Something we realized is though there are plenty of amazing video blender tutorials all over our site, there wasn’t a clearly defined starting point. As with anything there has to be a beginning or an initial handshake of “Hey, nice to meet you” to really get started on the right foot.
This is why we have created this dedicated “Getting Started with Blender” page to help break the ice and get introductions out of the way.
In this blender video we will cover where the basics of the interface and how to navigate through it.
great stuff. is there a tutorial that explains shortcuts on a macbook pro (no left right or middle mouse buttons, nor scrolling wheel)?
Hi Fred,
You can make navigation easier on a laptop by going to the User Preferences, and under the Input category, enable “Emulate Numpad” and “Emulate 3-button mouse”. This will allow you to navigate the views with the top 1-9 number keys. It will also allow you to rotate the view by holding ALT + LMB, pan with SHIFT + ALT + LMB, and zoom with CTRL + ALT + LMB.
I hope that helps!
-Jonathan
Thank you Jonathan! I’ve been using Wings with a 2-button trackball for years (using “Emulate 2-button mouse -> Blender style.”) I was *way* annoyed trying to get “Blender style” to work in Blender until I read your post.
Thanks for the tips; however, I also have an imac with a trackpad instead of a mouse and the tutorial lends towards a pc. I went into the user pref, input category and clicked on emulate 3 button mouse which also auto clicked emulate numpad. Saved as default but am still a little lost on the basic navigation. Zoom is super easy with the trackpad since you just squeeze or pull apart your fingers and I did see I could do the different views with 1-9 and 0 us the camera view (although I don’t know how to exit these views now). I also am not sure on your post what ‘LMB’ is unless you mean for me to press all three letter keys.
Are there tutorials for using a mac? Are all the other tutorials going to be as hard to figure out? These seems like an awesome product and I am excited to use it and learn about it but keep getting stuck on this little stuff. After the tutorials I’ll probably end up wanting to buy your extra lessons if they’re geared for an imac user
Suggestions? Thanks!
Hi Loggins,
LMB refers to Left Mouse Buttom. In turn, RMB and MMB are Right and Middle mouse buttons.
Many of these tutorials have been recorded on a Mac. Blender behaves nearly identical across all platforms, whether that is a Mac, PC or Linux machine. I actually work on a Mac most of the time!
The easiest way to navigate on a laptop is to hold ALT while dragging the LMB to rotate the view, SHIFT + ALT + LMB to pan the view and then the two finger pinch to zoom.
I hope that helps!
-Jonathan
Thanks Jonathan, That suggestion worked for me.
Jonathan, I’m still a little stuck since I am using an imac with a trackpad and not a mouse. So, I don’t have a LMB, RMB, or MMB, etc. I have searched my trackpad details and have found some ways of navigation that are installed on the trackpad that work with blender however I am still trying to get some basic functions like pan, orbit, etc down. It’s pretty tough to get started and I don’t want to move on to other tutorials until I have these down or feel like I may keep getting behind. Thanks!
Hi Loggins,
If you go to the User Preferences > Input and enable “Emulate 3 button mouse” you will be able to navigate by substituting ALT + mouse button (LMB) for the middle mouse button. You can use ALT + LMB to rotate, SHIFT + ALT + LMB to pan and CTRL + ALT + LMB to zoom.
I hope that helps! Let me know if you have any other questions or problems.
-Jonathan
Hello I just started with this Blender application.
Consider me as a total noob on creative arts.
It seems to me that this tutorial does not cover the 2.6.1 version.
I cant get any further then lesson 2 because 2.6.1 behaves differently than it should.
Hi there,
What differences are you finding in the behavior? We are working to update these videos to 2.61 soon. In the mean time I’ll be happy to help you any way that I can.
Thanks for this. I have wanted to do 3d modling for years now I am getting the hang of it. Blender rocks! thanks for the tutorials.
Very beautiful black square :[ I’m completly stuck, and any tutorials/materials don’t cover first steps and/or speaker is too fast (i’m not native english speaker and not hd capable). Where is something not VOIDEO :[!!
Hi there,
You can find our written tutorials here: http://cgcookie.com/blender/category/all/tutorials/written-tutorial/
Unfortunately we don’t have too many of them. Maybe this will be of interest to you? It assumes the reader is a complete beginner and then slowly ramps up the difficulty. http://cgcookie.com/shop/character-development-in-blender-2-5/
-Jonathan
Hi, if you’re French, there is this awesome website:
http://www.siteduzero.com/tutoriel-3-11714-debutez-dans-la-3d-avec-blender.html
I hope it will help.
