How to Delete the Default Cube
Every time Blender opens without an existing file, the same three objects are present in the scene: a cube centered at the origin, a camera positioned to frame the cube, and a point light placed above and to the side. This arrangement is the default startup scene. It has shipped with Blender in essentially this form since the earliest public releases and is one of the most recognizable images in all of three-dimensional graphics.
The default cube is not an accident or an oversight. It is the documented starting state of Blender. It serves as a visual confirmation that the viewport is rendering correctly, that the coordinate system is initialized, and that the scene data structure has at least one piece of geometry. For a first launch, the cube performs a genuine function.
For a new modeling session aimed at producing an asset for an Unturned™ mod, the cube performs no function. It occupies the origin, it interferes with vertex snapping, and it will be present in every export if it is not removed deliberately. This article covers the complete procedure for removing it: the three distinct methods available in Blender, the importance of selecting only the cube and not the camera or the light, the question of whether to delete the cube outright or repurpose it as a starting geometry, and the option to modify the startup file so the cube is never present in new sessions at all.
This article is part of the 57 Studios™ Blender setup track. It assumes that Blender has been installed according to the installation article and that the reader can locate the 3D viewport.
Prerequisites
Before beginning this article, the following must be true:
- Blender is installed and opens without errors.
- The default startup scene is visible: a cube at the origin, a camera, and a point light.
- The reader is using a three-button mouse. The middle mouse button is used for viewport navigation; the procedure in this article does not require viewport navigation, but familiarity with the layout is assumed.
- No prior geometry has been added to the scene. If the current session contains work, save it before following this article.
What you will learn
By the end of this article, the reader will be able to:
- Select the default cube without selecting the camera or the light.
- Delete the selected cube using three different methods: the keyboard shortcut, the right-click context menu, and the Object menu in the menu bar.
- Identify the difference between deleting an object and hiding it.
- Decide whether to delete the cube or repurpose it as base geometry for a new mesh.
- Modify the startup file to permanently remove the cube from all future new sessions.
- Recover from the most common mistake: accidentally deleting the camera or the light.
Background — the documented role of the default cube
The Blender Foundation documents the default startup scene as a deliberate design choice. When Blender opens, the developer needs to know immediately that the application is functional. A blank viewport confirms nothing. A viewport containing a shaded cube with a shadow confirms that the OpenGL context is working, the scene is initialized, the camera is placed, the light is present, and the renderer can produce an image.
The cube is also a competence check for the new user. Anyone who has used Blender for more than a few minutes has interacted with the default cube. Tutorials, documentation screenshots, and community forum posts almost universally begin from this state. The cube is a shared reference point for the entire Blender user base. There is a running observation in the Blender community — not specific to any single source — that the default cube has appeared in countless professional productions because a modeler forgot to delete it before exporting. This observation, repeated often enough to have become a piece of community lore, reflects a real operational risk: the cube is present at the origin in every new scene, and it will be exported if the modeler does not take deliberate action to remove it.
For Unturned modding work within the 57 Studios workflow, the cube is almost never the starting geometry for a final asset. Props, vehicles, and map objects begin from a reference shape or from scratch using a different primitive. The cube must be removed before productive work begins.
Why the cube sits at the origin
The default cube is centered at the world origin: coordinates (0, 0, 0). The origin is the point in three-dimensional space where the X, Y, and Z axes all equal zero. In Blender's default coordinate system, which is right-handed with Z pointing up, the origin is the center of the visible grid in the viewport. Objects placed at the origin export with predictable pivot points, which matters during Unity import. A cube sitting at the origin that is not part of the intended model will shift the scene's bounding box and can affect the pivot calculation of other objects in the scene.
Why not just leave the cube
A modeler who begins a new prop and never removes the default cube will produce an FBX export that contains two meshes: the intended prop and the default cube. Unity will import both. The cube will appear in the scene hierarchy in Unity as an unintended mesh, and the FBX's bounding box will be sized to contain both objects. This doubles the surface area of the debugging problem if the import does not look correct, because the modeler must now determine which mesh is misbehaving.
The three objects in the default scene
Understanding which of the three default objects to delete is more important than memorizing the deletion method itself. The default scene contains exactly three objects, and they have different functions:
| Object | Type | Function in scene | Deletable for modeling work |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cube | Mesh | Placeholder geometry | Yes — typically the first action |
| Camera | Camera | Defines the render viewpoint | No — required for any rendering |
| Light | Light (Point) | Provides illumination for rendering | No — deleting it produces a black render |
Delete only the cube
The camera and the light must remain in the scene for rendering to function. Deleting either one is easy to do by accident, especially when selecting multiple objects with Box Select or Select All. Before executing any delete command, confirm in the Properties panel or the Outliner that only the cube is selected. The Outliner lists all objects in the scene; a selected object is highlighted in the Outliner.
The most common mistake made by new modelers is pressing A to select all objects in the scene, then pressing X and confirming the deletion, which removes the cube, the camera, and the light simultaneously. The correct action is to select only the cube, then delete it.
Step-by-step — Method 1: Select and delete using the keyboard shortcut
This is the fastest deletion method and the one used most frequently by experienced modelers. It requires two key presses after the object is selected.
Step 1 — Ensure the 3D viewport is active
The keyboard shortcut for deletion only works when the 3D viewport has focus. Click anywhere inside the large three-dimensional area in the center of the screen. The viewport border highlights faintly when it has focus. If the Properties panel on the right or the Outliner in the upper right had focus, the keyboard shortcut will not reach the viewport.
Confirm viewport focus
Move the mouse into the viewport and wiggle it. If the cursor changes to a crosshair, the viewport has focus. If the cursor remains an arrow, click inside the viewport once to give it focus.
Step 2 — Select only the cube
Left-click on the cube in the center of the viewport. The cube's outline turns orange, indicating it is selected. The camera and the light remain unselected; their outlines do not change color.
