I use it. It's plagued by some minor but hard-hitting problems, like a lack of triangle counter (so you have to triangulate every time you want to check your polycount) and it doesn't support mirroring of normal maps. Supposedly, these things will be fixed with the 2.5 release, which will also include a customisable UI, will cure cancer and bring about world peace.
Until then, its UI is rather hard on most people, because it's very hotkey oriented. It's not as bad as it used to be, when some functions could only be accessed by hotkeys, but the UI buttons still aren't all that intuitive and the UI structure differs a lot from Max and Maya.
That said, if you accept the fact that you have to learn a ton of hotkeys, it's really fast. For example, the average Max or Maya user doesn't understand that the X button is used to delete stuff, but once you get used to it, you'll always have a delete button right in the reach of your left hand, and this is so for most of your most-used hotkeys. It's quite nifty in some other features as well, like how selecting four vertices allows for exactly the same actions as selecting the face that they form; this makes Vertex, Edge and Face not so much a bunch of prerequisites for actions anymore, but you can simply pick your favourite method of selection... Not being able to do so in Maya is my number 1 grief when I have to model in that program.
On top of that, its UV editor is second to none; quite a few people use the program for UV'ing even if they prefer to model in Autodesk software and the popular Roadkill UV Tool takes its source code from it, I believe.
It's got a bit of a 'who cares about the n00bs, as long as its fast for the pros'-approach, which doesn't make people eager to switch to it. It should become a lot more popular when 2.5 comes around and people can start making Max/Maya/XSI-ish UIs for it. It may not top the Autodesk programs right now, but it's advancing faster than all of those together .
Also - EarthQuake doesn't like Blender, so if you want to stay on his good side, don't use it!
It's great for hobbyists, but don't expect to use it for much outside of that. I personally have never liked the interface and would suggest using Silo, MayaPLE and GMax before digging into blender.
I used to use it a lot, great program that can do a lot. But I'd recommend starting with max or maya as those are the main ones used in the industry, so at worst you'd have to switch to the other one, at best the company uses the one you already learned.
I still use Blender for all my uvmapping, at home and work. Not seen another program that made me think I'd be better off moving.
That's not your problem, exporting usable assets is.
Blender is capable of doing anything other app do when it comes to game content, there are a couple of niggles like ComradeJ mentioned, but overall if you want to stay legal (often over looked point that) it's fine.
From an industry point of view, no one really uses it because it came to late to the party so doesn't have that established history of use, although I do understand the number of startup and indie studios using it is on the increase...
i would say just learn whatever you can get your hands on.. all the 3d modeling software has its pluses and minuses.
but one thing i must mention on interfaces in general:
can we put the silly interface argument to rest? its like people are in a fantasy land where maya and max and lightwave have Good Interfaces?
all 3d modeling packages have confusing hard to figure out super complicated interfaces.
none of them are intuitive. the closest to a good interface is maybe sketchup but its not really a package its a modeling program.. it does one thing and it does it well. when you start to branch out and try to cover more and more bases you will invariably get more and more complex and hard to figure out interfaces.
Can we put the silly interface argument to rest? its like people are in a fantasy land where maya and max and lightwave have Good Interfaces?
We sure can when they actually make a UI that's not backwards. Or when they accept certain standards... =P
There's great UI's (Silo), usable (3ds, Maya, modo) and then there's Blender. There are some core things fundamentally wrong with the UI that they refuse to open up, standardize, or allow people to tweak on their own.
Really if you're looking for a cheap 3D app that can and will be used in studios to model, look into Silo. It's interface, speed and workflow work like you'd want it to because its fully customizable, not that it needs much of that because they really made one hell of an app. It BEATS 3ds, Maya, Lightwave and modo as far as modeling goes.
As for exporting, I don't see the point in saddling yourself with a gimped up app for 98% of the job just because it makes 2% somewhat doable. If anything, I'd use blender for 2% and something like Silo the rest of the time.
Blender EULA: You just have to give it a chance and submit yourself totally to Blenders will. Pledge unwavering support and swear to never try other 3D apps so long as you both shall live.
Me: Yea... ok.
We sure can when they actually make a UI that's not backwards. Or when they accept certain standards... =P
There's great UI's (Silo), usable (3ds, Maya, modo) and then there's Blender. There are some core things fundamentally wrong with the UI that they refuse to open up, standardize, or allow people to tweak on their own.
