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Blender Compared to Other 3D Apps
Published by Allan Brito on September 25th, 2007 in 3D News
How Blender features can be compared with other 3d apps? If you always wanted to know that, an article published by Benoit Saint-Moulin at the TDT 3D compares the features of all major 3D apps, and Blender!
The article mentions that all data and information was collected in the last 12 months, with artists and companies responsible for each application. The article is very interesting, and it`s very good to see Blender features compared with other applications. To check out the article, visit this link.
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WOW! Blender did much better then I expected. We seem to literally have the only open source 3D app that can DEFINITELY hold it's own against the PAID competition. of course, this is just one view, but I am glad they took the time to consider Blender at all in the first place.
–
Kevin
Could we have them change this text?
A good all around application
for **hoobies** and freelance , the interface and lake of structured documentations
is the bad part of this
application, so it's the best free all arround solution.
I AM NOT A HOOBIEST!
Tank you for posting this! I'm a noob and Just the information the animation tools in Blender are poor gave me the notion I shouldn't blame myself whenever I'm having problems with getting along with them. This list should become a 'what to fix next' for Blender developers.
/ Mats
In your article above, you say "compares the features of all major 3D apps, and Blender!" but I really think you ought to be saying "compares the features of all major 3D apps including Blender!"
A quick skim through the comparison tables (with a pinch of salt in certain areas) proves that blender is more than up there with the big players. The one obvious omission from this table is "Number of Licensed users". I think Blender would top the table with this…
J
I take it this guy's first language is not English. I'm not mocking but it was hard to follow once in a while. It's not bad but what standard was he comparing these titles against exactly? I kept seeing things like poor and EXCELLENT! but that doesn't mean anything unless there is truly a standard. So thought it's nice and I would agree on the documentation point it's not what I'd call a definitive look at anything.
In fact his views on the animation system may be biased towards a certain work-flow and so despite his claim that he wanted to be independent of of the developers and their products by this point in time he must have found certain things he prefers but are not actually better or worse than another package's. Which actually became a slight concern when I read in a comment above that maybe it was the system and not the artist himself that was the problem. Unless it truly is a bad system then it's probably both or just the person using it.
Also he mentions that it takes less than 3 months to become an effective developer in most of the packages but then sites Blender's interface as being not for beginners. Which I find somewhat deceptive. It's not a simple interface by any means and there is a learning curve. But I find that deals more with the initial shock of everything rather than the actual difficulty of the software itself.
Just something to keep in mind.
Nice list however it looks like he doesn't like Blender a lot.
that's a pretty good list :D
I think, it's quite "honestly" written^^
In some parts, blender really has the best position :D (first, clearly visible, at first glance: the price^^)
Hum… I wonder, where he has problems, with blender tuts, though…
The hardest things about the tuts is to find uptpdate ones, I'd say, due to the fast update rate, but basically, I'd say, it's easy to learn from those tuts.
The Interface is very dependent on the thing, you used first, I think…
For me, Blender's interface is just fine, as it's the first prog, I used, while other app's interfaces look extremely confusing in my eyes…
I'm sure the 2.50 version of Blender will take care of the interface, this will be surely be a boost for the popularity of Blender.
I'm sure the problem he has with tutorials is that they are all to be found on forums, not so much in a 'help file' like the other applications have, but seeing as quite some tutorials are uploaded to the wiki but ofcourse the tutorial link in the help section should pretty much take care of that.
ah well.. i guess the fact that blender is community based instead of being developed behind closed doors also has a few cons, in the end it's up to the user to learn to deal with it.
ps: yeeeh Blender! :P
Did anyone find the 'lakes' in the programs?
Found the lake in blender: Physics Context → Fluid Simulation
* having hard times to find updated docs….
* too much video tuts that take long to download
* had problem with the 2.45 zip archive: would close when clicking on "open"…after extraction
* the question is why comparing blender with other 3d apps which btw are all commercial ones…
* blender is different because it is not one
* with a test of honesty while using a non hacked commercial 3d app….
*long live difference!!!
* sorry: i meant "taste"….
What is peoples' problem with Blender's interface?
On first use I found it to be intelligent, logical, and flexible. It's better than what I've seen of 3DS Max. I would rather have self explanatory text buttons than a load of cryptic icon buttons to decipher.
I hope Blender 2.50 doesn't change the interface too much and compromise it's usability just to please the text phobic icon loving dullards.
Exactly Nobby.
