Blender-any good?

[Richardinho]

Have downloaded this through synaptic and had a play around-boy it's complicated-but nothing I can't handle I think, with a lot of practise!

Anyone here use it? what do you think of it? Is it worth the effort?

[smartboyathome]

I tried it, but it takes time to learn - which I don't have right now. If you have a month or two with an hour or more of free time, by all means learn to use it!

[RJQ]

Any good? actually you will not get any better than this for this price, it is a real joy if you are in disposition to learn how to use it.:popcorn:

[Angelp]

I have used Blender and like they said above it takes time to learn it and for the price it is the best. Blender used to have a very large community for support but I am not sure if that is still true.

[Merk42]

If you look at things like Elephant's Dream (http://www.elephantsdream.org/), you'll see it's pretty capable. I don't bother to learn it myself, because I'd like to eventually get a job doing 3D. I see 3ds Max and Maya in job postings, with the occasional Cinema4D or Lightwave. As for Blender's interface, well, look at my sig.

[evissecx]

I like blender. It pretty good. I think it's worth taking a look at.
To learn the interface and basics. I used this site
http://wikivid.com/index.php/Blender

Hope you take the time to look at it. :)

[Sindwiller]

I've worked with various modelling applications and Blender (along with Silo) is the fastest ones. It's quite time consuming to learn if you're a total beginner - but it pays off.

[misfitpierce]

excellent actually

[Cubedude04]

Blender is a great program. i have been using it daily for the past 2 years.

Blender also has a great community (like ubuntu =D) if you have any problems try asking on the forum at

www.blenderartists.org

[por100pre1]

Have downloaded this through synaptic and had a play around-boy it's complicated-but nothing I can't handle I think, with a lot of practise!

Anyone here use it? what do you think of it? Is it worth the effort?

I have played with it and believe me, it's worth the effort. :)

[Tur Third]

I think it is hard to use without instruction, and would recommend the book. Although this is written by a number of people which does mean some areas are better explained than others.

There seem to be some simple things to remember to make it much easier that you need to be told about.

E.g. You are supposed to use it with one hand on the keyboard and one on the mouse, and there are often different ways of doing the same thing.

http://www.blender3d.org/e-shop/product_info.php?products_id=96

I have not yet invested the time to be much good at it.

[DirtDawg]

Yes Blender is exceptional. It does take some time to learn, particularly if you are completely new to 3D modeling. This is because Blender uses technical terms to describe it's functions and buttons rather than "cute" names (no "pencils" or "sponges" in Blender). This is actually a much better and more precise approach, but can be mind-boggling to a beginner.

But there's lots of help out there for beginners and plenty of people have started with zero knowledge and learned from the ground up (like me).

Check out this link:
http://www.blender.org/tutorials-help/manuals-books/

Good luck and have fun!

[maruchan]

Blender is worth learning, it's great software. There are a lot of other open source 3D apps out there, too. Check out the one in my sig, for example. I learned the 3D fundamentals in Art of Illusion and learned Blender after that, which I do believe cut my total learning time in about half. :) It's important to remember that the principles of 3D modeling/lighting/texturing/rendering/animation are going to be the same everywhere.

Other people prefer combinations of KPovModeler and POVray, which is cool...there's something fun about hand-coding a 3D scene.

Here's a recent Blender image I worked on (from a tutorial).

http://www.friendlyskies.net/Blender/?view=./tutorialbuilding.jpg

[Richardinho]

I'm planning on visiting the Blender forum, but not quite yet, cause I don't want to be flamed for asking 'what does this button do' type questions.:)

[lyceum]

The best part about Blender is that once you learn it it is like riding a bike, it is so native is is hard to forget. I do not get the time to use it that I would like, and when I go back I have to start over but I remember like I have Blender gloves on. I would recommend that you get the book, buy it or down load the free copy. One thing to keep in mind, some of the keys are used by Ubuntu, so you will need to change one or the other (F12 for example).

:popcorn:

[aod_shadowjester]

As a long time Lightwave user who's dabbled in Blender, I have to say I prefer LW. I found the interface and method of doing things in LW to be more intuitive and simpler (without being oversimple) whereas Blender feels like I was thrust down into the seat of the space shuttle cockpit before they got the "glass cockpit" installed.
Blender has promise but it seriously needs a GUI expert to redesign the front-end: all the power in the world won't make a piece of software more appealing (except to the most die-hard of hardcore users) if it has a poorly-designed interface.

Also, I am in no way, shape, or form a GUI designer - I'd probably make Blender look like LW if I did try.

[maruchan]

As a long time Lightwave user who's dabbled in Blender, I have to say I prefer LW. I found the interface and method of doing things in LW to be more intuitive and simpler (without being oversimple) whereas Blender feels like I was thrust down into the seat of the space shuttle cockpit before they got the "glass cockpit" installed.
Blender has promise but it seriously needs a GUI expert to redesign the front-end: all the power in the world won't make a piece of software more appealing (except to the most die-hard of hardcore users) if it has a poorly-designed interface.

