Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Properties This editor contains many of the buttons with which you will customize the
objects in your scene. It contains object-specific information such as materials, textures,
physics, rendering options, constraints, modifiers, and many other useful things. This
editor will get its own section later in this chapter. The shortcut for the Properties editor
is Shift+F7.
Timeline This editor displays animation according to frames and marks the viewer's
place with a vertical green bar. The timeline also has video controls that allow you to play,
stop, and skip forward and backward in your animation. It also allows you to add new
keyframes to your animation with a record button. This information will be covered in
Chapter 8, “Animating the Zombie.”
UV/Image Editor This editor displays renders and gives you control over image-based
textures. The window also allows you to manipulate UV map information so custom tex-
tures fit correctly over models. This topic will be covered in more detail in Chapters 4-6.
The shortcut for the UV/Image Editor is Shift+F10.
DopeSheet This editor provides a thoroughly detailed overview of animations in a scene.
In this editor you can save singular armature poses as actions and manipulate frames
of animation to change their places along the Timeline. The shortcut for this editor is
Shift+F12.
User Preferences This editor lets you change Blender to your liking. Here you can change
the colors of the interface, as well as activate third-party add-ons, language preferences,
and hotkeys. You can even change the standard button for the 3D view to LMB instead of
RMB if that has been driving you crazy. The shortcut for a pop-up User Preferences win-
dow is Ctrl+Alt+U.
File Browser This editor lets you open or save Blender files ( .blend ) or image files from
locations on your computer. This is also the menu where you will find the import and
append functions that allow you to combine Blender files.
Graph Editor This editor allows you to select and edit animation curves (F-Curves).
While not always necessary for game animations, this editor can help smooth out choppy
armature animations and is useful to know. Its shortcut is Shift+F6.
Logic Editor his topic primarily uses the Unity game engine to create interactive con-
tent. Should the mood strike you, however, Blender has its own game engine that has
yielded some impressive results. The Logic Editor allows you to add simple interactive
controls to objects by piecing together nodes. Its shortcut is Shift+F2.
NLA Editor This is an animation editor more suited to animators since its output is dif-
ficult to export to engines. However, should you find yourself doing cutscenes or anima-
tion work, know that it takes actions defined in the DopeSheet and allows you to mix and
match them on the Timeline as you would edit footage in a movie.
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