Confirm the selection in the Outliner panel in the upper right corner of the screen. The Outliner lists three items: Camera, Cube, and Light. The Cube entry should be highlighted. If the Camera or Light entries are also highlighted, click somewhere in the empty grey area of the viewport to deselect all objects, then left-click the cube again.
Step 3 — Press X or Delete
With the cube selected, press the X key or the Delete key on the keyboard. Both keys trigger the same confirmation dialog. The dialog contains a single button labeled "Delete." This confirmation step exists to prevent accidental deletion. It cannot be bypassed.
Step 4 — Confirm the deletion
Move the mouse over the "Delete" button in the confirmation dialog and left-click it, or press Enter. The cube disappears from the viewport. The origin grid is now visible in the center of the viewport without any geometry obstructing it.
Keyboard-only confirmation
After pressing X to trigger the delete prompt, the cursor automatically lands on the Delete button. Pressing Enter at this point confirms the deletion without requiring a mouse click. The full two-step sequence — X then Enter — takes less than one second and becomes a practiced reflex after a few dozen uses.
Step 5 — Confirm the result
After the deletion, the Outliner should contain two entries: Camera and Light. The Cube entry should be absent. The viewport should show the origin grid, the camera object (visible as a triangle and square wireframe), and the light object (visible as a dot with lines radiating from it).
If the Cube entry is still present in the Outliner, the deletion was not applied. Verify that the cube was selected before pressing X, and repeat the procedure.
Step-by-step — Method 2: Right-click context menu
The right-click context menu provides a deletion option that is appropriate when the mouse is already positioned over the cube and lifting the hand from the mouse to reach the keyboard is inconvenient.
Step 1 — Select the cube
Left-click on the cube to select it, as described in Method 1, Step 2.
Step 2 — Right-click on the selected cube
With the cube selected and the cursor over the cube, right-click. A context menu appears in the viewport at the position of the cursor. The menu contains several entries related to the selected object.
Step 3 — Choose "Delete"
Move the cursor down the context menu to the "Delete" entry and left-click it. The same confirmation dialog from Method 1 appears.
Context menu content
The right-click context menu in the viewport changes based on what is selected and where the cursor is positioned. When a mesh object is selected and the cursor is over the viewport, the menu includes entries for shading, origin placement, copy and paste, and deletion. The exact order of entries varies slightly between Blender releases, but the "Delete" entry is always present when an object is selected.
Step 4 — Confirm the deletion
Click "Delete" in the confirmation dialog or press Enter. The cube is removed.
Step-by-step — Method 3: Object menu in the menu bar
The Object menu in the menu bar at the top of the viewport provides a deletion option that is accessible through a navigable menu structure. This method is slower than the keyboard shortcut but is useful during the learning phase, when the modeler is building familiarity with where operations live in the menu hierarchy.
Step 1 — Select the cube
Left-click on the cube to select it.
Step 2 — Open the Object menu
At the top of the 3D viewport — not the top of the entire Blender window, but the top of the viewport panel itself — there is a horizontal menu bar containing entries: Object, View, Select, Add, and others. Left-click on "Object." The Object menu opens.
Two menu bars in Blender
Blender has two menu bars: one at the very top of the application window, and a second one at the top of each panel. The top application menu bar contains global options like File, Edit, Render, Window, and Help. The viewport-local menu bar contains viewport-specific operations like Object, View, Select, and Add. The Delete operation described in Method 3 is located in the viewport-local Object menu, not in the application-level File or Edit menus.
Step 3 — Navigate to Delete
In the Object menu, look near the bottom of the list for the "Delete" entry. The menu groups operations by category; Delete typically appears in the lower third of the menu, after operations like Apply and Relations. Left-click "Delete."
Step 4 — Confirm the deletion
The confirmation dialog appears. Click "Delete" or press Enter.
The selection problem — avoiding accidental camera and light deletion
The deletion of the camera or the light is a recoverable mistake, but it interrupts the modeling session and can be alarming the first time it happens. The following table documents the four most common selection mistakes that lead to accidental deletion, and the recovery procedure for each.
| Mistake | What was deleted | Recovery |
|---|---|---|
| Pressed A to select all, then deleted | Cube, Camera, and Light | Ctrl+Z to undo. The undo is applied immediately; all three objects return. |
| Box-selected an area that included the camera | Cube and Camera | Ctrl+Z to undo. |
| Right-clicked in the empty area near the origin, deleted the light by misclick | Light | Ctrl+Z to undo. |
| Deleted the cube, noticed the camera was also gone | Camera was accidentally included in the selection | Ctrl+Z twice: once to undo the delete, once to restore the selection state. |
Undo is available but has limits
Blender's undo history is set to 32 steps by default. A deletion that happened many steps ago may not be recoverable through undo. If the camera or light was deleted several operations ago and undo does not bring it back, the object can be re-added manually. A camera is added by pressing Shift+A in the viewport and choosing Camera. A point light is added by pressing Shift+A and choosing Light → Point. The re-added objects will need to be repositioned to restore the default scene's camera angle and lighting.
Never press A then X without confirming the selection
Pressing A in the viewport selects every object in the scene, including the camera and the light. Pressing X immediately after selects all three objects for deletion. The confirmation dialog does not list the names of the objects being deleted — it only asks whether to delete the current selection. A modeler who has not checked the Outliner has no way to know from the confirmation dialog alone that the camera and light are about to be deleted alongside the cube.
Selecting only the cube — three confirmation methods
Before pressing X, confirm that only the cube is selected using any of the following methods. Each method gives the same information; use whichever one fits the current moment.
Method A — The Outliner: Look at the Outliner panel in the upper right. Highlighted entries are selected. If only the Cube row is highlighted, the selection is correct.
Method B — The Properties panel header: The Properties panel in the lower right shows the name of the active object in its header. If the header reads "Cube," the active object is the cube. Note that active and selected are related but distinct concepts in Blender; an object can be active without being the only selected object. Use the Outliner for the definitive view.
Method C — The viewport selection color: Selected objects have an orange outline. Count the orange outlines in the viewport. If only the cube shows an orange outline and the camera and light wireframes do not, the selection is correct.
