- Active
Blender makes a distinction between selected and active. Only one
Object or item can be active at any given time, for example to allow
visualization of data in buttons.
An active object is one that is in EditMode, or is immediately
switchable to EditMode (usually by TAB).
No more than one object is active at any moment.
Typically, the most recent selected object is active.
See Also: Selected.
- Actuator
A LogicBrick that acts like a muscle of a lifeform. It can
move the object, or also make a sound.
See Also: LogicBrick, Sensor, Controller.
- Alpha
The alpha value in an image denotes opacity, used for blending and
antialiasing.
- Ambient light
Light that exists everywhere without any particular source. Ambient
light does not cast shadows, but fills in the shadowed areas of a
scene.
- Anti-aliasing
An algorithm designed to reduce the stair-stepping artifacts that result
from drawing graphic primitives on a raster grid.
- AVI
"Audio Video Interleaved". A container format for video with
synchronized audio. An AVI file can contain different compressed video
and audio-streams.
- Back-buffer
Blender uses two buffers in which it draws the
interface. This double-buffering system allows one buffer
to be displayed, while drawing occurs on the
back-buffer. For some applications in Blender the
back-buffer is used to store color-coded selection
information.
- Bevel
Beveling removes sharp edges from an extruded object by
adding additional material around the surrounding
faces. Bevels are particularly useful for flying logos,
and animation in general, since they reflect additional
light from the corners of an object as well as from the
front and sides.
- Bounding box
A six-sided box drawn on the screen that represents the maximum
extent of an object.
- Bump map
A grayscale image used to give a surface the illusion of ridges or
bumps. In Blender bumpmaps are called Nor-maps.
- Channel
Some DataBlocks can be linked to a series of other
DataBlocks. For example, a Material has eight
channels to link Textures to.
Each IpoBlock has a fixed number of available
channels. These have a name (LocX,
SizeZ, enz.) which indicates how they can be applied. When
you add an IpoCurve to a channel, animation starts up
immediately.
- Child
Objects can be linked to each other in hierarchical groups. The Parent
Object in such groups passes its transformations through to the Child
Objects.
See Also: Parent.
- Clipping
The removal, before drawing occurs, of vertices and faces which are
outside the field of view.
- Controller
A LogicBrick that acts like the brain of a lifeform. It
makes decisions to activate muscles (Actuators), either
using simple logic or complex Python scripts.
See Also: LogicBrick, Sensor, Python, Actuator.
- DataBlock (or "block")
The general name for an element in Blender's Object Oriented System.
- Doppler effect
The Doppler effect is the change in pitch that occurs when a sound has a
velocity relative to the listener. When a sound moves towards the listener
the pitch will rise. when going away from the listener the pitch will drop.
A well known example is the sound of an ambulance passing by.
- Double-buffer
Blender uses two buffers (images) to draw the interface in. The
content of one buffer is displayed, while drawing occurs on the other
buffer. When drawing is complete, the buffers are switched.
- EditMode
The mode for making intra-object graphical changes.
Blender has two modes for making changes graphically.
EditMode allows intra-object changes (moving, scaling
rotating, deleting, and other operations on selected vertices
of the active object).
By contrast, ObjectMode allows inter-object changes (operations
on selected objects).
Switch between EditMode and ObjectMode with
Hotkey: TAB.
See Also: ObjectMode, Vertex (pl. vertices).
- Extend select
Adds new selected items to the current selection (SHIFT-RMB)
- Extrusion
The creation of a three-dimensional object by pushing out
a two-dimensional outline and giving it height, like a
cookie-cutter. It is often used to create 3D text.
- Face
The triangle and square polygons that form the basis for Meshes or for rendering.
- Field
Frames from videos in NTSC or PAL format are composed of two
interlaced fields.
- FaceSelectMode
Mode to select faces on an object. Most important for
texturing objects. Hotkey: FKEY
- Flag
A programming term for a variable that indicates a certain status.
