It seems to be a very complicated program at first. I also remember i thought i would never learn this program when i first downloaded it. Deleted and downloaded it back again so many times. But if you are working with custom content for sims, even only recoloring, you need some basic information and knowledge about blender.You know we need Uv maps and multipliers etc… And belive me it is not that hard. In the event, you dont have to know everything or be a blender pro. You will find some short cuts that can be useful while using it, in this article. Before starting you need blender 2.70 version to be compatible with sims 4 studio since the latest version is not compatible yet. So, lets start;
Shift + F5 – allows you to see your mesh in 3d view
Ctrl + Right click on your mouse – makes you go to the next screen
Ctrl + Left click on your mouse – makes you go to the previous screen
Space – opens the tool box
Tab – you can go in and out from edit mode with this short cut. Another way for this is ALT + E combination
F1 – opens file browser window, allowing you choose the file you want to open
F2 – opens file browser window, allowing you to save your active blend file
Ctrl + Q – brings the menu that asks if you want to quit blender or not
Ctrl + Z – undo last operation
Ctrl + Y – redo last operation
Shift + D – allows you to copy the selected mesh or mesh parts. After copying the mesh, ” G ”, grab mode will be activated, allowing you to choose a new location for the copied mesh.
G – move tool – After selecting the mesh, hit ” G ” and you can move the object. Here you can use x,y,z axis just after hitting ” g ” , to limit the movement on the desired route
R – rotate tool. After selecting your mesh, with hitting ” R ” on your keyboard, you can rotate it. Here you can use x,y,z axis just after hitting ” r ” to limit the rotation on the desired route.
S – size tool. After selecting your mesh , with ” S ” button on your keyboard and moving your mouse, you can resize your object. Again if you want to limit the sizing on a certain route, you can use x,y,z axis.
A – selects or unselects all
Ctrl + B – opens bake menu ( it is very important for us since we need the multiplier for recoloring our meshes )
Alt + G – clears mesh location
Ctrl + J – joins selected mesh parts into one mesh
V – allows you to go in out from vertex paint mode ( we will see how to use it for lights, to light properly in game later)
X – opens the menu that asks if you want to delete the selected mesh or mesh parts
Z – opens solid mode
Alt + Z – opens or closes textured mode
H – Hides selected mesh or mesh parts
Ctrl + H – Brings back hided mesh or mesh parts
Shift – H – Hides unselected mesh or mesh parts
Ctrl + Tab – allows you to switch between vertex , face and edge select modes.
Ctrl + N – calculate normals outside
Shift + Ctrl + N – calculate normals inside
Shift + Ctrl + F3 – allows you to save the whole blender window as an image
Ctrl + O – brings the menu that shows the latest saved blend files to choose and open one
Num + – zoom in
Num – zoom out
Num 7 – allows to see your mesh from top view
Ctrl + A – Its makes the changes permanent that you made in object mode such as rotations and sizing..
Shift + A – brings the menu to add a new mesh
I hope this basic information will be helpful to those who want to get start with dealing blender. I know my english in not perfect and there may be some translate problems. Sorry for this. I find some tutorials very hard to understand, maybe because of my english or maybe the manner it is written so I will be working on more articles and tutorials to show basic prodecures in a simple manner.