Should the cube be deleted or repurposed?
Deleting the cube is the standard practice for beginning a new prop or map asset. However, there are specific circumstances where repurposing the cube — using it as the starting geometry for the intended mesh rather than creating a new primitive — is the more efficient choice.
The following table summarizes the considerations. The 57 Studios community survey conducted in early 2026 asked active Unturned modders which approach they used when starting a new modeling session.
| Approach | When it applies | 57 Studios community preference |
|---|---|---|
| Delete the cube and start with a different primitive | The intended model is not cubic in proportion | 68% |
| Repurpose the cube by scaling and modifying it | The intended model is roughly box-shaped (crate, container, wall section) | 24% |
| Delete the cube and start from scratch | The intended model requires a specific vertex count or arrangement | 8% |
The repurpose case
A modeler building a simple storage crate, a door frame, or a block-shaped cover object may find it faster to leave the cube in place and modify it rather than deleting it and adding a new box primitive. The default cube is a unit cube: two meters on each side, eight vertices, six faces, twelve edges. A new mesh added with Shift+A → Mesh → Cube is identical. For box-shaped assets, keeping the default cube and scaling it is equivalent to deleting and re-adding. The choice is a matter of habit.
The 57 Studios standard
The 57 Studios workflow documentation standardizes on deleting the default cube at the start of every session, regardless of the intended asset shape. The rationale is consistency: a modeler who always deletes the cube at the start never needs to remember whether the default cube is still in the scene or has been replaced with a new primitive. Every session begins from the same known state: no mesh at the origin, camera intact, light intact.
Modifying the startup file — removing the cube permanently
Blender's startup file defines what appears in every new session opened with File → New or with the Ctrl+N shortcut. By default, the startup file includes the cube, the camera, and the light. Modifying the startup file removes the cube from all future new sessions, so the modeler never needs to delete it manually again.
This change is permanent until reversed
Modifying the startup file changes every new session from that point forward. If the modeler later decides to restore the default startup state, the procedure is File → Defaults → Load Factory Settings. That command restores the original startup file, including the cube.
Procedure for modifying the startup file
Step 1 — Delete the cube using any of the three methods described earlier in this article.
Step 2 — Arrange the scene as desired for new sessions. Most modelers leave the camera and the light in place, since both are required for rendering. Some modelers reposition the camera to a different angle. Some modelers add a floor grid mesh as a visual reference. Any state present in the viewport at this point will be present in every future new session.
Step 3 — Choose File → Defaults → Save Startup File. A confirmation dialog asks whether to overwrite the current startup file. Click "OK."
From this point forward, File → New or Ctrl+N opens a scene without the default cube. The change applies only to new sessions; existing .blend files saved with the cube are not affected.
Recovering the default startup file
If the modified startup file causes problems — for example, a floor grid mesh that was added to the startup file is getting in the way of new projects — the original can be restored with File → Defaults → Load Factory Settings. This command does not affect any saved .blend files; it only resets the startup state that appears in new sessions.
The undo path for deletion
Blender's undo system applies to object deletions. Pressing Ctrl+Z immediately after a deletion restores the deleted object to its original position and selection state. The undo history is maintained within a single session; closing Blender without saving clears the undo history.
The undo for a deletion is instantaneous. The cube reappears at the exact position, rotation, and scale it had before deletion, with the same selection state. The undo does not affect the camera or the light unless those objects were also deleted in the same operation.
Visibility vs. deletion — understanding the difference
Blender provides two ways to make an object invisible in the viewport: hiding it and deleting it. These are functionally different operations that serve different purposes. New modelers sometimes hide an object when they intend to delete it, and then rediscover it unexpectedly during export.
| Operation | Keyboard shortcut | Effect | Present in export |
|---|---|---|---|
| Delete | X or Delete key | Object is removed from the scene data | No |
| Hide in viewport | H | Object is invisible in viewport | Yes |
| Hide in render | Alt+H to show; Shift+H to hide others | Object is invisible in rendered output | No |
| Disable in viewport | Click the eye icon in Outliner | Object is invisible in viewport | Yes |
| Exclude from view layer | Click the checkbox in Outliner | Object is excluded from the layer | No |
Hiding is not deleting
An object that is hidden with H is still present in the scene data. It will be included in FBX exports. A modeler who hides the default cube rather than deleting it will find the cube in the Unity import alongside the intended mesh. When the goal is to remove the cube from the exported file, the deletion is the correct operation, not the hide.
Viewport vs. render visibility
The eye icon in the Outliner controls viewport visibility. The camera icon controls render visibility. An object with render visibility disabled will not appear in a Cycles or EEVEE render, but it will still be present in an FBX export to Unity. Neither the eye icon nor the camera icon substitutes for deletion when the goal is to keep the cube out of the exported file.
Scene state after correct deletion
After the cube has been deleted correctly and the camera and light remain, the scene is in a known clean state. The following table documents what the modeler should observe in each panel of the default Blender layout after a correct deletion.
| Panel | Expected state after deletion |
|---|---|
| 3D Viewport (center) | Origin grid visible. Camera wireframe (triangle + square) visible. Light object (dot with lines) visible. No orange outlines; nothing selected. |
| Outliner (upper right) | Two entries: Camera and Light. The Cube entry is absent. |
| Properties panel (lower right) | Header may read "Scene" or be blank if nothing is selected. The Object Properties tab does not show mesh data. |
| Timeline (bottom) | Unchanged from the default state. Frame counter at frame 1. |
| Status bar (very bottom) | Reports the number of objects in the scene. Should read "2 Objects" after the cube is deleted. |
The status bar object count
The status bar at the very bottom of the Blender window shows real-time statistics about the scene. One of the statistics is the number of objects. The default scene contains three objects. After the cube is deleted, the count drops to two. If the count remains at three after the deletion appeared to succeed, the undo was applied accidentally or the cube was not selected at the time of deletion.
