In this article we will focus on the viewport overlays in Blender. The goal is to display the data we need as we work on our scenes while not getting the viewport cluttered with too much information. We can access viewport overlays and gizmos in the top right corner of the 3D viewport. Overlays are […]

I recently started to take deeper note about what options are available for the 3D viewport in Blender. I was accustomed to some features but I didn't know really how much choice I had and how an informative and good-looking viewport could help me make better art. To change the viewport shading mode, find the […]

Mirroring in Blender may have multiple meanings. We may want to mirror geometry, or a brush stroke or perhaps we are talking about creating a mirror as a shader. Let's take a deep dive into mirroring in Blender and see what each of those can mean. The most common way to mirror in Blender is […]

Proportional editing is one of the basic tools in Blender to start creating simple organic shapes. Quick description We can turn on or off proportional editing in Blender by pressing O on the keyboard. While on, proportional editing works together with a transformation tool such as move, rotate, or scale. Make a selection and press […]

There are many ways to import images into Blender. The best way depends on what we want to do with the image once we imported it. The most basic way to import an image into Blender is to drag-and-drop it. If you drop it in the 3D viewport it will become a background image object. […]

If you are anything like me you jumped straight in when you started learning about Blender. Not too long into the learning experience you might have realized that you need some help with basics, centering objects, origins and pivot points is probably one of them if you came across this page. So how do we […]

There are many scenarios where the boolean modifier is an excellent solution to modeling problems. In this article we will cover a few of them and how we can make the most out of it in Blender. To use the boolean modifier, select an object and go to the modifier stack in the properties panel. […]

There is a limited set of primitive objects we can use as a starting points when modeling in Blender. Therefore, I wanted to give you a little extra help by explaining the extra objects add-on and how it might be helpful. What is the extra objects add-on? There are two extra objects add-ons in Blender. […]

There are many ways to create grass in Blender. That is probably because there are over 12.000 different species in the Poaceae family according to Wikipedia. Poaceae being just  another fancy word for grass. Apart from that grass looks complex and is everywhere. We just need a good way to recreate it for many of our […]

In this article we will take a look at what displacement is and how to use it in Blender. Since Blender 2.8 we have two methods of adding displacement, and we will cover them here. How to use displacement in Blender? Select your object, add a displacement modifier. Press new and go to the texture […]

It has happened to me more than once that I start a scene, then with I'm about 80% through with my main subject; I realize that I want to put it into a scene. I also realize that if I do, I suddenly have several more days or weeks ahead of me before I finish […]

I was sitting with an empty scene open in Blender, and I was thinking about my next project. Then it struck me how vast the area of 3D modeling has become and most people don’t even know how much 3D content they see every day. There are many types of 3D modeling today. Everything from […]

Creating trees is often a very much-needed part of creating realistic renders in Blender. Especially when working with architecture visualization. Nature in your scene is essential and even if you are creating interior scenes you will often need some kind of greenery. After you enabled the sapling add-on press Shift+A and add a "curve->Sapling tree […]

Blender has many modifiers that can help us with many things. But there is a handful of modifiers that keep coming back, and we use them over and over. In this article I want to give you a starter kit of modifiers. The ones that will be the most useful and probably the ones you […]

Modifiers is the key to getting a lot of modeling done in a very short amount of time in Blender. When you have grasped the basics of modeling in edit mode, it is time to learn about them. Modifiers are calculations that procedurally change your object in Blender. You can manage them in the modifier […]

Snapping is really one of those tools that you can't 3D model without. It is a good idea to get a solid understanding of what it is and how it works early on when you start modeling. Blender has several uses for snapping and different levels it can operate at. How to use snapping? The […]

Blender is first and foremost a software targeted at artists but sometimes you just want to build your house or some home DIY project and that is when measuring is important. Blender has multiple tools to accurately measure distances and support for multiple units. Another huge topic that needs accurate measuring is architectural visualization and […]

In earlier versions of Blender there was a system for setting up backgrounds in your 3D from the right side properties panel in the 3D view. However, in 2.80 and beyond this system has been removed. Instead, we use objects in our scene to act as the background reference image. How to set up a […]

Shape keys, or previously called Relative Vertex Keys (RVK) in Blender is a simple and effective tool to set up basic animations or different versions of the same object. In other applications shape keys can also be called morph targets. How to use a shape key in Blender?  Select your object. Go to the object […]

Applying scale in Blender is a big mystery to many Blender users. Most 3D artists know that when a tool isn't working as intended, you apply the scale. But why? How and why do we apply scale? In object mode, you select your object, hit "ctrl+a" and select scale. Most commonly this is done during […]