Shapes and Morphing - Blender Foundations: The Essential Guide to Learning Blender 2.6 - page 282

Figure 10.1 The Shape Keys panel.
To create shape keys for a mesh, you begin with the Shape Keys panel completely empty. With the mesh
selected in Object mode, LMB click the + symbol to the right of the Shape Keys panel. This adds a shape
key called Basis , which is the foundational shape of your mesh—its default state. If you edit your mesh
while the Basis key is selected in this panel, it will change the basic shape of your object.
The fun begins when you add the second shape key by again pressing the + button. It is called “Key 1”
by default, but you can and should change it immediately in the Name field below. Figure 10.3 shows
the panel ready to work on a new key. Before we examine the controls and buttons involved, let's just
change the mesh to create our first shape key.
With the new key active in the panel—it is selected in the key list and its information appears below
it—go into Edit mode on the mesh. Any changes you make to the mesh at this point will not affect the
Basis shape. It will be stored in this new key. Let's try a smile. In the tool shelf, make sure that X-Axis
Mirror is selected at the bottom and select one of the vertices near the corner of the mouth. Enable
Proportional Falloff Editing (O key) if it isn't already. In a front view, rotate the vertex and move it up
a bit, using PEF to pull its nearest neighbors along.