Free software in the office and at home. Mesh objects How to connect vertices in blender
Lesson from the series: “Creating 3D graphics in Blender”
We looked at changing the position, size and rotation angle of an object in previous lessons. They were carried out using the modification commands Ttanslate (G), Rotate (R), Scale (S).
In this lesson you will learn how to change the shape of individual objects. Such changes are only possible in editing mode.
To enter editing mode, press the Tab key or select Edit Mode in the 3D view window header.
In edit mode you can work with individual vertices. You can tell if you're in edit mode by looking at the yellow or black dots and lines on the surface of the selected object.
Black denotes unselected vertices and edges, yellow denotes selected ones.
After creating an object and switching to editing mode, all its parts are selected (in this state they are highlighted in yellow).
If you deselect, the component parts of the object are shown in black.
Options Selections in Edit Mode
In editing mode, you can select either only vertices, or edges, or faces, depending on which mode is currently enabled. Buttons for switching these modes are located in the header of the 3D window.
After selecting the required element, you can move it, and in the case of edges and faces, you can also resize and rotate it.
To do this, use the same basic modification commands that we talked about earlier (“G” - move, “S” - scale, “R” - rotation).
Ways to select elements
All that remains is to learn how to select elements for editing. The most common cases when selecting vertices are described in the table below.
When selecting edges and faces, we proceed in the same way.
| What to do | How to do |
| Select individual vertex | Click on it with the Right Mouse Button (RMB). |
| Select multiple vertices | Hold down the Shift key and right-click on them |
| Select a group of vertices with a rectangle | Press the “B” key, the rectangle selection tool will turn on. Select the rectangular area by dragging while holding down LMB. All vertices that fall under the rectangle will be selected. |
| Select a group of vertices with a circle. | Press the “C” key, the circle selection tool will turn on; Set the desired circle size using the “+” and “-” keys on the numeric keypad (scrolling the mouse wheel works similarly to “+” and “-“); Click the LMB. All vertices that fall within the circle will be selected. |
| Select all vertices. | Press the "A" key once |
| Deselect all vertices | Press the "A" key again once |
Proportional Editing Mode
Proportional editing mode is used to create smooth object shapes when editing vertices.
To enable Proportional Editing mode, use the “O” key, or the small button with a circle in the 3D view header. After clicking it, to the right of it, an additional button will appear, which allows you to select proportional editing options.
We'll mostly be using the "Sharp" or "Smooth" options, but you can experiment with either one.
You can control the number of vertices affected by proportional editing using the “+” and “-” keys on the numeric keypad or by scrolling the mouse wheel. A circle will be visible on the screen, changing its size.
Those vertices that are limited by this circle will be subject to changes.
Practical work
Exercise. Using a sphere as a Mesh object, create a 3D model of a water drop. To change the shape, use the proportional editing mode.
Work progress
1. Launch Blender. Create a new scene and save it to a file called "Blob" in your personal folder.
2. Remove the cube. Press X, then Enter or Delete, then Enter.
3. Add a sphere to the scene (Fig. 3-1, a) (Add -> Mesh -> UVSphere).
4. Switch to front view (Num 1).
5. Zoom in on the sphere by pointing the mouse at the sphere and turning the mouse wheel.
6. Switch to editing mode. Press the TAb key on the keyboard or select Edit Mode in the 3D view header (Fig. 3-1, b).
7. Reset the selection by pressing the A key (Figure 3-1, c).
8. Select the topmost vertex of the sphere by right-clicking on the topmost point of the sphere (Fig. 3-1, d).
9. Enable Proportional Transition Editing by pressing the “O” key on your keyboard or the button in the 3D view header.
10. Move the vertex up and slightly to the side, having previously adjusted the number of vertices to be moved (Fig. 3-2, a).
To do this:
- Press the G key (turn on movement mode).
- By rotating the mouse wheel, determine the number of vertices to move (the size of the circle enclosing them changes).
- By moving the mouse (without clicking LMB), achieve the desired shape of the object.
11. Switch to Object Mode by pressing the Tab key. (Fig. 3-2, b).
12. Make the resulting object smooth by clicking the “Smooth” button (Left toolbar, Tools tab, Edit group). (Figure 3-2, c).
13. Switch to camera view (Num 0).
In these lessons I explain how to work correctly with vertices, faces and polygons. There are 3 lessons here because this stage is one of the most important in modeling complex objects with an uneven shape.
Very often, when modeling, you have to deal with surfaces that cannot be attributed to one or another primitive. The objects only vaguely resemble primitives, but it is still necessary to spend some time to make, for example, a helmet from the BALL primitive, or to make a battery, marker or pen from a cylinder.
In this case, editing the position helps us out vertices or faces or polygons. A vertex is the smallest possible object in blender and a single vertex will not be rendered. Next comes the edge - it consists of two interconnected vertices, which also will not be displayed during rendering. And finally, a polygon is 4 points connected by edges. The empty space between these points is filled with a plane - which is displayed during visualization and has an outer and an inner side. Or face and back. A polygon can also consist of 3 vertices, but it is not recommended to use such polygons, as they significantly complicate further work with the model.
