Why I loathe Blender
by Francis · 02/18/2007 (2:45 am) · 25 comments
Because nothing is ever simple in that bloody program. Thats the reason i use wings, cause everything in blender is a longwinded and annoying process. The interface sucks too. SO i went to put my .dts exporter script into blender.
But blender was like "Y halo thar! Whats this nu stuffz, no thx, bundled see?"
So I went to the forums and tried there, and people were helpful. But blender wasnt. I was told to use a second script directory which i could make through the user preferances window. So I reopened blender and got my user referances tab out and It gave me language prefrances. Expected. What isnt expected is the complete lack of obviouse ways to switch this to setting script paths. "blender once again is all like "Y halo thar, look a million buttons and not one of them is worth anything!" And grins like a mad pygmy with a hardon....
Oh god I want the next wings installment to have a .dts exporter hehehe...
I absolutly hate blender.
But blender was like "Y halo thar! Whats this nu stuffz, no thx, bundled see?"
So I went to the forums and tried there, and people were helpful. But blender wasnt. I was told to use a second script directory which i could make through the user preferances window. So I reopened blender and got my user referances tab out and It gave me language prefrances. Expected. What isnt expected is the complete lack of obviouse ways to switch this to setting script paths. "blender once again is all like "Y halo thar, look a million buttons and not one of them is worth anything!" And grins like a mad pygmy with a hardon....
Oh god I want the next wings installment to have a .dts exporter hehehe...
I absolutly hate blender.
About the author
#2
02/18/2007 (7:13 am)
Well, I have brought Silo after trying Blender, but there are some things that I prefer to do in Blender - at least until they'll make a good documentation for Silo :) 
#3
Personally if one is going to spend time learning to use a program, it should as well follow some industrial standard rules and terminology... Blender makes up its own rules and terms.
Blender is great for someone that is starting out, and do not have any idea what a 3D mesh modeling program should be like. And Blender do have the perfect price for what it is...
02/18/2007 (7:58 am)
I always thought Blenders user interface was designed by a programmer... Never let programmers design a user interface. Personally if one is going to spend time learning to use a program, it should as well follow some industrial standard rules and terminology... Blender makes up its own rules and terms.
Blender is great for someone that is starting out, and do not have any idea what a 3D mesh modeling program should be like. And Blender do have the perfect price for what it is...
#5
02/18/2007 (8:56 am)
Quote:Blender is great for someone that is starting out, and do not have any idea what a 3D mesh modeling program should be like.You would think so - but it was my first 3D modelling package, so when I tried to move on to another one with a more standard interface I was confused as hell.
Quote:Blender do have the perfect price for what it is...True, true...
Quote:Effortless UV unwrapping... built-in.I agree, it has good UV unwrapping - though I prefer UVMapper Classic myself(nice and free).
#6
02/18/2007 (9:33 am)
I use Silo as well, I love the ability to completely customize it to your work style. The lack of documentation is troublesome in some areas but there are some really nice tutorials on their site.
#7
02/18/2007 (10:00 am)
I've tried to get into Blender many times. The UI is horrible, IMHO.
#8
02/18/2007 (10:29 am)
hmm... another Blender Blunder! Well the best way is to bang more at such times , ya you know it ( the head :D) I think no program is that easy when it comes to addons. And why I say banging the head is because it helps at such situations. " when going gets tough , tough gets going" Read more Docs and maybe post the problems etc..
#9
I thought that too, but someone (ages ago) corrected me and told me it was actually designed by artists. Which makes it even more baffling. I am yet to meet a professional artist that has anything good to say about Blender, and I know a lot of professional artists.
I could be wrong of course, my memory is not famed for being good. Quite the opposite, in fact ;)
T.
02/18/2007 (10:53 am)
Quote:I always thought Blenders user interface was designed by a programmer... Never let programmers design a user interface.
I thought that too, but someone (ages ago) corrected me and told me it was actually designed by artists. Which makes it even more baffling. I am yet to meet a professional artist that has anything good to say about Blender, and I know a lot of professional artists.
I could be wrong of course, my memory is not famed for being good. Quite the opposite, in fact ;)
T.
#10
That being said, you might try asking for help next time. There's a whole forum devoted to the exporter:
www.garagegames.com/mg/forums/result.forum.php?qf=134
Also:
Not the most intuitive thing in the world, granted.
02/18/2007 (11:06 am)
Blender's UI sucks for new users. The learning curve is much steeper than it needs to be.That being said, you might try asking for help next time. There's a whole forum devoted to the exporter:
www.garagegames.com/mg/forums/result.forum.php?qf=134
Also:
Not the most intuitive thing in the world, granted.
#11
See ? :)
02/18/2007 (11:50 am)
Yo, Joe, he did ask for help.Quote:So I went to the forums and tried there, and people were helpful
See ? :)
#12
Click his profile, click the link to view his posts. No posts in the exporter forums. See ? :)
02/18/2007 (11:55 am)
He didn't ask for help in the Blender DTS Exporter forums, which is why I posted a link...Click his profile, click the link to view his posts. No posts in the exporter forums. See ? :)
#13
I think the interface is very simple and it's built on unix/linix xwindows / X11 type of layout.
Just have to give yourself time. There is a reason why it's hard to master any of the 3d tools out there.
For the price I don't see merit in the complaint.
Gallery Eye Candy
www.blender.org/features-gallery/gallery/images/
02/18/2007 (2:08 pm)
Blender is one of the worlds finest public license tools. And a fine group of people that have made it come this far.I think the interface is very simple and it's built on unix/linix xwindows / X11 type of layout.
Just have to give yourself time. There is a reason why it's hard to master any of the 3d tools out there.
For the price I don't see merit in the complaint.
