Not trying to belittle anyones work here, but i try out blender from time to time to see how it advances, and my gawd there are a ton of cases where it isn't consistent with it's self. Also a lot of the bmesh tools still dont work as expected.
i was testing with the graphic all build of the latest trunk at the time.
first bit is, how the bevel and inset work, in this build they gave these tools similar interaction to the scale, or crease weight tool, where you just drag the mouse, but both of those tools have visual feedback, that there being effected by the mouse, also both of those tools allow for numerical input, to be used to set exact values. For the bevel and inset to input a exact value you need to complete the operation than edit it in the toolbox or f6 dialog. Really if the interaction for these tools wont copy existing tools completely, don't make it similar and have the user surprised when it wont do things like allow numerical input.
an other one is the names of commands and keys for doing similar things on different component types.
like connecting components, for edges you select your edges and subdivide, but for vertex's you it's called connect, and on a different key and menu, then there is the whole create edge command which just fucks things up since it just makes a edge over the face, and doesn't cute the face between the 2 verts.
also bevel tool cant chamfer vertex's, and vertex chamfer tool add-on, messes right up if chamfering the vert would form a ngon, like in a case where the vert is connected to more than 4 edges.
Also so my whole post isn't negative, cut tool is nice as hell, and skin modifier is really cool, and seems like it would be useful for making quick.
Just think blender really needs to make everything work consistently, and spend some time on making tools context sensitive instead of making a ton of variants of more or less the same operation.
You sure you're not using an old build? I heard in the latest builds the bevel tool works as expected. I agree, I was disssapointed with how it behaved when 2.63 came out, but I think they've fixed it. That's the good thing thing about Blender. Someone will eventually fix what's broken
passerby: totally agree, I've been writing some scripted operators to make things cleaner, like combining cut and subdivide into 1 command, making delete context sensitive...and so on. might release em once I get some time (lots of big deadlines atm )
passerby: totally agree, I've been writing some scripted operators to make things cleaner, like combining cut and subdivide into 1 command, making delete context sensitive...and so on. might release em once I get some time (lots of big deadlines atm )
ya i was thinking of doing hte same at one point and have done something similar to max before, and made myself some context sensitive tools, but not going to bother doing that to blender for now, since i still dont think i would use it much over maya, and modo.
i'd love to have an app I like working in that i can install at any company without licensing issues. being able to network render without issue is a big thing for me at the moment.
Sorry to dig up this thread again (with no news no less), but I made a minitutorial for a cut and paste sculpting trick that I've found to be very useful and that may not be obvious:
Naw, he's in his 20s. He's the principle creator of content on BlenderCookie which is part of a network of tutorial sites including MaxCookie and ModoCookie, so I assume he would have consulted his fellow instructors on this. That said, he does seem to have limited professional experience outside of education.
Naw, he's in his 20s. He's the principle creator of content on BlenderCookie which is part of a network of tutorial sites including MaxCookie and ModoCookie, so I assume he would have consulted his fellow instructors on this. That said, he does seem to have limited professional experience outside of education.
Hey guys,
Thanks for posting this here! I'm not too active on these forums and so it's an honor to have this linked. Hopefully I can sooth any qualms about the experience concerns.
On the production front I worked as a fulltime freelancer for 3-4 years and now work fulltime for CG Cookie doing both the education and studio production work. Some of the studio production work can be seen at http://studio.cgcookie.com
My specialty is modeling but I do a little bit of everything.
As far as the reviews, it's being actively reviewed during the production process by Wes Burke and Beorn Leonard. Wes is a game industry vet and is my partner at CG Cookie. Beorn Leonard recently finished working as an animator on Happy Feet 2, was one of the key animators for Sintel from the Blender Foundation and now is doing all of our animations for our Eat Sheep game project, http://eatsheep.com
Heh, well I stand corrected. I didn't even realize CGCookie had a studio...
Haha no worries. Most people don't. Our main focus is the education side and our own internal projects (Eat Sheep) and so the studio aspect is more of a side game that keeps us busy and adds variety to our daily lives.
Our studio is based in the Chicago suburbs and we're expanding it bit by bit as able.
I really wish there was a way to alter vertex normals. I love blender and am deep into learning it, but this niggles me so much! I'm interested in environment modelling so this is pretty vital for those bill-boarded plants.
I've been using blender ever since I first took the plunge in to 3D and I've been pretty satisfied. In the few G+ Hangouts I've been in there is always someone who is surprised to see a Blender user. :P
I can't find much mention of this, but I found some useful tips on using matcap materials made in ZBrush for real time display in blender. Comes from the lovely Ben Simonds.
