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Autodesk announces 925 layoffs

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Re: Autodesk announces 925 layoffs

#101

Post by JeremyHerrman »

isaiahg wrote: post #39
Silhouette wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Part of the trouble is that the FBX format in parts of these industries is like the DOC(X) and XLS(X) formats in office productivity software: everyone uses it, so if you want to use a tool that doesn't reliably convert to/from it losslessly you are at risk of severe friction when working with others. And like DOC(X) and XLS(X), it's a proprietary format, which creates various complications for anyone who wants to cr…

> notably a lack of UI refinement That's a common misconception. Blender's UI is extremely simple and innovative.

Back in 2011 if you googled "blender is ", you get these autocompleted options:

blender is slow

blender is too hard

blender is hard to use

I know this because I was so frustrated as a newcomer and took a screenshot that I still have today.

Now if you google "blender is " today, you get these:

blender is hard

blender is damaged

blender is confusing

blender is free

blender is slow

In 2013 Andrew Price led an effort to work with the Blender community to point out why so many people have difficulty with Blender's UI. Check out the video & transcript here: http://www.blenderguru.com/articles/fixing-blender-part-1-wh...

Despite being a thoughtful and very patient man who made a great case, Andrew was met with a lot of pushback from the community that already thought Blender's UI was easy and usable. Unfortunately in the years since not a whole lot has changed (some improvements like tabs, context menus, and not assuming users have a numpad and 3 button mouse).

Blender tries to be everything to everyone - a game engine, a sculpting modeler, a mechanical CAD modeler, a video editor, and a dozen other things. What you actually get is a mess wrapped in a UI that is alien to everyone except for the initiated. There's a reason why Autodesk and others have so many individual products catered to industries and use cases - it's because there's simplicity in specialization.

Re: Autodesk announces 925 layoffs

#102

Post by marshray »

rayiner wrote: post #99
fsloth wrote: post #26

Just in case people are not familiar - Autodesk owns a considerable share of cad market (which is far more encompassing than just Autocad) and they've palmed few of the biggest 3D modeling suites - Maya, 3DMax and (sigh ) XSI. Their DWG format (Autocad's native databaseformat) is a binary blob that still has a huge impact in construction industry and is a major PITA unless one is using Autocad tools. They are a huge…

What passes for innovative in your universe? Fancy JSON file format? AutoCAD web app?

Fusion 360 is becoming a small revolution among my makerspace.

Re: Autodesk announces 925 layoffs

#103

Post by matheweis »

JeremyHerrman wrote: post #101
isaiahg wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> notably a lack of UI refinement That's a common misconception. Blender's UI is extremely simple and innovative.

Back in 2011 if you googled "blender is ", you get these autocompleted options: blender is slow blender is too hard blender is hard to use I know this because I was so frustrated as a newcomer and took a screenshot that I still have today. Now if you google "blender is " today, you get these: blender is hard blender is damaged blender is confusing blender is free blender is slow In 2013 Andrew Price led an effort to…

They should fork into multiple products:

BlenderCore -> BlenderCAD -> BlenderEnginer -> Blender3D -> BlenderVideo etc.

... but if Andrew met resistance before, that's probably a non-starter. :(

Re: Autodesk announces 925 layoffs

#104

Post by fsloth »

rayiner wrote: post #99
fsloth wrote: post #26

Just in case people are not familiar - Autodesk owns a considerable share of cad market (which is far more encompassing than just Autocad) and they've palmed few of the biggest 3D modeling suites - Maya, 3DMax and (sigh ) XSI. Their DWG format (Autocad's native databaseformat) is a binary blob that still has a huge impact in construction industry and is a major PITA unless one is using Autocad tools. They are a huge…

What passes for innovative in your universe? Fancy JSON file format? AutoCAD web app?

I believe there is still much to improve in the way computers are used in the design of structures. The default modeling experience in Autocad has not really changed ...since when? Yet, it's one of the largest softwares out there. I think the modeling paradigm is flawed because it originates from a need to fit lots of data into a tiny ram, and the whole workflow is built around this. Yes, there is the APi - but the differnce between a good UI and an API is the difference between Photoshop and ImageMagick.

