I have installed Blender and was wondering if there is a tutorial or tips page which gives you directions to what is a good idea to setup and change in blender after a fresh installation, especially for us 3ds max people.
Any special plugins to install, any settings to fix, anything you really need to know?
Going to go through some tutorials later, but wondered if there was any good tips page for this before starting.
Maya-style navigation in Blender without conflicts (I had been using Max with DRaster Switcher for years therefore Maya-style navigation is what I needed):
From there it took me a few weeks to a month to fully switch to the program. The biggest barrier of entry was actually the needlessly convoluted registration process on the BlenderArtists forums.
I have installed Blender and was wondering if there is a tutorial or tips page which gives you directions to what is a good idea to setup and change in blender after a fresh installation, especially for us 3ds max people.
Any special plugins to install, any settings to fix, anything you really need to know?
Going to go through some tutorials later, but wondered if there was any good tips page for this before starting.
There's a couple of things that I'd suggest as out-of-the-box things to try.
I shared my setup of blender that has Maya/Silo ALT-navigation, and has more standardized LMB selections. It's a bit more than just a keymap, it comes with a bunch of addons I use (and a good deal of them modified, either to use maya ALT-nav or such), this is pretty much a whole custom setup. You can find out more about it here: http://www.blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?352666-Input-Custom-Blender-Setup-Silo-Maya-esque
If anyone can... please hop on to their irc channel #blendercoders@freenode and start talking to them (kaito = Ton btw). The reason for this is they desperately (in my opinion) need more input from those who have been in the industry/studio environment and have more grounded expectation & needs... any influence or participation on the development side can only be a good thing for the software.
Yeh, I'm curious too on what doesn't work according to your needs.
Of course,the software eneds some add-on here and there but overall, I think it's pretty grounded (at last for game pipeline).
If not for AAA title, I would consider it first choice for indie title (more than Maya LT for say)
There's been a new tutorial series released on Steam, Blender Game Asset Creation. It's produced by the Blender Institute. http://store.steampowered.com/app/373020/
It'll also be available for Blender Cloud subscribers, currently there's only a bit of intro information available. https://cloud.blender.org/training/
they desperately (in my opinion) need more input from those who have been in the industry/studio environment and have more grounded expectation & needs...
There's no way to store components to be selected afterwards (Tags/Clusters)
Quad view completely useless/broken
No auto wireframe for orthographic views
Too much switching modes due to this
When you select something, it automatically updates all the other modes, frustrating
Totally useless RMB (default LMB) assigned to the 3D cursor, how many times did you assign it a position with the RMB insted of SHIFT+S? The 3D Cursor needs a proper "3D Cursor Mode" so that you don't mess with your other selections
No detachable menus
Claustrophobic menus
No detachable menus
If you set up Maya keys for navigation, the Knife (and probably other stuff) stops working correctly, even if you fix it with flat-D suggestions, CTRL and SHIFT doesn't work
No proper Layers, I mean, take a look at Cinema 4D Layers, and then Blender
Loop Cut and Slide, instead of slide and loop cut like other software do, great example: XSI
Semi-working Outliner, it's hard to select stuff (some of which can't be selected at all) and keep the scene organized
No way to quickly visually group something on the Outliner (right click useless)
Embarrassing Splines
Broken Edge snapping
No Grid snapping
No distance between selections in Transform panel
No workplane
Since I'm not using it that much, this is what I found for now.
Thank you for being specific Sonic ! Now *that* is being constructive. I agree with you on many of these points, especially on the subject of the Outliner. Don't hesitate to follow the dev roadmaps and even interact with the developpers to bring up your suggestions.
Just be careful with calling anything "useless" - for instance, the 3D cursor can have very unexpected (and powerful) uses. I too was weirded out by it at first, but it soon enough became something I heavily rely on, to a point that it is becoming my main navigation tool. (I could expand on that more, but I basically not only use it for modeling but also as a way to precisely center the camera wherever I want - something that allowed me to get rid of the motion sickness I usually get in other 3d programs after long periods of time).
Oh no, I'm not calling the 3D Cursor useless, I'm referring to the key binding to the RMB, which, even if you use it, you can't precisely positioning it to anything so is not that useful, considering how the other applications uses the RMB.
I've assigned it to CTRL+ALT+RMB so that I don't accidentally move it. For RMB I'm using rRMB or Wazou Right Clic Pie Menu, as I'm still evaluating what works better for me.
It would be cool to be able to create your own RMB menu without the needs of scripting, like in Cinema 4D (ehehe).
Drag and drop from a command list
For example I created this Spline sub menu in the V menu since from R12 it didn't exist any more.
Yup, I am totally with you on the subject of easily customizable menus. This is indeed a needed feature, since at the moment creating such a menu requires some rather advanced stuff involving python scripting and hunting down commands not easily accessible from the UI.
That being said, I also can understand why such a feature is not available yet - if it's not on the current roadmap, it simply won't happen until other things are resolved. That certainly is a weakness in the Blender development cycle (limited ressources meaning that things have to be carefully prioritized), but also a strength in the sense that the devs seem to have a very solid vision of what needs to be adressed and in which order (as opposed to commercial software design, often driven by committee and resulting in bug-ridden software).
And I also see how some users might not want to have "set 3d cursor" assigned to RMB. My point was more about the mere fact of calling anything "useless", which never really leads to constructive discussion, especially since it is a very subjective point of view. For instance, even coming from Max and Maya I am very glad that I embraced this seemingly odd design choice as I am now fully relying on it and working faster than before thanks to it. So obviously it is not a "useless" feature or key binding, but rather, something that some users might use and some might not.
Now of course it could be argued that for the sake of attracting a wide audience, moving this feature to another input wouldn't hurt, especially since legacy users could very well remap it easily ; but there is a fine line between following norms (RMB for a context menu) and sticking to a non-conformist design choice which actually has a lot of merits. At the end of the day I feel like the Blender devs have other (and more important) things to take care of first
There's no way to store components to be selected afterwards (Tags/Clusters)
- vertex groups in editmode
- object groups in object mode
both using the CTRL+G shortucut.
Quad view completely useless/broken
-yes, but who use it?
No auto wireframe for orthographic views
-what is that?
Too much switching modes due to this
-what do you mean?
When you select something, it automatically updates all the other modes, frustrating
-what do you mean?
Totally useless RMB (default LMB) assigned to the 3D cursor, how many times did you assign it a position with the RMB insted of SHIFT+S? The 3D Cursor needs a proper "3D Cursor Mode" so that you don't mess with your other selections
- I assume that you don't know how to use the 3Dcursor, I use it so much that if there was a "3dcursor" mode my overall speed drop by 30%
No detachable menus
-agree, but you can at least detach windows
Claustrophobic menus
-maybe yes maybe no, I find maya or 3dsmax more claustrophobic
If you set up Maya keys for navigation, the Knife (and probably other stuff) stops working correctly, even if you fix it with flat-D suggestions, CTRL and SHIFT doesn't work
-do not do this please, maya mode sucks in Blender.
No proper Layers, I mean, take a look at Cinema 4D Layers, and then Blender
-yes, but there are alternatives, such as object groups.
Loop Cut and Slide, instead of slide and loop cut like other software do, great example: XSI
-c'mon.....
Semi-working Outliner, it's hard to select stuff (some of which can't be selected at all) and keep the scene organized
-agree
No way to quickly visually group something on the Outliner (right click useless)
-agree
Embarrassing Splines
-they are not the best for precise stuff, but at least you can model spline with poly edges than convert in spline (like I do most of the time)
Broken Edge snapping
-it works for me.
No Grid snapping
-there is but tricky, so 50% agree.
No distance between selections in Transform panel
-what do you mean?
No workplane
-there are working planes. 3DView >> N panel >> Transform orientation, add how many planes you want based on face selection.
All those points are based on sort of CADdy usage of Blender, are you working as enviroment artist?
