Modelling A Glass

  1. Reinitialize Blender by pressing Command (CRTL) and “X”
  2. Numpad “7” – top view
  3. Numpad “1” – front view
  4. Pressing the Command (CRTL) key  and the “S” key will allow the resizing of a plane in tabulated size increments.
  5. To add a mesh plane press the Space Bar and select Add – Mesh – Plane.
  6. To select all the vertices of a mesh press the “A” key.
  7. To delete the selected vertices press the “X” key.
  8. To build a cross section we add vertices at exact locations on a mesh by pressing the Shift and Command (CRTL) keys and clicking with the mouse. This procedure will also link the newly created vertices with the previous vertex.
  9. To close a cross section unselect all the vertices (pressing the “A” key as any times as necessary) and selecting (“B” key) the two vertices to close.  To close a section press “F”.
  10. Vertices can be reordered using the “G” key.
  11. To indicate the location of the spinning axis it is necessary to place the cursor in the desired position.  It may be necessary to press Shift and “S” and then select SNAP Curs – Grid.
  12. To activate the Edit Menu press “F9” to define parameters for spinning an object and select Set Smooth to obtain a soft surface which is viewed during rendering or in shaded view (“Z”).
  13. The Materials Properties (“F5”) allow for the creation of materials that will reflect light (speculars and hardness) and to set the degree of transparency (alpha and ztransp)
  14. It is important to remember that the rendering result is dependent on the quality of lighting and the angle of the scene.
  15. To add a texture to a material which in turn will affect color, reflection and transparency first select the object and activate the Texture Buttons (“F6”).
  16. To add shadows to an object add a spot light and make sure shadows are turned on.
  17. To enhance realism you can simulate the appearance of caustics – flocks of light shown in the shade of a glass object, light warped and concentrated by the roundness and thickness of the glass.  According to the shape of the object you could have many spots to light the shade of your object.
  18.  To move an object to another layer press the “M” key and then select the intended layer.
  19. To duplicate a light use Shift and “D”
  20.  To activate the Lamp Buttons press “F4”.