Watchtower – Blender Studio

Blender is such an amazing open source tool. It used to have a reputation (along with GIMP) of having a steep learning curve, but that is definitely no longer true. They recently (v2.8) did a major UI/UX overhaul and its now very easy to use.

Its also completely scriptable in python. I used blender on google cloud platform for my startup (https://lulimjewelry.com) where I digitally engrave my customers fingerprints on a piece of jewelry and then 3d print it for them. I build the pipeline in blender on the backend using NYT's blender docker containers. Everything can run headless (although headless rendering with Eevee was a pain to set up).

I have an un-related hobby where I often have to edit video. In the past I've used iMovie just because it comes on my machine, but I've been meaning to try out Blender. I've heard some good things about its editing capabilities.

I'm always told how blender is amazing and there seems to be some impressive tech under the hood, the simulations look amazing and some stuff produced with it looks great but every time I try to use it, it is incredibly frustrating, like it's close but still so far away when it comes to the UI. I have been doing 3D for about a decade and a half, I have made intros and virtual sets for TV shows so I have some experience with the industry. I just really hate the Blender UI, I have used many different 3D programs and blender by far has the most friction when it comes to creation.

Blender users have baby duck syndrome and will argue that it's not the UI it is me and I always wonder why is it only blender's UI that has so much friction? Just manipulating the view port can be frustrating at times. Even the three.js 3d web editor feels much more intuitive to use than blenders UI.

The best analogy that I have come up with is someone who has learned to ride a bicycle without a seat, while uncomfortable is still 100% usable, but when you come and say you prefer the bicycle with a seat and it's a better experience they tell you, no you are wrong for liking the seat.

This gif represents what it feels like to use blender vs any other 3d software; https://media.giphy.com/media/l0HlHelCbB9fyXDOw/giphy.gif

Please Blender foundation hire some great UI and UX people, give them a budget and don't add any features until the UI is no longer a pain to use.

I want to use blander very much but life is too short to deal with awful UIs.

I will try Blender 3 but I doubt massive strides have been made to improve the UI/UX since 2.8

> Blender is such an amazing open source tool. It used to have a reputation (along with GIMP) of having a steep learning curve, but that is definitely no longer true. They recently (v2.8) did a major UI/UX overhaul and its now very easy to use.

Blender as a professional tool till has a steep learning curve, as all professional tools have. This is not a negative at all, as some has been led to believe.

There is a difference in "Hard to master" VS "Hard to get started with". GIMP is both at the time, and Blender used to be the same, but now Blender is easier to get started with than before, but as with any professional tool, it's still hard to master as the area is difficult (3D modelling, animation, simulations and more), not because the tool itself. Luckily, mastering 3DS Max, Maya, Blender, Cinema4D or any other 3D suite makes it easy to master the others, as it's mostly the UI/UX that is different between them, not the concepts themselves.

> I have an un-related hobby where I often have to edit video. In the past I've used iMovie just because it comes on my machine, but I've been meaning to try out Blender. I've heard some good things about its editing capabilities.

You're probably better off using something else unless you're using Blender heavily in your process already. It's nice that the UX of general Blender translates to the video editor so when you're deep into modelling and just need some quick video edit it's fast to do it without too much context switching. But for larger video jobs, you're better off using a dedicated video editing tool like Resolve, as it's still miles ahead of the competition.

I’d go so far as to say it is one of the most successful open-source projects of all time, and a poster child for how OSS should be run. From the beginning, it has cultivated a welcoming community that produced a range of tutorials and learning materials for all skill levels. It’s evolution has been steady, and it has seemingly found a way to be successful and impactful in a space where closed-sourced competitors are vastly more well-funded.

I distinctly remember how incredible it was when Big Buck Bunny was released with all assets and project files freely available. I learnt so much from that, and wouldn’t be surprised if it was a catalyst that led to many, many people gaining the skills and drive to produce new creative works. I hope Blender continues to inspire and enable many future generations of creators.

It's definitely got more accessible. They're teaching 13yo children in England to use Blender as part of their curriculum: https://teachcomputing.org/curriculum/key-stage-3/media-anim...