Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Modeling a Simple Person

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Now, we will create a simple character, learning about selection and extrusion along the way. Extrusion is one of the most widely used modeling tools available.

Contents 1 Creating a New Project 2 Selection Methods 2.1 1. Box Selection 2.2 2. Circle Selection 2.3 3. Lasso Selection 2.4 4. One By One Selection 2.5 5. Edge Selection 2.6 6. Face Selection 3 Learning Extrusion 3.1 Region extrusion 3.2 Starting with a simple leg 3.3 And now, the pelvis 3.4 Drawing the other body parts 4 Adding the head 5 Summary: Keys & Commands

[edit] Creating a New Project

Start with the default scene (as explained here). You should have your default beginning cube.

Reminder:

• Select the cube with RMB (CMD+LMB on one button Mac mouse).
• Drag with the MMB (ALT+LMB on one button Mac mouse) to have a look at the scene from different angles.
• Press NUM7 to go back to the top view.
• Toggle between Edit Mode and Object mode with TAB; the option button shown on the image below tells what mode you are in at any given time:
  

  Mode button/indicator

[edit] Selection Methods

This section proposes six methods for selecting the default cube's top four vertices. The image on the right shows the view rotated a bit with the correct vertices selected.

Before we start, make sure the Limit selection to visible button is on (in Blender 2.46 and above this button is called Occlude background geometry).

You'll only be able to find this button when you're in Edit Mode. Additionally, it is not available in Wireframe Mode: hit ZKEY if you cannot find it. It'll appear on the bottom of the 3D View window, far right, just left of the Render button.

Note: In Blender 2.42 for Mac OS X running on a MacBook, there is a display problem with the box and circle selections: the selection box and circle do not appear on screen (this is valid for both the Intel and the PowerPC versions).

The default is Object Mode. The cube should be selected; switch to Edit Mode then proceed.

[edit] 1. Box Selection

This tool draws a square that you resize to frame the top four vertices (or dots).

1. Deselect all vertices by pressing the AKEY;
2. Press the BKEY to activate what is known as the Box Border Select Tool (it starts as two dotted lines).

Now, when you click and hold LMB and move the mouse cursor, a selection border will appear. When you release the mouse button, the vertices that are inside it will be selected. Select the top four vertices. If you made a mistake, you can start again after hitting AKEY to deselect the selected vertices. Make sure all the vertices are deselected (pink, not yellow) before trying the next method.

BKEY - Activates box-select tool.

[edit] 2. Circle Selection

1. Deselect all vertices by pressing the AKEY;
2. Press the BKEY twice to activate the Circle Border Select tool.

A circle appears around the mouse cursor. You can resize the circle with SCROLL (the mouse wheel) or alternatively use the NUM+/NUM- or PgUp/PgDn keys.

• Select vertices either by dragging with LMB or clicking at several places.
• Deselect vertices by clicking or dragging with the MMB (or ALT+LMB).

To adjust your selection, note that SHIFT+RMB toggles a single vertex selection.

Note: If ALT + LMB moves the current window, then to deselect a vertex use CTRL+ALT+LMB or MMB instead.

The Circle Border Select tool will be active until you press RMB, ESC or SPACE.

BKEY+BKEY - Circle Select. If you press BKEY a second time after starting Border Select, Circle Select is invoked. Use NUM+ or NUM- or MW to adjust the circle size. Leave Circle Select with RMB or ESC.

[edit] 3. Lasso Selection

Like many graphics programs, Blender 3D has a lasso selection tool.

1. Deselect all vertices by pressing the AKEY;
2. Hold CTRL+LMB and draw a circle around the vertices you want to select. Release the LMB when you're done.

To deselect with the lasso, use CTRL+SHIFT+LMB.

[edit] 4. One By One Selection

You can also select the four vertices one by one.

