Hello all,
Kinda late to the party, but I’ve been learning Blender recently as well, deciding to model what I can and use it for learning on some recent projects. I’ve been watching some excellent videos online, many thanks to Grant Abbitt’s tutorials (really got me started), Imphenzia’s 10 minute modeling sessions (in case you are actually hanging onto the idea that SketchUp is somehow faster to model), BlenderGuru and a host of others! I’ve started with and stuck with 2.9.0a - yes the alpha version - and the crashes, but I think as a programmer it is part of the adventure.
In Blender I’ve gone from complete frustration (extrude does what?) – to wow - this is soooo cool (extrude can do WHAT!!). Now that I’ve gotten used to what is where and how to do things, I’m quite impressed. That this is software that is free to operate at this level is just plain amazing. The organic modeling capabilities, and PBR material renderings, the two rendering engines, (I love Eevee) and other things have been fun to learn and get into the details. You can do a lot of damage (to that lonely awesome cube/sphere/plane) in a small amount of time.
Is Blender going places? I think so - check out the “Principled BSDF” shader. That was a gift from Pixar/Disney and is amazing. I’ve purchased the Pro Lighting Skies from Poliigon and made my own materials in several ways as well.
This is not a competition with SketchUp, but of necessity. I’m upgrading to Catalina soon, and SU Make 2017 won’t run. Beyond that, the free Blender does everything I’ve dreamed of, so I am jumping over for better or worse at the end of the month. If I need a simple model or a sketch, maybe I’ll hit web SU, but really there is no point. I’ll spend more money on amazing assets from places like Poliigon (check out the procedural brick/wood/tile renderers) than SketchUp over the long run, so money was not, is not, nor will be the issue for me, and I suspect others as well.
My motto for Blender is now “Simple things seem more complicated than necessary, but what you thought was impossible a few minutes ago is only a click and a few modifiers away from being reality.”
A few models …
This was a sphere, pushed, pulled, extruded, rotated, and … 3 minutes later. It is either a spaceship or a bushing. No clue.
This a racer, or an airvent, or maybe a toy. I learned how to “Rip” and Paint Vertices on this model . HELP!
My new bunker in progress. Supplies, ventilation, and plumbing arriving soon. Maybe an elevator.
This is the same bunker, minus a few walls and with a rougher sandy floor.
Cheers all and thanks for the SU support over the years.