I have been looking for some Bell Bottom jeans for my Oblivion game....don't question my fashion taste, just roll with me here on this.
Anyways, I couldn't find any...and besides I had a better idea anyways. There were a pair of jeans I ran across on the web that were nice, well made...except for the texture, but I am certain I can fix that, or if I can't, I suppose I can always ask around about that.
Anyways, I decided to download blender and all the 200 other things required to make it work and to be able to open a .nif file, and got it all set up...
I didn't think it would be too hard to do, the pants were already rigged, they had the general shape, all I needed to do was make some adjustments to the vertices to make it progressively get wider as it neared the bottom, and tuh-duh! well...so I thought it would be that easy.
First of all; I am familiar with a program called TrueSpace by Caligari, not blender. It was a chore for me to even TRY to get the camera positioned right in Blender, I was about to rip my hair out I was getting so frustrated that I couldn't get the camera to move how I wanted. Next, many of the tools I am familiar with in TrueSpace were not there, or atleast not easily found, so it was difficult for me to make the changes I wanted. I mean, in trueSpace I could use loop-selection to split it in half, rigg a mirror up and then use loop selection on the legs to create the "bell" shape, then detach the mirror and tuh-duh. Perhaps less than 5 minutes worth of work...that is...if I could get it into TrueSpace. To my dismay there is no .NIF importer plugin for TrueSpace otherwise I wouldn't be here.
So off of the rant, since I did not intend for this to be a rant. I was hoping someone wouldn't mind making this quick change to the model for me? Btw; this mod isn't going to be redistributed since it is someone elses work. I just want to pass it on to one person to make the changes so I can use it in my own game. I think it actually does have free redistribution rights, but I haven't confirmed that so until I do, it will not be up for public download.

So, if anyone wouldn't mind just making the quick changes for me, I will greatly appreciate it!!!

Why are you using cameras in Blender. Dont, just delete everything in the original scene and rotate the scene to how you want to view it. Do some simply tutorials in Blender, After a little while you will wonder how you managed without it.

when I mean camera I mean your perspective window. Like the render window and the angle you look at...you know, hold down the mouse wheel to rotate (which is the most annoying way to move your camera around your model) and so forth.
I mean, atleast in truespace camera operation was pretty cut and dry, easy to use and easy to manage. With Blender, I am just trying to rotate around the model along the X axis, and instead the camera just turns on its side while moving in the direction I want. I can't accurately describe my frustrations with the camera, but I am not talking about "movie" cameras or whatever the hell...I mean seriously, I have done modeling before, so why would you think I would be using those? I have enough of a braincell to know.
I just clicked "new" and had a blank project, I imported the .NIF I wanted to edit, and tried to get down to it. nonetheless, it has been a frustrating day for me, so sorry if I am being aggressive.

God I wish someone would make a plugin for TrueSpace, I feel it is a considerably more dominant model editor due to its easy learning curve, and as far as my knowledge goes, though this assumption cannot be entirely backed up since my knowledge of the UI of Blender is extremely limited, but to me, it seems TrueSpace has more functions; especially when it comes to editing your vertices.

That functions does Blender lack to your knowledge?

As to the camera often it is best to use the camera to quickly roll around the meshe and then tap 1, 3 or 7 to go to a main view. As to simply rotating on the x axis, 4 or 6 on the numpad will do it.

well TrueSpace had a nifty set of features to help select and edit corresponding vertices - great for organic modeling by the way.

The first one I fell in love with was rigging a mirror. If the object is symmetrical, this mirror came in so much help. It was done by switching to the Orthographic of the side you wished to split (In this case, I would have a front orthographic) and then, I would use a selection tool...Rectangle select worked best...to select all the edges on one side of the model. Then I would delete that half of the model, hook a mirror up, then all I would have to do is do the work on one side the jeans and it would be mirrored on the opposite side.
Ofcourse to edit I used "Loop-edge selection" which would select a loop of edges, and once select I could easily scale them. Using that one tool would make going down a line of edges to just simply widen them into a bell would be fast and easy.
Ofcourse, in blender after I took the time to highlight the whole loop-edge, every time I would try to adjust the mesh, it would suddenly say I only selected one edge.

so, basically to sum it up;
I need a quick easy selection took to help me quickly select the edges, vertices, or faces I need to edit, and then the knowledge of how to accurately move my selection to either grow, shrink, move up or move down. I suppose that is the real basic knowledge...but knowing how to set up a mirror would be nice too. I did notice the "switch to orthographic" option so no need to tell me where that is.

and thank you for telling me how to move the camera! you're saving me a lot of frustration.

http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:Manual/Modifiers/Mesh/Mirror for the mirror. Let me find the hot key for loop select. Press control E then press 7. Also to accurately move something, you can click and hold down, press the direction(X/Y/Z), then enter a number like ".10" or -.10, and it will move the mesh or point the alloted number of units. Holding CTRL will move it .25 grid units at a time IIRC.

alright, well I figured out how to rig the mirror thanks to the link you gave me (the first plus I have seen on Blender when comparing to TrueSpace is that rigging the mirror is a lot easier and more convinient in Blender than TrueSpace)
however, the loop selection isn't working for me, I keep selecting it in options, but I guess I don't know how to properly select the loop because everytime I do it it selects just one edge. Also, I click (which I am assuming you mean Left Click) and hold it down and push the corresponding key to represent which axis I want to move the edge on and...well that doesn't work. Atleast I am breaking some ground here slowly...though I was hoping for a quick easy job...

I should have separated that, to select a loop of edges, select an edge, press CTRL-E then press 7 or click on edge loop select.

To move something accurately, click, specify an axis by typing it in, then type in a number. Or to quicken the process, type r for rotate, or s for scale, or g for move, then type the axis and enter the numbers. With the full typing method you get the added benefit of should you make a mistake in entering the number you can right click and start again.

thanks! I haven't tried it yet and actually I am way to frustrated to mess around with Blender, so I will let you know tomorrow....and Oblivion right now is not helping my frustration.....god only knows what I did wrong THIS time to Oblivion

okay...well control e still didn't work.