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界面 (kidux翻译 小发整理) 如果你是Blender新手, 你最好在建模前学习一些用户界面是如何工作的知识. 在Blender后的界面的概念是非标准的,和其他的3D软件有区别的. Windows用户尤其需要熟悉不同的 Blender的操纵控制用法, 比如按钮选择和鼠标移动. 但是这种差异其实是 Blender的强大功能之一: 一旦你了解了Blender是如何工作的 way, 你就会发现你可以极度迅速和富有成就的工作. 此外, Blender的界面从version 2.28 到 version 2.3的跃迁发生了很大的改变, 所以即使是很有经验的用户也能从这章中得益.

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Blender界面的概念 (Blender2.31版)

用户界面通过两种手段将用户和程序沟通，用户和程序的交流是通过键盘和鼠标 , 程序通过屏幕和它的窗口系统给予反馈.

键盘和鼠标 Blender的界面使用三键鼠标和大量的热键 (在 Volume II 进行了深入彻底的讨论). 如果你的鼠标是两键的, 你可以模拟鼠标中键 ( 用户参数选择和主题 这部分描述如何操作). 鼠标滚轮会被用到, 但它在这里不是象适当的快捷键一样是必须的. 这本书使用以下的约定来描述使用者的输入: 鼠标键被称为 LMB (鼠标左键), MMB (鼠标中键) 和 RMB (鼠标右键). 如果你的鼠标有滚轮, MMB 表示点击鼠标滚轮，把它当作按键处理, MW 表示滚动这个滚轮. 热键字母命名后跟 KEY 这个词, 例如 GKEY 表示键盘上的 g 字母. 字母键还可以和 SHIFT, CTRL 和/或 ALT 组合使用。由于有修正键， KEY 这个后缀就省略了, 比如 CTRL-W 或 SHIFT-ALT-A. NUM0 到 NUM9, NUM+ 和其他的独立键盘上的键名使用时. NumLock 需要打开. 其他的键直接由它们的名字代表, 比如 ESC, TAB, F1 到 F12. 其他的特殊键是方向键, UPARROW, DOWNARROW 等等.

因为 Blender 非常广泛的应用了鼠标和键盘 , 一条 "黄金法则" 来自 Blender 的用户们: 一只手在电脑上一只定在鼠标上! 如果你平常使用键盘完全和英式键盘的布局相异的话, 你要用 Blender 工作的话，你最好去考虑把键盘布局改变成英式或者美式键盘布局 . 最常用的键被编了组，这样使他们能被左手在英式键盘布局上以标准的位置够到 (食指在 FKEY 上)。 这些都是假设你用你的右手用鼠标。

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窗口系统 现在是时候打开Blender开始玩耍了.

Blender默认界面

图 1 显示了你刚开始打开 Blender 时的场景 (出去添加的字和箭头)。在默认情况下它是被分成了三个窗口:最上面的主菜单, 很大的 3D 窗口和底部的按钮窗口。很多窗口都有标题 (带有亮灰色背景的条包含了图标按钮 - 因此我们也可把标题当作窗口工具栏); 如果出现, 标题或者在窗口区域的顶部 (像按键窗口) 或者在底部 (像 3D 窗口) . 如果你移动鼠标到一个窗口, 注意它的标题栏变为了比较亮的灰色。 这表明它“被激活” 你按的所有热键都会在这个窗口起作用。 你可以简单的定制 Blender 的窗口系统来满足你的需要。 你可以将一个已经存在的窗口从中间分开而创建出新的窗口。分的时候一定要将窗口激活 (将鼠标放在它上面), 用 MMB 或 RMB 点击它的边界，然后选择 Split Area (图 2). 你现在可以点击 LMB 将新的边界放在适当位置 , 按 ESC 来取消你的动作。最新的窗口会和你分拆的那个窗口一样, 但可以变成其他的窗口类型, 或者以其他的视角来显示场景。

界面条目 　 在界面按钮中的标签, 菜单条目等, 一般而言, 所有显示在屏幕上的文字会高亮显示，比如 这样。

图 2. 创建新窗口的拆分菜单.

