Invisible escreveu:
> Clearly I'm going to have to sit down and do a whole crapload of reading 
> before I can start doing anything interesting with Blender.

here's some quick tips:
ctrl+x - starts a new scene from scratch
esc - cancels things out
space - calls the main menu
right mouse button click (RMB) - selects
left mouse button click (LMB) - changes location of 3D cursor
a - selects all or none
s - scale
r - rotate
g - grab an object so you may move it around
c - center scene

navigating through 3D space:
numeric keyboard:
1 - front view
7 - top view
3 - side view
use together with shift to get to the other sides
del/, - focus on selected object

with the mouse:
alt+LMB - rotate the scene around by moving the mouse
alt+shift+LMB - grab the scene around by moving the mouse
(under X in Linux you may need to add the "Windows" button to the 
configuration above)
mouse wheel - zoom

tab - changes between normal object mode, where you place and manipulate 
objects (primitives), and mesh editing mode where you

now, when you are in mesh edit mode, to edit, say, the default cube:
ctrl+tab - changes between vertice, edge or face mode


now, here's a first lesson to you:

1) ctrl+x to create a new scene

2) cube is already selected so tab to enter mesh edit mode

3) input this:  s (scale) y (restricted to y axis) then move the mouse 
until its reasonably thin in y axis

4) a to deselect all

5) ctrl+tab and select face mode

6) ctrl+space and select "Enable/Disable" so it doesn't get in the way

7) select the right face  (you may zoom in a bit to make it clearer)

8) alt+shift(+Windows)+LMB and drag the cube to the left corner of the 
screen

9) ok, right face selected all you do now is extrude it in the xy plane 
with ctrl+LMB clicks.

You may trace it along funky paths in the xy plane (as default view is 
top view in the z axis) as long as the steps are about same length as 
the original cube.

now:

10) tab to exit mesh edit mode

11) F9 -> Modifiers panel down there -> Add Modifier -> Level 3

12) In the Link and Materials panel to the left, click Set Smooth down there

13) in the numeric numeric keypad, hit 5 to enter perspective mode (5 
again to go back to orthographic)

14) drag your scene around with alt+shift+LMB, zoom with mouse wheel and 
rotate with alt+shift+LMB to get the "belt" centered on screen

15) once you're satisfied with it, hit ctrl+alt+0 to get the camera set 
in this position

16) F8 -> World ajust the default black blue sky to a color of your liking

17) in the panel just next to it, click on the Amb Occ tab and turn on 
Ambient Occlusion (default settings ok)

18) hit F12 to render with default settings

if you're curious how to manage that mesh from now on, here's the tip:
1) select the belt with RMB and go back to edit mode with tab
2) a until everything deselected
3) ctrl+tab to select edge mode
4) alt+RMB in one of the top edges to select a whole edge loop

edge loops, extrusions, loop cuts... that's how you manage complexity.

There's so much more to tell, but you'd be overwhelmed this way.  anyway:

F6 goes to the material panels.  ctrl+e gives you the very useful edge 
loop tools.  In mesh edit mode, e extrudes and ctrl+r loop cuts (mouse 
wheel or numeric argument for number of cuts while in preview). 
Sometimes numbers can be used with some commands, like s+shift+y+5 to 
scale 5 times in the xz plane (shift+y).

-- 
a game sig: http://tinyurl.com/d3rxz9

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