Mark Masters from Digital Tutors compares several areas in Blender to their Maya counterpart and shows where it's easier to use.
Something you’ve likely heard time and time again is that it’s not about the application, but the artist. That’s true, you can likely create the exact same asset, animation or render in either Maya or Blender. However, Blender has some areas that are simply more intuitive than Maya. There are benefits and drawbacks to every 3D application, some do things better than others. Let’s take a look at the unique functionality in Blender that might help to speed up your workflow or simply make a task easier. One statement that must be said however, is that Blender is not better than Maya and vise versa, each application can do certain things better than the other.
58 Comments
Can you hear it? Here come the clowns!
The hell is this bullshit? Maya has lots of bugs and some things maybe easier to do/find in Blender but when actually see the quality and workflow of their FK, IK, soon BiFrost(Naiad that at a time easily dealt with RealFlow in everything), NEX, faster viewport, multiple object editing, colourful wireframes just to name a few. I like Blender but lets not go this far.
Sounds like you have a good start for an article entitled "Where Maya's functionality is better than Blender's"
The author tried pretty hard to flag the article as a comment on specific features and didn't try to wave the "blender is better than everything else" flag.
But I guess there are fanboys on both sides of the aisle.
No multi object editing in Blender is huuuuge workflow issue so I can understand this guy.
but the article isn't about ALL features, just some specific features. so non-multi object editing would not be one of those said features that works better
Doesn't matter if the author gets specific in the article. The title picked the fight. You can't say a is better than b in area c-e and not get reasons f-z as to why that doesn't matter. The author should have just said Blender is a Surprisingly Exceptional/Competitive 3D Program, and then they could have drawn comparisons inside the article all they wanted.
My 2 cents, doesn't matter if Blender does ANYTHING better. Blender is the bottom of the bucket as long as the only real way to use it is to keep a hotkeys map handy. If you're a fanboy of the program, pray you never get afflicted by any sort of disability that hinders memory or costs you use of any of your digits, because Blender programmers don't give two poops about an intuitive gui. They'll tuck the buttons wherever they please and then squeeze in ever more obscure hotkey combos then consider it done, rather than ever figure out how to layout their tools properly.
@Colin
You know, this is actually an excellent point. I completely agree with you, so please hear me out.
In a lot of ways I largely disagree with people who dislike the UI or the hotkey focused workflow and always have. I've been doing 3D modeling for a long time now (about a decade) and I've found that most 3D production software shifts it's focus from an intuitive UI to a fast workflow. This is highly desirable in may respects. While this makes learning the software more of a challenge, once you've learned the software you find yourself highly productive due to it's design. Over the course of your career the time you've taken to learn the software amounts to little more than a rounding error compared to the rest of the time you're spending actually doing real work with the software.
Which do you design for, that initial learning period of a couple of months or the decades you use the software?
And then you go and say something that makes me as a designer go, "shit". Designing software like this for use with those who have disabilities. Full stop, you have a point. That is a major problem with the software and something, surprisingly enough, most of the other software in the industry don't have an issue with.
Maya you can create your own custom shelves where you can place tools or custom scripts. Theoretically speaking you never have to leave the mouse. SoftImage XSI allows you to create custom tabs and buttons and menu's. Theoretically speaking, you never have to leave the mouse. Same with Lightwave. I've no idea about 3D Studio Max and I'm just now starting to learn Modo, so I can't comment there either.
Blender...all of your modeling tools are accessed strictly by keyboard shortcut. How did I not notice that before? How has this not come up before?
"How has this not come up before?"
The thing is - it has come up before. It is not a target for being fixed because the majority production use that actually guides the Blender Development team on such wide reaching issues is through Open Films where the artists are hand-picked to *already be familiar & comfortable with Blender*.
One of the biggest issues with the feedback accepted in regards to the UI is it has to come from "trusted artists" (i.e. those already having come to terms with certain quirks of UI design). One doesn't get to be a trusted source of UI feedback until you've already cleared & acclimatized yourself to the very hurdles people bring up as making Blender difficult to use.