If anyone can... please hop on to their irc channel #blendercoders@freenode and start talking to them (kaito = Ton btw). The reason for this is they desperately (in my opinion) need more input from those who have been in the industry/studio environment and have more grounded expectation & needs... any influence or participation on the development side can only be a good thing for the software.
Theoretically, yes you are right. That's how a smart cycle of development would look like.
Unfortunately the BI/BF are not keen on getting input from 'professionals', they actually seem to have quite a dislike to them giving feedback on how some things are resolved in other packages.
As an example just think about the whole RMB issue in it's full scope. And ofcourse, the whole interaction/selection is part of that same discussion.
I won't go in further as I'll probably end up in a rage of rant.
But I'm over it, my setup works for me, and I've found strength in the community and unfortunately expect next to nothing useful UI/UX related from the BI/BF team. The community addons is where it's at for me. That's what makes blender shine.
Unfortunately, anybody that tries blender has no idea where to look for these addons nor can expect that the state of mess blender is in can be rectified with addons. In turn most experienced users curious to try out blender cut their adventure short under the initial 10 minutes.
http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Extensions:2.6/Py/Scripts/3D_interaction/BatchTransforms
If we're talking about the same thing, there is something that replaces the worplane even by default in blender. The command is "Create Orientation", default hotkey "crtl+alt+spacebar" (I've added it to WazouPieMenus > Orientation Pie). You can manage them further on in the N panel > Transforms Orientations.
If you set up Maya keys for navigation, the Knife (and probably other stuff) stops working correctly, even if you fix it with flat-D suggestions, CTRL and SHIFT doesn't work[/B][/I]
-do not do this please, maya mode sucks in Blender.
Unfortunately for most users migrating from other packages, that is the first thing they try before they give up.
"The defaults don't work, let's try Maya."
Another 5 minutes > goodbye.
The point is it shouldn't be there if it's useless!
Oddly the knife tool works in MayaSetup, it doesn't work if you saetup Maya navigation manually. Trying out that Maya Setup is what made me realize that you can make it work somehow, so I dug in to reverse engineer it.
It takes a whole lot of indepth knowledge of blender in order to be able to customize it. Overall it's got a super steep learning curve.
...
On the bright side, if you can stick through and customize it to your liking, and spend the time to research all the addons available - it's one hell of a tool. You can make it super fast.
And we don't need a better example than MmAaXx to showcase what is possible staying 100% inside of blender.
There's no way to store components to be selected afterwards (Tags/Clusters)
Quad view completely useless/broken
No auto wireframe for orthographic views
Too much switching modes due to this
When you select something, it automatically updates all the other modes, frustrating
Totally useless RMB (default LMB) assigned to the 3D cursor, how many times did you assign it a position with the RMB insted of SHIFT+S? The 3D Cursor needs a proper "3D Cursor Mode" so that you don't mess with your other selections
No detachable menus
Claustrophobic menus
No detachable menus
If you set up Maya keys for navigation, the Knife (and probably other stuff) stops working correctly, even if you fix it with flat-D suggestions, CTRL and SHIFT doesn't work
No proper Layers, I mean, take a look at Cinema 4D Layers, and then Blender
Loop Cut and Slide, instead of slide and loop cut like other software do, great example: XSI
Semi-working Outliner, it's hard to select stuff (some of which can't be selected at all) and keep the scene organized
No way to quickly visually group something on the Outliner (right click useless)
Embarrassing Splines
Broken Edge snapping
No Grid snapping
No distance between selections in Transform panel
No workplane
Since I'm not using it that much, this is what I found for now.
Ok here we go. This is the first time ever I defend a 3D software. I totally understand your take on this because I was exactly like you; I didn't know the software and thought a lot of things had to change. But that's, I think, because I was still in my Maya/Max workflow and mindset.
Basically, it's a veteran that's been using Blender since it's very first release and is quite known amongst the Blnder community for his great knowledge of the software and his mastery of Render.
Go see his site: BlenderGuru.com
SO on this video, he took a stance and risked to explain what he thought was wrong inside of Blender after comparing it ro the other softwares on the market.
And pretty much EVERYTHING you said about it's usability has been criticsized on the video.
When I first started learning the software some months ago, I thought to myslef that it needed some re-modeling. After watching the above videos, I was glad to see I wasn't the only one unhappy about the state of the UI.
I totally agreed to all of the points and flaws he pointed out at the time.
Today, I find myself disagreeing with most of them simply because...
I learned the software.
There are still a few broken mechanics here and there but they certainly don't lie in the modeling (as in the basic tools).
While learning througouly the software, I opned Maya everything and I checked if EVERY freaking tools that was available in Maya were also doable inside of Blnder.
And they all are.
I checked the speed of execution, the method and accessibility of each tool and found myself finding flaws and good points inside of both.
Then I understood that both of them were designed under a different mindset.
Also, a guy after the presentation said something very interesting:
The user is IGNORANT, he's not stupid.
It's normal that you find the mechanics of the software clunky when you first use it but if you don't take the time to learn it, saying it's broken doens't make much sense.
Now I'll take my time to correct each of your point:
-''Quad view completely useless/broken''
If you're talking of Quad view as in the ''Ctrl-Alt-Q'' quad view, then yes you might fight it clunky simply because it's more like a quick preview quad view.
In Maya (or Max?), I know you're used to the quick ''sapcebar'' push but in Blender, you actually have to build it youself.
You simply duplicate your window by clicking on corners proceed to assemble your windows from there. You duplice your 3D four time and then move the camera to orthographic views according to your need. You can even save your screen layouts with one click after that.
''There's no way to store components to be selected afterwards (Tags/Clusters)''
Make Groups maybe? In Blender groups don't work the same like Maya. Groups are to groups obejcts, vertices,bones,etc. so you can quickly select them later on or assign constraints, transofrms and such on a whole group.
In Maya, groups a ''Null'' objects on whcih you put child objects underneath.
''When you select something, it automatically updates all the other modes, frustrating''
Huh?
''Totally useless RMB (default LMB) assigned to the 3D cursor, how many times did you assign it a position with the RMB insted of SHIFT+S? The 3D Cursor needs a proper "3D Cursor Mode" so that you don't mess with your other selections''
The 3D cursor is probably on of the few very solid things that works inside of Blender. You can either place it with SHift-S, clikcing directly on the 3D view or assign it to a precise position. Hit N to acces the ''N-Panel'' and look for ''3D cursor''. You can change its world position form there.
No detachable menus
Claustrophobic menus
No detachable menus
Click on corner of a window to duplicate it and then change the menu from there.
SHift+click to detach it..
Ctrl+up arrow to maximize any window...
If you set up Maya keys for navigation, the Knife (and probably other stuff) stops working correctly, even if you fix it with flat-D suggestions, CTRL and SHIFT doesn't work
I did the same as you for this one during the first days and also did when learning XSI. Don't.
Blender doesn't work like Maya nor Max. Hell, now that tihnk of it, those presets shoudn't even be avaiable since they break the whole mechanic and purpose of the software.
''No proper Layers, I mean, take a look at Cinema 4D Layers, and then Blender''
Loop Cut and Slide, instead of slide and loop cut like other software do, great example: XSI
You don't use the tool properly or if not, I don't see how it's a problem. Click Ctrl+R , hover mouse on face loop, click once and then slide your loop.
Right click to leave it at center and if you're not happy with it, ress G twice to slide components across surface (that goes for vertex, edges, loops,etc.)
''Semi-working Outliner, it's hard to select stuff (some of which can't be selected at all) and keep the scene organized''
Gotta agree with this one. The outliner is not very intuitive. In Blender, it just not as useful in other software to have a good comprehension and visualisation of your scene.
No way to quickly visually group something on the Outliner (right click useless)
Group objects with Ctrl+G then set the visualisation of your outliner to either ''Groups'' or Datablocks.
In Blender, everything, mesh, textures, materials, light,etc. are datablocks.
Embarrassing Splines
Real softwares have curves..
What splines are you talking about?