I too wonder what the hell they all have against Blender's UI…
People aren't flexible enough. If the UI does'nt look Microsofty enough thy are lost…
Nice to see Blender look good in these comparisons !
And that is what i expected !
Hello All,
First thanks for comments and feedback and sorry for my english if it's poor but i would like release this article into english for evident reasons !
To reply quickly I like blender and use it since version 1.72 and the famous C-key back age.
Well when I say Blender is not for beginner there is many reasons :
- First docs and tutorials are not centralised on a singel web site, new users who don't know where to dig and find it can have difficult to found it.
- Interface, I know blender interface is like by somes and not by others, the fact is (sorry to hurt you) today students in the major college and cg school are trained on Adobe, Autodesk, …interface like. Of courses Adobe / Autodesk are not standard defined but are the most used in cg industry by the most cg artists, so inderictly this kind of interface become a standard for the market and into the mind… this is why Blender interface get this score opposed to others.
F1 for help -> blender open file, shortcut not always the same eg. CTRL-C and V for copy and paste are most of users know results in Blender that's not the same…etc…this is why Blender is hard to learn for beginner in 3D but familliar with CG apps used in industry.
Again, a fact is many users who switch to Blender (I'm not speacking about old roots here :p) come from others commercial package in many case…
I hope that's Blender 2.50 interface get a real users customisation (shortcut,…) as I discussed with others pro, many waiting for the 2.50 !
Interface don't must be change, but more flexible…why not starting with quad view ?
Why comparing Blender with commercial ?
Because CG industry can't today ignore Blender features and how he come a really competitor opposed to commercial, why invest in commercial package and not Blender ? many reasons again but the first is probably help desk and training / material.
Many CG artists don't jump into Blender because they be afraid with …Interface and to don't know what's blender can really do opposed to commercial package…Opensource is really new for industry, not for users and underground geek like me…
Spread the words and show the best…get 10 or 20 of the best cg artists into the world and Blender be the first, just because of…celebrity ?
you all here probalby know Blender better like me maybe, and many do'nt understand why this article whith Blender, but you are in kind of microcosme, don't you think 90% cg artsit don't know Blender existance ?
I asked from usa, europe and vietnam artists, many say me "blender?" of "Ah Blender the old opensource 3D softwares" or "Ah yes, we prefer paid softwares and don't be alone in your production deadline"…
Commercial package have structure to help CG artists quickly jump in…I think in futur not so far all commercial editor can offer their softwares for free and base all business on services / help desk support,… :-)
Blender as no maturity, 2.45 release is excellent, no new features but more robust !! Pro CG Artists don't want all fancy tools, he want to be sure the softwares don't bugs or fail before finishing productions…in this case Blender do the right choice with 2.45 !!
I think put blender into this is probably the best idea I have with this article to brign the "words" :-)
I don't put Houdin because I do'nt know it a lot…just play with. Again until release 9 Houdini interface is for CG coders, SideFX understand that's and change all to be CG artists friendly !
Fluid ?
Blender is sometime most know about his Fluid simulator, some company only use it for Fluid only !
Well that' of for now I'm tired and tomorrow a new workign day waiting me :-)
My best to all.
Ben
Oups sorry for bad writing :
Blender as no maturity, 2.45 release is excellent must be read -> Blender as now some maturity, 2.45 release is excellent
thanks benoit- an excellent, well researched and objective article. In order to improve and attract new users it is essential to know how blender is viewed by others even if we personally disagree. with respect to the lack of support maybe in the future there will be a market for commercial companies problem solving/customising blender for studios?
If Blender 2.50 opens with a quad view I will be very dissapointed. It's a waste of space. Especially when it's so easy to switch to any view in Blender.
Don't compromise Blender for those who are afraid of the unfamiliar. Blender is better because of its differences to Microsoft, Adobe, Autodesk etc.
Just because students are taught on Adobe or Autodesk is no reason to make Blender the same. It's a very bad student who can't learn an alternate interface or understand the logic of Blender.
And there are plenty of easy to find and very good Blender tutorials, documents and communities on the web.
It maybe a good idea if Blender 2.50 has an interface selection menu with presets to match other 3D apps. And a preset to revert back to version 2.45. And the ability to create and share custom interfaces.
Well i myself would love to see a centralized documentation effort… but i know how hard it is! If i was good i'd help, but what help would a newbie teaching others be?
