i would like to know why the ui of blender is so difficult to use
i have been using it for 1 week now and have been frustrated with the ui the whole time
i have been a strata 3d user for years now and find strata to be a great ui
but blender is not
i am using a mac (os 10.4.8) and have had blender lock up on me so i had to restart the program
also when i go to select a object by clicking on the object i get nothing to indicate that the object was selected at all
also some times when i try to rotate the object or scale it
the ui acts as if i had not clicked or tried to select anything
this is the worst ui i have ever seen
i have also used maya,strata.lightwave and several other programs with better ui’s than blender
also how do you find out what versions of the render (yafray) you are using
please help me
this is a very powerfull program and i would love to be able to use it
but because of this weird ui i have been unable to use it
please help
1 whole week! Many people have been frustrated by the interface, but grow to luv it. Dont expect any amount of complaining to change it. It will take a bit of getting use to, but its worth the effort.
So alot of other apps have a better interface - big deal. Is the interface that you say is better worth the price difference?
How much of the documentation have you gone thru? Have you been thru the user preferences to see how you can change the ui a bit? You can make blender select with the lmb if you want.
thank you booga and OBI-Ron for your replys
1 whole week yes and the programs that i said (maya has a better interface strata has a better interface) but lightwave has the worst ui
for me it is very confusiing not knowing where you are or how to make a object do what you want it to do
now that i have used blender for this week i am getting more confortable with the ui
as you said OBI-Ron it grows on you
and for the power that blender has i would have to spend thousands of dollars to get something as good so that is a no go
and in case anybody asks i really like the open source software (gimp,inkscape,neooffice,openoffice.org)
and OBI-Ron i have been doing not much else but reading the docs on blender (i think i have almost broke my printer printing so much docs)
and i have been through the user prefs a lot
i like them the way they are setup
i only have problems with small parts of blender
like i have not figured out yet how to select a object
do you just click on it or is there a key combination to press
i can not find it in the docs so far
in strata you just click on it and it is selected in blender that does not work
what am i doing wrong
i am using blender now and i made 3 objects (plane,cylinder,tube) and i can not grab any of them even using the g key or the m key to move them anywhere the scale works and the rotate will work sometimes
this is a problem i will figure out with more use of blender
first of all, it’s a bit rude to call the blender ui “weird”. Everyone will agree that it’s different compared to most of the commercial 3d software but it’s not weird at all. After using it for a while and getting used to it, you’ll find out, that the ui is very consistent and finally intuitive.
And last but not least, there’s a very strong community that will support you in all questions you have
After some years of blendering i often catch myself hitting the BKEY to select textparts in open office or hitting the XKEY to delete the selected textparts So you see, one can get very used to the blender ui…
But of course i admit, that it’s a little bit hard at the beginning. Guess the best way to start is to do some of the “noob to pro” tutorials which you can find here.
To your questions:
Objects can be selected by clicking on them but you have to use the right mouse button. Selected objects have a colored outline.
try the following:
open a new, empty blender file
In a 3d window, do a left click somewhere on the screen to position the 3d-cursor hit “SPACE” and choose ADD->MESH->CUBE from the menue. A cube appears at the position of the 3d cursor
When adding objects, Blender switches to editmode, that enables editing vertices, edges, faces etc. Hit “TAB” to leave editmode an return to objectmode.
Now, hit “g” to translate, “r” to rotate or “s” to scale the cubeLet me know, if those few steps work for you
def
Strangely, I liked the UI right from the start.
Indeed. The UI is not weird, it’s just not like all the rest. Honestly, the freedom Blender offers you is worth A LOT, especially for an artist. Now I can put any windows anywhere and even make as many as I want! Since I use Blender, I’ve cursed several other applications for not being like Blender
Sure, sometimes finding a function can be a toughy since a lot of menus and functions are ONLY accessible by hotkeys.
However, I have keymaps for object and edit mode respectively. Click the links to see them One or two keys may have changed since that version of Blender.
I’m glad you’re picking it up already. As has already been said, once you’re comfortable with the non-standard interface, you’ve fallen in love!
It’s a shame so many people are bashing it. They must be bashing the UI since there’s nothing else to bash! Most of these people never tried Blender anyway; they just hop onto the bandwagon.
@defstone: you can change it from right-click select to left-click select in the user preferences window. The top window (with the ‘i’ for information) can be pulled down to reveal the user preferences.
Good luck with Blender!
May we see some artwork of you soon
Yes, as hobbes said, by default, Blender selection is made with the right mouse button. Once you find your way to the user preference panel, you will find that you can change this behavior to be able to select with the left mouse button. Personaly, I could never get use to selecting with RMB, and changed immediately to LMB. Having said that though, you will find that setting the preference to select with the LMB does not swap all rmb functions for lmb, just selection.
Hello
If you are on a Mac, then you will need to alt-click the intended selection. As they say above, you can change your user preferences by dragging down the bar above the 3d view port, and choosing LMB select. Put the window back, then continue. You can save the change to your preferences, but it is better if you do this with only a basic start up scene, then you can choose to save default settings.
Stick around, you’ll have a blast!!!
Happy Blending!!
Craigo
i just wanted to thank everybody
for all of the replys that i got
i agree that the ui in blender is hard at first but now i think that i am getting the hang of it
i have found that selecting a obj with the outliner works also
i just wanted to thank everybody
for all of the replys that i got
i agree that the ui in blender is hard at first but now i think that i am getting the hang of it
i have found that selecting a obj with the outliner works also
If it’s any consolation, selecting on a mac can take some getting used to, IMO because the Mighty Mouse is kinda iffy when it comes to distinguishing left and right mouse buttons. I don’t usually have a problem, but some of my students (using Blender on a mac with a mighty mouse) often press what looks to me to be the right button over and over again and keep relocating the cursor (which happens when you press the left button). I think you really need to have your fingers in the right place with these mighty mouses.
(Don’t even get me started on the lentil-sized trackball that passes for a mousewheel on these things…)
So you see, one can get very used to the blender ui…
One or two keys may have changed since that version of Blender.
