In this second tutorial, I will show you how to quickly and easily get started using the modeling tools in Blender.
Adding objects
A common object type used in a 3D scene is a mesh
Blender comes with a number of primitive mesh shapes
When you start Blender, by default, you get this Cube which is a primitive mesh
Adding primitives to the scene can be done in a couple ways
First, let’s delete the default cube by selecting it and using the delete-key (you can also use the X-key)
There are two ways to add a primitive to the scene
The first way is to go to the Add menu and under the Mesh menu, you can add a primitive
The hotkey to access this same menu is SHIFT + A – make sure your cursor is in the Viewport to access this menu
There are 10 standard primitive shapes in Blender: Plane, Cube, Circle, UV Sphere, Ico Sphere, Cylinder, Cone, Torus, Grid, and Monkey (who is called Suzanne)
In this case, we are just going to add in a Cube
If you look at the bottom-left of the viewport you will notice that you have a popover that gives you various options for each mesh
We will be looking at the popover menu shortly
Editing Mesh Objects
The easiest way to start modeling in Blender is to simply start with a primitive mesh and then reshape it, add detail, and turn it into the model you want – this is called box modeling
In order to edit any object, including primitives, we need to go into Edit Mode
Let’s begin by selecting the cube and deleting it
Now let’s add a UV sphere using the shortcut SHIFT + A
By default we are in Object Mode, where we can select the actual objects in the scene
If we want to edit this sphere we need to left-click the sphere to select it (if it isn’t already selected) and then hit the TAB key to go into Edit Mode
You can choose to work with a vertex, edge, or face
You can access each of these modes in the top-left of the Viewport
The hot-keys are 1 for vertex mode, 2 for edge mode, and 3 for face mode
There are multiple ways you can select vertices, edges, and faces
The most obvious is just by left-clicking on a vertex, edge, or face to select one of these options – holding SHIFT will allow you to select multiple vertices, edges, or faces
You can select the entire mesh by hovering the cursor over the mesh and using the L-key
You can also use the Box (or Border) Tool via the shortcut of B + left-mouse-button – however, this will only select what is in view
You can also use the Circle Tool via the shortcut of C + left-mouse-button – you can use the middle-mouse-button to enlarge or shrink the circle
After you have made the selection, use the right-mouse-button to finalize the selection
Another way to choose multiple vertices is using the Lasso Tool via the shortcut of CTRL + right-mouse-button
There is a potential problem with using these tools to make selections
If you tumble around the back of the sphere you will notice that you haven’t selected the back-facing parts of the mesh
One way around this problem is to use Wireframe Mode
Using the Z-key, you can bring up the pie menu and then select “Wireframe”
Now you can select the front and back vertices, edges, or faces
Another way around this problem is using the X-ray Mode – which is available at the top-right of the viewport
To select a loop of vertices, make sure you are in vertex mode, hold down the ALT key and left-click in the center of a vertex
You can select multiple rows of vertices by using SHIFT + ALT + left-click
Depending on which side of the vertex your cursor is, you can select the horizontal or vertical vertex loops
The same type of selection can be done with edges and faces as well
To select an edge loop, make sure you are in edge mode, hold down the ALT key and left-click in the center of an edge
You can select multiple rows of edges by using SHIFT + ALT + left-click
Depending on whether you are clicking on a horizontal or vertical edge, you can select the horizontal or vertical edge loops
To select a face loop, make sure you are in face mode, hold down the ALT key and left-click in the center of an edge
You can select multiple rows of faces by using SHIFT + ALT + left-click
Depending on whether you are clicking on a horizontal or vertical intersection of faces, you can select the horizontal or vertical face loops
Two other hotkeys which are useful when modeling are the More and Less options
If you select a vertex, edge, or face you can easily select more or less based around your selection
If we select a face on the sphere and hit CRTL NUMPAD PLUS we will expand the selection
If we then hit CTRL NUMPAD MINUS we will shrink the selection
One thing to note is that when you add objects in Edit Mode, they will be considered one object
If you need separate objects, you have two options
One, you can add new objects in Object Mode – this will mean you have separate objects automatically
