I much prefer modelling in Blender for a lot of reasons. Not gonna name them coz I don’t want this thread to start a flame war.
Andddddd then there’s the industry standard 3D softwares that I have to learn. By hook or by crook, I’m gonna learn it anyway. However, it’s like I have this nagging feeling that I won’t be as proficient or worse case forget all the shit i’ve learned in Blender.
We all know how much of a pain is it to learn all the stuff in Blender. It’s almost always from experimentation and from each other. Maybe the learning curve is a little different now compared to pre-2.5. I don’t know.
Perhaps my fears are misplaced but I’ll still like to know other people’s experiences. Anyone here who is constantly using multiple 3D softwares or did a switch, ever lost touch with Blender? And how did you guys cope with it?
I had to learn Solidworks for the better part of a year, and then dropped it when I could. as part of an engineering course. Doesn’t mean I forgot how to use blender over that time.
Actually, it improved my blender skills as it gave me a different way of thinking about modeling objects.
Depending on if you use blender at all over the time using the other package will influence how long it takes to get back into the mindset. If you drop blender for a few years then yes, you will have a shock when learning it again. If it’s just for a few months, or if you use blender for hobby purposes over that time, then transitioning back to blender won’t be any issue.
Hm i think it would just expand your skills, there will be things not possible in BLender and visa versa.
As you can import/export to Blender or the other, its no shame.
At work we used autocad for 3d technical drawings, and blender for life like renderings, and for some animations.
And well it was nice to work with those high detail objects made for the real world (despite i had to do some face cleaning) but well I enjoyed it. We also used Blender then to 3d print some of the fixed autocad models (fixed by blender).
If blender was your first contact with 3D, most of your suffering is probably more related to learning 3D than learning Blender.
So, each thing that you will learn in a different software will remind you how you did it in blender.
Each thing that you will learn, will make you ask for the next step.
Your knowledge of Blender will speed-up your learning of another program.
It is not some months or one or two years of learning another program that will erase years of what is actually your reference.
Only several years of intense practicing can.
You will probably be less effective with Blender after 2.8 when every button that you know will be changed into a node.
But there is a chance that Blender itself would be more effecient at that time.
You will have to learn new things like any blender user but it would probably not take a long period to regain some automastims.
It is mere fear. Naturally same as, when you think of it, “will you wake up in the morning?”… write a diary to remember be grateful for living. One day you’ll be content and confident.
No experience with it, but dont hey also provide a GUI with blender like commands/shortcuts. Or is blender the only one adapting to others?. (if so then the future of blender is more bright then theirs, concur by adapting)
I doubt you will forget. I’ve never had a problem jumping between the apps I’ve already learned. Even after a long time not using one. It’s the initial learning curve that’s the hard bit with all of them I think. Once the central philosophy behind the software is grasped then I think it’s easy to come back to and the muscle memory starts to kick in again.
Anyway why on Earth can’t you keep blender as your main modeller? You can run it from anywhere and even boot it off of a USB. So no need to even have it on a hard drive.
That’s the way I originally learned Blender myself. I adopted it as my main modeller at work in the studio I worked at then. Even though I was still rigging and animating in one of the major commercial apps for majority of the pipeline. Very glad I did it that way as Blender became my favorite poly modeller by far.
I don’t see anything to fear. If you’re worried about forgetting, maybe keep a small Blender project on the boil. Something you can refer back to occasionally as time allows. Learning something new could be a real benefit. Anything that forces you to think, especially about something new and unfamiliar, will be the mental equivalent of working your muscle tissue.
Obviously if you just drop Blender and leave it alone for a long period it may slow things down if and when you decide to revisit. So those small periods of activity should at least keep it fresh in your mind.
I also think the fear is unfounded. Sure, a light amount of re-learning might be needed if you’re away from Blender for a long period of time, but I myself for instance am not of the feeling that I no longer know how to use BI or the BGE just because I use Cycles and Godot.
Part of it may be also depend on your brain’s ability to keep workflows and usage information in memory as well, but it shouldn’t be a major problem for those able to wrap their head around 3D work.
I don’t think you should have any serious fear. I came from Max, learned Blender very quickly in the areas I needed and I use Blender and Max together.
Here is what I experienced and how I solved it:
For basic GUI operations I changed both on Blender, Max and other tools hotkeys, so switching viewpoints, zoom, etc. I could use the same hotkeys.
Rarely used hotkeys could be forgotten in Blender sometimes, but it happens without other package, too. Blender is incredible hotkey-oriented (what makes it efficient), but this is the backside. Anyway, as tips says what is the required hotkey, you could solve this issue in a sec.
Most 3D software has MAYA style navigation alternative as well as QWER(T*) transformations. If you learn it, a lot of software suddenly becomes accessible.
You should rely on universal hotkeys like CTRL+A (select all) vs (CTRL+SHIFT+A) in Maya which i find annoying. CTRL+I (invert), F2(rename), CTRL+C,D,V,X,Q,W,O,N etc. Such universal hotkey use will prevent needless workflow fragmentation.
Base tools such as for modeling can be invoked the same way in different softwares. Good idea to give them a modifier(alt,ctrl,shift) as well as assign first letter of operation name such as Shift+(B)evel or Alt+(C)ut. In other words you do not want to have X for Bevel in blender and O in 3dsmax - bad idea.
Lastly, simply explore other applications (such as Modo) and expose yourself to their workflows. Some of it will stick with you and you’ll wonder how could you ever live without that. Spend 30 minutes to create unified hotkey maps in applications that you use. That way you will never have problems and will be very adaptable to use any software.
be grateful for living. One day you’ll be content and confident.