Menu
RenderGuide.com
  • About
RenderGuide.com
Blender Interface Tutorial for Beginners

Blender Interface Tutorial for Beginners

This Blender Interface Tutorial explains everything for beginners how to better understand the interface of Blender and how to configure it properly. Interface is arguably the most important part of any software. Bad interface design can ruin all experience related to using even the most convenient programs. But even a good interface can feel terrible if you do not know how to use it.

Fortunately, Blender has a really good user interface design. Though it is a bit unique, so it can be hard to handle for a beginner. If you opened Blender for the first time – you would better read the Blender Basics Tutorial: Part 1, where we introduce the interface and its very basics. And you can use the How to Move in Blender article to learn moving around the 3D space. 

Blender interface

This article we are going a bit deeper and more detailed into the interface. You will learn about:

  1. Preferences menu. How to customize Blenderю
  2. Working with Editors. Deleting them, creating new ones and forming layouts.
  3. Editor Presets and creating your own workspaces.
  4. Parameters editor and all you can find there.

Blender Interface Tutorial: Preferences menu

Blender is a very customizable software. You can change everything ranging from button functionality to the whole theme of the interface. For example you can use Maya presets that make Blender feel a lot more like Maya – a very popular 3D software. So if people come into Blender from there – they will be a lot more comfortable.

blender maya interface

Let’s start our introduction with customization settings then. Everything about customizing interface to your liking can be found in the Preferences menu. And this menu can be opened from the top bar – Edit dropdown list.

blender preferences

We will give a short explanation to each of the tabs in the Preferences window one by one and what can be done there:

  • Interface. Everything about how your interface looks. You can change its size here, change the language, customise pie charts and so on.
blender interface scale
  • Themes. Use one of the Theme presets or customize it yourself. Change the fonts, colors of the axis and different parts of the interface
blender themes
  • Viewport. What can you see in your 3D Viewport. Which info is shown on the top right. Quality of the anti-aliasing and anisotropic filter.
  • Lights. Custom configurations for the Studio, MatCap and HDRI lights.
  • Editing. Things that go on while editing objects, such as what data is duplicated together with the object.
  • Animation. Customise your timeline and keyframes here.
  • Add-ons. One of the most important tabs. You can manage add-ons here, install new ones and delete old ones. There are a lot of useful add-ons available for Blender.
blender add ons
  • Input. Change mouse sensitivity, set up the tablet. Also here you can emulate both NumPad and the middle mouse button if you use Blender on the laptop.
  • Navigation. Settings for zooming, orbiting and panning.
  • Keymap. Change the key-bindings and shortcuts.
blender keymap
  • System. Important one. Here you can set up the preference of your rendering device and Video Sequencer, how much memory you allocate for Blender.
  • Save & Load. Turn on the auto save, change what is saved in the blend files.
  • File Paths. Easy to understand – change where should Blender search for data such as textures, fonts and scripts. Also you can change the output path here.

Blender Interface Tutorial: Editors(windows) and Presets

You should already know that the Blender interface is made out of windows that are called Editors. Editors form the layouts that then can be made into a preset.

Editors

Absolutely every editor can be changed, swapped or even deleted. We already showed how to join two editors in the Blender Basics Tutorial: Part 1. Let’s continue from there, your viewport should be joined with the Timeline editor.

blender interface tutorial

If you right click between two editors you can see a menu that proposes you to make a split, join areas or swap them.

blender horizontal split

Split options allow you to choose where the window will be split in.

blender split interface

Pressing the left mouse button will split this window into two of the same kind.

blender split the window

After that you can use the button on the top left of any editor to change the editor itself to another one.

blender editor type

New editor can be whatever. For example – Text Editor. 

blender text editor

Another way of creating new windows is to put your mouse in the corner of an editor. When the mouse changes to a crosshair – you can click and drag it to the middle of the editor to create a new window.

Furthermore, a lot of the editors also have a bunch of different modes. Modes usually change how the editor works, but it is still the same editor as it was. For example 3D viewport has 6 modes, including the default Object Mode.

blender editor mode

To open the mode changing menu, you need to click on the button near the one that changes the editor type.

Editor Presets

As you can understand – editors form a layout of your interface. There are a lot of editors for most different purposes, so all can not be open at the same time. That is why there are a lot of different presets available in the Blender. They are called “workspace”.