Community practice — the opening ritual
Among 57 Studios modders who participated in the early 2026 community survey, the sequence of actions performed at the start of every new modeling session was documented. The sequence is informal and varies from modeler to modeler, but a consistent pattern emerged around the deletion step.
The majority of surveyed modelers delete the cube as the first action in every session, before any other setup. The rationale offered most frequently was that deleting the cube immediately removes any risk of forgetting it later in the session. A session that begins with a deletion is a session where the cube is definitely gone.
The minority of modelers who set up the workspace first — adjusting the viewport, importing a reference image, enabling an add-on — sometimes reported discovering the cube in a render or export later because the deletion step was missed in the middle of the setup sequence. The modelers who adopted the delete-first pattern reported zero instances of the cube appearing in an unintended export.
Hardware and performance considerations
Deleting the default cube has no measurable effect on Blender's performance. The cube is a six-face mesh with eight vertices. Its presence or absence in the scene does not affect viewport frame rate or memory usage in any meaningful way.
However, the practice of deleting unnecessary geometry at the start of a session reflects a broader discipline that does affect performance at scale: keeping the scene clean. A scene that accumulates orphaned vertices, hidden objects, unused materials, and leftover primitives from earlier in the session will have a larger memory footprint than a clean scene. The habit of starting each session with an explicit deletion step is the first application of this discipline.
Purge orphaned data
After a session of intensive modeling that includes adding and deleting many objects, Blender's data block may accumulate orphaned materials, meshes, and textures that are no longer linked to any object. The command File → Clean Up → Purge All removes these orphaned data blocks. The operation is safe; it only removes data that is not referenced by any object in the scene.
The startup file modification in context
Modifying the startup file is a one-time operation that changes the default behavior of every new session. For a modeler who has decided to always delete the default cube, modifying the startup file eliminates the deletion step from the workflow entirely.
The following sequence of actions describes the complete startup file modification, including the steps that precede and follow the File → Defaults → Save Startup File command.
What else can be saved in the startup file
Beyond deleting the cube, a modeler can add any desired starting state to the startup file: a floor grid mesh, a reference plane, custom workspace layouts, enabled add-ons, or a specific viewport shading mode. The startup file captures the entire current session state, not just the object list. For a modeler who wants every session to open in Material Preview mode rather than Solid mode, switching to Material Preview and then saving the startup file will make that the new default.
FAQ
Why is the cube at the exact center of the scene? The cube is placed at the world origin — coordinates (0, 0, 0) — because the origin is the natural default position in a coordinate system that has not been configured. The origin is also the center of the visible grid in the viewport, making the cube the most visually prominent placement for a placeholder object.
Does leaving the cube in the scene slow down Blender? No. A six-face mesh with eight vertices contributes an unmeasurable amount to scene complexity. The cube's performance impact is zero for practical purposes. The motivation to delete it is correctness — keeping it out of exports — not performance.
What happens if I delete the cube and then press Ctrl+N to start a new file? File → New or Ctrl+N loads the startup file, not the current session state. If the startup file has not been modified, the cube returns. If the startup file has been modified to exclude the cube, the new session opens without it.
Can I delete the camera and the light? Yes, the deletion commands work on any selected object. However, deleting the camera makes rendering impossible until a new camera is added, and deleting the only light produces a fully dark render. For Unturned modding work, both the camera and the light should remain in the scene throughout the modeling phase.
What if I delete the cube and immediately want it back? Press Ctrl+Z. The undo is applied immediately, and the cube reappears at the origin. Alternatively, press Shift+A → Mesh → Cube to add a new cube at the origin. The new cube is identical to the default cube in size and position.
Is there any reason to keep the cube in a modeling session? Yes. If the intended asset is box-shaped — a crate, a shipping container, a wall panel — keeping the cube and modifying it is equivalent to deleting it and adding a new cube. Some modelers prefer to start from the existing cube in these cases because it saves one step.
Will saving my startup file without the cube affect files I have already saved? No. The startup file only affects new sessions created with File → New. Existing .blend files are not modified by a startup file change.
Can other default scene objects, besides the cube, be removed from the startup file? Yes. The startup file saves the entire current session state. If the camera is deleted, repositioned, or replaced with a different camera type before saving the startup file, the new state becomes the default. Removing the default light and replacing it with a three-point lighting setup, for example, is a common startup file modification among experienced modelers.
Does modifying the startup file affect the LTS and current release differently? No. The startup file is a per-user, per-version preference. A startup file saved in the 4.2 LTS release does not affect the current release, and vice versa. Each installed version of Blender maintains its own startup file.
If I want to share my startup file with another modeler, how do I do that? The startup file is stored at C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\<version>\config\startup.blend. Sharing this file and placing it in the same path on another computer replicates the startup state. The other computer must have the same Blender version installed, and any custom add-ons referenced by the startup file must also be installed.
Can I have a different startup file for different types of projects? Not directly. Blender supports only one startup file per installed version. A workaround is to maintain multiple .blend template files in a dedicated folder and open the appropriate template at the start of each project type rather than using File → New.
What is the keyboard shortcut to save the startup file without using the menu? There is no default keyboard shortcut for saving the startup file. The operation is intentionally menu-only because it is a permanent configuration change, and the menu path (File → Defaults → Save Startup File) provides enough friction to prevent accidental invocation.
Workflow placement
Deleting the default cube is the second step in the 57 Studios Blender setup track. It follows installation and precedes the first file save. The deletion step is short — under two minutes — but it introduces the selection system, the confirmation dialog, and the Outliner, which are referenced throughout every subsequent article in the track.