Dude, I can,t play the mother f;ippng video. I click play and then either it dosn’t start or it automatically finishes. I don’t know whether it’s my laptop or if it’s your site but It’s impossible for an absolute begginer like me to get started without guidence.
Hi Captain of the SS. FailBoart.. neat name.
Are you able to view the videos on Vimeo.com? Sometimes that is a good test to see if it is a local issue or not.
I can view videos on vimeo. It was friggin slow but the video was running. And the movie I chose sucked.
If the video playback is slow it sounds like you may have a problem with your video card driver. I would definitely recommend checking that you have the latest driver update.
-Jonathan
Ok I changed to a different computer and the friggen video still wont play, this computer has the drivers updated and it can run things like youtube and vimeo and all that chizzle.
Foxfire gives error on the video: “Sorry – The creator of this video has not given you permission to embed it on this domain. This is a Vimeo Plus feature.”
The Blender Install Video (#1) works fine. All vids from #2 forward fail. My suspicion is something wrong with Vimeo account.
I see…It’s a pay for tutorials…You can ignore my comment. My apologies for bothering you with this.
Hi Kyle,
You still should be able to view these tutorials though. 90% of our education is free to stream and watch. The error you are receiving is a bug we believe in the Vimeo system, and it is tell us (CG Cookie) that we must be a Plus member.. which we are.
Worse case these videos are also on our vimeo channel to watch if the embed code doesn’t work here.
I have no problem with chrome browser
Hi, I think that metioning of TrackBall/Turntable option is very important because I have tried Maya 3D and the default option in Blender was driving me mad
But the videos are great! Keep it that way 
I am thankfull to all participants and creaters of this great work.
Hi Jonathan,
The videos in the vimeo player are getting stuck in between and does not play fully, i tried on other machine, changed browsers, and clear my cache too. but still its getting stuck midway.
Are these videos on you tube or some other videos site. can u post a link plz.
I want to learn Blender too.
Hi Surazz,
Are you able to view the tutorials on http://vimeo.com/cgcookie ?
-Jonathan
Hi Jonathan,
As u suggested i tried on vimeo.com as well, same problem occured. the video mostly gets stuck around 3:36.
Can you upload these basic tutorial videos on youtube plz.
Thanks for letting me know! We will get these added to Youtube ASAP.
-Jonathan
Thanks Jonathan. Please post the youtube links in this trail. Watching this space for the update.
i am just start in this VFX field i want to integrate some 3d object in my live action footage
hope blender rocks
i am amazed on how blender is soo small yet it can do a lot can u explain why 3ds max all those other huge ??? whats the difference anyway
hope i learn it fast thanks for video
How can you do the basic navigation on a tablet computer? I normally don’t have a keyboard connected and the only keyboard that can use with this tablet is an infrared. If I have to I’ll come up with a USB keyboard but mouse is a no go. The pen only has left button (tip), right button (side switch) and eraser (other end of pen). It is a Wacom digitizer so it is mostly supported (can’t wait to see what Gnome 3.2 brings for it). Trying this on Win XP and Fedora Design spin (multiboot machine).
What tips would you give for operation with something like a Wacom Bamboo digitizer? or an old Calcomp digitizer (with 16 button puck) for my other computer?
And a big thanks for doing these videos, I know how much time it takes to put things like this together.
Hi Greg,
If you enable “Emulate 3 button mouse” in the Input section of the User Preferences then you can navigate by using ALT + LMB in place of the middle mouse button.
-Jonathan
Thanks. Need to figure out how to update from 2.49 on Fedora so I can play better, trying to move to Linux on this tablet and pretty clueless still. Might have to do my Blender playing on Windows for a while.
Hi Jonathon
Loved the tutorial, one thing I cant figure out is how to change the user preferences to allow me to change to the front, side views etc (I don’t have a numpad)
Please help
Hi Cameron,
If you enable “Emulate Numpad” you can then change views with the 1-0 keys along the top of your keyboard. I hope that helps!
-Jonathan
Also something I had a hard time figurering out on my MacBook Pro 13″ from late 2010. Since FN + J, K, L or 1, 2, 3 etc. doesn’t work on this model. I will have to use the “Emulate Numpad” feature. (i.e: File -> User preferences, or CMD + , (comma) -> Input tab) Which by the way, works like a charm!
