Blender

Blender is a free 3D modeling/rendering program.

Common Shortcuts

Camera Manipulation

• Scroll Wheel - Zoom camera in/out.
• Middle Mouse - Rotate camera.
• Shift + Middle Mouse - Drag camera.
• Number pad . (period) - Quick focus to object
• Number pad 1 - Quick focus to y-axis.
• Number pad 3 - Quick focus to x-axis.
• Number pad 7 - Quick focus to z-axis.

Object Manipulation

For the following keys, click and hold middle mouse button to choose dimension to apply manipulation to.
Alternatively, hit the appropriate key for the dimension (x for x-axis, y for y-axis, z for z-axis).

• G - Grab and move selected object.
• R - Rotate selected object.
• S - Scale selected object.

At any point, left click to apply manipulation or hit the esc key to cancel.

Other

• Shift + A - Bring up the "add new" menu.
• f12 - Create full render.

Material Properties

"Material" settings on an object effectively control how light interacts and reflects off of said object.

For example, material settings can be used to make an object look reflective (light bounces off), look like glass (light goes through), look like chalk (light is very diffused at the microscopic level), or other such interactions.

For a detailed, scientific description of material properties, see https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/latest/render/shader_nodes/shader/principled.html

Property Values

• Base Color - The underlying/overall color of a material.
• Subsurface - Allows light to enter the object, bounce inside it, and reflect back out. 0 leads to a more plastic-like look. 1 gives a more waxy look. Note that subsurface is also important for flesh/skin type materials.
• Subsurface Color - The general color of light given off upon entering an object due to subsurface scattering.
• Specular - Related to IOR. Can usually be left alone. Alternatively, calculate with the formula ( ( IOR − 1 ) / ( IOR + 1 ) ) ² / 0.08 . See this link for more info.
• Roughness - How reflective a material looks. 0 is completely reflective, like a mirror. 1 is no light reflection, almost as if it's made of chalk.
• IOR (Index of Refraction) - Indicates how much light rays are bend when they are reflected or refracted. For a comprehensive list, see https://pixelandpoly.com/ior.html
• Emission - Essentially lets the object emit its own light source. Can provide a radioactive or neon type look.