Ugh, I understand the approach. I tend to facepalm whenever anyone complains about the UI in Blender, but outright locking out feedback, especially _good_ feedback is such a terrible idea.
we could either dumb down the interface so that people can pick it up on the first day, but in doing so remove or hide important features, or we can make it as complex as needed to do it's job. personally I would enjoy using a tool that has the functionality it needs over pressing 2 buttons and having it do everything for you any day. using shortcut keys isn't a bad thing either, because it actually saves the time of moving the mouse around to hunt down buttons. it doesn't take long to learn them, and in daily use it's quite helpful. IF there's a better way, download the source and hack away. fellow users will appreciate it.
@charlesguillory:disqus
I don't think anyone is arguing that those keyboard shortcuts shouldn't be there. I know I'm certainly not. However, there does need to be a way to access all of these tools by menu for those who are disabled in some way. Some can't use keyboards for long periods, for example. Some can't use a mouse and there are a lot of alternatives for this such as Wacom/Pen tablets, trackballs, trackpads, etc. However there are very few alternatives to a keyboard.
All of the tools in Blender do need to be mouse accessible via a menu, button or something else. This isn't "dumbing the interface down".
making them all accessible is the opposite of that. I meant actually ripping it out or making the existing buttons huge in the name of "accessibility"- which is the in-thing in recent times.
Since the day I injured my arm, I started to see places where Blender failed badly. Now that I'm a permanent handicap, with only 1 hand to work with, I struggle with "Blender's ways" of doing things.
1. I cannot do key press and mouse click at the same time (ie: Grease pencil, have to do it from the toolbar)
2. tabs are slowing me down, as more clicks needed to find non shortcut functions
But, I made my own workflow. Using the pin menu addon, I put all the most used tools and features on the viewport. The issue here is I need to pay for the "accessibility feature," which is BAD in software UX term. To those naysayers, just because you are "perfect" for the tool, doesn't that one day you'll never be impaired. Life will surprise you in many ways.
-- Light (the 1 handed artist)
B.F. already stated they're trying to aim for a more pro audience, so I wouldn't be surprised if one day most of the features were aimed towards their target audience. yes it's free, yes anyone can use it, but they're not going to bend over backwards to include as many obscure things as they can cram in to please a small portion of their users.
Lord must have memory that will you not remember the hotkeys for blender.
No need to memorize, with daily use are learned.
But hey we're going to make you one of those people that I hate to complain about having to absorb knowledge and that when something can not simply say it is difficult.
Blender lets me model 10 times faster (no exaggeration), set up scenes, texture, animate and render, without crashing, without losing data. What are you talking about, non-intuitive gui and all? Do you want sit and admire nicely arranged menus or get your work done in a few key presses?
"You can't say a is better than b in area c-e and not get reasons f-z as to why that doesn't matter."
Where'd you get that rule? Says who? Who says you can't just look at a few features that Blender does nicer that Maya, without saying "Blender is better than Maya" or "Maya is better than Blender"?
The author even said as much that he's not trying to draw comparisons of which software is overall "better" here, but simply taking a look at some advantages that Blender has. And he has good reason to do as much: Blender is new on their lineup. They're merely trying to introduce Blender as the new kid on their block.
When you're someone like Digital Tutors, you can say A is better than B in certain areas of workflow without getting into comparisons of other features, because they've got plenty available as to just what Maya can do. They're an authorized from Autodesk as an official Maya training, since Maya was among their first software they've covered from the beginning.
But as instructors, they've still got a neutral position with the software they teach. They're not out to make the overall statement that "Blender has nice features, despite many drawbacks" or "Maya is better than Blender in more places"--they've got the voice of "You're here to learn Blender, and you're probably familiar with the other software we teach, so let's look at some ways in which Blender differs from other software."
Every other software can see these kinds of "best of" comparisons all the time (Max vs. Maya, Softimage ICE vs. Houdini, ZBrush vs. Mudbox, Substance Designer vs. Quixel Suite). Blender's users need to not celebrate too soon wheverpanic whenever someone compares Blender with other software.