Appendix A — Keyboard shortcuts for this article
The following table summarizes every keyboard shortcut mentioned in this article. Each shortcut is presented in the context of the 3D viewport being active.
| Shortcut | Action | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Left-click | Select object under cursor | Deselects previous selection |
| X | Delete selected object(s) — with confirmation | Also triggers when selection is empty, but confirmation dialog is harmless |
| Delete | Delete selected object(s) — with confirmation | Identical to X in the viewport context |
| Ctrl+Z | Undo | Works immediately after deletion |
| Enter | Confirm the deletion dialog | Usable after X triggers the dialog |
| H | Hide selected object(s) | Object remains in scene data; use Delete to remove |
| Shift+A | Add menu | Opens the menu to add new objects to the scene |
| A | Select all objects in the scene | Use with caution; selects camera and light as well as cube |
| Alt+A | Deselect all objects | Clears the selection without deleting |
Appendix B — What the Outliner shows and what it means
The Outliner is the panel in the upper right corner of the default Blender layout. It is a hierarchical list of every data block in the current session, organized by type. For the purposes of this article, the Outliner functions as the definitive record of what objects exist in the scene.
| Outliner icon | What it represents | Visible by default |
|---|---|---|
| Triangle icon | Camera object | Yes |
| Sun/dot icon | Light object | Yes |
| Mesh cube icon | Mesh object | Yes (the default cube) |
| Collection folder | A collection grouping | Yes (the default "Scene Collection") |
| Camera sub-item | Camera data linked to the camera object | Expandable |
| Mesh data sub-item | Mesh data linked to a mesh object | Expandable |
After the cube is deleted, the mesh cube icon disappears from the Outliner. The triangle icon (camera) and the dot icon (light) remain. This is the correct post-deletion state. If any of the three icons are missing unexpectedly, use Ctrl+Z to restore them.
Appendix C — The default cube's mesh data
For reference, the following table documents the properties of the default cube's mesh. This information is not required to delete the cube, but is useful background for modelers who are evaluating whether to repurpose the cube as a starting mesh for a new asset.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Object type | Mesh |
| Position | X: 0, Y: 0, Z: 0 (world origin) |
| Rotation | X: 0°, Y: 0°, Z: 0° |
| Scale | X: 1, Y: 1, Z: 1 (uniform, no scaling applied) |
| Dimensions | 2 m × 2 m × 2 m |
| Vertex count | 8 |
| Edge count | 12 |
| Face count | 6 |
| Material | "Material" — a default grey principled BSDF |
| UV map | "UVMap" — a standard cube projection |
| Smooth shading | No — flat shaded by default |
| Origin | At the geometric center of the cube (world origin) |
A unit cube identical to the default cube can be added at any time during a session with Shift+A → Mesh → Cube. The added cube is placed at the 3D cursor's position, which defaults to the world origin but can be moved by Shift+right-clicking.
Appendix D — Full session opening checklist for 57 Studios modelers
The following checklist standardizes the opening sequence of every new modeling session. It is short enough to complete in under two minutes and ensures the session begins from a known clean state before any geometry is added.
| Step | Action | Verification |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Open Blender or choose File → New → General | Default scene with cube, camera, light appears |
| 2 | Confirm the three default objects in the Outliner | Outliner shows Camera, Cube, and Light |
| 3 | Left-click the cube in the viewport | Cube outline turns orange; only Cube is highlighted in Outliner |
| 4 | Press X, then Enter | Cube disappears; Outliner shows Camera and Light only |
| 5 | Confirm the camera and light are intact | Two objects remain in Outliner; viewport shows camera and light wireframes |
| 6 | Press Shift+A → Mesh → [intended starting shape] | New primitive appears at the 3D cursor |
| 7 | Name the new object | Double-click the object name in the Outliner and type the asset name |
| 8 | Choose File → Save As (Ctrl+Shift+S) | Save As dialog opens |
| 9 | Navigate to the project's Blender folder | Correct destination folder visible in browser |
| 10 | Enter the filename following the naming convention | Filename field shows <asset_name>_v1.blend |
| 11 | Click Save As or press Enter | Title bar shows the full project path |
A session that begins with this checklist is a session where the cube is definitively gone, the new asset has a name, and the file is saved to the correct location from the first moment of productive work.
Appendix E — Understanding Edit Mode vs. Object Mode for deletion
Blender operates in distinct modes, and the deletion behavior depends on which mode is active at the time of the key press. New modelers sometimes enter Edit Mode accidentally and then press X, expecting to delete the cube as an object. In Edit Mode, X deletes vertices, edges, or faces — not the object as a whole.
| Mode | X behavior | What is deleted |
|---|---|---|
| Object Mode | Delete selected object(s) — with confirmation dialog | The entire object, including its mesh data |
| Edit Mode | Delete elements — opens a sub-menu of element types | Selected vertices, edges, faces, or other sub-elements |
The mode indicator is displayed in the upper left corner of the viewport and in the mode selector dropdown at the top of the viewport's local menu bar. When the mode selector reads "Object Mode," the deletion commands described in this article apply. When it reads "Edit Mode," the deletion commands operate on mesh elements.
To return to Object Mode from Edit Mode, press Tab. The Tab key toggles between Object Mode and Edit Mode. Pressing Tab when in Edit Mode returns to Object Mode with the mesh intact.
Edit Mode deletion is not an undo of object creation
Pressing X in Edit Mode and deleting all vertices does not produce the same result as pressing X in Object Mode and deleting the object. In Object Mode, the object data block is removed entirely. In Edit Mode, the mesh data is cleared but the object data block remains. An object in Object Mode with no mesh data is an empty mesh object — it still appears in the Outliner and can still be exported, producing an empty mesh in the FBX. Always delete in Object Mode to remove the object completely.
Appendix F — The default cube in the context of Blender's history
The default cube has been part of Blender's startup scene since the early versions of the application. Its persistence across twenty-five years of development and multiple complete rewrites of the Blender codebase reflects a deliberate decision by the Blender Foundation to maintain a consistent starting reference for the user community.
The cube's position at the origin, its two-meter scale, its default material, and its flat shading have all been constants. Individual releases have modified the default camera position, the default light type (from lamp to point light), and the default theme — but the cube at the origin has not changed.
For modelers working within a documented workflow like the 57 Studios setup track, this stability is useful: any screenshot taken of the default Blender scene, regardless of the version in which it was captured, will show the same cube in the same position. This makes the cube a reliable reference point for documentation that spans multiple Blender versions.
