Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Blender Windowing System

The Blender user interface may appear daunting at first, but don't despair. This book explores the interface one step at a time.

In this module, you'll learn about Blender windows:

• recognizing windows and their headers,
• the different types of windows,
• how to activate and resize windows,
• how to split and join windows.

You'll also practice launching and leaving Blender.

An Interface Divided

Blender's user interface is divided into rectangular areas with rounded corners. These areas are called windows (or sometimes, areas or Workspaces).

If you haven't already launched Blender, go ahead and do so. You should soon see something that resembles the following.

Blender has had some major changes to its user interface (UI) since version 2.4x. Some of these changes include moving buttons and changing the space bar hot key from the “add menu” to the “search menu” (Shift+A is now the "add menu” hot key). This is important to know when trying to follow tutorials.

Other changes include the addition of the tool bar and window splitting widget. The tool bar widget( indicated by a plus sign) opens hidden tool bars. The object tool bar can be toggled on and off by pressing the T key. The 3d window tool bar can be toggled on and off by pressing the N key. The splitting window widget allows you to split and join windows. Blender 2.59 is shown below.

If you see something substantially different...

• You may be running a different version of Blender. The screenshot was made using the 2.59 release.

If you're running an older version, you should probably upgrade. Download instructions are in the Introduction.

• The user-interface settings on your computer may have been changed.

  Try resetting the user interface with File → Load Factory Settings.

• If you're running a stable (not "beta") release of Blender later than 2.57, please consider uploading a new screenshot and updating the wikibook!

To take a screenshot in Blender, press  Alt + F3 , and click Make Screencast. This will record what's on your screen until you click the red Close button on the info header. The screencasts will be saved in the tmp folder.

Window Headers

Did you find all five headers?

Every Blender window has a header. A header can appear at the top of the window, at the bottom of the window, or it can be hidden. Let's take a closer look at the headers.

The header of the Info window is outlined in green.

The header of the 3D View window is outlined in red. Note that it runs along the bottom of the 3D View window, not the top.

The header of the Properties window is outlined in blue.

The header of the Outliner window is outlined in white.

The header of the Timeline window is the one on the bottom (not outlined)

Window Types

Blender has 15 types of windows. You've just encountered the Info, 3D View, Properties, and Outliner windows. The rest will be introduced as needed in later modules.

Every window header in Blender has an icon at the left end to indicate the window type. For instance:

• = Info
• = User Preferences
• = 3D View
• = Outliner
• = Properties

If you  LMB  on the icon, a menu will pop up. (If you don't know what  LMB  means, please review the Keystrokes, Buttons, and Menus module.)

By matching the icon in the header to the icons in the menu, you can tell that the window here is a 3D View window.

The menu can be used to alter a window's type. In this screenshot, the user is about to change the window into a Properties window.

Any window can be changed to any type.

Blender doesn't mind if there are multiple windows of the same type.

If you've changed any window's type, please change it back (or reload the factory settings with File → Load Factory Settings) before continuing with this tutorial.

The Active Window

The active window is the one that will respond if you press a key. Exactly one Blender window is active at any given time.

The active window is usually the one containing the mouse pointer. (Blender uses a "focus follows mouse" user interface model. When a hotkey fails to work as expected, it is often because the mouse pointer has strayed into a neighboring window.) To change the active window, simply move the mouse pointer into the window you wish to activate.

Practice changing the active window by moving your mouse between the 3D View and the Timeline windows. The Timeline window is exactly below the 3D View header. At this point, it is worth mentioning that the header for the 3D View window and Timeline window is at the BOTTOM of its own window instead at the top as the name "header" implies.

When a window becomes active, its header gets brighter.

Resizing Windows

Resizing windows is easy.

Dragging on a Border

Step 1

Move the mouse pointer to the border between two windows (the area outlined in red below. The pointer will change to an up/down arrow.

Steps 2-4

Press and hold  LMB .
Drag with the mouse to move the border up and down.
When the border is where you want it, release  LMB .

Whenever you increase the size of one window, you decrease the size of another. That's because Blender has a non-overlapping window interface: unlike many other programs, it does not permit windows to overlap.

Maximizing a Window

Another way to resize a window is to maximize it. When Blender maximizes a window, it makes it as big as possible. The previous window configuration is saved.

• To maximize the active window, press  Ctrl + UpArrow  ,  Ctrl + DownArrow  or  Shift + Space .
• When a window is maximized, use  Ctrl + UpArrow  ,  Ctrl + DownArrow  or  Shift + Space  to restore the previous (unmaximized) window configuration.

Practice maximizing and un-maximizing the 3D View and Timeline windows.

If you are running a version of Blender before 2.57, you cannot maximize a User Preferences window.

Update (version 2.57): Now the process of splitting/Joining does not work through a menu. Tab is also not needed. Splitting is done by pulling from the edge of the window towards the interior of the same (towards a second window of a different type, causes the first window to override the second). Joining is done by pulling towards a second window of the same type (a big arrow appears). The splitting direction is defined by the direction in which you move your mouse.

Splitting a Window

Splitting a window is just as easy as resizing. A split always results in two windows of the same type.

Step 1

Click on the same border you did last time, only this time with  RMB  or  Cmd + LMB .

Step 2

A menu will pop up. Select Split Area from the menu using  LMB .

Step 3

A gray preview line will appear, which will follow your mouse pointer around, even if you move it into a different Blender window.

Step 4

To perform the split, use  LMB  (or  Enter ). This should result in two windows where before there was only one.

To cancel a window split operation, use  RMB  (or  Esc ).

(If you don't know how to produce  RMB  on your computer, please review the "Non-standard Input Devices" module.)

Splitting on a horizontal division, as we have done, will give you two windows side-by-side horizontally. Splitting a window on a vertical division will give you two windows stacked vertically.

To switch between vertical and horizontal splitting during Step 3, press  Tab .

Joining Windows

Combining adjacent windows is as easy as splitting them. We'll rejoin the window we just split.

Step 1

Click  RMB  on the border between the windows you wish to join. Select Join Areas from the popup menu.

Step 2

A large grey arrow will appear to indicate the merge direction. By moving the mouse pointer between the two windows, you can change the merge direction.

Step 3

Join the two windows (in either direction) using  LMB  (or  Enter ).

To cancel the split, use  RMB  (or  Esc ).

Joining to the left will destroy the window on the left, while joining to the right will destroy the window on the right. This becomes important when joining different window types.

If you  RMB  on a border and Blender doesn't offer you the Join Areas option, it's because the border touches more than two windows. You'll have to select the window you want removed using a different border.

Leaving Blender

To close down Blender:

1. If there's a tool active, press  Esc  to exit the tool.
2. Press  Ctrl + Q . This brings up an OK? menu.
3. Confirm Quit Blender by clicking  LMB  or pressing  Enter .

Blender will not prompt you to save your work. However, you can easily restart Blender and then pick up where you left off using File → Recover Last Session.

Additional Resources

• YouTube video on Splitting and Joining Windows in 2.49 at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYb1j8X-ulc
• YouTube video on Splitting and Joining Windows in 2.59 at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGK1gwFhx9M

• the Blender Manual page on "window types" at http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:Manual/Interface/Window_types
• the Blender Manual page on "changing window frames" at system/Arranging frames http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:Manual/Interface/Window system/Arranging frames