Blender Corso Base Lezione 4: Viewport 3D

Welcome back, before we delve into the study of Blender I would like to try to talk a little about theory. Maybe I'll make some blunders, you'll forgive me, but my intent is to make you understand some basic concepts. At a certain point, if I remember correctly, around 1600, a French philosopher whom we today call Descartes had posed the problem of being able to reproduce a series of points on a plane in a unique way.

I'll give you an example: how can we univocally reproduce the position of these points? The idea that came to Descartes was to create a reference system, a sort of diagram today called 'Cartesian diagram', which would allow the graphic information of these points to be transferred into numerical information so as to be able to reproduce the scheme that we see on the video right now, for example . How did Descartes do it?

He hypothesized to trace two axes that form the reference system, a horizontal one that we today call the these axes were positioned in numerical succession. For example, along the X axis we have 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and so on; and the same thing for the Y axis, going in the direction of the arrow, therefore upwards. We have 1, 2 and so on, and going in the opposite direction obviously we have negative numbers so - 1, - 2 and so on.

What did he manage to do by creating this very simple coordinate system? He succeeded in allowing people to locate the location of points A, B, C, etc. using numbers.

For example, point A at this moment is located in point - 5 of the C will be located in coordinates - 2 and - 4; consequently we can transcribe, on a sheet of paper, point A with coordinates - 5 and 4; point B with coordinates 7 and 3; C with coordinates - 2 and - 4. Here you see, by transcribing these coordinates onto a piece of paper I can at any time, even after a long time, redraw the triangle ABC or in any case the position of A, B and C. This simple "trick ", let's call it that, it was an innovative thing.

Without this, science today would be stuck in the Middle Ages. Thanks to Cartesian coordinates it was possible to create the graphics we know today. Just think that every single pixel shown at this moment in the monitor is equipped with an X and Y coordinate.

Here, in a very simple way, this concept is the same system that we find in Blender today. With the difference that we not only use the X and Y axes, but also the Z axis, because we are not working on a plane, but we are working on a space. So the directions of movement are not only X and Y, but also Z.

In Blender this axis is colored blue so the three colors red, green and blue, always remember, correspond to the three axes. Typically the Z axis is the one perpendicular to our plane. So also imagine the world around us: if we drop a ball on the ground, this ball will move along the Z axis.

Said in a very simplistic way. But let's now move on to Blender to get to know the three-dimensional space of the 3D Viewport together. Meanwhile, let's look at the X and Y axes.

We have just seen them: the red one is the X axis; the green one is the Y axis. The Z axis is not displayed by default however we can see it here in this manipulator which we find at the top right, you see the Z axis is colored blue, and if we want to display it also all Inside the Viewport we can go to the Overlays menu, which we will learn to use over time and which we find here at the top right. You see that the axes displayed are X and Y, if we click on Z the latter will also appear.

Before continuing and seeing together how to navigate within this three-dimensional space, let's take a look at which objects are present by default in the scene when we open Blender. In addition to the axes we see a grid that represents the XY plane and is made up of this gray mesh that allows us to have the perception of a sort of floor on which we find ourselves. Also in this case, with a view to extensive customization of Blender, we know that we could eliminate it, hide it.

However, we will maintain it during the course of this course. We see that there are three distinct objects. The most striking one, and also the most famous one, is the cube, the default cube.

It is this object that is located exactly in the center of the scene and is located precisely at the origin of the axes or where the X, Y and Z axes cross . In addition to the cube we find the camera which is this pyramid-shaped object with a rectangular base. We will see that the shape reflects the format of the image that we are going to produce, in this case a 16:9, and in fact we see that the base of this pyramid has this ratio.

And then we have this little gray dot that is a light source. Finally I want to point out the 3D Cursor which is also at the center of the scene, inside our cube, and it is this white and red circle. We will see as the lessons continue how the 3D Cursor will be very useful as a reference system, as a support point, a sort of anchor for our commands, the insertion of our meshes or as a rotation point, scale point, transformation point.

We will see it together later, but inside we also see a small orange dot. Here this orange dot is the origin of the Cube object. Each object has its own origin and the X, Y, Z coordinate of an object refers to the latter, but we will return to this later.

What I would like to talk to you about today is actually how we can navigate within our 3D Viewport. Here at the bottom left you see a mouse icon, in your version of Blender it probably does not appear because it is not present by default in Blender and must be activated because it is a separate addon called Screencast. I activated it for you, to show you which keys I press.

