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I think the two subreddits (/r/Maya and /r/blender) for those products really illustrate the point further. Blender usage exploded around 2.6 with the first UI

I think the two subreddits (/r/Maya and /r/blender) for those products really illustrate the point further. Blender usage exploded around 2.6 with the first UI revamp, and it seems to have swelled even more as 2.8 approached.

realusername 7y ago
2.8 is packing so much good stuff and new features it does not even feel the same software anymore, they made some amazing work.
ioquatix 7y ago
20k vs 140k, respectively. That's impressive.
CodeCube 7y ago
I keep hearing that blender's UI is no longer the domain of dark wizards ... between the cost of the paid products, and the funky UI of older versions of blender, I could never quite get into 3d modeling and design. Maybe it's time to revisit?
- sprafa 7y ago
  Absolutely. I just tried it recently after years of shunning it for its UI and it looks and feels fantastically better. It should’ve been like this ages ago but there you go, they’ve finally changed it.
- nineteen999 7y ago
  I don't mean to sound mean here - 3D art is like any other disicpline here. No software package is going to make good art easy to achieve. Just like any form of programming, making sure that the mesh is rigged correctly, and looks aethetically pleasing, and animates well, takes a lot of hard work. No amount of UI revamps are going to compensate for those who want to do 3D art, but refuse to do the hard yards to make things look good.
  - fb03 7y ago
    I was going to point this: It is simply a too complicated workflow. No amount of UI revamping will solve the issue of "having a shit ton of actions that can be done and parameters that can be tweaked". One just needs to bear with the process of learning until it becomes second nature. I had the same "issue" when I was learning music production on a tracker-inspired daw: Renoise. Really steep learning curve, Lots and lots of buttons because you have lots and lots of doable actions. You just need to do it badly enough until you are okay with it. It becomes second nature, part of your hands, really.
    - jsgo 7y ago
      I don't think anyone is pretending that 3D modeling and the like are able to be made simple just by UI changes: any proper craft requires practice and perhaps combined with some innate knack for the discipline. But with computer applications, I think it is pretty fair to say that there are certain expectations of behaviors for applications (or groups of applications) across various OSes which correlates to the intuitiveness of the application itself. Vim and the like are powerful tools, but if someone feels like they're battling it from the onset (or still after a few hours), they may be discouraged from continuing to try and use it and stick with something more akin to what they're used to like edit or nano or something else entirely. As such, the artificial barrier to entry of an obtuse UI and mannerisms (for one, iirc, Blender has/had an opposite behavior for mouse buttons) may've kept some people from using that otherwise would've been inclined to do so. Now it becomes a case of whether they can get over the learning curve of the subject matter itself which, who knows, time will tell I suppose. But at least now, presumably, the application itself won't be the thing that prevents them from digging deeper.
      - nineteen999 7y ago
        (EDIT: I'm going to preface this comment by saying I'm a failed 3D artist, but it's not because Blender has traditionally used right-click to select). The mouse button argument is utterly ridiculous and has been going on at least for as long as I've used Blender, which is over 10 years. The number failed 3D careers I've read about online that are blamed on that choice of "right mouse button click to select" is hilarious (note: left click is the default as of 2.8 so there are no more excuses). It is a minute problem compared to the learning curve of defining a good silhouette, 3D modelling, sculpting, topology, UV layout, rigging, triangulation and animation etc. If people are still getting stuck at the select button being on the wrong side of the mouse, they really don't have the interest. I suggest taking a look at ZBrush UI if you haven't already. Yes it lets you select subtools (meshes) with a left click. In nearly every other way, it has one of the most unconvential UI you will see in nearly any piece of desktop software. It actually works in its favour once you get to know it, but its much more intimidating than Blender, at least for those starting out. You don't hear many complaints about it, well, because ZBrush is not cheap. Yet a massive amount of meshes for 3D games, film, etc are created in ZBrush. Apologies if this comment comes across as brusque but I'm tired of this specious complaint about Blender's UI.
- Teknoman117 7y ago
  Definitely going to have to check out the newer Blender. Anyone remember the "hidden menus" you had to know which part of the window to drag them out of?

realusername 7y ago

2.8 is packing so much good stuff and new features it does not even feel the same software anymore, they made some amazing work.

ioquatix 7y ago

20k vs 140k, respectively. That's impressive.