Broken Edge snapping
No Grid snapping
Do you even ''Shift-CTRl-Tab'' ?
No distance between selections in Transform panel
No workplane
I don't get those two.
Don't forget to check out in the modifier menu to see other useufl modeling tools.
My main concern right now with the modeling tools is that a lot of useful tools have to be actiavted inside of the Add-On menu when they should be there by default from the Get-go..
In Maya, I've never needed to activate any add-on to use tools for basic modeling purposes but in Blender I had to search them and activate like 6-7 up to date.
Then again, I'm still a student and I'm not even a modeler so maybe my take on this doen't have any weight.
I've had 3 years of Maya behind me and 3 months of XSI, a few grips of Modo and Max. They all of similarities but I believe each one should be learnt they way they were deisgned. Don't try to juxtapose your current software controls and mindset when learning a new one...
just wondering if anyone knows what's up with the individual origins pivot type in 2.74. if i set my coordinate system to normal and activate that for a vertex selection, shouldn't it have the same effect as using local coordinates in max, i.e. move every single vertex along it's individual normal on whatever axis i selelct from the gizmo?
all i can manage so far in blender is to have it all move on the axis of the axis of the vertex where the gizmo is displayed.
not sure if bug or user error.
also is it possible to have blender memorize selections per subobject type? say i select an edge ring, convert that to faces, grow it and so forth. if i switch back to edges, my ring selection will be gone. max is quite handy in that it stores that original selection for further use.
solution via script would be fine, still have to look into those.
You don't need to go in "individual origins" mode, you can just select and then ALT+S
"individual origins" is good when you have 2 groups of vertex/poly and you want to move them along their own average normals.
About the selection, well blender does not store separately the iformation. I can't really say if it is good or not. While moving from 3Dsmax to Blender I found lost mys self too in the beginning.
Yup, I am totally with you on the subject of easily customizable menus. This is indeed a needed feature, since at the moment creating such a menu requires some rather advanced stuff involving python scripting and hunting down commands not easily accessible from the UI.
That being said, I also can understand why such a feature is not available yet - if it's not on the current roadmap, it simply won't happen until other things are resolved. That certainly is a weakness in the Blender development cycle (limited ressources meaning that things have to be carefully prioritized), but also a strength in the sense that the devs seem to have a very solid vision of what needs to be adressed and in which order (as opposed to commercial software design, often driven by committee and resulting in bug-ridden software).
And I also see how some users might not want to have "set 3d cursor" assigned to RMB. My point was more about the mere fact of calling anything "useless", which never really leads to constructive discussion, especially since it is a very subjective point of view. For instance, even coming from Max and Maya I am very glad that I embraced this seemingly odd design choice as I am now fully relying on it and working faster than before thanks to it. So obviously it is not a "useless" feature or key binding, but rather, something that some users might use and some might not.
Now of course it could be argued that for the sake of attracting a wide audience, moving this feature to another input wouldn't hurt, especially since legacy users could very well remap it easily ; but there is a fine line between following norms (RMB for a context menu) and sticking to a non-conformist design choice which actually has a lot of merits. At the end of the day I feel like the Blender devs have other (and more important) things to take care of first
I use it with the SHIFT+S, since I can select what I want and assign it, so using the RMB to position it in a non specific position seems useless (to me) having already a better way to do so. Am I missing something?
There's no way to store components to be selected afterwards (Tags/Clusters)
- vertex groups in editmode
- object groups in object mode
both using the CTRL+G shortucut.
I forgot that Blender is a Vertex-centric application, when you select something in vertex mode, it will be translated in other modes so I have to try how it works only with Vertex selections; anyway, I intended that in this way:
I've just noticed that this version of Blender (2.74.5) doesn't have the bug that sets what you have in the standard view (top right) in all the views that you select. This doesn't change the fact that I probably have to build a custom Screen Layout anyway to get a proper quad view.
When you move to one of the 3 orthographic views, they are already in wireframe mode, also, from the Display panel you can set them to show what you want, every window is independent.
To select all the vertex you have to be in wireframe view (unless I'm missing some options to select through), so you have to switch from Solid to Wireframe, move into Top view (in this case), select, go back to Perspective, and switch to Solid. (I'm using your drag selection, slight modified to have SHIFT for adding to the selection, and CTRL to subtract, thanks btw)
Now, how many times you have to do this when you are modeling? For me it's a lot of time, and is not what I'm used to do in my workflow:
I mean, you select some Faces, and in Vertex mode you can select your Vertices without the worries of having messed up your Faces selection, which, when you go back to Face mode, you'll find them waiting for you.
Totally useless RMB (default LMB) assigned to the 3D cursor, how many times did you assign it a position with the RMB insted of SHIFT+S? The 3D Cursor needs a proper "3D Cursor Mode" so that you don't mess with your other selections
- I assume that you don't know how to use the 3Dcursor, I use it so much that if there was a "3dcursor" mode my overall speed drop by 30%
If you look at the video where I show the L short cut in Cinema 4D, you'll notice how fast is it to set a 3D Cursor with it's own mode. Although the L temporarily moves the pivot point, the object pivot is not altered, that happens only in Object mode.
No detachable menus
-agree, but you can at least detach windows
Yeah, but the window doesn't stay on top, that would be nice.
If you set up Maya keys for navigation, the Knife (and probably other stuff) stops working correctly, even if you fix it with flat-D suggestions, CTRL and SHIFT doesn't work
-do not do this please, maya mode sucks in Blender.
I was using a custom setup, following the video Pior posted, anyway, that was just to say that if you change something, you'll broke Blender in some ways.
I'm using the default Blender navigation, that's not a problem for me as it's not the first time I used it.
No proper Layers, I mean, take a look at Cinema 4D Layers, and then Blender
-yes, but there are alternatives, such as object groups.
I'll look into them
Loop Cut and Slide, instead of slide and loop cut like other software do, great example: XSI
Wouldn't be better if the Loop Cut and Slide, started the sliding under the mouse pointer? So that I (and everyone) don't have to drag that damn cut all the way where you wanted it to be?
If I'm not mistaking, XSI does a Loop Cut in the middle by holding CTRL while MMB, otherwise it cuts where the mouse pointer is, or if you old it, it slides, simple and useful.
Embarrassing Splines
-they are not the best for precise stuff, but at least you can model spline with poly edges than convert in spline (like I do most of the time)
I use splines a lot, I think I'll post a video on how they work in Cinema 4D, so I can explain why they are embarrassing to me.
Broken Edge snapping
-it works for me.
I've already posted on here about it, it would work if you could set Edges and Vertex, because if you lock an axis and drag, it doesn't snap.
No Grid snapping
-there is but tricky, so 50% agree.
Where?
No distance between selections in Transform panel
-what do you mean?
This is part of my workflow, when I select something, on the Coordinate Manager I can read its dimensions, so that, without using the Measurement Tool, I know the size of that particular selection. I also use it to know if something is misaligned.
From the picture you can see that something is misaligned from the rest.
No workplane
-there are working planes. 3DView >> N panel >> Transform orientation, add how many planes you want based on face selection.
They where already mentioned on this thread, but you added a useful information, I didn't know there where a proper Panel to manage them.
I have to make (another) example of what I intend for workplane ;D
I changed the object pivot so that the Spline object will be created with the correct orientation, not that changing the axis plane in the menu is hard, but this way is faster.
All those points are based on sort of CADdy usage of Blender, are you working as enviroment artist?
cheers!
I did some works in environment too, yes, mostly indoor, I'm a wannabe hard surface artist
I'll try to reply to the others in a new post, since this is already looking too long.
I want to point out that I'm not trying to make Blender a Cinema 4D clone, but I really like to know if there are similar tools or workaround, I think it's better to find them out case by case, rather than a whole post with everything.
http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Extensions:2.6/Py/Scripts/3D_interaction/BatchTransforms
If we're talking about the same thing, there is something that replaces the worplane even by default in blender. The command is "Create Orientation", default hotkey "crtl+alt+spacebar" (I've added it to WazouPieMenus > Orientation Pie). You can manage them further on in the N panel > Transforms Orientations.
