Those that know me will recall that I have been an ardent 3dsmax supporter for years. Some might say, fanatical.
Within the last few years however, I feel like I spend more time on workarounds and dealing with new “features” that hamper productivity. (Scene Explorer… I am looking at you.)
The yearly subscription thing is just so out of whack with the way that our industry works, that I have suggested to my company that we quit with it and just upgrade every few years when and if needed. Heck, we only just upgraded from R7 to R9. 2008 and 2009 are sitting on the shelf.
Then there has been the clear focus on the Arch Vis sector for the last 3 releases… the game biz seems to have been largely ignored.
Ok, so Blender. It’s free. Great work has been done with it, (Orange and Apricot projects, etc.) Has anyone tried doing any production work with it? Has anyone tried it at all? I tried and early version and was turned off by the UI. Are the schools pushing it yet? (Anecdotely, I heard there was a movement to do so.) All of the scripting is actually Python, which is the hot thing in Tech Art these days. The game engine part is intriguing…
So what does everyone think? Blender: Is it a contender? Are you going to give it a try?
Funny I just downloaded it again because I was impressed by both the opensource movie proejct with the rabbit. http://www.bigbuckbunny.org/
I am just really impressed with the full python intergration, the speed at the new tech getting added like, heat map weights, double quat skinning, harmonic deformers from pixar etc… they have some solid tools and unique workflows and even with the wacky UI, its still to me wicked faster to learn than zbrush. It is nice it feels like the old Softimage where the UI just did what it was supposed to and stayed out of the way.
I think it would be a great tool to teach tech with since it is all open including an entire film worth of assets.
I wouldn’t use it as a primary app for artists, but it is certainly interesting as a ‘platform’ for script and tools. Because it is so open, it is really easy for people to make some very interesting tools and programs (how much of the world’s LSCM code was originally implemented in Blender?). It would be interesting to find a use for it as a ‘hub’ app, that could interface with XSI, Max, Maya, etc., it could probably speed up tool development for things like custom UV tools, skinning systems, custom exporters, etc. Though this is speculative as I haven’t used Blender- maybe the rapidity to which features are added is due to the sharing nature and disposition of its users and less to the program?
and even with the wacky UI, its still to me wicked faster to learn than zbrush.
Ha, that’s good to hear. I found myself wondering if it could be anymore bizarre than ZBrush. I figured if I could come to grips with ZB’s workflow and UI, pretty much anything should be open game.
I am currently spending my free time learning Unreal3, but I think Blender might have to be next on the slate.
We had to buy some new 64 bit quad-cores machines with 8 gig ram to do our sims, and we rebuilt Blender to include a multi threaded version of the fluid engine at 64 bits to maximise our ram and CPU usage.
This seems amazing to me and one of the benefits of open-source software. What would it take to do a similar thing in Max, Maya, or XSI? Would it even be possible? I find it remarkable they had rebuilt the fluids so well in just a few weeks.
Yeah, Rob that is what stood out to me as well, both that they hit a problem and just could fix it directly vs. having to hire autodesk to do a special build. Or run it on linux etc… either way, it would be very costly to do after production has started (not to mention the huge amount of hassle to go through all the proper channels at a studio do pay for a different cut of software.
I actually started with Maya, and for some reason picked up Blender. Blender is damn near impossible to learn quickly, but once you get the hang of it. I will bet you a years pay that you will be able to model faster than any other program you’ve ever used. Things that Max makes take multiple steps (cutting edge loops) can be done with 1 keystroke in blender.
While I like MAX and Maya, Blender seems to be used by me the most.
I have been using Blender and UE3 with absolutely no issues at all, just export as Collada and your good to go.
[QUOTE=nfollmer;1521]…once you get the hang of it. I will bet you a years pay that you will be able to model faster than any other program you’ve ever used. [/QUOTE]
I use Blender for all of my modeling. I especially like being able to sculpt like zbrush and then using the “Retopo” tool I can layout a good topology over that sculpt. What I also like is that I can throw in an armature while I model so I am able to test deformations as I build out my mesh.