Second, in Edit Mode, you can use the P-key to separate the selected object
Proportional Editing
Proportional Editing allows us to edit vertices, edges, and faces with a falloff
If we choose one vertex from the top of this sphere and begin moving it by using the G-key (to grab) and the Z-key to lock the movement to the Z-Axis, you will notice that I get a sharp edge without any sort of falloff
This is really an inefficient way of modeling, which is where Proportional Editing comes in
We can turn Proportional Editing on and off either by clicking on the icon at the top-center of the viewport or clicking the O-key
Let’s choose the top-most vertex and begin to move it
We can see how you now have a gradual falloff rather than a sharp edge
We can also change the amount of area that we are affecting by scrolling the middle-mouse-button
Once we have the circle the size we want, we just need to move the cursor
As we move the cursor, we can continue to resize the area
Once we have finished the modification we just need to left-click to lock in the modification
Using Snap
Let’s turn off proportional editing for now
An easy option for moving objects precisely in Blender is to use Snap
Let’s tab back into Object Mode and delete the UV Sphere – then add a Cube to the scene
The easiest way to Snap objects is to Snap to Grid
Select the magnet icon in the top-center of the viewport or use SHIFT + TAB to turn on and off snapping
When I use the G-key to grab the cube and the X-key to lock the movement to the X-Axis, the Cube will snap to the Grid
We can also Snap faces, edges, and vertices
Tab into edit mode a choose face select mode and make sure snap is activated
Select the Cube and use SHIFT + D to duplicate the Cube – Enter will complete the operation
Move this duplicated cube along the X-Axis
Select the face that is facing the original Cube and choose “face nearest” from the snap menu
Using the G + X-keys will snap the faces together
Use CTRL + Z to undo this procedure
Go into edge select mode (2) and make sure snap is activated
Left-Click on the top edge to choose it, and then using the G + X keys, notice the edges snap together
Undo that snapping procedure with CTRL Z
Go into vertex select mode (1) and make sure snap is activated
Left-Click on top-front vertex to choose it, and then using the G + X keys, notice the edges snap together
Undo that snapping procedure with CTRL Z
Use SHIFT + TAB to turn off snapping
Outliner and collections
The Outliner is located in the top-right of the Areas
This is where you can inspect the contents of your file
All of your data from the blend-file will be located here
You can select, rename, delete, and parent the objects in the Outliner
Scene Collections contain all of the scene’s objects
You can make your own collections in a couple different ways
First, you can right-click on “Scene Collection” and choose “New Collection” – you can then double-click on the new Collection and rename it
Second, in Object Mode, you can select one or more objects in your scene and use the M-key to access the “Move to Collection” menu – here you can add a New Collection and the objects you have selected will be moved to that Collection
If you have an object that you want to move from one Collection to another, you can simply select the object in the Outliner and drag-and-drop it into another Collection
You can also select the objects in the Viewport and use the M-key to access the “Move to Collection” menu where you can choose which Collection you want to move the objects to
Units
The default unit of measurement in Blender is metric
In the scene tab you will find the units section – you can use the default units or change to the Imperial measurement
If you use the metric system you can change the length to meters, centimeters, etc. and that is what Blender will use throughout the scene
If you are using the imperial system, you can change the length to feet or inches and that is what Blender will use throughout the scene
In edit mode you can also turn on the Edge Length Properties overlay in the Overlay menu
If I select the vertices, an edge, or a face, I will see the measurements – 2 meters (or 6.56 feet) is the default scale of primitive mesh objects
You also have options for Edge Angle, Face Area, and Face Angle
Tools
I will go over just a few tools in this course – you can use the link in the description to access the Blender Manual to learn about the other tools
In Edit Mode, the Tools are located on the left-side of the viewport in the Tool Bar
If you hold down your left-mouse-button, you can access the sub-tools of the select box tool which includes the Box Select Tool, Circle Select Tool, and Lasso Select Tool
The 3D Cursor tool allows you to left-click anywhere in the scene and move the cursor – SHIFT + S will allow you to move the Cursor back to the World Origin