In the first video we will create a felt-tip pen and learn how to work with the Extrusion (extrusion) operation. Despite the fact that polygons are actually extruded, you can control the process not only by editing polygons, but also vertices or faces. You only need to select 4 vertices or faces for this.
In the next video, unlike the previous one, we will press polygons inside an object to reinforce the skill and understand the essence of how polygons are extruded.
And finally, to finally consolidate the skill, we will create hairdressing scissors using 2 new modifiers. This will be the first work in which the most commonly used modifiers are used: Smoothing - to increase polygons and model quality. And mirroring - in order to create symmetrical objects.
Hotkeys worth remembering:
Tab – go to editing mode
A – select all (or deselect all)
Z – wireframe/solid view
B – rectangle selection
C – circle selection
Alt+RMB – axis selection
E – extrusion
Ctrl+N – turn polygons outward
P – separation of the selected fragment from the original object
W – context menu in editing mode
Ctrl+Z – undo last action
Alt+M – merge vertices
Alt+Tab – change the operation mode of vertices/faces/polygons
H (Alt+H) – hide (open) the object in the projection windows
Ctrl+R – cut the object with an additional edge
As already mentioned, modeling begins with the creation of objects. This section will discuss the basic techniques that allow you to create objects and tools that are intended for this. But first, it makes sense to get a little familiar with Blender.
When you start the program, a welcome window appears on top of the main window. It will disappear if you click on it left mouse button.
The newly installed Blender has an English interface. In order to change the language, you need to select the item in the main menu File -> User Preferences. The program settings window will appear. On the tab System checkbox must be checked International Fonts, select the desired language and check all three boxes below - Interface, Hints, New data. The Russian language is supported almost everywhere in the program. There are other tabs in the same window. You can customize almost everything related to appearance - font style and size, font color, windows, menus, help. And so on.
After closing the window, the settings you have made must be saved, otherwise the next time you start you will have to do them again. To save, select the item in the main menu File -> Save launch file. The launch file stores not only decorative interface settings, but also the location of windows, their purpose, and much more. Now every time you launch the window will look the way it was saved.
Before discussing the Blender window, it is important to understand the concept of orientation in scene space. This is very important. For example, the force of gravity is directed down the Z axis. Therefore, if you mix up the axes, then the elements of the scene (objects, water, snow, etc.) will tend to move not down, but up or sideways. For static scenes this doesn’t matter, but it’s better to get used to the correct orientation.
First of all, it must be said that Blender, like most computer modeling programs, uses a right-handed Cartesian coordinate system. It is well known to everyone from the school mathematics course. Its three axes are designated X (width), Y (depth) and Z (height). If you put a piece of paper on a table and draw the X and Y axes on it, the Z axis will point up.
The coordinate grid, which is visible on the working field, is located horizontally, in other words, in the plane of this imaginary sheet of paper. Visible on the grid the red line is directed along the X axis, A green - along the Y axis. Z axis is blue(not shown). These coordinates are called global.
Each object has its own local coordinate system. It looks on the screen as three multi-colored arrows coming out from its center, and is built in exactly the same way as the global one. When creating an object, the directions of the axes of the local and global coordinate systems coincide. But if the object is rotated, then the axes of the local coordinate system will also rotate and their direction will not be the same as that of the axes of the global coordinate system.
Now the species names accepted in Blender become clear:
- top view - viewing direction towards the Z axis arrow;
- front view - viewing direction along the Y-axis arrow;
- right view - viewing direction towards the X axis arrow;
So, the Blender window. In fact, it consists of several different windows. Each window has its own toolbar. Its capabilities depend on the type of window. The window type is set using the rightmost button of its panel (circled in red in the illustration) by selecting from several options. The icon on the button corresponds to the selected window type. In the illustration, the window with a cube has the type 3D view.
On the right side of the Blender window are the main project management tools. Although this entire area looks like one, it is actually two different windows. At the top there is a window that has the type Project structure, and at the bottom - Properties. The first window clearly shows all project elements and allows you to disable them, copy them, or delete them. The second window contains settings for materials, scene, world, rendering, and management of complex effects and filters.
Let's go back to the window 3D view. An object is visible on the working field. In this case it is a cube. It appears every time the program is started if the startup file has not been modified. In addition to the cube, a camera and a lamp are visible. In fact, this is the preparation of the stage. If you press the F12 key, the scene rendering process will be launched - the camera will take a photo, which will be shown in the render window instead of the working field. That's all. This is how 3D models are created. Only the cube needs to be replaced with other objects, the lighting and materials must be adjusted for a specific scene, the camera must be positioned correctly, and not forgetting to specify the necessary characteristics for it. After this you can take a “photo”.
Return to previous window 3D view you can use the Esc key, the cursor should be located in the render window. You need to remember this rule right away, because in Blender almost everything uses hotkeys. If you type the desired combination, it will affect the work field where the cursor is currently located.
