I remember getting a book on how to use Blender a while back (loaned it to a friend and never got it back :( ), probably the largest stopping block for you is the mouse interface. Specifically it isn't like regular windows where everything is left-click, and right-click for sub-options. With Blender they spread out the features/functions on the mouse to heavily include the right and middle mouse buttons. I've heard and tried using Blender myself and got some interesting results, but i'm not an artist so my experience is limited and probably crap.

Kinda reminds me of EMACS... Powerful editor, but i honestly am not sure i can wrap my mind around that complexity of the keyboard interface in order to do editing real fast or never having to leave the home row...



BUT... If you get past that hurdle and get used to how Blender uses the mouse, you'll probably have a much better time with it.

That is a good point. I still have no idea why GOG decided to sell random indie movies that no one has ever heard of! Why doesn't GOG release, oh I don't know, the rest of the LucasArts games!? :P

Funny that you mention it, I heard about EMACS yesterday for the first time. My programmer buddy is using it extensively now.

Yeah, maybe. Wanted to try it again soon anyway. Maybe I should get a book or something. It's surprisingly hard to find anything good except video tutorials for free online and those are an utter waste of time. I used them during my last approach and it took me a week to cover topics which I could have finished in several hours with simple text and screenshots.
Relax. I'm sure we're gonna get the next LucasArts game Thursday or next week.

I believe Richard Stallman wrote EMACS back a long time ago, in the 80's... Naturally it's been updated numerous times and is far more powerful than it used to be. The idea of being able to do everything without ever having to leave the keyboard does sound wonderful, but much like learning the Dvorak keyboard, it's a matter of devoting yourself to it, vs using what you already know and can work with.

VI is probably about as complex as i'm willing to go, as it's a useful editor with different modes you can enter, and once you enter typing mode it acts as you expect on the keyboard, and is easy enough to figure out how to get around on it with minimum of commands.

Damn, what was that blender book i got. I was sure i got it on Amazon.... I'd reference it if i had it... Maybe i did get it back... one sec i'll look over my library (not that it has all my books....)


edit: Sed, Awk, SQL, D, Data compression, Perl, Vi, Xwindows, Unity... No Blender. Damn... :(

Lol, thanks for checking.

Must have picked it up at Barnes and Nobles.... which doesn't have a history for me to search through.... :(

Yeah, shouldn't be too hard to find a good tutorial book on Blender, though. Thank God for Amazon reviews.

Eh, with the speed Blender gets updated, relying on books is less ideal than it sounds. Chances are that by the time you finish reading you'll only had learned outdated info.
What'd you need Blender for? There are plenty of good tutorials around, the main thing is finding which ones are closest to your current skill level.

Depends. Good explanations are worth more than 'lots of pictures', so unless it's showcasing something specific you'll probably have screenshots in black and white, or full blown color if it's doing ray tracing for something.

I've seen some awesome work done in some of these programs, except i'm not sure what they are using... Although i'm not sure if it was done in Blender or a commercial product. Naturally they teach and have the commercial products in college classes and not the free alternatives when they teach you... Naturally...
The basic UI shouldn't change, nor where everything is placed. New stuff would be filters, handling textures and new technologies like ray tracing for glass, that has nothing to do with how you use the mouse or move the 3d points. A good book is still important, even if the book is old, rarely would they throw out something unless it was totally pointless, and I'm sure they would have thrown that out really early on.

Besides having subject matter by an expert putting things in order in a book with a certain consistency on the material is better than 2 minute short tutorials that cover the bare minimum; Of course if you're familiar with the material and only need a quick refresher, that's different...

Yes, Blender GUI is different from other 3d applications, I've tried approaching it several times too. And like other people said before, Blender updates very fast, so anyone could feel overwhelmed trying to learn all its features (that happens to me each time i have a look at their website and see its new features :-P).

Fucking lol XD

Aye, the overall UI layout doesn't change much over time, but shortcuts and commands do, tools and functions are often added, reworked and sometimes removed, and things like Cycles cannot be properly covered because they're still in early development.

I get that there are advantages of text over video tutorials, but a complete beginner would probably benefit more by watching how things are actually done in real time than reading a couple of chapters and try to fill the dots on his own. I find books a waste of money when there are so many free , and dedicated [url=http://www.blender.org/support/user-community/]communities around the net. Rather save for a proper modeling course.

I learned the basics with about 2-3 hours of footage (of course it took me much more to actually digest all the info :P). [url=http://www.blendtuts.com/2010/09/how-to-edit-objects-modelling.html]This tutorial in particular was extremely useful for what I use Blender for (model editing and game modding). The guys at the official forums are extremely friendly, too.