Catalog / Blender Cheatsheet: 3D Design & Illustration
Blender Cheatsheet: 3D Design & Illustration
A concise reference for Blender users, covering essential tools, shortcuts, and techniques for 3D modeling, sculpting, texturing, and digital illustration.
Core Operations & Navigation
Basic Navigation
Orbit View |
Middle Mouse Button (MMB) Drag |
Pan View |
Shift + MMB Drag |
Zoom View |
Mouse Wheel Scroll or Ctrl + MMB Drag |
View Selected |
Numpad Period (.) |
Perspective/Orthographic Toggle |
Numpad 5 |
Front View |
Numpad 1 |
Right View |
Numpad 3 |
Top View |
Numpad 7 |
Camera View |
Numpad 0 |
Object Manipulation
Grab/Move |
G (then X, Y, or Z to constrain axis) |
Rotate |
R (then X, Y, or Z to constrain axis) |
Scale |
S (then X, Y, or Z to constrain axis) |
Duplicate |
Shift + D |
Delete |
X or Delete Key |
Join Objects |
Ctrl + J (Select multiple objects first) |
Separate Objects |
P (In Edit Mode, separate by selection, material, or loose parts) |
Apply Transformations |
Ctrl + A (Apply location, rotation, scale, etc.) |
Modes
Object Mode |
Default mode for object manipulation. |
Edit Mode |
Modify object geometry (vertices, edges, faces). Tab key to toggle. |
Sculpt Mode |
For sculpting organic shapes. Tab key to toggle. |
Vertex Paint Mode |
Paint colors directly onto the object’s vertices. |
Weight Paint Mode |
Assign weights to vertices for rigging and animation. |
Texture Paint Mode |
Paint textures directly onto the object’s surface. |
Modeling Essentials
Mesh Editing
Extrude |
E (Creates new geometry by extending selected faces/edges/vertices) |
Inset |
I (Creates new faces inside selected faces) |
Bevel |
Ctrl + B (Rounds edges/corners) |
Loop Cut and Slide |
Ctrl + R (Adds a loop of edges around the object) |
Subdivide |
W -> Subdivide (Divides selected faces into smaller faces) |
Merge Vertices |
Alt + M (Merges selected vertices into one) |
Knife Tool |
K (Cut custom edges and faces) |
Bridge Edge Loops |
Select two edge loops, then W -> Bridge Edge Loops (Connects two edge loops with new faces) |
Modifiers
Modifiers are non-destructive operations that can be applied to objects. Access them via the Modifiers tab in the Properties panel. |
Subdivision Surface: Increases the smoothness of an object by subdividing its faces. |
Bevel: Adds beveled edges to an object. |
Boolean: Performs boolean operations (union, difference, intersection) between two objects. |
Mirror: Creates a mirrored copy of an object. |
Array: Creates multiple copies of an object along an axis. |
Solidify: Adds thickness to a surface. |
Materials & Texturing
Material Basics
Creating a New Material |
Go to the Material tab in the Properties panel, click ‘New’. |
Principled BSDF Shader |
A versatile shader that simulates a wide range of materials. Adjust parameters like Base Color, Roughness, and Metallic. |
Adding Textures |
Use the Shader Editor to add Texture nodes (e.g., Image Texture, Noise Texture) and connect them to the Principled BSDF. |
UV Unwrapping |
Essential for applying 2D textures to 3D models. Select faces in Edit Mode, then use UV -> Unwrap. |
Smart UV Project |
A quick way to unwrap simple objects. UV -> Smart UV Project. |
Seams |
Mark edges as seams (Ctrl + E -> Mark Seam) to guide the unwrapping process. |
Texture Painting
Texture painting allows you to directly paint textures onto your model. Switch to Texture Paint mode. |
|
Brush Settings |
Adjust brush size, strength, and color in the Tool panel. |
Texture Slots |
Create texture slots in the Material tab to define which textures you’ll be painting on. |
Clone Brush |
Samples texture from one area and paints it onto another. Useful for removing seams or imperfections. |
Fill Tool |
Fills selected areas with a specified color. |
Rendering & Lighting
Render Engines
Eevee: A real-time render engine, good for quick previews and stylized visuals. |
Cycles: A physically-based path tracer, providing realistic and accurate renders. |
Lighting
Point Light |
Emits light in all directions from a single point. |
Sun Light |
Emits parallel light rays, simulating sunlight. |
Spot Light |
Emits a cone of light from a single point. |
Area Light |
Emits light from a rectangular or square area, creating softer shadows. |
HDRI Lighting |
Use a High Dynamic Range Image (HDRI) to illuminate your scene with realistic environmental lighting. |
Rendering Settings
Render Image |
F12 (Renders the current frame) |
Render Animation |
Ctrl + F12 (Renders the entire animation) |
Output Properties |
Set the render resolution, frame rate, and output file format in the Output Properties tab. |
Samples (Cycles) |
Increase the number of samples to reduce noise in Cycles renders. Higher samples = longer render times. |
Denoising |
Use denoising to reduce noise in renders. Available in both Eevee and Cycles. |