The Move tool allows you to use the manipulator and move the object along any of the three axes – the three plane-like parts of the manipulator allows you to move in two of the three directions at the same time
The Rotate tool allows you to smoothly rotate the object around each axis
The Scale tool allows you to use the manipulator and scale the object along any of the three axes – the three plane-like parts of the manipulator allows you to scale in two of the three directions at the same time
The Transform tool is a combination of the move, rotate, and scale tools
The Extrude Region tool allows you to select a vertex, edge, or face and drag to extrude a region of the mesh – there are also sub-tools available
The Inset tool allows you to select a face – hold down the left-mouse-button and drag in order to inset that face
This can also be used on multiple faces
The Bevel tool allows you to select an edge, hold down the left-mouse-button, and drag to add a bevel
If you keep your mouse-button held down you can use the middle-mouse-button to add loop cuts
The loop cut tool adds a loop cut to the mesh which you can immediately slide to a new location by keeping the left-mouse-button held down
In order to add more than one loop cut, you simply go to the header and change the “Number of Cuts” field
The Knife tool will allow you to divide a face into multiple faces
The Bisect tool will allow you to cut a mesh into two pieces along a custom plane [FACES]
Popovers
Popovers contain settings and tools properties
For example, if you add a UV Sphere you will notice a popover in the lower-left corner of the viewport
You will have the option of changing the properties of the UV Sphere such as segments, rings, etc.
It is important to note that as soon as you adjust (move, rotate, scale) or click away from the object, the popover will disappear
Modifiers
Modifiers are automatic operations that affect an object’s geometry in a non-destructive way
You can perform many effects automatically that would otherwise be too tedious to do manually and without affecting the base geometry of your object
I will briefly show you a couple commonly-used modifiers
The Array Modifier creates an array of copies of the base object, with each copy being offset from the previous one
If I select the UV Sphere and add a simple array modifier, I can quickly make copies of the original UV Sphere
I can quickly and easily and increase the number of UV Spheres and change the spacing
If I make changes to the original UV Sphere, the changes will affect all of the copies
Once I am done, I can use CTRL + A to apply the modifier or use the drop-down menu to apply the modifier
Note – Once you have applied the modifier you cannot make any further changes so I would advise not applying the modifier until you are sure you won’t need it again
The Bevel Modifier bevels the edges of the mesh it is applied to
If I add a cube and then add a Bevel Modifier, I have access to a non-destructive way of adding bevels to the edges without doing it destructively in Edit Mode
I can change the Amount of the bevel as well as the number of segments – more segments means a smoother bevel but also more geometry
The Boolean Modifier performs operations on meshes that are otherwise too complex to achieve with as few steps by editing meshes manually
You will need two meshes to use the Boolean Modifier
I select the first Cube and add a Boolean Modifier and select the UV Sphere as the Object
The Difference operation will subtract the UV Sphere from the Cube
Once I apply the modifier and hide the UV Sphere (which can be done using the H-key) you can see a cutout of the cube
If I add a Boolean Modifier to the second Cube with the UV Sphere as the Object, I can change the operation to “Union”
This type of operation will join the meshes together into one mesh
If I add a Boolean Modifier to the third Cube with the UV Sphere as the Object, I can change the operation to “Intersect”
This type of operation will keep only the overlapping areas of both meshes
The Subdivision Surface Modifier is used to split the faces of a mesh into smaller faces, giving it a smooth appearance
If I add a new UV Sphere and turn on the Statistics under the Overlays menu, you can see that the UV Sphere currently has 128 faces
If I add a Subdivision Surface Modifier and change the Levels to 2, I now see that I have a much smoother and denser mesh with 1.920 faces
Multi-object editing
If you want to be able to work on multiple meshes at once, all you need to do is select all the meshes and then tab into edit mode – this is called multi-object editing
If I add an Ico Sphere and a Cylinder, I can select both of them and tab into Edit Mode
I can then modify both of the objects
When I tab back into Object Mode, both objects have been modified but they remain separate objects