2.5 GUI - confusing as hell :(

I tried messing with 2.5 today. 5 minutes ago, literally. The GUI seems to be very confusing for a 2.49 user. I still don’t know how to split windows. Good old hotkeys also don’t work :confused:
It’s like learning GUI all over again :frowning: Why didn’t developers include old GUI setup?!
Also I tried baking high res mesh with vertex colors on it to a low res mesh. 2.5 crashed on me :frowning:
I am using one of the most recent builds of 2.5 for Windows from Graphicall.

well like any interface you need to learn it so have a look at the video tutorials that get posted on blendernation.

The interface has changed to make it easier for everyone in particular; beginners and ppl that have used other software products.

And it crashed as 2.5 is still in the alpha stage… not everything is working yet.

watch a couple videos on the new gui, play with it a few day and you will never want to go back to 2.49. Of course it is still buggy and crashes, but it a work in progress so don’t start worrying yet.

As for the crashes and the missing functions and tools, I think it’s normal: Blender 2.5 is still in alpha stage, and we can’t expect a stable software up to now.
As for the interface, I have to agree with you: the old one was difficult to master at first, but fast and effective once learned. I think unfortunately the new one has started not so well (you have to keep scrolling to do everything, you can’t arrange panels the way you want, you must use that antialiased font, you have previews and icons wasting space everywhere, you have to be superprecise to split and join windows, and so on), but it’s a work in progress and maybe future development will lead to a “less is more” view (useful when you need a tool to work with and not a game to show to your friends).

I tried to pick up 2.5 as early as possable, and started using it a couple of months before Alpha zero was released. I modeled a very simple scene, and strugled like a ---- for two days. I now use it constantly, and dont like 2.49b, when Im forced to go back for a script or missing function.
Ive found it increadibly stable for alpha software, with very few crashes, and so far touch wood Ive only had one bad mesh that refused to render.
Have a go at the weekend challange or something similar to get used to the lay out.
Dont forget you can change the theme to make it more familiar.

If you persevere, for a few days, you will find it far better than 2.49.

ps, Its worth it just for the render speed up.

I just started using Blender 2 weeks ago, so I don’t know anything but 2.5. So from an unbiased perspective, I love the UI, my workflow is so much faster than anything else I do with my computer, just everything fits well to my style of working.

2.49 sucks bad

if you want to stick with it configure 2.5 with the same layout.

give 2.5 a day and you will see it is better and do not give up just
after silly 5 minutes …

Nowadays, it’s 2.49 that’s having a “confusing” UI! :smiley: :smiley:

I think you need to cold turkey yourself from 2.4x start a project in 2.50 and impose the condition that you won’t backtrack to 2.4x Blender while you work. Once you start using it you can see the logic in it and how much better it is and more logical it is compared to 2.4x. You just have to bite the bullet take that plunge and commit. A week or two of use and things will start to click.

external renders and the sheer fact that 2.49b is as stable as a rock is what keeps me using 2.4x Blender but interface wise its a no contest for me 2.50 wins.

so true!!!

thanks guys :slight_smile:

I think 2.5 GUI good as 2.49 GUI. Thanks God and Ton. :slight_smile:

I still prefere 2.49 because i like to use all the modelling tools and i regularly do, other than that i quite like 2.50 GUI but I still feel a little lost, its just the icons i’m having trouble with.

Excellent point Sr. Tyrant monkey. I am totally focusing on 2.5 now. The new GUI will help me be able to look at other softwares and understand what is going on.

By the way, would anyone happen to know how i can make an armature follow a path without locking it’s location back to zero or in other words, where has the offest bone gone to?

Motorsep: Give it a couple of days. It’s like going into an alternate Universe where the laws of physics are slightly different. At first, it’s disorienting as anything, but as soon as you get the new couple of base rules, you’ll realize that not only is everything else much the same as it was before, but it makes even more sense now.

Very well said Harkyman. it does make more sense. it is frustrating initially but very well worth it in the end. It’s taken me 2 months+ of going back, giving up, going back again and so on.

Everything I learned from the >2.4xx gui i can now find…apart from a few things. Thanks Ton. Thanks to the Blender core. epic stuff. more epic.

hi

Very well said Harkyman. it does make more sense. it is frustrating initially but very well worth it in the end. It’s taken me 2 months+ of going back, giving up, going back again and so on.

Everything I learned from the >2.4xx gui i can now find…apart from a few things. Thanks Ton. Thanks to the Blender core. epic stuff. more epic.

Well, I think the purpose of the 2.5 GUI is to make it more accessible to folks (like me) coming over from a different package, and to that I say: Mission accomplished.

My fingers have a memory. I liken it to playing a guitar. My left hand does what it does… my right hand does what it does, while my mind thinks of something totally different.

With the old Blender GUI – which may have been great, but still was unlike anything else – I was constantly confusing my hands, which made for a horrible experience. And if I had to go back and forth between apps – forget it.

Now, I can have Blender behave exactly like my other apps, and it is great. I am much more productive now in Blender than I was before, and I have no “stupid finger tricks” when I return from working in Blender.

As Alphas go, Blender is pretty darn stable – and we are not even in Alpha 2 yet!

My only problem is when I have to drop into 2.49 to run some script or something. That sucks because not only do my hands not know what to do with themselves, the round trip loses any animation in my scene! But this will become less of a problem as more scripts are converted.

If I never have to fire up 2.49 again, I will be a happy man!

Motorsep

I created a blog which is totally about Blender 2.5.You can see a lot of tooltips, tutorials and documents here.

http://foreverblender.blogspot.com

Demohero.

I agree. But the funny thing is that this is the exact same thing that regular Blender users have said about Blender 2.4x before 2.5. So, I think it simply comes down to committing yourself to learning. Once learned, anything can make sense. With that on the table, “better” seems to become more an issue of preference.