I’m trying to find ‘someone’ that can ‘compare and contrast’ subject 3D animation softwares. Seems that Maya dominates in the education world in the USA; most likely as it has ridden the ‘coat-tails’ of Autodesk AutoCAD into schools. Who is using Blender (schools and studios) and why-?? Is Blender a ‘better’ 3D animation software and is there any ‘advantage’ to using Blender to teach beginning and entry-level courses-?? Are there ‘resources’ for teachers to use as curriculum to teach 3D animation using Blender-?? I need to know ‘a lot’ more about Blender as a platform for teaching 3D animation. Can anyone help-??
Without getting into the technical details; UI pros/cons, capabilities, etc… the main advantage to teaching with Blender is access.
Students with limited means can use Blender to learn the principles of everything from 3D modelling, to video editing, to programming with Blender.
Blender is cross-platform and can run on very modest hardware, enabling students who could otherwise never afford the cost of other 3D software.
…anyway, the pros/cons of using blender/maya/3ds/c4d in a production environment are up for debate. For education I believe Blender is the clear choice.
Of course this raises the argument that education should focus on future job prospects… But I believe that giving a student a firm conceptual foundation in a subject will allow them to learn any other tool quickly.
I also believe that Blender should be utilized as a tool for instruction OUTSIDE the realm of 3D animation production. Perhaps Blender can be used in Math/Science classes to demonstrate basic principles in a fun/tactile environment.
But that’s all just my opinion.
google both the high school and tuft’s university level courses using Blender. Contact Stacey Fox at KU for example.
http://gryllus.net/Blender/3D.html you can send an email to mr hirsig from a link to the bottom as well. he teaches blender at tufts univeristy so he can probably prove accurate answers to any questions you might have from personal experience.
Since students can actually use the software they are studying at home, withouth breaking the law. I’d say Blender is WAY better for teaching.
But that doesn’t mean a student wants to learn Blender over Maya, because Maya is used in movies and such which amazes them, and all they’ve seen of blender is newbie made small animations, which the internet is full of.
I teach blender simply as a tool since it provides all we need and does not have what we do not need.
For smaller design companies which are not even film making related this is a very good program
which offers a rich tool set for modeling and product animation.
While Maya is a superb software I question if everybody needs it.
3D is not 3D, there are so many job applications for 3D which are not film making related.
Architectural rendering, medical visualization, 3D interface design, 3D illustration and and and.
Also I teach 3D as a process thus also when they only learn Blender and Rhino they understand
how the technology works and why, and thus can easily switch to any other 3d package once
they leave college.
Agreed here. And when you hit a snag in blender, you post in the forum, and some 15 year old answers your querry, along with a few other 15 years of age in text language.
As opposed to Maya where some foreign guy in a call centre reads out word for word what the other foreign guy wrote in the manual. And you have to pay for this service with the US$5,000 price tag for the software.
Kbot:
Your ‘opinion’ is very much appreciated.
Thank you-!!