Remember however, if you “Load Factory Settings”, you will have to do the steps once again. (At least I had too with a out-of-the-box Blender version. No installment.)
I can’t find this middle key. Is there another way I can freely rotate without the middle key
Hi Ahailia, the middle key refers to the Middle Mouse Button, or scroll wheel button on your mouse. If you do not have a middle mouse button then you can enable “Emulate 3 button mouse” in the Input section of the User Preferences. This lets you substitute ALT + Left Mouse Button for the Middle Mouse Button.
I hope that helps!
-Jonathan
Thanks so much! That helped a lot
Great, but I didn’t have sound on so maybe it needs some captions or something.
i dont have an input section.
what do i do?
Which version of Blender are you using? If you’re not on the latest version, I encourage you to upgrade from http://www.blender.org/download/get-blender/
-Jonathan
For some reason, after a while, the camera manipulation (Middle mouse + drag etc.) changes to be sort of absolute, making it very hard to move around. Is there a way I can change this back?
Hi Jim, when this happens you just need to switch into Orthographic mode by pressing Numpad 5.
-Jonathan
Hello, it’s my firts day here so i have one little problem
.
when i’m trying to use left button to move my point of view it doesn’t work.
i’m just moving around the little red and white circle :S
i’m sure it’s something simple but i can not find what :S.
Hi Thomas, in order to navigate without a Middle Mouse Button you need to enable “Emulate numpad” from the Input section of the User preferences. Once you do that you can navigate by substituting ALT + LEFT MOUSE BUTTON for the Middle mouse button.
:S i’m feel just stupid lol i didnt use the middle button only the left button
cos the tutorial, thank’s man
I forgot to say that your tutorial is great
what if clicking doesn’t let you rotate but instead move a cross-hair to the point you clicked? and right clicking only moves the object around until i click it again. then it gos back to the same point i picked it up from.
To rotate the view you need to use your Middle Mouse Button. If you don’t have a MMB then you can enable “emulate three button mouse” in the Inout section of the Usr preferences. This will allow you to rotate with ALT + LEFT MOUSE BUTTON.
I hope that helps!
pdf file doong
Great tutorials thanks!
I’ve downloaded blender, but my UI doesn’t look like yours in the video, is there something i’m missing? I’m using the linux version, on Fedora 15.
Hi there,
Which version of Blender did you get? There will likely be some minor difference since the UI has changed slightly since I did this video. If there’s anything glaringly different just let me know and I can help you through it! It’s on my to-do list to redo these videos
-Jonathan
I’m using 2.49b, just downloaded a copy yesterday.
The UI you have in the videos reminds me alot of 3dsmax, but my copy of blender looks totally different.
http://evularts.com/temp/blender_default_ss.png
i’ve done some ui changes myself, but it still looks nothing like your video, even some of the buttons/tabs on the pallet(s) look different.
Well, i’m stupid, apparently YUM doesn’t have the most recent version of blender in the system, i downloaded 2.6 from the site itself, and its spot on.
Great Tutorials! Thanks! I have an iMac with a mouse that has no wheel. In system preferences I can’t find the place to change to a 3 button mouse or turn on emulate 3 mouse button.
My interface looks NOTHING like the one in the video.
Blender 2.4x on Funtoo Linux. Is there some way to configure the interface? i’d much prefer that one than the one i’ve currently got =/
never mind. Upgrading to ‘unstable’ 2.57 got me the same interface.
Hey! Great tutorials but I have a problem when I run blender and I click it doesn’t move
I can’t move my angles of views what can I do?
I’m using a Mac, and the Middle-mouse button orbit view thingie doesn’t work.
I’m using a pc and my interface looks almost exactly like yours, except when I open a new file, ther e are like… green, blue, and red lines coming out of the cube, and whenever i try to rotate the screen, it doesn’t work; when I click on the screen, I can’t drag it because there’s this weird cursor that keeps jumping to where I click… help!!
Thanks Jonathan! I’ve been trying to switch to Blender from 3ds Max for a long time. I guess the reason for me not succeding was always trying to make Blender interface work as closely to Max’s as possible. With your tutorials I can now see that there’s also logic in Blender’s interface
Best regards,
P.
That’s great to hear! Aside from the interface differences, are you finding anything that you miss in Max or love in Blender?
-Jonathan
I found this video totally unhelpful. I have installed blender as per initial video instructions yet my blender views/windows do not relate to what is shown in the video at all.
I have no idea how to get my view to be the same so without a common reference point… this video is useless.
