How to Create a Scene in Blender
- Creating Objects
- Moving, Rotating, and Scaling
- Arranging Objects in Your Scene
- Naming Objects and Using Datablocks
- Using Interaction Modes
- Applying Flat or Smooth Surfaces
- Working with Modifiers
- Using Workbench, EEVEE, and Cycles
- Turning On the Lights
- Moving the Camera in Your Scene
- Rendering
- Summary
- Exercises
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
You’ve been introduced to the basics of Blender, and with practice, you’ll have the interface under control. It’s time to create objects; interact with them; add modifiers, materials, and lights; and then render your creation. This chapter presents a very simple exercise to help you better understand how to create your first scene. You also learn about Blender Render and Cycles, the two render engines included by default in Blender. If you’re using Blender for the first time, you’ll find this chapter to be especially useful. The idea is that after reading this chapter, you have a basic understanding of the workflow to create a scene in 3D and export it as an image.
Creating Objects
When you open Blender, you’ll find the familiar default cube sitting in the middle of the scene. You can use that cube to build your model, or you can delete it. To delete objects in Blender, just select them, press X or Del, and click Delete in the dialog box that appears to confirm the deletion. (If you press Del instead of X, you won’t be asked to confirm.)
To start, you want to create an object. There are different ways to do it:
Choosing an option from the Add menu in the 3D Viewport’s header.
Pressing Shift+A in the 3D Viewport. (The Add menu from the previous option will appear at your mouse cursor position.)
Pressing F3 to display the Search menu, and typing the name of the object you want to create. The menu will filter the options/tools that include what you’ve entered. If you type cube, for example, the menu will show the option Add Cube; click that option, and the cube will be created.
When you use any of these options, the object is created in the position of the 3D cursor inside the 3D scene.
After you create an object, the Adjust Last Operation menu in the bottom-left corner of the 3D Viewport will show the options available to control that object. If you create a cylinder, for example, you’ll be able to control its parameters later, such as size and number of sides.
Animation software often has a test object. In Blender, that object is the monkey head (called Suzanne), and you’ll use it for the test scene in this chapter. Create a monkey head mesh, using any of the methods described earlier in this section. Then create a plane, as this plane later will serve as the floor of your scene. Don’t worry if the head and plane intersect in the middle of the world and are not correctly aligned; you’ll adjust them in the next step.