创建一个新的垂直边界要从水平边界选择 Split Area , 反之依然。你可以一直在边界上按着 LMB 来调整你每个窗口的大小。要减少窗口的话 , 在两个窗口之间的边界上点击 MMB 或 RMB 然后选择 Join Areas. 形成的窗口继承了激活那个窗口的属性 。

要设置标题的位置就要在标题上点击 RMB 选择 Top 或 Bottom. 你同样也可以选择 No Header 来隐藏标题 ,但是这要你熟悉相关的热键才比较明智。 你可以用 MMB 或 RMB 点击窗口的边界然后选择 Add Header把隐藏的标题重新显示。

Blender的窗口类型 每个窗口构架包含了不同的种类和设置信息 , 取决于你要在上面做什么。他们可能包含 3D 模型, 动画,表面材质, Python 脚本, 等等。 你可以通过用 LMB 点击在标题最左边的按钮为每个窗口选择类型 (图 3).

图片类型选择目录

我们稍后会在本书解释各种窗口的功能和用途。现在我们只需要关心在Blender的默认场景中已经提供的三

种窗口类型 3D 视图 为你所工作的场景提供了图形视角。你可以通过多种选项从任何的角度查看你的场景; 在 在三维空间中畅游 这章有详细的介绍。有很多 3D 视图在同一屏幕可以很方便的让你同时在透视图中查看那些改变 。

按钮窗口 包含了很多工具用来编辑对象，表面，材质，灯光等等。如果你未全部记牢所有的快捷键的话，那么你会经常地用到这个窗口。你可能真的想要更多这样的每个都有不同设置的工具的窗口。

用户参数选择 (主菜单) 这个窗口通常是隐藏的, 所以只有菜单部分是可见的- 在 用户参数选择和主题 这一章节有更详细的介绍。尽管它包含全局的设置，但也很少用到。 在 Blender 2.30 有很多新鲜的东西。第一个就是窗口标题变得更清楚, 按钮的混乱更少, 菜单可以在很多标题中可以找到了。

多数的窗口标题, 紧接着第一个 "窗口类型" 菜单按钮展示了菜单的设置; 这是2.30 界面的一个最新特征 . 你可以直接通过菜单来使用很多特性和命令，这些在先前的版本中都要通过热键和神秘的按钮才能达到的。 通过点击菜单旁边的三角形按钮可以使菜单隐藏或者显示。

菜单并不单单 “窗口-敏感” (他们随窗口的类型改变而改变) 也是关联敏感的 (他们随所选对象改变而改变) 因此他们常常是很紧凑的, 只有当他们能完成相关任务时才激活显现。

几乎所有的菜单条目都有相应的快捷热键。当用到热键后 Blender 的工作流程能达到最好的程度。 所以在本书的余下部分，相比菜单条目而言，基本上是为你介绍热键。 总之菜单是很好的东西，因为它给出了 Blender 能提供的基本上完整的工具和命令。

窗口的一个特性就是，有时为了更准确的编辑需要最大化。 如果你恰当地用 View>>Maximize Window 按钮或者热键 CTRL-DOWNARROW, 激活的那个窗口就会立即占满整个窗口。要重新返回以前的尺寸, 再用 View>>Tile Window 一次或者 CTRL-UPARROW

场景 在同一个 Blender 文件中包含多个场景是可以的。场景可以使用其他场景的对象，也可以用完全不同于其他场景的对象。你可以在用户参数选择窗口的标题用 SCE 菜单按钮选择并创建场景 (图 12 in the Section called Screens). 当你创建了一个新的场景, 你可以在四个选项中选择来控制它的内容 : Empty 是一个空场景. Link Objects 创建一个跟现在已经选择的场景相同的新场景。在一个场景中修改同样会在其他场景中有反应。 Link ObData 创建基于现有选择的新场景, 连接到相同的面片，材质等等。这就意味着你可以对象的位置和相关的属性,但是修改这些面片，材质等的话，会同样的对其他场景有影响，除非你手动单用户（single-user） 拷贝。 Full Copy 创建一个完全依赖于现有选择场景内容的拷贝。

