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Preparation

Details

 

Table of Contents

 

I recommend doing the following changes in Blender to improve the look and feel. These changes are optional but this workflow tutorial assumes you made these changes. 

 

GUI

In the Blender's menu bar -> Edit -> Preferences...-window -> change:

  • Better 4k monitor support:
    Interface -> Resolution Scale -> 1.25

  • Search a feature with the Spacebar key:
    Keymap -> Preferences -> Spacebar Action -> select Search

KeyMap ( QWERTZ )

  • A more ergonomic Undo:
    Keymap -> Screen -> Screen ( Global ) -> Undo -> Ctrl + Y

  • A more ergonomic Redo:
    Keymap -> Screen -> Screen ( Global ) -> Redo -> Shift + Ctrl + Y

Retopology

  • Speed up retopology by using the grease pencil to draw meshes:
    Add-ons -> Categories drop-down menu: Mesh -> enable Mesh: Bsurfaces GPL Edition

  • Easily connect vertices.
    Add-ons -> Categories drop-down menu: Mesh -> enable Mesh: LoopTools

  • Waiting for release: Speed up retopology tremendously with several different tools:
    RetopoFlow by CG Cookie

 These add-ons can be found in the menu bar -> Modeling Workspace -> Properties panel ( N key ) -> Edit tab. They are related to the context, so, for example, LoopTools only show up in Edit mode.

UV Mapping

 These add-ons can be found in the menu bar -> UV Editing Workspace -> Properties panel ( N key ).

View

A closer look at even large objects. In the 3D View, that renders all 3D objects, press the N key to open the

Properties panel -> View tab ->

  • Set the Clip Start to 0.001 m.
  • Set the End to 50 m.

UP

Scale

For an easier export to Unreal Engine set the scale to centimeters.

Properties Editor -> Scene Properties tab -> Units -> Length -> Centimeters

Delete

Delete all objects in the project, because you won't need them.
In the 3D View select all objects by pressing A key then press the X key and confirm the command with left-click to the pop-up window to delete all objects.

Save

To save this project blueprint Blender's menu bar -> File -> Defaults -> click Save Startup file -> and left-click to confirm that you want to use these project settings for all projects as default.

Graphics Tablets

I use the graphics tablet only to sculpt and paint. For all the rest I use my mouse. This chapter will show you how I set up my graphics tablet. However.. in general, this tutorial will only explain the mouse controls.
Please transfer this mouse controls off to your individual graphics tablet setup if you use one.

 

Pressure Sensibility

De/activate the pressure sensibility with the pen-with-two-circles button for sculpting in Blender. You can find this button at the right side of a lot of different settings and the pressure sensibilities can even be combined like for example radius and strength of a tool. By default, the strength is selected.

 

Button Problems

Please note that some tablets are not 100% compatible with Blender. If some keys don't work you can remap them like for example:

  • The Shift key is not supported. You can install AutoHotkey to remap the Shift key with right-click -> New -> AutoHotkey Script. Just add this one line of code at the very bottom, save the file and run the script every time before sculpting:
    Shift::LShift​

 

Sculpting Setup

  • Touch tablet with pen and move: Sculpt with the selected brush ( standard: hold left mouse button and move )
  • Hover pen + first pen button and move: Rotate around the object ( standard: hold the middle mouse button and move )
  • Hover pen + second pen button: Open the context menu ( standard: right mouse button )

UP

 

Copyright Timo B. Weiße