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Who uses Blender here at the 3DC forums


digman
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I devoting some time this year to learning Blender and was just wondering how many other 3DC users work with Blender has well. I'm finding the longer I spend in Blender, the more I like it. Some applications are the other way around...

 

I just found out that the sculpting can be used with the Shape Keys...  Nice... great for muscle deformation... You can go into edit mode and do the moving there but sculpting the deformation feels more intuitive...  Shape keys with sculpting also great for bulking your your character back up at it's rest position because your subdivision shrinks your model proportions... 

 

Things like this make me like Blender even more...

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I am also learning Blender. I have been following along with tutorials on Blender Cookie.

 

At first I almost decided to give up! This is because all of the tutorials use the Blender hotkeys, and I was using the Maya preset which has different hotkeys. It was very annoying because many of the Blender hotkeys did not have a Maya preset equivalent. Then I went into the hotkey preferences and manually set it up so that I would have Maya viewport navigation but still retain the Blender hotkeys. The trick was to figure out which Blender hotkeys interfered with the Maya navigation and create alternate hotkeys for them. Once I did that, I was finally able to move on and really start learning Blender.

 

It is my opinion that the viewport navigation problem is probably one of the biggest reasons why more people do not use Blender. I had to dig for quite a while in the Blender forums before I was able to figure out how to fix it to work the way I wanted. The developers really need to pay attention to consistently updating and maintaining the Maya preset if they want Blender to become more popular. Unfortunately there are a lot of Blender users (and developers) who argue that Maya users should just learn the Blender navigation and get over it. I think that kind of attitude is just plain wrong. I believe that all 3D software developers should make as many viewport navigation options available to their users as possible.

 

In any case, now that I have things working the way I want, I have begun to discover all of the magical treasures that Blender has to offer! The feature set is huge!

 

As far as 3D-Coat and Blender goes, I have noticed a possible issue. It seems like the OBJs from Blender import into 3D-Coat with broken normals. How can we fix that? I haven't tried the Blender Applink yet. Does the Applink have the same problem?

 

@Digman: Are Blender's Shape Keys a form of Pose Space Deformation? I watched some tutorials and I wasn't able to tell if it really is or not. In other words, I can't tell if they are just the same things as Blend Shapes/Endomorphs, or if they are something more than that? If they are true Pose Space Deformation then if you sculpted poses onto the mesh, then those sculpted poses would be activated every time the character moves into that same position during an animation. The sculpted poses would also gradually be activated as the character moved into the position, and then would gradually disappear as they left it. If that is how they work, then the Shape Keys function as true Pose Space Deformation. I could of course test this out myself, but I haven't really gotten to that stage yet in my studies.

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@ Timmy, Darn, I lost all my other words, oh well, I will give you the short version.

Yes, they do everything you said...  Shape keys can be keyframed or driven by drivers like an armature in a rig... I have a creature model who is squatting, the quads bulging out more and as he comes to a standing position they lose their bulging gradually. You can blend shape keys as well but I am not that far along yet. 

 

Here is a simple tutorial but effective to get help grasp the idea of how a shape key driven by an armature driver work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3JWNIkwBZ8

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So there is no confusion, the sculpting I was talking about was regular sculpting that only displaces the current polygons...

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I use Blender and 3D coat as my main 3D applications...I also started using Nvil as a dedicated modeling software.  

 

I learned Maya in school, but for some reason it just never clicked with me.

 

I was very determined to learn Blender after Big Buck Bunny came out a few years ago, but I had a lot of trouble, it took me a while to really wrap my head around it.

 

Stick with it though, it's well worth it.

 

-G

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Here is a simple tutorial but effective to get help grasp the idea of how a shape key driven by an armature driver work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3JWNIkwBZ8

Wow, great video! Thank you! This looks like it could become very labor-intensive though (if I were to use those kinds of drivers all over a character rig), but the results would probably look very good. Could those kinds of shape keys also be sculpted at a high poly level (showing more detail, like smaller muscle groups flexing on the character's back for example)?...I could also see this working very nicely in conjuction with the Chronosculpt tool that was just released!

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I'm also learning Blender. I found the early tutorials on http://www.blendtuts.com/blender_tutorials?field_level_value=All&page=4 very helpful.

 

There is a lot to like with Blender and it keeps getting better all the time.

 

I started with max then switched to modo now switching to Blender. The main reason I switched from the other applications was their marketing strategies. Little chance of that happening with Blender. :)

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I use Blender, 3DCoat, Gimp and Unity 3D.. That's pretty much my pipeline.

