From BlenderWiki

The 3D View window pane is where you perform much of your three-dimensional (3D) object modeling, and arranging those objects in a virtual 3D space. Blender has a wide array of tools and options to support you in efficiently working with your mouse, keyboard and keypad. Your flat (two-dimensional) monitor is your viewport into the 3D space.

It is also the oldest, and therefore most feature- and option-rich areas of Blender. DON'T BE INTIMIDATED. Most of us humans never use all the features here, just like we don't use all of our diction on a daily basis either. So, take it slow, a few at a time, experimenting to see what they do.

3D Window Header

The 3D View window is comprised of a workspace and a header. The header is shown at the top or bottom of the workspace, and can be hidden if desired. The header shows you a menu and the current mode, as explained below.

View Menu

This menu provides options to control the way the workspace is viewed:

• Space Handler Scripts - This submenu shows Space Handler Scripts; by default, there aren't any.

• Play Back Animation - This item plays back the animation from the current frame.

• Maximize Window - This item maximizes the 3D view to fill the entire Blender window. In addition to the shortcut Ctrl ↑ that the menu lists, Shift Space also performs this function, making it extremely convenient for laptop users, as they can quickly maximize the 3D view to work on an object or minimize it to work with the button window/outliner/etc.

• View All - This command zooms the 3D view to encompass all the objects in the current scene.

• View Selected - This command zooms the 3D view to encompass all the selected objects.

• Set Clipping Border - This command allows you to define a clipping border to limit the 3D view display to a portion of 3D space. For more information on this command, see View Clipping Border in the Using the 3D View section of the manual.

• Align View-This submenu (shortcut C) shifts your view to be centered on the cursor. Shift-Center (shortcut Shift C) centers your view and zooms out so that you can see everything in your scene. You can also change your viewpoint to be through the camera, and center the camera on the cursor. Instead of the cursor, you can center your view on the selected object (shortcut keypad *)

• View Navigation - This submenu contains commands for rotating and panning the view. Using these commands through the menu is not that efficient; however, like all Blender menus, the much-more-convenient keyboard shortcuts are listed next to the commands. Fly mode moves your view through 3D space. Use the keys indicated to orbit your view, or hold down MMB and move your mouse. Use the keypad NumPad +/NumPad - keys to zoom, or scroll your mousewheel.

• Global /Local View - Global view shows all of the 3D objects in the scene. Local view only displays the selected objects. To switch between global and local view use NumPad /. Accidentaly pressing NumPad / can happen rather often if you're new to Blender, so if a bunch of the objects in your scene seem to have mysteriously vanished, try turning off local view.

• Orthographic, Perspective - These commands change the projection of the 3D view. For more information, see Perspective and Orthographic Projection. Generally you want to stay in Orthographic view.

• Cameras - This submenu lists all the cameras in the scene. Selecting one will make it the active camera; there is also a command that sets the current object (which doesn't have to be a camera) as the camera, so you can see what the scene looks like from its point of view.

• Side, Front, Top - These commands change the view to the default side, front, or top views. Pressing the shift keys changes to the 'other' corresponding view: right side, back, or bottom-looking-up views.

• Camera - This command switches the view to the current camera view.

• User - This command switches to a user view. In most cases, this won't seem to do anything, but if you are in the camera view or have orthographic projection on, the view will change to perspective (and leave the camera view, if applicable).

• Background Image... - This command will toggle the Background Image floating panel, which allows you to load and pick an image to display in the background of the orthographic 3D view, as well as adjust its size and position. This is useful if you have a picture (for example, a face) that you want to model from. Each pane (3D window view) has its own background image settings. Each pane can or cannot use background image independently. So, you can set top view to have one image, but unless you set the others to use an image, no other views will use it. Side view can have another, and front another. They can all be the same image if the image is one big composite of all views you want to reference; just use the offset values in each pane to position the image where you want it. Background images can be stills, movies (avi or sequences) or even a render from another scene.

• View Properties... - This command toggles the View Properties floating panel, which allows you to toggle the grid and adjust its spacing, adjust the zoom of the camera, toggle specific axes (X, Y, and Z), view and change the specific location of the 3D cursor, adjust several toggles (outlining the selected object, showing all object centers, showing relationship lines), and, lock the 3D view so that it always points towards a certain object or bone. See View Properties Window for more details.
• Render Preview... - This command toggles the Render Preview panel, which shows a (relatively) live preview render of whatever it is over.