Well, how do you navigate within the 3D Viewport? The first thing we must consider is that to work well with Blender it is important to have a classic three-button mouse, even very cheap but it works very well: it has the right button, the left button, a wheel in the center which can be both rotated and pressed . .

Let's perform the first navigation operation inside the 3D Viewport together, i. e. zoom.

To move closer or further away from the current point of view we must use the mouse wheel, then we must rotate it forwards or backwards. You see the cube and the other objects move away and closer just as you apply this rotation. we can obtain the exact same effect by clicking on this icon in the shape of a magnifying glass with the "+".

Try it: click and drag back and forth. You see that it is very simple to perform a fluid zoom, much more fluid than with the mouse wheel, a little less fast perhaps however it allows us to perform much more precise movements. Furthermore, the presence of this icon allows us to zoom even if we are using, for example, a graphics tablet with a pen: instead of using the mouse wheel we can click on this icon and then we can drag the pen to zoom.

Another operation for navigating within the 3D Viewport is to rotate the view. To do this we always use the central mouse wheel, but instead of rotating it we click it. So let's click and drag to see what happens to our view.

Here we see: we start to rotate around our cube and it is a very simple operation that over time will become more and more natural for you. As for the zoom, the rotation of the scene can also be done via these icons that we find on the right. In particular, here we are going to use this manipulator made up of the three axes X, Y and Z.

If we click inside this circumference we go to perform a rotation very similar to the one we would have by clicking on the central mouse wheel. Another very important operation is Panning, or one movement parallel to the view we currently have in the monitor. To perform this operation you must hold down the [SHIFT] key on the keyboard and then click on the mouse wheel and drag.

Let's do it together: hold down the [SHIFT] key, click on the wheel and drag. You see that now we can move our point of view to the right, to the left, up, down, parallel to our monitor. We can have the exact same operation by clicking on the hand icon.

Click with the left mouse button and drag. The effect is identical: the combination of these three types of movement allows us to navigate within the 3D Viewport. For example, if we want to view the upper face of the cube more closely, we can first rotate the view to position ourselves higher up, then we can use the wheel to zoom and the pan to center the view.

Do it too. A good exercise is to visualize all six faces of the cube. For example, let's try to visualize this other face, this one, the one at the bottom, and so on.

Do this as an exercise because it is very important. Within the 3D Viewport we also have the possibility of visualizing the three-dimensional space in two similar but different ways. Let's look carefully at our grid: these lines that travel parallel to the X axis actually converge towards a single vanishing point.

This is a view called perspective and we know that we are using this type of view not only because we have this vanishing point, but Blender also tells us so here at the top left: we are using a User Perspective type view. User means that it is not a predetermined view like top, bottom, right, and left. So it's a clear view.

And Perspective means it's in perspective with vanishing points. This is a way of viewing 3D space that is friendlier to us humans because we actually see everything around us with a perspective view. On the contrary, we may want to see our scene with a parallel projection, that is, without vanishing points .

To obtain this type of display we can press the [5] key. Now something has changed: there are no longer lines of escape. You see that the cube has taken on a slightly strange shape, a little less realistic, because it is a way of visualizing typical of technical drawing.

It reminds us a lot of what we experienced in our middle school years and also in the two years of high school. However, even if it is a parallel view, no one stops us from performing rotations , zooming and panning. Let's also look here at the top left, you see the writing has changed, it says User Orthographic, orthographic view.

Which means orthogonal graphics, with lines parallel to each other and always preceded by the word 'User' which means a different point of view from the standard ones. To switch from the orthographic view to the perspective view you can use the [5] key on the numeric keypad, but you can also use this icon that we find here on the right. The bottom icon.

If we click we go to the perspective view; if we click again you will see that the icon changes to switch to the orthogonal view. We talked about User type views, i. e.

the user view, but what are the default views? The default views are: top, bottom, right and left views. How do you switch to one of these views?

You use the numeric keypad. This is why I strongly recommend that you equip yourself with an extended keyboard, one that also has the numeric keypad right next to the classic keyboard, because by using this keypad we will be able to switch very quickly from one view to another. Let's look together at [8], [2], [4] and [6] forming a sort of cross.

With this cross we can perform rotations with standard steps: up with the [8] key; down with the [2] key; to the left with the [4] key; to the right with the [6] key. So we can rotate with predetermined clicks. But the most important keys are the [7], [1] and [3] keys.

The [7] key will take us to the top view. Look at the top left: now we see that we have moved to the Top view, we are no longer in the User view, but we are in the Top view, i. e.

from above. And at the same time we switched to the orthographic view. Now I click with the mouse wheel and put myself in any position.