I have to try them, MeasureIT seems really helpful, even thought I was looking for something more immediate, like a direct feedback.
For the BatchTransforms I have to understand how to install it first.
Wazou Pie Menus are already better than the default, I have to watch the video now, thanks.
Unfortunately for most users migrating from other packages, that is the first thing they try before they give up.
"The defaults don't work, let's try Maya."
Another 5 minutes > goodbye.
The point is it shouldn't be there if it's useless!
Oddly the knife tool works in MayaSetup, it doesn't work if you saetup Maya navigation manually. Trying out that Maya Setup is what made me realize that you can make it work somehow, so I dug in to reverse engineer it.
It takes a whole lot of indepth knowledge of blender in order to be able to customize it. Overall it's got a super steep learning curve.
I noticed, I have no problem with the default navigation keys, but Maya's feel more natural to use.
On the bright side, if you can stick through and customize it to your liking, and spend the time to research all the addons available - it's one hell of a tool. You can make it super fast.
And we don't need a better example than MmAaXx to showcase what is possible staying 100% inside of blender.
Customizing, if doesn't involve too much scripting that's something I want to do, I've asked on Blenderartists but I got a mocking reply, I really like their attitude toward changes
Ok here we go. This is the first time ever I defend a 3D software. I totally understand your take on this because I was exactly like you; I didn't know the software and thought a lot of things had to change. But that's, I think, because I was still in my Maya/Max workflow and mindset.
Basically, it's a veteran that's been using Blender since it's very first release and is quite known amongst the Blnder community for his great knowledge of the software and his mastery of Render.
Go see his site: BlenderGuru.com
I know him, is not the first time I try to use Blender with leads always to a RAGE/QUIT scenario.
SO on this video, he took a stance and risked to explain what he thought was wrong inside of Blender after comparing it ro the other softwares on the market.
And pretty much EVERYTHING you said about it's usability has been criticsized on the video.
He, at least, tried to solve some problems even if his proposal was completely rejected, because it wasn't really functional. There are some really cool mockups on Blenderartists too.
When I first started learning the software some months ago, I thought to myslef that it needed some re-modeling. After watching the above videos, I was glad to see I wasn't the only one unhappy about the state of the UI.
I totally agreed to all of the points and flaws he pointed out at the time.
Today, I find myself disagreeing with most of them simply because...
I learned the software.
This doesn't mean that the UI is fine as it is, I didn't reach the point where I have to use many Blender functionalities, since I've only used few I can't say too much about the UI, but one thing is sure, I don't like to scroll.
The developers have fitted a lot of functions in a very small space, the menus are cluttered with informations, like the properties panel.
There are still a few broken mechanics here and there but they certainly don't lie in the modeling (as in the basic tools).
While learning througouly the software, I opned Maya everything and I checked if EVERY freaking tools that was available in Maya were also doable inside of Blnder.
And they all are.
I checked the speed of execution, the method and accessibility of each tool and found myself finding flaws and good points inside of both.
Then I understood that both of them were designed under a different mindset.
Also, a guy after the presentation said something very interesting:
The user is IGNORANT, he's not stupid.
It's normal that you find the mechanics of the software clunky when you first use it but if you don't take the time to learn it, saying it's broken doens't make much sense.
The Blender tools are indeed valid, but there is always this sense of bizarre on how it executes the tasks.
Now I'll take my time to correct each of your point:
-''Quad view completely useless/broken''
If you're talking of Quad view as in the ''Ctrl-Alt-Q'' quad view, then yes you might fight it clunky simply because it's more like a quick preview quad view.
In Maya (or Max?), I know you're used to the quick ''sapcebar'' push but in Blender, you actually have to build it youself.
You simply duplicate your window by clicking on corners proceed to assemble your windows from there. You duplice your 3D four time and then move the camera to orthographic views according to your need. You can even save your screen layouts with one click after that.
Thanks, but there is a way to recall a saved Layout? Even if its faster than clicking on the numpad and changing shading, it's way slower that the on button solution.
''There's no way to store components to be selected afterwards (Tags/Clusters)''
Make Groups maybe? In Blender groups don't work the same like Maya. Groups are to groups obejcts, vertices,bones,etc. so you can quickly select them later on or assign constraints, transofrms and such on a whole group.
In Maya, groups a ''Null'' objects on whcih you put child objects underneath.
I noticed, if you look at the video I posted I explain better what I mean, anyway I have to figure out how to recall the vertex selection.
''When you select something, it automatically updates all the other modes, frustrating''
Huh?
thomasp made the same question (but he's using Max), for better understand it, it's the Cinema 4D 001 video.
''Totally useless RMB (default LMB) assigned to the 3D cursor, how many times did you assign it a position with the RMB insted of SHIFT+S? The 3D Cursor needs a proper "3D Cursor Mode" so that you don't mess with your other selections''
The 3D cursor is probably on of the few very solid things that works inside of Blender. You can either place it with SHift-S, clikcing directly on the 3D view or assign it to a precise position. Hit N to acces the ''N-Panel'' and look for ''3D cursor''. You can change its world position form there.
I prefer the SHIFT+S, as the RMB is not reliable, so for me, they assigned a very useful key to something that doesn't work that well, considering that there is already a working shortcut like SHIFT+S
No detachable menus
Claustrophobic menus
No detachable menus
Click on corner of a window to duplicate it and then change the menu from there.
SHift+click to detach it..
Ctrl+up arrow to maximize any window...
Thanks, this is really helpful ;D
If you set up Maya keys for navigation, the Knife (and probably other stuff) stops working correctly, even if you fix it with flat-D suggestions, CTRL and SHIFT doesn't work
I did the same as you for this one during the first days and also did when learning XSI. Don't.
Blender doesn't work like Maya nor Max. Hell, now that tihnk of it, those presets shoudn't even be avaiable since they break the whole mechanic and purpose of the software.
I didn't use presets, also in XSI if you want you can change in Preferences--->Tools-->Camera-->Nav-->Mouse Mapping--->Maya (orbit,pan,zoom) solves the problems, you still uses S but for Orbit, Pan and Zoom it acts like Maya.
''No proper Layers, I mean, take a look at Cinema 4D Layers, and then Blender''
Loop Cut and Slide, instead of slide and loop cut like other software do, great example: XSI
You don't use the tool properly or if not, I don't see how it's a problem. Click Ctrl+R , hover mouse on face loop, click once and then slide your loop.
Right click to leave it at center and if you're not happy with it, ress G twice to slide components across surface (that goes for vertex, edges, loops,etc.)
You'll notice that in some situations is not very convenient, as it easily can go offscreen, and you have to move the camera, and re do the cut again since it starts the cut in the middle of the geometry, like any other software out there doesn't do, as is not convenient.
''Semi-working Outliner, it's hard to select stuff (some of which can't be selected at all) and keep the scene organized''
Gotta agree with this one. The outliner is not very intuitive. In Blender, it just not as useful in other software to have a good comprehension and visualisation of your scene.
At least you don't need a plugin to have an Outliner.
No way to quickly visually group something on the Outliner (right click useless)
Group objects with Ctrl+G then set the visualisation of your outliner to either ''Groups'' or Datablocks.
In Blender, everything, mesh, textures, materials, light,etc. are datablocks.
Highlighted in green is a thing, but seeing them correctly parented (visually) is another thing.
You can parent them to a null (that's what Cinema 4D does) but you have to do that manually, at least you can do it.
Embarrassing Splines
Real softwares have curves..
What splines are you talking about?
Blender call them Curves, and they are embarrassing, other software call them Splines, as they are not necessarily curved objects, think about the Pen tool in Photoshop.
They are hard to manage and there is no way to draw them, if you drag one point of a Bazier curve, it doesn't automatically moves its handles. I never seen something like that.