EDIT: Might have got my tuts mixed up a little. The first link will actually show you his matcap generator for making them in blender and apply them, but it's the same basic principle as making them in Zbrush and if you're like me you won't be making your own. :P
Today the Blender Foundation announced the launch of the Blender Network; a partnership program for professionals who are using and developing Blender. The network offering includes authentication and social networking for partners, and provides a public directory to showcase and promote business with and around the 3D open source program Blender. The Network will be led by Bart Veldhuizen - moderator of the successful Blendernation blog.
It's good initiative. Had a chat with Bart the other day about some membership tweaks but he indicated it's going well. From what I understand it's supposed to be specifically targeted at professional Blender users (those using Blender to earn a living/income) so not really open to the wider community. I'm sure some might find issue with that but there does need to be some sort of qualifier if BF wants to keep that particular site a 'pro only' area.
The only weak point I'm seeing so far is that when searching by service type, there are no fields specific to games on there. Various types of work for games are definitely specialized and separate from film/VFX etc.
Also, medical/science-viz and arch-viz categories would probably be helpful additions as well, because those will again be very different skillsets.
Blender is an amazing program with so much potential. At Siggraph I had the pleasure of meeting Ton (the founder of the Blender Foundation), and just meeting such a nice and friendly person has a positive effect on how one see's blender. If you can respect the person, their creation can be seen in a much different light.
Blender is still not something I can drop my other apps for, but who knows how it will be in the future. Highly recommend getting the Maya to Blender keymap file and the few plug ins that make the interface feel less foreign.
Good stuff! The edge parrallell snapping looks great.
yeah it looks really usefull. shame you cant just drag and blender works out the most likely translation vector for you. Still cool tho.
my personal favourite so far has been the new handles on the transform gizmo. I missed being able to translate across the dominant planes so much. (coming from max/maya.)
Hate to be a debbie downer but I don't see anything that excited me very much in that video. Seems to be the first step in far more intuitive snapping in Blender though, so I guess it's just my imagination failing me
Oh by the way Jonathan major kudos on this article;
Hate to be a debbie downer but I don't see anything that excited me very much in that video. Seems to be the first step in far more intuitive snapping in Blender though, so I guess it's just my imagination failing me
Oh by the way Jonathan major kudos on this article;
Something like this has been badly needed for so long now. Fanboys are what keep Blenders development back. :thumbup:
Thanks Andreas. It's an article I have been wanting to write for a long time. Have you personally been pushed back by fanboys? I'm curious to get more people's opinions from outside the Blender community as well.
Thanks Andreas. It's an article I have been wanting to write for a long time. Have you personally been pushed back by fanboys? I'm curious to get more people's opinions from outside the Blender community as well.
Many times as a matter of fact. I was so turned off that at one point I didnt even want to bother seeing the improvements of 2.5. It was to the point where if someone mentioned Blender in the workplace the first reaction would be to say something negative about Blender...meaning there was a negative emotional response tied to the program directly related to the comments seen on the blender forums.
If you mention any autodesk product, you will get attacked and insulted by certain members of the community. You cant talk about what you find hard to work with in blender or what could be improved...and god forbid if you mention you like how another application implemented a certain UI element or feature.
Part of the problem is that when you see these fanboys, and see the work they put out...it looks childish...something that would be embarrassing to post in any other applications forum..yet they have the nerve to criticize other applications, users or those trying to find a way to mix blender in with their current pipeline.
I think it is also a problem if the fanboy input is loud enough that other users who use multiple apps cannot be allowed to have any input on the future of Blender. In short, it doesnt feel very welcoming nor does it imply that Blender can or should be in the same ballpark as other apps and their artist. That cant be good.
Many times as a matter of fact. I was so turned off that at one point I didnt even want to bother seeing the improvements of 2.5. It was to the point where if someone mentioned Blender in the workplace the first reaction would be to say something negative about Blender...meaning there was a negative emotional response tied to the program directly related to the comments seen on the blender forums.
If you mention any autodesk product, you will get attacked and insulted by certain members of the community. You cant talk about what you find hard to work with in blender or what could be improved...and god forbid if you mention you like how another application implemented a certain UI element or feature.
Part of the problem is that when you see these fanboys, and see the work they put out...it looks childish...something that would be embarrassing to post in any other applications forum..yet they have the nerve to criticize other applications, users or those trying to find a way to mix blender in with their current pipeline.
I think it is also a problem if the fanboy input is loud enough that other users who use multiple apps cannot be allowed to have any input on the future of Blender. In short, it doesnt feel very welcoming nor does it imply that Blender can or should be in the same ballpark as other apps and their artist. That cant be good.
