Blender

Download Blender

Blender is a free application designed for 3D modeling, video post-production, creating visualization and animation 3D / 2D. The application within their power does not differ anything from other professionals, paid solutions available on market.

Among the main features of the application, you will find the opportunity to generate photorealistic visualizations using an embedded engine Cycles, quickly create models with built-in tools, use keyboard shortcuts, support for N-Gon and Python scripts or tool to create realistic materials.

Blender also offers a range of features to create animations, virtual sculpting using a variety of tools including brushes (available 20 types).

In this application, possibilities do not end there. Blender also offers built-in tools for post-production renders and videos. It relies on a system of so-called. nodes that allow you to mix and match different effects.

This solution is extremely fast and allows to experiment at each stage of effects. Composer also enables the processing of multiple layers simultaneously. In addition, application functionality can be increased by installing additional plug-ins.

In addition, Blender can be used to create realistic physical simulations including fluid effects, hair, smoke, fire, rain, snow, etc., Operating 3D games based on OpenGL engine, analysis and 2D motion tracking camera in the video and move it the three-dimensional world, making videos and add multiple effects to clips including changes in color saturation, contrast, synchronize audio tracks and much more.

By default, the program offers the ability to import and export projects to many popular formats, including graphic files (JPEG, JPEG2000, PNG, TARGA, OpenEXR, DPX, Cineon, Radiance HDR, SGI Iris, TIFF), videos (AVI, MPEG, and quicktime) and formats kompatyblinych with other tools including 3D Studio (3DS), Collada (DAE), Filmbox (FBX), Autodesk (DXF), Wavefront (OBJ), DirectX (x), Lightwave (LWO), Motion Capture (BVH ), SVG, Stanford PLY, STL, VRML, VRML97 and X3D.

Blender 2.8 Features

Blender's viewport was lagging behind the rest of the application. From version 2.8 Blender brings the minimum OpenGL 3.3, with even newer features for compatible hardware.

The new OpenGL technology is used for Blender’s new real-time render engine Eevee.

Eevee is a fully-featured PBR (physically based-rendering) engine for real-time visualization. It offers advanced features like volumetrics, soft shadows, screen-space reflections and refractions, post-processing effects such as depth of field, ambient occlusion, camera motion blur and bloom.

More features will be implemented soon. The Blender Foundation is mentioning subsurface scattering, object motion blur and contact shadows. Moreover, Asset Management feature is coming to the 2.8x series.

Blender can also be used to create 2D drawings and animation. With Blender's 2.8 2D drawing capabilities have been greatly improved.

The new Grease Pencil focus is to create a more friendly interface for the 2D artist, while keeping the advantages of having a full 3D suite underneath. Grease Pencil is now a real Blender object with huge improvements to brushes and tools.

Blender 2.8 introduces a new concept to organize your scene with Collections and View Layers. There is no limit of 20 layers per scene.

Workspaces will allow users to build up working environment for a specific task. For example there could be workspaces for modeling, sculpting, animation or motion tracking.

Blender Keyboard Shortcuts

Blender Shortcuts - basic navigation

Orbit                       Middle Click
Pan                         Shift + Middle Click
Zoom                        Scroll
Go to Selected Object       Numpad .
Perspective/Orthographic    Numpad 5
Show All Objects            Home
Fly Mode                    Shift + F
Toolbar                     T
Object Properties           N
Reset 3D cursor             Shift + C
Top View                    Numpad 7
Front View                  Numpad 1
Side View                   Numpad 3
Camera View                 Numpad 0

Common Blender Shortcut

Add Object                  Shift + A
Move                        G
Scale                       S
Rotate                      R
Search                      Space
Trackball                   Rotate R, R
Move Origin Point           Ctrl + Shift + Alt + C
Properties Bar              P
Option Menu                 W

Blender Shortcut - object mode

Proportional Editing            On/Off O
Duplicate                       Shift + D
Duplicate Linked                Alt + D
Move to layer                   M
Join/Merge Objects              Ctrl + J
Mirror Object                   Ctrl + M
Move Selected Object to Center  Alt + G
Snap to Cursor                  Shift + S
Hide Selected Objec             H
Unhide All                      Alt + H
Apply Scale/Rotation/Location   Ctrl + A
Copy Attributes to New Object   Ctrl + L
Add Constraint                  Ctrl + Shift + C
Parent                          Ctrl + P
Clear Parent                    Alt + P

Blender Selection Shortcuts

Select                      Right Click
Select All/Deselect         All A
Box Select                  B
Circle Select               C
Lasso Tool                  Ctrl + Click
Select Similar              Shift + G
Invert Selection            Ctrl + I

Shortcuts for Blender View Change

Wireframe/Solid View        Z
Rendered View               Shift + Z
Isolated View               /
Weight Paint Mode           Ctrl + TAB

Blender Rendering Shortcuts

Render                      F12
Save Render                 F3
Show Last Render            F11
Change Render Slot          1-8
Change Active Camera        Ctrl + 0
Only Render Portion         Shift + B
Reset Render Portion        Ctrl + Alt + B

Shortcuts for Blender Edit Mode

Edit/Object Mode            TAB
Extrude                     E
Inset                       I
Fill                        F
Select Edge Loop            Alt + Click
Select Ring                 Ctrl+Alt+Click
Create Loopcut              Ctrl + R
Edge Slide                  G,G
Recalculate Normals         Ctrl + Shift + N
Select All Connected        Ctrl + L
Change Selection Mode       Ctrl + TAB
Bevel                       Ctrl + B
Knife Tool                  K
Separate as New Object      P
Rip                         V
Rip Fill                    Alt + V
Split                       Y
Mirror                      Ctrl + M
Make Seam/Sharp             Ctrl + E
Edge Crease                 Shift + E
Unwrap UVs                  U
Shrink/Fatten               Alt + S

If you are looking for more Blender Keyboard Shortcuts, you can navigate to Blender 3D HotKey article on Wikibooks.