Currently there is only one workspace in the Blender window. It is part of the window 3D view and shows the scene. But there can be as many of them as required. For example, four - straight view, side view, top view and isometric view. Additional windows are moved out and retracted with the mouse using the small shaded triangle in the upper right part of each window (marked with a red triangle in the illustration). When you hover over it, the cursor changes to a cross. In each window you can customize your view of the same scene.
View of the working field in the window 3D view controlled by keys on the additional numeric keypad as follows:
- top view - 7, bottom view - Ctrl+7;
- front view - 1, rear view - Ctrl+1;
- right view - 3, left view - Ctrl+3;
- camera view - 0;
- switching between orthogonal view and perspective - 5;
- rotation around the horizontal in one direction and the other (multiple presses) - 2 and 8;
- rotation around the vertical in one direction and the other (multiple presses) - 4 and 6;
The right and left parts of the working field are occupied by Toolbar(Object Tools) and Transformation Panel(Transform). The names are quite conventional, but generally reflect the meaning. View Toolbars varies depending on what type of objects is active. Transformation Panel in fact, it is intended more for controlling the location and movement of objects. Both panels are not always needed, and you want to have more space on the screen, so you can quickly turn them on and off with the T and N keys, respectively. In what follows we will call these panels T and N for brevity.
At the bottom of the N panel, you can specify a background image and precisely set its size, position, and contrast. This is not the background that will be visible in the finished scene. The background image is not taken into account during rendering and is only needed to simplify the process of modeling objects, especially complex ones. A very convenient and popular feature.
The background image is only visible in orthographic views, this is logical.
Now you can navigate to the window 3D view. There are some peculiarities here, but everything is very logical and easy to remember.
Objects are selected in Blender right mouse button. To select multiple objects, you must additionally press and hold the Shift key. This is different from what we are used to in other programs.
You can select rectangular areas - key B or circular areas - key C, cancel - Esc. Pressing the A key deselects or selects all.
But left The mouse button allows you to move the 3D cursor. This is the dot in the crosshairs surrounded by a red and white dotted circle. Newly created objects appear at the location of the 3D cursor. To accurately position the 3D cursor, you need to press Shift+S and select the appropriate item from the menu that appears.
Typically, the center of an object is aligned with its center of mass. Center allocated object is marked by a point from which three colored arrows of its local coordinate system emerge. An object can be moved exactly along the desired axis simply by dragging the corresponding arrow with the mouse. If you press and hold on an object right mouse button, the object can be moved arbitrarily to any place in the scene. You can lock an object in the desired location after moving it by clicking left mouse button.
To move the entire scene, you need to press and hold the Shift+middle mouse button combination. Without Shift, instead of moving, there will be arbitrary rotation of the scene.
Scrolling the mouse wheel zooms in and out of the scene. The same can be done by pressing the + and - keys on the additional numeric keypad.
Blender's interface is so well thought out that the main menu has become quite small and is used mainly to open or save a file, import/export and a few other actions.
Creating and transforming an object
Before you start creating objects, you need to decide on the scale and units of measurement. It is recommended to create the scene and objects on it in the most complete accordance with their actual dimensions. If the landscape is being modeled, then it will most likely be kilometers. If we are talking about still life, then - centimeters. The idea is clear. If this rule is not followed, dynamic effects on the model, if present in the scene, may look unnatural.
The requirements for the accuracy of absolute dimensions, when it comes to real-life objects, are not very high. A mistake even twice will not lead to disaster. Although, of course, there are areas where accuracy is important, for example, architecture. In general, Blender is not very good at setting precise absolute sizes of objects, although it allows you to do this. Still, this is not a design tool, but rather an artistic one. Let us repeat, we are talking about absolute sizes. Relative ones must be maintained as accurately as possible.
The scale and units of measurement are set in the right window Properties when the button is pressed Scene. It can be seen that in this case the metric system of measures (meters, kilograms, etc.) and the indication of angle values in degrees are chosen. The scale is 0.1. This means that one grid division in the center of the screen is equal to 0.1 meters. The imperial system is feet, pounds, etc. It is possible that someone prefers them.
It should not be surprising that the program requires some data related to mass, speed or time. Calculations of dynamic effects are made based on objective physical laws, so such things are taken into account.
Any object can be built in different ways. The correct algorithm will be determined by practice and experiments. Often objects are created by converting primitives existing in the program. Another way is to import a previously created matching object from a file. But first we need to remove the currently unnecessary cube from the scene. In order to delete an object, you need to select it, press the Del key and confirm the action.
Inserting a primitive is done using the keyboard shortcut Shift+A or, what is the same, using the private menu item of the 3D view Add. There is a large selection of primitives here. “Real” objects, those that can be subjected to various kinds of shape transformations, are the objects from the section Polymesh. The rest can be converted to a mesh if necessary, but are not initially mesh. They are used less frequently and, at least sometimes, for other purposes.
Now that the workspace is cleared, it's time to add an object - Shift+A -> Mesh -> Cube. We will make a chessboard, and a cube is perfect for this.