关联, 面板和按钮 Blender 的按钮比其他的一些软件用户界面要更激动人心, 而且它们在 2.30 中变得更好 . 这要大部分归功于它们都是基于向量而且是在 OpenGL里画出的, 因此使得它们很美观而且伸缩性很好。 按钮大部分是成组的放在按钮窗口中的。 在 Blender 2.3 按钮窗口有六个主要的关联, 都可以通过选择标题第一排图标 (图 4), 每一个又可以细分为非常多的子关联, 子关联可以通过标题的第二排图标选择 (图 4): 关联和子关联

Logic - F4 Script - 无快捷键 Shading - F5 Lamp - 无快捷键 Material - 无快捷键 Texture - F6 Radio - 无快捷键 World - F8 Object - F7 Editing - F9 Scene - F10 Rendering - 无快捷键 Anim/Playback - 无快捷键 Sound - 无快捷键

一旦当关联被用户选择到 , 子关联的出现是由 Blender 通过被选择的对象来决定的。 比如, 点了 "Shading" 关联, 如果一个灯光被选择那么子关联就是出现的灯光按钮, 如果是一块面片或者是可渲染的对象被选中, 那么材质的子关联按钮就被激活, 如果是一个摄象机被选择激活的子关联就是世界。

最值得关注的新事物就是 面板 的显示，和成组的按钮. 每个面板都有相同的尺寸. 你可以通过点击 LMB 然后拖住它们的标题来使它们在按钮窗口中移动. 在按钮窗口里点击 RMB 可以使面板对齐，从菜单选择一种需要的层叠方式，如图 (图 5). 按钮窗口菜单

MW 使面板在它们的对齐方向滑动, CTRL-MW 和 CTRL-MMB 放缩面板. 用 LMB 点击它头部左边的三角形可以使单个的面钣可以展开和收拢.

特别复杂的面板通过 标签 来组织。 在面板标题的一个标签上点击 LMB 改变了按钮的显示 (图 6). 标签可以被“扯出”面板变成一个单独的面板只要在标题处点击 LMB 并且把他们拖出，同样的道理单独的几个面板可以合并在一起变成标签，只要把一个面板的标题拖到另一个当中。

MW 使面板在它们的对齐方向滑动, CTRL-MW 和 CTRL-MMB 放缩面板. 用 LMB 点击它头部左边的三角形可以使单个的面钣可以展开和收拢. 特别复杂的面板通过 标签 来组织。 在面板标题的一个标签上点击 LMB 改变了按钮的显示 (图 6). 标签可以被“扯出”面板变成一个单独的面板只要在标题处点击 LMB 并且把他们拖出，同样的道理单独的几个面板可以合并在一起变成标签，只要把一个面板的标题拖到另一个当中。 带标签的面板

最新的界面条目中，有几种按钮出现在面板的标签中:

操作按钮. 点击以后可以执行一些操作(用 LMB, 如所有的按钮一样). 他们可以通过他们褐色的样子在默认的 Blender 布局中 (图 7). 一个操作按钮

工具盒 当在你3D视图按下 SPACE 后 ,或一直按住 LMB 或者 RMB 超过一秒，就会打开工具盒。 它包含了6个T主要的关联 , 排列成两行 , 每个都可以展开菜单和子菜单。 其中的三个关联会打开和3D视图标题相同的菜单,其他的三个： Add 允许添加新的对象到场景中 Edit 和 Transform 展示出所有的对选定对象的可能操作 (图 11). 工具盒 当在你3D视图按下 SPACE 后 ,或一直按住 LMB 或者 RMB 超过一秒，就会打开工具盒。 它包含了6个T主要的关联 , 排列成两行 , 每个都可以展开菜单和子菜单。 其中的三个关联会打开和3D视图标题相同的菜单,其他的三个： Add 允许添加新的对象到场景中 Edit 和 Transform 展示出所有的对选定对象的可能操作 (图 11). 工具盒