Select Menu

• Grouped - Blender has a few ways of grouping items together. This submenu contains commands to select objects by their various groupings.
  • Children - This command selects all the children of the selected object(s) (as in their children, the children of their children, etc.)
  • Immediate Children - This command selects the children of the select object(s); however, unlike the previous command, it does not continue selecting the children of the children, just the direct descendants of the parent.
  • Parent - This command selects the parent(s) of the selected object(s).
  • Siblings (Shared Parent) - This command selects all the objects that shared the parent of an object. This means that if you have, for example, several Blender objects that make up one physical object that are all children of one part of the object of an empty, you can select one Blender object that is part of the physical object, use this command, and all the Blender objects that make up the physical object will be selected (if that made any sense!).
  • Objects of Same Type - This command selects all objects of the same type (Lamp, Mesh, Camera, etc.)
  • Objects on Shared Layers - This command selects all the objects on the same layers as the selected object(s). {I think.}
  • Objects in Same Group - This command selects all the objects in the groups that the selected object(s) are in. This can be used for the same purpose as Siblings (Shared Parent) if you have grouped parts of a physical object instead of using parents.
  • Objects Hooks - This command selects any objects that are acting as Hooks for the selected object(s).
• Linked - This submenu contains commands that allow you to select objects based on data (Ipo curves, Materials, Textures, etc.) that they share.
  • Object Ipo - This command selects all the objects that share the Ipo curves of the selected object(s).
  • ObData - This command selects all the objects that share the ObData of the selected object(s).
  • Material - This command selects all the object(s) that share the Material(s) of the selected object(s).
  • Texture - This command selects all the object(s) that share the Texture(s) of the selected object(s).

• Select All By Type - This submenu contains commands that allow you to select all the objects of a certain type (Mesh, Camera, Lamp, etc.)
• Select All By Layer - This submenu contains commands that allow you to select all the objects in a specified layer.
• Inverse - This command inverts the selection (selects all the deselected objects and deselects all the selected objects.
• Select/Deselect All - This command deselects the current selection if there is one; if nothing is selected, it selects everything.

• Border Select - This command allows you to select objects using the traditional rectangle that most programs use. After pressing B or selecting this menu option, click LMB and drag your mouse diagonally through your workspace. When you release your LMB , all objects that were totally within the box will be selected. If you instead click RMB and drag, all objects within the box will be de-selected.

Object Menu

This menu operates on objects as a whole. Many options act on the active object, based on other objects. You indicate that the Blender by RMB clicking on the base object, then Shift RMB clicking on the active object, and then invoking the menu option. In the case of wanting to work on more than two objects, simply click on all the base objects first; the last object selected will be the active object.

• Scripts: this submenu lists available python scripts written to extend blender's object handling capability. Of note is the Knife tool that cuts meshes. See each script's documentation for more information on how to use the script.
• Move to Layer: Objects can be organized into 20 Layers, and only a few layers can be selected for display to avoid clutter. This option moves the selected object(s) to a layer. To do so, select one of the 20 layers by clicking on one of the buttons in the popup window and click the OK button. If the layer is not selected for display, the object is removed from view. To view the objects on a layer, click the appropriate Layer button located to the right on the header.
• Convert Object Type: Objects can have Modifiers which can be turned on or off; this option applies those modifiers permanently.
• Join Objects: joins multiple selected objects into on single object.
• Boolean Operation: This submenu allows you to perform discrete operations on the active object based on previously selected objects. Union extends the object to include all selected objects. Difference boolean modifies the active object by cutting away parts where they intersect. Intersect discards everything except where they intersect. The first operations are destructive; they can also be made temporary via the Modifier option.
• Constraints: You can constrain an object based on another object, like a dog on a leash. Various ways to constrain the active object (based on another previously selected object) are by location, rotation, scale, etc.
• Track: You can make an object face, or always point to another object by the Track option. If you move the base object, the active object will rotate so that it always "keeps an eye" on the base object.
• Group: Grouping is a completely arbitrary way for you to group like things together. If you are making a scene of a park, you can group all the trees together if you like.
• Parent: Use this menu to designate the active object as the parent of one or more child objects. When you then move the parent, the children move with it.
• Copy Attributes: An object is in a certain place, called a location. "Location" is an attribute of the object. All selected objects can copy the attributes of active object using this option.
• Make Local: If an object was linked from another scene, this makes a local copy of it for the current scene.
• Make Single User: An object, like an 8-ball, can share the same mesh as another object. In this case the Mesh is called "billiards ball" and has 16 users (15 balls plus the cue ball). Making a local copy assigns a copy of the multi-user mesh to the selected object. You can then edit the local copy without affecting any of the other users.
• Make Links: To Scene This is a way to proxy an object to another scene. It exists in the current scene, but will show up in the linked scene as well. To Object Ipo, Mesh data, etc is a way to make the current object join the multi-user community and share the selected item.
• Delete: Wipes it out, man. Like totally. If its material and texture were single user and now are not used, they will not be saved with the .blend.
• Duplicate Linked: Makes a copy of the object, but links their mesh as multi-user, so if you change one (like a table leg), all the other table legs match.
• Duplicate: Makes a xerox copy. Well, a three-dimensional xerox copy, if there is such a thing.
• Insert Keyframe: Records the current location, rotation, etc (whatever you select) of the object at that frame. Use this to set up basic animation.
• Snap: This menu allow you to move the select object to the cursor, grid or vice versa. Very handy in making items share the same space
• Clear/Apply: Clears (resets to zero) the object's scale/rotation as selected, or applies current rotation/scale to the object making them default.
• Mirror: see previous section, half a monkey example.
• Transform: Use the menu to refresh your memory of the most common hotkeys.
• Transform Properties: Pressing N pops up a floating panel that gives you key information about the active object: location, rotation, scale, dimension.