As a rule, objects should be added in Object mode, as can be seen in the illustration. All new objects, as mentioned above, appear at the point where the 3D cursor is located. They have the original size, in this case it is a cube measuring 2x2x2 meters. When a new object appears, its characteristics are listed at the bottom of the T panel and can be changed here. After the first transformation of the object, this option becomes unavailable. In this case, this is not critical, but for some other objects, for example, for a torus, the necessary characteristics can be set only at this moment.
Panel N displays data about the size and position of the object. They can be accurately adjusted by directly entering numbers.
There are three basic object transformations - moving, scaling and rotating.
Moving with the mouse has already been discussed above. Another option for this transformation is to use the G (grab) key, which is almost the same. You can move an object strictly along one of the axes. If you press G and X in sequence, movement will occur only along the X axis.
Scaling (changing the size of an object) is done using the S (scale) key. To rotate an object, use the R (rotate) key. Adding a letter that denotes one of the coordinate axes also works here.
Now is the time to resize the cube to the desired size. Let's reduce it (S) and turn it into a slab by changing the vertical size (S, then Z).
If necessary, you can cancel any action by pressing the key combination Ctrl+Z. Return to a previously undone change - Shift+Ctrl+Z.
As mentioned earlier, mesh objects are made up of vertices, edges, and faces. These elements can be seen and actions can be performed with them. To do this you need to switch from Object mode, in which the program is now located, in Editing mode. Switching is done by selecting the desired mode on the bottom toolbar of the 3D view window or by pressing the Tab key, which is a switch between the last two modes.
By the way, the Z key switches the display mode between options Solid And Frame. This also works in Object mode, and in Editing mode.
IN Editing mode the same rules apply to vertices, edges, and faces that were true for objects in Object mode. They can be moved, rotated and scaled exactly as described above. You can select groups of elements by holding down the Shift key. The B, C, and A selection keys also work.
We must understand that in Editing mode You can work with only one type of element at a time - vertices, edges or faces. The required type of elements is selected by clicking on the corresponding button on the 3D view panel.
Since the object was selected, now in Editing mode all its elements are highlighted. Therefore, you need to remove all selections (A), set the type of elements Selecting vertices(circled in red in the illustration) and select the four top vertices (holding Shift). This will highlight the corresponding edges and top face, which is logical.
Now we need to enter a field of smaller area into the upper edge, which will later be divided into 64 cells.
To complete the first task, we need to obtain four new vertices from the selected ones and bring them closer together in the plane of the upper face. This is done by sequentially applying the extrusion and scaling commands (E, then S, then mouse movement). Extrusion is a powerful and frequently used 3D modeling technology. Let's look at it in more detail below.
The future chessboard remains selected from the previous operation. Now it can be divided into 64 cells. To do this, press the button three times in panel T. Each press will increase the number of cells fourfold. In fact, these cells are independent faces, which allows you to work with each of them separately, for example, paint them in the desired color.
All that remains is to give the chessboard a more realistic look. Now it is formed by ideal planes and angles. In reality, all objects have some deviations from this form. One of these “defects” are chamfers that always remain at the corners. There is a modifier to create a chamfer Bevel. In general, there are quite a lot of modifiers in Blender. They are on Property panels and you have to contact them quite often.
Extrusion
Externally, this is indeed very similar to extrusion technology, which is widely used in industry. The idea behind this method is to create and move a new element that remains connected to the previous one. Moving can be combined with any of the three basic transformations - moving, scaling and rotating. The process looks quite clear on the test cube, so it makes sense to spend two minutes examining it yourself.
Extrusion works in Editing mode. Hotkey - E. You can extrude any of the three primary elements - vertices, edges and faces.
Now let's model a chess rook using the extrusion method. You need to have a silhouette of this figure in the background. For convenient operation, you will need to enlarge (zoom in) the image.
The base of the rook is shaped like a circle, so Shift+A -> Mesh -> Circle. It appears in the XY plane, which is what is required. Now we need to go to Editing mode, type of selected elements - vertices. The following sequence is simple:
- Press the E key, then the Z key, then move the mouse to slightly raise the vertices.
- Press the S key, then move the mouse to slightly change the section of the future model.
The finished form has angular transitions. To eliminate them you need to press the button on panel T.
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This model does not yet have a bottom, this can be seen if you look at it from below. Sometimes such shortcomings are acceptable. But if you still need to fix it, then you need to add another circle (Shift+A -> Mesh -> Circle) and attach it to the model from below. At the moment the circle appears, you need to specify in the T panel in its properties Fill type -> Fan of triangles. Of course, this could have been done with the circle that was used for extrusion. Then the bottom would have appeared initially.
After adjusting the size, the bottom must be accurately installed in its place and combined with the boat. To do this in Object mode you need to select both meshes (using the Shift key) and then merge them - CTRL+J. Now it is one object, as you can see by moving it.
The extrusion method is great for modeling bodies that don't have complex shape curves, although it can do that too. But there are other methods.
