Blender is an open-source program that allows the user to view 3d models in real-time. The mouse, tablet, or keyboard can be used to manipulate the object being viewed. This allows for a wide range of uses including 2d animation and game creation, or even simply viewing your mind’s eye. Blender is also highly customizable and capable of using scripts to create powerful tools and modes within the program.
Learn how to use Blender animation in this tutorial. Blender is a free open-source 3D computer graphics software primarily used for 3D modeling, animation, and rendering. Since its initial release in 2002, it has been hugely popular among amateur and professional animators because of its intuitive interface, offers powerful tools and is a free open-source
Blender is one of the go-to open-source software choices for animation. Surprisingly, it doesn’t take much to get started on creating simple character animations. Once you have a final 3D character model, you can bring it to life with the software’s numerous animation features and tools.
For example, Blender’s rigging tools will help you to achieve the desired movements for your character. Poses can also be added and manipulated with the software’s pose editing features. Alternatively, you can use the Nonlinear Animation editor to create various independent movements.
In this article, we’ll go over the basics of animating in Blender. We’ll start with a discussion of the UI as well as the key animation tools and features. Then, we’ll explain step-by-step the process of creating a simple character animation. You’ll also learn how to add sounds to the animation, sync it, and some useful tips to animate better.
We’ve all got dreams. If you’re into animation, you might want to become a masterful 3D artist, create exotic worlds, and meet all of the weird characters rolling around in your brain. These may seem like lofty ambitions, but they’re completely possible with the right attitude, a few snacks, and a lot of practice.
Many 3D artists got their start in Blender, a program that many consider as the best 3D animation software available. As with any other open-source software, Blender empowers its community by inviting artists from all skill levels and walks of life to hop into the fray. If you’re new to the software, each Blender animation tutorial mentioned here will help you get the hang of things.
UI
Upon starting Blender, you’ll see the default user interface. The interface is highly flexible and consists of various windows that you can resize. You can easily customize it by applying themes and changing other configurations with the Preferences editor.
The interface is primarily divided into three main regions:
- Topbar (orange) is located at the topmost part of the window. Here, you’ll find workspaces, such as animation and modeling, among others. You can toggle between different workspaces either from the top bar or use predefined hotkeys, which you can configure in the Keymap section of the Preferences editor.
- Areas, located below the top bar, contain various editors such as the 3D Viewport (yellow), Outliner (green), Properties (blue), and the Timeline (red). Every area is customizable, and you can even open the same editor more than one time. Blender houses a lot of editors for different workspaces, but Timeline, Graph Editor, Drivers Editor, Dope Sheet, and Nonlinear Animation are the ones that are specific to animation.
- Status Bar (pink) lies at the very bottom. It shows any statistical information, resource information, hotkeys, and warnings related to the project you’re working on.
Step 1: Opening
This is what blender looks like when you open it.
You are faced with a toolbar to the left an right, file operations to the top, timeline on the bottom, and the 3D view in the center.
Blender’s default starting mesh is a cube, we will be demonstrating basic functions on this.
Step 2: Basic Navigation
To rotate around in the 3D view, hold down the middle mouse button and move the mouse.
To move up and down or to and fro, hold shift+middle mouse, and and move the mouse.
Use the scroll wheel to zoom in and out.
To select an object right click, to de-select right click away from the object.
To select multiple objects, hold “SHIFT” and select the objects.
To select everything press “A” or to de-select everything press “A”
Notice that when you select something, it will be highlighted orange.
Step 3: Object Mode and Edit Mode
The two modes we will be using in this tutorial are:
Object Mode
This lets you select objects and move them around as you please.
Edit Mode
This allows you to select individual vertexes, lines, and planes. you can modify the mesh in this mode.
to switch between these two modes you can either go down to the menu below, or just press TAB.
Step 4: Rotation Scaling and Translating
First I want to make note of the arrows that appear when you select an object.
those are the Axes. The red arrow is the X axis, green is the Y axis, and blue is the Z axis.
These arrows allow you to move things more accurately.
Translating
There are three ways to do this, one is to simple right click and drag. Another is to just select the object and press “G”
Or, you can left click on the axis you want to move the object on, and drag.
Rotating
Rotating is very simple, all you have to do is select the object to be rotated, and press “R”
If you want to rotate around a specific axis, first press “R” then “X”, “Y”, or “Z”. Each letter corresponds to it’s respective axis.
Scaling
To scale an object, simply press “S”. if you want to stretch an object along a certain axis press “X”, “Y”, or “Z”, after pressing “S”
Conclusion
Blender Beginner Tutorial – How To Use Blender Animation! If you are looking to start with blender animation but don’t know how, this beginner blender tutorial is perfect for you! It covers the basics of how to use blender animation, and other tricks and tips that beginners need to know.