Broken Edge snapping
No Grid snapping
Do you even ''Shift-CTRl-Tab'' ?
Increments are not Grid, if you move something and then activate Incremental snapping, it will snap to 1 or 0.1 incremental, but it will never sanp to the grid.
For Edges, see previous link, I made some gifs.
No distance between selections in Transform panel
No workplane
I don't get those two.
Don't forget to check out in the modifier menu to see other useufl modeling tools.
Check previous picture and video.
I'll do, thanks.
My main concern right now with the modeling tools is that a lot of useful tools have to be actiavted inside of the Add-On menu when they should be there by default from the Get-go..
In Maya, I've never needed to activate any add-on to use tools for basic modeling purposes but in Blender I had to search them and activate like 6-7 up to date.
Then again, I'm still a student and I'm not even a modeler so maybe my take on this doen't have any weight.
I've had 3 years of Maya behind me and 3 months of XSI, a few grips of Modo and Max. They all of similarities but I believe each one should be learnt they way they were deisgned. Don't try to juxtapose your current software controls and mindset when learning a new one...
I think that they need to test them before updating their status to active by default, but there's no way for the user to know that there are those tool and what they do, unless you start to search for a specific function of another application, but that's heresy, since these functions are clearly blasphemous, ehehe.
Hey guys! I have a question about sculpting in blender and the dyntopo feature. If I'm sculpting with dyntopo enabled, do I need to still add subdivisions? I need more poly's than the dyntopo is providing, but I didn't know if adding more subdivisions would mess anything up.
For some context, this is my first time doing 3D sculpting. All the rest of my experience has been in Maya.
You can add subdivisions beforehand with a modifier (ctrl-1/2/3), apply it, then start on sculpting the regular way ; or, you can define your desired Dyntopo precision as a pixel number, which will then control how precise a sculpted stroke will be.
To select all the vertex you have to be in wireframe view (unless I'm missing some options to select through), so you have to switch from Solid to Wireframe, move into Top view (in this case), select, go back to Perspective, and switch to Solid. (I'm using your drag selection, slight modified to have SHIFT for adding to the selection, and CTRL to subtract, thanks btw)
Now, how many times you have to do this when you are modeling? For me it's a lot of time, and is not what I'm used to do in my workflow:
I recently used the newest version (3.0 I think) and It worked fine, the only problem is that sometimes the texture was rotated 90º, but I could change on the parameters (by pressing F6).
If you have any recommendation, I think the guy is really open to them.
Hey guys! I have a question about sculpting in blender and the dyntopo feature. If I'm sculpting with dyntopo enabled, do I need to still add subdivisions? I need more poly's than the dyntopo is providing, but I didn't know if adding more subdivisions would mess anything up.
For some context, this is my first time doing 3D sculpting. All the rest of my experience has been in Maya.
Don't use dyntopo if you have a sufdivisionSurface or multiRez Modifier!
You can control the resolution you're getting under the brush very well.
There's 3 modes of Dynamic Topology, and 3 modes of how brush affects Dyntopo. Getting the combinations of theese you can achieve most any type of Dynamic topology you want.
Dynamic Topology Modes:
Subdivide.................Just subdivides edges per Brush Driven Detail Settings
Subdivide Collapse....Both Subdivides and Collapses geo where neccesary
Collapse..................Only Collapses geo
Brush Driven Detail Settings:
Relative Detial.........................The detail is depandant on the screenspace / zoom (brush size does not affect it)
Constant Detail.........................The detail is constant in relation to the mesh / world space
Brush Detail (recently added).......The detail is depandand on Brush Size and screen space /zoom
And you have detail sliders for each of them.
Don't forget that for each brush you can set AutoSmooth.
A bit of self promoting here. I created a topic gathering the most important resources related to Blender sculpting which I plan to update with addons, brushes, tips and books that the other community members suggest. Right now it doesn't have lots of stuff, mostly addons, but I expect it'll be a useful resource if other blender sculptors contribute.
yeah, individual origins refers to the centers of contiguous selections, not the center of each selected element. Can be non-intuitive, but it is quite useful for some purposes.
You can create a mesh brush, with a start and end cap, and just draw with the Grease Pencil. You can later on edit the grease pencil's vertices which will update the path of the generated mesh.
Edit: I just realized on the modifiers tab that this addon does exactly what @Shadownami92 suggested, but "under the hood".
Anyone know a way to scale all UV islands at once from their own origin? so as to increase distance between them without needing to re-position each one.
How do I delete a single key frame from the currently selected bone in the 3d view, alt-I removes all keyframes inside the rig. I can do it in the dope sheet but would rather hotkey it.
Can I select bone groups with hotkeys? Would be great to use ctrl 1 - 9 while in pose mode to select bone groups in order they are listed. I can use bpy.ops.pose.group_select() to select currently selected group but not sure where to go from there.
and I want to make the middle one repeat for a certain distance (preferably dictated by a curve
How would I go about doing that without having to do it manually everytime? I'm looking for something similar to IMM Brush I would do it in zBrush, but I don't like setting up curves there.
--
Does anyone know how to increase the smoothness of the lines so screenshots look better? I tried adding more "multisamples" under the windows draw method, but it doesn't seem like it works
GhostDirector use array modifier and set it to "fit curve" and then change offset to whatever axis you want it to go in. You can then use Curve modifier to deform to shape of the curve
I think I mean if there is a way to set a "head" and a "tail" and then fill the distance between these two objects with a third geometry, repeated n times.
"You can even hide the objects you used in the Cap from the viewport, they will be displayed anyway."
Or make a new scene (+ at the top next to the word scene), and link the object there with ctrl+l (edit: L ) "objects to scene" then delete the object from your working scene so you don't have to worry about it when you export to game. If you want it back in your main link it back the other way, the origin dot being blue means its a linked object. I keep my HP and reference models in separate scenes in the same file too...
"You can even hide the objects you used in the Cap from the viewport, they will be displayed anyway."
Or make a new scene (+ at the top next to the word scene), and link the object there with ctrl+l "objects to scene" then delete the object from your working scene so you don't have to worry about it when you export to game. If you want it back in your main link it back the other way, the origin dot being blue means its a linked object. I keep my HP and reference models in separate scenes in the same file too...
Thanks, didn't know about that!
For anyone that's pushing CTRL+I like crazy (me), it's CTRL+L ;D
Replies
exactly!
also, I insert 1 edge loop in the middle, then I bevel it. Blender will keep the UVs.
[ame]
Any special plugins to install, any settings to fix, anything you really need to know?
Going to go through some tutorials later, but wondered if there was any good tips page for this before starting.
Introduction to Blender for Zbrush artists :
https://gumroad.com/masterxeon1001
Maya-style navigation in Blender without conflicts (I had been using Max with DRaster Switcher for years therefore Maya-style navigation is what I needed):
[ame]
And then I documented all my questions there :
http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?351344-Customization-questions-from-a-Blender-curious-2d-3d-artist
From there it took me a few weeks to a month to fully switch to the program. The biggest barrier of entry was actually the needlessly convoluted registration process on the BlenderArtists forums.
Good luck !
There's a couple of things that I'd suggest as out-of-the-box things to try.
I shared my setup of blender that has Maya/Silo ALT-navigation, and has more standardized LMB selections. It's a bit more than just a keymap, it comes with a bunch of addons I use (and a good deal of them modified, either to use maya ALT-nav or such), this is pretty much a whole custom setup. You can find out more about it here:
http://www.blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?352666-Input-Custom-Blender-Setup-Silo-Maya-esque
Included with that setup is a great addon for those new to Blender, rRMB Menu (in my setup it's remapped to MMB). It's impeccably organized amd serves as a good way to explore the app.:
http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?337445-Add-on-rRMB-Menu
This is another addon that is LMB-centric, has good selection schemes and I believe also has Maya ALT-navigation (note, you can't use this addon and my setup together):
http://www.blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?355841-Add-on-rSelection
Hope this helps.
