I started in 2001, with some autocad, 3ds r4 and 3ds Max experience, I struggled with the blender interface for many hours over a year or two. It was not desig

I started in 2001, with some autocad, 3ds r4 and 3ds Max experience, I struggled with the blender interface for many hours over a year or two. It was not designed to be easily learned, but the ui is fast to use once you learn it. One hand on the keyboard hitting memorized hot keys, the other on the 3 button mouse... What drove me to learn was that I could use a powerful tool, that's improving at a fast rate, legally, for free. I since used lightwave, maya, sketch up, newer 3ds max... inventor. I still go back to Blender because it's faster for me. Since 2.5, command and hotkeys in the interface, there's undo, much more friendly to new users, there's much better learning resources. If I was starting now, I'd probably become proficient 5 to 10 times faster.