Blender Basics for Game Characters - Game Character Creation with Blender and Unity - page 36

Scale You'll use the S key for scaling. LMB-click to place your object in its new location,
and then press the S key to activate the Scale tool. Scaling makes objects larger or smaller
by moving the mouse. As with the Translate tool, you can constrain this transformation
to each of the three axes.
Rotate LMB-click again to apply the scaling to your object, and then press the R key to
rotate the object. Again like Translate and Scale, rotation can be confined to a specific axis
rather than just happening in relation to the viewport angle. If you press Z when rotating,
for example, the object will rotate around the z-axis. If you are in orthogonal view, the object
will rotate in relation to that view. Understanding how this works is a useful skill to have.
When you are finished, press the Tab key with an object selected to enter Edit mode
for the object. This is the mode in which you will manipulate the vertices, edges, and
polygons/faces of the mesh's topology. I'll explain how to work in this mode later in the
chapter in the section, “Making a Simple Block Character.”
Now that you have manipulated objects in Blender, you can explore some additional
options in the Properties editor.

Using the Properties Editor
In the default Blender layout, the Properties editor is found on the right side of the screen.
Its selection of panels and options/buttons can seem overwhelming, but the editor is
incredibly powerful for those who know their way around it. This section will put you on
the path to being such a Blender user.
It is important to know that the workspace inside the Properties editor is context sen-
sitive, meaning the buttons and functions inside it will change depending on what object
or objects you have selected in Blender.
The Properties editor can have up to 11 contexts, or individual editors, shown at one
time (see Figure 2.13), so this section will merely provide an overview. You will use them
more thoroughly elsewhere in the topic. Some of the more useful Properties windows are
(as displayed in Blender from left to right):

Constraints Textures

World Modifiers

Figure 2.13
The contexts
available in the
Properties editor

Render Object Materials

Render The panel for this context resembles a camera. This context contains the options
for rendering images and animations. Here you will find Output Size, Location, File Format,
and other options that will affect the quality of renders. You will also find the Bake com-
mand, which will prove useful later in the topic when you sculpt the surface of your model.
World The panel for this context resembles a globe. This context contains a series of
options that change the background and overall look of your renders.