屏幕 Blender 窗口的弹性让你为自己对不同的任务定制工作环境, 比如建模 , 动画, 脚本。这在对同一文件下快速的在不同的环境中切换是非常有效的。 这样可以创建不同的屏幕: 所有对敞口的描述在 名叫 窗口系统 这章和 名叫 窗口类型 这章保存为一个屏幕, 如果在一个屏幕中改变你的窗口，是不会对其他屏幕起作用的。 但你要是你在一个场景里的工作会使所有的屏幕都会改变。

Blender 提供三种不同的默认屏幕; 可以通过 SCR 菜单按钮选择，它们在用户属性标题处 图 12. 顺序的改变下一个屏幕按 CTRL-RIGHTARROW; 顺序改变到前一屏幕用按 CTRL-LEFTARROW. 屏幕和场景选择器

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在3D空间中畅游 尽管Blender提供了三维的工作环境, 但是我们的显示器却是二维的。为了能供工作在三维空间中，你必须有能力改变观察点和对场景的观察方向。全部3D视口提供了这种支持。当我们描述一个3D视口窗口时，其他窗口也提供了相同的函数。比如，你可以平移或放大一个按钮窗口（Buttons Window）和它的面板（Panels）。

观察方向（旋转） Blender提供了3种默认的观察方向：侧视图，正视图，和俯视图。Blender使用右手坐标系，在这个坐标系中，Z轴指向纸外。因此，侧视图对应于从X轴延负方向观察，正视图对应于从Y轴方向观察，俯视图对应于从Z轴方向观察。你可以在View菜单中的A 3D Viewport's view menu.选择3D视口的观察方向，或者，按热键NUM3选择侧视图，热键NUM1选择正视图，热键NUM7选择俯视图。 热键: 记住,所有的热键只影响当前具有焦点的窗口，所以请在使用热键前确认鼠标指针在相应的工作区中。

除了这些默认的方向，视区可以随意的转动任何角度。按下MMB并拖动鼠标来改变视口区域：如果最初在窗口的正中，并上下左右移动，视口就会绕窗口正中旋转。如果最初在边界，并没有移动到正中，则可以绕观察坐标轴进行旋转。反复练习直到你能熟练应用为止。为了非连续的改变观察角度，可以使用NUM8和NUM2（对应于垂直拖动MMB），或使用NUM4和NUM6（对应于水平拖动MMB）。

平移或放大视区 按下SHIFT并在3D视区中拖动MMB，可以平移视区。使用快捷键CTRL-NUM8、CTRL-NUM2、CTRL-NUM4、CTRL-NUM6进行非连续旋转。你也可以按下CTRL并拖动MMB对视区进行缩放。热键是NUM+和NUM-。View>>Viewport Navigation子菜单也能完成这些功能。 滚轮鼠标: M 选择弹出菜单中的相应层，并按下Ok按钮。

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Contents 1 界面 1.1 Blender界面的观念 1.2 键盘和鼠标 1.3 The window system 1.4 Window types 1.5 Contexts, Panels and Buttons 1.6 Toolbox 1.7 Screens 1.8 Scenes

界面

如果你是Blender新手, 你最好在建模前学习一些用户界面是如何工作的知识. 在Blender后的界面的概念是非标准的,和其他的3D软件有区别的. Windows用户尤其需要熟悉不同的 Blender的操纵控制用法, 比如按钮选择和鼠标移动. 但是这种差异其实是 Blender的强大功能之一: 一旦你了解了Blender是如何工作的 way, 你就会发现你可以极度迅速和富有成就的工作. 此外, Blender的界面从version 2.28 到 version 2.3的升级发生了很大的改变, 所以即使是很有经验的用户也能从这章中得益.