I think this is a good place to start for anyone who can't digest the defaults in blender.
what do you want to change?
Of course,the software eneds some add-on here and there but overall, I think it's pretty grounded (at last for game pipeline).
If not for AAA title, I would consider it first choice for indie title (more than Maya LT for say)
http://store.steampowered.com/app/373020/
It'll also be available for Blender Cloud subscribers, currently there's only a bit of intro information available.
https://cloud.blender.org/training/
Amen to that!
There's no way to store components to be selected afterwards (Tags/Clusters)
Quad view completely useless/broken
No auto wireframe for orthographic views
Too much switching modes due to this
When you select something, it automatically updates all the other modes, frustrating
Totally useless RMB (default LMB) assigned to the 3D cursor, how many times did you assign it a position with the RMB insted of SHIFT+S? The 3D Cursor needs a proper "3D Cursor Mode" so that you don't mess with your other selections
No detachable menus
Claustrophobic menus
No detachable menus
If you set up Maya keys for navigation, the Knife (and probably other stuff) stops working correctly, even if you fix it with flat-D suggestions, CTRL and SHIFT doesn't work
No proper Layers, I mean, take a look at Cinema 4D Layers, and then Blender
Loop Cut and Slide, instead of slide and loop cut like other software do, great example: XSI
Semi-working Outliner, it's hard to select stuff (some of which can't be selected at all) and keep the scene organized
No way to quickly visually group something on the Outliner (right click useless)
Embarrassing Splines
Broken Edge snapping
No Grid snapping
No distance between selections in Transform panel
No workplane
Since I'm not using it that much, this is what I found for now.
http://code.blender.org/
Just be careful with calling anything "useless" - for instance, the 3D cursor can have very unexpected (and powerful) uses. I too was weirded out by it at first, but it soon enough became something I heavily rely on, to a point that it is becoming my main navigation tool. (I could expand on that more, but I basically not only use it for modeling but also as a way to precisely center the camera wherever I want - something that allowed me to get rid of the motion sickness I usually get in other 3d programs after long periods of time).
I've assigned it to CTRL+ALT+RMB so that I don't accidentally move it. For RMB I'm using rRMB or Wazou Right Clic Pie Menu, as I'm still evaluating what works better for me.
It would be cool to be able to create your own RMB menu without the needs of scripting, like in Cinema 4D (ehehe).
Drag and drop from a command list
For example I created this Spline sub menu in the V menu since from R12 it didn't exist any more.
That being said, I also can understand why such a feature is not available yet - if it's not on the current roadmap, it simply won't happen until other things are resolved. That certainly is a weakness in the Blender development cycle (limited ressources meaning that things have to be carefully prioritized), but also a strength in the sense that the devs seem to have a very solid vision of what needs to be adressed and in which order (as opposed to commercial software design, often driven by committee and resulting in bug-ridden software).
And I also see how some users might not want to have "set 3d cursor" assigned to RMB. My point was more about the mere fact of calling anything "useless", which never really leads to constructive discussion, especially since it is a very subjective point of view. For instance, even coming from Max and Maya I am very glad that I embraced this seemingly odd design choice as I am now fully relying on it and working faster than before thanks to it. So obviously it is not a "useless" feature or key binding, but rather, something that some users might use and some might not.
Now of course it could be argued that for the sake of attracting a wide audience, moving this feature to another input wouldn't hurt, especially since legacy users could very well remap it easily ; but there is a fine line between following norms (RMB for a context menu) and sticking to a non-conformist design choice which actually has a lot of merits. At the end of the day I feel like the Blender devs have other (and more important) things to take care of first
- vertex groups in editmode
- object groups in object mode
both using the CTRL+G shortucut.
Quad view completely useless/broken
-yes, but who use it?
No auto wireframe for orthographic views
-what is that?
Too much switching modes due to this
-what do you mean?
When you select something, it automatically updates all the other modes, frustrating
-what do you mean?
Totally useless RMB (default LMB) assigned to the 3D cursor, how many times did you assign it a position with the RMB insted of SHIFT+S? The 3D Cursor needs a proper "3D Cursor Mode" so that you don't mess with your other selections
- I assume that you don't know how to use the 3Dcursor, I use it so much that if there was a "3dcursor" mode my overall speed drop by 30%
No detachable menus
-agree, but you can at least detach windows
Claustrophobic menus
-maybe yes maybe no, I find maya or 3dsmax more claustrophobic
If you set up Maya keys for navigation, the Knife (and probably other stuff) stops working correctly, even if you fix it with flat-D suggestions, CTRL and SHIFT doesn't work
-do not do this please, maya mode sucks in Blender.
No proper Layers, I mean, take a look at Cinema 4D Layers, and then Blender
-yes, but there are alternatives, such as object groups.
Loop Cut and Slide, instead of slide and loop cut like other software do, great example: XSI
-c'mon.....
Semi-working Outliner, it's hard to select stuff (some of which can't be selected at all) and keep the scene organized
-agree
No way to quickly visually group something on the Outliner (right click useless)
-agree
Embarrassing Splines
-they are not the best for precise stuff, but at least you can model spline with poly edges than convert in spline (like I do most of the time)
Broken Edge snapping
-it works for me.
No Grid snapping
-there is but tricky, so 50% agree.
No distance between selections in Transform panel
-what do you mean?
No workplane
-there are working planes. 3DView >> N panel >> Transform orientation, add how many planes you want based on face selection.
All those points are based on sort of CADdy usage of Blender, are you working as enviroment artist?
cheers!
Unfortunately the BI/BF are not keen on getting input from 'professionals', they actually seem to have quite a dislike to them giving feedback on how some things are resolved in other packages.
As an example just think about the whole RMB issue in it's full scope. And ofcourse, the whole interaction/selection is part of that same discussion.
I won't go in further as I'll probably end up in a rage of rant.
But I'm over it, my setup works for me, and I've found strength in the community and unfortunately expect next to nothing useful UI/UX related from the BI/BF team. The community addons is where it's at for me. That's what makes blender shine.
Unfortunately, anybody that tries blender has no idea where to look for these addons nor can expect that the state of mess blender is in can be rectified with addons. In turn most experienced users curious to try out blender cut their adventure short under the initial 10 minutes.
Not in master, but you can get it in addon form.
I see you are already aware of:
http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?337445-Add-on-rRMB-Menu
Maybe not of these ones:
http://www.blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?371788-Add-on-v1-3-MeasureIt-measurement-tools
http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Extensions:2.6/Py/Scripts/3D_interaction/BatchTransforms
If we're talking about the same thing, there is something that replaces the worplane even by default in blender. The command is "Create Orientation", default hotkey "crtl+alt+spacebar" (I've added it to WazouPieMenus > Orientation Pie). You can manage them further on in the N panel > Transforms Orientations.
Unfortunately for most users migrating from other packages, that is the first thing they try before they give up.
"The defaults don't work, let's try Maya."
Another 5 minutes > goodbye.
The point is it shouldn't be there if it's useless!
Oddly the knife tool works in MayaSetup, it doesn't work if you saetup Maya navigation manually. Trying out that Maya Setup is what made me realize that you can make it work somehow, so I dug in to reverse engineer it.
It takes a whole lot of indepth knowledge of blender in order to be able to customize it. Overall it's got a super steep learning curve.
...
On the bright side, if you can stick through and customize it to your liking, and spend the time to research all the addons available - it's one hell of a tool. You can make it super fast.
And we don't need a better example than MmAaXx to showcase what is possible staying 100% inside of blender.
Ok here we go. This is the first time ever I defend a 3D software. I totally understand your take on this because I was exactly like you; I didn't know the software and thought a lot of things had to change. But that's, I think, because I was still in my Maya/Max workflow and mindset.
I'm not sure if you've ever seen this video:
[ame]
Or even this (if you have more time, watch the 3 video series):
[ame]
Basically, it's a veteran that's been using Blender since it's very first release and is quite known amongst the Blnder community for his great knowledge of the software and his mastery of Render.
