Who else here is excited for Blender 2.5?

Borgleader · Post by **Borgleader** » Fri May 29, 2009 7:36 am

Must I remind you this is a topic about Blender not Macs

handsomedave · Post by **handsomedave** » Fri May 29, 2009 8:15 am

Blender 2.5 in action http://www.blendernation.com/2009/05/28 ... 5-tour-vi/

Borgleader · Post by **Borgleader** » Fri May 29, 2009 8:42 am

Very interesting video

Thanks for sharing!

I really like how much more customizable blender has become. The fact that the entire UI is not py driven probably means that the people who are making plugins for Blender wont be limited to the scripts window but could probably add their own panels into the UI which is nice I think.

I also like the new color scheme ^.^

pixie · Post by **pixie** » Fri May 29, 2009 11:59 am

handsomedave wrote:Blender 2.5 in action http://www.blendernation.com/2009/05/28 ... 5-tour-vi/

The more I see of blender 2.5 the more it reminds me of Cinema! Go blender go!!

neo0. · Post by **neo0.** » Wed Jun 03, 2009 9:10 am

Nice. The UI is looking very clean. It actually looks like it's been laid out in a logical way!

Can't wait to try it out. Actually, one of the biggest things that I can't wait for is fluid simulation, so expect 200 fluid simulation renders from me after 2.5 goes live.

Borgleader · Post by **Borgleader** » Wed Jun 03, 2009 9:20 am

You can already do those....

neo0. · Post by **neo0.** » Thu Jun 04, 2009 10:16 am

Well, obviously yeah, but what is possible isn't the only that factors into most people's choice of program.

User friendliness plays a huge role too. The comprehensive revision of Blender's UI makes fliud simulation sufficiently accessible (as I suppose it will, along with the rest of it's impressive featureset, for many other people who were put off by it's mess of a UI until this point.)

Borgleader · Post by **Borgleader** » Thu Jun 04, 2009 4:23 pm

neo0. wrote:Well, obviously yeah, but what is possible isn't the only that factors into most people's choice of program. User friendliness plays a huge role too. The comprehensive revision of Blender's UI makes fliud simulation sufficiently accessible (as I suppose it will, along with the rest of it's impressive featureset, for many other people who were put off by it's mess of a UI until this point.)

To be honest, it seems the only thing you have against Blender is the fact that the UI is so bad. And quite frankly I'm tired of hearing it. Everytime its "the UI sucks" make a new one and THEN will it be paradise.

The community over at BlenderArtists.org is ever growing and is currently sitting at 46 000 users. I think THAT is a definite proof that the said interface isn't as bad as you'd like us to believe. I'm not one of those you can qualify as a genius who teaches himself everything. In fact, I often need people to explain to me how things work, programming for instance. Some people get it on their own, I sure as hell couldn't and thats why I'm so annoying and asking so many questions. Learning Blender was the same thing. It took me a while, and a lot of patience on the part of the community at BlenderArtists but I made it, and I can use it now. Extremely well? No not yet, but that is a challenge I still take on and I hope one day I will succeed in making 3d scenes people will smile looking at.

In the end I think you may be scared to take on the challenge...but that is solely my opinion. Whether or not I'm right that isn't for me or you to decide (as we're both biased in the matter).

If Blender 2.5 makes it so that Blender is accessible to you, then great. One more person in the community and in the end Blender will be the biggest winner.

suvakas · Post by **suvakas** » Thu Jun 04, 2009 6:16 pm

I watched all the beginner tutorial videos at work last week. The UI is not that bad actually, I was able to memorise the main idea quite quick. But the overall "how Blender does things" is not that great. Navigating in viewports offten feels random to me. At least I couldn't find how to rotate the view only around X axis or Z axis without using the arrow keys on the numpad. I always ended up in some tilted obscure view and it made the modelling very hard. Also every time i wanted to select some vertices I had to go to "box selection" mode. Every time. I was glad when I finally found a modifier stack.I used a subdivide modifier on a model and it looked ok, but when I hit render, the model changed to some weirdness without any cause I could think of.
Starting from a blank sheet with Blender is probably Ok, but coming from commercial pro packages it doesn't do things quite right. At least not after 2-3 hours of working with it.