Blender界面的观念

用户界面通过两种途径将用户和程序沟通，用户和程序的交流是通过键盘和鼠标 , 程序通过屏幕和它的窗口系统给予反馈.

键盘和鼠标

Blender's interface makes use of three mouse buttons and a wide range of hotkeys (for a complete, in-depth discussion refer to Volume II). If your mouse has only two buttons, you can emulate the middle mouse button (interface_functions_settings describes how). A mouse wheel can be used, but it is not essential.

This book uses the following conventions to describe user input:

• The mouse buttons are called LMB (left mouse button), MMB (middle mouse button) and RMB (right mouse button).
• If your mouse has a wheel, MMB refers to clicking the wheel as if it were a button, while MW means rolling the wheel.
• Hotkey letters are named by appending KEY to the letter, i.e. GKEY refers to the letter g on the keyboard. Keys may be combined with the modifiers SHIFT, CTRL and/or ALT. For modified keys the KEY suffix is generally dropped, for example CTRL-W or SHIFT-ALT-A.
• NUM0 to NUM9, NUM+ and so on refer to the keys on the separate numeric keypad. NumLock should generally be switched on.
• Other keys are referred to by their names, such as ESC, TAB, F1 to F12.
• Other special keys of note are the arrow keys, UPARROW, DOWNARROW and so on.

因为 Blender 的使用非常依赖于了鼠标和键盘 , 一条 "黄金法则" 来自 Blender 的用户们: 一只手在电脑上一只定在鼠标上! 如果你平常使用键盘完全和英式键盘的布局相异的话, 你要用 Blender 工作的话，你最好去考虑把键盘布局改变成英式或者美式键盘布局 . 最常用的键被编了组，这样使他们能被左手在英式键盘布局上以标准的位置够到 (食指在 FKEY上) 。 这些都是假设你用你的右手用鼠标。

The window system

窗口系统

Now it's time to start Blender and begin playing around.

现在是时候打开Blender开始玩耍了.

The default Blender scene shows the screen you should get after starting Blender.

At default it is separated into three windows: The main menu at the top, the large 3D Window and the Buttons Window at the bottom. Most windows have a header (the strip with a lighter grey background containing icon buttons - for this reason we will also refer to the header as the window ToolBar); if present, the header may be at the top (as with the Buttons window) or the bottom (as with the 3D Window) of a window's area. If you move the mouse over a window, note that its header changes to a lighter shade of grey. This means that it is "focused;" all hotkeys you press will now affect the contents of this window. You can easily customize Blender's window system to suit your needs and wishes. You can create a new window by splitting an existing one in half. Do so by focusing the window you want to split (move the mouse into it), clicking the border with MMB or RMB, and selecting Split Area (The Split menu for creating new windows.). You can now set the new border's position by clicking with LMB, or cancel your action by pressing ESC. The new window will start as a clone of the window you split, but can then be set to a different window type, or to display the scene from a different point of view (in hte case of the 3D Window).

Interface Items: Labels in the interface buttons, menu entries and, in general, all text shown on the screen is highlighted in this book like this.

Create a new vertical border by choosing Split Area from a horizontal border, and vice versa. You can resize each window by dragging a border with LMB. To reduce the number of windows, click a border between two windows with MMB or RMB and choose Join Areas. The resulting window receives the properties of the previously focused window.

To set a header's position click RMB on the header and choose Top or Bottom. You can also hide the header by choosing No Header, but this is only advisable if you know all the relevant hotkeys. You can show a hidden header again by clicking the window's border with MMB or RMB and selecting Add Header.

Window types

Each window frame may contain different types of information, depending upon what you are working on. These may include 3D models, animation, surface materials, Python scripts, and so on. You can select the type for each window by clicking its header's leftmost button with LMB (The window type selection menu.).