Really if you're looking for a cheap 3D app that can and will be used in studios to model, look into Silo. It's interface, speed and workflow work like you'd want it to because its fully customizable, not that it needs much of that because they really made one hell of an app. It BEATS 3ds, Maya, Lightwave and modo as far as modeling goes.
As for exporting, I don't see the point in saddling yourself with a gimped up app for 98% of the job just because it makes 2% somewhat doable. If anything, I'd use blender for 2% and something like Silo the rest of the time.
Blender EULA: You just have to give it a chance and submit yourself totally to Blenders will. Pledge unwavering support and swear to never try other 3D apps so long as you both shall live.
Me: Yea... ok.
The ongoing event rewrite for 2.50 is needed for UI customization that's why it has not been done before, but it's coming. They actually are not refusing to open it up, the inner workings behind it had to be changed before it was feasible and that's being currently done.
Event recode is on the way, so can you people please stop bitching about Blender developers not doing anything about this problem(rewriting the core and then making the tools work with the new core isn't going to happen overnight)...
There are some core things fundamentally wrong with the UI that they refuse to open up, standardize, or allow people to tweak on their own.
...
As for exporting, I don't see the point in saddling yourself with a gimped up app for 98% of the job just because it makes 2% somewhat doable. If anything, I'd use blender for 2% and something like Silo the rest of the time.
Could you point out some of that UI trouble you're running into? I'll be the first to admit that it's awkward at best for some things, but to call it worse than Maya's is quite the insult! The thing is that for 99% of your modeling, you don't even need the UI, which I've found to be very efficient. Yeah, adding an alpha map always has me look up how I've done it before because it's mind-bogglingly complicated, but as you said, it's better to have efficiency for 98% of the process (which, for me at least, is the modeling and UV'ing part) than that other two percent.
I'm not trying to start a my-app-is-better-than-yours argument, but people always complain about the UI and I wonder "why would you use the UI in the first place when you've got most of your modeling tools mapped to hotkeys located under your left hand?". So, if I may ask, what in particular is troubling you so much about Blender?
Blender is the best friend of indie developers and hobbyists, but is generally looked down on for those with more serious budgets. The fact that its open source and community-supported will always mean that it will be behind the industry standard in terms of performance. And the interface is never going to be especially intuitive, largely because it is designed by programmers, for a more technically-minded audience. (Blender is the 3D modelling app of choice on Linux boxes, which don't usually support the big industry-standard packages)
Personally, I really like Blender. But I have years of experience using it under my belt, and have kept astride of the changes to the program in that interim. And I'll be the first to admit that it isn't for everybody. Studio artists tend to prefer simpler, more intuitive interface design. I think that is a large reason for many 3D artists looking down their noses at Blender. The interface is neither standard nor intuitive, and wrapping your brain around it is the first major hurdle in using the software correctly.
It is worth noting that a lot of the smaller game engines that tend to be popular with indie studios are making sure to include support for Blender. If you are an indie developer on a tight budget, Blender is your best friend. Getting liscences for your team for any of the common 3D apps is going to be very expensive, and will run you thousands, or even tens of thousands of dollars. (if you have a medium-sized team) Blender is free, and if your artists can use it, you can hook them all up with copies for nothing. And it is entirely legit to use it for commercial work.
Replies
Put blender in the Keywords field, and change the dropdown to Search Titles Only.
I love BLENDER!! haha
Until then, its UI is rather hard on most people, because it's very hotkey oriented. It's not as bad as it used to be, when some functions could only be accessed by hotkeys, but the UI buttons still aren't all that intuitive and the UI structure differs a lot from Max and Maya.
That said, if you accept the fact that you have to learn a ton of hotkeys, it's really fast. For example, the average Max or Maya user doesn't understand that the X button is used to delete stuff, but once you get used to it, you'll always have a delete button right in the reach of your left hand, and this is so for most of your most-used hotkeys. It's quite nifty in some other features as well, like how selecting four vertices allows for exactly the same actions as selecting the face that they form; this makes Vertex, Edge and Face not so much a bunch of prerequisites for actions anymore, but you can simply pick your favourite method of selection... Not being able to do so in Maya is my number 1 grief when I have to model in that program.
