blender tips
Focusing on your selection
When you’re working on big scenes with lots of different objects you can make your life easier by hiding everything but the object that you’ve got selected.
The shortcut key for this is “Shift+H.” Getting into the habit of doing this will help keep your brain clear of the complexity and keep your mind firmly on the task at hand.
I don’t know if you’re the same, but when I’m working on a scene with thousands of objects in it can quickly get overwhelming and my productivity drops.
Simplifying the display and the tasks I’m doing really helps me.
Hide everything but your selection to focus on what matters in the moment
Instances
When I first started 3D modeling I wasn’t sure the difference between duplicating objects and instancing them.
I tended to just duplicate objects because it was the default without realizing the implications.
The primary difference is that duplicated objects have no link to one another whereas instanced objects do.
One of the great things about this is that amending one of the instanced objects changes all of them.
The other great thing is that the amount of memory you use is greatly reduced if you instance objects instead.
You can duplicate objects using “Shift+D” and instance them by using “Alt+D.”
Instance your objects if appropriate for better utilization of memory
Loop cuts
When you’re modeling you’ll probably fairly regularly want to create what are called loop cuts.
These types of cuts loop around an object and are great when you want to introduce extra levels of detail to your model.
You can do this using the shortcut “Ctrl+R.” To take this a step further you can scroll your mouse wheel to make multiple evenly spaced loop cuts.
Make sure you’re in Edit mode when doing this.
Use loop cuts to add extra detail into your model
Smaller incremental transformations
If you’re working on anything that requires precision then you’ll need to know how to make finer transformations, including moving, rotating, and scaling.
As you’re making any of these transformations simply hold down Shift and you’ll find that the adjustments become much smaller.
This is also a useful trick when you’re in sub-object mode making transformations to vertices, edges, and faces.
Make precise transformations using this trick
Snapping
Further to making precise transformations you’ll also want to master Blender’s snap tools.
Another use for the snap tools in Blender is to place assets into your scene in a super quick and efficient way.
You don’t want to be making multiple transformations from different viewpoints as you place furniture into a house for example.
You can use the align rotation option to snap your objects to any surface.
Snap objects for faster asset placing
Selective rendering
Depending on the power of your computer rendering can be one of the most frustrating and time-consuming tasks, especially when you’re making improvements to the scene.
One way to speed up this process is to stop rendering the entire image and to start rendering only the region of your image that is of interest at the time.
You can do this by pressing “Shift+B” and dragging over the camera viewport.
This marquee selection tool will ensure you only render that particular area.
You can remove this area by using the same shortcut again.
Save time by rendering only what matters
Reconnect nodes when deleting
If you work a lot with nodes then you may be frustrated by having to reconnect your nodes after deleting just one of them.
Thankfully there is a way for Blender to automatically reconnect the nodes after the delete operation.
Simply use “Ctrl+X” and let Blender work its magic.
Say goodbye to reconnecting nodes after deleting one of them
The 3D cursor!
Hands up if you’ve spent any amount of time frustrated with the 3D cursor in Blender.
I assume we’ve all put our hands up! It always seems to be in the way and unless we understand its benefits it can be a huge annoyance.
One of the benefits of the cursor is that you can use it as the origin point for your transformations and for placing your objects.
Use the left-mouse-button to position the 3D cursor in your desired location and then use “.” to change the “Pivot Point” to the 3D cursor.
Make the 3D cursor your friend by using it as an origin point
Undo history
You’re no doubt well aware that you can undo and redo your operations.
Thankfully! But Blender also has a whole history of operations that you can move backwards and forwards throughout the operations you’ve performed.
Simply press “Ctrl+Alt+Z” to display a list of previous operations.
Select as far back as you want.
Use the undo history to move back in your project
Render with transparency
This is a really usefully tool.
In your “Output” rollout simply select “RGBA” and your render will include any transparency that is in your scene.
This will create a PNG file which handles transparency.
Note that Jpegs don’t handle transparency.
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Render as a PNG with transparency
Practice makes perfect
The only way to integrate these tricks into your daily workflow is to turn them into habits.
You can do this by making a note of the tricks and shortcuts.
Have them next to you as you work and force your fingers into new routines! As you commit to learning these tricks and implementing them you’ll find it so rewarding to bosh through tasks in super quick time.
The Render Panel
1) Render Layers and Scene Layers are different things.
A Render Layer is an image layer for Post-Processing, while Scene Layers are divisions where objects are.
A Render Layer is assigned Scene Layers which it will contain.
2) You can render a Pass by enabling it in the Render Panel, and it can be separated by clicking the camera.
3) The Aspect Ratio of a Render usually should be 1:1.
