In this chapter, we will start our first project in order to discover the fundamental modeling tools of Blender. We will create a little robot that is inspired by vintage toys with a drawing image reference. You will learn polygonal modeling workflow, which will be useful for your future 3D productions. The head will be created with a simple cylindrical primitive that we will modify to give it the right shape. Then, in the same way, starting from a primitive, we will model the rest of the body, always with a good topology in mind. Indeed, we are going to maximize the number of quads (polygons with four faces) and organize them so that they best fit the shape of each part. In the end, we will do a quick render with the Blender internal render engine. Without further ado, let's enter the marvelous world of 3D modeling! In this chapter, we will cover the following topics:
- Adding and editing objects
- Using the basic modeling tools
- Understanding the basic modifiers (such as mirror and subsurface)
- Modeling with a proper topology
- Creating a quick preview with Blender Internal
In the following screenshot, on the right, you can see the 3D robot modeled using a sketch, shown on the left as a reference, with Krita, which is another open source tool for 2D art:
We will now start the modeling of the robot toy by adding the first object to the scene. The robot will be modeled from a simple cylinder.
In order to start the modeling of the robot, let's have a look at the following procedure:
- We will add the robot image reference in a new UV/Image Editor.
- After dividing the view and selecting the right editor (by clicking on the RMB on the edge of an editor and selecting Split Area), go to the UV/Image Editor header and select Open Image to choose the corresponding reference in the file browser.
- To pan or zoom in this editor, use the same shortcuts as the 3D view. This reference will serve as a guide during the modeling process. Refer to this in order to get the main shape right, but don't rely on its details.
When you start modeling an object, you need to start with a basic 3D shape that is close to the shape you want to model. In our case, we will use a cylindrical primitive to start modeling the head. To do this, follow these steps:
- First we will need to remove the 3D cube that is placed by default in any Blender starting file. The cube is selected if it has an orange outline. If this isn't the case, you can right-click on it. This is the main selection method in Blender. If you want to select or unselect all the objects present in the 3D view, you can press the A (All) key.
- You can now remove the selected cube by pressing the X key or the Delete key. It's now time to add the cylindrical primitive.
- All the primitives are going to spawn at the 3D Cursor location. We will ensure that the cursor is at the center of the scene by pressing Shift + C.
- We can now use the Shift + A shortcut, and select Mesh | Cylinder to create the primitive at the center of the scene.
- Our new object has too many details, so we will decrease the number of vertices in the left 3D view panel. If you can't see this panel, press the T key. At the bottom of this, you can see the preferences of the currently active tool (the mesh creation, in our case), and you can change the number of vertices of our cylinder to 16.
- We will now set the 3D view focus on the newly created object by pressing the dot numpad key or by selecting View | View Selected in the 3D view header.
Note
About naming shortcuts
Most of the shortcuts correspond to the first letter of the tool's name. For instance, the Grab tool can be activated by the G key and the Scale tool can be selected by the S key.
If you want to explore all Blender's shortcuts, visit http://www.shortcutsheaven.com/.
The cylinder located at the cursor position (center of the world) that we will use as a base for the head of the robot.
Currently, we cannot access the components (vertices, edges, and faces) of our cylinder because we are in the Object Mode. This mode allows you to do basic things on objects such as moving, rotating, or scaling them. Let's perform the following set of steps:
- If you want to edit an object, you need to use the Edit Mode. To switch between these modes, press the Tab key or go to the Modes drop-down menu in the 3D view header while any object is selected. In the Edit Mode, you can choose the type of components to select by pressing Ctrl + Tab or by selecting the component type in the 3D view header.
- Let's go into the Face Mode and select the top face of the cylinder by right-clicking on it. As you can see, in Blender, faces (or polygons) are represented by a little square in the middle.
- Now you can go into the orthographic front view (the 3 numpad key and 5 numpad key for perspective/orthographic views respectively), and use the z axis of the Gizmo tool to move the selected face a little bit down.
Note
In Blender, we don't encourage you to use gizmos as there is a much faster method to move, rotate, or scale your selection. To move a selection, press the G (Grab) key and, if you want to constrain your move to a certain axis, press the corresponding X, Y, or Z keys. You can even hide the Gizmo tool by pressing Ctrl + Space.
The top face moved down in the Edit Mode with the z axis of the Gizmo tool or by pressing the G + Z shortcut.