Learning the Blender Interface Part I : Keywords and Using the Mouse

     In order to understand the interface and explanations, certain keywords must be explained first. Let us begin by starting with just the very basic common words.

Translation/Translate: is the ability to move the object(s) in a linear way with in the 3-D space.

Rotation/Rotate: ability to move the element(s) or object(s) around a specific center and axis.

Scale: ability to change the size and/or proportion of the element(s) or object(s)

I added color to the cube for clarity

Axis/Arrows: represents the dimensions in 3-D space

x: represents the width

y: represents the height

z: represents the depth

World origin: is the intersection of all three axes and is the center of the 3-D space.

These are the common keywords for parts of a 3-D polygon. What is a polygon? Well it happens to be as Isaac Kerlow states, "closed planes bounded by straight lines" (pg. 98). Refer to the picture for help.

Face/Plane: is defined as the area bounded by lines.

Edge: is two adjacent surfaces.

Vertices/Vertex: are the points found by the intersection of two or more edges.

     Before any modeling can be done, learning the basics of the interface needs to be done first. This interface is seen when Blender is started for the very first time. The very first time I opened this program, I found out I could change my view with my mouse. Try these out and get a basic feel for it. Just remember that where ever the cursor of the mouse is pointed, that is where any movement will be centered around

• Using the mouse wheel (MW), wheel upwards, you will notice your view has zoomed in. When you wheel down, you zoom out. 
• Press down the mouse wheel and hold, then drag the mouse around and you will notice your screen will begin to move around. This allows the user to look around their object with ease and get certain angles that may need to be scene for camera views. This type of movement is a free form rotation in which there is no set axis point to rotate on.
• Hold down shift + MW roll up and down and the window will scroll vertically.
• Hold down ctrl + MW roll up and down and the window will scroll horizontally.
• Hold down shift + MW and the move the mouse around. The camera view will move from that point of view to where ever the mouse is let go.
• Hold down ctrl + MW and move the mouse around. The camera view zooms in and out more smoothly compared to using the mouse wheel.
• When you press the right mouse button and hold down over the object(s), the object(s) that are selected will be moved freely. Click again to release the object(s) in the place you want to leave them.

In the next blog post, I will discuss the actual interface parts and important keyboard binds.
Find anything else out while using the mouse, leave a comment! Or have any questions about other basic keywords that I may have left out, do not hesitate to ask!

References

Flavell, L. (2010). Beginning Blender: Open source 3D modeling, animation, and game design. New York: Apress.