4) Always enable instances to save on computing time.
5) Enable outlines by turning on Edge.
6) You can render an image with Transparency by switching to RGBA mode.
The Scene Panel
7) You can change the Scene Gravity for Physics Simulations.
The Object Panel
8) Only allow an object to transform in a certain direction by using Transform locks.
9) You can make objects Appear and Disappear by animating their Layer Relation.
10) You can mask an object from a Render Layer by changing it's Pass Index.
You will need to use an ID Mask node and Enable Object Index in the Render Panel.
11) Make objects always appear in front of others by activating X-Ray.
The Constraints Panel
12) When using a Child Constraint, click Set Inverse to keep its offset, and prevent it from flying off.
The Modifier Panel
13) "1" in the array modifier will make the objects sit right next to each other.
14) The Boolean Modifier must be set to Difference to cut holes.
The Object box is for the object that will do the cutting.
Once the modifier is applied, the cutter object has to be removed.
15) Use the Decimate Modifier to simplify a mesh.
16) The Explode Modifier needs a Particle System before it.
The Data Panel
17) To turn a curve into a tube, turn off "Fill Front" and "Fill Back", and turn on Bevel.
18) Path Animation is animated with the curve, not the object.
The Materials Panel
19) You can change the thickness of the top and bottom of strands in the Strand Panel.
20) Uncheck "Traceable" to remove an object from Raytracing calculations.
21) To make Vertex Painting show up, check Vertex Color Paint.
22) To make a lamp ONLY light a certain Object, Use Ctrl-G to put the lamp in its own group and put that group into "Light Group" in the Object's Material.
Check 'Exclusive" to make that lamp just light that material.
23) By default, Transparent objects cast opaque shadows.
Check 'Receive Transparent" to fix this.
The Texture Panel
24) Change the Mapping to prevent texture distortion on 3d objects.
The Physics Panel
25) When working with simulations, the Domain Box is the control.
The Fluid or Flow object doesn't do anything and should be deleted or moved to another layer after the simulation is finished baking.
26) Force Fields automatically affect every simulation around them, including particles.
27) The default strength value for Force field objects is quite small.
You have to really crank it up to see any results.
The Lamp Panel
28) Get shiny Materials by using Specular lamps.
Object Mode
29) Go to View>View Selected to get back to your active object.
30) Get rid of annoying Keyframe links by selecting both objects, and going to Object>Make Single User.
31) Make moving rotated objects easier by going into Local Transform mode.
Edit Mode
32) Create loop cuts by going Ctrl+R
33) Make multiple, evenly spaced loop cuts by scrolling your mouse wheel.
34) See vertices behind other faces by turning off "Limit Selection to Visible"
35) Select/Deselect Everything with A.
This is also very useful in other editors and the File Browser.
36) Select all the Vertices in a row by going Select>Edge Loop.
37) Getting weird shading? Try selecting everything and recalculating the Normals before submitting a bug report.
Get the toolbal by hitting T.
38) Still getting weird or flickering shading? Selecting verything and getting rid of duplicate vertices will fix this problem.
39) Separate part of a mesh with P.
40) You can also make each "Piece" of a mesh separate too with "By Loose Parts".
All linked sections are made into their own objects.
41) Rotation Center messed up? Reset it by hitting the Spacebar, then start typing in "origin" and you will see an option for "Set Origin".
Follow it and choose "Origin to Geometry".
Texture Paint Mode
42) Texture Paint Requires a UV unwrap.
Other
43) The Ipo Editor is now known as the Graph Editor.
44) You can make an object move at a constant speed by changing its F-Curve to Linear in the Graph Editor.
Do that by going Shift-T.
45) You can make that F-Curve jagged by Ctrl-Clicking.
46) You can hide F-Curves by unchecking the check box.
You can hide the motion by toggling the eyeball.
47) Ctrl-Clicking can also be used to extend a curve or extrude a mesh very easily.
48) Downloaded a .Blend file, but the layout is all messed up? Reset it by changing it back to "Default".
49) Stop a game in the Blender Game Engine by hitting Esc.
50) Record Game Physics by selecting "Record Animation" under "Game".
Convert the recording to Keyframes with Alt-A.
51) Getting that nasty Video Sequence Editor Bug where the preview is just blank white? Set the Render Dimensions to 2048x1024.
The Preview will work if the dimensions are a multiple of 256.
52) Materials can be made Node-Based by toggling the node button.
53) You can use a different material based on lighting with Light Groups and Materials Nodes.
Create three (or more) sub-materials in the Node Editor.
Make one of them a separator.
Put it in an exclusive Light group, and plug it into the Factor slot of a Mix Node.
