Getting to Grips with Keying Sets, and the Action Editor

If you're an animator, one of the first things you'll be wanting to do in Blender after finding your way around the interface is get stuff moving. Therefore, i'll leave the intricacies of armatures until another time (or alternatively, you can watch this handy CGMasters crash-course)

The Timeline: negative frames, and key manipulation.

You'll find the timeline in the header dropdown menu (as discussed in previous tutorials) or you can simply go to the Animation Preset in the Screen-Layout drop-down (in the Info bar):

From Blender Stuff

NB: About Visual LocRot: as i understand it, this records the object's absolute position in the scene (ie: irrespective of constraints, parenting etc). It sounds really handy, tho i've yet to use it successfully so if anyone has any tutorials please post em!

To set some keys on the default cube in the scene:

~ select cube in Object mode

~ press keyboard shortcut [i] (taking care to have your mouse within the 3D view - cos remember, Blender Windows are context sensitive) ('i' is for 'insert keyframe' - nice and easy to remember)

~ pick the properties you wish to keyframe from the pop-up menu.[LocRotScale is my usual choice, as a good 'catch all']

From Blender Stuff

~ Move thru timeline animating cube and repeating as desired.

Now if you're coming from Max, you may have already noticed a couple of things that make you panic.

1) you can't scroll thru negative frames on the timeline

2) you can't manipulate keys directly on the timeline.

Regarding negative frames: YOU CAN! You just need to enable this in User Prefs.

User Prefs -> Editing Tab -> enable Allow Negative Frames.

You will also find a bunch of other useful animation options here, which you can your mouse hover over for further explanation)

From Blender Stuff

And the timeline? eh - who needs it when you can just use Blender's Dopesheet. Infact, I usually change my layout so my dopesheet is in a long strip like a second timeline. The second thing I do is switch on the Dopesheet's mightily helpful 'Summary' button, as illustrated below. This will control all keyframes on tht frame with a single key.

From Blender Stuff

Next up: More dopesheeting, and the Action Editor...

Blender 2.5 Basics (after years of 3DS Max!) Part 3

Blender comes with a whole load of Add-Ons (or Plug-Ins ...or...Extensions.. or whatever us non-Blender folk know them as!), plus there's a list as long as your arm of people making new ones all the time.

You can activate any of the pre-installed Add-Ons in User Prefs -> Add-Ons by ticking the box by the add-on (for some) pressing the Install Add-On button afterwards. (you'll also notice the Add-On menus are expandable and reveal links to the Wiki with more details. There is also a search box, up to the right.

Preinstalled Add-Ons I find really useful are as follows:

Rigify

-generates automatic skeletons and rigs for bipeds

Click here for Tutorial

Copy Attributes

- copies transforms/modifiers and more between multiple objects with [CTRL]+[C]

Click here for wiki and instructions

[NB that this still seems to be 'version sensitive' atm, so bear in mind if you open a file created in a previous version of Blender, this menu may not be available]

Align Tools

-much of Blender's alignment is done by aligning the cursor to something, then your object to the cursor, but this useful add-on cuts out the middle-man and allows you to be more specific. Appears in the tool panel on the left

Click here for Wiki

3D Navigation

-adds viewport buttons to the tool panel for those without a numpad, (or without the patience to use it!)

Click here for Wiki

Import Images as Planes

-allows you to import folders of image files into Blender on planes.

You can specify size/transparency of plane easily

Click here for Tutorial

Looptools

Inset Polygon

-I don't do much of it myself, but apparently these are two must-haves for modelling enthusiasts:

Click here for Looptools Tutorial

Click here for Inset Poly Wiki

But what if you want to install a script you may have found on the Interwebs, such as Blenrig or Theme Manager?

Well then, you have to define a scripts folder.

User Prefs -> File ->Scripts, then Save As Default

Once you have done this, you can add any new scripts to the specified folder. In User Prefs -> Add-Ons, navigate to your script, and Install Add-On. You should then see your script in the Add-Ons list, ready to activate with the checkbox.

NB: Theme Manager is particularly useful for customisation, as it preserves and reloads any edits you may make in the Theme tab of User Prefs - and, true to the 'customise everything' spirit of Blender, you can make a lot!

PS: You shouldn't need to, but if you want to snoop around Blender files on a Mac, well, here's where mine seems to keep 'em:

/Users/......./Library/Application Support/Blender

Blender 2.5 Basics (after years of 3DS Max!) Part 2:

[NOTE: click on the pictures to see diagrams in full]

Once you've got your interface looking the way you want it, you'll be wanting to save it with the shortcut:

[CTRL] + [U]

This will make the current scene Blender's default scene, so bear in mind that any extra objects in this scene will now also be saved as part of it.

You can edit and save shortcuts too, as follows:

In User Prefs [CMD] + [,], Go to the Input tab, expand the menus [Window, Screen, View2D etc] and press the Edit button to alter the shortcuts as you wish [see below]

Then you can Export Key Configuration.

When it comes to importing and preserving custom key configurations, Blender caught me out initially, as it didn't seem to remember them after the end of the session. The reason was that I was importing my custom key config file, but then forgetting to actually create a new preset for it.

So, to import your custom key config and preserve it, open User Prefs -> Import Key Configuration.

NB: when this window opens and you navigate to your file, initially you may not be able to see it. This could be because the sneaky file Filtering button is on, so you'll want to switch that off pronto [see screenshot below]

When this is done, and you've selected your custom key config from the drop-down menu, you should then press the [+] Add a Keyconfig Preset button and name the preset. Then [CTRL] + [U] again to save your changes.

Next Up: Add-Ons