Latest update: July 15, 2025
If you don't have one already, I strongly, strongly, strongly recommend that you get a 3-button mouse for use with Blender.
(The middle button is both a push-button and a scroll wheel.)
Blender makes liberal use of all 3 buttons and the scroll wheel.
You can get by with a 2-button mouse, but your Blender life will be considerably easier and more productive with a 3-button mouse.
The 3-button mice are really inexpensive anymore.
Here's one for under $10.
These notes are based on Blender version 4.4. Thus, if you are installing Blender on your system, please install version 4.4 so that what you see will match what is shown in our notes.
These are the notes:
Latest update of these 4.4 notes: July 15, 2025
These are Blender example files from the notes.
Blender Campers: please pre-load these on your home system or memory stick!
Right-click on the file name and select Save Link As..., or something to that effect depending on what browser you are using.
| anim1.blend | One-character animation |
| anim2.blend | Two-character animation |
| balltubes.blend | Physics: ball rolls down tubes |
| blowing.blend | Blowing particles (see particles.blend below) |
| cloth.blend | Cloth animation |
| cloth.pinned.blend | Pinned-cloth animation |
| cornhole.blend | Using physics to get a cube to bounce into a hole |
| cycles.blend | Cycles-rendering scene |
| cycles_stereo.blend | Spherical Stereo for a VR Headset |
| cycles_stereo_spherical.jpg | Spherical Stereo image for a VR Headset |
| dominos.blend | Rigid body dominos animation |
| fluidmonkeycone.blend | Monkey-fluid falling over a cone |
| fluttering.blend | A flag fluttering in the breeze |
| freestyle.blend | Freestyle rendering |
| golf.blend | Physics: ball rolls into a hole |
| hinge.blend | Rigid body joint |
| lattice.blend | Modeling with lattices |
| meshes.blend | The Blender set of mesh objects |
| mist.blend | Shows use of the mist option |
| model.blend | Human-ish model |
| modelmoved.blend | Human-ish model posed |
| parent-child.blend | Parent-child relationship |
| particles.blend | Non-blowing particle system (see blowing.blend above) |
| reflrefr.blend | A scene with reflection and refraction |
| reflrefr6.blend | A scene with lots of reflection and refraction |
| rigid.blend | Rigid body motion |
| scene.blend | A scene we will use to talk about rendering |
| stereo.blend | Stereographics |
| textures.blend | Both procedural and image textures |
| wireframe.blend | Using the wireframe modifier |
| worldtex.bmp | A texture file of the world |
And, if you want textures for other planets, visit one of NASA's sites at: https://nasa3d.arc.nasa.gov/images
Also check out: https://www.solarsystemscope.com/textures/
and: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4720
These are pre-created files that can be imported into Blender. Right-click on the file name and select Save Link As..., or something to that effect depending on what browser you are using.
| cat.obj | Cat |
| bunny010n.obj | The Stanford Bunny |
| cow.obj | Cow |
| dino.obj | Triceratops |
| dog.obj | Dog |
| skeleton.obj | Human skeleton |
| shapeship.obj | Spaceship |
| teapot.obj | Teapot |
| anim2,mp4 | Two-character animation |
| cloth,mp4 | Cloth animation |
| dominos,mp4 | Falling-dominos physical simulation |
| fluttering.mkv | A flag fluttering in the breeze. |
| lattice,mp4 | Lattice sculpting |
| particles,mp4 | Particle simulation |
| reflrefr6,avi | An animation with lots of reflection and refraction |
A Whirlwind Introduction to Computer Graphics
