hey all. first post here. made the switch to blender and trying to get used to everything. after tinkering around for a day or so, starting my first “learning” project.
just some mechanical modeling (the beginnings of a mech in fact, starting w/ the foot of course). having a tough time since i was so used to max, but i’m getting the hang of it slowly.
anywho, y’all will see me around from now on. 
nice
you said u just switched to blender
what program did u use before
3ds max/mudbox
what made u switch?
since im a college student I can get any autodesk programs for free and i’ve been tempted to try 3ds max and mudbox
hah, i don’t really have the desire anymore to keep shelling out for new versions of autodesk products. i’m more of a hobbyist and less of a serious artist that i used to be… plus i’m a big fan of using open source software. i stumbled upon blender not too long ago and liked the large community that seems to be behind it. after i ditchd photoshop for gimp, switching to blender from max seemed worth a try.
the UI is taking some getting used to, and trying to find new ways in blender of doing my old tricks in max has been tricky, but educational…
I’ve only used max a couple times, but most of the guys I work with use it, Blender is MUCH more keyboard intensive. Once you learn the keyboard shortcuts, you can actually model faster, but learning the shortcuts takes a while.
yeah. i’m learning the keyboard fairly quickly. i sure do miss hinge-from-edge, quick keys to switch edit selection modes (vertex, edge, face), and auto-grid along with chamfer, connect, and (good) bevel tools. hopefully some of these features will show up sometime. till then, i’m finding ways around them. maybe i should put my python skills to the test!
small update. yay for working dynamic pistons and hydraulic hoses. 
hmm, working w/ hooks, array/curve combos, and parenting in the right order is tough!
I also just recently made the switch to Blender. From Maya myself, just couldn’t afford to keep buying the upgrades. Adapting to the modeling system in Blender is definately a challenge, but I think I’m beginning to get used to it now.
Nice progress so far, good attention to detail. 
and (good) bevel tools.
We all miss those…
i’m getting into the habit of using local/normal coords, then combos of extrude, null extrude, move and scale to compensate for beveling.