You can see workspaces at the top of your Blender window, above the toolbar.

blender workspaces

The default preset is the “Layout”. Blender has a bunch of presets built-in that you can use. These presets are targeted for different kinds of work. For example “UV Editing” preset adds UV Editor and changes the 3D viewport to Edit Mode. This creates a comfortable interface for working with UV maps.

blender uv editing workspace

Another good example would be the “Shading” workspace. 3D Viewport changes its shading to the material preview and right beneath it you can see the Shader editor for working with textures and materials.

blender shading workspace

There are also a bunch of additional workspaces that are not shown by default. You can open them by clicking on the plus button at the very right of the workspaces list.

blender add workspace

Here you can also create your own presets if you need more than Blender already has. To do that – click Duplicate Current option. This will create a new workspace with the same editors as active one. Then you can change this layout however you like.

blender create layour preset

After that, if you want to save this workspace, so it would be available each time you open a new Blender scene – you will need to save current interface to a startup file. For this go to the File > Defaults > Save Startup File.

blender save startup file

Now each time you will open Blender – this will be your startup interface.

blender using interface preset

Blender Interface:Properties Editor

One of the Editors in Blender can be considered a bit more important. It is the Editor that is present in practically all workspaces – Properties Editor. I suggest we look into each of its tabs and talk about what important you can do there.

blender properties editor
  • Active Tool and Workspace settings. Here you can change your tool settings mainly. Change the tip of your brush tool and so on.
  • Render Properties. Speaks for itself – everything about rendering and rendering settings. Alter the amount of samples or whether you want Ambient Occlusion on your render image.
  • Output Properties. Resolution and aspect ratio of your rendered files, frame rates of animation and output file path
blender interface tutorial scene properties
  • View Layer Properties. Optimize your Passes and select View Layer.
  • Scene Properties. What is the main camera of your scene, is there gravity there and which units does the scene use.
  • World Properties. Your scene world, its color, lighting it gives and how you see it.
  • Object Properties. Transforms of the object, its relation, visibility and how it is displayed.
blender object properties
  • Modifier Properties. Here you can manage modifiers of an active object. Add, change or delete them.
  • Particle Properties. Manage particles.
  • Physics Properties. Add different physics to your object, sucs as make it behave like cloth or fluid.
blender physics properties
  • Object Constraints Properties. Constraint object to another object. Especially useful to make cameras follow objects while animating.
  • Object Data Properties. Change the settings that are specific to your selected object. For lights they would be its power and color, for camera its focal length and depth of field and so on.
  • Material Properties. Everything about adding and customizing materials to the objects.
blender interface tutorial material properties
  • Texture Properties. Add and customize textures of your brushes.

Conclusion Blender Interface Tutorial

In this article you should have learned more about the Blender interface. What you can do with it, how to customize it for your advantage and create presets.

If you did not do that yet – now would be the best time to go through our four part article series – Blender Basics Tutorial: Creating a 3D House, where you can create your first scene and render it out.

Receive our latest 3D Tutorials and 3D Model Reviews when they come out.

RenderGuide.com

RenderGuide.com is the place to find the Best 3D Models, learn 3D rendering with our step by step Daz3D Tutorials as well as our detailed Blender Tutorials. Take a look around and we hope you find some great inspiration for your next creative render projects.

Categories

  • 3d Models
  • Blender Tutorials
  • Daz3d Tutorials
  • Popular Posts

Popular Posts

  • how to use daz3dHow to Use Daz3d: Daz Beginner Tutorial [2022]
    This is a tutorial article. ...
  • best office 3d models6 Best Office 3d Models [2022]
    Check out the best office 3d ...
  • what is daz3dWhat is Daz3d: An Introduction to Daz Studio
    This article answers ...
  • house 3d model8 Best House 3d Models [2022]
    Are you seeking the best ...
  • dazd depth of fieldDaz3d Depth of Field: How to Use it
    This article explains ...
  • daz studio animation tutorialDaz Studio Animation Tutorial: Step by Step
    This article is a dedicated ...
  • daz3d iray lighting tutorialDaz3d Iray Lighting Tutorial
    This Daz3d Iray Lighting ...
  • 11 Best Car 3d Models [2022]
    What car 3d model do you want ...
  • daz3d render settingsDaz3d Render Settings: Basics & Tips
    In this article we are going ...
  • Daz dForce: Basics, Tutorials & More
    Daz dForce is an exclusive ...
  • how to install daz studioDaz Install Manager DIM vs DazCentral vs Daz3d Man…
    This article how to install ...
  • what is daz3d used forWhat Is Daz3d Used For?
    What is daz3d used for or may ...

Free 3d Models

Join our Newsletter

Renderguide Newsletter
  • Legal Notice & Affiliate Disclaimer
  • DMCA Notice
  • Privacy Policy
©2022 RenderGuide.com
We use cookies on our website to personalise your experience, to analyse website usage and for ad purposes.
In case of sale of your personal information, you may opt out by using the link Do not sell my personal information.
Read MoreCookie settingsACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us advertize, analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non Necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Save & Accept