The community-level awareness of the default cube is also a diagnostic signal. When a modeler receives an FBX file that contains an unexpected unit cube at the origin of the imported hierarchy in Unity, the first question is whether the Blender source file's default cube was deleted before export. The presence of the cube in the Unity import is a reliable indicator that the deletion step was missed. This diagnostic shortcut — knowing what the cube looks like and what its dimensions are — saves time when reviewing a collaborator's exported files.
The cube's UV layout
The default cube ships with a UV map called "UVMap" that applies a standard cube projection: each of the six faces is mapped to a distinct rectangular region of the UV space. This UV layout is functional but not optimal for texturing. Modelers who repurpose the cube as base geometry for a textured prop should perform a new UV unwrap tailored to the final asset shape before exporting. The inherited UV layout from the default cube is not appropriate for production textures.
Appendix G — When to NOT use X for deletion
The X key in Object Mode is the standard deletion path, but there are two related operations that serve different purposes and are accessed through different means. Understanding the distinction prevents unintended data loss.
Unlinking vs. Deleting: In Blender, an object can be unlinked from a scene without deleting its underlying data. Unlinking removes the object from the scene but leaves the mesh data block intact in Blender's data structure. An unlinked mesh can be re-linked to the scene later. Unlinking is performed through the Outliner by right-clicking an object and choosing "Unlink." For the default cube, deletion (X) is the appropriate operation, not unlinking, because there is no reason to preserve the cube's data block.
Hiding vs. Deleting: As described in the Visibility vs. Deletion section of this article, hiding (H) makes an object invisible in the viewport without removing it from the scene data. Hiding is not a substitute for deletion when the goal is to keep the cube out of an exported FBX.
Purging vs. Deleting: After an object is deleted, its underlying mesh data block may remain in Blender's memory as an orphaned data block — data that is not referenced by any object in the scene. The data block persists until the file is saved and reopened, or until File → Clean Up → Purge All is executed. Purging removes orphaned data blocks from memory. For the default cube, the mesh data is named "Cube" and the material is named "Material." After deleting the cube object, these data blocks become orphaned. They are harmless — they do not appear in exports — but they do marginally increase the file size. Running Purge All after deletion cleans them out.
Appendix H — Post-deletion scene inspection using the Statistics overlay
Blender's viewport provides a Statistics overlay that displays real-time counts of vertices, edges, faces, triangles, and objects in the scene. Enabling the Statistics overlay after deleting the default cube provides a quantitative confirmation that the deletion was applied correctly.
To enable the Statistics overlay:
- In the 3D viewport, click the "Viewport Overlays" dropdown at the top right of the viewport. The button icon looks like two overlapping circles.
- In the dropdown, check the box labeled "Statistics."
- The statistics appear in the upper left of the viewport.
After deleting the default cube from an otherwise empty scene, the Statistics overlay should show:
| Statistic | Expected value (default scene, cube deleted, camera and light intact) |
|---|---|
| Vertices | 0 (no mesh objects remain) |
| Edges | 0 |
| Faces | 0 |
| Triangles | 0 |
| Objects in Scene | 2 (Camera + Light) |
| Objects in View Layer | 2 |
If the Vertices count is 8 or the Faces count is 6 after the deletion, the cube was not deleted — it may have been hidden instead of deleted, or the deletion was undone. Re-examine the Outliner and repeat the deletion procedure.
Statistics as a habit
Enabling the Statistics overlay at the start of every session costs one click and provides continuous real-time feedback on the scene's complexity. For a modeler who is building a prop to meet a target polygon budget — which is a real consideration in Unturned modding, where lower polygon counts improve server performance — the Statistics overlay is an essential tool that stays on for the full session.
Appendix I — Polygon budget context for Unturned modders
One of the reasons deletion of the default cube matters operationally — and not merely procedurally — is the polygon budget that governs Unturned modding. Unturned is designed to run on a wide range of hardware, including older machines with limited GPU resources. The game engine processes geometry for every prop, vehicle, and structure visible on screen simultaneously. High polygon counts in individual assets compound across many simultaneous objects and reduce server and client performance for all players.
The default cube's six faces and twelve polygons (two triangles per face equals twelve triangles total) contribute nothing visible to a finished mod asset and add to the polygon count of the exported FBX if not removed. While twelve polygons is a small count in isolation, the principle it illustrates is not small: every polygon in an exported file must be justified by its contribution to the visual result.
The following table documents the approximate polygon targets used by 57 Studios modelers for common Unturned asset categories. These are targets, not hard limits; the Unturned engine does not enforce a per-asset polygon cap. The targets reflect community-validated thresholds below which assets perform well across the hardware range of the Unturned player base.
| Asset category | Target polygon count | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Small prop (crate, barrel, can) | 200–600 triangles | High density of these objects in maps; keep low |
| Medium prop (locker, table, shelf) | 600–1,500 triangles | Moderate density; some detail acceptable |
| Large prop (vehicle, aircraft, structure) | 1,500–8,000 triangles | Few per scene; can carry more detail |
| Map structure (building, tower, wall) | 500–3,000 triangles per piece | Modular structures multiply across maps |
| Character / NPC | 2,000–6,000 triangles | Animated; rigging adds processing cost |
| Weapon model | 800–2,500 triangles | Rendered in first-person; higher LOD justified |
The Statistics overlay referenced in Appendix H is the tool for monitoring polygon count in real time during modeling. Enabling it at the start of a session and checking the triangle count before export ensures the finished mesh meets its target before leaving Blender.
Triangles vs. faces in Blender
Blender displays polygon counts in terms of faces by default. The game engine processes triangles. A face with four vertices (a quad) is converted to two triangles during export. A face with five or more vertices (an n-gon) is converted to multiple triangles during export. To see the actual export triangle count in Blender, enable the Statistics overlay and look at the "Triangles" row rather than the "Faces" row. The triangle count is the number the game engine will process.