Mode List

Blender has a few modes of operation; working on objects as a whole, or in edit mode by allowing you to modify the shape of the object. In Sculpt mode, your cursor becomes a tool to shape the object, while your cursor becomes a brush in Vertex Paint, Weight Paint, or Texture Paint modes.

ViewPort Shading List

see Manual/Using the 3D View

Rotation Selector

When rotating or scaling an object or bunch of vertices/edges/faces, you may want to shift the pivot point in 3D space. Using this selector, you can change the pivot point to the location of the cursor, the average center spot of the selected items (median), etc. Pivoting is fully described here.

Use the Object Center toggle to switch between multipoint averages or last selected as the center.

Manipulator Selectors

These handy selectors, also featured in other not-to-be-named CG packages, allow you to rotate or move objects by grabbing (clicking with your mouse) their controls and moving your mouse in the axis. Each color stands for an axis.

Click the buttons for a 3D Move, Rotate, or Scale Selector. You can move, rotate or scale according to a Global view, or local, etc. Generally, stick with Global view until you get the hang of things.

Layer Selector

Layers are pretty well documented here. In particular, selecting layers to see in is covered in that section on Viewing layers and Moving objects between layers is also discussed on a separate Layers page.

Render Button

The Render button renders an OpenGL copy of the 3D view. It's pretty much exactly what you see minus the grid, axes, etc; it just shows the objects. It uses the same Drawmode as the 3D view, so it's rather useful if someone asks to see the wireframe of an object you're working on. Shift-clicking the button will render an animation, making it useful for making preview renders of animations.

Using the 3D Window

Description

Your window pane is just like a window looking in on a 3D world. To help keep you oriented as to which way is up (Z), an XYZ axis orientation indicator is in the bottom left hand corner, along with the number of the frame you're working on and the name of the active object. The rest of the view, if in one of the normal orthogonal views (front, side or top) will show a grid. Each line in the grid is a blender unit (BU). A BU is an arbitrary unit of measurement. If you are modeling something from the real world, you can set (in your mind) a BU equal to whatever unit of measure your country and culture favor at the moment. If you are a Swiss CERN physisist, then perhaps Angstroms are your thing. If you are a German Engineer, then Millimeter might be in order. If you are an Amsterdam Space Cadet, then Astronomical Units might light up your fancy.

In this 3D space, the active object is hightlighted in pink. Your cursor is a red-white circle with a scope crosshairs. LMB clicking moves the cursor. Use the Snap button to move the cursor by some means other than aimlessly clicking around.

RMB clicking selects the object being pointed to unless it is already selected, in which case RMB clicking de-selects it, like a toggle. Shift RMB button selects another object and keeps the first one(s) still selected, allowing you to select multiple objects (remember that the last one selected is the active one).

Editing Mode

Enter Edit mode by the mode selector, or by pressing Tab in the window. In edit mode, you select the components of the object, and do things to them. Strange, horrible things. Unless you're good at this stuff and are willing to put in a lot of practice, in which case you'll get better. Some objects, like cameras, cannot be edited. Press Tab again to return to the mode from whence you came.

3D Window Toolbox (Popup Menu)

Pressing space in the 3D window pops up a very handy little menu. You can also press LMB or RMB for one second to do so.

