Welcome to the first Blender 2.8 tutorial. In this tutorial we will be exploring the Blender 2.8 Beta interface.
Utility for baking to textures Blender® nodes that Radeon™ ProRender does not translate natively. Support for Blender® Mix Node blend modes:overlay, lighten, screen, linear light, and soft light. RPR Layered Texture node for blending up to 8 textures in a single node. What's new in this version. The first release of the 2.9 series is here! Building on the success of the 2.8 series, Blender 2.90 continues to polish the user experience, introducing improvements to EEVEE, Cycles, sculpt, VR, animation, modeling, UV editing and so much more.
Blender 2.8 Download – https://www.blender.org/2-8/
Blender 2.8 Release Notes –https://wiki.blender.org/wiki/Reference/Release_Notes/2.80
Blender 2.8 Shortcut Keys – https://developer.blender.org/T55194
HELP FUND BLENDER! – https://fund.blender.org/
Download
In order to download Blender 2.8 (Beta) go to blender.org and click on “Download the daily build and share your feedback!” button.
On the next page click on “Download Blender 2.8 Beta.”
On the next page choose your operating system and download the zip-file.
Since 2.8 is still in Beta you will need to unzip the file and then look for the executable file (.exe).
Click on the executable file and you will open Blender 2.8.
Since 2.8 is still in Beta you will not get the desktop icon and will need to open it via the executable file each time.
Splash Screen
Blender 2.8
As of the time of this recording, the splash screen offers a quick setup.
For the shortcuts you can use the 2.8 shortcuts or the 2.7x shortcuts.
You can choose to select with the left or right mouse button.
You can choose what you want to use the Spacebar for – Play, Tools, or Search.
You are also able to choose your theme.
You can still choose to load the 2.79 settings as well.
If you make any changes to the settings, you can save these settings from the splash screen.
Once you have those settings applied you are presented with a new splash screen with various links and the ability to choose your working space.
Modes
When you start up a new project (General) you will be in Object Mode and Perspective View. Numpad 5 is the shortcut to change to Orthographic View and the Tab key will allow you to switch between Object Mode and Edit Mode.
In the dropdown menu you can also change to Sculpt Mode, Vertex Mode, Weight Paint Mode, and Texture Paint Mode.
A few important changes have been made between Blender 2.7 and Blender 2.8 **CTRL + TAB will bring up the Pie Menus.
**The A key selects the entire mesh
**Clicking anywhere off the mesh deselects the mesh
**The Manipulator from 2.7 can be accessed by choosing the Move Tool in the Tool Bar
Blender 2.82
At the top of the interface we still have the File, Render, Window, and Help menus. In addition, Blender 2.8 now has an Edit menu. Under this new menu you will find Undo, Redo, Undo History, Repeat Last, Repeat History, Adjust Last Operation, Operator Search, Lock Object Modes, and Preferences.
Next to these menus are tabs (called workspaces) – similar to the tabs along the side of the Tools Shelf in 2.7 and the menu at the bottom of the 3D viewport in 2.7.
The Layout Workspace is the default workspace. Here you will see the 3D Viewport in Object Mode and User Perspective just like you see in the default screen for 2.7. You also have access to the Timeline.
The Modeling Workspace is the default workspace for modeling. Here you will see the 3D Viewport in Edit Mode and User Perspective.
The Sculpting Workspace is the default workspace for sculpting. Here you will see the Sculpting Viewport in Sculpt Mode with a Matcap already applied to the model.
The UV Editing Workspace is the default workspace for UV editing. Here you will see a split Viewport with the UV Image Editor on the left and the model on the right. Notice that if you have a simple geometric mesh Blender 2.8 will automatically unwrap the UV.
The Texture Paint Workspace is the default workspace for texture painting. Here you will see a split Viewport with the UV Image Editor on the left and the model on the right. Notice that if you have a simple geometric mesh Blender 2.8 will automatically unwrap the UV.
The Shading Workspace is the default workspace for texturing. Here you see a split Viewport with a file browser, Viewport, UV Image Editor, and Node Editor. Notice that you now have an automatic HDRI to show how light will affect the model.
The Animation Workspace is the default workspace for animation. Here you see a split Viewport with a Rendered view, Viewport, and Dope Sheet.
The Rendering Workspace is the default workspace for rendering. Here you see a split Viewport with a Camera view and Timeline.
The Compositing Workspace is the default workspace for compositing. Here you see a split Viewport with a Node Editor and Dope Sheet.
The Scripting Workspace is the default workspace for scripting in Python. Here you see a split Viewport with a 3D Viewport, History, and Scripting area.
You can set up and save your own Workspaces by clicking on the plus sign.
Areas
The 3D viewport has a new Toolbar on the left. The new tools in the Toolbar, once activated, stay active until changing to another tool. Their settings are displayed in a bar at the top of the Window.
The Status Bar is displayed along the bottom of each Workspace. The Status Bar shows information about what different mouse buttons and keys do in each Workspace, Mode, and Tool. It also provides scene statistics and messages and progress indicators for tools and jobs.
The Outliner is still present in 2.8 but it now contains not only Scenes but Collections. These Collections replace the Layers in Blender 2.7. In order to add an object to a Collection or to add a new Collection you use the “M” key to bring up the “Move to Collection” menu.
The Properties Editor was reorganized to have buttons mainly a single column layout. Panels can also have subpanels now, which more advanced and less commonly used settings collapsed by default.
The Properties Region can be accessed using the “N” key just like Blender 2.7. In the Properties Region Panel, the panels directly related to mesh editing is the Transform panel, where numeric values can be entered for location, rotation, scale, and dimensions. We also have access to the properties for the View (such as focal length), camera lock, 3D cursor, and annotations.
Areas can still be split and joined just like Blender 2.7. You will no longer see the hash marks in the corners of the areas. Instead, when you are on the corner of an area you will see a crosshair which indicates you can then hold down your left mouse button and split the area. To join an area, simply go to a corner and when you see the crosshair hold down the left mouse button and drag onto another window.
This was just a quick introduction to the Blender 2.8 interface. I will be offering more 2.8 tutorials in the near future.