Appendix J — The cube in the context of Blender new-user resources
The Blender community produces a substantial quantity of tutorial and reference material. A large proportion of beginner tutorials begin from the default startup scene and address the default cube in the first sixty seconds. The consistent presence of the cube across tutorials from different authors, different years, and different platforms reflects its status as the universal entry point to Blender instruction.
For a new modeler following the 57 Studios documentation alongside external Blender tutorials, the cube serves as a calibration object. When a tutorial says "select the default cube," the modeler knows immediately which object is being referenced — its shape, its position, its scale, and its place in the scene hierarchy. This common reference point reduces the cognitive overhead of switching between the 57 Studios documentation and general Blender learning resources.
The implication for the deletion step is that a modeler who has not yet deleted the cube can always return to a known state: the three-object default scene is one Ctrl+N (new file) away at any point in a session. The deletion is not permanent from the perspective of the modeler's ability to access a default scene; it is permanent only for the current file. A new file always begins from the startup scene, which includes the cube unless the startup file has been modified.
Ctrl+N creates a new file, not a new scene layer
Pressing Ctrl+N in Blender opens the New File menu, which offers options for the type of new file to create (General, 2D Animation, Sculpting, VFX, Video Editing). Choosing General opens the standard default scene with the cube. This is a new file, not a new view of the current file. Unsaved changes in the current session will be lost if the current session is not saved before pressing Ctrl+N. Blender will prompt to save if there are unsaved changes.
Workflow placement
Deleting the default cube is the second step in the 57 Studios Blender setup track. It is the shortest step in the track — under two minutes from start to finish — but it establishes the two most fundamental skills in the Blender interface: selecting an object by left-clicking in the viewport, and confirming an operation through a dialog. Both skills appear again in every subsequent article. A modeler who has executed the deletion knows how Blender responds to a selection and how the confirmation dialog works. That muscle memory carries forward into every edit, every addition, and every mode switch that follows.
Closing notes
The default cube is the most-deleted object in the history of three-dimensional graphics software. Every modeler who uses Blender has deleted it, most of them many times. The act of deleting the cube is so routine that it is easy to underestimate the care required to do it correctly — specifically, the care required to select only the cube and not the camera or the light.
The three methods documented in this article — keyboard shortcut, right-click context menu, and Object menu — are all reliable when applied to a properly isolated selection. The single point of failure is the selection itself. Verifying the selection in the Outliner before pressing X is the one step that prevents the most common mistake, and it costs less than two seconds.
A modeler who develops the habit of checking the Outliner before any deletion — not just the default cube deletion, but every deletion — is a modeler who will not accidentally destroy camera or lighting data mid-session. The Outliner is always the authoritative answer to the question "what is selected?" Learning to consult it reflexively is one of the most useful habits a new Blender user can develop.
Appendix K — Multiple-deletion scenarios and how to handle them
In a typical modeling session, the default cube deletion is not the only deletion performed. As modeling progresses, a modeler frequently adds primitives to use as reference objects, adds helper geometry that gets deleted after serving its purpose, and removes failed attempts at shapes. The following table documents the most common multiple-deletion scenarios in an early modeling session and the correct approach for each.
| Scenario | Objects to delete | Correct approach |
|---|---|---|
| Default cube at session start | Only the Cube | Left-click the Cube, verify Outliner, press X |
| Default cube plus a failed first attempt at the base mesh | Cube and a new mesh object | Shift+left-click to select both; verify Outliner shows only these two; press X |
| All scene content to start fresh without opening a new file | All objects including Camera and Light | Press Ctrl+N → General to reload the default scene; faster than deleting all objects manually |
| A helper plane used for reference during modeling | The helper plane only | Left-click the helper plane; verify it is the only highlighted entry in Outliner; press X |
| Multiple failed primitives accumulated during exploration | Multiple mesh objects | Select the first with left-click; Shift+left-click each additional; verify the Camera and Light are not in the selection; press X |
Shift+click for multi-selection
To select multiple objects simultaneously, left-click the first object to select it, then Shift+left-click each additional object. Each Shift+click adds the clicked object to the existing selection without deselecting the previous ones. The Outliner highlights all selected objects. Verify the full selection in the Outliner before pressing X. A single X press with a multi-object selection triggers one confirmation dialog that deletes all selected objects at once.
The most important rule across all deletion scenarios remains constant: verify the selection in the Outliner before pressing X. The confirmation dialog does not display the names of the objects being deleted. The Outliner is the only panel that shows exactly what will be removed by the next delete command.
Appendix L — Recovering a deleted camera or light
If the camera or the light is deleted accidentally, the scene can be restored without re-adding them manually. Two paths are available depending on how recently the deletion occurred.
Path 1 — Undo (Ctrl+Z): If the deletion just happened, press Ctrl+Z immediately. The undo restores the deleted object to its original position and selection state. Undo is available for the entire undo history depth (32 steps by default). If the deletion happened several steps ago, Ctrl+Z must be applied multiple times to reach the deletion step.
Path 2 — Reload the startup file state: If the undo history has been exhausted or the file has been saved after the deletion, the original camera and light can be retrieved by appending them from the startup file. Choose File → Append, navigate to C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\<version>\config\startup.blend, and append the Camera or Light object from the startup file's Object collection. The appended object will appear in the current scene with the same properties as the default object.
Path 3 — Add a new camera or light: If neither path above is practical, add a replacement. Press Shift+A → Camera to add a new camera at the 3D cursor. Press Shift+A → Light → Point to add a new point light. Reposition each object to approximate the default startup positions. The default camera sits approximately seven and a half meters from the origin at an angle above the horizon. The default light sits approximately five meters from the origin above and to the side.
The default camera's exact transform
The default camera position and rotation are not arbitrary. Blender places the camera at X: 7.359, Y: -6.926, Z: 4.958 with a rotation of X: 63.6°, Y: 0°, Z: 46.7°. These values produce the classic isometric-adjacent view of the origin that is recognizable from countless Blender screenshots. If recovering the camera matters for exact reproducibility of the default view, enter these values manually in the Object Properties → Transform section after adding the new camera.
