In this tutorial, we're going to make a Star Trek saucer dish part vaguely analogous to the complex ones found on the /Akira/-class.

Keep in mind these simple hotkeys:

F1: side view
F2: top view
F3: front view
F5: three-quarters perspective view

Ctrl+A: select all
Ctrl+D: deselect all

Left mouse: select
Right mouse: hold to rotate
Middle mouse: hold to pan
Middle wheel: zoom

Okay, we want to make a dish. First thing, we see the construction space with its grid and its coordinate axes. The blue axis (Z) points towards the front of the model. The red axis (X) points to the port side of the model. The yellow axis (Y) points up.

First thing we need to do is to create a primitive shape we will then modify. Because we are making a dish, and it is already mostly curved, we're going to edit a sphere. Just go to the buttons on the right and find "Primitive" under "Create." Then ratchet up the number of divisions until you get a nice, smoothish-looking sphere shape. I like U and V to both be 20, because it's a small enough number that there won't be a jillion faces at rendering and yet there's enough to prevent the model from looking jagged.

Once everything is set up, click Create.