That's the reason why it is on top of the bucket)
CLI and Hotkeys still gives fastest workflow
Then Shortcuts
And just then - GUI
True, multi-object editing is a serious drawback in Blender. Though, there is a working solution available. It's not perfect and is still a work-in-progress, but it does allow basic multi-object editing in Blender.
http://www.blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?339369-MultiEdit-(alpha-1)-Multiple-Objects-Editing!
I've been using maya for about 6 years now. I agree with you only if they started fixing bugs that's been there for a decade LOL
Perhaps you should take like half a second to read at least the headline. Nowhere does it say that blender is superior in every single way imaginable over Maya. That being said, the article is pretty bad and the points made fairly arbitrary. It's not like having the Render Animation button is a huge advantage for blender worth pointing out. I mean, how often do you use that button exactly? It's nice that it's there, but it's certainly not a very common button to press. So for Maya to have its Render Animation equivalent in some hidden menu is perfectly fine.
All these kinds of articles are good for are to spawn flame wars between communities. And if you really do feel the need to make a comparison, do it thorough and make some seriously good points.
I felt the same. As blender user, 3d artist at loica.tv where we use lots of blender, I'm sick of this stupid non-professional comparisons. Blender is waay behind maya in everything but modeling and some genious design ideas and random functions. But maya is the pipeline king, rendering king, teamwork king, and WILL NOT FAIL ON YOU ON BIG PROJECTS, which is the most important thing. you can rely on it to make the most complex movie, in blender you have to pray things don't break when they get complex. I'm always amazed at the type of bugs that get corrected everyday, and makes me feel stupid I was actually working with that bomb in the way. I love blender, but for small projects and tech*savy people only, not real big scale teamwork. I really hope gooseberry makes blender really stable and hard to break, cause professionals just can't base their whole pipeline on blender when bugs like "RenderLayer doesn't render if two windows are open" appear on official releases... how the hell are we suppose to find that problem with a tight deadline?? it can kill you, so in the end you have to depend on blender for small tasks like asset creation or simple projects.
Oh, but I forgot so many blender users are amateur fanboys.
Sorry for this post full of anger.
I use both blender and Maya and understand some of the common differences. And even though my scale of preference leans more towards Blender, I can't argue with you on that. I prefer Blender but must admit it is still ways behind Maya. It shows a lot of promise though.
I'd like to see more threads like this. A lot of people talk about how Maya / 3Ds Max always have something better than Blender. While although Blender is the only CGI program I use(d), I find that it has almost everything one could possibly need.
Well, it's generally that Maya/ Max have exceptional 3rd party developer support, while blender's 3rd party support is... well, I don't want to say 'lacking', but there certainly is a difference in quality and feature size when it comes to add-ons. Maya's also pretty damn good when it comes to simulations (especially hair/ fur sims stand out in this case). That being said, for most users that don't work on a multi-million dollar budget animated movie, it's really mostly a matter of personal preference and what you really *need* to get things done. (Also, blender does have the exceptional advantage of being entirely free)
And that's the problem. You've not worked with other 3D production software and so you lack the frame of reference to adequately make that comparison. Please note, I'm not insulting you, it's really just a statement of fact. I apologize ahead of time if I come off as condescending at all in this post as it is very much not intended.
In theory, yes, Blender has everything you need. Technically speaking all you need for modeling tools are the ability to make vertices, move them and make groups of three or four into polygons. However creating every model in your scene this way is incredibly time consuming.
Imagine if you will that you couldn't use extrusion tools, edge loop tools, modifiers, etc. You can get the same results using the incredibly simple tools mentioned above (creating, moving and grouping verts into polys) at the cost of a significant amount of time. This is what we're talking about when we're comparing Blender to other 3D production software. Hell, this is what we're talking about when we compare any two 3D production software solutions.
Tools matter. They improve our workflow and increase our speed and allow us to spend that gained time on the more important aspects of our craft.
