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If you're talking about the actual documentation as opposed to the API documentation, then I beg to differ. The Blender documentation is fairly up-to date with

If you're talking about the actual documentation as opposed to the API documentation, then I beg to differ. The Blender documentation is fairly up-to date with each release (stable) and in some cases even the alpha ones. On the other hand, I found the API documentation to be lacking and I had to visit the Blender stack exchange multiple times to see any examples or the usage of most of the APIs.

bogwog 5y ago
The API is the worst part of Blender. * Almost every release introduces some breaking changes * The documentation that you find online is almost always out of date * Most error messages give you very little feedback to figure out the problem * Most of the existing operators/scripts are implemented in C/C++ and are built into blender. So when you encounter a useless error message (extremely common), your only option is to clone the full Blender source tree and start searching for that particular operator * Many functions/operators are dependent on the editor state. For example: the only way to pass an input to an operator is to change the currently selected object, and you have to make sure the editor is in the correct mode (object/edit/pose/etc). All of these things are visible to the user, so you better revert any changes you made once your script completes to avoid interrupting their workflow/annoying them. But the built-in Python console with tab completion is excellent. Even though the API has all those problems, having an interactive REPL to figure things out is great. If the API were more stable, documented, and less clunky with the editor state stuff, creating extensions for Blender would be an awesome experience.
aidos 5y ago
While I think the documentation is pretty good, something like Blender is really hard to find your way around initially as a layman. I’ve found YouTube tutorials to be the best way so far but, My God, they’re slow going. Don’t get me wrong BlenderGuru has done incredible work. I just really struggle with video as a long form learning medium. Does anyone have a good (non video) resource for getting into Blender? I know my way around a bit, but would love to get deeper into it. I recall an article on HN in the past that walked through the controls from a coders perspective (vim like control). Something along those lines.
- dantondwa 5y ago
  Apart from the Blender manual itself, I don't think there are. In general, I also find the repetition of basic things in every Blender video to be exhausting, even if by sticking to it I do learn a lot more stuff. Ian Hubert and his 1 minute tutorial are fun exceptions to this. Perhaps you could study Blenders' nodes systems? I've found that channels dedicated to shader and geometry nodes are a lot more precise in their terminology and succinct in their explanations. Probably that is because their target audiences are slightly more advanced and, also, the positive influence of math on their method. Here are a few Youtube channels I recommend: - Erindale. He's probably the most known Blender node wizard. His videos are pleasant, thorough and accurate. - Just 3d things. Another channel about nodes, also very thorough and precise. - Sam Bowman. A channel that methodically goes through the creation of different materials. A very useful resource. - Entagma. They're mainly Houdini people, but in the last months they've also started doing geometry nodes videos. Great and informative stuff. There are many others, but I can't remember them right now.
  - aidos 5y ago
    That’s awesome. Thanks.
  - markmsmith 5y ago
    Different use case (of more engineering / 3D printing), but I've also found the channel Maker Tales and his Precison Modelling tutorial series really good, with relatively short, focused videos.
- peterashford 5y ago
  This is true for every 3D editor.

bogwog 5y ago

The API is the worst part of Blender. * Almost every release introduces some breaking changes * The documentation that you find online is almost always out of date * Most error messages give you very little feedback to figure out the problem * Most of the existing operators/scripts are implemented in C/C++ and are built into blender. So when you encounter a useless error message (extremely common), your only option is to clone the full Blender source tree and start searching for that particular operator * Many functions/operators are dependent on the editor state. For example: the only way to pass an input to an operator is to change the currently selected object, and you have to make sure the editor is in the correct mode (object/edit/pose/etc). All of these things are visible to the user, so you better revert any changes you made once your script completes to avoid interrupting their workflow/annoying them. But the built-in Python console with tab completion is excellent. Even though the API has all those problems, having an interactive REPL to figure things out is great. If the API were more stable, documented, and less clunky with the editor state stuff, creating extensions for Blender would be an awesome experience.

aidos 5y ago

While I think the documentation is pretty good, something like Blender is really hard to find your way around initially as a layman. I’ve found YouTube tutorials to be the best way so far but, My God, they’re slow going. Don’t get me wrong BlenderGuru has done incredible work. I just really struggle with video as a long form learning medium. Does anyone have a good (non video) resource for getting into Blender? I know my way around a bit, but would love to get deeper into it. I recall an article on HN in the past that walked through the controls from a coders perspective (vim like control). Something along those lines.

dantondwa 5y ago
Apart from the Blender manual itself, I don't think there are. In general, I also find the repetition of basic things in every Blender video to be exhausting, even if by sticking to it I do learn a lot more stuff. Ian Hubert and his 1 minute tutorial are fun exceptions to this. Perhaps you could study Blenders' nodes systems? I've found that channels dedicated to shader and geometry nodes are a lot more precise in their terminology and succinct in their explanations. Probably that is because their target audiences are slightly more advanced and, also, the positive influence of math on their method. Here are a few Youtube channels I recommend: - Erindale. He's probably the most known Blender node wizard. His videos are pleasant, thorough and accurate. - Just 3d things. Another channel about nodes, also very thorough and precise. - Sam Bowman. A channel that methodically goes through the creation of different materials. A very useful resource. - Entagma. They're mainly Houdini people, but in the last months they've also started doing geometry nodes videos. Great and informative stuff. There are many others, but I can't remember them right now.
- aidos 5y ago
  That’s awesome. Thanks.
- markmsmith 5y ago
  Different use case (of more engineering / 3D printing), but I've also found the channel Maker Tales and his Precison Modelling tutorial series really good, with relatively short, focused videos.
peterashford 5y ago
This is true for every 3D editor.