blender 2.8 vs 3ds max .. critical two issue..
Sorry for my poor english, I am not english native..
anyway,
these days I tried to learn blender 2.8 because I heard many good reviews about it.
I conclude to turn back to 3ds max because of some critical nagative aspects of blender after a month using it.
first,
I can not find 'edit poly' modifier equivalent function in the blender. this is important issue when it comes to handlling spline(curve) and polygon at the same object. In blender, if I want to make a mesh from curve, I have to convert it and cannot turn back. there's no solution to change mesh to curve in same modifier stack.
second,
Lattice is not effective as much as FFD in 3ds max. because it always needs one or two more step to deal with it.
I like to use FFD, but blender's lattice is not comfortable like max.
This is totally based on my 1month experience so please get as an personal opinion.
anyway,
these days I tried to learn blender 2.8 because I heard many good reviews about it.
I conclude to turn back to 3ds max because of some critical nagative aspects of blender after a month using it.
first,
I can not find 'edit poly' modifier equivalent function in the blender. this is important issue when it comes to handlling spline(curve) and polygon at the same object. In blender, if I want to make a mesh from curve, I have to convert it and cannot turn back. there's no solution to change mesh to curve in same modifier stack.
second,
Lattice is not effective as much as FFD in 3ds max. because it always needs one or two more step to deal with it.
I like to use FFD, but blender's lattice is not comfortable like max.
This is totally based on my 1month experience so please get as an personal opinion.
Replies
critically bad thing of blender modifier is that they only apply on object. but in 3ds max, modifier can apply on vertex, segment, polygon, and even group. this is huge gap between max and blender.
As a matter of fact I'd recommend against comparing it with your app of choice on a feature by feature basis, as that could lead you to skip over things as fundamental as vertex groups here. The functionalities you are looking for are most likely all there - it's just that accessing them is done in a more "close to the metal" kind of way so to speak. Once you get into that way of thinking the app becomes extremely simple to explore. 2.8 actually makes things look less clear than before because of the crowded UI but the principles are all the same of course.
You will absolutely love vertex groups once you'll dive into skin weighting for instance. Imagine skin weighting being stored as simply as vertex color, without the need for any "modifiers" to edit it ; being able to pass the data to another model without even having to think about it ; being able to rename skin groups on the fly, and so on. Or even being able to cut and weld parts of models with blendmeshes wihout loosing any of the morph data. Extremely powerful stuff, which applies to all areas of the program.
@pior is right, comparing features directly is detrimental and leads to frustration and understanding the differences in approach and concept. That's what I try to break that mindset in the videos. A few months back I was completely ignorant of Blender after 15 years spent in Max. Now that I'm comfortable I'm really enjoying 2.80.
Yes the modifier and spline workflows in Max are much better, but it's a tradeoff.
I know I know, Blender doesnt come with edge extrusions. I know of Maxivz's script which allows this (only in Move mode as of this date), but it's all based on addons, while I was looking more for something that is natively supported and goes along more with Blender's way of making things.
My only guess is to make the whole object first, cut the loops, inset and not move the selection, then scale in two axis?
This works, though only if you know before hand the full length of your object first...I guess it's just a matter of rethinking your design mindset, but I was hoping there were tools which allowed for more experimentation/flexible workflows...?
@Justo : besides the confusion about edge extrusion, your second gif shows that you are attempting to grab components on the object itself in order to perform mesh editing operations. You pretty much need to unlearn this habit as you are wasting time and effort because of it. Instead you want to make your selection, activate the tool you need (say, bevel or extrude) and then move your mouse away from where it currently is, on the imaginary axis between the current selection and the cursor position or on the axis filter if available. That's what the dashed line and the colored axis lines are here for.
That's why object and tool interaction in Blender is imho objectively superior to anything else out there - it's just way more efficient than having to click and drag directly on the model/selection or having to mess with sliders.
Also it follows that you don't need to the manipulator for this kind of stuff - neither for visual feedback nor for interaction. 90% of your work can be done without it.
