BLENDER CAD INTRODUCTION

WHAT IS BLENDER?

Blender is a free, open-source CAD (Computer Aided Design) program. It is packed with enough features to create complex scenes and movies, but can be used for very simple projects as well. Its ability rivals the expensive professional CAD software, but without the expense. It is managed by the Blender Foundation team and supported by financial donations. There is a large community based support system where users help other users with information and even share their files or code.

Because Blender IS a full featured CAD program, it runs much better on devices with a multi-core CPU, a lot of memory, a lot of free disk space, and a good quality video card. The better the system, the better the performance. A 3-button mouse with scroll wheel is not required but will make a lot of things easier to do. You can read about Blender and its hardware requirements as well as download the program and/or manual by following the links below:

Blender home page https://www.blender.org

Blender download page https://www.blender.org/download

Blender manual page: https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/latest/index.html

Blender support page: https://www.blender.org/support
The support page is the access point to manuals, tutorials, community sites, and other helpful items. I strongly recommend that those who are unfamiliar with Blender usage take the time to view these tutorials and manuals. It is a LOT to take in all at once, but it can be extremely helpful in getting started. Some things may not make much sense until a user becomes familiar with the processes.

Because there are already tutorials for the Blender interface and workspaces, my tutorials will not cover that material in depth. However, I try to give detailed instruction as needed so that viewers will not have to constantly refer to other documentation in order to perform the actions of my tutorials. However, Blender went through a major overhaul around 2020 (version 2.8 and 3.0), with significant changes made to core structure and operation. Sadly, search engines such as Google do not include Blender version numbers in result listings and including your version number is the search text is not always reliable. So be careful when looking at tutorials to insure they are geared to your version. All of my tutorials apply to version 3.11 or higher, with many being finalized in version 4.0.

WHAT THIS WEBSITE SECTION IS FOR:

My love for Blender is matched by my love for sharing to help others. So I created this section of my website to help me share things which cannot be easily shared on my YouTube channel.

My Blender videos are on my YouTube channel, ICICation. It stands for: Inspiration, Calculation, Imagination, and Creation. Visit it at: YouTube @ICICation I currently have two playlists for Blender material, making it easier to find related material on my channel. As time goes on I will be adding much more material.

But this section of my website has content which cannot be shared on YouTube. Text, images, reference material, support files, and PDF's will be placed in this section for easy access for my visitors. I also have some Blender content on my Facebook page My Facebook page although I am now steering most content to the YouTube channel or this website section.

You can find support material in the other pages of this section. Things are organized by types within the related pages. Images, videos, and PDF's will be posted as is. Blend files, scripts, text documents, and some other material will be available as a ZIP file (easily extractable with most modern devices).

WHY I LOVE BLENDER!

Aside from the fact that it is free and open-source software, my favorite thing about Blender is the easy and flexible layout and navigation methods used! Although beginners will be overwhelmed at first (as I was), once we understand the concepts and methods used it gets much easier to continue working and learning. Although there is a variety of powerful and complex tools available, users can start with simple basics and increase ability as their needs and understanding grows.

I also love the fact that operations can be invoked using combinations of mouse, keyboard, menu, toolbar icons, touch (if available), and forms. Those familiar with the Python programming language can also invoke operations through code. So many operations can be invoked in several methods, allowing users to work in a manner they are most comfortable.

The areas (aka workspaces) are extremely flexible! Users can change the size and location of each area and even change the area type (editors, shaders, viewports, etc) as desired. Area menus and toolbars can be shown or hidden. The gizmos and grids can also be enabled, customized, or disabled.

While Blender has a pretty decent manual and many built in primitives to get users the ability to launch into their projects immediately, there is also a huge community support system in place for additional resources. There are forums where questions can be asked, video and text tutorials to help us understand things clearer, and a variety of models and scripts (free or purchase) shared by generous people. This greatly expands the already powerful ability of Blender by helping users to get the solutions needed for a successful project.

Page last updated: February 08 2024 15:43:30.
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