Instance Along Curve

This entry covers the concept of duplicating a mesh (cube in this example) along the path of a curve.  This is a very useful animation ability when trying to grow a curvey line or path.  

To start off you'll need at add [SHIFT+A] a curve and a mesh (cube).  It is worth noting that the direction of the curve matters for this example.  To have the cube follow the path of the curve directly, you'll want to situate it at the beginning (curve arrows are pointing away from cube) of the curve.

Python Macros

This entry covers the creation of Python Macros.  These are basically the same as python scripts, however these are much simpler scripts that encapsulate actions.    In this example we'll show how you can combine the action of adding a Sub-Surface Modifier along with the Smooth Shader operation.  An example macro can be seen below.

Copying Attributes

This quick entry covers the Copy Attributes Add-On.  This simple add-on allows you to take the transform (and many other attributes) of an object, and apply it to another object.  So first, enable the add-on through the user preferences menu.

Python Interpreter

This entry will be the starting point for any and all Python Scripting in Blender.  What's nice is that Blender also installs a full fledged Python interpreter/compiler so you can test regular python scripts (not just Blender ones) in this environment.

Blender has a view dedicated to Python Scripting which can be found by [Ctrl + Left] or by selecting Scripting from the drop down menu at the top.  The scripting view looks like the image below.

New Blog with Blender Capabilities

This new blog will focus on commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) technologies relating to 3D modeling capabilities.

http://3dcots.blogspot.com/

Active Camera Switch

This quick entry covers the function of switching the 'active' quality of a camera in a scene where there are multiple cameras.  With the desired camera selected press [Ctrl+NUM0].  This will set the selected camera as the 'active' camera, therefore, when you render [F12] or when you assume camera view [NUM0] it will use that active camera.

Scale along Normals

This quick entry covers the idea of scaling along the normals of a mesh rather than the standard scaling method.  The quick key for this action is [Alt+S] while in Edit Mode.  

But to explain its use, consider a taurus: