Hi everyone.

During my (little) free time now I'm trying to seriously learn the almost unknown (for me) and underestimated Blender.

More I use it more I understand that it's really a great tool.

Now, it has also a very brand new shader : "Principled BSDF"

Look at this very interesting intro tutorial, very well explained by the smart guy Andrew Price (Blender Guru)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4H5W6C_Mbck&t=30s

https://www.blenderguru.com/

See you.

Hi Mauro.

I used Cycles engine and the new "Principled BSDF" shader with the so called unofficial 2.79 version of Blender.

It seems that the new Blender's PBR engine, that's still in initial stages, can offer very good results for metal and not only.

I can't say that its blazing fast as "Thea Render" or other "true" realtime engines, like Unreal 4 or the brand new InstantLight,
but all these new Blender's shaders offer great opportunity in order to obtain photo-realistic results.

For my test I have used the new, still unofficial, "Principled BSDF" shader that should be the first step towards the upcoming
"Eevee" render engine, the all brand new Blender's PBR engine.

Fortunately there are tons of very interesting tutorials about that stuff, from many very talented guys,
like for example Blender Guru at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOKHwx1VCdgnxwbjyb9Iu1g and many many others.

I hope that in the coming weeks I can test more in dept a new workflow :
Moi -> 3D-Coat -> Blender

See you.

Marco (mkdm)

Thank you :) Buona giornata !

Blenderguru, love that guy. Haven't followed his videos in quite a while, though. Also can't say enough how much I like working with Blender! I agree, it's a great addition to Moi.

Didn't know about this Principled BSDF shader yet but I'll be sure to have a look on that :)

Hello,

Blender has one of the worst UXs out there in the software world. That is one of the main reasons it will never be taken seriously as a production tool in its current state. Blender has some very good plugins but inevitably is hampered by horrible usability of the core application. I'm not sure how going from a very usable application to one of the worst is a good use of ones time.

Hi OSTexo.

@You : "...Blender has one of the worst UXs out there in the software world..."

I totally agree with you about UXs!

But, with that said, I think also that it has got plenty of lead in its pencil.
Just to name a few, many interesting plugins, its very powerful node editor, the overall quality of its Cycle engine, at least with the latest shaders
that the Blender's community is developing, its camera tracking capabilities...

And it's free.

I think that it must be looked at in greater depth.

See you.

ZBrush has probably the worst interface, and it's an industry standard. Go figure.

Hello,

Agreed, the ZBrush UX is horrible. That's what happens when progressive UX improvement isn't made to a product. Like most vertical markets there is this copying and reinforcement of poor usability. Imagine all of the time wasted learning and wasting software that isn't usable. MoI is a breath of fresh air in this market.

Another Blender Guru guy !
https://www.youtube.com/user/GlebAlexandrov

Haven't heard of that Gleb Alexandrov guy yet but I had a short look on his videos and he seems to be pretty talented. I think I'll subscribe to him!

Seems like you just can't have a Blender discussion wo/someone (subjectively) claiming how horrible the UI/X is.

And I agree ZBrush is way up there in horror as well (when I put ZB down for a month or two, I ALWAYS have to go though training again to re-learn how to use it!)


Anyway, the HardOps add-on was what finally made me pick up Blender and force myself to come to grips with it, and frankly I LOVE Blender now that I'm using it.

I've tried to stick with other commercial apps, but frankly the constant innovation that Blender receives -first HardOPs, DecalMachine, BoxCutter, AssetManager and now the PBR Shading, and soon the 2D art with the Grease Pencil, has me found me keeping my wallet in my pocket.

-Will

Hi WillBellJr.


@You : "...Seems like you just can't have a Blender discussion wo/someone (subjectively) claiming how horrible the UI/X is...."

I hope you are not referring to me :)
I'm "Marco (mkdm)"

@You : "...I've tried to stick with other commercial apps, but frankly the constant innovation that Blender receives -first HardOPs, DecalMachine, BoxCutter, AssetManager and now the PBR Shading, and soon the 2D art with the Grease Pencil, has me found me keeping my wallet in my pocket...."

I totally agree with you!

The more I dig into Blender the more I find it very powerful and satisfying.

And with the priceless help of guys like "Blender Guru", the learning it's so easy and fun.

In the last few months I totally changed my mind about Blender.

See you.

Hi Marco, I had, started and stopped with Blender since v2.5 was released (I definitely could NOT stand B's UI at v2.49 and earlier!)

I just couldn't get into it. But when I saw the video for HardOPs, I HAD to come to grips with Blender because THAT was the way I've always wanted to model with booleans - HOPs is the singular reason I'm using Blender today - it forced me to learn Blender which fortunately wasn't all that hard once you memorize a few keyboard shortcuts.

I don't even bother to change the right-click selection etc., I like Blender "raw", straight out the box.

Decal Machine is just NUTTS as well, I can't wait until the atlas baking / Unity /Unreal exports are completed - absolutely amazing add-ons in my book!

MoI is my go-to app for quick and easy hard surface concept / base model creation.

If MoI were to ever somehow get real-time boolean operations in a similar fashion to HardOPs or say MeshFusion, my head would pop!


-Will

Same here, I couldn't stand Blender's UI at v2.49 either, but the more I worked with it, the more I came to like it!

Hi everyone.

About Blender, that's another GREAT tutorial by Blender Guru.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sREos49gtTo

Really awesome!!

Moi + Blender = GREAT stuff for 295$!!

See you.