I’ve got about half a year or so until I start college, and I understand that to get ahead in the field I want to excel in, I’ve got to start getting serious. I started using Blender when I was about thirteen or so, and now I’m a senior in High School, and I’m 17. Four years actually hasn’t been a whole lot for me; my use of 3D graphics software was on and off because I continually hit blocks that would halt my advancement.
However, for the past six months, I’ve been using it about every single day for a few hours at a time. I’m so used to Blender’s layout, hotkeys, and interface, that every single time I try to learn a new package, it ends in utter failure . I’m not so sure which package is most like Blender, and I know that I don’t want to switch from Blender to something else, because Blender is so incredibly fast in just about everything it does (save for rendering) that everything else feels like snail speed.
Can somebody help me out? I’m so frustrated at the fact that Blender isn’t recognized as a serious contender among the major 3D packages.
Haha yep that happens to me too, I started using 3ds max and realised how cumbersome it can be compared to blender. Even though 3ds gives you some what more control over objects, blender’s poly editing just outright beats it and I cannot begin to tell how painful and slow it would be to do that otherwise.
People don’t consider serious everyone who presents themselves as professionals using blender, because anyone can have access to blender. And that are many more blender users that are terrible artists than excellent ones.
From what I see around, the people that usually act/think is less capable than it really is are the blender users (not all of them).
Use whatever software does it for you. Besides, I’d focus more on WHAT your creating, rather then HOW your creating it. If something else allows you to go further, and you
can afford it, get it! I started with Maya, but I honestly couldn’t create what I wanted to - so I switched to Blender.
Likewise if you can’t create your desired thing with Blender, research a little and try something else out.
If you are going to do a lowpoly game model mudbox is an epic failure, as is 3D studio if you intend to sculpt something and if you want to make complex scenes, matchmoving or postpro zbrush is a grab in the toilet.
Blender as is, is swizz army knive enough to handle all those tasks.
Blade_Rain, when you started with Blender four years ago, you were nowhere near as fast as you are now. Four years of experience has an effect. But if you are planning on going into the CG industry, you need to know how to learn software quickly. Even if Blender was an industry standard, there’s no guarantee that the shop that likes your portfolio would use it.
So you must be ready to roll with the punches. People who use Max or Maya or Wings or Houdini get pretty good at it after a while. The workflow is different, the tools, some of them, are similar enough to be annoying when they don’t quite do what you expect. There is a learning curve and it’s a PITA to go back to square one with some other software when you know something would take less time in Blender.
But the only real constant in CG is constant change. Think of how much Blender has evolved in four years. The other software has as well. People in the industry are constantly learning new tools, new techniques, new workflows.
So, learn how to learn, my friend. Bite the bullet. You haven’t failed, so far – you’ve given up in frustration. That comes through, loud and clear. So download Maya’s PLE, and make stuff. Force yourself. Get a copy of Wings, or MOI. The more different packages you learn, the easier it will be to pick up the next one.
When a prospective employer says, “Great portfolio! We use UmpteeSquatch7.1 in our shop, but no problem, the guys will teach you!” the last thing you want to say is “Gahhh! I can’t learn new softwaaarrrrrreee…”
Don’t get me wrong, guys. I haven’t planned on giving up, and I won’t give up. And to clarify my first post, I’m not trying to permanently switch from Blender to another package, I just want to learn at least one more package, preferably Maya (or maybe 3DS, because I want to get into the film industry just as much as the game industry). Blender actually broke me into the 3D world; I started by using Blender, and within a week or so and with practically no effort, I’d partially memorized the most important hotkeys. Blender just snapped with me, and I can see that for many people, it’s extremely difficult to learn (reading around, and seeing how many people complain about it’s interface and usability).
I’m going to keep trying. First I’ll try C4D, because I’ve heard from many people that it’s easier for BlenderHeads to get used to the way it works. In fact, I tried it about a year or so ago, and I believe I may have made some indistinguishable object, but it was a start.
Man, I can’t wait for 2.5 to come out . I know it’s not going to solve every problem, but it’ll hopefully impress and inspire a lot of people, and make things easier.
Blender supports exporting to so many other formats that you could just do the modelling in Blender and then export / import that into whatever app you need to use. There have been pros that have done just that, and typically a studio will use multiple tools and will require the import / export of various formatted models for use in modo, z-brush, maya and max, not to mention other potential formats. So don’t sweat it. Use Blender for whatever you need it for, and then export it to some other format if you HAVE to do the animation in maya or if you are required to use z-brush or something. There are tons of ways to integrate Blender into the workflow.
I know a number of game artists who use blender for nothing else but UV mapping. They model in max or maya, export to obj, unwrap in blender and then export as obj again and then go paint the texture in photoshop. If Blender can do something that you need to be done, then use it. There’s no ‘right’ tool. If it works, it works. That’s all that matters.
I have been using blender on and off for about 3 years and recently, I started learning 3ds max.
Yes it is an annoying application because of a lot of bugs but still it is not that difficult to use.
I suggest you learn a few keyboard shortcuts or sit with a friend who knows how to use max and ask him to model something in it and show. This way, it should take only about a month to get used to the max interface.
Basic concepts of CG are same across all applications. Only the interface changes and a efw tools change their way of functioning.
Shoot your only 17. Assuming that your planning to finish high school and maybe get a 4 year degree (or just save the money and spend 4 years working your ass off on your own), thats five years time. A lot of things can change in five years, especially in a field thats just progressing out of its infancy. Max and Maya may be dominant right now, but they dont have the same sort of death grip on 3d that Photoshop has on 2d.
There are lots of up and coming alternatives right now (including Blender), and the odds are pretty good that by the time your ready to look for a job one or several of them will be the new industry standards.
If I were to ever make a film, it’d more than likely be with Blender. I haven’t animated anything yet, but I’ve made test rigs, and I understand the IPO curves and whatnot. Other programs don’t make sense to me.
@jrs
I’m wondering how college will affect my use of Blender and graphics software in general, considering I’m doing 2 free years at one college, 2 at another, and then going for a doctorate in Canada. I doubt if the first 2 years will have anything to do with what I want to do.
With things upcoming like Blender 2.5, and the stuff on Farsthary’s blog, I’d say Blender is going to establish itself as a very reasonable alternative to apps. such as Max. Of course you can already do amazing stuff with Blender, the stuff coming up like those and project Durian will crank up the power of Blender significantly.
I’ve actually heard a bunch of good stuff about Project Durian, but I guess I was to lazy to look into it. I’ve heard things about how Durian will significantly increase Blender’s animation abilities, photo realism, and a lot of other things. I’ll research this…
. I’m not so sure which package is most like Blender, and I know that I don’t want to switch from Blender to something else, because Blender is so incredibly fast in just about everything it does (save for rendering) that everything else feels like snail speed.
. I know it’s not going to solve every problem, but it’ll hopefully impress and inspire a lot of people, and make things easier.
