From BlenderWiki

Introduction to the Blender Database

Introduction

The Blender Database is one of the most important things that you can learn about blender. It defines how blender stores and manipulates its data. Once you know this, you know Blender. This is not a complicated subject, and you will have no problems understanding this assuming that you feel confortable with the gingerbread tutorial.

The concept behind Blender's interface

After using Blender or other 3D programs for a while, you certainly have an idea of what the interface means and represents. This is the right time to check if you were understanding it correctly.

There is no spoon

The first concept is that the interface is not the data. If you look at a 3D spoon in the 3D view, you are not looking at the spoon as blender understands it. You are looking at a 3D representation of the spoon data. Blender can show you that spoon in many different ways, and one is represented by a [WindowSpace]

The 3D window Space obviously shows you a 3D representation of your object. The button space shows your object as a list of useful properties and parameters. Each space has its specific way to represent your object. None of them show you the object in its entirety, and they don't show you directly Blender's representation of your object.

Blender is thus divided into two parts : the first is a library containing your objects as Blender understands them, and the second is an interface composed of several WindowSpaces displaying your objects as you understand them. It should become more obvious now that by learning how Blender understands your data, you will learn half of Blender.

TODO : Add nice illustrations and rewrite that with English sentences.

Blender Objects

• What is an object ?
• The object mode
• Inside objects: the edit mode.

Object Data

• How is an object's data stored?
• Object links
• Linked duplicates
• A first look at the outliner
• The L menu.

Materials

• quick materials overview
• the mesh/object/material linked mess.
• material indices.
• textures.
• nodes.

Parent & childs

• parent/child relationship.
• sample usecases
  • animation
  • dupliverts
• the shift-G menu.

Library data

• Appending
• Scenes
• groups
• linking

Reference

References of all types with possible links

Summer of documentation 2006--Efbie