PureSpider · Post by **PureSpider** » Thu Jun 04, 2009 11:31 pm

suvakas wrote:Starting from a blank sheet with Blender is probably Ok, but coming from commercial pro packages it doesn't do things quite right. At least not after 2-3 hours of working with it.

Finally someone stated EXACTLY my idea

Thank you, suv!

WytRaven · Post by **WytRaven** » Thu Jun 04, 2009 11:47 pm

suvakas wrote: I always ended up in some tilted obscure view and it made the modelling very hard.

That's because you need to switch to "Turn-table" view rotation mode.

It's in the preferences panel (drag down top section with the menus to expose global prefs)

WytRaven · Post by **WytRaven** » Fri Jun 05, 2009 12:00 am

suvakas wrote:Also every time i wanted to select some vertices I had to go to "box selection" mode. Every time.

You certainly do not need to use box selection. You can select individuals with left or right mouse depending on how you have configured mouse button behavior (right mouse by default) you can use shift to select multiples. You can also hit "b" twice to go into a sort of brush selection mode instead of box selection which gives you a circular "brush" with variable sizing (just roll scroll wheel to grow or shrink) that you can swipe over any vertices you wish to select.

I can assure you Suvakas that everything you want is there

Also something that you may find strange at first, as I don't know any other modeler that uses it; the 3D cursor is a very very powerful tool once you learn how to leverage it's unique capabilities:)

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not defending blender just for the sake of it or trying to make you feel silly for not knowing these things. I'm just pointing out that the problems you have identified are actually not problems; just a matter of learning and that just comes with time. Remember that blender was designed by 3D modeling professionals to get work done not by a team of programmers that just decided to make some 3D software

PureSpider · Post by **PureSpider** » Fri Jun 05, 2009 12:17 am

Wyt when I read what you write what pops into my head is "Hell I don't need to push 5704534 button combos in C4D but just ONE button to get things working"
That's what I HATE about blender.
"Hmmmm, where may that tool I need just now be hidden" while in C4D it's just "Ah cool, circular selection button!"

suvakas · Post by **suvakas** » Fri Jun 05, 2009 12:29 am

Thanks WytRaven, will check that "turn table" out for sure. If it works, then Blender instantly gets to a better app for me than it is now.

I didn't doubt, that those things are in there. They are just too hard to find compared to other apps I'm used to. I remember testing Mudbox demo in the beginning of this year. I had never seen the program, but I was able to start modeling in a matter of minutes. I spent 2 hours with Blender and I made very slow progress.
I'm not complaining, just pointing out what I didn't like. Out of the box Blender is not very intuitive. But it is cool alternative and I'll keep experimenting when i need to kill some free time (cause it's legal to have it installed to my Pc at work )

[edit]
I totally agree with Purespider. That's exactly how I feel too.

suvakas · Post by **suvakas** » Fri Jun 05, 2009 4:42 am

Hey, thanks WytRaven for the Turntable hint.
For me this made the Blender to go from completely useless to quite fun

Ps. Here's my first ever Blender model. Started from the box and just fooled around

Who else here is excited for Blender 2.5?

Re: Who else here is excited for Blender 2.5?

Re: Who else here is excited for Blender 2.5?

Re: Who else here is excited for Blender 2.5?

Re: Who else here is excited for Blender 2.5?

Re: Who else here is excited for Blender 2.5?

Re: Who else here is excited for Blender 2.5?

Re: Who else here is excited for Blender 2.5?

Re: Who else here is excited for Blender 2.5?

Re: Who else here is excited for Blender 2.5?

Re: Who else here is excited for Blender 2.5?

Re: Who else here is excited for Blender 2.5?

Re: Who else here is excited for Blender 2.5?

Re: Who else here is excited for Blender 2.5?

Re: Who else here is excited for Blender 2.5?

Re: Who else here is excited for Blender 2.5?

Who is online