On top of that, its UV editor is second to none; quite a few people use the program for UV'ing even if they prefer to model in Autodesk software and the popular Roadkill UV Tool takes its source code from it, I believe.
It's got a bit of a 'who cares about the n00bs, as long as its fast for the pros'-approach, which doesn't make people eager to switch to it. It should become a lot more popular when 2.5 comes around and people can start making Max/Maya/XSI-ish UIs for it. It may not top the Autodesk programs right now, but it's advancing faster than all of those together
Also - EarthQuake doesn't like Blender, so if you want to stay on his good side, don't use it!
I still use Blender for all my uvmapping, at home and work. Not seen another program that made me think I'd be better off moving.
Blender is capable of doing anything other app do when it comes to game content, there are a couple of niggles like ComradeJ mentioned, but overall if you want to stay legal (often over looked point that) it's fine.
From an industry point of view, no one really uses it because it came to late to the party so doesn't have that established history of use, although I do understand the number of startup and indie studios using it is on the increase...
but one thing i must mention on interfaces in general:
can we put the silly interface argument to rest? its like people are in a fantasy land where maya and max and lightwave have Good Interfaces?
all 3d modeling packages have confusing hard to figure out super complicated interfaces.
none of them are intuitive. the closest to a good interface is maybe sketchup but its not really a package its a modeling program.. it does one thing and it does it well. when you start to branch out and try to cover more and more bases you will invariably get more and more complex and hard to figure out interfaces.
We sure can when they actually make a UI that's not backwards. Or when they accept certain standards... =P
There's great UI's (Silo), usable (3ds, Maya, modo) and then there's Blender. There are some core things fundamentally wrong with the UI that they refuse to open up, standardize, or allow people to tweak on their own.
Really if you're looking for a cheap 3D app that can and will be used in studios to model, look into Silo. It's interface, speed and workflow work like you'd want it to because its fully customizable, not that it needs much of that because they really made one hell of an app. It BEATS 3ds, Maya, Lightwave and modo as far as modeling goes.
As for exporting, I don't see the point in saddling yourself with a gimped up app for 98% of the job just because it makes 2% somewhat doable. If anything, I'd use blender for 2% and something like Silo the rest of the time.
Blender EULA: You just have to give it a chance and submit yourself totally to Blenders will. Pledge unwavering support and swear to never try other 3D apps so long as you both shall live.
Me: Yea... ok.
The ongoing event rewrite for 2.50 is needed for UI customization that's why it has not been done before, but it's coming. They actually are not refusing to open it up, the inner workings behind it had to be changed before it was feasible and that's being currently done.
Event recode is on the way, so can you people please stop bitching about Blender developers not doing anything about this problem(rewriting the core and then making the tools work with the new core isn't going to happen overnight)...
Could you point out some of that UI trouble you're running into? I'll be the first to admit that it's awkward at best for some things, but to call it worse than Maya's is quite the insult! The thing is that for 99% of your modeling, you don't even need the UI, which I've found to be very efficient. Yeah, adding an alpha map always has me look up how I've done it before because it's mind-bogglingly complicated, but as you said, it's better to have efficiency for 98% of the process (which, for me at least, is the modeling and UV'ing part) than that other two percent.
I'm not trying to start a my-app-is-better-than-yours argument, but people always complain about the UI and I wonder "why would you use the UI in the first place when you've got most of your modeling tools mapped to hotkeys located under your left hand?". So, if I may ask, what in particular is troubling you so much about Blender?
Personally, I really like Blender. But I have years of experience using it under my belt, and have kept astride of the changes to the program in that interim. And I'll be the first to admit that it isn't for everybody. Studio artists tend to prefer simpler, more intuitive interface design. I think that is a large reason for many 3D artists looking down their noses at Blender. The interface is neither standard nor intuitive, and wrapping your brain around it is the first major hurdle in using the software correctly.
It is worth noting that a lot of the smaller game engines that tend to be popular with indie studios are making sure to include support for Blender. If you are an indie developer on a tight budget, Blender is your best friend. Getting liscences for your team for any of the common 3D apps is going to be very expensive, and will run you thousands, or even tens of thousands of dollars. (if you have a medium-sized team) Blender is free, and if your artists can use it, you can hook them all up with copies for nothing. And it is entirely legit to use it for commercial work.