Benoit: The support issue is something I think has been known for a while (e.g. Ton and Bart themselves). Eugene founded some kind of support company, but I haven't heard of it for quite some time. I agree that's a VERY important aspect to take care of because I've been working for some time writing custom software (just simple things) and customers want things to: 1. WORK, 2. BE RELIABLE and 3. RECEIVE THE ATTENTION WHEN NEEDED, IMMEDIATELY!. Their business heavily depends on it, so it's very important for them to know someone they can trust.
By the way I think 2.50 will change many of your conclusions about Blender! (Jahka Particles, UI redesign, Render API, etc )
jedihe
Blender is an awesome tool for game development (at least for me :) ).
Ben, thanks for a nice and comprehensive chart. I think you're mostly on the mark with these comparisons, as far as I know.
I'm just curious about what, specifically, warranted the "Low" rating for animation tools?
that's what i wondered too. why "low" for animation tools?
Here is my opinion (from described apps I was using 3 o them: MAX, XSI, Blender) on article:
In most cases I agree with writer… but:
Interface rating is horrible… "not for beginners". hehe I would disagree, It's rather not for ppl which are too much into standards (maybe XSI is a bit like blender and also as much robust). Also in this case I wouldn't say that MAX interface is powerful… it's slow… and not clean (because of that funny modifier tree… and options not sorted in logical way. In MAX - when your lost… then your lost… menu bar will not get you out of this situation in many cases. Only that quad menu is a bit of good in MAX interface if compare to known by me standards.
Author also forgot about sculpting… He only concentrated on export/import from business standard / not cheap sculpting apps. Blender got that advantage… maybe not so highly robust as those in mudbox or… I forgot name at the moment :)
BUT Blender got it.
I can't get what robust with Max SDK means.
And that sum for blender looks like someone can't really get it. This test shows… that
Blender is very good (and in some scenarios best) developing app for almost everything in industry. The main problem is that industry is not using Blender. :)
But we do… and small companies started doing it also. :)
This test in my opinion is a win for blender.
>"the interface and lack of structured documentations is the bad part of this application"
If this is true then shouldn't the "Learning path to be productive" be longer than "
Shit, double posting…
Benoit, I just red your words in here. :)
That cleans a li'l why you rated that way interface(althought i disagree :) ).
Heh… thx for supporting blender just by puttin it into article.
Cheers.
Merci for the article ;) Even though I'd disagree on some points.
""I hope that's Blender 2.50 interface get a real users customisation (shortcut,…) as I discussed with others pro, many waiting for the 2.50 !
Interface don't must be change, but more flexible…why not starting with quad view ?""
Maybe not a good example… that's one of the (few?) thing you actually CAN customize in Blender. It's no problem to start in quad view (if it means what i sounds like: like 4 views as in 3ds Max?) by default.
I don't understand why people criticize the Blender interface so much. It's one of the best things I've experienced in a while. Well, it has some problems, like allowing vertical alignment but not allowing vertical headers or script GUIs that can't be zoomed or dragged/aligned. I think it's great anyway. The layout is actually very customizable, more than other apps I've used. We just have to add some improvements like customizable shortcuts, and (IMO) inconsistent/confusing categories (and other things…see blenderartists forums) in the next release and Blender will have the best UI ever;)
I switched from 3ds Max and found the Blender UI more intuitive than that of Max… but I guess that's always a question of personal taste. Maybe I just didn't get too deep into the 3ds Max matter.
I'm not also supporting blender with this article :-) I'm using it and speack about to all students I'm teaching each years ! I spread the word because blender is good not because it's blender !
but myabe Blender in french is a "mixer" I'm curious to now Ton reply on why called it Blender at the NaN age…maybe because that's doing all :-)
Sorry for double posting…
>"the interface and lack of structured documentations is the bad part of this application"
If this is true then shouldn't the "Learning path to be productive" be longer than "
…be longer than "less than 3 months" which is the same as listed for all but one of the other apps?
But well done to Benoit for even including Blender in a round up of 3D apps.
I would like to see Modo included in the next one.
A pretty cool article. I definitely see Benoit's perspective, as well as the different industries. Hopefully the Blender dev team seen this and got some ideas. There are things I agree with(like centralising the tuts), and things I don't. One thing I know fi sho is that Blender is a phenominal package and is getting better.
WHAT???!!! Max has a CLEAN, UNCLUTTERED interface???!!! Are you on crack???!!!
No, I hate the Max interface. Maybe Blender spoiled me, but when I want an interface, I want an interface that DOESN'T cover up what I'm doing when I'm editing the materials. Maya is better, C4D is rather nice, but Blender has the cleanest UI I have ever seen. And, other than the lack of keyboard customizations (taken care of in 2.50, I hope), the most customizable!
