Welcome back. For this tutorial you will need the Sword file from Part I.

As for the exporting of the model, the DirectX export script that comes with Blender doesn't work so well for me. What you need to do is download this one and drop it into the Scripts folder of your Blender installation. It will overwrite the one that came with Blender. If you don't want to overwrite the old one, simply change the extension of the old one from .py to .old so that it will still be there if you want to change back to it.

Now for a short refresher on conventions I use and some Blender hot key notes:

Feel free to skip this if you are comfortable with Blender hot keys or you just did Part I; this is straight from there.

I will use some abbreviations during this tutorial, defined as the following:

• LMB = Left mouse button
• MMB = Middle mouse button
• RMB = Right mouse button

Most hotkeys involve a single button, or a button in combination with Shift, Alt, or Ctrl. I will use the following conventions when using hotkeys:

(letter to press KEY)

Examples:

• (EKEY) Press the "E" button on your keyboard. This is your extrude command.
• (GKEY) Press the "G" button on your keyboard. This grabs the current selection and lets you move it.
• (Shift+MMB) Press and hold the Shift key and the middle mouse button. This will pan the current view.

I will also on occasion use red circles in the pictures to show which vertices I am referring to.

A few things to keep in mind:

• To select an object or vertex in Blender, use the right mouse button (RMB).
• When performing some actions, like Scale (SKEY), Move (GKEY), or Extrude (EKEY), you can cancel the action by right-clicking (RMB). Left-clicking (LMB) accepts the changes.
• To select multiple objects or vertices hold down SHIFT and make your selections with the RMB.
• The SHIFT button will also deselect any selected objects or vertices when used with the RMB.
• To toggle in and out of edit mode for the selected object, use TAB.
• The SPACEBAR is your friend. That is where you find many useful commands and tools, including primitive objects. The 3D Cursor, which looks like a red and white crosshair, is where the new objects will be placed. When you start Blender this will be in the center of your view. You can change it's location by left clicking (LMB) anywhere in the view. Keep in mind that it's 3D space, so to get correct placement you may have to adjust it in several views; Front, Side, and/or Top.
• Use (AKEY) to select/deselect all objects. If one or more objects are already selected, but not all of them, (AKEY) will deselect all. Hitting it again will select everything.
• Any window that contains the curser is the selected view. Simply move the mouse to a different window to make it the current view.
• You can switch your model's appearance from Wireframe to Shaded by using the ZKEY as a toggle switch. There is also the option to show textures and/or materials by using SHIFT+ZKEY as another toggle.
• Change the view in a window using the NUMPAD keys, 1 for front, 3 for side, and 7 for top. Holding the Alt key with 1, 3, or 7 will give you the opposite view of those buttons.
• Rotate a view using the NUMPAD keys 2, 4, 6, or 8. You can also rotate freely by holding the MMB and dragging the mouse.
• By scrolling the MMB up or down you can zoom in or out of the current view.
• You should save often by using (CTR+WKEY), which is Save, or by using (F2), which is Save As. I'm not going to tell you how often to save, that's a personal preference.
• You can clear up your view while in Edit Mode (Toggle on and off with TAB) by selecting vertices you're not using and Hiding (HKEY) them. Hidden vertices will remain hidden if you leave Edit Mode and then re-enter it. To Unhide them, use ALT+HKEY.

If you haven't done so already, fire up Blender and load up your final sword file from Part I. You can use (CTRL+O) to open the last file you used.

In our Side View, go to the Current Window Type button, it's the one that looks like a crosshair, and choose the UV/Image Editor Window:

Now over in our Front View, let's enter Face Select Mode (FKEY). If you give it a good Rotate you can see how it appears that some of the faces are invisible. Actually, they are there, they just need their Normals flipped.

While we are still in Face Select Mode, enter Edit Mode (TAB) as well. Your faces should all turn Purple.

Select All (AKEY) and to flip our normals use (CTRL+NKEY). It will ask if you want the Normals to face out; yes you do.

Exit Edit Mode (TAB) and your faces should now all be white. On more complex models this trick will not work on every face. The faces that still appear invisible should be selected individually in Face Select Mode (FKEY), then enter Edit Mode (TAB) and try flipping the normals both inside (CTRL+ALT+NKEY) and outside (CTRL+NKEY) to see which way gives you the correct results.

Give it another good Rotate to make sure all of the faces are white. They are, good.

Now switch the view back to Front (NUMPAD 1) and choose our UV layout by selecting LSCM in our Specials Menu (UKEY):

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