Glossary
The following terms appear in this article. Definitions are intentionally brief; each term is explored in greater depth in the article where it first appears in context in the 57 Studios Blender setup track.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Object Mode | Blender's mode for operating on whole objects: selecting, moving, rotating, scaling, and deleting objects. The mode where the X deletion command removes entire objects. |
| Edit Mode | Blender's mode for operating on mesh elements: vertices, edges, and faces. Tab toggles between Object Mode and Edit Mode. |
| Outliner | The panel in the upper right of the default Blender layout that lists every object and data block in the current scene. The authoritative reference for what is and is not in the scene. |
| Origin | The point in three-dimensional space where X = 0, Y = 0, and Z = 0. The default cube is placed at the origin. |
| Startup file | The .blend file that defines the scene content and workspace layout for every new Blender session. Located at C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\<version>\config\startup.blend. |
| Data block | A named unit of data in Blender's memory. An object is a data block. A mesh is a data block. A material is a data block. Deleting an object removes the object data block but may leave orphaned mesh and material data blocks. |
| Orphaned data | A data block that is not referenced by any object in the scene. Orphaned data accumulates after deletions and is removed by File → Clean Up → Purge All. |
| UV map | A two-dimensional projection of a three-dimensional mesh surface, used to map textures onto the mesh. The default cube ships with a standard cube-projection UV map called "UVMap." |
| Flat shading | A shading mode where each polygon face is rendered at a uniform normal direction, producing visible facets at the edges between faces. The default cube uses flat shading. |
Appendix M — Confirming the deletion in the Properties panel
In addition to the Outliner and the Statistics overlay, the Properties panel on the right side of the default Blender layout provides a third confirmation point after a deletion. The Properties panel shows data for the currently active object. When no object is selected, the panel header is blank and the Object Properties tab does not show mesh data.
After correctly deleting the cube, clicking somewhere in the empty viewport — to confirm no selection is active — and then examining the Properties panel should produce the following state:
| Properties panel section | Expected state after cube deletion with no selection |
|---|---|
| Panel header (object name field) | Blank — no object name displayed |
| Object Properties (orange square icon) | No data — the section for object transform is empty |
| Object Data Properties (green triangle icon for mesh) | Unavailable — no mesh object is active |
| Material Properties (sphere icon) | No material — no object is active to hold a material |
| Physics Properties (blue triangle icon) | No physics — no object is active |
If the Object Properties section shows a name — "Cube", "Camera", "Light", or any other — an object is still active in the scene even if it appears unselected in the viewport. Click directly on the empty viewport area away from any wireframes and re-examine the Properties panel. Clicking on a camera or light wireframe will make that object active, which does not mean the cube is still present; it means the camera or light is now the active object.
The Properties panel is most useful as a confirmation tool when the Statistics overlay is not enabled. Both tools answer the same question — what geometry is in the scene — through different means. The Outliner answers it by name, the Statistics overlay answers it by count, and the Properties panel answers it by showing the data of the active object.
Best practices summary
The following summary consolidates the operational recommendations from every section of this article into a single reference. Each recommendation is actionable and requires no further context to implement.
- Left-click to select the cube; verify in the Outliner that only the Cube row is highlighted before pressing X.
- After deletion, confirm the Outliner contains exactly two entries: Camera and Light.
- Use Ctrl+Z immediately if any deletion is accidental. Do not close Blender before undoing an accidental deletion.
- If the cube deletion is repeated at the start of every session, modify the startup file with File → Defaults → Save Startup File to eliminate the step permanently.
- Enable the Statistics overlay at the start of every session to monitor polygon counts in real time.
- Check the mode indicator in the upper left of the viewport before pressing X. Delete in Object Mode for whole-object deletion; delete in Edit Mode only for mesh element removal.
- Never use H (Hide) as a substitute for X (Delete) when the goal is to remove an object from the exported file.
- After any batch deletion involving multiple objects, confirm the scene state in the Outliner before continuing.
- Run File → Clean Up → Purge All after the deletion session is complete to remove orphaned mesh and material data blocks left by the cube.
- Name all new mesh objects in the Outliner immediately after adding them, before beginning modeling. A named object is easier to select accurately and harder to accidentally include in an unintended deletion.
- Save the file immediately after deleting the cube and before adding any new geometry. This establishes the clean base state as the first entry in the file's save history, giving the modeler a clean rollback point if the first geometry attempt needs to be discarded entirely.
- When returning to a scene file that was created in a prior session, open it and immediately inspect the Outliner before beginning work. Confirm that the scene does not contain an unintended default cube that was present when the file was first created and was never removed.
- After a version of Blender is updated to a new point release, verify that the startup file still reflects the expected state. Point releases occasionally reset user preferences in edge cases; confirming the startup file is correct takes under ten seconds.
- Document the deletion in the session save log if one is maintained. A log entry noting "cube deleted, camera and light intact, new session begins" establishes the starting condition of the session and makes it easier to reconstruct what happened if a problem is discovered later.
Cross-references within the 57 Studios documentation
The deletion procedure documented in this article is referenced in several downstream articles in the 57 Studios Blender setup track. The following cross-references indicate where the concepts introduced here appear in subsequent articles.
| Concept introduced in this article | Where it appears next |
|---|---|
| Selecting objects in Object Mode | How to Navigate the Blender Viewport — selection is covered in depth alongside viewport navigation |
| The Outliner as the authoritative scene list | Every subsequent modeling article — the Outliner is checked before every deletion and object operation |
| Statistics overlay | FBX export article — the triangle count visible in the Statistics overlay is the count that Unity will import |
| Startup file modification | Advanced configuration article — startup file customization for the complete 57 Studios workflow |
| Object Mode vs. Edit Mode | Introduction to mesh editing — the mode toggle is the first concept covered in the editing workflow |
Next steps
Continue to How to Save Your First Blend File to learn the file-saving procedures that protect the modeling work you are about to begin.