I love Blender gui, and I think it is perfect.
But the new gui things of 2.5 will be great for most of people.
If it can simulate the gui of Max, Maya, XSI etc… this will interesting and unique in the software history I think. 
as long as we can set QWERTY to select, scale, move and rotate… I will be happy…
Silo and Modo (originally) could both be customised to be close to other apps in behaviour. (mouse interaction, selection and icon/layout methodology), so it’s not really new.
It’s funny that in both apps people tend to customise them to their own thing (tailored to how they work rather than to make them “like something else”) or not at all, and both apps manage to have their own identity whilst being able to “morph into oither behaviors”
what’s impressive in both apps is that the basic interactions are completely configurable (ie what key short cuts allow you to move, rotate and pan the view)… It’s been ages since i looked at modo, but Silo allows you to customise selection completely as well… it can act like blender, lightwave, maya, max whatever…
These basics become ingrained for seasoned users and are the hardist “habits” to break. ( and thefore the biggest barrriers to switching) … there is no such thing as “best design” as it’s very subjective too. ( i have lots of friends that swear by maya#s alt + lmb,rmb, mmb to navigate… That’s about the worst imaginable for me because I use a tablet for everything, I use a mouse almost never. (blender and lightwave nav being lmb + alt, and shift or ctrl)
There was a thread ages ago which linked to some design docs about input that looked very promising for 2.5. At the time they were just a proposal and not approved but they looked good to me.
Ok, but a non-free program cant copy the icons of the other program.
If user can make custom icons, Blender can looks like XSI or MAX etc.
Of course this will non official icon set…
lol.
<insert infinite loop here/>
Yes Blenders interface will have two new styles. Max & Maya.
The old interface will cease to exist.
That way people can just be pointed to Max/Maya tutorials.
Well, it will stop the complaints about lack of docs.
I am waiting for 3.0, then no interface will be needed at all.
for now i’ve always though you were just kidding.
but … you really are serious with this?
.b
As a user of a lot of applications my basic question is WHY ?
The core workflow of all these software is soooo different that it’s almost a joke. Being able to simply have a personalized keymap will do wonders to blender and that’s to me what is really missing.
At work I picked up XSI coming from Maya in a day, cause of the QWERTY keymap that he has built in. But then going into the real workflow, and in my case it’s only related to animating (setting keys and dealing with graph editor and motion clips), I had to understand a different workflow with a different set of tools. Yes the keymap helped me to move in the interface quicker, but the graph editor in XSI is so much different than the one of maya. At first I was slow but once up to speed, I feel I have a lot of things that now I miss in Maya, and the same thing could be said for the other way.
I hope Blender will evolve it’s workflow and not revolve it, cause it has some really good points 
-Gian
There are still many projects in the roadmap, like recode of core event structure (how clicks, motion and key presses are handled) and creation of an uniform API for access to tools (hot keys, buttons, menus, …) Result of that work should enable, for example:
- Customizable key maps
- Macros
- Construction history
- (Custom) Toolbars, Pie menus, …
- Better python UI integration, custom editors.
but I’m positive Endi knew all that anyway.
yeah it would make no sense to do that, I know I’m a rabid blender head and all but the philsophy behind blender’s GUI is transcendant. It has the feeling of you sticking your hand inside of the monitor and interacting with the viewport and graphs. Other applications don’t feel like that. They should be emulating blender not the other way around if you ask me.
I’m not saying it can’t be improved, I’d like to see the modifier stacks ripped out of the buttons panel and embedded inside of the transform properties window for instance
I personally like the Blender keymapping and UI as is.
I am at a point where i think what i want to do and my fingers just press the keys on the keyboard… cognitive commanding ^^. I dont have to think which button to push, but think what i want as result and my fingers do it… reaching inside the monitor… i couldn´t have said it better kay_Eva
Then, Blender is so versatile, why not give everyone the interface he likes?
The only real problem i see is if tutorials start coming up with highly customized UIs.
I´d vote yes on a guidline or unwritten rule to make (at least beginner) tutorials always with the default UI.
Being a Blender user first then adopting XSI, I have to admit that blenders workflow as far as speed once you remember where things are, what keys… blenders workflow is literally a God send sometimes. I mean, I rarely need to touch the UI for modeling and texturingf it is practically all done by keys, which is just fast.
Blenders UI is a mess otherwise thus needing something is easier to access via the keys rather the UI.
XSI on the other hand is well UI driven mostly and thus the UI is practically set out. But as far as speed and the likes, blender wins hands down.
Just my experience though.
Back to you fellas
Am I the only one who can’t possibly see this as a serious thread, considering who it is coming from?
I smell a troll here…ah, no it’s just Endi doing his usual things.
MfG
sk2k
Could it be that Endi is a plant from Autodesk to try to steal Blender’s userbase. I can see Autodesk getting jealous with things like Fluid control and the Physics Branch stuff in Blender already or being worked on.
you can customize Blenders UI you know?
M@dcow, no I thought the same thing. Commented anyway, just in case someone who honestly wants to know something similar, can at least do a search find this thread get some honest opinions without getting flamed for asking.
sk2k, No, no trolls here just endi. You gotta love him for it.
@Cyborg Dragon, I don’t think autodesk is dumb enough to hire someone to rub people up the wrong way so as to not want to buy their products.
Endi is just getting his kicks from watching our reactions. A bit a of deadend past time but hey if thats what gets him going then let it be. I recall someone else in times past being riled for his never ending attacks on members (the w…man) using his mild mannered dragon ego as the cover up. Let him be.
Check out any thread he starts (for example:Here on blender nation), and he rarely replies more than a few times. Meaning he doesn’t expect anything more than over zealous Blender heads to reply to his threads. He is most probably laughing at all these comments about him at the moment. It is tiring though.
He does have some points which to me seem obvious in some regards, and as he is also a great contributor to threads here can’t we cut him some slack.
Some of his works both in blender and 3ds Max:
http://www.etyekfilm.hu/mweworks/
http://www.etyekfilm.hu/endi/matter/galacsinrobot.jpg
http://www.etyekfilm.hu/endi/matter/piggy.jpg
http://www.etyekfilm.hu/endi/
@endi, please think of how you word things before you start these potential flame threads as they are getting a little beyond reason.
mmmmmmm Macros :yes:
I’ve used Max, Maya and other things like Zbrush professionally and have to lean in here. Each of these apps, including Blender have fluid guis, what they do require is time to get to know them. I found Blender difficult to get used to but now I know it, I love it. As for stepping in cold and feeling at home, Blender is like Zbrush. It’s quite unique relying heavily on hotkeys and combinations that seem hidden. Also, unlike other apps, Blender has that floating center point and (fixed now) objects udes to be created in whatever orientation the view was. Even simple things like setting up a texture map slot in the material and then tabbing to another place to select the image map seems counterintuitive at first. I’m looking forward to the GUI overhaul and hope it will allow more people unused to Blender to adopt it as a serious alternative to those other, more sluggishly developed apps.
Glenn
Better Question:
Will the other 3D Applications Simulate Blenders Amazing GUI???;)
I Love and i prefer Blenders GUI !!! 
very flexible,fast, non blocking,Inovative,visual look,stable,key combos,…etc…etc!
yeah I like Zbrush interface too, i also like Hexagon 3d, and i’ve used xsi from time to time…buutttttt, they don’t have the blender hands on feel of just reaching inside the viewport and grabbing things etc.