Sorry if I sound rude, but I find that Blender has the easiest to learn interface. When I started when I was 15, I quickly figured out how to use the modeling tools in a week. Now, when I look at the interface, I know what EVERYTHING does, and I can quickly do anything I want. I look at max, and whenever I'm in the ORTHO veiw, I can't navigate without my model speeding off to the side! In Blender I can control that with the 3D Cursor and the C button, but in Max, its guess and zoom! Even if you get the model dead centered into the veiw, and you can rotate around it perfectly, if you let go of the button, then rotate again, it STILL goes off screen!
No, Max does NOT have a good UI. AT ALL. And there is no VALID argument that can say otherwise!
I thought Benoît's article was fair, and don't apologize for a few slip ups in your English. You are not a native speaker, no need to apologize.
By "lakes" I think he means "pool". So he probably meant "document pool".
"What is peoples' problem with Blender's interface?"
It's bassakwards. Right mouse button to select is unacceptable. I know you can change it but still… and Benoît gives further examples.
"Just because students are taught on Adobe or Autodesk is no reason to make Blender the same."
Well, not following industry convention for even simple things like selection or cut and paste is a really good way to marginalize yourself. There is no need to fetishize being "different". It doesn't make one better, just different.
"why "low" for animation tools?"
Because they are not up to professional standards. To even participate in the Suzanne Awards you have to download a special version of Blender.
Thanks Ben for all your work. Personally, I don't see Blender as replacing the mainstay 3d apps as opening up the possibility of 3d desktops and 3d networking. I agree that it needs to be integrated more completely into an Ubuntu (Gnome) or Kubuntu (KDE) desktop, or Aqua for the Mac. Sorry, but I think Windows is going to the dogs, arf arf.
We need to have a complete graphic suite with common keystrokes. I want my 2d app to support my 3d app; the fewer number of new keystrokes the better.
Blender could have also been compared also to programs like UnReal Editor, and other gamer mod developers.
Right now, I'm creating free talking heads using Blender, Make Human and Papagayo. That would be a serious chunk of change in the proprietary world.
By "lakes" I think he means "lacks"- is in something missing or a deficiency.
It seems to me that there is an enormous potential for commercial support of blender. If fast, comprehensive support is the main reason businesses pay thousands for the "big boys" if they could get that for blender I think it would skyrocket to the top overnight.
""why "low" for animation tools?"
Because they are not up to professional standards. To even participate in the Suzanne Awards you have to download a special version of Blender." Really? That's interesting. I'd like to download it, where is it?
Although I don't agree with everything on that list and not just for Blender, overall it's a fairly good representation of how the applications compare, as long as you don't put too much faith into its accuracy on some details, especially related to interface and documentation.
Mystery
@Evan, I said specific. "not up to professional standards" is not specific. The problem with the Suzanne Awards/Special version of Blender is an entirely separate issue. Macouno made the rig for himself and used new features, and only later decided to invite others to work with it. You can most certainly produce professional quality animation with Blender.
So as I said, if you know of any specific features that Blender lacks to make it up to "professional standards" then, let's hear them.
I wasn't saying you couldn't, I just wanted to know where the animation version was, but I guess it's an invite thing?
No, it's not an invite thing. I think just a bit of a mixup. You can follow the whole discussion on this here:
http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?t=105694
By the way, this isn't anything to do with participation in the Suzanne Awards itself (the deadline for that is long past). This is just to contribute a brief animation of Macouno's robot for some of the Awards show "in-between" animations.
ok, thank you.
"It maybe a good idea if Blender has an interface selection menu with presets to match other 3D apps"
This is the mother of all stupid ideas… and it's not the first time someone has proposed it.
@ noen…
>"Right mouse button to select is unacceptable. I know you can change it but still."
Sheesh, get over it or change it then.
>"By "lakes" I think he means "pool". So he probably meant "document pool"."
He means lack. As in being without something. If you couldn't work that out then no wonder you struggle with a few non standard key commands. If people find some new key commands and mouse clicks such a big interface hurdle then I'm surprised they get any further than MS Paint.
And of course I don't just like Blender because it's different for difference sake. I think Blender actually operates better which therefore means it has to be different by necessity.
@ Duhast…
Any chance you could enlighten us as to why you think alternate interface presets are such a bad idea?
