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I'm completely new to Blender, I have animated some text with help from a tutorial, but that's it.

My first problem is, that i can't find the "View Properties" menu. I need to find it so I can change my "Draw Distance". (I'm not sure if it is called "Draw Distance")

First problem

Okay, so my second problem is this: What is this!?

It is so annoying. For example, I selected a plane to drag it, and when I tried to drag it, it looked like I dragged the thing from the picture above, and not the plane. Also, when i den drag the object selected, the 3D cursor doesn't follow the object, why?

Aske Kaiser
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    Your questions are fine. However, it would be better if they were posted separately (so it's easier to search for and find them). Thanks :) – CharlesL Jun 16 '14 at 20:54
  • @AskeKaiser It's not too late, you can edit your question (by clicking the edit link below your post and above these comments) and copy/paste your second question to a new post. – gandalf3 Jun 17 '14 at 06:49

3 Answers3

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By draw distance, I'm guessing you mean viewport clipping distance. Settings can be found in 3D view > Properties region (N) > View > Clip:

enter image description here

That circle is called the 3D cursor. It's useful in many ways, once you get used to it ;) It is positioned by pressing LMB. To select and drag an object, use RMB.

See How do I select an object in the 3D viewport? for more details.

Community
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gandalf3
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  • Thank you, my first question is answered. You're right, i want the 3D cursor to be centered, but i don't know what LMB and RMB is. – Aske Kaiser Jun 17 '14 at 06:31
  • LMB=Left Mouse Button and RMB=Right Mouse Button. – gandalf3 Jun 17 '14 at 06:45
  • Oh, thank you. But when i drag a object, the 3D cursor doesn't follow with that object. It did for some days ago, i don't know if i pressed something, so the 3D cursor won't lock on to objects. Is that a possibility? – Aske Kaiser Jun 17 '14 at 06:52
  • @AskeKaiser I can't think of any option which would do that.. You can snap the 3D cursor to the selected object with Shift+S > Cursor to selected. Does that do what you want? – gandalf3 Jun 17 '14 at 07:09
  • Yes, but when i then move the object, the 3D cursor doesn't stick to it. – Aske Kaiser Jun 17 '14 at 07:16
  • I don't know of anything which would "glue" the 3D cursor to an object (short of using something like drivers, but there's pretty much no way you could set up a driver without knowing it) Are you perhaps thinking of the manipulator widget? (Ctrl+Space to toggle) – gandalf3 Jun 17 '14 at 07:23
  • Well, those lines that you drag a object around with, used to be on the object, now they're on the 3D cursor. – Aske Kaiser Jun 17 '14 at 07:25
  • @AskeKaiser Oh. You pressed . (period), which changed the pivot point to the 3D cursor. Press Ctrl+, (comma) to go back to the default. See http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:2.6/Manual/3D_interaction/Transform_Control/Pivot_Point/3D_Cursor – gandalf3 Jun 17 '14 at 07:36
  • In the top right corner of your 3D View Port there is that little Plus sign when your Properties Panel is closed which helps you to open it again ;-) – Samoth Feb 12 '16 at 19:56
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If you press Shift+S you'll see the Snap menu:

Snap menu

Cursor to Selected and Cursor to Center allows you to attach the 3D Cursor to the selected mesh or the center of the world space respectively.

Selection to Cursor allows you to move the selected mesh to the 3D Cursor.

Mr Zak
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paraldio
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I would recomend to go first through the The Interface Section of the Blender manual.

  • How far an object appears is controlled by its distance to the camera Numpad-0 (Toggle camera view).

  • Left clicking places the mouse cursor (as gandalf3 already explained) when you create a new object it will appear at the position of the 3D-cursor. The 3D cursor has many other uses e.g. pivot point to rotate.

stacker
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