I think it is also a problem if the fanboy input is loud enough that other users who use multiple apps cannot be allowed to have any input on the future of Blender. In short, it doesnt feel very welcoming nor does it imply that Blender can or should be in the same ballpark as other apps and their artist. That cant be good.
I wouldn't worry about Blender's future being decided by vocal users on the forums. The actual developers have their own channels to discuss stuff and make decisions - mainly IRC and mailing lists. One reason for this is exactly the noise you see at user forums, though some developers do participate there. If you ask me, most discussions at BlenderArtists about what Blender should be and how, don't achieve much beyond random people being loud with their ideas.
However, I do agree it can make things feel very unwelcoming.
A few people have come back questioning whether this attitude actually exists or is a real problem. Thank you for speaking up!
No worries, as I expected it was written off in that same defensive manner. I think perhaps theres a bit too much ego or elitism involved on such forums. If you go looking for information and see this kind insulting banter, no matter how great the application is, that negative response will be associated with the application. This is behavioral science 101. On the same coin, when I met Ton, he left a very good impression and it carried over to how I personally see Blender. Generally speaking you dont want to be a part of a community or user base that is known negatively.
If an employer has a negative blender bias because of this kind of conduct and over all impression, then it makes it harder for the artist who uses blender to present work made in blender in the professional field.
I might even argue that region plays a role in these types of perceptions. On one side you have the US and Canada with its established industries and a perhaps a different perspective on professional tools...and then you have the rest of the world which doesnt have those industries as they are in north america. Their stimuli react to a completely different environment with different career opportunities and expectations, this might cause a us vs them mentality...and if so that still cant be healthy. I believe it was at the blender conference in 2011 that Ton hinted that some in the community need to be careful in how they present Blender, and or to tone it down.
I totally agree, Jonathan.
More often than not I find that Blender has a negative reputation among many professionals and though it is getting better, it is still a problem. I have been using Blender for years and have been flamed out of BlenderArtists/elysiun on numerous occasions for suggesting features or improvements that other software has (and quite often Blender still doesn't have).
I recall on one occasion I suggested a GPU powered renderer and was flamed off the thread...oh how times change.
I think that the main issue is that many Blender fanboys are very hostile towards anything that isn't Blender and have an almost automated response towards any possible corruption of the hallowed source code by polluting it with ideas from industry standard applications such as Max or Maya, often seemingly because it was from these evil applications so it must be a bad idea.
Max and Maya are industry standard applications for a reason...because they are awesome at what they do. If Blender is so perfect then how does Autodesk still rule the roost? Companies/artists have to pay a lot of money for these and the market always decides.
Please dont get me wrong, I really do think Blender is an amazing application and I use it daily but it does have many flaws and sometimes Blender fanboys can be very protective over changes, or suggested changes, due to a fear of Blender turning into Max or whatever.
Personally I think the "Blender is for Blender artists" mantra is bullshit and is not something that should be encouraged, especially from leading members of the community and it doesn't help that Ton posts messages on Twitter that constantly promotes this anti-Autodesk agenda. It's childish and it deifies this sort of protectionism which makes new users feel isolated because they are not part of the elite club or unwelcome because they come from other software and wish to bring workflows/feature ideas with them. Ultimately it slows Blenders progress and development because as a community we are actively being extremely selective in Blenders direction by shutting all these other people out.
Blender should be for everyone and everyone should have equal say and often it seems that Blender does things in an awkward way because it can. Until the voice of reason is louder than the Blender fanboys, I really don't see this changing.
As someone who lives in both worlds, this drives me crazy and I can see why people get put off.
Replies
New shapeways materials, also a new shop where you can sell your designs! Pretty interesting.
i was testing with the graphic all build of the latest trunk at the time.
first bit is, how the bevel and inset work, in this build they gave these tools similar interaction to the scale, or crease weight tool, where you just drag the mouse, but both of those tools have visual feedback, that there being effected by the mouse, also both of those tools allow for numerical input, to be used to set exact values. For the bevel and inset to input a exact value you need to complete the operation than edit it in the toolbox or f6 dialog. Really if the interaction for these tools wont copy existing tools completely, don't make it similar and have the user surprised when it wont do things like allow numerical input.
an other one is the names of commands and keys for doing similar things on different component types.
like connecting components, for edges you select your edges and subdivide, but for vertex's you it's called connect, and on a different key and menu, then there is the whole create edge command which just fucks things up since it just makes a edge over the face, and doesn't cute the face between the 2 verts.
also bevel tool cant chamfer vertex's, and vertex chamfer tool add-on, messes right up if chamfering the vert would form a ngon, like in a case where the vert is connected to more than 4 edges.