We'll explain the functions and usage of the respective window types later in this book. For now we only need to concern ourselves with the three window types that are already provided in Blender's default scene:

3D Viewport

Provides a graphical view into the scene you are working on. You can view your scene from any angle with a variety of options; see interface_3d for details. Having several 3D Viewports on the same screen can be useful if you want to watch your changes from different perspectives at the same time.

Buttons Window

Contains most tools for editing objects, surfaces, textures, Lights, and much more. You will need this window constantly if you don't know all hotkeys by heart. You might indeed want more than one of these windows, each with a different set of tools.

User preferences (Main menu)

This window is usually hidden, so that only the menu part is visible - see interface_functions_settings for details. It's rarely used though, since it contains global configuration settings.

Most window headers, immediately next to this first "Window Type" Menu button, exhibit a set of menus. Menus allow you to directly access many features and commands. Menus can be hidden and shown via the triangular button next to them.

Menus change with window type and the selected object and mode. They show only actions which can actually be performed.

All Menu entries show the relevant hotkey shortcut, if any. The Blender workflow is at its best when hotkeys are used and so the rest of this manual will mostly present you hotkeys, rather than menu entries.

You can maximize windows to fill the whole screen with the View>>Maximize Window menu entry. To return to normal size, use the View>>Tile Window. A quicker way to achieve this is to use SHIFT-SPACE, CTRL-DOWNARROW or CTRL-UPARROW to toggle between maximized an tiled window.

Contexts, Panels and Buttons

Buttons are mostly grouped in the Button Window. The Button Window shows six main contexts, which can be chosen via the first icon row in the header (Contexts and Sub-Contexts). Each of these might be subdivided into a variable number of sub-contexts, which can be chosen via the second icon row in the header (Contexts and Sub-Contexts):

• Logic - shortcut F4
• Script - no shortcut
• Shading - shortcut F5
  • Lamp - no shortcut
  • Material - no shortcut
  • Texture - shortcut F6
  • Radiosity - no shortcut
  • World - shortcut F8
• Object - shortcut F7
• Editing - shortcut F9
• Scene - shortcut F10
  • Rendering - no shortcut
  • Anim/Playback - no shortcut
  • Sound - no shortcut

Once the context is selected by the user, the sub-context is usually determined by Blender on the basis of the active Object. For example, with the "Shading" context, if a Lamp Object is selected then the sub-context shows Lamp Buttons. If a Mesh or other renderable Object is selected, then Material Buttons is the active sub-context, and if a Camera is selected the active sub-context is World.

The buttons in each context are grouped into Panels. Each panel is the same size. They can be moved around the Button Window by LMB clicking and dragging on their header. Panels can be aligned by RMB on the Buttons Window and choosing the desired layout from the Menu which appears (Button Window Menu.).

MW scrolls Panels in their aligned direction, CTRL-MW and CTRL-MMB zooms panels in and out. Single panels can be collapsed/expanded by LMB clicking the triangle on the left of their header.

Particularly complex Panels are organized in Tabs. Clicking LMB on a Tab in the Panel header changes the buttons shown (Panel with Tabs.). Tabs can be "torn out" of a panel to form independent panels by clicking LMB on their header and dragging them out. In a similar way separate Panels can be turned into a single panel with Tabs by dropping one Panel's header into another.

There are several kinds of buttons in a Panel's Tabs:

• Operation Button

These are buttons that perform an operation when they are clicked (with LMB, as all buttons). They can be identified by their brownish color in the default Blender scheme (An operation button).

• Toggle Button

Toggle buttons come in various sizes and colors (Toggle buttons). The colors green, violet, and grey do not change functionality, they just help the eye to group the buttons and recognize the contents of the interface more quickly. Clicking this type of button does not perform any operation, but only toggles a state.