Add

Use this option to add objects to your scene. You can get to this option by

• clicking the Add menu item in the User Preferences header at the top of your screen, or
• pressing space when your mouse cursor is hovering over any 3D view window

The object, when it is added, is placed wherever your 3D cursor is, and the object is automatically placed in Edit mode because Blender assumes you want to start modifying it right away. To set the location of your 3D cursor, you can:

• LMB click in a 3D View window, and the cursor jumps to that spot. To place the cursor in 3D space, you will have to click in two windows that have different perspectives; once for example in the top view to establish the XY location, and then again in a front view to establish the Z location,
• Use the View ->Properties window and enter an EXACT XYZ location in the 3D Cursor fields, or
• Select an object whose center is where you want the 3D cursor to be, and Shift Snap the Cursor -> Selection, and the cursor will jumpt to the selected object's location. Note that an object added there will be put inside or will have its surface mushed with the other objects (the two objects will attempt to occupy the same space).

Blender supports many different primitives which can be added to your scene. If you add an object in Object mode, the primitive is added as a separate object to the scene. If you add an object while in Edit mode for another object, the primitive is added to the the other object, forming a compound object from many primitives:

• Mesh - this submenu allows you to add polygonal meshes to your scene. The monkey (Suzanne) is quite useful for testing purposes (trying out new materials, fur, etc.)
• Curve - this submenu allows you to add curves or paths to your scene. These are useful for modeling curved objects (roller coasters, legs of fancy furniture, etc) or for making curves for animated objects to follow.
• Surface - this submenu allows you to add NURBS objects to your scene.
• Meta - this submenu allows you to add meta objects to your scene. These are algorithmically-generated objects, and are quite useful for special effects (using two metaballs to animate a cell splitting in half, for example).
• Text - this command allows you to add Text objects to your scene.
• Empty - this command allows you to add Empties to your scene. Empties aren't rendered; rather, they are often used to control aspects of other objects. For example, you could use an Empty to control the rotation of an array modifier. Since they don't render, you can use them for all sorts of things such as hooks, etc. that require an object to get a location, rotation and/or size from.
• Group - this submenu allows you to add copies of any groups you have in your scene. This is quite useful if you have entire objects grouped together, as you can easily add copies of them.
• Camera - this command adds a camera to your scene.
• Lamp - this submenu contains various types of lamps you can add to your scene. For more information on the different types of lamps, see Lamp Types in the manual.
• Armature - this command adds an Armature (skeleton) to your scene. These are primarily used for animating arms, legs, etc, though if you are in a Pixar-y mood, you can always rig up a lamp!
• Lattice - this command adds a Lattice to your scene. These objects do not do anything themselves; however, you can use them to deform objects. In order to have a Lattice deform an object, you have to add a Lattice Modifier to the object you want to deform. You can then place the Lattice around the object (like a cage), and any changes to the Lattice will deform the object. The more detailed the object you are deforming is, the better it will look, so a Subsurf modifier may be helpful here.

Edit

• Enter Editmode - this command will enter Edit mode, which allows you to edit the vertices, edges, and faces of a specific object, rather than manipulating the entire object.
• Duplicate - this command makes a separate duplicate of the selected object(s).
• Duplicate Linked - this command makes a duplicate of the selected object; however, the ObData is shared, so the objects share the same mesh (if applicable), Ipo curve, etc.
• Delete - this command deletes the selected object(s).
• Object Keys - this submenu contains commands related to keyframes.
  • Show/Hide - this command toggles showing wireframe version of the keyframes for the selected object. This is quite useful, as it allows you to visualize the path of the selected object.
  • Select Next - this command selects the next keyframe for the selected object.
  • Select Prev - this command selects the previous keyframe for the selected object.

Select

• Grouped - This submenu contains commands to select objects by various groupings.
  • Children - This command selects all the children of the selected object(s) (as in their children, the children of their children, etc.)
  • Immediate Children - This command selects the children of the select object(s); however, unlike the previous command, it does not continue selecting the children of the childrden.
  • Parent - This command selects the parent(s) of the selected object(s).
  • Siblings (Shared Parent) - This command selects all the objects that shared the parent of an object. This means that if you have, for example, several Blender objects that make up one physical object that are all children of one part of the object of an empty, you can select one Blender object that is part of the physical object, use this command, and all the Blender objects that make up the physical object will be selected (if that made any sense!).
  • Objects of Same Type - This command selects all objects of the same type (Lamp, Mesh, Camera, etc.)
  • Objects on Shared Layers - This command selects all the objects on the same layers as the selected object(s). {I think.}
  • Objects in Same Group - This command selects all the objects in the groups that the selected object(s) are in. This can be used for the same purpose as Siblings (Shared Parent) if you have grouped parts of a physical object instead of using parents.
  • Objects Hooks - This command selects all the objects that are acting as Hooks for the selected object(s).
• Linked - This submenu contains commands that allow you to select objects based on data (Ipo curves, Materials, Textures, etc.) that they share.
  • Object Ipo - This command selects all the objects that share the Ipo curves of the selected object(s).
  • ObData - This command selects all the objects that share the ObData of the selected object(s).
  • Material - This command selects all the object(s) that share the Material(s) of the selected object(s).
  • Texture - This command selects all the object(s) that share the Texture(s) of the selected object(s).

