prefix to use when rendering is done. • The Path Increment is either an absolute address or a relative address. • An absolute address is something like "C: DocumentsBlender" and • A relative address is a breadcrumb notation (". /" or ". . /") meaning to start with the current or parent directory of the Blender installation location, or a double slash ("//") meaning put the file in the directory from where the blend file was loaded. Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 49

• The Format Panel controls the format of the render. • The full size (number of pixels horizontally and vertically) and file format of the image to be created are picked here. • You can set the size using the Size. X and Size. Y buttons. • Clicking the selection box just below the size buttons opens a menu with all available output formats for images and animations, which is currently "Jpeg" in (Rendering options in the Rendering Buttons). • When the settings are complete, the scene may be rendered by hitting the RENDER button in the Render Panel or by pressing F 12. • Depending on the complexity of the scene, this usually takes between a few seconds and several minutes, and the progress is displayed in a separate window. • If you don't see anything in the rendered view, make sure your scene is constructed properly. Does it have lighting? Is the camera positioned correctly, and does it point in the right direction? Are all the layers you want to render visible? Make sure Blender Internal is chosen in the dropdown box below the RENDER button. • When you are satisfied with the rendering, you may save it by pressing F 3 and using the save dialog as described before Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh Sahar California State University San Marcos Page 50

Setting the default scene • If you don't like Blender's default window set-up, or want specific render settings • Make the scene you are currently working on the default by pressing Ctrl U. • The scene will then be copied into a file called. B. blend in your home directory. • You can clear the working project and revert to the default scene anytime through the menu entry File>>New or by pressing Ctrl X. But remember to save your changes to the previous scene first! Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 51

Saving your Preferences • When you press Ctrl U, you will save a file called B. blend in the . blender folder underneath your Blender installation that contains the present setup, including all screens and scenes. • Blender has many options and features to make sure that you do not lose your work. • First, it saves your actions in a list. At any time, you can tell Blender to back up in the list and undo most recent changes. • Second, when you start Blender, one of the File options is to Recover Last Session. When you exit Blender, it saves the current file in a quit. blend file; Recover Last Session merely loads that file back in. • Third, you can tell Blender via User Preferences to automatically save versions "behind the scenes", and to keep old copies of your entire files every time you do manual saves. Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 52

Auto Save in the User Preferences • Blender provides several ways to automatically save backup copies of work in progress. This sub-panel allows you to configure the two ways that Blender allows you to regress to a prior file version. • The "Save Versions" button tells Blender, when you manually select File/Save, to save the specified number of previous versions of your file. • In your current working directory, these files will be named. blend, . blend 1, . blend 2, etc. on up to the number of versions you specify, with the older files named with a higher number. Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 53

Auto Save Temp Files • Clicking the "Auto Save Temp Files" button tells Blender to automatically save a hot backup copy of your work-in-progress to the temp directory. Selecting this button reveals two more buttons. • The first, "Minutes" button specifies the number of minutes between automatic saves. The second "Open Recent" button allows you to open the most-recent auto-save file. • The auto-save file is named using a random number, has a . blend extension, and is placed in the Temp directory (refer to the "File Paths" tab). • Then, when you have done something terrible to your beautiful model, you have the following choices: • keep working forward and try to cover up or build on your accident, • undo with Ctrl Z • regress to (open) a previously saved version in your working directory, or Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 54

Warning • Warning: Clicking the "Open Recent" button will immediately load the most recent save, and you will lose any changes that you have made in the intervening minutes. • Exit No Save: When you close Blender and exit the program, Blender does not prompt you to save your work if changed. However, it automatically saves the current work-in-progress in a file called "quit. blend" in your Temp directory. • Recent Files: When you use File -> Open Recent, this control specifies how many recent files to keep track of, and how many will appear in that list. Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 55

Undoing an Action Mode: All Modes Hotkey: Ctrl Z • By default, Undo is not turned off although it takes precious memory. To enable or disable undo, drag down your User Preferences window and click Edit Methods. In that panel, you may set: • Steps: This numeric slider sets how many steps, or actions, to save. If you set this to 30, you will be able to undo the last 30 actions that you performed. • Global Undo: This enables Blender to save actions outside of some mesh editing actions, for example, moving individual vertices while a mesh is in one editing session; each vertex move can be undone. Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 56

Redoing an Action Mode: All Modes Hotkey: Shift Ctrl Z or Ctrl Y • Just as Ctrl Z undoes an action, Shift Ctrl Z re-does the last undone action(s). History Mode: All Modes Hotkey: Alt U • Alt U displays the Global History of what you have done as a list of actions named generally for what you did. Clicking on any action reverts you back to that state just before the next action was performed. Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 57

Overview Mode: All Modes, Any Window Hotkey: Shift F 4 - Data. Block Browser • Each. blend file contains a database. This database contains all scenes, objects, meshes, textures, etc. that are in the file. A file can contain multiple scenes and each scene can contain multiple objects. Objects can contain multiple materials which can contain many textures. • To access the database, press Shift F 4 and the window will change to an Data. Block browser window, which lists the Objects in your. blend file. • To go up a level, click the breadcrumbs (. . ) and then you will see the overall structure of a file: Action, Armature, Brush, Camera, Curve, Group, . . . and so on (including Objects). • LMB Selecting any Data. Block type, Mesh, for example, will give you a listing of the Meshes used in the file, along with how many users there are for that class. • For example, if you had a car mesh, and used that car mesh for six cars in a parking lot scene, the Mesh listing would show the Car and then the number 6. Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 58

Users (Sharing) • Many Data. Blocks can be shared among other Data. Blocks; re-use is encouraged. • For example, suppose you have a material for one object, named "Glossy". You can select a second object, for example, one that does not have a material yet. Instead of clicking ADD NEW for the material, click the little up-down arrow next to the ADD NEW, which brings up a list of existing materials. Select "Glossy". • Now, these two objects share the same Material. You will notice a "2" next to the name of the material, indicating that there are two users (the two objects) for this material. • Other common examples include: Sharing textures among materials Sharing meshes between objects ("clones") Sharing IPO curves between objects, for example to make all the lights dim together. Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 59

Fake User • Blender removes all Data. Blocks that have not been linked to anything when you open the file. • Because of this, sometimes you may find it useful to link unlinked Data. Blocks to a "fake user". • You can do this by hitting the F button next to the name of the Data. Block. Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 60

Copying and Linking Objects Between Scenes • Sometimes you may want to link or copy objects between scenes. • This is possible by first selecting objects you want to link or copy and then using the "Make Links" and "Make Single User" items found in Object menu in the 3 D viewport header. • Use "Make Links" to make links between scenes. • To make a plain copy, you first make a link and then use "Make Single User" to make a stand-alone copy of the object in your current scene. Sahar Mosleh & Ahmad R. Hadaegh California State University San Marcos Page 61