Learning to Blend: Poking at Blender
One of the tools that I’ve seen many times, but never actually figured out how to use, is blender. Blender is the only 3d editor that I’ve ever really seen — I know there are others, like 3D Studio, and the like, but they cost the big bucks, and as a hobbyist, Blender is much more style.
The reason I’ve never actually figured blender out isn’t for lack of trying. I’ve often wanted to make just a minor edit to something in a 3d model, especially since I got the 3d printer: To edit or remove chunks of something I don’t need, to remove one piece of a multiple piece object, etc. The reason I’ve never figured out Blender is that it works completely differently from almost every other piece of software I’ve ever worked with.
While working on my next 3D model — a print of Kresge Auditorium — I had a problem: The day that I flew over the building, there was an event going on outside, with a tent and archways covering one of the doorways. This meant that my image had holes in the front, which were getting in the way of the 3d printer correctly slicing the model.
In the past, I’ve just let these things be — but this model was relatively simple, and had only this one really significant problem: I figured it was as good of a chance as any to learn Blender.