Create a Scene in Blender
Create objects; interact with them; add modifiers, materials, and lights; and then render your creation. This chapter presents a very simple exercise to help you better understand how to create your first scene.
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You’ve been introduced to the basics of Blender, and with practice, you’ll have the interface under control. It’s time to create objects; interact with them; add modifiers, materials, and lights; and then render your creation. This chapter presents a very simple exercise to help you better understand how to create your first scene. You also learn about Blender Render and Cycles, the two render engines included by default in Blender. In the associate files for this book, you’ll find a video tutorial that explains the steps presented in this chapter to help you create your first scene in Blender. If you’re using Blender for the first time, you’ll find this chapter to be especially useful.
When you open Blender, you’ll find the familiar default cube sitting in the middle of the scene. You can use that cube to build your model, or you can delete it. To delete objects in Blender, just select them, press X or Del, and click Delete in the dialog box that appears to confirm the deletion.
First, you want to create an object. You have different ways to do it:
In 3D View, in the Tools Region (press T if the Tools Region is hidden), and on the Create tab, click the object type you want to create.
In the 3D View header, choose from the Add menu the object you want to create from the different object categories.
With the mouse cursor in 3D View, press Shift+A. The same Add menu that you see on the 3D View’s header appears. Choose the desired object from the list.
When you use any of these options, the object is created in the position of the 3D cursor inside the 3D scene.
After you create an object, the Operator panel at the bottom of the Tools Region lists parameters that you can use to modify it, such as adjusting the depth and radius of a cylinder. Make sure that you have made any adjustments you want to make in the object before moving it or performing any other action on it, because after you create the object, it is converted to a mesh, and you no longer have access to those parameters. The parameters of the last performed action appear in the Operator panel; pay attention to this area, as it provides really cool options. As an alternative, you can press F6 with the cursor over the 3D View to see those options in a pop-up window.
Animation software often has a test object. In Blender, that object is the monkey head (called Suzanne), and you’ll use it for the test scene in this chapter. Create a monkey mesh, using any of the three methods described earlier in this section. Then create a plane, as this plane later serves as the floor of your scene. Don’t worry if the head and plane intersect in the middle of the scene and are not aligned; you’ll correct that problem in a moment.