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A short overview of functionality |
This tutorial gives a
summary of the most important windows and ButtonsWindows in Blender. It
does not try to be complete nor to explain each window in detail. Much of
the functionality of these windows is described in tutorials, both on this
site and on web pages from Blender users.
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The DisplayButtons (F10) |
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Once you are ready to
render your image or save it to disk, you need the DisplayButtons window. In
this window you can control all the parameters that have to do with items
as rendering quality, rendering size, animation length and animation
filenames. |
![]() Image size and quality |
To define the image
size you can either select a preset value from the row of buttons on the far
right or set an image size yourself by changing the SizeX and SizeY
values. For preview rendering, you can also render the image at 25%, 50% or 75% of the final output
size. Turn anti-aliasing on or off with the OSA button. Control the image quality with the oversampling buttons 5, 8, 11 or 16. A higher value will result in a better image quality at the penalty of a longer rendering time. |
![]() Saving animations. |
Start rendering by
selecting the 'Render' button or by pressing the ![]() ![]() ![]() Press 'Anim' to render an entire animation. When rendering an animation, enter the basename of the animation frames in the 'Pics' field. Each file will be automatically named <basename>+framenumber. For example: frame0001, frame0002 etc. After rendering, press the 'Play' button to play back your animation. |
![]() Choosing image and animation formats |
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![]() Animation length. |
To determine the
start- and endframe of your animation, change the Sta: and End: values.
After you have rendered your animation press Play to play it back.
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![]() The FileWindow |
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![]() The Image Select Window |
![]() The 3D Window |
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![]() The IPOWindow |
![]() TextWindow |
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![]() Drag the window edge to reveal the InfoWindow |
![]() InfoWindow settings. |
The Info Window shows
you the settings of Blender. Among other things, you can tell Blender
where to store autosave files, when to save them (use the 'Time' value) and how many versions to
keep on disk. Here, you can also activate Blender's tooltips function.
Tooltips will appear in the right corner of the header of the Info Window,
right next to the Blender URL and version number. You can make your settings permanent by pressing ![]() ![]() |
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Lamp Buttons (F4) |
![]() Lamp Buttons |
The Lamp Buttons will
only show when a lamp has been selected. With these buttons, you can change
all the parameters of lamps, like their color, energy, type (regular lamp, spotlight or sun). You can also control the quality
of shadows by manipulating the clipping values and shadow buffer sizes. |
MaterialButtons (F5) |
![]() MaterialButtons |
MaterialButtons are
only shown when an object with an Material has been selected. To create a
new Material or browse in the scene-materials use the MenuButton in the
MaterialButtons header. This window allows control over properties as
object color, shininess, transparency, textures, texture types, texture projection methods. More information about materials and texture maps is available in Texturing a Castle. |
TextureButtons (F6) |
![]() Texture Buttons |
In this window you can
select several types of textures for use in a material, light or world setting. The available types are:
Image: You can load an image as a 'texture map'. This image will then be projected on an object in the way that you define (for example using planar or spherical projection). Projection method is a material property. Procedural: Clouds, Wood, Marble, Magic, Blend, Stucci and Noise. These textures are predefined and have a number of parameters that you can adjust. Procedural textures are also truly three dimensional. An example of this would be a block of wood: if you cut out a part of it, the wood texture needs to continue on the inside in a realistic manner. Plugin: You can also program your own piece of code to use as a procedural texture. It is similar to writing a sequence editor plugin. More information about this can be found in the help section of this site. Environment map: Environment maps are used to simulate reflections of the environment in an object. To achieve this, Blender calculates six images from the object's viewpoint. These images are then combined to compute a reflection. |
Animation Buttons |
![]() AnimationButtons |
In the left part of
the Animation Buttons window you can set properties for things like curve following, automatic object duplication and object
tracking. The middle part of the window contains the interface to object plugins like particle systems and the wave effect. Pressing the 'New Effect' button and selecting an effect from the effects list on the right will attach a new effect to the currently selected object and display the list of options for this effect. The standard effects are: particle system, wave and build. |
WorldButtons |
![]() WorldButtons |
In the WorldButtons
you can define settings that are scene-global. These are for example the
mist (fog) settings, rendering of stars, the color and textures of the horizon and zenith.
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RealtimeButtons (F8) |
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The RealtimeButtons
are Blenders editor for defining interactive realtime 3D graphics. Here
you can edit settings for the physics of realtime objects, and connect objects with
game-logic. Check our numerous tutorials on creation of real-time content!
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EditButtons (F9) |
![]() EditButtons |
The buttons that are
shown in the EditButtons window depend on the kind of object that you
have currently selected. Each type of Objects has its own specific set of
Buttons and settings. Meshes for example have Buttons for manipulation of
vertices and Curves have Buttons to edit the resolution
and the order of the Curve. |
Display Buttons (F10) |
![]() DisplayButtons |
Using the Display
Buttons, you can control the way Blender will render your images. Set the image size with the SizeX and
SizeY buttons and control the image quality by setting an OSA (Over
SAmpling) value. Higher values result in better image quality, but a
longer rendering time. Select the 'Render' button to render a still image, or the 'Anim' button to render a range of images. (For animations, the 'Sta' and
'End' values determine the length of the animation).
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