Hi New Blender User here.... Coming from a 3ds Max Background. Small question regarding interface

Support Basics & Interface
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Hi im planning to learn blender now and i have average experience with 3ds max and have done mid level work with it from about 20 years ago but have been toying with it occasionally only for past few years (rusty).

I plan to migrate to Blender as this is more of serious hobby for me and i do some projects for people because i enjoy working on it more than making money.

Main question -I am finding the interface experience like i hit a wall. I heard online that blender uses only shortcuts to do everything. But i dont know if this is still true now. Will i have to memorize so many shortcuts to get to use Blender, im 50 and not in mental peak to learn shortcuts like i could those days. Plus they really clash with the shortcuts i already use in Premiere Pro and After effects etc.

Im already finding it difficult to remember shortcuts and apply them correctly when working with 4-5 software apps all having similar shortcuts which do different things. So is there also a traditional button or menu route to do everything in blender or are certain things strictly thru shortcuts only ? Because if its only shortcuts id rather not invest time and consider it my loss that i cant work with this fabulous software.

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There are many more experts than I on Blender, but honestly I use shortcuts quite infrequently - and those I do have just been picked up as I go along (you’ll soon develop muscle memory from certain tasks). My best friend is the search facility (mine is set up for the space bar). Open the search box, start typing in what you want to do and pick the right option. Very simple and effective. Can do everything from that without worrying about shortcuts. Also there are plenty of gizmos and tool tips for different tools. As someone of a similar age to you, I certainly wouldn’t be put off by shortcuts.

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Hi and thanks for the immediate reply. I never knew about the search box. So if i want to extrude i type in that and it shows you the tools used is it ? Sorry im sounding too basic.

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Yes you can do it that way, but there’s also tools and gizmos for that too. As you get more used to using Blender you’ll naturally start using the keyboard for some tasks - eg you’ll soon learn that ‘G’ is used for moving something and then you might press X, Y, Z to constrain it to a particular axis… but even then you can use the gizmo to move things (sorry I’m not very good at screenshots or else I’d show you). But, although using search and gizmos might be slower than shortcuts, they’re still usable… and as I say, I think you’ll soon pick up the keyboard stuff as well.

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5

Former Max user here.

Absolutely, yes.

Blender tutorials really focus on hotkeys, to the degree that it presents the idea to a new user that you just have to use all these hotkeys - there are several reasons why so many people “teach” this way, which I won’t get into. But suffice to say - yeah, you can mostly just use the buttons and gizmos and menus.

Now, there are a few commands that are only avail via hotkey (I can’t even remember which ones, I’m just aware a few exist) - but, they aren’t the common commands you’re going to be using all the time.

However, as you get more comfortable with the software, I encourage you to start exploring hotkey usage. They can speed things up - and not just in “speed model” ways, but also just save you from clicking toolbar icons over and over and over.

Also - here’s an addon that you will probably like:

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That :point_up:
Pretty sure, even those of us, who use hotkeys exclusively, will have to search for these when the time comes. (And I can’t think of any example, but they do exist… probably)

Everything else can be found in toolbar or menus. Also, everything that has a shortkey will have it written in tooltips or next to its name in the menus.

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Hi @Temp1. I can relate to learning new shortcuts pain, as well to switching from 3DsMAX. I rely heavily on shortcuts now, but it wasn’t the case when I started with Blender. Nothing wrong with using gizmos, but after some time they became very inefficient to me, so I learned the keys.

The most important ones except for navigation are:
G, R, S, - move, rotate, scale
X, Y, Z, - axis lock (Shift inverts - so Shift + X will give you Y+Z lock)
F3 - search menu

If you want, you can check this post for more shortcuts, but you can find them in many different places really:

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Приветствую! Действительно в более ранних версиях Blender умение пользоваться горячими клавишами давало хорошее преимущество и повышало эффективность работы с полисеткой. Но полисетки тогда были простыми, да и базовых операций не так много. В последнее время в Blender добавлено много нового функционала, полисетки усложнились и набор горячих клавиш уже не убирается в голове, и быстро забываются после некоторого перерыва в работе. Даже GUI может показаться запутанным после некоторого перерыва работы Blender. Тем не менее, если требуется повторить несколько раз одну и туже последовательность операций, то использование горячих клавиш по прежнему эффективны - Shift+N, Shift+D, Ctrl+A S, S X 0 {Enter} - наше всё!

