I had no idea where to post this so I’ll just put it here.
Years ago I remember having a go at a free program called “Game Blender” that came on a cover-disk on a magazine. I’m not sure if that was its real name then or if the magazine just messed up, but it seemed fun in that it came with an inbuilt game engine which piqued my interest. Anyway I played with it a bit then put it away and went back to working with Lightwave 3D.
I’d never really forgotten about that program though, and every few years or so I’d go do a search and find out what the latest news was with it. I saw that it got bought out by the community or something which seemed impressive, then I saw that a community film had been made with it… Big Buck Bunny and it actually looked amazing, not just for a community made film but for a short film in its own right.
Anyway the other day I was given a job that required fluid dynamics. I was in a pickle… I own Lightwave 3D 9.6 but that only had particles and they were really going to make this project look dodgy, then I remembered that Blender had a fluid dynamics system and maybe I should look into it. I downloaded what I thought was the latest version (2.46) and was slightly bewildered by the interface but following the amazing online documentation and tutorials (which was a simple click away from within the interface) I was soon making stunning water simulations. I was/am literally gobsmacked. I think I remember actually laughing when I saw Blender make my water do exactly what I wanted and look exactly how I wanted it to. Here’s an early test I did that made me lose my mind (graphical glitches are from importing into Lightwave for rendering):
Then I noticed a lot of the tutorial videos showed a different interface to the one I was using… so I went back and checked the Blender site and realised I was using an old version, so I downloaded the new one and was blown away for a second time. Seriously, this program is far, far, FAR more intuitive than Lightwave. I seriously can’t believe it a program of this power and usability is free. I want to personally shake the hand of each and every person who has gone into the creation of this software, but being unable to I am now off to donate
I had lightwave 5.0 also had a play with maya and max but I like blender best I seem to learn things a lot easier with it, and nothings set in concrete. love the customisable UI and the fact that its always getting updated and worked on by people that are passionate about the product.
It is really nice for a change to read a positive reaction from a new Blender user! Thank you! Most complain about the unintuitive UI and lacking docs.
Awesome! Thanks for the welcome, I haven’t really had much of a chance to look around yet but there seems to be a wealth of information and a great community, I’m actually excited to be doing 3D work again!
That cycles video is amazing The biggest selling point of the latest version of Lightwave is this very feature, and Blender is getting it?! My poor Lightwave dongle is shaking in it’s usb port
That cycles video is amazing The biggest selling point of the latest version of Lightwave is this very feature, and Blender is getting it?! My poor Lightwave dongle is shaking in it’s usb port
Why did you watch a video instead of trying out the renderer yourself?
You can download daily builds of blender from www.graphicall.org
Just search for a build that has cycles in it.
The biggest selling point of the latest version of Lightwave is this very feature, and Blender is getting it?! My poor Lightwave dongle is shaking in it’s usb port 
The biggest selling point of the latest version of Lightwave is this very feature, and Blender is getting it?! My poor Lightwave dongle is shaking in it’s usb port