A really good example of a tool that just about every other 3D Production tool does better than Blender is the extrude tool. It's base usage in Blender is just fine. It's quick, it's easy and it's fast. No complaints there. At least until you want to extrude along a path.
In most other software extruding along a path is relatively simple. Create a curve with it's first point right at the base of where you want the extrusion to take place. Shape the curve however you want and make sure the end point is where you want the extrusion to stop. Select your option to extrude along a path, select the curve and specify how many segments you want there to be along that curved extrusion. Hit extrude. Boom, perfect extrusion. This takes literally seconds. Most of them even allow you to adjust the segments in real time.
Now let's do this in Blender. It starts off pretty similar. Create a curve with the first point where you want it to start and the second point where you want it to end. Now the fun part. Model out what you want every segment in that "extruded curve" to look like. Apply an array modifier to it. Now apply a curve modifier. Hopefully you moved that initial curve in edit mode! Adjust the number of duplicates in the array until you meet the full length of the curve. Now, in practice your object in the array is going to be too long or too short and it can't be adjusted by increasing or decreasing the number of arrayed objects. You now have to edit the initial object in the array until it is precisely the right size you need.
Now, you're not done! Once it looks right apply both of your modifiers and delete the curve or move it to another layer. Inspect the new mesh to make sure that all your verts were merged properly and delete any extra poly's. Now, join that new mesh you've created with the initial mesh object you wanted to extrude in the first place. Delete any extra poly's at the end caps of this "extrusion" and weld the points at the base with the initial surface. Congratulations, you're finally done.
As I'm sure you can imagine, this takes several minutes. This is something you will find yourself doing on a regular basis. It's a fantastic technique for any sort of ornate decoration such as ornate fences or for handles on a cup, rope, chains, etc.
I love Blender, but there are things in the software that need to be addressed. My personal biggest problem with the software is it's integration into multi-software workflows. Let's say I want to do my sculpting in ZBrush and my animation in Maya but do everything else in Blender. Getting things into and out of Blender without loss of data is a nightmare. The exporters are constantly breaking in "fun" and unusual ways. This kills Blender in any sort of real production pipeline.
Hell, making game models for use in something like Unity is an exercise in frustration due to the difference in coordinates used in Blender compared to _everything else_. This impacts everyone's workflow and actually slows the engine down. For every mesh object from blender you add to the scene you have to add an extra Empty/Null object if you want your Front and Up vectors to be correct.
Tools and time matter.
I apologize for the long post. It went far beyond the initial scope I had intended. As I double checked the process of extruding along a path in Blender I just became more frustrated and needed to vent. Please understand I don't mean any of that frustration to be vented at the original poster nor to anyone else. But these are real problems and they need to be addressed.
Nah... your comment is okay, and I see your point. From what I understand, the biggest problem with Blender is the lack of good tools and import / export scripts?
Regarding tools, I was hoping that among the functions and modifiers Blender has, you find everything you need for every task. Especially since Blender has so many options and menus, it sometimes feels more complex than other 3D software I happened to see. If it's such a big problem, I hope it will become a stronger focus for the developers.
Looping a mesh across a curve is something I will want to use as well, but thought it's a simple task that works well already. The only essential feature I personally feel the absence of in Blender is the ability to automatically loop and blend a walk animation based on the speed of a character's armature object. So you only animate your character going to different positions, and the walk animation and object rotation are automatically handled. Might be possible with drivers, need to test.
As for import and export scripts, I didn't hear anything bad about those before, especially since a variety of formats are supported by default. I only work with open-source stuff however, including FOSS game engines... so I only had to export to formats like md3, iqm, b3d, x, and maybe a few others. I didn't get the impression any of them are "lossy", but I didn't look that closely so I couldn't say for certain.
to be fair, you should also mention that all 3d applications do have those moments. (weird / time consuming workflow solutions wich do work better in another application ). And a real comparison would actually point out those pro and cons. I do think the article was planed to lure maya users towards blender by pointing out the big initial differences between both. But imho does fail miserably in doing so. IMHO there is enough good stuff inside blender to make it attractive to maya users.