Удачи!

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Your best bet is to turn blender into 3̶d̶s̶M̶a̶x Maya’esque by using this addon: https://blendermarket.com/products/pie-menu-editor
You would be able to eliminate the needs for tons of hotkeys and keep your life easier and way more comfortable.
It will require some time for setting it all up (im personally spend 2 full day on this, and a week for tweaks) but its fully worth it.

In case you thinking about BsMAX addon, my opinion as a former 3dsMax user - it doesnt really worth it. Probably except the “Align Object” feature.

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Everything is on the menu and there is also the ability to invoke commands (F3).

Remember only some of the features that are repeatedly used for shortcuts. Over time, you can naturally remember the rest of the shortcuts.

In my personal opinion, blender is not difficult for 3DSmax users to switch.

Importing images varies slightly depending on the purpose of use.
The material or reference image can be captured with a mouse in the file explorer, dragged, and imported into the blender.

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Shortcuts are great to speed up your workflow, but basically every command is in a menu.
When I started to learn Blender I found it very useful to explore all these menus to see the different commands and options.

Lets face it, to use a shortcut first you need to know that the command exists and then learn the shortcut. I recommend you explore all these menus just to see all the options possible. You will find that each mode (object mode edit mode etc) has different options in these menus.

Menus
Menus1672×970 120 KB

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i like to mentioned there are a Blender fork (Version)
which is a bit more focused on using the Mouse
wich may be more to your like

its call “Bforartist” is more or less the same as the original Blender
but the UI is revamped to be more Mouse oriented
Here the Link:

Dont know how this work with Shortcut related Tutorials

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Yeah, that’s one of my main crits of the “learn to use blender” youtube crowd. People are told some crap like: G, then GGx, then Alt MMB, then Alt-G, then Cntl-B, then shift-H, GG, Rx90, 5, S2, GGG4, done.

Like, WTH. That’s just an incredibly bad way to explain how to use software.

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Exactly. Ive been seeing so many many tutorials with that cryptic form of teaching. Its not actually teaching but rather just letting you watch him work on a design. But then its a fact that all designers cant be good teachers. Teaching to be easily understood is by itself a talent or skill of its own, not everyone who knows commands can be a good teacher. Tap B gizmo stretch, hit y, set ambient to 50, YY again, set reflective to .5, and turbo smooth, then render. :roll_eyes:

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Thank you everyone for sharing your thoughts and ideas. I think ill give the interface a try as after reading each and every post here i think i have a chance to tackle this UI. The second thing that really shakes me up is that node thingy, with all those “plugs and wires” im sure its a concept that im just not able to wrap my head around. They keep pulling plugs from each and every box and plugging it into some other box for materials and even for some geometric operations etc. I have no idea what on earth is happening.

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Use of shortcuts is supposed to be not mandatory, since last refactor of interface.
Shortcuts are reminded in menus, search, tooltips and Status Bar, at bottom of window.

Before starting to follow any tutorial, I suggest to read section about interface of online manual, in order to know how is named each area, region of interface.
Because people, here, will help you by mentioning editors, headers, toolbar, sidebar, etc…

The use of nodes is not necessarily mandatory for a basic use of materials.
The Principled Shader node, used by default, should cover a wide range of use.
You can add or remove nodes from Material Tab.
You are not forced to plug connections in Node Editor.

But material setup in Node Editor may be easier to read as a node graph rather than as a column of settings.

The idea behind the use of nodes is, that you just display information corresponding to level of complexity expected.
If material does not need textures, there is no need to display info about texture mapping and texture coordinates.
If all textures of material are using same mapping and same coordinates, there is no reason to repeat those settings for each texture. One node may suffice.

To improve readability, several nodes representing a part of nodegraph may be localized in a Frame node. Nodes label may be renamed. Node background may be colored.
Repetitive parts of node graph may encapsulated into a nodegroup, that can be reused as several instances.

