7 ms·

Blender 2.57 released (first stable release with completely new UI)

141 points by cx01 15y ago

TillE 15y ago
> Other improvements include a new file browser Oh thank god. I want to tear my hair out whenever I use Blender just to view or convert a file. The file browser is nearly unusable.
schrototo 15y ago
Found this on the site, thought it was rather interesting: The Evolution of Blenders User Interface [PDF] http://download.blender.org/documentation/bc2008/evolution_of_blenders_ui.pdf http://download.blender.org/documentation/bc2008/evolution_o...
hybrid11 15y ago
How does it compare to the commercial competitors (Maya, 3DS Max, Softimage) in terms of features & usability?
- djcapelis 15y ago
  This is a generally well respected feature comparison chart: http://wiki.cgsociety.org/index.php/Comparison_of_3d_tools http://wiki.cgsociety.org/index.php/Comparison_of_3d_tools Blender is generally feature rich, but has a fairly different UI than other products. People vary on whether or not they find that a good thing, Blender was originally built in an animation studio, for the most part, the interface prioritized ease of use for the knowledgeable user over ease of use for the new user whenever there was a conflict and sometimes neglected the latter altogether. The project has since put in a lot of work to try and make the interface a bit easier to pick up without compromising on the speed with which current artists who use Blender heavily rely on. The 2.5 series of releases is the latest attempt at making this better.
  - Smerity 15y ago
    Very good point regarding the UI. I find it quite annoying when people complain about Blender's UI. VIM's UI is also not "new user" friendly but VIM's UI itself is very powerful. Blender and VIM are made for speed with familiarity.
    - georgemcbay 15y ago
      I agree with you to an extent but one important difference between VIM and Blender is that VIM tends to be the only tool a VIM user will use for editing code/text while a 3D artist will often use half a dozen or more tools to create a finished product (using focused tools in different areas of the pipeline -- it is not uncommon to use a focused modeller, say, even though technically you can model in Blender or Maya). When you're using half a dozen tools and all of them either ship with or can easily be configured to handle Maya-style camera/mouse movement and Blender alone uses some wacky non-standard interface, it can really be jarring to context-switch to the Blender UI even if you are already familar with it. I believe this lack of following de facto standards (and prior to 2.5 having no way to really configure to these standards) is a bigger factor in the rejection of Blender's legacy UI than the fact that it is hard to use for a beginner was.
  - tintin 15y ago
    Totally agree. It took me a while to learn how to use the UI. But when I did I was amazed about it's usefulness. Shortcuts are very easy for your hand (using qwerty layout). It all feels very natural. I worked with 3D studio 1 (DOS) up to 3D Studio MAX 8. But working with Blender is so much faster already. Even tho I started using it some years ago.
- chipsy 15y ago
  Blender is a very capable "integrated" package; however everyone finds some faults with the individual tools. I have a lot of trouble with the modeler, personally, and resort to modelling in Wings3D and exporting the result to Blender. On the other hand, a lot of people praise the video editing and compositing tool as a competitive video editor in its own right.
- sbochins 15y ago
  I'm only a novice 3d modeler. But, my impression is that Blender has all the features that commercial vendors provide. The main reason it isn't popular is the interface is much different that 3D Max. I started using Blender having no past experience and have been quite pleased. The learning curve is kind of high and there is little good documentation on Blender 2.5.
- gcv 15y ago
  Blender looks and feels different from any other UI I've ever seen. That said, I would hardly categorize Maya's UI as "easy-to-use." Fairly conventional, yes, but not particularly easy. 3D art is a difficult problem, so it rather makes sense that the UIs take time to learn. Blender just takes an unusual approach, and honestly — there's nothing wrong with that. For comparison, Emacs takes a different approach to text editing than Visual Studio.
fsniper 15y ago
This is not the first release with new UI. 2.5 series all had this new UI.
- i80and 15y ago
  This is the first stable release in the 2.5 line. Yes you could use the new UI before now with pre-releases, but that's been true for a long long time.
- teh 15y ago
  I am not sure if this means the python API is stable, too. Quote: For the next 2.58 release the API will be completed with access to internal notifiers and events to track data changes or UI refreshes.
  - rtaycher 15y ago
    I thought 2.6 was suppose to be the stable release.
Ixiaus 15y ago
I have to say, Blender has come a long way. Big kudos. Python scripting is a major plus for me (Maya uses Python too).
- foenix 15y ago
  I took a second look at Blender, and I have to agree with you 100%. I'm astonished at how much python is incorporated into the “little things” like help-text and api. And the scripting! And the keyframe interface! Many kudos are in order.
zacharycohn 15y ago
I used it for a few years about 10 years ago, and I loved it at the time - I stopped largely because the software itself was just overwhelming. The new interface looks promising, it's great to see Blender still being developed.