Creating a rotation shape using a Bezier curve
Bezier curves have already been discussed in the Vector Graphics in Inkscape section. They are well suited for constructing complex lines. Such a line can serve as the basis for constructing bodies of revolution.
Blender also has the ability to create Bezier curves. And in the same way they are controlled by two levers at each control point.
Let's add this curve: Shift+A -> Curve -> Bezier. The curve appears in the XY plane. In our case, it should be located in the YZ plane if the modeling is done in a front view. To do this, in panel N you need to specify for the curve Rotation the X axis is 90 degrees, and the Y and Z axes are 0 degrees. To obtain a guaranteed flat curve on Property panels in section Object data there is a button 2D.
Bezier curve is edited in Editing mode. To move the selected control point, press the G key. To rotate it, use the R key.
In Blender, Bezier curve control points come in four types:
- Automatic (yellow) - the levers have an automatic length and direction set by the curve. Ensures that the smoothest curve segment is created.
- Vector - both levers always point to their neighboring lever. When you try to move the vector lever, it switches to free.
- With alignment - the levers always lie in a straight line.
- Free - the levers can be given any position; they are used to model sharp corners.
To change the type of control point, select it, press the V key and select the desired item from the menu that appears.
Tip: When tracing a complex Bezier curve path, it is convenient to use automatic control points. In this case, you just need to add new points in the right places. Most levers will automatically take the optimal position and there will be few adjustments.
To add a point outside the Bezier curve, select the desired extreme point, press and hold the E key or the Ctrl key and press left mouse button in the right place. If you need to add a point inside a curve, you need to select two adjacent points (hold Shift) and press the W key, then select .
You can delete a point by selecting it and pressing X. The same thing, but with two selected points, it will delete a segment of the curve, that is, divide it into two.
In this way, you can obtain the desired contour to create a body of revolution.
To turn a curve into a body of rotation, you need to switch to Object Mode, and then use the private 3D view menu to execute Object -> Convert to -> Mesh from Curve. Despite the fact that no visible changes have occurred, from this moment the curve becomes part of the surface.
Now it can be wrapped around the axis of rotation. For this purpose the modifier is used Screw from section Modifiers Property panels. The rotation occurs around the Y axis, don't ask why. You can try to specify any of the three axes and immediately see the result.
There is a trick here, which is that the center of rotation is located in the center of the original figure. Since the original surface was a curve, its center is located completely different from where the center of rotation should be. To specify a new center, you need to use the menu that opens when you press the button Set anchor point on the panel T V Object mode. You can try different options and see what happens.
The angle must be 360 degrees to complete a full rotation. The steps show how many segments the future figure will contain.
After applying the modifier, all you have to do is press Apply, if the result suits you.
After adding a sphere (it will have to be reduced), you get a chess pawn.
Create flat shapes using a Bezier curve
The chess knight is a rather complex piece. Its base is modeled as in the previous section; it is a figure of rotation. But the upper part is much more difficult to make. Approximately the same problems have to be faced when creating various types of logos and bas-reliefs. They are three-dimensional figures, but their elements are located mainly in one plane.
First you need to create the outline of the future figure using a Bezier curve. This is where a background image can come in handy again. The circuit must be closed. To combine the first and last points of the curve, select them (hold Shift), then press C.
As long as the path is still a Bezier curve. For further manipulations, a full-fledged object is required, so the curve needs to be converted into a mesh. This is done in Object mode using the private 3D view menu - Object -> Convert to -> Mesh from Curve, or using the keyboard shortcut Alt+C.
There are no visible changes to the object, but now it has vertices and edges. But it does not contain a single edge. You can add a face in Editing mode. To do this, select all the vertices (A), then select the menu item Mesh -> Faces -> Create Edge/Face.
Now you can give the shape volume by extruding it in the direction of the Y axis. To do this, without removing the selection and still being in Editing mode you need to press the keys E and Y, then move the mouse.
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In this particular case, the figure is deliberately made very thick. This will be needed for further work on it.
Boolean operations
The following simple technique allows you to obtain an almost finished chess knight figure as the intersection of two objects - an existing one and one additional sphere.
George Boole (1815-1864) - English mathematician, author of works in the field of mathematical logic. Not to be confused with John Bull, who, although known much more widely, did not invent anything like this (or anything else).
Propositional logic based on this mathematical apparatus serves as the mathematical foundation for the operating principles of modern computers.
Need to go back to Object Mode and add a sphere - Add -> Mesh -> UV Sphere. The sphere immediately needs to be scaled (S), slightly compressed along the Y axis (S+Y) and positioned as shown in the illustration below. You can increase the number of faces, which will allow you to more accurately model the chess knight figure in the future, if such a desire arises. To increase the number of faces, you need to go to Editing mode and on the panel T Click the Subdivide button. Two units will most likely be sufficient.
Now you can apply Boolean operations to the two existing objects. This is done in Object mode. You need to select the sphere, then Property panels select instrument Modifiers, then select a modifier Logical. In the modifier settings you need to specify the second figure (it is still called Bezier curve) and the type of logical operation Difference. In order to understand how this works, it makes sense to try other logical operations. And in order to see the result, the figure must be moved. If the result is satisfactory, then click the modifier button Apply.