Also so my whole post isn't negative, cut tool is nice as hell, and skin modifier is really cool, and seems like it would be useful for making quick.
Just think blender really needs to make everything work consistently, and spend some time on making tools context sensitive instead of making a ton of variants of more or less the same operation.
ya i was thinking of doing hte same at one point and have done something similar to max before, and made myself some context sensitive tools, but not going to bother doing that to blender for now, since i still dont think i would use it much over maya, and modo.
(this is why im bothering to look)
http://www.blender3d.org/e-shop/product_info_n.php?products_id=151
isn't Jonathan Williamson about 17 or 18. hardly an experienced vet. would be nice to see who was advising on this.
Hey guys,
Thanks for posting this here! I'm not too active on these forums and so it's an honor to have this linked. Hopefully I can sooth any qualms about the experience concerns.
I am twenty three but am nearing in on ten years experience in both Blender and the 3D industry. I am a Blender Foundation Certified Instructor, [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Character-Development-Blender-Jonathan-Williamson/dp/1435456254/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1341260102&sr=8-1&keywords=blender+jonathan+williamson"]a published author[/ame], and I've produced six complete training DVDs and 200+ video tutorials through [ame]Blender Cookie[/ame].
On the production front I worked as a fulltime freelancer for 3-4 years and now work fulltime for CG Cookie doing both the education and studio production work. Some of the studio production work can be seen at http://studio.cgcookie.com
My specialty is modeling but I do a little bit of everything.
As far as the reviews, it's being actively reviewed during the production process by Wes Burke and Beorn Leonard. Wes is a game industry vet and is my partner at CG Cookie. Beorn Leonard recently finished working as an animator on Happy Feet 2, was one of the key animators for Sintel from the Blender Foundation and now is doing all of our animations for our Eat Sheep game project, http://eatsheep.com
Cheers
Haha no worries. Most people don't. Our main focus is the education side and our own internal projects (Eat Sheep) and so the studio aspect is more of a side game that keeps us busy and adds variety to our daily lives.
Our studio is based in the Chicago suburbs and we're expanding it bit by bit as able.
I think I'll take that as a compliment
And how ;P
http://download.blender.org/release/Blender2.64/
http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Dev:Ref/Release_Notes/2.64/Skin_Modifier
full changelog :
http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Dev:Ref/Release_Notes/2.64
I can't find much mention of this, but I found some useful tips on using matcap materials made in ZBrush for real time display in blender. Comes from the lovely Ben Simonds.
Here is the quick and simple intro on his website:
http://bensimonds.com/2010/07/30/matcap-generator/
and here is a video he did on Blender Cookie on combining matcaps.
http://cgcookie.com/blender/2012/01/09/combining-and-creating-glsl-matcap-materials/
Enjoy.
EDIT: Might have got my tuts mixed up a little. The first link will actually show you his matcap generator for making them in blender and apply them, but it's the same basic principle as making them in Zbrush and if you're like me you won't be making your own. :P
Not a perfect result but should get people started...
Well colour me excited!
[ame="
New Looptools out.
Blender Network announcement from two days ago:
Today the Blender Foundation announced the launch of the Blender Network; a partnership program for professionals who are using and developing Blender. The network offering includes authentication and social networking for partners, and provides a public directory to showcase and promote business with and around the 3D open source program Blender. The Network will be led by Bart Veldhuizen - moderator of the successful Blendernation blog.
http://www.blender.org/bf/network-press.pdf
Website: http://www.blendernetwork.org/
What do you guys think about it's usefulness/viability?
Also, medical/science-viz and arch-viz categories would probably be helpful additions as well, because those will again be very different skillsets.
[ame="
Blender is still not something I can drop my other apps for, but who knows how it will be in the future. Highly recommend getting the Maya to Blender keymap file and the few plug ins that make the interface feel less foreign.
Good stuff! The edge parrallell snapping looks great.
yeah it looks really usefull. shame you cant just drag and blender works out the most likely translation vector for you. Still cool tho.
my personal favourite so far has been the new handles on the transform gizmo. I missed being able to translate across the dominant planes so much. (coming from max/maya.)
select a vertice -> shift+v -> select the edge -> move along edge how you want
True but that only works for an individual vertex. The new parallel snapping works for any selection.
You kind of can already. Activate any transform and then click the middle mouse button (or drag) to choose the axis you want.
I know, It seems like an obvious paradigm to follow for these tools. hopefully once its in the main build it'll be refined.
