Am I the only person who, when they DL a new build, immediately change “Trackball” to “Turntable”?
I don’t know of another app that uses trackball as the default navigation and it’s jarring to move form one 3D app to another and have the whole navigation thing feel weird.
I wish we could poll the users and see what is the preference.
~Glenn
Modo is the same by default. And you’re not alone, I change it to turntable as well.
Yeah, and Modo’s not the benchmark for navigation either, it prides itself on being a UI chameleon, set it up like any other app other than Modo. 
~Glenn
Very true. Which is why I change the keymapping to Silo, which I’ve been using for modeling for a long time now… which is also the same navigational keys as Maya, something I use for work.
I also change the viewport navigation in Blender to match those. I’m just glad I have the ability to change it from trackball to turntable or I’d never use it. 
You’re not the only one
I never understood the difference until today, but now that I can tell the difference turntable seems oddly rigid. I guess I’m just too used to the defaults.
you think this is annoying?
here are the things i do when i install/download a new blender:
i got so accustomed to this i do it unconsciously
I used to only use trackball, but have started using turntable more now,
generally I switch between the two alot trough out…
would be great to be able to switch the navigation style in the 3d-view,
n-key, properties panel.
Lightwave 3D? 
I still prefer Trackball: the way one can rotate the camera with trackball is too good to me.
I also prefer trackball.
Awww… I had to try it, but it looks like smooth view only goes up to 1000. I wanted to set it to 3,600,000. Super smooth… :evilgrin:
I was a “hardcore” lightwaver which also uses “trackball”… but in blender I prefer turntable… so what?
Options are there because people prefer different things…
Defaults have to be something, and blender, right or wrong, has historically had what is “the blender way” as more important than following the herd…
Any experienced user of another 3d app switching to blender will want to get to the preferences as one of the first things they learn anyway… my only beef was that you needed to know the “secret handshake” in blender to get to that…
way back when I first started blender it took me two days to find where the prefs were hidden!
luckily you people will soon be able to tell Blender 2.5 to mimic max/maya directly from the splash screen.
I really can’t see the point of this thread. Everybody changes somthing in the settings, we can’t all have it our little way from the start. Do you guys see me advocating “rotate around selection” ?
Haha, nope, but I definitely select that in the preferences too
I never used trackball at all
Then don’t post.
I think that for encouraging first time users to use Blender, that Turntable is a better default. Anyone new in from Max or Maya or XSI or Houdini or Zbrush would find navigation in Blender a challange. I have a lot of personal experience in my never ending mission to conbert of trained professionals reacting badly to Blender until I tell them how to switch from trackball to turntable.
~Glenn
I use turntable as well. I don’t mind changing the settings when i install blender on a new system (it is very rare anyway! ). If you are smart enough to forsee it, you can also just bring your default .B.blend blend file along
turntable, always have and probably always will. Tend to get lost on trackball.
Yeah, and I think that to encourage old time Blender users to start using max/maya they should have the trackball as the default…
If first time users (old users of max/maya/whatever) expects Blender to behave like their old program, they should select that right in the splash screen. It’s the first thing they will be presented to when they start up Blender. Or maybe we should just have the max settings as the default? Else, what’s next? right mouse selecting?
If it is too difficult for the new user to select that in the splash screen, I honestly can’t imagine how that person even managed to get into 3d in the first place.
Blender is for blender users. Ton have said so over and over again. Else, why not just go all the way and clone the interface of program X entirely.
Trackball user since 1995 (if the 3D app allows it). Find it a lot easier to model and navigate in a single 3D window without switching to different views.
In general if a newcomer from another package isn’t going to hunt down the preference to switch then they aren’t being very open minded.
In my new job using Modo one of the first prefs I change is view nav to trackball.
The point is, soon they don’t even have to do that ! It’ll be right there in the splash screen! The absolutely first thing they will see! They don’t have to hunt for anything to get blender to mimic their old programs.