But this would need
a) a series of articles, explaining each workflow paradigms
b) good knowledge of both programs
And that's fair. It's true that other 3D production software awkward time consuming tools scattered about. I wasn't really trying to imply otherwise though I admit it did read that way.
However, in my experience, this is more common with Blender than most other software. Just as importantly I find Blender missing tools. Sometimes they are removed for multiple releases such as Bevel. Bevel had been removed for how many releases before being replaced by the ridiculous Bevel modifier before being re-added due to public outcry?
I know I sound like I'm coming down hard on Blender. Maybe I am. In a lot of ways I rather like the software. Despite the may shortcomings I really like it's modeling tools. I find them incredibly fast to work with for most things. I really like the modifier stack. And here's an odd one, I actually love the interface (though it needs another revision as I have found that related functionality is often spread across a number of unrelated panels).
Hey, I for one understand it. You're tough on the things you like, expecting it to meet its better potential. I have been quite critical of Blender myself, but only from good intention. It's such a promising piece of software--it's an underdog that's not hard to root for in its growth.
And hey, a few of my suggestions have even made it into Blender, so it's good to know that our voice does affect its development. I think what we do here does matter, in the long run.
"Hell, making game models for use in something like Unity is an exercise in frustration due to the difference in coordinates used in Blender compared to _everything else_. This impacts everyone's workflow and actually slows the engine down. For every mesh object from blender you add to the scene you have to add an extra Empty/Null object if you want your Front and Up vectors to be correct."
As a game developer myself, I understand this too well. I've used Unity for years, and Blender's always given Unity the hardest time, compared to pretty much any other software. Everything from this coordinates issue, to the lack of vertex normal splits, to limited FBX support. It's frustrating to deal with quirks with Blender when Unity itself already has its own quirks.
Now, I'm a licensed Unreal Engine 4 developer, and Blender's not even an option with UE4. FBX workflow is essential for UE4, and while I do use Blender for some basic things (I use Blender for terrain creation, as I find it easier to model and sculpt terrains and extract a heightmap), I must rely on other software.
It's frustrating because I'd like to do most of my workflow in one application for as long as possible, instead of shifting around between several different applications. Despite its shortcomings, in several ways I find Blender more comfortable to use than the rigid nature of Maya, but at the same time, I find its shortcomings damning for use where industry standards become an issue.
This pretty much mirrors my experience with using Blender in most respects. I've been using Blender as my primary tool for about three or four years now. I was actually forced into it by Autodesk. I was a SoftImage user (6.02) who bought the software just before Autodesk bought out the company. A year later v6.02 is considered "legacy" software and they turn off the registration servers and all registrations were done manually through e-mail. Another year later and they refuse to allow registration of legacy software. Within three months of this announcement, my motherboard dies in the middle of a paid project.
I almost feel sorry for the Autodesk support guy I talked to (read: yelled at for an hour) on the phone. No luck and nowhere near enough cash to grab a copy of Maya or Max. So I had to use Blenders perpetually broken importers to get access to my data. Set the project back two weeks but I was at least able to finish the project.
Honestly I'm sitting here with trials for both Modo and Lightwave seriously considering making a purchase of one or both...
With the curve-based extrusion, here:
http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?254368-Extrude-Along-Curve
That's the beauty of open-source software. In Blender, there's always a way to add a feature.
You can do everything with both. Some things better/quicker than others. Depends if you want to spend a fortune or nothing but time :)
Sorry, but it is hard to see this as much more than click-bait honestly. The points were arbitrary, definitely based on personal preference (he even started with a defence of the LMB vs RMB select choice), and not really things that speed up a workflow for anyone actually working with the tool day in & day out.
Sad, because it's a subject that could use a proper investigation & report but it appears that shallow examinations are all we're going to get. :(
I agree with your first sentence entirely. Furthermore, any comparison is silly, because Maya requires $x,000 of investment year after year, which excludes everyone except professionals and big corporations - who have to have guaranteed support. Personally, I wouldn't know anything about 3D (or even be on this page) if I had asked my employers 8 years go if I "... could just have $x,000 worth of Maya software to see if I can create better illustrations for them?"