5.083 € isn't that cheap? Only 5 E(eggs?, Euros?) and 8.3 cents.
It is interesting that the interface discussions keeps coming up… And just like I was kind of scared by the blender interface the first time I opened blender about two years ago (it took me about another year to overcome that fear and start learning and using blender) I love it today - like so many others.
I think the trick could be to think again hard about what people see when they open blender for the first time: it's like those first couple of seconds when you meet a new person - they can be crucial. I also would not like to see any dramatic changes to the blender interface, yet at the same time I am all for making that first blender contact a more happy one for the new users. The idea needed could simply be some slightly different kind of default screen when starting up blender that would work for both the blender pros and the newcomers. How to do this, what it had to be is the big question of course…
*Any* interface can be learned… So just saying that Blender's UI can be learned is not exactly an endorsement.
Its pretty clear to most people that Blender's UI is readically different than most 3D apps. That's why the UI issue always comes up. And the right/left click controversy is just scratching the surface.
That people would give Ben a bad time about that specific issue is mind-boggling to me. (Great article, BTW, Ben. As someone who learned English as a 2nd language I certainly appreciatye how hard it is to write in another language)
I would say that Blender is great *IN SPITE* of its UI, not because of it. (not that anyone has claimed that directly)
Blender's UI sure is different, and the logic is different with mouse too. Has anyone got the same experience than myself, that different UI goes well with different logic? What I mean is, because the UI looks so different, it is easier to keep the different logic away from other applications. If Blender would look like programs from Adobe family, it would be hell of a lot more confusing adjusting the brain to cope with the different mouse behaviour in Photoshop.
I agree with the documentation part. The summer of documentation project was a great start, but Blender is still far away from being easy to learn. To address this there should be an effort to produce some kind of central hub for all the documentation material. A lot of work should be done to organize the documentation in a meaningful way so that a complete beginner can learn stuff efficiently. All the video-tutorials are a great thing to have, but they should be indexed, organized and rated by their usefulness. There should also be some sort of textual index of the area covered in the tutorial.
That said, as an open source application Blender is exeptionally well documented. There is a lot of useful information available. And it is reasonably well organized as well. Wiki manual is a great resource. And the best part of the learning experience is the user base who are mostly very helpful and newbie tolerant. There is not much of that typical "RTFM" or "Google is your friend" - mentality, which is great.
But one thing the documentation lacks is the basics of 3D. A sort of "3D modelling for dummies". Manual teaches the ways of doing things with Blender, but for most of the newcomers it is really confusing just because they don't have a basic understanding of fundamental concepts or the terminology used. I know the need for "3D-101" inside Blender documentation can be easily argued, but the fact is that Blender is a first contact to the world of 3D for a lot of people.
Somehow it would make sense to try and make this first experience as positive as possible.
Someone has to say that…
But for a beginner any of the above software UI is outlandish. Put a newbie in front of maya or blender and they will look at you with those "WTF" eyes. For me the fact that one UI is easier to learn than another one is a myth. As such, the part about the UI is irrelevant.
3D is unnatural for many people, and not only because they lack any artistic motivation or formation.
A 3D artist is somewhat special. It has to be a technology enthusiast as well as an artist.
Softwares bring you new technology to integrate in your artistic flow, nothing less. They won't make a Leonard de Vinci from a total newbie. As such, it is delusional to say one software is better for this or that. For modelling and exporting to videogames, Blender could do as much as 3DSMax. It's simply easier for a studio (for now) to find a professional with Max experience than a pro with Blender experience. So the classification is a bit artificial…
VIZ/Realtime? didn't you mean VIZ/Games?…
* ponder *
Ooh sorry. You didn't want to scare Autodesk ;)
Keeping low profile so we can stab them in the back one day and stuffs… hehehe. My bad.
Hello,
Lakes is lacks, sorry i will fix it :-) but you can go to the pool if sunshine is at your doors ;-)
About interface, again, I writed 'Maya interafe is like a forge..' this is not better than Blender Interface (I explain why later) Again Lightwave interface is old and confuse…
As you can compare nto only Blender interface are in the situation.
- Why all this on interface ? If you want peoples / CG artists coming to Blender you **MUST** open you mind / doors to help it migration from know commercial package to Blender…do you think CG artists would like take time to re learn a totaly new interface concept when Ctrl C and V are the same in all industry used interface ?
The interface isn't a problem itself for new users but from CG artists migration to, How blender can come the best if the best don't come on ?
