Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Non-standard equipment
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Here you will find information applicable only to users with non-standard equipment. If you have a three-button mouse and a keyboard with a numeric keypad, you can skip this section.
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[edit] Keyboards lacking a numeric keypad
Most modern laptops have a set of regular keys with additional markings corresponding to a traditional numeric keypad ("numpad").[1] This pseudo-numpad's behavior can often be toggled with F11 or Num Lock on PCs, or F6 on Macs. Alternatively, you can often temporarily activate the numpad behavior by holding the FN key and using the keys as a numpad until you release FN. This allows convenient use of the numpad camera controls without interfering with the normal use of that set of keys.
If you see the alternate labellings but don't know how they work, see your laptop's owner's manual.
As a last resort, you can use the Emulate Numpad functionality built in to Blender. This will allow you to use the normal numbers as if they were the numpad numbers. To enable this feature, go to the User Preferences window, click the System and OpenGL button, and click Emulate Numpad. NUM0 will now be the same as 0KEY.
Blender uses the numeric keypad quite a bit. If you envision using your laptop for this kind of work, it may be worth investing in a USB Numeric Keypad. On eBay, prices for simple external keypads start at around $10 USD.
[edit] Non three-button mouse
For single-button mouse users, make sure that View & Controls (under "User Preferences" on the left-most drop-down menu) → Emulate 3 Button Mouse is enabled. The MMB can be emulated on most Windows and Linux machines by simultaneously clicking LMB and RMB. You'll need to set this up in the mouse settings in your Control Panel. On a Mac, you can accomplish this by opening the Keyboard and Mouse preference pane and enabling Use two fingers to scroll. Recent IBM Thinkpad laptops allow you to disable the 'UltraNav' features of the middle mouse button in order to use it as a 'normal' third button. Alternatively, some laptops allow areas (called gestures) on the movement pad to act as right button click or middle button clicks, and can be set up in the Control Panel in the Mouse Pointer options, selecting gestures and editing features there.
[edit] Apple single-button mouse
| PC | Apple Analog | Description |
|---|---|---|
| LMB | MB | the mouse button (default) |
| RMB | CMD+MB | Apple key + the mouse button |
| MMB | ALT+MB | Option (Alt) key pressed + the mouse button |
While Mac OS X natively uses both the Control key and the Command key to emulate the RMB, recent Blender versions for Mac OS X use only the Command key for RMB, and the Option key for MMB. This behavior is also noted in the OSX Tips file that comes with the Mac version.
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ These keys typical cover the keys in the following locations {{7-0}, {U-P}, {J-;}, {M-/}}, or more simply, from M in the lower left to 0 in the upper right.