For a more believable image of a chess knight and to reinforce the skills of using the Boolean modifier, you can add eyes (a slightly stretched sphere) and ears (an obliquely cut cone) to the figure. In both cases the action is applied Association.
Sculpting
Blender has in its arsenal a very powerful and at the same time subtle shaping tool - sculpting. It is no more difficult to use than the tools that real sculptors use. True, not everyone succeeds anyway...
If the brush does not have any effect on the object, then the first thing to do is check whether it is selected.
However, a little overview of sculpting in Blender is absolutely necessary here. At least to add nostrils to the chess knight, without which it looks at least strange.
Selected in the bottom panel of the 3D view. In this case, the tools will only affect the object that was selected. The sculpting control panel is located on the left. Sculpting tools are called brushes. In fact, in their action they are more like a stamp. But the name “brush” has long been established, so it will be used.
The set of brushes in Blender is constantly being improved, so it may be different in different versions. The desired brush is selected left mouse button. All brushes can be divided into shaping and finishing brushes.
The first include:
- Blob (Drop) - creates a spherical bulge;
- Brush - creates a bulge with a flatter top compared to a Blob;
- Clay (Clay) - creates a smooth ridge;
- ClayStrips - creates a ridge with a steep edge;
- Crease - creates a comb with a “tail” at the beginning;
- Grab - drags a group of points, pulling them all together (but not relative to each other) behind the cursor;
- Inflate/Deflate - stretches the mesh in the direction of its own normal (Inflate - the bulge is formed by a groove around it, Deflate - just a bulge);
- Pinch/Magnify (Sharpening) - pulls the vertices towards the center of the brush (Pinch mode) or away from it (Magnify mode);
- SculptDraw (Drawing) - stretches the mesh in the direction of the average value of the normals of all participating faces;
- SnakeHook (Snake Throw) - creates a structure similar to what you get if you pinch and pull up the dough;
The latter allow you to smooth out defects or give the surface a more orderly appearance:
- FillDeepen - similar to the Flatten/Contrast brush, but only affects vertices below or above the plane of the brush;
- Flatten/Contrast (Alignment/Contrast) - averages (Alignment mode) or increases the spread of vertices (Contrast mode), shifts vertices up or down in the area of action of the brush;
- Layer - raises the vertices, but only to a certain height, creates not a rounded bulge, but a pointed surface;
- Mask - paints the surface of an object, creates a mask. Areas that are painted will be affected by other brushes in inverse proportion to the density of the tone - the darker the tone, the less that area will respond to the action of the brush. To work with this brush, you need an already subdivided object - either in advance, or subjected to the action of some other brush in dynamic topology mode;
- Nudge - moves vertices in the direction of cursor movement, its action is similar to rolling out dough or kneading plasticine on a flat surface;
- Polish - polishes the surface like sandpaper;
- Scrapa/Peaks - works like Flatten/Contrast, but only moves vertices above the plane of the brush. Down (Scratch mode) or up (Lift mode);
- Smooth - averages out the edges of the mesh - reduces bulges, folds, and in general any other details that it encounters;
- Thumb - similar to Nudge - as if the surface is smoothed with your fingers. Creates a structure similar to a mark on putty or very thick paint behind a brush or spatula;
To understand what properties a particular brush has, it is best to try it in practice. You can find some information on the Internet, but it is quite limited.
Each brush has its own separate set of settings, this set is automatically saved in the project file. In other words, when you use the brush again, you don't have to set it up again.
The action of brushes is reduced to moving the vertices of the mesh outward (mode Add) or inside (mode Subtract). Visually this corresponds to adding or subtracting material from an object. The default mode is Add.
The higher the detail of the object, the more accurate the sculpting. Many brushes can be used for dynamic sculpting. In this case, when the brush is applied, the mesh is automatically subdivided locally into the required number of faces. This allows you not to increase the detail of the object as a whole, but to limit it to a small part of it, which saves computer computing resources. Dynamic sculpting is activated by button Enable dynamic topology.
For a brush to have an effect on an object, its size must be larger than the size of the object's faces. Or dynamic sculpting should be enabled.
The brush can affect the object either by pressing once or periodically left mouse buttons, and with continuous movement of the cursor while constantly pressing left mouse button.
Adjustment Radius And Powers set using the corresponding sliders or using hot keys (F and Shift-F, respectively, pressing left mouse button confirms the change).
Other brush settings include Hatch(type of brush impact), Curve(profile of the impact of the brush in its plane) and some others.
When working in sculpting mode, it is better to take your time and check the real image often. Despite the possibility of returning to the previous state of an object (Ctrl+Z), it makes sense to save intermediate model values in different files if the result is satisfactory at some point.
Sometimes it is useful to use the Z key, which switches the display mode between options Solid And Frame. Often the shape becomes better visible if you enable the checkbox during dynamic sculpting Smooth shading.
