GUI
Blender is obviously a powerful program, but (sorry) it has one of the worst user interfaces I've ever tried to work with. It borders on being incomprehensible and is so overly complicated that, for me, I find it unusable.
I don't inntend to be insulting or overly critical, but the Blender community of developers clearly does NOT get the concepts of graphic user interfaces or user friendliness. It's fine if one is a software developer, but for the user, it isn't even close to being workable. From my perspective , the degree of unnecessary and layered complexity borders on the absurd. It boggles the mind as regards how ridicuously complex even the simplest of operations are to set-up and execute.
I have a suggestion: somebody download Bryce 7 or Bryce 7.1 Pro from DAZ 3D (DAZ sells it but does not seem to have any interest in keeping it current with changing OS systems). THIS is what a GUI SHOULD look like, and THIS is how one SHOULD work. IT sets the standard. This is how Blender should look and work, because most users are not software engineers and don't have years to dedicate to unweildy and steep learning curves. Call me lazy if you like, but in what time I have available to me, I would rather spend creating instead trying to master a user interface that only make sense to the people who created it. USe of the application should be so intuitive that an instruction manual is only needed as an occaisional reference. If it isn't, the application designers have wholly missed the mark.
I've given up on Blender and am looking in other directions. In it's current configuration and state of development, it is untenable for me.
Also, I can't tell you how much I HATE the way the view rotates around, and prefer to work strictly in the orthagonal frames of reference. The default viewing should be made lockable, so that the only way to escape the orthagonal perspectives is by pressing some combination of keys like, "Command + Eye Rub +Shift +Nose Pick + Tab+Butt Scratch +Feed the Dog a Treat+Mystery Step+Etcetera " (to keep in congruence with Blender's current way of getting things done).
I realize that this is a work in progress, but its overall user hostility makes this application unusable for me. A complete and frustrating annoyance. The entire Belnder development community needs to go back to the drawing boared and re-concieve this beast, because it just doesn't work in it's current state of development.
Sorry to be the bearer of such a harsh criticism. I'm giving up on this application and looking elsewhere. Since I'm outta here for good, no resonse is needed.
Thanks for your time and consideration.
1 Comment
That is a very peculiar feature proposal here.
You spent a lot of time writing how much you hate the UI and its viewport interactivity, everything's wrong and unusable and everyone should stop and go back to the drawing board and copy another software. Yet, at no point in this wall of 459 words, you gave even one - even remotely - tangible example or explanation that could illustrate your issue with the UI. You just state claims as facts.
So, I'm a bit confused!
How Blender is unusable if so many people are currently using it, both as hobbyists and professional productions? Surely it can't be both unusable and widely used?
Surely if you expect " the entire Belnder development community [...] to go back to the drawing boared and re-concieve this beast, because it just doesn't work in it's current state of development ", you understand that : anyone can say that for anything and no sane mind would act on that without a solid reason.
Plus you stated getting "outta here for good", that's even more confusing. Why spend time and effort posting this to improve Blender only to... Not... Come back to use the improved Blender nor even check if people care about it?
If you want to have changes, you are free to make a proposal about it, detailing what you think should be done instead of how much you hate things and want it to all be redone.
The only data you provided is to take example from Bryce 7 Pro .
That sounds like a very different software with different purposes and tools. I doubt it has the same UI needs than Blender. But let's a look at its UI, let's see what you claim to be what GUIs should be:
Ah yes, definitely got the toy-software vibes from the mid-2000s, I guess at least it didn't stand out too much back in Windows Vista. But it's surprising to see this for a software whose last update was in 2010.
I think there are arguably a bunch of good reasons why all softwares that survived this era toned down a lot on the 3D, skeuomorphic, and realistic-infused design styles.
The only two examples you gave about UI and UX are in the viewport interaction paragraph, but both are... Out of touch at best?
1. Ability to lock the view.
Doable, and multiple ways to do it depending on your needs and preferences. The viewport's own viewpoint is always free, but you can go in a camera's or in any object's viewpoint and lock that object to effectively lock your viewport. That's flexibility. If you don't want to have to align your camera to view, just be in camera view to begin with, and lock it to the view so that you can move around with the camera. And once you are happy with your angle, lock it in place.
If you want to have different ways to do it, you are free to make a proposal about it, detailing what you think should be done instead of how much you hate things and want it to be redone.
2. " Blender's current way of getting things done " with a ridiculed proxy example of keymap combination.
Thing is, it's not Blender's current way of getting things done. And arguably, never has been. I remember back up until v2.79 (six years ago), the community loved to laugh about some weird key combinations like Ctrl Shift Alt C to open the Set Origin menu. And how power users loved to use as many different keyboard shortcuts possible because it is fast, but it makes tutorials hard to follow. Those were the good, funny times.
Well, the reality is: aside from a few exceptions, every menu or operator you had as a shortcut, you also had it somewhere in the UI, usually in the editor's menu, neatly sorted in a place that makes sense. Looking for how to manage your view? It might be in the View menu. And if you didn't know where to find something, or didn't want to click more than twice, you had a search bar that would allow you to run pretty much anything. Also, pie menus.
Then v2.80's came out, with enormous jumps forward in UI/UX.
So erm... Yeah I guess (or hope) you just wanted to have fun with words and be overly dramatic here. But, you is possible to do that AND still have a valid point.