A 3D scene is built from simple shapes called primitives: cube, sphere, cylinder, plane and so on.

Adding an object

Use the Add menu (shortcut: Shift + A) and pick a primitive. The new object appears wherever the 3D cursor sits.

The three transformations

• Move (G key) — change the position.
• Rotate (R key) — change the orientation.
• Scale (S key) — change the size.

After pressing G, R or S, you can type X, Y or Z to constrain the movement to a single axis.

Key takeaway: G, R and S are Blender’s founding trio. Combined with the X, Y and Z axes, they are enough to place any object exactly where you want it.