1. Deselect all vertices by pressing the AKEY;
2. Select a single vertex with RMB (CMD+LMB on one button Mac mouse);
3. Select additional vertices by holding SHIFT while pressing the RMB. Clicking again on a selected vertex deselects it.

[edit] 5. Edge Selection

In addition to those vertex selection methods, there are two other options: on the right of your viewport header you can see selection modes. Choose the Edge select mode (the middle mode showing two parallel lines) and select the left edge of the cube with the RMB (CMD+LMB on one button Mac mouse). Then SHIFT+RMB on the right edge to add it to the selection. Then switch back to Vertex select mode (the four dots in a diamond formation). As you will see, all four vertices forming the two top edges are selected (this is also called "selection transformation"). NOTE: -The picture on the right is wrong. Should be edge selection.

[edit] 6. Face Selection

The second alternate option to the vertex selection method is also available. On the right of your viewport header, choose the Face select mode (the right button with a triangle with a dot inside) and select the top face of the cube with the RMB (CMD+LMB on one button Mac mouse). Then switch back to Vertex select mode (the four dots in a diamond formation). As you will see, all four vertices forming the top face are selected (this is also called "selection transformation"). To select additional faces, hold SHIFT while pressing the RMB. Alternatively, with the mouse pointer in the 3D viewport, you can hit CTRL+TAB and select Vertices or Faces mode from the popup menu.

You can de-select a face by hitting AKEY

[edit] Learning Extrusion

Note -latest version of Blender does not act completely as below, clarification please!

The pictures below are in orthographic view. Depending on Blender's version, the default view is either perspective or orthographic. If you need to switch to the orthographic view, press NUM5 (or choose it from the VIEW menu, as shown in the picture).

Now press NUM1 to switch to front view.

[edit] Region extrusion

With the top four vertices selected (which will appear like the top two in your screen), hit the EKEY. Choose Region from the popup menu, then move the mouse: four -new- vertices attached to the four that were previously selected are moving around with the mouse pointer. You can drop them in place with LMB, SPACE, or ENTER.

Notes:

• In Blender 2.42a and 2.43a, you may not have the Region option; so just ignore choosing region and continue. For latest versions of Blender, using the SHIFT+DKEY works as well.
• If the menu doesn't popup, you are probably in face selection mode. Move back to vertex selection mode by clicking the right icon.
• If the popup menu only presents the Only Edges and Only Vertices choices, you probably have not selected four vertices that make up a face. (It can also happen when some of the vertices are doubled: try selecting all vertices while in Edit Mode and hit the WKEY to display the Specials menu. Then choose Remove Doubles; it can also be accessed through the Rem Doubles under the Mesh Tools tab).
• In some versions of blender, you may find that, by default, the extrusion is performed along a different axis than the ones used here. You can set the axis along which the extrusion is performed. To do this, first press the EKEY, choose region, and then press MMB until the correct axis is selected.

EKEY - Extrude selection

[edit] Starting with a simple leg

If you attempt to extrude the vertices but they do not end up at the right spot for this tutorial, use your UKEY or CTRL+ZKEY (CMD+ZKEY Mac) to undo your last edit. You should see just your original cube with the top four vertices selected and then try what's next

Press the EKEY again. Again, choose Region. Now this time, as you're moving the extruded vertices around, hold the CTRL key down and you'll see that the extrusion will only move to certain spots. This is called snapping. The vertices snap to predetermined positions that allow you to better work with the extrusion.

We'll talk more about snapping later. For now, set and release the vertices at the spot that makes it look like two cubes of equal size to the first one, stacked one on top of the other.

Then, repeat that same process until you have five boxes of equal size stacked one on top of each other. And that, my friend, is a very simple leg!

Hint: Don't stretch one box all the way to make the desired shape - You must create all stacked boxes in sequence, or you won't get the nodes (a more detailed mesh) that will be required to create the leg in this tutorial.