Interface text mode is the better choice ! 3ds max, Xsi, Blender, Lighwave,…have text interface, why ? because eg. Extrude is always writed Extrude ! in Icons interface extrude can be eg. Box with arrow, face with extrude line, face with path…
How do you want CG artists be familliar with not standardised icons ? so it's why text based it's best and most productive…I know new used like fancy interface with plenty colours, shine icons,…but that's come quickly waste of time and shortcut replace this icons quickly…
Behind interface I'm not speacking about fancy, glassed one, I speack about shortcut, f1 for help, centralised help, why not include blender pdf help,…also the viewport manipulation isn't "classic" method (I love the split area) of work and what's not classic can stop users migration !
Why not regroup texture and Material ? liek max, maya, lightwave,… Often the new users and olr 3d roots I asked to test blender asked me "Ok I'm in material editor, where is my texture ??", "oh oh shit I can't drag my material over my objects ?", "where is my material presets list?",…
Other eg ? So the G key, isn't so logical Grab is Move for you ? the only one old age software I know used Grab was Sculpt Animate 4D and SoftFX…Do you think G key is mnemonic ?
the problems is peoples are brain drilled with "interface" and change it block it.
Ergonomic interface must avoid more than 3 mouse clicks to do common tasks.
Don't change Blender interface way to be more accessible to new or migration users and you never go out…
That's why I said interfacewas lacking !
- Sculpting : A nice and one of my favourite feature in Blender :-) Why Am'I not speacking of ? I just think Sculpting is a "phenomenon of mode" really few CG artists use it, only organic and characteres at first…(perso, I'm use it for landscape sculpting) The sculpting is powerfull but a bit yound and I prefere to avoid this part…
Why not adding a brushes presets list opposed to go and back to brush editor ? why not give option to change brushes attributes like Square, Circle, Shape ? Carving tool ? same for the paint tools : Add layer, line and circle drawing tools, texte tool, gradient tool,…
This both are good but a bit young In my point of view. I tested Silo, I go back to blender sculpting, same as for modo I go back to Blender because Modo interface is Slowwwwww I never know how newtek and luxology use OpenGL for Interface but that's not really a pleasure to work with on high def models…!
- For Viz / Realtime, yes i mean realtime (web3d, games, virtual visit,…), for this Collada support rocks !
About Autodesk I'm not want to scare it, Autodesk (I know many here don't like it) have totaly others business, 3D is the low part of their…CAD with AutoCad and GIS products is the most important Autodesk business area…
Autodesk 3ds max is an excellent all around software, the prices policy is an other subject of discuss ;-)
Be open use the right tools you need for you business and not because of…
Dinner time :-) Enjoy you meal !
the animation tools in blender for sure are better than the lightwave ones. :)
[quote]Right mouse button to select is unacceptable.[/quote]
i think it's very acceptable. other applications use right click selection too. modo for example!
Hmm I agreed with most of that list there but from my impression, Blender is BEST for being free, and is definitely up there with paid software. (Well, obviously, keep it free please :P) I didn't know that Blender's animation capabilities were low :(
Yep, all blender developers, use this as a todo list! I wanna see Blender headlines shouting "We beat 'em" in a years time (ok, optimist, sorry, but you get the picture ;) )
@Benoit: thanks for an informative article. I think there will always be points where the users disagree especially when it comes to complex software like 3D Apps. I don't think there is any 3D App which is really intuitive so the UI Part should only be of concern to long term users of other 3D Apps that have to migrate.
Could you please tell what makes blender animationtools low quality? Since I have only used MAX back at University for some small projects (no animation) I cannot say how the animation tools in Blender compare to other 3D Apps but in order to understand the issue I really would like to know what I'm missing.
I'm a hobbiest (what ever that means ;) ) so the one asset that makes blender the best 3D App out there is it is free of charge and has a superb community and I know about communities! You get what you pay for so don't expect anyone to jump out of there way to help you when you are unwilling to pay for it… and still there are people in the blender community that do exactly this. :)
I also think that the wiki gives a pretty good introduction to blender and gets you along quite nicely it's more the reference to some of the functions that is lacking. Maybe sponsoring a documentation contest to improve the wiki is the way to go. And even small steps can improve the overall appearance. Hey I'm a newbie and I have made small changes in the wiki (mostly linking pages to one another!).
For me Blender has the best User Interface!I love it!
and hey Blender VSE what about this?
and Blenders Animation capabilities is not low!