Oh by the way Jonathan major kudos on this article;
http://cgcookie.com/blender/2012/08/18/how-to-be-a-positive-member-of-the-blender-community/
Something like this has been badly needed for so long now. Fanboys are what keep Blenders development back. :thumbup:
Thanks Andreas. It's an article I have been wanting to write for a long time. Have you personally been pushed back by fanboys? I'm curious to get more people's opinions from outside the Blender community as well.
Many times as a matter of fact. I was so turned off that at one point I didnt even want to bother seeing the improvements of 2.5. It was to the point where if someone mentioned Blender in the workplace the first reaction would be to say something negative about Blender...meaning there was a negative emotional response tied to the program directly related to the comments seen on the blender forums.
If you mention any autodesk product, you will get attacked and insulted by certain members of the community. You cant talk about what you find hard to work with in blender or what could be improved...and god forbid if you mention you like how another application implemented a certain UI element or feature.
Part of the problem is that when you see these fanboys, and see the work they put out...it looks childish...something that would be embarrassing to post in any other applications forum..yet they have the nerve to criticize other applications, users or those trying to find a way to mix blender in with their current pipeline.
I think it is also a problem if the fanboy input is loud enough that other users who use multiple apps cannot be allowed to have any input on the future of Blender. In short, it doesnt feel very welcoming nor does it imply that Blender can or should be in the same ballpark as other apps and their artist. That cant be good.
I hope you don't mind but I have copied your quote into the article on Blender Nation: http://www.blendernation.com/2012/08/20/how-to-be-a-good-member-of-the-blender-community/#comments
A few people have come back questioning whether this attitude actually exists or is a real problem. Thank you for speaking up!
I wouldn't worry about Blender's future being decided by vocal users on the forums.
However, I do agree it can make things feel very unwelcoming.
No worries, as I expected it was written off in that same defensive manner. I think perhaps theres a bit too much ego or elitism involved on such forums. If you go looking for information and see this kind insulting banter, no matter how great the application is, that negative response will be associated with the application. This is behavioral science 101. On the same coin, when I met Ton, he left a very good impression and it carried over to how I personally see Blender. Generally speaking you dont want to be a part of a community or user base that is known negatively.
If an employer has a negative blender bias because of this kind of conduct and over all impression, then it makes it harder for the artist who uses blender to present work made in blender in the professional field.
I might even argue that region plays a role in these types of perceptions. On one side you have the US and Canada with its established industries and a perhaps a different perspective on professional tools...and then you have the rest of the world which doesnt have those industries as they are in north america. Their stimuli react to a completely different environment with different career opportunities and expectations, this might cause a us vs them mentality...and if so that still cant be healthy. I believe it was at the blender conference in 2011 that Ton hinted that some in the community need to be careful in how they present Blender, and or to tone it down.
More often than not I find that Blender has a negative reputation among many professionals and though it is getting better, it is still a problem. I have been using Blender for years and have been flamed out of BlenderArtists/elysiun on numerous occasions for suggesting features or improvements that other software has (and quite often Blender still doesn't have).
I recall on one occasion I suggested a GPU powered renderer and was flamed off the thread...oh how times change.
I think that the main issue is that many Blender fanboys are very hostile towards anything that isn't Blender and have an almost automated response towards any possible corruption of the hallowed source code by polluting it with ideas from industry standard applications such as Max or Maya, often seemingly because it was from these evil applications so it must be a bad idea.
Max and Maya are industry standard applications for a reason...because they are awesome at what they do. If Blender is so perfect then how does Autodesk still rule the roost? Companies/artists have to pay a lot of money for these and the market always decides.
Please dont get me wrong, I really do think Blender is an amazing application and I use it daily but it does have many flaws and sometimes Blender fanboys can be very protective over changes, or suggested changes, due to a fear of Blender turning into Max or whatever.
Personally I think the "Blender is for Blender artists" mantra is bullshit and is not something that should be encouraged, especially from leading members of the community and it doesn't help that Ton posts messages on Twitter that constantly promotes this anti-Autodesk agenda. It's childish and it deifies this sort of protectionism which makes new users feel isolated because they are not part of the elite club or unwelcome because they come from other software and wish to bring workflows/feature ideas with them. Ultimately it slows Blenders progress and development because as a community we are actively being extremely selective in Blenders direction by shutting all these other people out.
Blender should be for everyone and everyone should have equal say and often it seems that Blender does things in an awkward way because it can. Until the voice of reason is louder than the Blender fanboys, I really don't see this changing.
As someone who lives in both worlds, this drives me crazy and I can see why people get put off.