Basically, the chess knight figure is obtained by combining simple geometric shapes. Often this method is justified - it allows you to get quick results. But, of course, this affects the quality of the modeling. Sculpting allows you to achieve amazing results. But, alas, not everyone...
Creating objects by editing vertices
Sometimes the easiest way to get the desired shape of an object is to directly edit its vertices, edges and faces. Here's a simple example. Let's say you want to get a rectangle with rounded corners. In reality, there are many such items, ranging from pocket calendars to all kinds of electronic cards.
Interestingly, the size and shape of an electronic bank card (and not only) almost exactly correspond to the size and shape of bridge size playing cards. This standard appeared in the 19th century.
Let it be a playing card. The blank for it will be a plane measuring 54x86 mm. IN Editing mode it must be divided 4 times. Additionally, you need to add a second object - a circle with filling Fan of triangles(configurable in the panel T at the moment a new object appears) and reduce it to a size that corresponds to the radius of the corners.
The idea is to divide the circle into four 90-degree sectors and replace the sharp corners of the plane with these sectors.
To separate one sector from the circle, you need to do the following:
- IN Editing mode select the vertices corresponding to the sector with an angle of 90 degrees.
- Select menu item Mesh -> Vertices -> Split or press the Y key. After this, the sector can be moved.
- Select menu item Mesh -> Vertices -> Split or press the P key (yes, this is a different menu item, although it is called the same as the previous one) and select from the menu that appears By unrelated parts. Now these are separate objects, as you can see by going to Object Mode and moving them.
The same needs to be done with the other sectors.
The sectors are ready. Now you need to remove the vertices of the plane corners. To do this in Editing mode you need to select the corner vertex and select the menu item Mesh -> Delete -> Vertices or press the X key and select from the menu that appears Peaks. Together with the vertex, two edges will disappear, since they cannot exist, each having only one remaining vertex. The edge will also disappear, which is quite natural. This operation must be done for all four vertices.
After this, you can dock the sector to the plane (G) and combine both objects. This is done in Object mode. To merge, you need to select both the plane and the sector (while holding down the Shift key), then press the key combination Ctrl+J.
All that remains is to close the empty space with an edge and create an edge there.
For the first step you need to Editing mode select the two extreme vertices and then select the menu item Mesh -> Edges -> Create Edge/Face or press the F key.
The face is created in the same way, but first you need to select all four of its vertices.
The result will be a mesh plane with rounded edges.
Of course, this is not the only way to get such an object, but it does a good job of illustrating some of the ways of low-level mesh editing.
Saving work results, exporting and importing
Blender has its own file format with the blend extension, which records all data about objects, scenes, materials, textures, sounds, background images, lighting sources, cameras, world settings, trajectories and time of movement of elements, and even program interface settings. In other words, when you open a project that was previously saved to a blend file, the Blender window and workspace will appear as they were when saved. Saving the results to a blend file ensures that there are no losses whatsoever.
While Blender is running, it automatically and continuously backs up your project to a temporary directory. By default this happens every 2 minutes.
When closing the window, Blender does not warn you that the project has not been saved. Therefore, in order not to have to restore temporary files, you need to save the project yourself as needed.
When saving a file normally, Blender does not save textures and sounds (if any were used). If you transfer the blend file to another computer, you will also need to transfer them.
In order to save everything, you must use the main menu item File -> External Data -> Pack everything in blend. After this, the project must be saved as usual. The file will be larger, but will now contain all the elements, including textures and sounds.
The blend file will open in any version of Blender, but if it was created in a newer version, a warning will appear. Older versions of Blender may not have some functions that appeared in the program later, this must be taken into account.
Blender allows you to export a project to many formats, such as obj, dxf, stl, 3ds and others, which is popular when exchanging with other programs. There are also corresponding options for importing files into Blender. These mechanisms are constantly being improved, but one must understand that there are still limitations here and in different situations the project can be transferred with some losses.
Questions that puzzled me when I started learning Blender.
Transferring the transformation center
You want the door to rotate around the hinges, not around the center of the door. The loops are now conditionally on the edge. Move the 3D cursor exactly to the center of the edge: Shift+S (Snap)>Cursor to Selected. Then we give the command to move the transformation center to the 3D cursor.Out of proportion results of fillets and modifiers
It is necessary to round the edges of the table top. In object editing mode (Tab button) select all the necessary edges at once and press Ctrl+B (Bevel). The problem is that the rounding does not occur equally on all faces:
Fillet works this way because the percentage size of the object is not 100%:
Now, from the blender's point of view, the table top is a stretched cube, and all deformations are also calculated as stretched cubes. This makes sense. Objects may change sizes out of proportion during animation, and all modifiers must change sizes as well. Solution: you need to tell the blender that the current dimensions are 100%. In normal mode we press Ctrl+A (Apply). Choose here Scale:
Ctrl+B (Bevel), it should look like this:
This also affects the results of modifiers. Personally, I already reflexively press Ctrl+A (Apply) → Scale.
