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I have a MacBook Pro. Since it's a laptop, it does not have a number pad. It only has the numbers at the top of the keyboard. Can I emulate the number pad so that I can access the hot keys for top view, bottom view, etc...

Also, how can I emulate a 3 button mouse with just my touch pad or a two button mouse?

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Blender has options that allow you to emulate both of these features. If you go into the User Preferences view and select the 'Input' tab, you should see a bunch of options on the left side of your screen. To use the numbers across the top of your keyboard instead of a number pad, select 'Emulate Numpad.' To emulate the third mouse button, select 'Emulate 3 Button Mouse.' What this does is allows you to press the Alt key while using your left mouse button, and have it behave just like the middle/third mouse button.

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Ultimately however, if you're going to be using Blender heavily, you're going to want to get a real three button mouse and/or a numpad. I would personally heavily recommend getting a USB or wireless three-button mouse from a office supply store--they're really cheap, and it saves a ton of time over the Alt-click setting.

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    $\begingroup$ I agree, a keyboard with no number pad is really 'clunky' to use with Blender. I almost never use Blender without an external keyboard that has a number pad. $\endgroup$
    – John
    Commented May 23, 2013 at 7:04
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    $\begingroup$ I actually use one without a number pad now. I very seldom use layers and so I find it faster to just use the top row with Emulate Numpad. $\endgroup$
    – Jonathan Williamson
    Commented May 24, 2013 at 2:47
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    $\begingroup$ By the way, Blender has excellent multi-touch support—as a fellow MacBook user, I used Blender for quite a while without a mouse at all. $\endgroup$
    – SilverWolf
    Commented Aug 28, 2017 at 19:34
  • $\begingroup$ "What this does is allows you to press the Alt key while using your left mouse button" On Linux, holding Alt just allows me to drag the window around... Is there anyway that I can set "Left+Right" as middle-mouse? $\endgroup$
    – Aaron Franke
    Commented Oct 27, 2018 at 22:19
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Regarding the num pad: Install KeyRemap4MacBook and under "Change Num Key (1...0)" enable "Fn+Number to KeyPad". Also disable "Emulate Numpad" in Blender. This allows you to use the number keys to select layers, and in combination with the fn key to change views.

I also like the 3D Navigation addon. It adds perspective buttons to the tool shelf.

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    $\begingroup$ This is now called Karabiner and it works great. Thanks for the tip. $\endgroup$
    – user11467
    Commented Feb 7, 2015 at 22:50
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    $\begingroup$ Be advised: DO NOT UPGRADE to macOS Sierra if you want to use Karabiner numpad remapping at this time. In Sierra, the keyboard driver API has been modified making it incompatible with Karabiner. A replacement called Karabiner-Elements is in development, but doesn't currently offer modified key remapping necessary for the numpad emulation to work. Monitor github.com/tekezo/Karabiner-Elements/issues/16 for updates. $\endgroup$
    – Loren Osborn
    Commented Jan 8, 2017 at 7:11
  • $\begingroup$ Very good solution.. However, I guess it is important to have 2,4,6 and 8 keys in analogical ordinance in order to tilt your design a bit, so buying a keypad is necessary. $\endgroup$
    – Yannis Dran
    Commented Jun 18, 2017 at 21:18

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