It’s not just me then
Ugghh, there are so many things wrong with this article, that I want to reply but I know I can’t without (like someone earlier said) sounding like a fanboi! The author even pre-empted it by saying
From the article:
Defenders of the software – and this being open source, it has many extremely forthright defenders
I agree that interface interaction is an extremely important issue that faces software developers. I did an entire module on it at university. His general point is that the “standard” interaction paradigms are already widely used and therefore shouldn’t be deviated from. I’m not a fan of this. It makes the assumption that the status quo is already as good as it can get (which is a helluva assumption). However, there has to be a purpose for every choice made in UI design that meets user requirements.
What about other elements of UI design that he didn’t mention. Edge loops for example. As we know in blender ctrl r (scroll for multiple) click - done.
In max, I’ve got to select a ring of edges, then click connect, but wait I want several edge loops so I’ve got to click the little button next to connect (although this is awesome for spacing them out) then move them around with a menu, and click a little tick to confirm - well that doesn’t seem very productive. But wait theres the swift loop function that makes it easier, Yay. To find that, you have to expand the graphite modelling tools ribbon (more screen space gone), then click the button to activate and then place your loop just like blender does it. Great! whats the hotkey - oh it’s not mapped. grrr. And why is connect in the command panel and swift loop in graphite modelling tools? Oh right, cause they were added after but the ui wasn’t redesigned to be unified, probably to keep older users happy I assume.
Ok I’m being overly sarcastic, but my point is these kind of criticisms can be leveled at any piece of software. Spend time in any maya forum, and it won’t be long till you face someone saying maya is useless until you add some scripts etc yada yada.
Not that I’m saying blender is perfect, theres lots that could be improved. The N and T panels could be better, a material browser, fake users and the linux version still not having an warning when closing an unsaved file, to name but a few.
OH - and one last thing - as far as blender having a steep learning curve, I believe this is a myth. When doing my degree, we were free to use any software we wished which, included blender. The blender users work was consistantly better than anyone else’s (I believe that’s because we were more passionate about it). When others seen our work they tried it out, and got better results faster which, I believe is down to our community, and wealth of training resources available online from the likes of our very own blender cookie. Every single person who did this, said blender was easier to learn than other packages.
Sorry for rambling