It has just added to my Blender frustrations… my dislike of this software is rapidly turning to hate.
Hi Simon, I’m sorry to hear you’re frustrated. Would you happen to be using Blender 2.49? or earlier? If so, please upgrade to Blender 2.61 and you’ll have a much easier time following along, and most likely enjoy Blender a lot more
You can download 2.61 from here: http://www.blender.org/development/release-logs/blender-261/
-Jonathan
I have been trying to learn blender for years but it isn’t easy to learn because of things like the different formats of the program.Mmy blender looks noting like the one here. But I am determined to learn it. so I will persist. I learned gimp so I will now figure out blender. I would rather have a beginner tutorial to learn the operation of blender. Does anyone know where I can find one. I learn by doing not as well with lectures. Blender is a fun program so can someone put up tutorials that are fun to do, so learning isn’t so boring.
Hi Angel,
Chances are you are on an old version of Blender. I would highly recommend going to http://blender.org/ and download the latest 2.61 version. Then you should have no problem following these tutorials
Videos are always usefull when reading the tutorial on a mobile phone. I guess blender will have to wait till i get internet. back to photoshop methinks.
unless anyone can link me to a text/image based tutorial?
what is the middle button on a mac!!!
If your mouse does not have a Middle Mouse button you can emulate it by going to the User Preferences in Blender and then under the Input section enable “Emulate 3 Button Mouse”. Then you will be able to substitute ALT + LMB for the MMB.
-Jonathan
Heyyy, how do you like, change your workspace, cuz i like f****d up :/
Johnathan,
Went to user preferences didnt see an input section to make this change.
thanks
Which version of Blender are you using?
Praise da Lawd for these tutorials!
hi everyone im 14 and i want to no if this is the right program to start designing modles for the start of a game im trying to make and if anyone can give me some hints on how to start it i would really appreciate it
You will need to understand modelling and how the program works over all. How to rig a character etc. If you are inpatient, this isn’t something you should do. (Don’t get me wrong, I’ve just started myself. But like anything you will have to study and read up on it.) It will take time (if not a life time) to control and master the program fully. And fixing your own bugs is just a part of it, as well. I would recommend you did go threw all these “Get Started Tutorials”. Then you have that under your fingertips, or at least some. You can move between these if you should forget and a specific topic. (Modelling a building, making a tree, making landscape, etc.) Happy hacking!
hey i am just getting back to blender an was planning on getting the newer version of blender. my only question is does this vid have sound or speaking in it cause if so my computer isn’t picking it up ?
It should have. I can get the sound at least. Are you sure your drivers are up to date? Have you installed the newest version of flash as well? It might be a bug of flash itself. Try to refresh the browser or restart it.
Hi Cody,
The video does have sound. Is it possible that your speakers are muted, turned off or perhaps unplugged?
-Jonathan
Um… I don’t see the toolbars or timeline when I start it, it starts with a cube in the middle (looks like a square, viewed from just one side) and a couple toolbars along the bottom.
Hi Jonathan,
I have a MacBook Pro OS X 10.6.8 laptop, and non of the instruction you have gave work on my mac. Have i downloaded a bum blender or is there something i am missing? I use SHIFT-ALT-LMB and nothing happens, i can’t go to side, front, back, top or under view, neither can i undo which is normal CMD-Z.
Is there any way you can get a mac especially for this??? Joke.
Are there any written instruction for mac users (especially the laptops)?
Sorry for all the questions, just really bothering me.
you know what… i was just playing dumb… cause guess what…. i think i have found out how to do it… SORRY!!! I will one day learn to read
Hi Alli,
I actually work on a Mac as well. Blender is slightly different than most applications, in that the hotkeys are identical across all platforms. So when I say CTRL in a tutorial I actually mean CTRL, whether that’s on a Mac, Windows or Linux box. There are a few commands that are also available with the CMD key but most are CTRL. This may seem weird, but it helps keep the Blender experience consistent no matter what system you’re running on.
Cheers,
-Jonathan
Just a little tip for other mac users who don’t already know this though… i found that translating Window Commands into Mac Commands fairly difficult as we generally either don’t have the button, or have more buttons like the CMD (apple) button. If your trying to undo and your a numb nuts like me (because on any OTHER software undo is CMD-Z) undo is CTRL-Z.
Basically, revert your mac knowledge back to when you had windows, and attempt to translate it all back.
Whoever decided to make Apple Products soo different from windows is a very silly entrepreneur.