Object Types

Reference

Mode:

Object Mode

Menu:

Add

Shortcut:

Shift-A

New objects can be created with the Add menu in the 3D Viewport’s header.

Mesh

Objects composed of vertices, edges and polygonal faces and can be edited extensively with Blender’s mesh editing tools. See Mesh Primitives.

Curve

Mathematically defined objects which can be manipulated with control handles or control points (instead of vertices), to edit their length and curvature. See Curves Primitives.

Surface

Mathematically defined patches that are manipulated with control points. These are useful for simple rounded forms and organic landscapes. See Surfaces Primitives.

Metaball

Objects formed by a mathematical function (with no vertices or control points) defining the 3D volume in which the object exists. Meta objects have a liquid-like quality where when two or more metaballs are brought together, they merge by smoothly rounding out the connection, appearing as one unified object. See Meta Primitives.

Text

Create a two-dimensional representation of a text.

Volume

Container for OpenVDB files that is generated by other software or Blender’s Fluid Simulator.

Grease Pencil

Objects created by drawing strokes. See Grease Pencil Primitives

Armature

Used for rigging 3D models to make them posable and animatable.

Lattice

Non-renderable wireframes commonly used for the deformation of other objects with help of the Lattice Modifier.

Empty

Null objects that are simple visual transform nodes that do not render. They are useful for controlling the position or movement of other objects.

Image

Empty objects that display images in the 3D Viewport. These images can be used to aid artists in modeling or animating.

Light

Empty objects that emit light and are used for lighting the scene in renders.

Light Probe

Used by the EEVEE render engine to record lighting information for indirect lighting.

Camera

This is the virtual camera that is used to determine what appears in the render.

Speaker

Empty objects that bring a source of sound to the scene.

Force Field

Empty objects that give simulations external forces, creating movement, and are represented in the 3D Viewport as small control objects.

Collection Instance

Lets you select from a list of existing collections. Once selected, an empty object will be created, with an instance of the selected collection (collection instancing active).

Common Options

You can change the options of the object in the Adjust Last Operation panel just after creating it:

Type

You can change the type of some objects after their creation with a selector.

Radius/Size

Sets the starting size.

Align

Rotates the new object so that it is aligned in one of the following manners:

• World

  Aligns the object to the global space axes, i.e. the object’s front faces the negative Y axis (default).

  View

  Aligns the object to the view space axes, i.e. the object’s front faces the viewport’s point of view.

  3D Cursor

  Aligns the object to match the rotation of the 3D Cursor.

Location

Objects are placed, by default, at the position of the 3D Cursor. These values let you place the object in an other position.

Rotation

Values let you rotate the object so that default rotation is overridden.