Gallery Eye Candy
www.blender.org/features-gallery/gallery/images/
#14
Granted, it takes time to learn and adapt from a "normal" UI, but IIRC there was a lot of thought put into the design and UI (from reading the tutorials/docs). It becomes more intuitive the more you use it.
Good luck with everything.
02/18/2007 (2:23 pm)
Blender at first glance is an amazingly unintuitive tool. But as soon as you start to get over the relatively small learning curves by say following an online tutorial like Blender 3D: Noob to Pro it becomes an amazingly powerful and very cool editor.Granted, it takes time to learn and adapt from a "normal" UI, but IIRC there was a lot of thought put into the design and UI (from reading the tutorials/docs). It becomes more intuitive the more you use it.
Good luck with everything.
#15
The Blender Manual covers why the UI is the way it is and from that perspective it makes sense. I never jelled with it, though it is definitely a very functional application.
02/18/2007 (3:09 pm)
I prefer Modo's UV Mapping tool. It is the most pleasant UV mapping experience I have ever had.The Blender Manual covers why the UI is the way it is and from that perspective it makes sense. I never jelled with it, though it is definitely a very functional application.
#16
In any case: www.blender.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10540
02/18/2007 (3:22 pm)
Sure the interface is non-intuitive. Sure there's room for improvement. If the interface worked like Maya or 3DS max at least we wouldn't have to listen to the constant bitching (or would we?).In any case: www.blender.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10540
Quote:(emphasis added)
Without reading the manual there are only handful of 3D apps I've been able to use - Silo, Wings, and sharpconstruct - and even then I required some manual for both Silo and Wings to do figure out some features. For XSI, Maya, 3DS Max, Houdini, Cinema4D, Truespace, ZBrush -- all have been fairly useless without reading a manual or viewing tutorials.
I do agree that ease of migration between some of those programs is quite a bit easier than between any of those and blender.
Also to get started with blender you can read just the quickstart guide - not even a full manual :)
Also as already noted the interface is due to being historically in house software that was originally developed on hardware that had different user interface conventions.
That said - the interface is to become fully customizable after 2.43 - and likely will have some themes that can have things work in a similar fashion to Maya, XSI, etc.
LetterRip
#17
02/18/2007 (3:53 pm)
I love LightRay3D, outstanding model tool. To me it is very easy to use. 
#18
02/18/2007 (5:20 pm)
I just wanted to add another "I think the Blender UI sucks and needs to be redone" comment. I don't even care that it's free because it's not worth the 100's of hours of my life I'd have to spend trying to learn how to use it. Another thing that bothers me is that everyone KNOWS it sucks. And it's open source. And nobody has stepped up to the task of redoing the UI. 
#19
Personally I use Max 9, that's what works best for me anyway. Use what works best for you. I know there are going to be some good and bad packages out there to each their own but remember, like in game making, even a bad program is hard to make. You should know that as an Indy. I know first hand at how hard it is programming. Some people catch on faster then others, but still, no need to bash the software just cause YOU hate it. Some people would swear by it... like I said, each to their own... Hope you find a modeling pack to suit your needs man. Just shop around, something is out there for all levels.
Be safe,
Will Zettler
Digital Lightstorming
dlstorminc@yahoo.com
02/18/2007 (5:26 pm)
Francis,Personally I use Max 9, that's what works best for me anyway. Use what works best for you. I know there are going to be some good and bad packages out there to each their own but remember, like in game making, even a bad program is hard to make. You should know that as an Indy. I know first hand at how hard it is programming. Some people catch on faster then others, but still, no need to bash the software just cause YOU hate it. Some people would swear by it... like I said, each to their own... Hope you find a modeling pack to suit your needs man. Just shop around, something is out there for all levels.
Be safe,
Will Zettler
Digital Lightstorming
dlstorminc@yahoo.com
#20
Ah ;-)
@Joe Rossi,
The problem is, everyone who is capable of doing it KNOWS it will be a horrendously time consuming and boring job - the experience of fixing that would be akin to being stretched on a rack whilst being forced to drink beer that had previously been used to give the world's fattest person colonic irrigation.
It is easy for us here to sit and point fingers and complain about how shitty Blender is. But, spare a thought for the poor bastards that have to actually write the code. As mentioned above, someone already has the task of fixing the UI. Whilst they are doing that they have to listen to the many hundreds of thousands/millions of people on the entire Internet complain about how shitty their software is despite the fact that they are spending ungodly amounts of hours trying to sort it out. And you can bet that the complaining won't stop after 2.43 ships with the new UI.
Personally, as a programmer, I don't envy those guys at all. In fact, I think that everyone who uses Blender should send them a case of beer as a thank you for their efforts.
02/18/2007 (7:18 pm)
@Joseph,Ah ;-)
@Joe Rossi,
Quote:Another thing that bothers me is that everyone KNOWS it sucks. And it's open source. And nobody has stepped up to the task of redoing the UI.
The problem is, everyone who is capable of doing it KNOWS it will be a horrendously time consuming and boring job - the experience of fixing that would be akin to being stretched on a rack whilst being forced to drink beer that had previously been used to give the world's fattest person colonic irrigation.
It is easy for us here to sit and point fingers and complain about how shitty Blender is. But, spare a thought for the poor bastards that have to actually write the code. As mentioned above, someone already has the task of fixing the UI. Whilst they are doing that they have to listen to the many hundreds of thousands/millions of people on the entire Internet complain about how shitty their software is despite the fact that they are spending ungodly amounts of hours trying to sort it out. And you can bet that the complaining won't stop after 2.43 ships with the new UI.
Personally, as a programmer, I don't envy those guys at all. In fact, I think that everyone who uses Blender should send them a case of beer as a thank you for their efforts.
Torque Owner Okashira