Resetting position, rotation, size coordinates
You created an object, but it was created far away, where the 3D cursor was, and it is not visible and it is not clear where it is.- Alt+G- position reset
- Alt+R- rotation reset
- Alt+S- size reset
Walking buttons
Remember: it matters which window the mouse pointer is over. Take your time.- G (Grab)- movement
- R (Rotate)- rotation (second press - second rotation mode)
- S (Scale)- size
- Buttons X, Y, Z limits manipulation to only one axis
- Shift+X, Shift+Y, Shift+Z excludes the selected axis from manipulations
- " / " (View Local) (numeric keypad)- mode when all objects except the selected one disappear
- ". » (View Selected) (numeric keypad)- move closer to the chosen one
- Home (View all)– zoom so that everything fits on the screen
- C (Circle Select)- selection by circle
- B (Border Select)- selection by frame
- F (Face) (Tab mode)- create a polygon based on points, or combine already selected polygons into one
- K (Knife) (Tab mode)- cut the polygon
- J (Join)- combine objects
- P (seParate) (Tab mode)- split object
- Ctrl+R (Loop cut and slide) (Tab mode)- cutting a chain of square polygons along
- Del or X > Dissolve edges/faces (Tab mode)- removal of cutting a chain of square polygons along
- E (Extrude) (Tab mode)- extrusion
- Ctrl+B (Bevel)- chamfer or rounding
- W (Specials) (Tab mode)- a useful menu with items that are not found anywhere else. I often need "Bridge edge loops"– a bridge between two chains of faces.
- Ctrl+“+” and Ctrl+“-” (Tab mode)- add polygons adjacent to already selected ones to the selection or deselect outer polygons
- Shift-F (Fly)- flight mode, controls like in the game, W, S, A, D, E, Q
How to align the edge?
Specifically, we are talking about a similar operation:
It is necessary to reduce the size of a group of points to zero along some axis. Commands can be entered by pressing buttons in sequence. In this case, we press sequentially S, Z, 0 (zero) In the lower left corner of the working 3D window there will be this inscription:
And in the window itself it will be like this:
"Forward" is the Y axis
Try to direct the frontal direction of the object along the global and local axis Y. In some modifiers and the game engine, this direction is taken to be the “forward” direction and not everywhere it can be changed to another axis.Subdivision Surface and Multiresolution modifiers - what's the difference?
Subdivision Surface These are smooth surfaces. Multiresolution- these are smoothed surfaces with the possibility of sculpting on top. By using Subdivision Surface Convenient to make the basic shape of the sofa. Then change it to Multiresolution and use a brush to sculpt the folds of the fabric.Linked objects
Interior. There is no need to make all items in one file. Not convenient. Create an iron in a separate file, a chair in another file, a room in the third file - the main one.- The iron needs to be driven into the group Ctrl+G (Create New Group)
- Give the group a name - “Iron”
- Save file "Iron"
- Open file "Room"
- Give the command " File → Link»
- Find the file "Iron"
- Go to "Group" folder and select the “Iron” group
Blender has many tools for splitting the edges and faces of mesh objects into pieces. The usual Subdivide is often used. In simple cases, it divides rectangular and triangular faces into smaller ones of the same shape. Sometimes in case of complex shapes it may not work.
A simple division becomes available in edit mode by right-clicking.
If a face has been selected, then each of its edges will be divided in half by a new vertex. New edges will extend from these vertices to the selected face. As a result, the original face will be subdivided into smaller faces.
The department settings appear in the region of the last operation. If you change the number of cuts from one to two, then each edge will be divided not in half, but into three parts, i.e., two additional vertices are formed on each, and not one.
If you turn off the Create N-Gons checkbox, then edges will extend from new vertices not only to the selected face, but also to adjacent ones. And since these faces have no other edges subdivided, the resulting faces will be triangular and quadrangular in shape.
This flag generally makes sense to turn off when subdividing not faces, but edges.
Above, one edge was selected, Subdivide was applied to it, and the Create N-Gons checkbox was turned off. If the checkbox were turned off, then one vertex would simply appear on the edge.
In addition to Subdivide, Blender has a number of other transformations that lead to the creation of new mesh elements. They are in the Tools region. Extrusion and indentation, discussed in the last lesson, can also be considered a subdivision. But a unit with characteristic features. Let's note some others.
Loop Cut and Slide allows you to cut an object with an imaginary plane. As a result, all its faces through which this plane will pass will be subdivided.
In the case of complex shapes, the plane may be curved, i.e., not be a plane as such.
You can use a knife to cut edges arbitrarily. When the process is complete, press Enter.
During the cutting process with a knife The Bevel tool is useful. It can be called via Ctrl+B. They use it to bevel edges and corners. If the transformation needs to be done only with the corners, then Ctrl+Shift+B.
Let's also mention the division using Connect Vertex Path. It connects selected vertices with a straight line or shortest path. In this case, everything that this line passes through will be subdivided. To use the tool, you need to select the vertices and press J. The tool is also available through the context menu.