Still nursing the big bump on my head after the reality check, I rose like the phoenix from the ashes or in this case like a baby who has just bumped its head.
Teary-eyed and feeling awfully sorry for myself, notebook in hand, I crawled back to “my mentor, guru guy”. I asked him for some guidance on how to get the Blender start-up file set up. He gave me a nudge in the right direction and off I went on my quest for more knowledge.
Sometimes, as it is in life, you must humble yourself. You must accept that you need to start at the bottom and learn your way to 3D competency. There is no easy way to do it.
The complexity of this 3D stuff can make a grown woman cry…
First, you need to set up Blender according to your project requirements. You must save the start-up file so that it comes up ready for you each time you open Blender. For example, if you are going to be working in millimeters, you need to set up the units in Blender to mm.
Setting up the units to mm seems very easy. Just change the units, I thought, but hang on! Where do I even find the units in Blender?
With my AutoCAD background, I should know all about units and scaling, but there is more to it than that. As a beginner in Blender, especially if you have no real technical drawing background, you will not know that the units and scaling work together. If not set up correctly this could cause a lot of heartaches and tantrums further down the line and Baby Fred still has a lot of tantrums left in that little body.
There are three things to remember when setting up the units in a Blender file. It is not only the units that should be considered. There are also the scale, grid-scale, and clipping values that must be kept in mind.
Here’s an article on how to set up Blender to use mm
There is more to the start-up file, but I believe the most important is to get the units correct. Only then can you move on to the rest of your project requirements.
Start-up file is done. Now can I please draw something “mentor, guru guy”?
“Nope. You don’t draw in Blender. You model things. Only big girls get to draw in Blender with Grease Pencil”……………….Ooops!!!
