Help System

Blender has a range of built-in and web-based help options.

Tooltips

Tooltip of the Render Engine selector in the Info Editor.

When hovering the mouse cursor over a button or setting, after a few instants a tooltip appears.

Elements

The context-sensitive Tooltip might contain some of these elements:

Short Description

Related details depending on the control.

Shortcut

A keyboard or mouse shortcut associated to the tool.

Value

The value of the property.

Python

For scripting – A Python command associated to the control (usually an operator or property).

Context Sensitive Manual Access

Reference

Mode: All modes

Menu: RMB, Online Manual

Hotkey: Alt-F1

You may want to access help for a tool or area from within Blender.

Use the key-shortcut, or context menu to visit pages from this reference manual within Blender. This opens a webpage relating to the button under the cursor, supporting both tool and value buttons.

Note

We do not currently have 100% coverage, you may see an alert in the info header if some tools do not have a link to the manual.

Other times buttons may link to more general sections of the documentation.

Help Menu

The Help menu in the Info Editor header.

Help Menu.

Web Links

The first options of this menu provide direct links to Blender related websites: The same links can also be found in the Splash Screen.

Manual

This is a link to the Official Blender Manual which you are now reading.

Release Log

The release notes on the Web for the changes made for the current Blender version.

Blender Website

The blender.org home page.

Blender Store

The Blender Store , where you can buy Training DVD’s, books, t-shirts and other products.

Developer Community

The blender.org Get Involved page. This is the launch page for Blender software development, bug tracking, patches and scripts, education and training, documentation development and functionality research.

User Community

Lists of many different support venues.

Report a Bug

The Blender Bug Tracker (registration needed).

Tip

Browser and Internet Connection

Some forms of Help start up your web browser and access the Blender Foundation’s web servers. In order to do this, you must have configured a default web browser for your Operating System, and have a connection to the Internet.

Scripting Reference

Python API Reference

Python application programming interface (API) Reference.

Operator Cheat Sheet

Creates the OperatorList.txt text-block, which you can access in the Text Editor. You can also use Blender Search to generate the file. It lists the available Python operators.

Save System Info

Access Help ‣ Save System Info.

This extracts system information which can be useful to include in bug reports, inspecting the configuration or diagnosing problems.

You will be prompted to save a text file system-info.txt.

The text file contains sections:

Blender

This section shows you the Blender version, details about the build configuration, and the path in which Blender is running.

Python

The Python version you are using, showing the paths of the Python programming language paths.

Directories

Paths used for scripts, data-files, presets and temporary files.

Those directories are configured using the User Preferences Editor.

OpenGL

This section shows the OpenGL version, the name of the manufacturer, and lists the capabilities of your hardware and driver.

Splash Screen

Shows the Splash Screen.