Doc:Tutorials/Modelling/BSoD/The Nitty Gritty

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[edit] Edit What?

By now we've learnt how to manipulate objects in Blender. We've seen how to move, scale and rotates objects as well as some ways to change the way we edit.

But now we want to actually edit the object itself. Blender has two modes, Object Mode and Edit Mode. In Object Mode we edit on an object scope -- we can move objects, scale some of our tiles and rotate the entire floor. In Edit Mode we concentrate on one particular object, and edit the mesh that makes that object.

So, what's a mesh? I hear you asking. Blender (and computers in general) represent 3D objects by a set of vertices or points, connected by edges. Three (or sometimes four) vertices can make up a face.

Here are some images to attempt to make this more clear.

In Edit Mode, we manipulate the object at the vertex-level.

[edit] Pillars Of Fun I

This is what we hope to achieve in this tutorial. In theory, you could do this all in object mode, but what you need to learn is when and where to use the different tools Blender has to offer. Knowing this is the product of experience, doing these tutorials will give you some idea of how to choose your tool.

Anyways, enough of the theory, let's get down to modeling. We are going to start a new scene -- we will add the stuff we did previously once we've finished. Start up Blender, press Z then press A TWICE. Now hit X and confirm. The Z key toggles between shaded mode and wireframe mode, you can switch between these two modes whenever you want to see how you're model is coming in. The only thing I can say about this is that all my screenshots will be in wireframe mode.

The first thing we are going to do is create the basic shape of the pillar. We could do this with a simple cube, but as the pattern on each side of the pillar is identical, we are going to create one side, then duplicate it. Ok, SPACE => Add => Mesh => Cube, if you remember from last tutorial, after adding a new object, Blender starts in Edit mode. You should be able to see 4 yellow dots, or vertices. A yellow vertex means it is currently selected. Press A and watch all the vertices turn pink. (This is also the case for edges and faces). Just to recap, A toggles ALL/NO objects to be selected, it does the same in Edit mode, only with vertices instead of objects.

You can also select vertices by using the box tool -- press B. Another way is to select one vertex by clicking the  RMB over it, then holding Shift and clicking  RMB over the other vertices you want to select. The final way to select multiple vertices is to press B TWICE and "paint" by holding the  LMB down and moving the mouse over the verts you want to select. I recommend you try all these methods out now. Now, get a TOP view of the cube using NumPad 7, and select the four (you can only see two, but remember this is a 3D cube, not a 2D plane) verts at the top. We are going to translate them downwards by 1.8. If you don't remember/know how to translate, check the previous tutorial, the keys are the same in Object/Edit mode. I suggest you zoom in now (but be prepared to zoom out if you need to at any point), so that the shape fills as much of the screen as possible, but doesn't go off at the edge. Scale the still selected verts in the X axis (that is, towards each other) by a value of 0.8.

[edit] Pillars Of Fun II

Go to SIDE view NumPad 3, deselect all verts and select the top four. Translate these verts upwards by 2. Now, select all the verts and translate them upwards by 1. The pillar is now a more realistic height and rests on the thicker reference line.

Go into FRONT view NumPad 1, make sure all verts are deselected. Add a new cube. If you add a new mesh while you are in EDIT mode, the new mesh will be appended to the currently edited mesh. Scale the cube by 0.1 (no constraints) and then translate it 0.1 in the X axis (to the right). Go into SIDE view NumPad 3 and translate by 1 to the left and translate once more by 0.1 upwards.

[edit] Depth Through Extrusion

Go back to FRONT view NumPad 1 and deselect all verts. Select the four (two visible) verts on the right hand side of the small cube we've just added and translate them 0.6 to the right. We are going to extrude these verts now.

"The extrude tool is applied to a face or a group of faces. It creates a new face of the same size and shape which is connected to each of the existing edges by a face. Thus, performing the extrude operation on a square face would create a cube connected to the surface at the location of the face." [1]

If that went straight over your head, fear not! We shall learn by trying. Press E and select Region, this will duplicate the selected part of the mesh and connect the newly created section to the currently selected part. Blender automatically puts you in translation mode, constrained to the direction perpendicular to the previously selected face. Translate (remember, you don't need to press anything, you're already in the correct mode) by 0.2 to the right.

Deselect all verts and then select the verts shown here. Extrude these by 1.8 upwards. We now have a quarter of our frame/border which we can easily duplicate. To do this, select the shape we've just created, but make sure you don't select any verts from the other part of the mesh. We can select linked verts by hovering the mouse over a vertex of the mesh to be selected and pressing L -- do this now. Duplicate Shift D and immediately press  LMB . We need to mirror the mesh, and we can do this by pressing M and selecting X Global then translate by 1 to the left. Select both the border shapes (hover over the unselected one and press L). Duplicate then mirror in the Z Global. Translate by 2 upwards.
Now is a good time to flip into shaded view and move around your pillar in admiration, when you're done, go back into wireframe view. Click here to proceed to Part II