Welcome to blender! I can tell you that once you get over these questions, its a great program. In version 2.35(a), Ctrl-Z and Shift-Ctrl-Z are undo and redo. The A key CAN play an animation (the counter you see) but only if the shift or alt key are down with it. On question 3, let me know as soon as you have a good answer . I have been positioning the camera the hard way as well. Background color F5 look for a little globe with blue continents in the button panel press that. look for Ho rgb sliders. f12 for a quick render. The interface is a real bear, but is easy once you figure things out. I found the video tutorials stupendous.