- Flat shading
A fast rendering algorithm that simply gives each facet of an object a
single color. It yields a solid representation of objects without
taking a long time to render. Pressing ZKEY switches to flat
shading in Blender.
- Fps
Frames per second. All animations, video, and movies are played at a
certain rate. Above ca. 15fps the human eye cannot see the single
frames and is tricked into seeing a fluid motion. In games
this is used as an indicator of how fast a game runs.
- Frame
A single picture taken from an animation or video.
- Gouraud shading
A rendering algorithm that provides more detail. It averages
color information from adjacent faces to create colors. It is more
realistic than flat shading, but less realistic than Phong shading or
ray-tracing. The hotkey in Blender is CTRL-Z.
- Graphical User Interface
(GUI)
The whole part of an interactive application which
requests input from the user (keyboard, mouse etc.) and
displays this information to the user. Blenders GUI is
designed for an efficient modeling process in an animation
company where time equals money. Blenders whole GUI is
done in OpenGL.
See Also: OpenGL.
- Hierarchy
Objects can be linked to each other in hierarchical groups. The Parent
Object in such groups passes its transformations through to the Child
Objects.
- Ipo
The main animation curve system. Ipo blocks can be used by Objects
for movement, and also by Materials for animated colors.
- IpoCurve
The Ipo animation curve.
- Item
The general name for a selectable element, e.g. Objects, vertices or
curves.
- Lathe
A lathe object is created by rotating a two-dimensional shape around a
central axis. It is convenient for creating 3D objects like glasses,
vases, and bowls. In Blender this is called "spinning".
- Keyframe
A frame in a sequence that specifies all of the attributes of an
object. The object can then be changed in any way and a second
keyframe defined. Blender automatically creates a series of
transition frames between the two keyframes, a process called
"tweening."
- Layer
A visibility flag for Objects, Scenes and 3DWindows. This is a very
efficient method for testing Object visibility.
- Link
The reference from one DataBlock to another. It is a
"pointer" in programming terminology.
- Local
Each Object in Blender defines a local 3D
space, bound by its location, rotation and size. Objects
themselves reside in the global 3D space.
A DataBlock is local, when it is read from the current Blender
file. Non-local blocks (library blocks) are linked parts from other
Blender files.
- LogicBrick
A graphical representation of a functional unit in
Blender's game logic. LogicBricks can be Sensors,
Controllers or Actuators.
See Also: Sensor, Controller, Actuator.
- Mapping
The relationship between a Material and a Texture is called the
'mapping'. This relationship is two-sided. First, the information that
is passed on to the Texture must be specified. Then the effect of the
Texture on the Material is specified.
- Mipmap
Process to filter and speed up the display of textures.
- MPEG-I
Video compression standard by the "Motion Pictures Expert Group". Due to
its small size and platform independence, it is ideal for distributing video
files over the internet.
- ObData block
The first and most important DataBlock linked by an Object. This block
defines the Object type, e.g. Mesh or Curve or Lamp.
- Object
The basic 3D information block. It contains a position, rotation, size
and transformation matrices. It can be linked to other Objects for
hierarchies or deformation. Objects can be "empty" (just an axis) or
have a link to ObData, the actual 3D information: Mesh, Curve,
Lattice, Lamp, etc.
- ObjectMode
The mode for making inter-object graphical changes.
Blender has two modes for making changes graphically.
ObjectMode allows inter-object changes (moving, scaling
rotating, deleting and other operations on selected objects).
By contrast, EditMode allows intra-object changes (operations
on selected vertices in the active object).
Switch between ObjectMode and EditMode with
Hotkey: TAB.
See Also: EditMode.
- OpenGL
(OGL)
OpenGL is a programming interface mainly for 3D
applications. It renders 3D objects to the screen,
providing the same set of instructions on different
computers and graphics adapters. Blenders whole interface
and 3D output in the real-time and interactive 3D graphic
is done by OpenGL.
- Oversampling
(OSA)See: Anti-aliasing
- Overscan
Video images generally exceed the size of the physical screen.
