From BlenderWiki

Screens

Layout dropdown.

Blender’s flexibility with windows lets you create customized working environments for different tasks, such as modeling, animating, and scripting. It is often useful to quickly switch between different environments within the same file. For each scene, you need to set the stage by modeling the props, dressing them and painting them through materials, etc. In the example picture in “Window System”, we are in the modeling stage.

To do each of these major creative steps, Blender has a set of pre-defined screens, or window/screen layouts, that show you the types of windows you need to get the job done quickly and efficiently:

• 1-Animation – Making actors and other objects move about.
• 2-Model – Creating actors, props, and other objects.
• 3-Material – Painting and texturing surfaces.
• 4-Sequence – Editing scenes into a movie.
• 5-Scripting – Documenting your work, and writing custom scripts.

Blender sorts these screen layouts for you automatically in alpha-numerical order. The preset screen’s names typically start with a number. The list is available via the SR drop-down button in the User Preferences window header, as shown in (Screen and Scene selectors). To change to the next screen alphabetically, press Ctrl→, and to the previous one, Ctrl←.

Screen and Scene selectors.

By default, each screen layout “remembers” the last scene it was used on. Selecting a different layout will switch to the layout and jump to that scene.

All changes to windows, as described in “Window System” and “Window Types”, are saved within one screen. If you change your windows in one screen, other screens won’t be affected, but the scene you are working on stays the same in all screens.

Screens Configuration

Adding a new Screen

As you scroll through the screen list, you will see that one of the options is to ADD NEW – namely, add a new window layout. When you click this entry, a new frame layout is created based on your current layout.

Give the new screen a name that starts with a number, so that you can predictably scroll to it using the arrow keys. You can rename the layout by LMB clicking into the field and typing a new name. For example you could use the name “6-MyScreen” (see Screen and Scene selectors above).

Deleting a Screen

You can delete a screen by using the “X” “delete datablock” button (), and confirm by clicking Delete current screen in the pop-up dialog box (see Screen and Scene selectors above).

Rearranging a Screen

Use the window controls to move frame borders, split and join windows. When you have a layout that you like, and wish to use as your default layout when Blender starts up, press CtrlU to update your user defaults settings. The Buttons window has a special option: if you click RMB on its background, you can choose to arrange its panels horizontally (across) or vertically (up and down).

Overriding Defaults

When you save a .blend file, the screen layouts are saved in it. When you open a file, the Load UI button on the file browser header controls whether Blender should use the file’s screen layouts, or stick with your current layouts. If Load UI is enabled, the file’s screen layouts are used, overriding your defaults.

Additional Layouts

Screens provide dramatic increases in functionality. As you get better at using Blender, depending on what you use it for, consider adding some of the following example screen layouts, as desired (for a more complete workflow):

• 1-Model – Four 3D Views, Buttons window in Editing context.
• 2-Lighting – 3D Views for moving lights, UV/Image Editor for displaying Render Result, Buttons windows in Render and Lamp sub-contexts.
• 3-Material – Buttons window in Shading context, 3D View for selecting objects, Outliner, Library script (if used).
• 4-UV Layout – UV/Image Editor window, 3D View for seaming and unwrapping mesh.
• 5-Painting – UV/Image Editor for texture painting image, 3D View for painting directly on object in Texture Paint mode, three mini-3D Views down the side that have background reference pictures set to full strength, Buttons window.
• 6-Animation – Ipo Curve Editor, 3D View for posing armature, NLA Editor.
• 7-Node – Big Node Editor window for noodles, UV/Image Editor linked to Render Result.
• 8-Sequence – Ipo Curve Editor, two Video Sequence Editor windows in Image Preview and Sequence modes, a Timeline window, and the good old Buttons one.
• 9-Notes/Scripting – Outliner, Text Editor (scripts) window.