blocks of the Blender interface.
Figure 1-5: A Blender window contains areas populated by editors that include one or more regions.
Knowing this organizational structure, the next important thing to know is that Blender is designed to be as non-blocking and non-modal as possible. Areas in Blender never overlap one another (non-blocking) and using one feature of Blender typically won't restrict you from using any of the others (non-modal). As an example, in most software, if you want to open a new file or save your project, a file browser dialog pops up. This dialog is an overlapping window that not only blocks things behind it from view, but usually also prevents you from making any changes to your file. This scenario isn't the case with Blender. In Blender, the file browser is an editor just like any other, and it makes perfect sense to be able to make a couple of tweaks to your scene before hitting the Save button. Figure 1-6 shows what it might look like to have a file browser open while you make tweaks.
Figure 1-6: Doing those last couple of tweaks before finally saving.
Regardless of the type of editor that's contained in an area, you modify and change all areas in a Blender window the same way. To change the size of an area, left-click the border between two areas and drag it to a new position. This method increases the size of one area while reducing the size of those that adjoin it. If you have only one area in your Blender window, it's exactly the same size as that window. To resize it, you need to either adjust the size of its parent Blender window or split a new area into that space, as covered in the next section.
Splitting and removing areas
While working in Blender, it's pretty common that the default layout isn't quite what you need to work efficiently. Sometimes you may need an additional 3D View or you may want to see the UV/Image Editor in addition to the 3D View.
To create either of these layout changes, you need to split an existing area into two. You can split or join areas by right-clicking the border between two areas and choosing either Split Area or Join Area from the menu that pops up. However, there's a faster way. Look at the corners in the bottom left and top right of any area. These corner widgets are marked as a triangular region indicated by diagonal lines. To split any area into two, use the following steps:
1. Left-click one of the corner widgets and drag your mouse cursor away from the area's border.
2. Drag your mouse cursor left or right to split the area vertically.
Dragging it up or down splits the area horizontally.
As you drag your mouse, the areas update in real time so that you can see the result of the split while you're working.
If you want to remove an area, the process is similar. Rather than splitting an area in two, you're joining two areas together. So instead of left-clicking the corner widget and dragging your mouse cursor away from the area border, drag it towards the border of the area you want to join with. This action darkens the area your mouse is in and draws an arrow to indicate which area you want to remove.
Figure 1-7 shows the process of splitting an area and then removing that area. When I work in Blender, I find myself constantly changing the screen layout by splitting and joining new areas as I need them.
Figure 1-7: Creating a new area and then removing that area.
Duplicating an area to a new window
In addition to the new way of splitting and joining areas, you can use these corner widgets to duplicate any area into a new Blender window of its own. You can move that window to a separate monitor (if you have one), or it can overlap your original Blender window. And within this new Blender window, you can split the duplicated area into additional ones as you like. This area duplication feature is a slight violation of Blender's non-overlapping principles, but the benefits it provides for users with multiple computer screens make it very worthwhile.
To take advantage of this feature, follow these steps:
1. Shift+left-click one of the corner widgets in an area and drag your mouse cursor away from it in any direction.
This step duplicates the area you clicked in and creates a new Blender window to contain it.
You can also achieve this effect from the header menu of some editors by choosing View ⇒ Duplicate Area into New Window.
2. Close the additional Blender window by clicking the close button that your operating system adds to the border of the window.
Customizing Headers
All editors in Blender have a horizontal region called the header running along either the top or bottom of the editor. The header usually features specialized menus or buttons that are specific to the editor you're using. Here are some ways you can customize the header:
✔ Resize the header. Like any region, you can resize the header by left-clicking the seam between the header and the main work space of the editor and dragging it up or down.
✔ Hide the header. If you drag the seam all the way to the area border, then the header becomes hidden, leaving only a small plus icon (+) in the corner of the editor. If the header is at the bottom of the editor, the plus icon appears at the bottom right.
