Hey gang, little question for all of you. In your opinion, how effective are Blender’s Animation tools? Reason I’m asking is because of a comment from one of my coworkers today. My friend and I use Blender at work, however, a higher up wants my friend to stop using Blender and learn Lightwave because in his --rather unhumble-- opinion, my friend will reach a ‘plateau’ with Blender in regards to animation. Which is why it’s critical to learn Lightwave.
From everything I’ve seen on this forum and other places from all you fine people, is that Blender has very powerful animation tools (which of course I’m trying to get the hang of right now).
Eh, just curious about some opinions, little irked by the comment I guess. I really like Blender, and plan to continue practicing in hopes of being able to do even half of what I’ve seen done with it.
I´ve used some LightWave and I thinh it´s animation tools are on (pretty much) the same level as Blender´s. Maybe a little more polished.
Now, Maya has a lot of controls (specially for characters) that puts it on a higher level than many other 3D programs. XSI is pretty strong on that, too.
I´m personally sticking with Blender (since I´m not a great char animator, so I don´t use all the advanced rig stuff), so I hope the anim tools get a revamp anytime soon.
lightwave has a larger arsenal of animation tools, especially when it comes to procedural/simulation tools, but LW in general is painful to use. i used it for three years, saw little improvements over time (modeler/layout are STILL two separate applications they gotta be joking!!!) and thus decided to learn something new.
so what i say: as long as you can live without hair, cloth and hypervoxels (i know these are all very cool things, but honestly, how often are they needed in everyday business??) i’d say stick with blender - it’s easier and much faster to use.
if you have the nerve, go and learn lightwave. the more apps you know, the easier lerning even another on becomes. so, it won’t hurt, it actually always pays.
That’s definitely true. Once you’ve mastered a tool-or-three, you definitely see how the task is basically the same but the approach is slightly different. That helps to broaden your knowledge.
Also, don’t forget that any shop you walk into is already going to have a very "$“ubtantial amount of exi”$“ting work that has already been produced (and, presumably, “$“old…,” to pay the bill”$”…) in a tool probably other-than-Blender. In that situation, you want to be just like an agile cat: able to land on your feet.
BTW: You’ll never score points by suggesting that they “switch” because they might have paid hundreds of thousands of dollars … or more! … in salaries to acquire what they have in inventory using the existing tools. They’re simply not going to do it. Nor will it likely make any sense to them to “split the road” and start doing two parallel development paths using two parallel tools. Regardless of the reasons why “mister/miss bigwig” says s/he is suggesting the use of Lightwave in this case, don’t overlook that very practical consideration. It isn’t simply an issue of which tool is technically “better.”
Thanks guys, I was too busy being irked by his certainty that the software app I enjoyed was far inferior that I didn’t see what I should have.
Very true, the more you know, well, the more you know.
So, z3r0d, no, learning Lightwave will not hurt me. I’ll try and remember that next time.
At the very least, I suppose, I’ll just use Blender at home and use whatever they force me to at work. Actually, the reason I started using Blender in the first place is because they wouldn’t get me a Lightwave license no matter how many times I asked. Alas, I am but a student, and students, well, don’t get crap. Expendable labor and all.
I’ll not try and sound an expert in either Blender or Lightwave, but from an interface vantage point, Blender sits much better with me. So, props to the well planned UI.
And, as you all so clearly pointed out, it is an advantage to know more than one app. Wouldn’t be very versatile would I with only knowledge of one app?
Helps to see things from more than one viewpoint. Thanks again.
-Nate.
one more thing: surely you won’t gonna change the roduction pipeline of the company and the tools needed, but see if you can replace LW at leat for certain tasks, like modelling. better than talking is delivering results, and if they see that certain tasks can be done better in blender, they WILL start thinking.
in a tool probably other-than-Blender. In that situation, you want to be just like an agile cat: able to land on your feet.