Project pipelines: Design information is passed between specialists and project offices. Here DWG - being as popular as it is - is used like a checkin of a git branch - it is as well suited for this as a docx document. People manage, though, with a bit of manual project specific work thrown in. No amount of fancy viewers is going to fix this.

People have started to notice that good graphics are available from 'off the shelf' and that handling the basic geometric primitives is not really rocket science. I'm confident OnShape will be followed by a sleuth of new modeling tools soon - and probabably not from Autodesk. They are too busy protecting their entrenched dominion. I might be wrong though.

Re: Autodesk announces 925 layoffs

#105

Post by thisismyanon1 »

dba7dba wrote: post #33

All I can add is that Autodesk has the best office layout that I am aware of. In 1990s. In their HQ, every single employee got a little glassed in office with enough room for a desk, chair, and 2 chairs IN front of the desk. There was room for an employee to bring in a sleep bag and sleep if necessary with some privacy. IMO much better than this open office stuff. Hopefully they still have that.

Wow... I wish ADSK had offices like that. Our office in San Francisco is now a completely open office. I don't like it much. At least Management was very thoughtful when they introduced it.

Re: Autodesk announces 925 layoffs

#106

Post by DiThi »

Animats wrote: post #54
isaiahg wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> notably a lack of UI refinement That's a common misconception. Blender's UI is extremely simple and innovative.

Here is the Blender hotkey chart.[1] All 9 pages. With the different hotkeys for each of 12 modes. Any questions? [1] http://download.blender.org/documentation/BlenderHotkeyRefer...

> Blender 2.36

One needed all that to learn to use the old Blender. Since the 2.5x version, it got much better. UI got reorganized, keys are remapeable, and most important of all, you can search for any operator by pressing the space bar.

Re: Autodesk announces 925 layoffs

#108

Post by DiThi »

frik wrote: post #92
Silhouette wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Part of the trouble is that the FBX format in parts of these industries is like the DOC(X) and XLS(X) formats in office productivity software: everyone uses it, so if you want to use a tool that doesn't reliably convert to/from it losslessly you are at risk of severe friction when working with others. And like DOC(X) and XLS(X), it's a proprietary format, which creates various complications for anyone who wants to cr…

The UI of Blender could be a lot better. 3D Max, Maya, CINEMA 4D, CATIA, SketchUp ... every 3D software has a sane UI that can be used without reading a manual at all. Except Blender with its non standard UI concepts. Hopefully someone sponsors a UI clean up. It reminds me of Gimp, which had a similar weird UI where every window had its own unique menus and what not. To give them credit, they fixed the UI for the bet…

The current UI of Blender is fairly good. It is difficult because 3D is difficult. You can remap the keys to resemble other 3D packages and UI concepts. If you try to make it any easier than that, you're removing useful features.

Also, you haven't used ZBrush, do you? At least in Blender the names of things always made sense (object, mesh, scene...). The equivalents in ZBrush are the weirdest things.

Re: Autodesk announces 925 layoffs

#109

Post by dba7dba »

thisismyanon1 wrote: post #105
dba7dba wrote: post #33

All I can add is that Autodesk has the best office layout that I am aware of. In 1990s. In their HQ, every single employee got a little glassed in office with enough room for a desk, chair, and 2 chairs IN front of the desk. There was room for an employee to bring in a sleep bag and sleep if necessary with some privacy. IMO much better than this open office stuff. Hopefully they still have that.

Wow... I wish ADSK had offices like that. Our office in San Francisco is now a completely open office. I don't like it much. At least Management was very thoughtful when they introduced it.

Ask around any old timers how their office layout was like in the old hq building.

Re: Autodesk announces 925 layoffs

#110

Post by [deleted] »

thisismyanon1 wrote: post #105
dba7dba wrote: post #33

All I can add is that Autodesk has the best office layout that I am aware of. In 1990s. In their HQ, every single employee got a little glassed in office with enough room for a desk, chair, and 2 chairs IN front of the desk. There was room for an employee to bring in a sleep bag and sleep if necessary with some privacy. IMO much better than this open office stuff. Hopefully they still have that.

Wow... I wish ADSK had offices like that. Our office in San Francisco is now a completely open office. I don't like it much. At least Management was very thoughtful when they introduced it.

[deleted]
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