[edit] And now, the pelvis

Hit AKEY to deselect the current vertices. Select the four vertices on the right face of the top cube. You may want to rotate your view a little with the MMB to see them all. Alternatively, with Limit Selection to Visible off, a simple box selection (BKEY) over the two visible vertices will also select the ones behind them. Extrude twice to the right.

[edit] Drawing the other body parts

The same trick is repeated over and over to build the rest of our simple body.

You may want to switch to Face select mode to select the four vertices of a face with a single click. This way the extrusion tools will automatically extrude a region, so you won't have to choose the Region option each time you extrude a face.

At this point your model might get too big to fit in your view. You can pan the view by:

• either holding CTRL and pressing NUM4, NUM8, NUM6, NUM2,
• or holding SHIFT and dragging with MMB.

Left/Right leg

Torso

Arms

Now, check that all is well: toggle on solid mode by hitting the ZKEY and examine every body side. If some faces are missing, it's easy to fix. To create a face from four vertices, select them and press the FKEY (or choose the Mesh → Make Edge/Face menu from the viewport header). You need to remove any doubles by hitting the WKEY and select Remove Doubles from the menu.

[edit] Adding the head

Important note: make sure you're still in Edit Mode (pictured) when adding the head. If you're not, the head and the body will not be part of the same object and changes on the body won't affect the head, which is required in the next section.

Select a point just above the top of the neck using the LMB: the red and white circle is the cursor. To adjust the cursor's position, switch between the top, front and side views (using the NUM7, NUM1, and NUM3 key respectively). You can also use the snap tool: press SHIFT+S to bring up the snap menu and select Cursor → Grid.

Once you're happy with the position, press the SPACE key to bring up the popup menu. Select Add → Icosphere. In some Blender versions you may have to choose the subdivision number. Just click OK. You should now have a small sphere at the top of the body. To make it more proportional to the body, resize it with the scale tool:

• select Mesh → Transform → Scale from the viewport menu,
• while holding LMB, draw a triangle on the screen,
• or just press the SKEY, then hold LMB and drag the mouse.

If you deselect the head and then decide that you want to move it or resize it again, select one vertex of the head, then click Select → Linked Vertices (or use CTRL+L). All the head's vertices will then be selected again, and none of the body's. Then press GKEY to grab and move the head, or SKEY to resize it. Hold down CTRL as you move it around if you would like it to snap to the grid.

Don't forget that you are in 3D; use the MMB to move your point of view around to make sure that the head really sticks in the neck.

[edit] Summary: Keys & Commands

These are the keys and commands used on this page:

Key	Mode	Description
RMB or CMD+LMB (Mac users with one mouse button)	Object	Select an object
NUM1		Go to front view
TAB		Toggle between Edit Mode and Object Mode
BKEY then LMB and drag (RMB to deselect)		Box selection
AKEY		Toggle between Select All and Select None
BKEY BKEY (pressed twice) then LMB and drag		Circle selection
CTRL+LMB and drag		Lasso selection
RMB then SHIFT+RMB		One-by-one selection
(click the vertex/edge/face selection buttons)		Change the selection mode
CMD+TAB (CTRL+TAB in Windows/UNIX)		Change the selection mode
select vertices then EKEY		Extrude
CTRL	while extruding	Enable snapping
	while moving	Enable snapping
	while rotating	Rotate in 5-degree intervals
MMB or ALT+LMB		Rotate the 3D view
ZKEY		Toggle wireframe/solid view
FKEY		Make Edge/Face from selected vertices
NUM3		Side view
SHIFT+SKEY		Snap cursor or selection to the grid
GKEY		Grab the current selection and move it
ZKEY (or XKEY or YKEY)	grab mode (GKEY)	Constrain motion to the Z (or X or Y) axis
SKEY		Change the scale (size) of selection
SPACE		Brings up the menu
WKEY		To choose Remove Doubles; it can also be accessed through the Rem Doubles under the Mesh Tools tab