Jennifer's Classroom

[pappou]

Yes, we will sit at the back of the room, keep our gum in our mouths, and relearn student survival skills. In this case, surviving suggests recalling that Teacher will go crazy if you talk about crystals; she has some sort of belief system based upon red chlorophyll; and under no circumstances bring up the subject of James Joyce.

That is advice for survivors. For the venturesome, however, they know that survival rules are there to be violated -- like when they are about to fall asleep.

[Dr Crisger]

OK, no Crystals and no James Joyce. I never understood him anyway, except one book which ended....

And snow was fallling all over Ireland.....

being in Colorado we understand that very well.

[Jennifer_P]

Teacher will go crazy if you talk about crystals...

Don't get me started on crystals. They're overused in the most unrealistic ways...!

being in Colorado we understand that very well.

Ooh, do you have any pretty mountains out your window? That's what I always think of when I hear "Colorado."

But anyway, I managed to finish another lesson in spite of the great distraction of my sister's approx. twelve hour continuous Exile marathon.

Lesson 2
Okay, the first thing we need to do is to review the key and mouse commands that allow you to rotate, pan, and zoom. Zip on back to the last lesson and quickly review each command until you're comfy with them again: http://forum.guildofwriters.com/viewtopic.php?p=13331#p13331
Alrighty then, done? Let's start the new stuff then. Today we will learn how to delete and move vertices. Now, remember that teal-colored bar from the last lesson? Take another look at it--do you see where it says "Object Mode"? Well, click on the words "Object Mode" and take a look at the menu that pops up. Ooh, six different options. We want the option "Edit Mode," so pick that.
So, here we are in Edit Mode. Immediately our Myst-attuned senses detect that the colors of the lines which make up the cube have changed from purple to yellow. There is another difference with the cube as well...get close it and then flip from Object Mode to Edit Mode until you can spot it.
No doubt you noticed that at each corner of the cube there is now a little square. Well, each of those little squares is a "vertex." All the models that you make are going to be composed of vertices. Broadly speaking, the more vertices your model has, the better it will look--and the more lag it will cause. So, you have to strike a balance between quality of models and lag-prevention. A 100,000 vertex sphere will look way better than a 20 vertex sphere, but it would make your game...go......slooooowwwerrrr..........
Well, let's try some experiments. Note that if at any time you want to restart with a fresh cube, just go to "File," select "New," and then choose "Erase all" in the menu which pops up. That'll give you a brand new cube to work with. So, in Edit Mode, right click on one of the vertices of the cube. The vertex should remain yellow, while the other vertices should go purple. A yellow vertex is a selected vertex and a purple vertex is an unselected vertex. Go ahead and right click on different vertices to select each one. Okay, got that down? Now, suppose we want to have more than just one vertex selected at a time. Have a vertex already selected? Then to select a second vertex, hold down the "Shift" key and right click on another vertex. Both of the vertices should then be selected. Hold down the "Shift" key and right click on a third vertex, and it too will be selected, etc, etc. And to deselect a vertex you have already selected, just hold down "Shift" and right click on the selected vertex as if you were reselecting it, and it will become deselected. So what else can we do with our vertices?
Well, we can delete them. To do this, first select the vertex you want to remove (just pick one for now). In the teal-colored bar from Lesson 1, find the menu labeled "Mesh" (it is directly to the left of the words "Edit Mode"). Open up the Mesh menu, and look for the option "Delete..." Select it, and you'll get another menu full of choices. In this new menu, you'll want to pick "Vertices." The vertex will disappear...and so will half your cube! But wait, we can use this disaster as an opportunity to make a three-sided pyramid.
We will accomplish this by moving our vertices around. Select a vertex by right clicking. Now, near the vertex you selected, hold down the left mouse button and drag slightly, then release. Try moving your cursor around; the vertex you selected should be moving around with your cursor. To place the moving vertex in a new location, just left click at the location you want to place it. To "let go" of the vertex so that it will return to its original location, just right click. Now arrange the vertices so that they form the shape of a three-sided pyramid (with an open bottom). So it's not pretty; but don't worry, over the next few lessons we will figure out how to make it look nice. In fact, your models are only going to get nicer from now on. "Do not despise small beginnings."

[Junee]

/waves back at Monkeyboy and everyone else. (Made it and made it, I've been lurking for two months. )

You don't have to worry about the time, this took me about a minute to do (but as I mentioned on MOUL I'm not a complete novice in Blender. (I've made it about halfway through the "noob to pro" tutorial ))
I then felt very proud when I merged the top four vertices into a perfect pyramid... only to switch to front view and see that it was the bottom ones.. doh!

[Jennifer_P]

Well, excellent! There's the easy way to make a four-sided pyramid. I think we're going to tackle "merge" and "Make edge/face" next. Good times, good times.

[Jennifer_P]

Eh, make that "Merge" and simple transformations.

[Nynaveve]

Hi Jennifer! I am reading through your lessons as you go along, and participating in the "new" stuff I don't know or don't know well. I am about halfway through the "Noob to Pro" tutorials as well and have begun the first GoW Age tutorial, but I'm still really new at this. So getting stuff from a second perspective is great. Thanks for putting out the effort for this!!

