Blender Basics for Game Characters - Game Character Creation with Blender and Unity - page 32

Again, there are other editors that may or may not be within the scope of your work
that you can investigate on your own. With this knowledge of the interface and its versa-
tility, you are prepared to explore the 3D view and Properties editors.
Navigating and Viewing 3D Space
Now that you have a handle on Blender's interface, you will need to know how to navigate
the contents of the 3D view editor. In 3D modeling programs, there are usually three pri-
mary methods of navigating around a viewport: orbiting, zooming, and panning.
For these functions, it is important to have a three-button mouse handy. If you do not have
one, Alt+LMB can be used to simulate the middle mouse button (MMB). If you are using a
single-button Mac mouse, Alt-click is MMB and Cmd-click is RMB. If you do not have a three-
button mouse handy, there is an option in the User Preferences editor's Input panel that
allows you to access MMB functions by using Alt+LMB. In situations where you are lacking a
three-button mouse or modeling with your track pad, this can be useful.
Orbiting
Orbiting is the act of moving around a model to view it from different angles. To do this
in Blender, simply press the MMB and hold it down as you move the mouse to rotate
around the model. The way Blender accomplishes this movement can take some getting
used to, especially if you're proficient in other 3D programs, so take time to practice.
Typically, Blender orbits the viewport camera around the origin of the scene, or coor-
dinates (0,0,0) on the xyz coordinate plane. You can use the User Preferences editor to
change Blender to orbit around the center point of the selected object instead.
Zooming
Using the MMB as a wheel allows you to zoom in and out of the scene. This basic opera-
tion is exceedingly useful when you are trying to make small adjustments in your mesh.
Be aware that there are limits to how far you can zoom into your model. Viewing your
model in orthogonal view with no perspective does not let you see the inside of your
mesh. On the other hand, turning a perspective view on allows you to zoom into your
mesh. View controls will be covered in the next section, “Panning.”
Panning
The third important navigation function is Pan. Panning is moving the position from
which you view the 3D viewport contents left, right, up, or down along a 2D plane. This is
accomplished by holding the Shift key and dragging the MMB or using Ctrl+2, 4, 6, or 8. If
you have not already, take the time to navigate around the 3D view editor and get a feel for
looking at a model from different points of view. You will be using these commands a lot.