Who using blender 3d for dts export?

#1 I haven't had a problem with it. Blender's interface can be a little wonky until you get a handle on it, especially if you are coming from another application. However, if you go through the first couple of chapters to the official Blender Manual, you'll understand why it is setup the way it is and it will make much more sense. The DTS exporter is great for it.

#2 Blender is great. Sure the interface is a bit odd to the newbie, but once you work out how everything works it's great. I even build my difs DIFs with it and then port them over to Constructor as a Q3map file for final tweaks, textures and DIF export (I can work faster in Blender on brush construction you see).

There's plenty of documentation and tutorials available to learn modelling, rigging, animation and UVmapping.
I found the "Gingerbread Man" tutorial very handy. Link. And there are plenty of video tutorials on the interweb, many of them Torque related. vidlink
And lowpolycoop has a couple of really useful DTS tuts link.
And there's more listed on the GG Documentation -> Artists page.

And at zero price, you don't get much more affordable than Blender. Of course if I could afford Max or Maya at 4/5000 dollars I'd probably use that.....

#3 I've been using Blender for a few years and don't really have any complaints with it. Most beginning users have "issues" with the interface but once you learn it and get used to it you'll not want to use anything different.

#4 Thankyou

#5 Houdini HD might be a great option too, or even XSI Softimage Mod Tool, for professional level 3d modelling. My artists are crying over not using Maya/3DSMAX, but theyre pretty happy campers with Houdini/Milkshape. It gets the job done, for tens of thousands of dollars less, if you look at the total cost of ownership of 3-4 licenses.

Commercial ready? Maybe not, but then you get lots of animation packs, like Torque Motion, Male Advanced Character Kit animations, one can get a decent looking prototype out. I suggest that you have a look at the two options I mentioned. Once you approach commercial, I really suggest getting some artists and investing in 3DS/Maya/Softimage(for 2.5K, costs 3 K less)

The main issue with blender, and I think it comes down to artist preference, is the slightly different UI as compared to the commercial software out there, and support, support, support :) The moment you tell the artists its commercial, theyre like man, I gotta learn this. Lol. The moment you say, use blender, theyre like, in the back of theyre minds, 'hmm, open source, its gotta be crappy', and they start crying.

Regards,
Nerfster

#6 Lol, Nerfster, better look for other artists... I have the oposite experience here: I have convinced a bunch of artist (Max and Maya users too) to switch to Blender, just showing them what it is capable of. You know, it is not the tool, it is the artists...