Some buttons also have a third state that is identified by the text turning yellow (the Ref button in Toggle buttons). Usually the third state means "negative," and the normal "on" state means "positive."

• Radio Buttons

Radio buttons are particular groups of mutually exclusive Toggle buttons. No more than one Radio Button in a given group can be "on" at one time.

• Number Buttons

Number buttons (Datablock link buttons) can be identified by their captions, which contain a colon followed by a number. Number buttons are handled in several ways:

To increase the value, click LMB on the right of the button, where the small triangle is shown; to decrease it, click on the left of the button, where another triangle is shown.

To change the value in a wider range, hold down LMB and drag the mouse to the left or right.

If you hold CTRL while doing this, the value is changed in discrete steps; if you hold SHIFT, you'll have finer control over the values. ENTER can be used in place of LMB here.

You can enter a value directly by holding SHIFT and clicking LMB. Press SHIFT-BACKSPACE to clear the value; SHIFT-LEFTARROW to move the cursor to the beginning; and SHIFT-RIGHTARROW to move the cursor to the end. Press ESC to restore the original value. Some number buttons contain a slider rather than just a number with side triangles. The same method of operation applies, except that single LMB clicks must be performed on the left or on the right of the slider, while clicking on the label or the number automatically enters keyboard input mode.

• Menu Buttons

Use the Menu buttons to choose from dynamically created lists. Menu buttons are principally used to link DataBlocks to each other. (DataBlocks are structures like Meshes, Objects, Materials, Textures, and so on; by linking a Material to an Object, you assign it.) You'll see an example for such a block of buttons in Datablock link buttons. The first button (with the tiny up and down pointing triangles) opens a menu that lets you select the DataBlock to link to by holding down LMB and releasing it over the requested item. The second button displays the type and name of the linked DataBlock and lets you edit its name after clicking LMB. The "X" button clears the link, the "car" button generates an automatic name for the DataBlock, and the "F" button specifies whether the DataBlock should be saved in the file even if it is unused (unlinked).

Unlinked objects: Unlinked data is not lost until you quit Blender. This is a powerful Undo feature. if you delete an object the material assigned to it becomes unlinked, but is still there! You just have to re-link it to another object or press the "F" button.

Toolbox

You can open the toolbox by pressing SPACE in the 3D Viewport, or by holding LMB or RMB with a still mouse for more than half a second. The toolbox contains 6 main contexts, arranged on two lines, each of which opens menus and submenus.

Three of these contexts open the same three menus present in the 3D Viewport header, of the other three, Add allows adding new Objects to the scene while Edit and Transform shows all possible operations on selected Object(s) (The Toolbox).

Screens

Blender's flexibility with windows lets you create customized working environments for different tasks, such as modeling, animating, and scripting. It is often useful to quickly switch between different environments within the same file. This is made possible by creating several screens: all changes to windows as described in The window system and Window types are saved within one screen, so if you change your windows in one screen, other screens won't be affected, but the scene you are working on stays the same in all screens.

Three default screens are provided Blender; they are available via the SCR Menu Buttons in the User Preferences Window header shown in Screen and Scene selectors. To change to the next screen alphabetically, press CTRL-RIGHTARROW; to change to the previous screen alphabetically, press CTRL-LEFTARROW.

Scenes

It is also possible to have several scenes within the same Blender file. The scenes may use one another's objects or be completely separate from one another. You can select and create scenes with the SCE Menu Button buttons in the User Preferences Window header (Screen and Scene selectors). When you create a new scene, you can choose between four options to control its contents:

• Empty creates an empty scene.
• Link Objects creates the new scene with the same contents as the currently selected scene. Changes in one scene will also modify the other.
• Link ObData creates the new scene based on the currently selected scene, with links to the same meshes, materials, and so on. This means that you can change objects' positions and related properties, but modifications to the meshes, materials, and so on will also affect other scenes unless you manually make single-user copies.
• Full Copy creates a fully independent scene with copies of the currently selected scene's contents.

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