Maya is exclusive. Blender is inclusive.
When I start up Blender, it's almost instant. When I start up Maya, I usually go and grab a coffee, then comes back and the splash screen is still showing. The drawback of Blender is compatibility, try to render the Sintel files from 2.5 in 2.51. It's totally different and not possible.
I'm all for good discussion as to which tools in which application are better, worse or may have innovating ideas or better workflows. It's why competition is such a good thing as it allows for exploration of these tools. However, this article is almost entirely fluff.
Apparently the three areas Blender has an advantage over Maya is that it has a dedicated render animation button, an edit object mode and that you select with right click instead of left click by default! Ignoring for a moment that hiding the "render animation" button in a tab is some how dramatically different than hiding it in a rendering dialogue (it's different, we swear!)...
Right click to select. We can argue about how this is "better" for Blender all we want, but the fact remains that it goes against every UX/UI design paradigm currently in use. It's unintuitive and outright backwards compared to all other software around and I'm not just comparing to other 3D software. I'm typing this in Word for spell check reasons and such. How do I select text? Left click. How do I select an icon on the desktop? Left click. How do I select something in a drop down box? Left click. This is the paradigm used and outlined in every UX design for every mainstream OS currently in use. Why are we going against this?
The dedicated Edit mode. You know, I really don't have any desire to argue for or against this in Blender. There are use cases for it and use cases against it. It's very arbitrary and heavily biased towards user preference. I think that's perfectly ok. I'm not sure it's really one of the best features of Blender, let alone an area where Blender is concretely better than Maya, but so be it.
Honestly, I'm just sad that the article was so full of just general fluff, especially from Digital Tutors of all places. If we're going to discuss areas where Blender excels against Maya, why not talk about Blender's modeling workflow. It's incredibly fast and near Modo's speed in a lot of ways (though nowhere near all). What about Blender's node based workflow? How does that compare? Blender's sculpting tools?
Blender is by no means the best 3D package out there, but if you want to discuss it's strengths, why not _actually do so_.
Just an observation: Blender User Prefs> interface> Select Using LMB, Save Prefs :: is that too obtuse?
Yes, yes it is. From the perspective of someone starting the application up for the first time, they have zero reason to believe there's an option to change it in the user preferences. Due to current conditioning to the UI paradigms we use daily you're simply going to confuse a new user.
A new users first reaction to the current system is rather simple, "Why does this odd circle thing keep moving around when I'm trying to select something?"
There's nothing wrong with having the option in the user prefs. However there's very little to no productivity gain from having RMB select set as default and a lot to be lost for new users in terms of familiarity and consistency. Even once a new user does figure it out and understands RMB is default select there's a significant amount of time and frustration that is experienced while said user is gaining that muscle memory that contradicts every other UI experience they've ever had.
It doesn't work properly across the entire app and requires new users to both grok why they can't get Blender to work the way they expect, know the option exists to change it (if not properly/consistently across the application), & to know where it needs to be changed.
It is quite an obtuse default and (currently) cannot be fixed properly/consistently through the option you describe. That is enough of a problem the Blender UI team is planning to actually change both.
I use both Maya & Blender for me I started working with Maya long before I even know anything about Blender or heard of it. But, if you ask me How do I choose or which app I work with when I start a new project.. I can always say that it depends on the time frame of the project it self.. Like if I have time I'll always go for Maya but if not then I'll go for Blender..
Sometime even I've time I'll go for Blender only for simplicity.. it has a more faster workflow in my opinion.
The first two points out of three in this article are just plain wrong...
I am Maya user and i also like Blender. Maya is more professional but Blender also have it's own advantages. I like Blender because:
1) It's free !
2)It has amazing community
3) It is getting better and better
4) It's have everything you need although it is harder to achieve some stuff
I think open source philosophy is the future. One day we will have product that is better in every aspect comparing to commercial tools, just like the fact that linuxis better than windows.
O Captain! my Captain!