Same idea is exploited for Geometry Nodes, replacing old methods of instancing of objects and modifiers.
A Geometry Node graph may be simpler to read than a pile of a dozen of modifiers.
Same result may correspond to less settings exposed in UI.
Old modifiers may cover a lot of cases. But Geometry Nodes may be a mandatory use to go further than limits of old system.

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Thank you. If by chance you happen to know of any youtube tutorial that teaches this node thing or how to do without it, plz do share the link, if you get the time. Id appreciate it. Thanks again.

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Nobody will ever do a tutorial about basic use of material without talking about nodes or showing them.
Because that is too basic or not interesting.

So, here is a screencapture where World Tab of properties editor, in Shading Workspace, have been switch to Material Tab.

material_node_menu
material_node_menu1111×682 97.7 KB

As you can see, there is a big Use Nodes button.
If you click it to disable nodes, you just have 4 settings available for EEVEE.
Basic Color, Metallic (for reflections), Specular and Roughness.
For Cycles, there is just Diffuse Color.
There is no ability to add texture. So, there is no interest. Nobody does that.

So, keep the Use Nodes button enabled.
What you see are settings of Principled BSDF Surface Shader.
If you click on Principled BSDF line, list of all shaders available will popup.
If you click on yellow dot, next to Base Color, list of inputs, textures, color and converter nodes will popup.
So, if you want to replace Base Color by a texture, you click on a texture item.
If you want to mix Base Color with a texture, you click on a Mix(legacy) item and then, you click on yellow dot of one color input to choose a texture.

Same principle applies, if you want to add a mapping to texture and texture coordinates. You click on the blue vector dot and a list pop up to choose appropriate item.
Surface panel grows, changing settings into sub-panels of Principled shader.
To remove such subpanel, you click on the name. And in the list that pops up ; you click on Remove item of Link category.

And that is how you can complicate basic material without connecting nodes or looking to Node Editor.
But if you are not facing a special case where an Input or Texture is required, you just change color or value of pertinent setting of Principled Shader.
That is an generic shader allowing to create opaque or transparent materials, materials with subsurface scattering or emission, without having to mix multiple shader nodes.

Tutorials explaining those settings should not be hard to find. But tutors will probably show the Principled Shader node in their tutorial, instead of Material tab.
Most of people prefer the Add nodes menu of Node Editor to the pop up in Material tab.

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One way to use shortcuts in an easy to learn way is to memorize only the shortcuts for menus.
For example when in edit mode you can press ctrl-E for the edge menu.

The edge menu will then popl up and you can then follow up with the letter that is underlined in the menu.
For example if you press ctrl-E and then look at the menu, you will see that the “B” in Bevel is underlined. So if you press ctrl-E → B you will start the bevel operator.

These underlined menu items can be found in most Blender menus and help speeding up things immensly without having to memorize each and every short cut.

Another one is the quick favorites which is activated with “q”. You can put your own operators or even menus into the quick favorites and then call it with “q”. Note that the underlined items work here as well.

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3dsmax user here.
My main suggestion is to stay with the default keys setup.
Those addons that replicate the 3dsmax (or Maya) behaviour are a good shortcut in the short term as you feel “at home” but in the long term you’ll become slave of addons devs that need to keep updated their addons and meanwhile you’ll have to “translate” the tutorial instructions with your addon setup.
This is my experience when I’ve started to learn Blender (if I correctly remember I’ve started with Blender 2.48) and, at the beginning, the transition was a bit a nightmare.
After a while I’ve installed that 3dsmax addon but after a bit of time I’ve decided to leave it to stay with a, more or less, default key settings.
My only customization was to have the 1,2,3 keys shortcut to go directly to the vertex/edge/face edit mode that I’ve always found as a good thing of 3dsmax.
If I’m right, this way it’s the default, so you’d skip this step.

About the shortcuts and the needs to know them, I agree with people that said that you can do, more or less, everything with mouse clicks…consider that most of the tools have some keys instructions on the tool options bar in the UI, so you’re not forced to remember it.
Obviously, remember shortcuts helps you to be more fast on everything…but as you wrote that you’ll use Blender more for pleasure to use it than to make money, well…in this case you can be more relaxed.

Enjoy Blender!
It’s a nice software with plus and minus like every other 3d package, but it can support your creative ideas with powerful tools.