[Jennifer_P]

Oh good; I'm glad your getting something out of this then. It's always helpful to learn about things from more than one angle. And if you have a question or want to jump in and add something, don't hesitate to do so!

Lesson 3
Okay, today we will learn how to do three simple transformations (using only our mouse!) and some more vertex manipulation. But first we need to review the previous lessons. So, from a fresh cube, quickly recreate the open three-sided pyramid you made earlier. Pretty icky-looking, huh? Now, let's make a nicer looking (and easier to make) pyramid using Junee's method. Start over with a new cube (File, New, Erase All) and head into Edit Mode. Do you remember how to switch to Edit Mode? Well, in the teal-colored bar from Lesson 1, look for the words "Object Mode." Click on them, and a menu will appear in which you should choose "Edit Mode." You are now in Edit Mode. Look just to the left of the words "Edit Mode," and you will observe the menu option "Mesh." Select that option, and inside the menu that pops up, find the "Vertices" submenu and open it. Do you see the command "Merge"? This command will take two (or more) vertices and combine them into one single vertex. So suppose that you had a plain flat square with a vertex at each corner, and then you used the merge command on two vertices which were next to each other. The two vertices would merge, and you would end up with a triangle. And we can apply the exact same technique to make our dull cube into an exciting pyramid.
First, we select the vertices that we want to merge. In this case, on your cube select 4 vertices that make up a square, and pay attention to which vertex you select FIRST and which you vertex you select LAST. Now, give the "Merge" command. Immediately you are presented with a menu in which you can decide where you want the vertices to be merged at. Choose "At Center." Ah, you have created a perfect four-sided pyramid. Admire...
Now let's look at the other options in the merge menu. Hold down "ctrl" and press "z" to undo your last action and return to the cube with 4 selected vertices. Now, again select "Merge," but this time, choose the merge option "At First." Did you see what happened? The vertices were merged at the first vertex which you selected. Next, try the merge option "At Last." This time the vertices are merged at the last vertex you selected. Now perhaps you are wondering what those last two options in the merge menu do? (You probably weren't, but just for the sake of argument...) Well, "Collapse" is helpful for removing unneeded vertices on flat surfaces, thus making your game run faster (we won't try that today). And "At Cursor" will merge the vertices at the center of the 3D cursor, which is that candycane-striped ring with the crosshairs through it. Let's try the "At Cursor" option, shall we? Left click somewhere near the cube and notice that the 3D candycane cursor appears wherever you left click. Now, with 4 vertices selected in the shape of a square on your cube, go ahead and try the "At Cursor" option. As you can observe, all of the vertices have merged at the 3D cursor. As a test of your skills, start with a fresh cube and use the merge command to make the cube into a four-sided pyramid. Now make that four-sided pyramid into a three-sided pyramid. Now make that three-sided pyramid into a triangle. Make the triangle into a line. And make the line into a point. Now delete the point. *poof!*
Okay, start over with a fresh cube (File, New, Erase All). Now let's learn how to do some transformations. Just what is a transformation? Well, a transformation can be many things, mostly having to do with either moving an object or changing an object's shape. A short list of transformations is as follows: Movement of an object from point A to point B; rotation; reflection; shrinking and enlarging; and shearing (the process that goes on when a square turns into a parallelogram). There are other transformations that can be applied as well (lots and lots of them), but the ones in the list can take you pretty far. Today we'll learn about rotation, shrinking & enlarging (otherwise known as "scaling") and we'll review dragging.
Right now we want to be in Object Mode, not Edit Mode (it will make things simpler). (And If you started off with a fresh cube, then you should get Object Mode automatically.) Now, do you remember how you dragged selected vertices around by left clicking and holding down, and then dragging the mouse slightly in a straight line? Well, try that again. Hold down the left mouse button and drag in a straight line, then release. The cube will now follow your cursor around until you either place the cube by left clicking or release it to its original position by right clicking. This sort of movement goes by the technical name of "translation," as in "I'm translating this cube from one side of the screen to the other." Ah, but suppose that instead of dragging the mouse so that the cursor makes a straight line, you drag the mouse so that the cursor makes a "C" semi-circular shape? (Note that you should be holding down the left mouse button while dragging in the shape of a "C") Try it, your cube should now be rotating! Note that just like for moving the cube around with the straight line method, you place the cube by left clicking and you release the cube back to its original position by right clicking. Next, let's try shrinking and enlarging (i.e., "scaling"). This time, drag the mouse (holding down the left mouse button) in the shape of a "V" and release. Now move your mouse close to the center of the cube and watch the cube shrink. Move further away, and the cube expands. Ooh... This is the simplest way to do scaling, translation, and rotation, but it doesn't give you as much control as you'll want later on. So next time we'll learn how to do more precise and controlled transformations. And how to color your cube something besides grey.

[DeAn]

I just found this. Mind if I sit in? I'll run to catch up.

DeAn

[Jojon]

I just found this. Mind if I sit in? I'll run to catch up.

DeAn

Just try not to block the view for those of us who are skimping on the tuition fees and eavesdrop at the window.

BTW, I must say that mouse gestures is one of those user interface concepts that never fails to nothing but annoy me - fortunately we are not forced to rely on them.