54) If you get flickering Menus, Change the Draw Method for Menus in User Preferences- System.
55) The Overlay Composite Node (A variant of the Mix Node), does not actually overlay two Renderlayers.
Use an Alpha Over node for this.
56) You can Remove all keyframes on a frame by clicking the X'd-out Key button.
57) Have your camera follow the 3-D viewport view by enabling "Lock Camera to View" in the N Toolbar.
Note that you must start in Camera view for this to work.
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Setting a camera to the current view
camera view can be toggled at any point by pressing the Numpad 0 key.
While in camera view (see earlier), the camera might not show the scene correctly.
There are a couple of ways to set the camera, but a simple, fast way is to set the camera to the current view.
To do this, simply press the Ctrl + Alt + Numpad 0 keys while the camera is selected and the mouse pointer is in the 3D view area.
Adding multiple cameras
More cameras can be added to a scene by pressing the Shift + A keys while the mouse pointer is in the 3D View area.
The camera can be renamed in the Outliner section to make it more descriptive.
To be able to use a specific camera, it needs to be set to the active camera.
By simply changing the active camera from one to another, different cameras can be used one by one for renders.
In addition to this, markers can be used on the animation timeline to view the scene from consecutive cameras at different times during the animation (see markers later).
To use a specific camera, but only that camera, the active camera can be chosen by selecting it and pressing the Ctrl + Numpad 0 keys.
By pressing the Numpad 0 key that camera’s view will be active.
Using markers to change camera views
In Blender, markers can be used to indicate key points or significant events within an animation.
It is very handy to indicate (or mark) a change in the active camera while in the viewing and/or rendering process.
They also act as stepped keyframes, meaning they will change immediately from the previous frame to the next frame (i.e.
there is no interpolation).
One or multiple markers can be used at different locations on the timeline and can be named to give an overview of what change is made.
Before a marker can be used, the camera that needs to be assigned to it needs to be created and named first (see adding multiple cameras earlier).
To insert a marker, first, go to the frame it needs to be inserted too and then press the M key while the mouse pointer is in the Timeline View.
Alternatively, it can be added by using the Marker menu – Add Marker.
This will create a little triangle indicating that that frame has a marker assigned to it.
Markers can be selected and deselected as with everything else in Blender.
It will be deselected while hovering over the Timeline View and pressing the A key, and clicking on it with the select mouse button will select it.
By default, markers will be called by the frame number they are situated at.
Markers can also be given a descriptive name by pressing Ctrl + M buttons while the mouse pointer is in the Timeline view area.
The timeline view area of this scene shows 3 markers (indicated as triangles at frame 1, 24 and 42).
The middle marker is active and the first marker has a camera bound to it.
To bind a camera to a marker, it needs to be set to active camera first (see earlier).
While the camera is active, select the desired marker and hit the Ctrl + B keys while the mouse pointer is in the Timeline View.
Alternatively, the Bind Camera to Markers option under the View menu can be used.
When a camera is bound, the line above the marker triangle will become dotted.
Change the camera view with viewport
Instead of working with a camera’s coordinates or moving out of the camera view, in some cases it might be easier to simply lock the camera to the current active view.
The setting for this is under the Properties panel (visible by either pressing the M button while in the mouse pointer is in the 3D view area or by clicking on the + at the top right of the 3D view window).
By checking/unchecking the Lock Camera to View setting, the camera can be moved around while in the Camera view.
Using common camera resolutions
Most viewing devices these days have screens that are capable of viewing fairly high resolutions.
Blender can render at the exact dimension and/or resolution that you might need for your project.
For this, the camera settings are used.
The dimentions and resolutions settings are situated under the Render tab in the Dimentions section.
Common resolutions can be selected from the Render Presets drop-down list.
Custom X and Y values can also be dialed in.
The percentage bar below the X and Y values are used as a percentage multiplyer to scale the resolutions down.
50% will halve it, and 100% will render at the full resolution.
Values for common resolutions:
720p – 1280px x 720px
1080p – 1920px x 1080px
4k – 3840px x 2160px
These are the common and/or recommended resolutions used for the following platforms:
Facebook – 720p or 1080p for video and 940px x 512px for post images
Twitter – 720p or 1080p for video and 1200px x 675px for tweet images
YouTube – 720p, 1080p, 4K
Pinterest – 1000px x 1000/1500px
Flickr – 1080p
WhatsApp – 176px x 144px for video
Using Composition Guides
Blender makes it easy to create better compositions by using their composition guides.
Multiple pre-set composite guides are available under the Display settings under the settings of the active camera properties.
Each camera can have its own, single or multiple guides activated.
Guidelines will not interfere with rendering.