Quote: Original post by dpadam450
First blender is as useful as any pricey tools out there. I've seen just as amazing things done with as 3dsmax,maya. Check out Elephants Dream if you want to see some nuts blender.

I recently had a class on 3dsmax, and compared to blender, I hate it and won't use it ever. Blender is alot faster/easier to use, cuz you point click for editing. In max you have to hit all these "i want to edit buttons". Anyway....if your serious about blender, buy the 2.3 guide book. It's damn good and its even online though I think having a book is better. You actually might want to buy the new book instead, since it covers beginning and new features.

Interesting you say this. I'm a 3ds Max user and Blender's UI feels like something Satan threw together to make life a living hell.

Quote: Original post by Jarrod1937
Interesting you say this. I'm a 3ds Max user and Blender's UI feels like something Satan threw together to make life a living hell.

That is perhaps the best description of blender I've ever read. <Shudder>

I've always been partial to Misfit Model 3D. It's totally free, and very easy to use (though for some reason it hasn't been working on my computers lately, so I'm looking for a replacement)

I'll admit that I haven't used any of the commercial modellers mentioned that I recall, but, having used Blender, I'll agree with those who have said that it's worth persevering with Blender's initially-confusing interface - or at least, that has been my experience thus far.

As an aid to learning the use of Blender, you might try this Wikibook.

One thing that may well be worth noting is that, as alluded to by dpadam450, the function of a number of hot keys (if not all; I'm honestly not sure, offhand) depends on the mode in which you find yourself at the time.

That is: the 'E' key, for example, may do one thing in "Edit mode" and another in "UV mode".

While this may sound terrible, it is possible, I find, to become accustomed to it.

If you want something simple, and are primarily interested in creating models and UV-mapping them (albeit with a less powerful, from what I recall, UV-mapper than is available in Blender), then I would second the recommendation of Wings3D - it's straight-forward, free, and shouldn't, I don't think, be too difficult to pick up.

hey PCN! Well, I've messed with blender a little, and as the poster above suggested, go with the Blender 3D Noob to Pro wiki-book. I'm not very good at 3D modeling, but I'm efficiant with blender. It's pretty easy once you get the hang of it!

I started working with blender a few months ago. I recommend a couple of sources for information. First look for the blender wiki on the blender site they had a project called the blender sumer of documentation That covers all the basics. If you prefer books check out the character animation using blender book the first quarter/half of the book is dedicated to modeling so you can learn to do just about anything with the book. Either/Both of those should get you to the point of knowing what buttons to push, from there I am not sure where to go to figure out how to make good art but I know it is me and not the tool.

Blender is very daunting at first, a lot of people starting out aren't used to using just keyboard shortcuts to operate 90% of the software, but once you get past the basics you can create a model in almost half the time it takes you to click around the menus in other packages.

It's very efficient, and although it seems 'thrown together' at first, you'll soon see that the interface was very cleverly designed and really does make sense.

If you don't feel like traveling the steep learning curve just to get a few quick game models done, might I suggest Truespace3D. I used this since version 1.0, and it has the best 'simplicity verses power' ratio. It's simple for beginners, has some excellent documentation, yet allows you to carry on using it up to professional CGI movie and photorealism work without changing software.

If you are trying to learn Blender, the most important piece of advice I have is to be on the #blender IRC channel on Freenode.net when you're modeling. The people there are very helpful when it comes to basic usability mistakes, e.g. "I hit a hotkey by accident and now my entire scene is gone!" "Did you change layers? Try hitting 1."

I've been using Blender now for a year or so, and while there are a few things about it that still annoy me (e.g. non-shared copy/paste buffer, no way to turn off focus-on-mouse), the basic interface really doesn't get in my way any more. It's not that I've learned to work around it, either, like I've had to do with Windows, say. Blender just really isn't made with the newbie in mind. The vi comparison is really apropos, especially given Blender's modal nature.