3D
Animation
101
Blender
4.5
An introduction to Blender and 3D Animation
Still from the film Flow: a grey cat with glowing orange eyes sits in a wooden boat in a flooded ruined city, backlit by the sun, with a hand-lettered Flow title and a Festival de Cannes 2024 Un Certain Regard laurel
‘Flow’, 2024 — Gints Zilbalodis
An Introduction to Blender and 3D Animation02
Dark-themed YouTube search results grid showing Blender tutorial thumbnails, including donut tutorials from CG Cookie, Blender Guru and Blender Bible
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Blender 2.82 window: viewport showing a colourful flat-shaded animation scene of buildings, a tram and cats, an Outliner on the right and a console at the bottom
Blender 2.82 — artwork by Dédouze
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Blender UI

The workspace, panel by panel

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Blender UI//The interface

The interface is divided into areas

Blender 4.5.0 window with Simple Bouncing Ball.blend open: an orange ball selected in a grey viewport, a Transform floating panel, an Outliner, a properties editor and a timeline at the bottom
Viewport
Outliner
Timeline

The window is a set of areas — each one can be moved, resized, and switched to a different panel.

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Blender UI//Viewport

Everything happens in the viewport

Blender 4.5.0 window: the viewport, the large area where the 3D scene is viewed and edited
Viewport

Where you see into, and interact with, the 3D scene.

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Blender UI//Timeline

The animation lives on the timeline

Blender 4.5.0 window: the timeline strip at the bottom of the window
Timeline

Where the animation plays, and where things exist in time.

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Blender UI//Outliner

The outliner lists the scene

Blender 4.5.0 window: the Outliner panel, top right, listing the scene’s objects
Outliner

Where the objects in the scene are listed, and selectable.

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Blender UI//The editor

Parameters are edited in the properties editor

Blender 4.5.0 window: the properties editor, bottom right, showing the selected object’s parameters
Editor

Where objects, and their parameters, are edited.

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Blender UI//Tabs

Each tab holds a different sub menu

Blender 4.5.0 window: the vertical column of icon tabs on the left edge of the properties editor
Tabs

Down the side of the properties editor, each icon tab opens a different panel.

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Blender UI//Areas

Areas can be moved, and switched

Blender 4.5.0 window: the seam where the viewport area meets the outliner and editor areas
Areas

The adjustable windows of the program — movable, and switchable to different panels.

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Blender UI//The menu bar

Core menus, and layout tabs, up top

Blender 4.5.0 window: the menu bar across the top, with core menus and the tabs for different layouts
Menu bar

Where the core menus sit, along with the tabs for different layouts.

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Navigation

Moving through the 3D space, with the mouse

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Navigation//Controls

The mouse wheel moves you through the space

ZoomScroll wheelMove in and out of the scene
OrbitWheel click+DragCircle around the scene
PanWheel click+Shift+DragSlide the scene sideways

Lost? Select View / Frame All, top left, to re-centre the scene.

Dark viewport: an orange ball with a blue selection ring and a mouse cursor over it, red and green axis lines crossing behind
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Navigation//The gizmo

The gizmo steers the view

  • Top right of the viewport, the navigation gizmo
  • Click and drag it to orbit the scene
  • Select an axis — X, Y, or Z — for a flat, perspective-free view
XLeft
YFront
ZTop
-XRight
-YBack
-ZBottom
Viewport crop: the navigation gizmo top right (Z blue up, X red, Y green) beside Active Tool: Move, Options, Transform and Workspace side panels
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Transformation

Position, rotation, and scale

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Transformation//The tools

Select the object, then Shift + Space

  • To transform an object is to change its position, rotation, or scale
  • Click the object first, to highlight it
  • Shift + Space opens the transform menu
  • Move, Rotate, Scale — or Transform, all at once
An orange ball with a transform gizmo on a grey grid floor: blue Z arrow up, red X and green Y arrows, white circle at the centre
Dark Shift+Spacebar context menu: Select Lasso (L), Cursor (Space Bar), Move (G, highlighted), Rotate (R), Scale (S), Transform (T), Annotate (D), Measure (M), Add Cube (9)
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Transformation//The gizmo

The gizmo is a handle for the object

  • Select a transform option, and a gizmo appears
  • A gizmo is a 3D handle for changing the object
  • One axis — transform along a single axis
  • The squares between two axes — transform along both
  • The white circle — transform relative to the camera
An orange ball with a transform gizmo emphasising the large white scale circle around it; blue Z cube, red X and green Y hexagons, purple centre square
Dark Shift+Spacebar context menu with Move highlighted
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Animation

Values, changed over time

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Animation//Values

Animation is change over time

  • To animate an object, change its properties over time
  • Location, rotation, and scale are all properties
  • They sit in the transform panel, in the properties editor
  • Change these values over time, and the object animates
Tall crop of the Blender viewport: Transform panel (Location X 0m / Y 0m / Z 1m, Rotation 0°, Scale 1.000, Dimensions 2m), an Outliner and the full properties editor
Tall narrow crop: the navigation gizmo top left, side toolbar icons, an Outliner with the ball selected and partial Transform properties
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Animation//Keyframes

A keyframe holds a value at a frame

  • A keyframe holds a value at a given frame — at frame 1, the ball is at (0, 0, 0)
  • Two different values at two different frames make the animation
  • Right-click a property, select Insert Single Keyframe
  • Scrub the blue handle in the timeline to change the frame
  • Change the value with a gizmo, or in the editor
An orange ball with a transform gizmo (blue Z arrow, red and green arrows, white circle) and a selection ring on a grey grid
Keyframe context menu from right-clicking a property: Location header, Insert Keyframes (I), Insert Single Keyframe (highlighted), Clear Keyframes (Shift Alt I), keying set and copy options
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Animation//Exercise
Make your ball bounce
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Animation//Next week

Spend an hour on the bouncing ball

  • Focus on getting comfortable: navigating, transforming, setting keyframes
  • Download and install Blender 4.5 at home, if you have a computer
  • Use the college computers, if you don’t — almost all have it
  • Try a beginner tutorial online, if you feel inclined
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Animation//Resources

Keep watching, and follow along

A good series of videos that covers the introductory concepts in this classHere
A very thorough introduction to animating in BlenderHere

Follow along with the videos, if you watch them.

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