141 points by cx01 15y ago

TillE 15y ago

> Other improvements include a new file browser Oh thank god. I want to tear my hair out whenever I use Blender just to view or convert a file. The file browser is nearly unusable.

schrototo 15y ago

Found this on the site, thought it was rather interesting: The Evolution of Blenders User Interface [PDF] http://download.blender.org/documentation/bc2008/evolution_of_blenders_ui.pdf http://download.blender.org/documentation/bc2008/evolution_o...

hybrid11 15y ago

How does it compare to the commercial competitors (Maya, 3DS Max, Softimage) in terms of features & usability?

djcapelis 15y ago
This is a generally well respected feature comparison chart: http://wiki.cgsociety.org/index.php/Comparison_of_3d_tools http://wiki.cgsociety.org/index.php/Comparison_of_3d_tools Blender is generally feature rich, but has a fairly different UI than other products. People vary on whether or not they find that a good thing, Blender was originally built in an animation studio, for the most part, the interface prioritized ease of use for the knowledgeable user over ease of use for the new user whenever there was a conflict and sometimes neglected the latter altogether. The project has since put in a lot of work to try and make the interface a bit easier to pick up without compromising on the speed with which current artists who use Blender heavily rely on. The 2.5 series of releases is the latest attempt at making this better.
- Smerity 15y ago
  Very good point regarding the UI. I find it quite annoying when people complain about Blender's UI. VIM's UI is also not "new user" friendly but VIM's UI itself is very powerful. Blender and VIM are made for speed with familiarity.
  - georgemcbay 15y ago
    I agree with you to an extent but one important difference between VIM and Blender is that VIM tends to be the only tool a VIM user will use for editing code/text while a 3D artist will often use half a dozen or more tools to create a finished product (using focused tools in different areas of the pipeline -- it is not uncommon to use a focused modeller, say, even though technically you can model in Blender or Maya). When you're using half a dozen tools and all of them either ship with or can easily be configured to handle Maya-style camera/mouse movement and Blender alone uses some wacky non-standard interface, it can really be jarring to context-switch to the Blender UI even if you are already familar with it. I believe this lack of following de facto standards (and prior to 2.5 having no way to really configure to these standards) is a bigger factor in the rejection of Blender's legacy UI than the fact that it is hard to use for a beginner was.
- tintin 15y ago
  Totally agree. It took me a while to learn how to use the UI. But when I did I was amazed about it's usefulness. Shortcuts are very easy for your hand (using qwerty layout). It all feels very natural. I worked with 3D studio 1 (DOS) up to 3D Studio MAX 8. But working with Blender is so much faster already. Even tho I started using it some years ago.
chipsy 15y ago
Blender is a very capable "integrated" package; however everyone finds some faults with the individual tools. I have a lot of trouble with the modeler, personally, and resort to modelling in Wings3D and exporting the result to Blender. On the other hand, a lot of people praise the video editing and compositing tool as a competitive video editor in its own right.
sbochins 15y ago
I'm only a novice 3d modeler. But, my impression is that Blender has all the features that commercial vendors provide. The main reason it isn't popular is the interface is much different that 3D Max. I started using Blender having no past experience and have been quite pleased. The learning curve is kind of high and there is little good documentation on Blender 2.5.
gcv 15y ago
Blender looks and feels different from any other UI I've ever seen. That said, I would hardly categorize Maya's UI as "easy-to-use." Fairly conventional, yes, but not particularly easy. 3D art is a difficult problem, so it rather makes sense that the UIs take time to learn. Blender just takes an unusual approach, and honestly — there's nothing wrong with that. For comparison, Emacs takes a different approach to text editing than Visual Studio.

fsniper 15y ago

This is not the first release with new UI. 2.5 series all had this new UI.

i80and 15y ago
This is the first stable release in the 2.5 line. Yes you could use the new UI before now with pre-releases, but that's been true for a long long time.
teh 15y ago
I am not sure if this means the python API is stable, too. Quote: For the next 2.58 release the API will be completed with access to internal notifiers and events to track data changes or UI refreshes.
- rtaycher 15y ago
  I thought 2.6 was suppose to be the stable release.

Ixiaus 15y ago

I have to say, Blender has come a long way. Big kudos. Python scripting is a major plus for me (Maya uses Python too).

foenix 15y ago
I took a second look at Blender, and I have to agree with you 100%. I'm astonished at how much python is incorporated into the “little things” like help-text and api. And the scripting! And the keyframe interface! Many kudos are in order.

zacharycohn 15y ago

I used it for a few years about 10 years ago, and I loved it at the time - I stopped largely because the software itself was just overwhelming. The new interface looks promising, it's great to see Blender still being developed.