In the current (11/05) “Linux Magazin” (http://www.linux-magazin.de) includes a report about Blender and Yafray and other opensource 3d-software.
Blender summary:
- Blender covers all steps needed in a 3d-production-process (modelling,texturing,anim,render)
- postpro-possibilities
- gameengine
- outstanding advantage blenders speed, even topping commercial products (above all: Catmull-Clark-Subsurf)
- fast and easy to use anim-features
- GUI (OpenGL + hardware acceleration, scaleable, transparency without speed-reduction)
- very stable
- one of the most efficient open-source apps
- huge community: many 3d-graphics, extensive doc, good support
- User Interface too cluttered + unorthodox (e.g. windows cluttered with many buttons and sliders instead of menus or dialogs) -> just for pros, deters common users
- missing consistence in user interface e.g. ALT+C / ALT+V instead of CTRL+C / CTRL+V for copy / paste
(anybody knows what they mean with this? probably in text editor, but CTRL works here too)
Reason for UI: proprietary history of Blender: thought as a in-house product of Neo Geo.
But if you be patient you can learn the advantages of this excellent software
Yafray summary:
- currently the best free renderer
- extremely realistic and stylized images
- yafray works noticeable more accurate than other apps: soft shadows, reflection, refraction according to Fresnel-algorithm
- raytraces scattered and refracted light (Caustics)
- Plugin-API
- very good rendering quality, could match with software costing thousands dollars
- the only open-source-raytracer, which is suitability for daily use
- like all raytracers: long rendering-times -> developers try to integrate the GPU (processor of the graphic-card) in the rendering-process.
I hope this summaries might be interesting, and the magazine includes more interesting articles about open-source 3D with Linux.
Even if i think the main disadvantage from Blender the “cluttered and unorthodox UI” isn’t justified, Blenders UI is great, excellent, it’s almost perfect.
It allows super fast and efficient work, and that’s the only thing that matters.