I went back to the User perspective view, that is, any view. If I press the [7] key, let's do it together again, we switch to the Top view, that is from above, and it is also orthographic so we see our cube with a parallel projection seen from above. With the [1] key instead we switch to the Front view, the front view, you will also see that the colors of the axes that are displayed change.

In this case we are seeing the With the [3] button we switch to the right view. Well, how do you switch to the bottom view, for example? We can use the [CTRL] combination to go to see the opposite view.

So if I press, instead of the [7] key to see the Top view, I can press [CTRL] + [7] to go to see the Bottom view or the view from below. Just as with the [1] key I go to see the front view, with [CTRL] + [1] I go to see the view from behind. With the [3] key I go to see the right view; with the [CTRL] + [3] key I go to see the left view.

We have therefore seen what [8], [2], [4], [6], [7], [1] and [3] are used. We are missing [9]. What is [9] for?

Well [9] is used to see the opposite view to the one where we find ourselves at the moment. So now we are looking at the Left view: by pressing the No key we will find ourselves in the Right view if we are in the top view by pressing the 9 key we go to see the bottom That is, the view from the bottom even if we are in any view by pressing the [9] key let's go see the opposite view. So at any time we can view our object from side to side by pressing the [9] key.

If we don't have the numeric keypad, apart from the fact that we can emulate it by going into Blender preferences, we still have the possibility of using the rotation manipulator here at the top right, for example to position ourselves in the Top view it will be sufficient to click on the letter Z, so to switch to the right view we click on X. The front view on Y and consequently to see the opposites we will click on - graphics. We continue to see the keys made available on the numeric keypad.

We have the [0] key for example. With the [0] key we can switch from the current view to what the camera is seeing. Let's do it together.

Here the frame has moved to the shooting point. You see this lighter rectangle is the one that will be produced by the final rendering image, we will naturally see it later. By pressing the [0] key again we return to the previous view and we can naturally also do this operation with the camera icon that we find here in the menu on the right.

So by clicking we can go from the camera view to the normal view. Also in this case it is very useful for those who use a graphics tablet. We saw that in our scene there are these three objects: the camera, the cube, and the light source.

I'm selecting it now. To select, we will see it in the next lesson, you can use the left mouse button, but when I select the cube for example we notice that something also happens in the Outliner, here at the top right. You see the cube, once a 3D Viewport has been selected, it is also selected in the Outliner.

Same thing if we select an object in the outliner: this is also selected in the Viewport. Why am I showing you this now? Because there is the possibility of using the [ , ] key on the numeric keypad (the one to the right of [0]) to display the selected object.

For example, we find ourselves lost in the 3D Viewport: here I deliberately zoomed in, we can't see anything anymore, who knows where the cube went. Also if in reality we have the 3D Cursor that gives us a hand, but we want to quickly see where our camera has ended up. We click on it in the Outliner, then thanks to the numeric keypad in particular the [ , ] key (let's press it together) we are immediately shown the camera, i.

e. a zoom is performed on the selected object. This can work on multiple objects too.

For example, if I select the cube and light objects at the same time, I press the comma key and the zoom moves so as to see these two objects. This is very convenient especially when we find ourselves having difficulty doing the tests and maybe you will find yourself zooming in, but this thing doesn't seem to work, you get lost. .

. don't be afraid, at any moment you can select an object, for example in this case I selected the cube, by pressing [ , ] we find ourselves concentrating our view on the selected object and then we can start again by zooming, moving and rotating the view. With the [+] and [-] keys we can zoom in and out.

So in a completely similar way to what we can do with the mouse wheel and the magnifying glass icon. Well, before leaving us, I propose an exercise that will be very difficult for many of you, but I really invite you to do it because it is very, very important to become familiar with navigating within the 3D Viewport. You will find in the description of the video, in addition to the link to the handouts that I invite you to download if you would like to support the publication of the lessons, you will also find the link to this object.

A Blender file that you can freely download to practice navigating within the 3D Viewport. You will actually have to go inside and find three sentences that I wrote for you. So the challenge of this exercise is to frame these three sentences with the 3D Viewport.

I'll show you one. Here it is: "One, apply the scale. " For the moment this sentence doesn't mean anything to you, but I promise you that in future lessons it will take on a very important meaning.

Go and find the other two sentences too, it will be an excellent exercise. As always, I thank you for following me and I'll see you again soon!