Agree. The days of charging $000's for software is looking ever more silly, when most users can do everything they need for nothing. It just needs one huge corporation to announce they've had enough of paying $1m / year to keep their staff's software up to date, and instead will donate $100,000 to open source projects that they decide to use instead.
Less talk = more work!
holy shit, it's the "why is it broken"argument ,all over again. give'em a reason over a cup of coffee and everyone with a preference will shout from the rooftops..lol. this kinda stuff is really getting tiresome
In my main field, schools have mostly accepted Cinema4D as the standard, if only that "useable results are attainable". Figure THAT one out! There MIGHT be 4 people using Blender and 60 using Maya out of 400.
Basically, this means much is marginal, much is used for 2D and/or few are working in groups. As a former user of Softimage, 3DMax, and AliasWavefront, this seems nuts.
If someone had told me _why_ selection was with the RMB, I likely wouldn't have switched it to the LMB... probably wouldn't have bitched about it, either. :)
Don't worry too much. The Blender UI team has acknowledged the issues with it and it is changing to LMB by default with a *fixed* option to switch to RMB if you really do believe the hype behind to the justifications for it.
The other day I tried to change to LMB but I am so used to the RMB that I switched back after 30 minutes of wrong clicks. I tend to believe these quirks make Blender quite unique so I'm glad we have the optional choice to keep the RMB (I even use RMB quite a lot in games so it sticks easy with me).
just like saying salt A is better than salt B , but they just taste salty. .. (-_-)
Personally, I wish he had covered these functionalities instead:
• The versatility of Grease Pencil in Blender (compared to Maya's ordinary Grease Pencil)
• Sculpt Tools addon
• BoolTool addon (no, wait--BooooooooooooooolTooooooooooooool! Sorry--I love doing that.)
• Dynamic Topology (the only other software with such similar functionality are Sculptris and 3D-Coat)
• Customizable Pie Menu via scripting (as far as I know, Maya's pie menus aren't customizable)
• Cycles Texture Baking (in Maya, for higher-quality texture bakes, you typically rely on the external software V-Ray for much of such; also, I think SSS texture-baking is easier set-up in Blender)
Though, what I can appreciate here is that I do appreciate that he pointed out a few areas that he as someone experienced in other software has found in his experience with learning Blender so far.
Don't think it is mentionable
I don't think it is mentionable
First of all, 3D ART (including 3D Animation, Modeling, Rigging …etc
is HUGE, TEDIOUS, & RISKY investment that can take a great part of
one’s life time. So Its not wise for someone to jump into it for the fun
of using a particular software.
Its a career, and a demanding career! Therefore choice of software
should mainly depend on EASE OF USE and HAVING TOTAL CONTROL (having the
source-code without licensing limitations). People shouldn’t have to
spend all of their life time on complex software, even if its been the
Industry standard for decades!
Lifetime is more important than all of those; professional, industry
standard, trusted software/….etc. No matter what, (no matter how trusted
or how good the software is) we still have to simplify it!
3D is an ART, Its a CAREER, so the easier you make it, the more time
you have left to have fun with your wife, girlfriend or family. Not
breaking your back, spending hours – sitting on tedious controls
Success-minded Artists know that they need FREEDOM and TOTAL control
of their tools and techniques to make the best of their career, To be
More PRODUCTIVE & More CREATIVE. That is the essence of Open-source
and Free software.
Consider the recent death of Softimage 3D software. What happens to
the countless artists who invested a huge part of their lifetime and
career on Softimage?
Also imagine investing countless hours or half of your lifetime
studying/Training and working on such software thinking you’re
developing yourself and your career, only to be told the software is no
more! You would have to start afresh with some other software right?
(Like what happened to Softimage Artists recently). Lifetime is too
short and too precious for such gimmicks. Except if you have more than
200 years to live.
What if you invested in a software that’s robust, versatile and yet
offers you the source-code which gives you total control on the
continuous development of the software as much as you desire! You can
project the future of your career with such! isn’t it?