Also, I am in no way, shape, or form a GUI designer - I'd probably make Blender look like LW if I did try.

Did you know they're doing that very thing (redesigning the GUI) at this moment?

[Richardinho]

Just like them to do that, just once I've finished learning the previous one. :lolflag:

[bigbang]

i would go as far as to say it is the best opensource project i have seen so far!

[aod_shadowjester]

@maruchan: I don't know specifically if they are. Even if they were, as far as I know it'd be on the backburner for now - there are significant leaps that have to be made first in order to become "innovators" in the entire scheme of 3D animation; feature-wise they're currently behind the market leaders (AFAIK). The GUI is less important from a feature-set perspective and more important for a market penetration perspective, which is the difference that lies at the core of Programmers vs. Artists debate (in the gaming community it goes like this: Prog. Lead - "GAMEPLAY!" Art Lead - "GRAPHICS!" Imagine this being never ending and you get the picture ;) )
The one reason why I've supported Lightwave over the other big three (Max, Maya, Softimage) is due to the workflow method. Two separate programs, one for building, rigging, and texturing the models in (Modeller) and another for setting up the scene for the shots (Layout). This workflow fits into the film and effects pipeline far more effectively than the traditional 3D method does (one program to do it all). It also allows for a simpler GUI in both programs. If Blender adopted this strategy it might simplify the entire learning process for new users as well as give them back some valuable screen real estate (I don't care what anyone says, having a dynamic dialog box take up 1/3 of the screen is awkward and isn't very effective. Far better to have an MDI setup similar to LW or Photoshop [dialogs that are closable/minimizable and repositionable; LW and Photoshop do really well on multi-head setups due to the MDI].)

[Richardinho]

Having looked closer at Blender in the last few days, I 'm wondering if it would be possible for one person to create a short animated film using it, maybe a music style video? does this sound viable, or is this pissing into the wind?

[smartboyathome]

it has been done before. Look at Elephant's Dream (http://www.elephantsdream.org/), it was made using blender. ;)

[Richardinho]

Have heard of 'Elephants Dream'. Anything else-what about computer games?
(Sorry I know I could google this, but I'm interested in what forum posters have to say.)

[nikhilpatel]

I just switched over to Ubuntu from Windows XP about a month ago, and I have used 3ds max and Lightwave fairly extensively (for a beginner) before starting to use Blender with Ubuntu. Some things take some time to get used to, but I think it is an incredible program. Yes, some things are annoying, like the fact that you have to press Ctrl + W to save, but all in all this is definitely a quality piece of software. Even after becoming accustomed to Ubuntu and other open source software, I think Blender may be one of the most polished open source packages out there. I am still getting used to it, but I have only been using it for about two weeks, and I think it is a worthy alternative to any professional 3d modeling software.

[Merk42]

I just switched over to Ubuntu from Windows XP about a month ago, and I have used 3ds max and Lightwave fairly extensively (for a beginner) before starting to use Blender with Ubuntu. Some things take some time to get used to, but I think it is an incredible program. Yes, some things are annoying, like the fact that you have to press Ctrl + W to save, but all in all this is definitely a quality piece of software. Even after becoming accustomed to Ubuntu and other open source software, I think Blender may be one of the most polished open source packages out there. I am still getting used to it, but I have only been using it for about two weeks, and I think it is a worthy alternative to any professional 3d modeling software.

Aww someone likes my sig

[nikhilpatel]

actually i just found that you can change the settings so you can select with your left mouse button :-)

[durand]

changing to left mouse button and changing the keybinds to ctrl + w were two of the first things I did when I started using Blender. Don't be scared away by the interface, once you get a feel for it, it will be soo easy to use and Bleder is pretty powerful too!

Have heard of 'Elephants Dream'. Anything else-what about computer games?
(Sorry I know I could google this, but I'm interested in what forum posters have to say.)

Not sure that I understand you...but you can make computer games in Blender. Infact, just like Elephants Dream, they are making a new Movie codenamed Peach and a game called Apricot. Check out the website: peach.blender.org

I used to use 3dsmax when I was on Windows but now, Blender seems so much more intuitive and easier to work with than Max. Ofcourse, its easier on your budget as wel...especially if your only a kid...

[joeyea]

blenders excellent i use it to make games

at the moment im making an fps :)

joeyea

[Merk42]

The major reason I personally didn't bother learning blender (though it IS installed in both my Windows and Ubuntu installations), is that I went to school and learned 3ds Max. I did that to hopefully get a job utilizing 3ds Max. Aside from a few random craigslist sort of jobs, I have yet to see any job asking for knowledge of Blender.