And yeah of course edge extrusion is here :
"The nice thing is that there's no need to point your cursor on the transform gizmo if you use the default shortcuts."
This is actually incorrect - the defaults keybindings have nothing to do with that, as this is true for manually (re)assigned shortcuts too. I know this is a very minor difference in semantics but I think it is important to clear this up as that seems to be a widespread misconception, effectively making people think that they have to stick to the defaults in order to use the app at its full potential - which is not true at all.
Just sayin'
Whoa, I just tried E. So it moves in screenspace huh, unless I press X/Y/Z/other keyboard constraints. I don't know how to feel about this, seems like my hand would be dancing around the keyboard each time I need to extrude...I think it's just smarter to hit E, click immediately after, then move with your gizmo.
...I can't come up with any attractive solutions though. Even if I place all XYZ constraints together so that my fingers dont move as much, it's still a ton of keyboard presses rather than one click with the gizmo. Every user will decide based on their preferences I guess, but to me the ergonomic exp of this op kinda scares me.
And it's kinda sad, because there is a part of me that sees the potential here - not having to rely on the gizmo, keeping the eyes on the model, being immersed exclusively in that design mindset. I think the only way I could embrace such a behavior, is if after pressing E Blender would automatically snap movement to one axis, based on the mouse cursor and viewport position. Then I could hold certain keyboard keys to open the movement to two or three axis.
EDIT: I just realized at the end I was describing the exact behavior of Maxivz' smart extrude tool lol. As awesome as it is though, it does not allow for two-axis-movement unfortunately.
Well ...
I don't know what you're trying to prove though. That you can do a lot and very fast by not relying on the gizmo? I agree yeah, but I don't think you get the right amount of control during those extrudes for some actual production work. I can see that polystrip in your gif being all over the place. Unless you're looking to make abstract art that you don't know how exactly it's all gonna look like in the end, I don't see the use for that, unless you're skipping all the snapping that comes after that operation...
...Unless you press the keyboard constraints as you extrude, which goes back to my previous argument of how-much-worthy-is-it-really-vs-the-gizmo (we're posting too fast and missing a late post before submitting a reply is easy
See also:
https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/latest/editors/3dview/object/editing/transform/control/precision/axis_locking.html
Also, Extrude constraints itself automatically along the face normals of the selected faces – But, no faces, no face normals. So it's probably easier to just cap the cylinder (F) and then do the extrusion.
And if one needs more fine control while moving things around, holding Shift usally does the trick.
https://forums.cgsociety.org/t/turbosmooth-subdivision-algorithm/1510465
Adding a simple plane in Max and Blender shows that the plane in Blender gets rounded around the corners. Also that you can't add free floating vertices is a pain in Max.
Does anyone know how to get the same thing done in Max with a subdivided plane?
In Editable Poly, or an Edit Poly modifier, go to vertex subobject mode and press the "create" button. After that you can click anywhere to create free floating vertices.
Use OpenSubdiv instead.
Blenders and Max Catmull-Clark implementation are both ancient and I see them getting used everywhere even today.
What is the difference between OpenSubdiv and Turbosmooth? Anything I have to look ou for?
Also Blender 2.8 has no OpenSuddiv implementation currently.
OpenSubDiv uses weighting on the edges and vertices to adjust the sharpness. You can adjust the crease weights within editable poly, edit poly, and we also have two creasing modifiers. Crease Modifier which drives all the weights the same, and CreaseSet Modifier which allows you to create crease sets that you can individually set weights to.
You can also use the Data Channel Modifier to automatically generate crease weights based on say the edge angles. Here is a vid showing that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RL7Ylm0TVkw
For connecting edges between vertices, that is an illegal process for the mnmesh library. Can I ask what you are wanting to do with edge connected vertices? Would the splines be something that could replace that?
Regarding the edges. It lets me do stuff like retopology and first build the mesh without actually creating faces. Or I want to redirect my edge flow. Or just put in some verts as a guide and later connect them. I have mutliple use cases for it. It feels a little limiting inside 3dsmax