Blender Noob Questions

[manitwo]

Hi Blender-guys

As you might know the C4D-Exporter has got his last update looong time ago
and i think that won't change in near future - so it's time to learn blender now
And of what i have read so far i'm not the only one who is going to learn blender now
because of that exporter-issue.
So i think it would be great to have a thread where blender-pros could answer our/my noob-questions.

Sooo ... here we go :
I just found out that i could change the view-rotation-system to "turntable"
instead of default "trackball".
So far so good ... is there a way to navigate with one button(let say alt + lmb/mmb/rmb)
instead of 3 buttons (shift+mmb, ctrl+mmb, alt+mmb)?

Other question:
Does blender have an object-manager? Something like this:?


Do i have to install python for the blender-exporter
(cause i installed python but the blender console doesn't find it)

Enough questions for now

[afecelis]

Hi Manitwo! welcome to the blender party!

Everything is done with the middle mouse button:
1. mmb click to orbit
2. shift+mmb to pan
3. ctrl+mmb to zoom in and out
4. roll mmb to also zoom in and out.

Does blender have an object-manager? Something like this:?

yup, it's called the "outliner"


and no, you don´t need a full python installed for exporters to work. The required libraries for blender to work come bundled.

ps. I answer these ones since they're the easy ones, hehehehe. I'm no blender pro at all! But it is a very cool tool to use.

ps. I just re-read your post and noticed you already had it, but you interpret it as 3 buttons:

is there a way to navigate with one button(let say alt + lmb/mmb/rmb)

That is for me one key and 3 buttons (mouse buttons); a la 3dsmax or maya.

instead of 3 buttons (shift+mmb, ctrl+mmb, alt+mmb)

there ya go! that is one button (of the mouse) and 3 keys (of the keyboard), hehehe

[manitwo]

thanks afecelis!

button, keys - lol my fault
any way to navigate like maya/3dsmax/... (one key, three buttons) ?

[hstokholm]

I don't know about the navigation, but maybe blender couldn't find python because you installed the wrong version...? Blender uses 2.4, while the newest python release is 2.5...

[manitwo]

I don't know about the navigation, but maybe blender couldn't find python because you installed the wrong version...? Blender uses 2.4, while the newest python release is 2.5...

could be - thank you!

[DaveC]

It won't take you very long at all to get used to using just the MMB to navigate. Especially since, once you've used blender a bit, your left hand will spend most of it's time hovering over the keyboard anyway

[afecelis]

I don't know about the navigation, but maybe blender couldn't find python because you installed the wrong version...? Blender uses 2.4, while the newest python release is 2.5...

You don´t need a full python installation on your system to run or use blender. The file python24.zip (or given the case python25) that comes in the installation folder has all the required runtime python libs. A full install is required only if you're planning to develop stuff for blender in python script.

And Davec couldn't describe it better. You'll get used fast to moving around in 3d space with just your mmb. Your left hand will be on the keyboard making your modeling more proficient! My transition from max to blender was painless.

One thing to remember; you can always customize blender's UI to resemble that of the package you're used to

[manitwo]

ok thanks again afecelis

[afecelis]

cause i installed python but the blender console doesn't find it

That error is harmless, it simply tells you it couldn't find a full python install and that it will use the runtime libraries instead. Anyway, since you already installed python, you need to add python as a system environment variable, check my screenie:

Create a new environment variable, call it:
PYTHONPATH
enter the following as value:
C:\Python24;C:\Python24\DLLs;C:\Python24\Lib;C:\Python24\Lib\lib-tk
adjust paths according to your python install.

[Jananton]

Hello manitwo,

A lot of people are already involved to get python working for you, so I won't get into that, apart from the advice that you can install different versions side by side. They wont byte each other..

When you start with blender a lot of terminology will be different and new, also the place where to find things you're used to in other programs will have changed, so maybe a good reference where to find what is something you can use as well.

Blender basics 2nd edition

It's a 22+ Mb download, but covers a lot of ground.

Greetings from nighttime Amsterdam,

Jan

[manitwo]

thank you guys!!
python is workin and the pdf jananton posted is a great help.

i'm afraid i have another question for ya:
how can i see the direction of the face-normal?

[afecelis]

Select your model, hit TAB to enter edit mode, hit F9 to change to "Editing" options, and among the "Mesh Tools 1" tabs you'll see an option that says "Draw Normals". Increase the "Nsize" Value to 2 or you won´t be able to see them Normals are shown only when in edit mode.

[manitwo]

1000 x thanks to afecelis!

[afecelis]

Now let's get ahead of your next question, eheheheh
When your mesh has got weird normals ther are 2 things to do:
1. In edit mode, select all of the vertices (by hitting "a") and hit CTRL+N to "recalculate normals outside".

2. if some normals still look weird then you can select the vertices that conform the wrong-pointing face and hit "w", from the "specials" menu that pops up select "flip normals".

quick tip:while in edit mode, if you hit CTRL+TAB you can change your selection mode from vertices/edges/faces

hope it helps.

[manitwo]

hope it helps.

yes - always good to get tipps from advanced users
the relationship between me and blender is getting better and better