No sudden deaths of the software! Of course, you can hire a programmer if you cant develop the software yourself.
The SOURCE-CODE of Blender is freely accessible to everyone. So All
the missing features and functionality you’re complaining of in Blender,
can be easily added to your taste in just a few months by hiring one
or two programmers to the comfort of your bedroom or office.
And you own the rights to copy or even distribute your own enhanced
version of the software. (That’s TOTAL control at your fingertips.) And
that would cost you only a fraction of what you would spend on
purchasing just one year license of some other software!
Managing licenses is also a SERIOUS draw back to The crazily creative
Artist who don’t keep using the same computer beyond 2 or 3 years, in
particular in a fast-changing industry where computer hardware change
rapidly and become more and more advanced. We need freedom to switch to
the latest high tech computers frequently without worrying about
switching licenses. We also need freedom to work anywhere and
everywhere!
Blender is portable, you can run it from a hard drive or even a 1GB
flash drive on any computer, anywhere, without any installation or
alteration to system libraries. So you can even run it on a borrowed
computer while having fun at the beach or when faced with hectic
deadlines!
Simplicity of the tools and techniques is also a core deciding factor
for speed and much more. (Simple interface NOT an interface cluttered
with icons or buttons that should be out of the way till when needed)
These are just a few of all the factors that define the Best.
Take it and liberate yourself, liberate your creativity and productivity!
Cheers!
You all have to Make a deep research on your own into the features of Blender and other 3D applications and you will definitely see the truth for yourself! No need to compare anything, just spend a few days on research.
What makes Art is creativity and NOT the Software.
If you purchase tons of Maya software and heap them in your office, the software CANT and WONT ever achieve anything if you don’t have good and inspired ideas of what to create with the software.
Creativity is the core! And creativity is not so easy to come by.
Creativity cant be purchased with money! Creativity is not available anywhere in the market. Creativity is a rare phenomenon! So to keep improving on your creative abilities, you have to kick out every and
anything that stands in the way of your creativity. (E.g Licensing limitations)
Or don’t you all want to be geniuses? Don’t you want to create amazing and astonishing 3D art unlimitedly in ways that will shock the world, and move you to the worlds highest realms of success?
The BIG famous 3D studios all have their IN-HOUSE 3D software? That proprietary level of Total control makes them unlimited! That’s one of the secrets to their enormous success! You cant beat them
because they make their software do what they want and anyhow they want it, in ways that are almost NOT Possible to users of general commercial software.
There comes the essence of OPEN-SOURCE software, and Blender is the one and only advanced Open-Source 3D software, yet it has the easiest and most beautiful interface ever! And its FREE! What a rare gift!
Having an OPEN-SOURCE software that you can control, without any licensing limitations puts you on par with the BIG famous, successful studios! It means having a software of your OWN!
Blender is like Democracy! Yes, Blender is the software of the Artists, By the Artists, and For the Artists!
Its FREEDOM!
Common guys! Lets be sincere. We need simpler methods because we need to jump-start our journey to fame. we don’t want to be at the same level till old age. And we don’t want to break our back either, while trying too hard to make it because we have just one backbone! And even if you have the strongest or a Super-Strong backbone, you need to reduce the time you sit on working out things, just so that your one and only backbone doesn’t get worn out when you’re approaching old age.
Certainly, we wont be siting on doing 3D Art forever, up till old age!
NO! We have a limited time during our youthful age to make the most or make it to great fame. So we have to find the easiest & fastest ways to get our jobs done, make money, acquire enough wealth, and have fun before old age sets in.
We are the artists – (the ones who spend their precious life time on the software). We are the ones to decide what should be and What should not be, to make our jobs easier! The software developers shouldn’t be the ones to decide that for us.
We should be the ones to decide how we want our tools to work for us. And NOT having our tools control us by posing cumbersome methods or controls with clustered interface.
Lets be sincere to ourselves, guys!
If we make sincere observations, it would even help developers of Maya and other software to improve on making their software simpler to use. Because our Lifetime is MORE important!
Once again, Lets be sincere for our own good.