Blender is going to be the most Complete 3d application! (Sculpting..fluids…VSE….Tracking…compositing…GE….and many other new Amazing Features still in development!
For a different perspective, I came from a long background of 2D - CorelDraw's 7 thru 12 to be precise! Sure Blender had an unusual interface when I first started with it, but now I HATE going back to CorelDraw to create UV textures to use in Blender! The interface is so cumbersome compared with Blender - where I can move about, locate, and select objects far quicker than in Corel.
When I show Blender to colleagues at work (who use multi-thousand dollar So**dWo**s 3D design software), they cannot believe that Blender is free. Or that the interface is so simple and uncluttered. Or the fact that Blender /never/ crashes! Or the fact that I can render near photo-realistic images without having to pay for an add-on!
For sure, Blender is amazing software. The overriding fact that it's free makes it incomparable to other software. If you're paying $100s or $1000's for software, you'd expect it be good. For $0, you might expect Blender to be a poor imitation - but it clearly isn't.
One thing I'd like to add about Industry standard UI's. Look at adobe's range. Take photoshop, illustrator and indesign. I'll use CS2 studio as an example, since that is version I use.
For a task as simple as navigating, it uses the scrollwheel/mmb+ctrl/shift/alt combo different in each of these apps! most noticably the most frustrating one is the way indesign handles it, if you scroll sideways, you have to click(which selects or deselects something) to start scrolling up/down or zoom in/out.
Hotkeys for common actions are different as well. Like copy in place
If that is "standard" then by all means put a gun to standards' head and pull the trigger. It's antiquated and sluggish.
Just because a GUI is industry standard doesn't mean it is better or even good to begin with. There have been LOADS of apps lately experimenting with new ways for navigation that work better and more intuitively.
Industry works on "don't break a working thing" metinks. But artists start to look elsewhere as well…. (zbrush when it was new, modo for instance)
I don't want to join the interface discussion since it's a waste of time.
People who use Blender frequently and have learnt the interface are happy with its intuitive handling.
Newbies and people who use it only for fluid sim. (for example) always have to question the UI,
something I can understand since I had to learn it, too…
A question I want to pose:
Imagine open source software like Blender rules the market in a few years and all the film and game studios buy the programmers to use them for their own purposes… do you think that many 'fresh' programmers - who improve the public versions - will follow?
Maybe Blender better stays down here in the warm and comfortable underground? ^^
@humble, not sure what you're envisioning, but the more people who use Blender, the more developers there will be contributing to it, which is a good thing. The official Blender will always be the one that the Blender Foundation releases. If some studio pays people to contribute code, that's also a good thing (a lot of companies pay programmers to work with open source software for their own purposes, and this is good).
The UI discussion, yeah, not interested. Old dispute. Easy solution: if you want to use X software, learn to use X software, otherwise don't use it.
As for learning materials, some comments here have led me to think that people aren't fully aware of what's out there. There are two books (in English) and more on the way, at least 3 DVDs available that I know of offhand, and countless free tuts at BlenderNewbies, BlenderUnderground, Genome, Greybeard's website, Peerless Productions, and many, many more that I can't even begin to list completely. What's more is that they are all indexed and linked to directly from… you guessed it, the website you're looking at right now. Everything you need is linked to from Blendernation.
So kids, stop complaining about how hard it is to learn Blender and go learn Blender.
One of the things that happens, and you can see it in evidence here, is that over time the users of an idiosyncratic app like Blender develop a certain cliquishness. Years ago I was trying to learn POV and I went to their forums to ask for some help. It was a newbie question but I got reamed for daring to ask such a stupid, ignorant question. I walked away from POV and have never gone back, It will be a cold day in hell before I EVER touch that software again.
Is that what you want to happen to Blender?
My main 3D app is Modo and unlike Blender it is a shear joy to use. The difference is like night and day. The only reason I open Blender, and with Modo 301 out it is less now, is for the features that Modo lacks like hair and fluids. The UI issue is a major obstacle and must be addressed if Blender is to enjoy wider acceptance.
I find it incredible that some people would rather have the 'industry standard' two step Copy and Paste method (Ctrl+C and Ctl+V) than Blenders one step Duplicate method (Shift+D).
It is such a trivial criticism and a backward mentality that only hinders the development and improvement of interface design.
And anyway, the small amount of learning time saved by having standard keyboard shortcuts for a few common tasks is tiny compared to all the other keyboard shorcuts you could choose to learn for the many uncommon tasks found in all 3D apps.
