If you choose to dive straight into the modelling then at the very least it’s worth knowing that using the following shortcut of ‘Ctrl, Alt Q’ will quickly enable you to switch between a single and a split screen view.

However spend a little time finding out what the different interface areas are and what they do and everything will slot into place surprisingly quickly. Working in 3D is a little different to 2D work and as such the interface that enables you to work with 3D models can initially be a little daunting. Tool Shelf – This is part of the 3D View Window and contains Tools (Press T to make it appear and disappear).Properties Window – Below the Outliner Window, this is where we can adjust settings.Outliner Window – Top right and shows all the objects in the scene.Information Window – Bar across the top of the screen.These different panels and screens are great for animation and screen modeling but ultimately for 3D Printing we don’t need them all.īefore we start on our project it’s a good idea to customise the interface so that it suits our needs as 3D Printers, rather than animators, game designers or architects! The default user interface for blender shows six different windows: When you open up the interface for the first time you’ll see a variety of windows, menus and panels. To download visit the applications web site at then just select your computer type Windows, OSX or Linux from the list and start the download, once complete it’s pretty easy to install on all systems.Īs a 3D application blender has several different workspaces and modeling options depending on the destination of the models that you’re creating. The application is available for most modern operating systems for free, which makes it an ideal inexpensive platform for creating your own 3D models rather than downloading other people’s. How to check that models ready for printingīlender is a free 3D modeling application and is part of the large Open Source community.Here Alastair Jennings takes a look at how to get started with the basics of 3D modeling for print using blender. Creating your own print ready 3D models needn’t be difficult.

Using blender to make 3d prints