The edge of the picture may or may not be displayed, to allow
variations in television sets. The extra area is called the
overscan area. Video productions are planned so critical action
only occurs in the center safe title area. Professional monitors
are capable of displaying the entire video image including the
overscan area.
- Parent
An object that is linked to another object, the parent is linked to
a child in a parent-child relationship. A parent object's
coordinates become the center of the world for any of its child
objects.
See Also: Child.
- Perspective view
In a perspective view, the further an object is from the viewer, the
smaller it appears. See orthographic view.
- Pivot
A point that normally lies at an object's geometric center. An
object's position and rotation are calculated in relation to its
pivot-point. However, an object can be moved off its center point,
allowing it to rotate around a point that lies outside the object.
- Pixel
A single dot of light on the computer screen; the smallest unit of a
computer graphic. Short for "picture element."
- Plug-In
A piece of (C-)code loadable during runtime. This way it
is possible to extend the functionality of Blender without
a need for recompiling. The Blender plugin for showing 3D
content in other applications is such a piece of code.
- Python
The scripting language integrated into Blender. Python is an interpreted,
interactive, object-oriented programming language.
- Quaternions
Instead of using a three-component Euler angle, quaternions use a
four-component vector. It is generally difficult to describe the
relationships of these quaternion channels to the resulting
orientation, but it is often not necessary. It is best to generate
quaternion keyframes by manipulating the bones directly, only editing
the specific curves to adjust lead-in and lead-out transitions.
- Render
To create a two-dimensional representation of an object
based on its shape and surface properties (i.e. a picture
for print or to display on the monitor).
- Rigid Body
Option for dynamic objects in Blender which causes the
game engine to take the shape of the body into
account. This can be used to create rolling spheres for
example.
- Selected
Blender makes a distinction between
selected and
active objects. Any number of objects
can be selected at once. Almost all
key commands have an effect on
selected objects. Selecting is done
with the right mouse button.
See Also: Active, Extend select.
- Sensor
A LogicBrick that acts like a sense of a lifeform. It reacts to
touch, vision, collision etc.
See Also: LogicBrick, Controller, Actuator.
- Single User
DataBlocks with only one user.
- Smoothing
A rendering procedure that performs vertex-normal interpolation across a
face before lighting calculations begin. The individual facets are then
no longer visible.
- Transform
Change a location, rotation, or size. Usually applied to Objects or
vertices.
- Transparency
A surface property that determines how much light passes through an
object without being altered.
See Also: Alpha.
- User
When one DataBlock references another DataBlock, it has a
user.
- Vertex (pl. vertices)
The general name for a 3D or 2D point. Besides an X,Y,Z coordinate, a vertex
can have color, a normal vector and a selection
flag. Also used as controlling points or handles on
curves.
- Vertex array
A special and fast way to display 3D on the screen using the
hardware graphic acceleration. However, some OpenGL
drivers or hardware doesn't support this, so it can be
switched off in the InfoWindow.
- Wireframe
A representation of a three-dimensional object that only
shows the lines of its contours, hence the name
"wireframe."
- X, Y, Z axes
The three axes of the world's three-dimensional coordinate
system. In the FrontView, the X axis is an imaginary
horizontal line running from left to right; the Z axis is a
vertical line; and Y axis is a line that comes out of the
screen toward you. In general, any movement parallel to
one of these axes is said to be movement along that axis.
- X, Y, and Z coordinates
The X coordinate of an object is measured by drawing a
line that is perpendicular to the X axis, through its
centerpoint. The distance from where that line intersects
the X axis to the zero point of the X axis is the object's X
coordinate. The Y and Z coordinates are measured in a
similar manner.
- Z-buffer
For a Z-buffer image, each pixel is associated with a Z-value, derived from
the distance in 'eye space' from the Camera. Before each pixel of a
polygon is drawn, the existing Z-buffer value is compared to the
Z-value of the polygon at that point. It is a common and fast
visible-surface algorithm.