Of the many many programs, for every kind of computer task, I have used since 1986 I think, almost completely objectively, that Blender has one of the best interface designs of them all.
@ noen…
"clique: noun: a small group of people who spend time together and do not readily allow others to join them."
There is no evidence of cliquishness here or in the large international Blender community. And the Blender forums are packed with people helping newcomers. Your criticism is not valid.
Like you with Modo, I find Blender a shear joy to use. We can't both be wrong.
Let's not shoot the messenger; Benoit isn't pointing up any criticisms about Blender that haven't been voiced by many others in the past. It's true that most of the complaints people seem to have about Blender have to do with their own ignorance of how things work in Blender. But at the same time, I think that needs to be addressed.
Looking at this comparison confirms suspicions that I've had for a while. I've never used a 3D app other than Blender, so I can't speak definitively, but I've caught hints that Blender's interface, documentation, animation tools, NURBS and curve tools, and data management tools are /perceived/ as inadequate or lacking. I know as well as anyone that these tools definitely exist within Blender (except documentation, which is abundant on the Internet). But why do people have such a problem with them?
Reading the comments on this page, I'm beginning to see a pattern. It seems to me that Blender provides one way to do just about everything. And looking at the gallery on Blender.org, it's obvious that one way is all a great number of talented artists need. But I get the sense that other software suites might provide users with more options, and maybe a little more flexibility, in the areas in which those suites excell.
Think about the difference between a toaster oven and a microwave oven. A toaster oven has settings for temperature and cook time. A microwave has all kinds of settings for cook time, multi-phase cooking, cooking temperature, along wtih presets for thawing frozen food, popping popcorn, reheating leftovers, boiling water, cooking TV dinners, and so-on. Toaster ovens are better at cooking some foods, microwaves are better for others.
The same is true for Blender. It's a toaster oven. It's excellent for cooking certain kinds of food. But you have to cook that food Blender's way. Commercial software is like a microwave; perhaps more limited in the range of features you have at your disposal, but maybe a little more attractive in terms of the flexibility and usability of the tools it does provide. I've been using Blender for years. When I started, I was a teenager. Teenagers learn things in their free time that working employees can't necessarily be troubled with. So I think, if Blender is going to /really/ compete, maybe it has to do more than just provide the most features… maybe it has to be more accessible to everyone.
@Nobby:
You're absolutely right about Blender's Duplicate command. However, I think maybe it migh be nice if we could duplicate things like modifiers, logic bricks, materials, textures and constraints that way. Blender's interface doesn't need to take on standard conventions, but some more consistency with Blender-wide conventions couldn't possibly make things worse.
Blender has one more feature that I think no other "major" 3d App will have (at least for a long time):
its Open-Source. :P
I am kind of disappointed by their "interface not for beginners" rating. After learning blender, the other programs are just as difficult to pick up. I don't think it got a fair treatment there.
I don't like all the menu and windows in the other 3D apps I've tried. Even modo, which looks beautiful seemed pretty clunky to me. But surely part of that is just getting used to a few things and finding comfort. This rating is based on more use than I ever gave anything.
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Blender is awesome, but I do wish there were a few things that I could do easily. I know it's open for programming, but I just wish I could get soft shadows easily every time I want them. I don't know if it's just a matter of getting it right once finally and keeping a template for reuse, but it seemed like I spent 2.5 hours last night trying to get soft buffered shadows and I ended up just faking it in another 2D program because I got fed up. Maybe all the pro 3D apps are like that, but seems like it's pretty hard in blender to get good soft shadows. Sometimes, you just want it to be obvious I guess. I'd like an easy mode. I'd like to drag and drop images on to top of meshes and see the texture there and be able to tweak it. I'd like to have preloaded basic textures for things like architectural rendering. Wood, brick, tile, porcelain, shingle, stone, stucco etc.
I'd also like editable keyboard shortcuts. That would solve a lot of problems for adopters I think. I mean if you could save a collection of shortcuts and distribute them, or just preload them in blender, that would rock. Adobe InDesign had at one point a "mimic quark" keyboard shortcut mode I think.
I'm really excited for the next version, 2.5 blender. I have high hopes for it, and I hope it comes so very soon.
*in fact blender gui is absolutely not that complicated when you give it a little bit of time
*i am not a professionnal and my blender's level is still the one of a beginner…
*and as a beginner i would compare blender with an app like amapi for instance especially the 6.1 version which is free…:with a more than 500 pages of pdf doc it shows how powerful a