CodeCube 7y ago

I keep hearing that blender's UI is no longer the domain of dark wizards ... between the cost of the paid products, and the funky UI of older versions of blender, I could never quite get into 3d modeling and design. Maybe it's time to revisit?

sprafa 7y ago
Absolutely. I just tried it recently after years of shunning it for its UI and it looks and feels fantastically better. It should’ve been like this ages ago but there you go, they’ve finally changed it.
nineteen999 7y ago
I don't mean to sound mean here - 3D art is like any other disicpline here. No software package is going to make good art easy to achieve. Just like any form of programming, making sure that the mesh is rigged correctly, and looks aethetically pleasing, and animates well, takes a lot of hard work. No amount of UI revamps are going to compensate for those who want to do 3D art, but refuse to do the hard yards to make things look good.
- fb03 7y ago
  I was going to point this: It is simply a too complicated workflow. No amount of UI revamping will solve the issue of "having a shit ton of actions that can be done and parameters that can be tweaked". One just needs to bear with the process of learning until it becomes second nature. I had the same "issue" when I was learning music production on a tracker-inspired daw: Renoise. Really steep learning curve, Lots and lots of buttons because you have lots and lots of doable actions. You just need to do it badly enough until you are okay with it. It becomes second nature, part of your hands, really.
  - jsgo 7y ago
    I don't think anyone is pretending that 3D modeling and the like are able to be made simple just by UI changes: any proper craft requires practice and perhaps combined with some innate knack for the discipline. But with computer applications, I think it is pretty fair to say that there are certain expectations of behaviors for applications (or groups of applications) across various OSes which correlates to the intuitiveness of the application itself. Vim and the like are powerful tools, but if someone feels like they're battling it from the onset (or still after a few hours), they may be discouraged from continuing to try and use it and stick with something more akin to what they're used to like edit or nano or something else entirely. As such, the artificial barrier to entry of an obtuse UI and mannerisms (for one, iirc, Blender has/had an opposite behavior for mouse buttons) may've kept some people from using that otherwise would've been inclined to do so. Now it becomes a case of whether they can get over the learning curve of the subject matter itself which, who knows, time will tell I suppose. But at least now, presumably, the application itself won't be the thing that prevents them from digging deeper.
    - nineteen999 7y ago
      (EDIT: I'm going to preface this comment by saying I'm a failed 3D artist, but it's not because Blender has traditionally used right-click to select). The mouse button argument is utterly ridiculous and has been going on at least for as long as I've used Blender, which is over 10 years. The number failed 3D careers I've read about online that are blamed on that choice of "right mouse button click to select" is hilarious (note: left click is the default as of 2.8 so there are no more excuses). It is a minute problem compared to the learning curve of defining a good silhouette, 3D modelling, sculpting, topology, UV layout, rigging, triangulation and animation etc. If people are still getting stuck at the select button being on the wrong side of the mouse, they really don't have the interest. I suggest taking a look at ZBrush UI if you haven't already. Yes it lets you select subtools (meshes) with a left click. In nearly every other way, it has one of the most unconvential UI you will see in nearly any piece of desktop software. It actually works in its favour once you get to know it, but its much more intimidating than Blender, at least for those starting out. You don't hear many complaints about it, well, because ZBrush is not cheap. Yet a massive amount of meshes for 3D games, film, etc are created in ZBrush. Apologies if this comment comes across as brusque but I'm tired of this specious complaint about Blender's UI.
Teknoman117 7y ago
Definitely going to have to check out the newer Blender. Anyone remember the "hidden menus" you had to know which part of the window to drag them out of?