Datasheet
Objects and Datablocks n 19
In Blender, the basic 3D entity is an object. There are a number of different types of
objects, each of which has different characteristics and different kinds of data associated
with it. All objects have the characteristics of location, rotation, and size.
In addition to location, scale, and rotation, each 3D object is associated with a data-
block of specific information to its type. In the case of the Empty object, there is no other
information besides this basic 3D object information.
3D object types include the following:
Meshes•
NURBs curves/surfaces•
Bezier curves•
Meta objects•
Armatures•
Lattices•
Text objects•
Empties•
Cameras•
Lamps•
All objects have certain properties. Every object has a location, which is the point in
space of the object’s center. Every object has a size defined in terms of the percent of its
size at the time of its creation. Every object has a rotation, which is the difference between
the angles of its local axes and the global axes of the 3D space.
All objects of a particular type also have type-specific datablocks associated with them.
A Mesh object requires a Mesh datablock, for example, and a Lamp object requires a
Lamp datablock. This datablock contains information pertinent to the thing itself. The
properties specific to a mesh, such as the placement of its vertices and faces, are contained
in the Mesh datablock. A Lamp object datablock likewise contains information about the
kind of light source and its properties.
Meshes and Mesh Objects
It is easy to get confused between the object and the object’s type-specific datablock, but
the distinction is important. It is common shorthand, for example, to refer to a Mesh
object simply as a mesh, but strictly speaking, a mesh in Blender refers to the Mesh data-
block associated with the Mesh object.
To see an example of Mesh objects and their datablocks, open Blender and split the
Properties window into two. Select the default cube in the 3D viewport by right-clicking
the cube. In one Properties window, choose the Object properties context, and in the
other Properties window, look at the Object Data context, as shown in Figure 1.12. The
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