• Select All By Type - This submenu contains commands that allow you to select all the objects of a certain type (Mesh, Camera, Lamp, etc.)
• Select All By Layer - This submenu contains commands that allow you to select all the objects in a specified layer.
• Inverse - This command inverts the selection (selects all the deselected objects and deselects all the selected objects.
• Select/Deselect All - This command deselects the current selection if there is one; if nothing is selected, it selects everything.

• Border Select - This command allows you to select objects using the traditional rectangle marquee (which isn't actually display as a marquee) that most programs use.

Transform

• Grab/Move - This command allows you to freely grab (move/translate) the selected object(s).
• Grab/Move on Axis - This submenu contains commands that allow you to move an object along a specific axis: X Global, Y Global, etc.

• Rotate - This command allows you to rotate an object about the view Z axis (i.e. it turns clockwise/counterclockwise around the screen; the rotation axis goes straight into the display.)
• Rotate on Axis - This submenu allows you to rotate an object about a specific axis. X Global, Y Global, etc.

• Scale - This command scales the selected object(s).
• Scale on Axis - This submenu contains commands that allow you to scale an object on a certain axis: X Global, etc.

• ObData to Center - This command moves the Mesh/Curve Points/etc. of an object so that they are centered according to the current object center.
• Center New - This command moves the center of the object to the center of the object data.
• Center Cursor - This command moves the center of the object to the current location of the 3D cursor.

• Properties - This command toggles the Transform Properties floating panel, which allows you to input exact locations for vertices, as well as location, rotation, and size for entire objects.

• Mirror - This command allows you to mirror (flip) the selection about the appropriate axis. As with all axis-related stuff, Global refers to the view in general, while Local refers to the axis specific to that object.

• Snap - This submenu contains commands that allow you to snap the 3D cursor and the selection to the grid and each other.
  • Selection -> Grid - This command snaps the selection to the nearest point on the grid.
  • Selection -> Cursor - This command snaps the selection to the location of the 3D cursor.
  • Cursor -> Grid - This command snaps the 3D cursor to the nearest point on the grid. This is quite useful if you manually clicked to position the 3D cursor, and it didn't land exactly where you wanted.
  • Cursor -> Selection - This command snaps the 3D cursor to the center of the selected object(s).
  • Selection -> Center - This command snaps the selected object(s) to the center of the selected object(s). This is most useful in edit mode, as it allows you to snap vertices, edges, or faces to the center of the object you're working on.

• Clear/Apply - This submenu contains commands that allow you to clear (reset) or apply (make permanent) the location, rotation, scale, deformation, or duplicates of the selected objects.
  • Clear Location - This command clears (resets) the location of the selected object(s) to 0,0,0.
  • Clear Rotation - This command clears (resets) the rotation of the selected object(s).
  • Clear Scale - This command clears (resets) the scale of the selected object(s).
  • Apply Scale/Rotation - This command applies the scale and rotation. The object data (mesh/curve points/etc.) is modified so that the scale is 1 and the object isn't rotated at all.
  • Apply Deformation
  • Make Duplicates Real - This command makes the duplicates (from using DupliVerts or DupliFrames) real objects (so you can edit them individually).

Render

• Passepartout - This option toggles the Passepartout option of the selected camera. When turned in, it darkens the area around the camera, allowing you to focus on the area that's actually going to be rendered.
• Set Border - This option allows you to drag to select a specific area of the camera view to render. This is useful if you're tweaking a specific detail of an object and don't want to render the entire scene (If you're tweaking an entire object, Local View may be more of what you're looking for). If you want to remove this clipping region from your future rendering, uncheck the Border button (checked by default when you use the Set Border option) in the bottom of the Render panel in the Scene (F10) context and Render buttons subcontext.
• Render - This option renders the current scene. It's the same as the big RENDER button in the button window, and can also be activated with F12.
• Anim - This option renders an animation using the current animation settings. It's the same as the ANIM button in the button window, and can be activated by Ctrl F12.
• Preview - This toggles the Preview Render floating panel, which displays a preview (non-antialiased) version of whatever portion of the 3D view is currently underneath it.

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