Go see his site: BlenderGuru.com
SO on this video, he took a stance and risked to explain what he thought was wrong inside of Blender after comparing it ro the other softwares on the market.
And pretty much EVERYTHING you said about it's usability has been criticsized on the video.
When I first started learning the software some months ago, I thought to myslef that it needed some re-modeling. After watching the above videos, I was glad to see I wasn't the only one unhappy about the state of the UI.
I totally agreed to all of the points and flaws he pointed out at the time.
Today, I find myself disagreeing with most of them simply because...
I learned the software.
There are still a few broken mechanics here and there but they certainly don't lie in the modeling (as in the basic tools).
While learning througouly the software, I opned Maya everything and I checked if EVERY freaking tools that was available in Maya were also doable inside of Blnder.
And they all are.
I checked the speed of execution, the method and accessibility of each tool and found myself finding flaws and good points inside of both.
Then I understood that both of them were designed under a different mindset.
https://youtu.be/6aIA2LaB2Iw?t=11m45s
At 11:45 sec. read what the guy said.
Also, a guy after the presentation said something very interesting:
The user is IGNORANT, he's not stupid.
It's normal that you find the mechanics of the software clunky when you first use it but if you don't take the time to learn it, saying it's broken doens't make much sense.
Now I'll take my time to correct each of your point:
-''Quad view completely useless/broken''
If you're talking of Quad view as in the ''Ctrl-Alt-Q'' quad view, then yes you might fight it clunky simply because it's more like a quick preview quad view.
In Maya (or Max?), I know you're used to the quick ''sapcebar'' push but in Blender, you actually have to build it youself.
You simply duplicate your window by clicking on corners proceed to assemble your windows from there. You duplice your 3D four time and then move the camera to orthographic views according to your need. You can even save your screen layouts with one click after that.
''There's no way to store components to be selected afterwards (Tags/Clusters)''
Make Groups maybe? In Blender groups don't work the same like Maya. Groups are to groups obejcts, vertices,bones,etc. so you can quickly select them later on or assign constraints, transofrms and such on a whole group.
In Maya, groups a ''Null'' objects on whcih you put child objects underneath.
''When you select something, it automatically updates all the other modes, frustrating''
Huh?
''Totally useless RMB (default LMB) assigned to the 3D cursor, how many times did you assign it a position with the RMB insted of SHIFT+S? The 3D Cursor needs a proper "3D Cursor Mode" so that you don't mess with your other selections''
The 3D cursor is probably on of the few very solid things that works inside of Blender. You can either place it with SHift-S, clikcing directly on the 3D view or assign it to a precise position. Hit N to acces the ''N-Panel'' and look for ''3D cursor''. You can change its world position form there.
No detachable menus
Claustrophobic menus
No detachable menus
Click on corner of a window to duplicate it and then change the menu from there.
SHift+click to detach it..
Ctrl+up arrow to maximize any window...
If you set up Maya keys for navigation, the Knife (and probably other stuff) stops working correctly, even if you fix it with flat-D suggestions, CTRL and SHIFT doesn't work
I did the same as you for this one during the first days and also did when learning XSI. Don't.
Blender doesn't work like Maya nor Max. Hell, now that tihnk of it, those presets shoudn't even be avaiable since they break the whole mechanic and purpose of the software.
''No proper Layers, I mean, take a look at Cinema 4D Layers, and then Blender''
http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Extensions:2.6/Py/Scripts/3D_interaction/layer_manager
There's even an add-on for marking menus...
Loop Cut and Slide, instead of slide and loop cut like other software do, great example: XSI
You don't use the tool properly or if not, I don't see how it's a problem. Click Ctrl+R , hover mouse on face loop, click once and then slide your loop.
Right click to leave it at center and if you're not happy with it, ress G twice to slide components across surface (that goes for vertex, edges, loops,etc.)
''Semi-working Outliner, it's hard to select stuff (some of which can't be selected at all) and keep the scene organized''
Gotta agree with this one. The outliner is not very intuitive. In Blender, it just not as useful in other software to have a good comprehension and visualisation of your scene.
No way to quickly visually group something on the Outliner (right click useless)
Group objects with Ctrl+G then set the visualisation of your outliner to either ''Groups'' or Datablocks.
In Blender, everything, mesh, textures, materials, light,etc. are datablocks.
Embarrassing Splines
Real softwares have curves..
What splines are you talking about?
Broken Edge snapping
No Grid snapping
Do you even ''Shift-CTRl-Tab'' ?
No distance between selections in Transform panel
No workplane
I don't get those two.
Don't forget to check out in the modifier menu to see other useufl modeling tools.
My main concern right now with the modeling tools is that a lot of useful tools have to be actiavted inside of the Add-On menu when they should be there by default from the Get-go..
In Maya, I've never needed to activate any add-on to use tools for basic modeling purposes but in Blender I had to search them and activate like 6-7 up to date.
Then again, I'm still a student and I'm not even a modeler so maybe my take on this doen't have any weight.
I've had 3 years of Maya behind me and 3 months of XSI, a few grips of Modo and Max. They all of similarities but I believe each one should be learnt they way they were deisgned. Don't try to juxtapose your current software controls and mindset when learning a new one...
all i can manage so far in blender is to have it all move on the axis of the axis of the vertex where the gizmo is displayed.
not sure if bug or user error.
also is it possible to have blender memorize selections per subobject type? say i select an edge ring, convert that to faces, grow it and so forth. if i switch back to edges, my ring selection will be gone. max is quite handy in that it stores that original selection for further use.
solution via script would be fine, still have to look into those.
"individual origins" is good when you have 2 groups of vertex/poly and you want to move them along their own average normals.
About the selection, well blender does not store separately the iformation. I can't really say if it is good or not. While moving from 3Dsmax to Blender I found lost mys self too in the beginning.
I use it with the SHIFT+S, since I can select what I want and assign it, so using the RMB to position it in a non specific position seems useless (to me) having already a better way to do so. Am I missing something?
I forgot that Blender is a Vertex-centric application, when you select something in vertex mode, it will be translated in other modes so I have to try how it works only with Vertex selections; anyway, I intended that in this way:
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I do ;D
I've just noticed that this version of Blender (2.74.5) doesn't have the bug that sets what you have in the standard view (top right) in all the views that you select. This doesn't change the fact that I probably have to build a custom Screen Layout anyway to get a proper quad view.
Practical example
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When you move to one of the 3 orthographic views, they are already in wireframe mode, also, from the Display panel you can set them to show what you want, every window is independent.
Too much switching modes due to this
-what do you mean?
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To select all the vertex you have to be in wireframe view (unless I'm missing some options to select through), so you have to switch from Solid to Wireframe, move into Top view (in this case), select, go back to Perspective, and switch to Solid. (I'm using your drag selection, slight modified to have SHIFT for adding to the selection, and CTRL to subtract, thanks btw)
Now, how many times you have to do this when you are modeling? For me it's a lot of time, and is not what I'm used to do in my workflow:
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Notice what happens because I can set my pivot with a specific mode (which is triggered by default with the L key), I don't lose my selections!
The video also shows what happens when you have a system setup to work like Blender, if you don't set the 3D Cursor in advance you're screwed
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I mean, you select some Faces, and in Vertex mode you can select your Vertices without the worries of having messed up your Faces selection, which, when you go back to Face mode, you'll find them waiting for you.
If you look at the video where I show the L short cut in Cinema 4D, you'll notice how fast is it to set a 3D Cursor with it's own mode. Although the L temporarily moves the pivot point, the object pivot is not altered, that happens only in Object mode.
Yeah, but the window doesn't stay on top, that would be nice.
I was using a custom setup, following the video Pior posted, anyway, that was just to say that if you change something, you'll broke Blender in some ways.
I'm using the default Blender navigation, that's not a problem for me as it's not the first time I used it.