 

I went through the exact same thing as TimmyZDesing, I followed the CG-Cookies tutorials but couldnt get used to Blender's Navigation.

When you selected the Maya config, you lost the Blender hotkeys so a couple of months ago I decided to bite the bullet and spend some time customizing the Navigation to be like Maya while retaining all of Blender's hotkeys.. That's what did it for me, I absolutely love working in Blender now. I dont know why that config is not part of Blender by default. :)

 

@bisenberger, isn't it crazy what's appenning with AD?  XSI is pretty much dead now and Max.. Well who knows where Max is heading.

Edited by Nossgrr
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I use Blender for rigging and animation now.  Since 2.67
 

btw, very interesting tool for blender, for retopology here:  http://cgcookie.com/blender/2013/07/31/announcing-the-contours-retopology-tool/

 

Is this because of the pricing changes Autodesk made this past year and the way they've seemed to neglect 3ds Max the past few versions? I didn't renew subs last year and their new price increases penalize me to the tune of $2700+ sub....almost the full cost of a brand new license. Been looking at Blender and Modo real hard lately.

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Blender always put me off because of its navigation and interface, but after reading your posts guys, I decided to give it another try. And from what I read around the net, it's well worth to know this software.

 

Currently I'm trying to configure Blender's navigation to work like Maya's, while retaining as much of  Blender's default shortcuts as possible. The big problem I have is that ALT+RMB combination for camera zoom works only when mouse moves vertically, unlike in Maya where you need to move the mouse horizontally. Timmy, Nossgrr, have you folks been able to change this in your presets?

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Blender does have a lot to offer if you get yourself past the Nav system either change it or learn to use it... 

What I like So far:

Powerful node system setting up your textures plus rendering and compositing

Setting up a basic face rig, not that complicated with shape keys and drivers.

Shape keys in general for muscle and facial deformation. Shape keys can be use for a number of varied uses as well.

A good humanoid rig included by default (Rigify) You can add on to this rig, like a tail etc...

Cycles GPU renderer

Camera Tracking

I have not even touch the simulations yet...

Tons of tutorials.

Modelling I do in Hexagon.

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The big problem I have is that ALT+RMB combination for camera zoom works only when mouse moves vertically, unlike in Maya where you need to move the mouse horizontally. Timmy, Nossgrr, have you folks been able to change this in your presets?

Hmm... I must have been blind, but luckily for me a large cup of coffee fixed that. The option I was looking for sits right where it supposed to be, in the User Preferences->Input. :blink:

 

Blender does have a lot to offer if you get yourself past the Nav system either change it or learn to use it...

What I like So far:

Powerful node system setting up your textures plus rendering and compositing

Setting up a basic face rig, not that complicated with shape keys and drivers.

Shape keys in general for muscle and facial deformation. Shape keys can be use for a number of varied uses as well.

A good humanoid rig included by default (Rigify) You can add on to this rig, like a tail etc...

Cycles GPU renderer

Camera Tracking

I have not even touch the simulations yet...

Tons of tutorials.

Modelling I do in Hexagon.

Sounds promising. I really hope that I'll be able to dig through the interface this time. I'm almost done configuring the navigation and some critical hotkeys. I miss Maya's radial menus though - they're so handy. I found something similar: http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?267414-Pie-Menus-%282-66%29-Update-01-28-13, but this add-on doesn't seem to work on 2.68a.

 

Bisenberger, thanks for linking those tutorials.

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@ajz3d: The tricky part about setting up the Maya-style navigation manually is that it seems to work fine at first, and you start to think "well that was easy!", but then you switch from Object Mode to Edit Mode, and it suddenly stops working! The way to fix this is by changing the Loop Select hotkey. The Blender default for that uses ALT, so it conflicts with Maya ALT-centric navigation. Go to the hotkey setting for Loop Select, and change it to something else (that doesn't use ALT), and then Maya navigation will work again in Edit Mode.

 

I also saw that pie-menus (like Maya radial menus) are being planned for an upcoming build of Blender (maybe even exists already in some experimental builds).

 

@everybody:

 

I recommend the Blender Basics tutorial series on Blender Cookie. They got me up and running pretty quickly:

http://cgcookie.com/blender/cgc-courses/blender-basics-introduction-for-beginners/

 

Another thing I have noticed so far in my exploration of Blender is that it definitely won't be replacing 3D-Coat for me. It is a good companion tool, but I still have a LOT of love for 3D-Coat!

