My point was that more complex and powerful applications require more complex user interfaces. And that there is always a trade off between the learning curve for beginners vs ease of use for experienced users.
This is a good idea. You should do it. Because Blender is open source, you can change it to however you like.
I have no answer. It took me only a week or two to get comfortable with Blender. Everyone has their own learning paradigm. As I mentioned before, some people have a hard time understanding SketchUp.
I can point to several features in SketchUp which are significantly “less smart” than in Blender. When you update Blender to a new version, all your preferences, startup scene and plugins are automatically migrated for you. This is a most difficult task in ShetchUp.
My point is that it’s all part of your perspective and what you are used to.
@chippwalters - I’m attempting to support your Blender evangelism project by focusing on the aspect of Blender which most limits it’s further spread in the market. I’m trying to assist by addressing one objection a great many people seem to have. You know, the steep Blender learning curve is mentioned in pretty much every review of Blender ever written.
My point was that more complex and powerful applications require more complex user interfaces.
If the power and complexity is stripped out of some versions of a software then the need for more complex interfaces is removed. We see this in the free versions of SketchUp. The Blender team is under no obligation to learn from that example, or provide a similar entry level option, but they could if they wished to, no law of nature prevents it.
Yes, I don’t doubt you became comfortable with Blender in just a few weeks. That’s great. But you and other power nerds are a minority of the potential market for 3D products. There are way more people like me than you.
If expanding the reach of Blender beyond power nerds is not interesting to anyone, then ok, no problem, the status quo can remain and serve those who enjoy Blender in it’s current form. I don’t have a problem with that.
Your suggestion of minimizing the features of Blender to make it easier to use is not interesting to me. For those who want extreme simplicity, there’s always SketchUp Make.
OR…
As I stated previously, if you think there’s a big market there, then consider creating a group to fork Blender to create whatever version you think the non “power nerds” (perhaps we can use a less derogatory term?) would like to see.
There are already a number of different forks of Blender currently. Plus there are online courses for beginners which have special sets of tools to make learning and using Blender easily. Check out HeavyPoly for instance.
Or even go to the Blender devtalk forum and discuss your ideas there. Plenty of people will listen. It’s open and not as full of “power nerds” as you might think.
Ok Chipp, no problem. It makes sense that power nerds in general wouldn’t be interested because such a project doesn’t serve them. I don’t have a problem with that. FYI, in my usage “power nerd” is not a derogatory term. I’m proudly a power nerd myself, just not on this set of issues. No offense was intended.
Ok, let’s leave it there then. Thanks for engaging, and again, for the tutorials.
Ok, I understand this better now that I’ve watched some of your tutorial vids.
Although I’m not really qualified to say, my guess is that the videos do a good job of accomplishing your intended purpose of this thread, converting experienced SketchUp users to Blender users. They won’t work for Blender and/or 3D newbies, but as you’ve clearly said, that’s not really your interest. You have however inspired me to seek such videos, and I thank you for that.
So here’s what I found in the way of Blender tutorials for newbies. This fellow seems to have the hang of going that slow, right from the very beginning.
Ha, ha! Did you get that everyone? See how easy it is?? So stop complaining!! I mean, quacking.
Seriously, here’s an example of how to things right, imho. I’m currently watching the following Poser tutorials. I’ve never used Poser. Know pretty much nothing about it. And after watching a video tutorial just one time I feel right at home, perfectly comfortable and confident, ready to dive in to using Poser with enthusiasm.
Here’s the entire tutorial series.
And here’s the Poser animation tutorial video:
The point here is that 3D animation doesn’t have to be inscrutably arcane and nerdy. 3D animation can be made readily accessible to large numbers of average folks with minimal knowledge. And so, to all the “experts” who say that 3D animation is incurably complex, and we just have to buckle down, stop being lazy, and learn it the hard way like they did, well, never mind about all that.
That’s a fun one - it does require downloading a custom build of Blender with all the required Python files, but it’s the first architectural Blender add-on I’ve used that really feels user friendly (Archipack and Archimesh are kind of…blah).
That said, when I made a vid about it, it did crash quite a few times while filming, so it’s not 100% stable by any means.
Definitely true - I really enjoyed working with it - he released an expanded model library for it but it’s something like $100 and I just am not doing enough with Blender right now to make the investment.
