After starting Blender you'll be greeted by a splash screen. Close it by clicking anywhere outside of it or pressing ESC. After that you'll be greeted by something like this.

At factory settings the scene contains three objects:

• Cube
• Light source
• Camera

Blenders user interface is separated into different areas. They are customizable, meaning you can add new areas or change the type of existing ones. The default layout consists of:

Info Bar at the top offers access to file handling, rendering and layout switching among other things.

3D View is used to interact with scene. This is where most editing takes place.

Timeline is used to view animation data and control playback.

Outliner provides a way to organize data. It also offers an alternative way of selecting objects.

Properties containing object properties, like materials or textures. NeverBlender adds several panels here which hold additional properties needed for the Aurora Engine.

Splitting

Areas are created by splitting existing ones. Click in the top right or bottom left corners and holding the mouse button to drag it towards the inside of the area.

Joining

Areas are removed by joining. Clicking into the corner and drag the area back to the outside.

Resizing

Areas can be resized by

Area/ Editor Types

Layout Presets

Navigation

• Rotation: Middle Mouse Button (MMB)
• Zoom: Mousewheel or CTRL + MMB
• Move: SHIFT + MMB

Selecting Objects

• Select objects with the Left Mouse Button (LMB).You can select multiple objects with holding SHIFT
• The last selected object is the active object. Some operations only affect the active objects. Only One object can be active.

3D Cursor

The 3D cursor is a point in space used for different purposes. It's location can be set by clicking with the Right Mouse Button (RMB)

First make sure you're in Object mode by checking in the 3D View Header. There are two main ways of adding Objects to a scene:

1. Press SHIFT + A to bring up the Add Menu
2. Click on Add in the 3D View Header

Select the type of object you wish to add. MDL files only support Mesh, Empty and Lamp. The new object will be created at the location of the 3D cursor.

Objects can be deleted with the X or DEL key. Blender will then ask for confirmation.

There are three way to move an object:

1. Press G ("Grab") and either:
   1. Move the mouse
   2. Type in a number
   You may restrict movement along an axis by pressing X, Y or Z directly after pressing G
2. Set the transform manipulator to Translate and pull on the handles in the 3D View.
3. Bring up the tool menu by pressing N and set the values manually

There are also three way to rotate an object:

1. Press R and either:
   1. Move the mouse
   2. Type in a number
   You may restrict rotation along an axis by pressing X, Y or Z directly after pressing R
2. Set the transform manipulator to Rotate and pull on the handles in the 3D View.
3. Bring up the tool menu by pressing N and set the values manually

There are also three way to scale an object:

1. Press S and either:
   1. Move the mouse
   2. Type in a number
   You may restrict scaling along an axis by pressing X, Y or Z directly after pressing S
2. Set the transform manipulator to Scale and pull on the handles in the 3D View.
3. Bring up the tool menu by pressing N and set the values manually

Parenting a way to link two object together: When the parent moves all children move with it. Parenting is often used for grouping objects or as a helper for animating.

Add Parent

1. First select the child
2. Select the parent, while holding down SHIFT.
3. Press CTRL + P
4. Select Object

Try moving or rotating the parent, you'll notice that the child follows its movements.

Remove Parent

1. Select the object
2. Press ALT + P
3. Select Clear Parent