I'll look into them
Let me explain it better
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Wouldn't be better if the Loop Cut and Slide, started the sliding under the mouse pointer? So that I (and everyone) don't have to drag that damn cut all the way where you wanted it to be?
If I'm not mistaking, XSI does a Loop Cut in the middle by holding CTRL while MMB, otherwise it cuts where the mouse pointer is, or if you old it, it slides, simple and useful.
I use splines a lot, I think I'll post a video on how they work in Cinema 4D, so I can explain why they are embarrassing to me.
I've already posted on here about it, it would work if you could set Edges and Vertex, because if you lock an axis and drag, it doesn't snap.
Where?
This is part of my workflow, when I select something, on the Coordinate Manager I can read its dimensions, so that, without using the Measurement Tool, I know the size of that particular selection. I also use it to know if something is misaligned.
From the picture you can see that something is misaligned from the rest.
They where already mentioned on this thread, but you added a useful information, I didn't know there where a proper Panel to manage them.
I have to make (another) example of what I intend for workplane ;D
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I changed the object pivot so that the Spline object will be created with the correct orientation, not that changing the axis plane in the menu is hard, but this way is faster.
I did some works in environment too, yes, mostly indoor, I'm a wannabe hard surface artist
I'll try to reply to the others in a new post, since this is already looking too long.
I want to point out that I'm not trying to make Blender a Cinema 4D clone, but I really like to know if there are similar tools or workaround, I think it's better to find them out case by case, rather than a whole post with everything.
That should be active by default
I have to try them, MeasureIT seems really helpful, even thought I was looking for something more immediate, like a direct feedback.
For the BatchTransforms I have to understand how to install it first.
Wazou Pie Menus are already better than the default, I have to watch the video now, thanks.
I noticed, I have no problem with the default navigation keys, but Maya's feel more natural to use.
Customizing, if doesn't involve too much scripting that's something I want to do, I've asked on Blenderartists but I got a mocking reply, I really like their attitude toward changes
I know him, is not the first time I try to use Blender with leads always to a RAGE/QUIT scenario.
He, at least, tried to solve some problems even if his proposal was completely rejected, because it wasn't really functional. There are some really cool mockups on Blenderartists too.
This doesn't mean that the UI is fine as it is, I didn't reach the point where I have to use many Blender functionalities, since I've only used few I can't say too much about the UI, but one thing is sure, I don't like to scroll.
The developers have fitted a lot of functions in a very small space, the menus are cluttered with informations, like the properties panel.
The Blender tools are indeed valid, but there is always this sense of bizarre on how it executes the tasks.
Thanks, but there is a way to recall a saved Layout? Even if its faster than clicking on the numpad and changing shading, it's way slower that the on button solution.
I noticed, if you look at the video I posted I explain better what I mean, anyway I have to figure out how to recall the vertex selection.
thomasp made the same question (but he's using Max), for better understand it, it's the Cinema 4D 001 video.
I prefer the SHIFT+S, as the RMB is not reliable, so for me, they assigned a very useful key to something that doesn't work that well, considering that there is already a working shortcut like SHIFT+S
Thanks, this is really helpful ;D
I didn't use presets, also in XSI if you want you can change in Preferences--->Tools-->Camera-->Nav-->Mouse Mapping--->Maya (orbit,pan,zoom) solves the problems, you still uses S but for Orbit, Pan and Zoom it acts like Maya.
Disabled by default, nice idea
You'll notice that in some situations is not very convenient, as it easily can go offscreen, and you have to move the camera, and re do the cut again since it starts the cut in the middle of the geometry, like any other software out there doesn't do, as is not convenient.
At least you don't need a plugin to have an Outliner.
Highlighted in green is a thing, but seeing them correctly parented (visually) is another thing.
You can parent them to a null (that's what Cinema 4D does) but you have to do that manually, at least you can do it.
Blender call them Curves, and they are embarrassing, other software call them Splines, as they are not necessarily curved objects, think about the Pen tool in Photoshop.
They are hard to manage and there is no way to draw them, if you drag one point of a Bazier curve, it doesn't automatically moves its handles. I never seen something like that.
Increments are not Grid, if you move something and then activate Incremental snapping, it will snap to 1 or 0.1 incremental, but it will never sanp to the grid.
For Edges, see previous link, I made some gifs.
Check previous picture and video.
I'll do, thanks.
I think that they need to test them before updating their status to active by default, but there's no way for the user to know that there are those tool and what they do, unless you start to search for a specific function of another application, but that's heresy, since these functions are clearly blasphemous, ehehe.
Wall of text is wall of text.
For some context, this is my first time doing 3D sculpting. All the rest of my experience has been in Maya.
?
Also, as a recommendation to the lack of proper layers:
http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?360257-Super-Grouper
@Blond The copy UV addon wasn't developed by the creator of the video, but by Nutti:
http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?348421-Addon-Copy-and-Paste-UV-Coordinates
I recently used the newest version (3.0 I think) and It worked fine, the only problem is that sometimes the texture was rotated 90º, but I could change on the parameters (by pressing F6).
If you have any recommendation, I think the guy is really open to them.
Don't use dyntopo if you have a sufdivisionSurface or multiRez Modifier!
You can control the resolution you're getting under the brush very well.
There's 3 modes of Dynamic Topology, and 3 modes of how brush affects Dyntopo. Getting the combinations of theese you can achieve most any type of Dynamic topology you want.
Dynamic Topology Modes:
Subdivide.................Just subdivides edges per Brush Driven Detail Settings
Subdivide Collapse....Both Subdivides and Collapses geo where neccesary
Collapse..................Only Collapses geo
Brush Driven Detail Settings:
Relative Detial.........................The detail is depandant on the screenspace / zoom (brush size does not affect it)
Constant Detail.........................The detail is constant in relation to the mesh / world space
Brush Detail (recently added).......The detail is depandand on Brush Size and screen space /zoom
And you have detail sliders for each of them.
Don't forget that for each brush you can set AutoSmooth.
Yes, that's it, thanks!
For the layers I have to try it to see if it works better than what I'm currently using, the Layer Management add on is working good already.
http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?372563-Blender-Sculpting-Resources&p=2880179#post2880179
cheers for that. it seems individual origins only works as i'd expect when the selected components are not direct neighbours
look for booltool addon is a mix between insert multimesh and mesh fusion.
The bool tool really isn't what I was looking for
@Shadownami92, thanks
http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?330012-Array-Sketch
You can create a mesh brush, with a start and end cap, and just draw with the Grease Pencil. You can later on edit the grease pencil's vertices which will update the path of the generated mesh.
Edit: I just realized on the modifiers tab that this addon does exactly what @Shadownami92 suggested, but "under the hood".
give me a practical example, I'll try to help you
How do I delete a single key frame from the currently selected bone in the 3d view, alt-I removes all keyframes inside the rig. I can do it in the dope sheet but would rather hotkey it.
Can I select bone groups with hotkeys? Would be great to use ctrl 1 - 9 while in pose mode to select bone groups in order they are listed. I can use bpy.ops.pose.group_select() to select currently selected group but not sure where to go from there.
For an example, say I have 3 objects
and I want to make the middle one repeat for a certain distance (preferably dictated by a curve
How would I go about doing that without having to do it manually everytime? I'm looking for something similar to IMM Brush I would do it in zBrush, but I don't like setting up curves there.
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Does anyone know how to increase the smoothness of the lines so screenshots look better? I tried adding more "multisamples" under the windows draw method, but it doesn't seem like it works
Yep, that's it.
Or at least, from the Zbrush example it looks like it
You can even hide the objects you used in the Cap from the viewport, they will be displayed anyway.
Or make a new scene (+ at the top next to the word scene), and link the object there with ctrl+l (edit: L
Thanks, didn't know about that!
For anyone that's pushing CTRL+I like crazy (me), it's CTRL+L ;D
Thanks! I actually didn't see the "Start/End cap" and I only thought it was Array/Curve was limited to one a simple mesh (pipes)