Install Blender and the add-on

WhereYour web browser, at blender.org.

DoIn your browser, open https://www.blender.org/download/releases/5-2/ and press Download Blender 5.2 LTS. Run the installer it gives you, keeping what it suggests. Blender’s main page may offer you a newer number: these pages were made on 5.2. Then start Blender.

You should seeBlender’s window opens, with a box in its middle headed Quick Setup.

It worked whenBlender’s window stands open.

WhereThe box in the middle of Blender’s window. It only comes the first time Blender starts.

DoLeave everything in it as it is, and press Continue (marked 1).

You should seeThe box changes: a list of new files and places to start. Leave Mouse Select on Left, because every click in this workbook expects it.

It worked whenThe box now shows a list headed New File.

WhereThe dark space outside the box.

DoClick once on the dark space, at the place marked on the picture.

You should seeThe box goes. It is called the splash, and it greets you at each start.

It worked whenNo box stands in the middle of the window, and a grey cube stands in the large dark area.

WhereThe top bar: the row of words that begins File, Edit.

DoClick Edit (marked 1), then Preferences… (marked 2).

You should seeA second window opens over the first, headed Preferences, with a list of tabs down its left side.

It worked whenThe Preferences window stands open.

WhereThe Preferences window.

DoClick Add-ons in the list at the left (marked 1). Click the small arrow at the top right (marked 2), then Install from Disk… (marked 3).

You should seeA third window opens: Blender’s File Browser, where you choose a file. The tick boxes in the list are the add-ons Blender already has. Leave them alone.

It worked whenThe File Browser stands open, with Install from Disk and Cancel at its foot.

WhereThe left column of the File Browser, under System.

DoClick Downloads. Or click the long field at the top of the window, type the path of the folder, and press Enter.

You should seeThe list in the middle of the window now shows that folder. It shows only the kinds of file Blender can install here.

It worked whenThe zip stands in the list.

If it goes wrongThe zip is not in the list: the File Browser stands in another folder, or the zip does. Your web browser’s own list of downloads can show you where it went.

WhereThe list in the middle of the File Browser, and the buttons at its foot.

DoClick the zip in the list (marked 1). Then press Install from Disk (marked 2).

You should seeThe zip’s name appears in the field at the foot. Leave Enable on Install ticked, at the top right. The File Browser shuts, and Blender takes a few seconds to install the add-on.

It worked whenIn the Preferences window, the row CAD/CAM Jeweller stands in the list.

If it goes wrongThe File Browser shuts and no new row appears: no file was picked, so nothing was installed. Do the last three steps again, and click the zip so that its name stands in the field at the foot.

WhereThe Preferences window. The new row CAD/CAM Jeweller stands near the top of its list.

DoRead the row: its box is ticked, which means the add-on is switched on. Then shut the Preferences window with the X at its top right.

You should seeBlender’s main window, with a new window in its middle headed CAD/CAM Jeweller: Set Up. That window opens by itself as soon as Preferences is shut.

It worked whenThe window headed CAD/CAM Jeweller: Set Up stands in front of you.

WhereThe window headed CAD/CAM Jeweller: Set Up.

DoLook at your mouse. Does its wheel click when you press it down? Yes: press Blender Default (marked 1). No wheel, or a touchpad: press Hamed’s Bench (marked 2). Then press Use This Setup (marked 3).

You should seeThis choice is how the mouse moves your view. The lines under each button list its moves, and later pages teach them both. Leave the tick on Millimetres and grams in this file and new files, because the add-on’s tools work in millimetres. When you press the button, the status bar, the line at the very bottom of the window, says Navigation and your choice, for a moment.

It worked whenThe window has gone. The next step shows where your choice stays written.

WhereThe 3D view: the large dark area in the middle of the window. Put the pointer over it.

DoPress N. Then click the word CAD/CAM on the right edge of the strip that opens.

You should seeThe strip is the sidebar, and CAD/CAM is the add-on’s tab on it. The small word buttons at its top are the section bar, and the Start Here panel stands under them.

It worked whenThe Start Here panel reads Units: mm, and Navigation: Blender Default or Hamed’s Bench, as you chose.

If it goes wrongNothing opens: the pointer was not over the 3D view. Move it there and press N again.