The Little Octopus – subsurf (subdivision) functionality

1. To add a new object press the Space Bar and select Add – Mesh – Circle or Add– Mesh - UVsphere
2. Numpad  “1” – front view
3. Numpad  “7” – top view
4. To switch between Object and Edit Mode press the Tab key.
5. To extrude an object select the required points and press the “E’ key.  Pressing the “E” key after an initial extrusion allows those selected points to be extruded a second time.
6. To select points press the “B” key.  Pressing it once allows the user to draw a rectangle around required points.  Pressing it twice brings up the Brush selection tool allowing us to draw a circle around required points.
7. Pressing the “O” key will bring up a menu allowing a choice between Smooth and Sharp falloff.  Pressing “O” a second times disables the fallout effect
8. Falloff describes the mechanism by which none selected points follow the movement or size of selected points all of which is dependent on their distance to them. When the “G” key is pressed a small circle appears near the selected points and this serves as an indicator of the distance of fallout influence. Using the “+” key allows the circle of influence to be increased.
9. Select the Edit Menu by pressing “F9”
10. In the Mesh Tools component of the Edit Menu the Limit function specifies the maximum distance where the points would be considered a double.  The Rem Double function removes points that are almost at the same place.  The function can be used when extrusions have been used with the result of points being superposed
11. To subdivide a surface use the Subsurf button in the Mesh component of the Edit Menu.  Two choices in the menu include “simple subdividision” or “Catmull-Clark”.  The higher the number of subdivisions the better the result but the longer it will take to render.
12. To smooth the surface use the Set Smooth button found in the Link and Materials component of the Edit Menu.
13. Pressing the “Z” key enables shading. 
14. To activate the Shading Menu press ”F5”
15.  Select new material in the Shading Menu to define a color for the object.
16.  To add 2 materials to a single object select the Edit Menu “F9” and click twice on New, switch to Materials Menu “F5” select ‘2” and validate by clicking on Single User.
17. In the Edit Menu “F9” clicking on the Assign button assigns that material to the object.
18. Pressing Command (CRTL) and “S” allows an object to be twisted.  Pressing “S” a second time and then using the “Alt” key and “Z” will constrain movement along the ‘z’ axis.
19. To copy an object make sure you are in the Object Mode and use Shift and “D”.