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Is this because of the pricing changes Autodesk made this past year and the way they've seemed to neglect 3ds Max the past few versions? I didn't renew subs last year and their new price increases penalize me to the tune of $2700+ sub....almost the full cost of a brand new license. Been looking at Blender and Modo real hard lately.

What about Lightwave? It seems to me that independent artists can choose either Lightwave or Modo if they want to buy a reasonably-priced animation package. In many ways I think Lightwave might be the better all-around choice between the two. What do you think?

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Is this because of the pricing changes Autodesk made this past year and the way they've seemed to neglect 3ds Max the past few versions? I didn't renew subs last year and their new price increases penalize me to the tune of $2700+ sub....almost the full cost of a brand new license. Been looking at Blender and Modo real hard lately.

Blender Foundation is more predictable in a development than Autodesk

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What about Lightwave? It seems to me that independent artists can choose either Lightwave or Modo if they want to buy a reasonably-priced animation package. In many ways I think Lightwave might be the better all-around choice between the two. What do you think?

I owned a seat of LW for a few years, but sold it some time ago, and just stuck with 3ds Max. However, this latest pricing policy is so punitive and so cost prohibitive, it's almost as if they are trying to weed freelancers and small studios out. As for LW and Modo. What you really have is LW-Next Gen (Modo), and LW Old School. The current LW architecture is as old and rickety, and at the end of the day, it's what keeps me from buying in. Modo is where LW would be if Newtek had backed Brad, Allan and Stewart's vision. So, it and Blender are the two best options for users like me.

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What about Lightwave? It seems to me that independent artists can choose either Lightwave or Modo if they want to buy a reasonably-priced animation package. In many ways I think Lightwave might be the better all-around choice between the two. What do you think?

 

One thing that lightwave has going for itself is the price. Its a privately owned company so licensing and pricing is a bit more friendly.

I'm not sure about Foundry's future plans but modo will surely align pricewise with the other software they offer.

As for capabilities both excel especially in freelancing. Its on a team  environment where you need customs tools that both will not be as good as the big boys.

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@ajz3d: The tricky part about setting up the Maya-style navigation manually is that it seems to work fine at first, and you start to think "well that was easy!", but then you switch from Object Mode to Edit Mode, and it suddenly stops working! The way to fix this is by changing the Loop Select hotkey. The Blender default for that uses ALT, so it conflicts with Maya ALT-centric navigation. Go to the hotkey setting for Loop Select, and change it to something else (that doesn't use ALT), and then Maya navigation will work again in Edit Mode.

 

I also saw that pie-menus (like Maya radial menus) are being planned for an upcoming build of Blender (maybe even exists already in some experimental builds).

This is exactly the problem I stumbled upon in the morning, just when I thought I was done with configuring. Thanks for posting the solution. I hope there won't be any more surprises.

 

I just began to familiarise myself with the Cycles renderer and it seems to be solid and a very easy to set-up. I've noticed however that SSS renders black with GPU set as a rendering device. I hope they'll fix it.

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One thing that lightwave has going for itself is the price. Its a privately owned company so licensing and pricing is a bit more friendly.

I'm not sure about Foundry's future plans but modo will surely align pricewise with the other software they offer.

As for capabilities both excel especially in freelancing. Its on a team  environment where you need customs tools that both will not be as good as the big boys.

I've been thinking the same thing. The Foundry doesn't do "cheap." The aren't in the "value-oriented" CG software market. They take relatively obscure products they think they can market and develop, and aim them directly at Studio pipelines. In fact they are likely going to have such tight integration with NUKE, that most studios which have NUKE on hand, will be likely to incorporate Modo somewhere in their pipeline. Modo may have been a great value before, but once the Foundry took over, and doubled the dev. staff....you can read the writing on the wall. Modo has reached full app status, now, so the Foundry is coming into the picture at a good time for them.

 

I fully expect them to place Modo right in the same price point the 4 other major apps are charging ($3700). They might offer current users a decent upgrade deal, initially...but all releases after 801 will likely be pretty steep to upgrade. What's funny is, if Blender were a commercial app, costing $800-$1200, then there would be a lot more buzz about it than it would as a free/open source app. Why? Cause I think we all tend to have a bias toward FREE stuff. We like free, but we naturally associate it with crap or view it as substandard. It's very hard to break through that stigma, even for those of us who know better.  

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You mean the old "you get what you pay for" concept. True no doubt, but for new users, hobbiests and one man studios the economics are becoming compelling. Blender can take aim at any functionality, perfect it and offer it for free. Hard to beat.

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