Blender is the free, open-source 3D creation suite used by indie creators and major studios alike. But opening it for the first time can be overwhelming. This guide will get you from zero to your first render in 30 minutes.

Setting Up

Download Blender from blender.org or install via Homebrew:

brew install --cask blender

On first launch, you’ll see the default scene: a cube, a camera, and a light. Don’t panic — we’ll work with this.

Essential Navigation

The most important thing to learn first is how to move around:

  • Middle mouse drag — rotate view
  • Shift + middle mouse drag — pan
  • Scroll wheel — zoom
  • Numpad 1/3/7 — front/side/top views
  • Numpad 0 — camera view
  • Numpad 5 — toggle perspective/orthographic

If you don’t have a numpad, go to Edit → Preferences → Input and enable “Emulate Numpad.”

Your First Model: A Coffee Cup

Delete the default cube (select it and press X). Then:

  1. Add a cylinder: Shift+A → Mesh → Cylinder
  2. Scale it: Press S to scale, make it cup-shaped
  3. Enter Edit Mode: Press Tab
  4. Select the top face: Press 3 for face select mode, click the top
  5. Inset the face: Press I, drag inward slightly
  6. Extrude down: Press E, then Z, drag down to create the hollow interior

Add a Handle

  1. Go back to Object Mode (Tab)
  2. Add a Torus: Shift+A → Mesh → Torus
  3. Scale and position it on the side of the cup
  4. In Edit Mode, delete half the torus to make a C-shape

Materials and Rendering

  1. Select your cup, go to the Material Properties tab (red sphere icon)
  2. Click “New” and choose a color
  3. Switch to the Shading workspace at the top
  4. Press F12 to render your first image

Next Steps

You’ve made a coffee cup! From here, explore:

  • The Sculpting workspace for organic shapes
  • Modifiers like Subdivision Surface for smooth objects
  • Eevee vs Cycles render engines
  • Blender Guru’s famous donut tutorial on YouTube

The Blender community is enormous and welcoming. Every question you’ll have has already been answered somewhere.