Why is 'Blender' so popular for creating daz characters?
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Ah, i thought everyone forgot about it and disregarded as obsolet when Blender 2.8 revolution happened
(though IMHO while 2.8+ interface is much more bearable than older one, it still maybe not a cup of tea for someone, so guess here is where this blender for artists comes in play)
Agreed. As much as i question Blender (i find Maya's interface better, for example. well, except for overcomplication that is hypershade), Zbrush is totally alien and insane, in my opinion. It's like every other 3D software has some common design, but zbrush just refuses to align to all those conventions in ui/ux and behaves totally not how you expect it even in simplest things... For me, experiencing zbrush after getting used to several 3d software was extremely painful. Ironically, Sculptris was much more comfortable, but it never got development that zbrush had, and now they just rebranded it into one of zbrush's subtools.
@Faeryl Womyn That is a great find. I'm downloading it now.
I too have had a hard time with blenders UI. after using daz & poser so long blender is just a florin beast. I get most of the short cut keys figured out they are pretty close to to my zbrush 2020 hotkeys. But B4artist looks like a good learning platform to help learn the blender UI easier. I like they have color icons and they they removed the double tool set labels that should speed up learning the UI Plus I like that you can use any blender file in b4artist and vice/versa
Thanks for sharing that link. hopefully this will help me get a better grasp of blenders UI
Because I can't afford ZBrush (or anything else that expensive).
Blender is a great tool that has a solid team of developers behind it who actually listen to their users and a wealth of community support through YouTube, specialist groups and printed books. The more you delve, the more you like what it can do and will use it as a valuable asset in your 3D library... The latest releases have come a long, long way...
I won a full standlone zbrush2020 in a contest at art station last year. that is the only reason I got a copy of it . though its pretty easy to use and make things. its the trying to rig something you sculptured and then getting it into daz studio intact is problem.I have.lol
This sounds a bit weird though, i mean, Blender didn't have sculpt tools before some point when they appeared and/or improved. Or you mean something like "i used Hexagone" if it's polygonal approach
Yes, I am pretty sure. After all, I'm not the one that said Blender can't extrude along normals.
This is Blender. The "standard tool" has always been the hotkey. Try hitting alt-E (intuitive enough?) in face selection mode, after having chosen the transformation orientation you want. If you haven't changed your layout, it's the 3 orthographic axes that probably says "Global" at the top middle of the 3d viewport.
I do get where you're coming from, though, but understand that in Blender the hotkeys are first class citizens. The faster you learn them, the faster you'll appreciate that Blender's UI is not bad at all and it really is a faster.
+1000
There is no tool of any appreciable power that does not require learning it. Complaining that Blender doesn't work like program X does not make one better at Blender; But learning Blender for Blender's sake does.
This trope is common in tech... and goes back as far as the vi editor. If you don't know vi, it seems cumbersome and non-intuitive. If you do, it's the most elegant, well designed editor ever made.
It is silly to critique Blender if you are willfully ignorant of what its designers had in mind.
Absolutely true about hotkeys. Because of the way the UI is designed, usually it's easier to remember the hotkeys rather than rely on menus. And for those of us who regularly use a whole bunch of different software applications, having to remember hotkeys is a real pain. As is having to use the keyboard since it's such an annoyance.
What I've done is make a sticky note on one of my 3 monitors listing a bunch of hotkeys. And I've also written some python scripts to make a custom tab with all my often-used tools, set to my preferred options. So when I start Blender, on the right hand side there's a tab with just my tools. One push button to apply Scale & Rotation to selected object (which you do constantly in Blender), one to delete all scene objects, one to apply Subdivision Surface, one to automatically load a mannequin mesh I always use, and so on.
Scripts are awesome. You can do anything with them, and any time you feel like complaining about taking too many steps to do something, or "what was that tool called and where is it located?", just write a script to automate it.
its not just free, pros are preferring blender over zbrush for sculpting -
I develop software. And if you have any hope whatsoever of being a decent software developer, you have to think about your users and what they are used to and what they are expecting. And when you do stuff like what Blender did years ago and design your software to have a right click of the mouse to select an object, you have no clue what you're doing. Every single piece of software since the beginning of time, in this universe and every other universe, selects and places stuff with a left mouse click.
And when the Zbrush developers push out that ridiculous excuse for a UI, you know it's a bunch of guys who couldn't care less about users, and only want to write code that does stuff and push it out the door.
As with any software, some users bang their heads against the wall for years and finally get the hang of it, and then decide they've invested so much that they have to claim they like the software and become fanboys. But that doesn't make it good.
I think the folks who developed DAZ Studio could give the software world lessons in how to design a good UI. Beautiful work.
Well, the Smart Content database stuff could use some work, but the rest is brilliant.
Just wanted to chime in on the Issue of hot keys
...LEARN THEM!!! or you will never be truly productive in Blender ...sorry but its the truth.
and BTW I have several gigs of FREE Blender tutorials videos
on the particular aspects of Blender that interest me.
I came from Maxon C4D to Blender after the release of 2.8
I already knew how to model Daz/CC3 clothing.
But it was the shader node and unified dynamics systems that made me realize who far Blender was ahead of Maxon C4D.
You assume someone doing things for ones own amusement is after productivity, the idea one is trying shed with some R&R with ones home computer... Remembering hot keys... Forget it, the functions should be in easy to find (logical) places so you don't have to memorize any shortcuts or the R&R becomes work...
Tutorial Videos... My free time is much too valuable and short for watching tutorial videos, even if they were made not to annoy you, any/all written instructions and guides are 100 times more useful, but the skills of reading and writing are apparently becoming rare.
I never really took time and "learned" hotkeys. For the first couple years the only ones I actually remembered were g for grab, r for rotate, s for scale, eventually I started to pick up some other ones: e for extrude, m for merge (noticing a pattern, a big chunk of the short cuts you actually use are pretty easy to remember as they're the first letter of the tool).
and of course there is the greatest tool: space bar to search for whatever tool you want - I would looooove for that one to be a tool in DS and pretty much every program I use
I generally find that if you are using a tool a bunch eventually the shortcut sticks - and if you aren't using it a bunch than you don't need to worry about the slightly extra time it takes to find it without the shortcut
Guys you are turning this thread into a who's program is better argument. All programs have pro's and con's, some people are better with keystroke's then a mouse and vice versa, doesn't mean one person is worse off then the other. People use what they are comfortable with and learn the way that is best for them, plain and simple. True it's not fair to knock another program and it's definitely not good to knock a person for using a different program or refusing to use one for whatever reason. Do you really think going on about it and try to jam the software down someone's throat is going to work????? How about sticking to helpful information.
The OP never posted again so this thread has no clear direction, it was about Blender's perceived popularity for creating characters which I personally don't think is accurate, I dare say Zbrush is used by most doing so.
My most used hot key. Ctrl+Z it = Undo. or step back lol
to be fair, C4D has never been considered as good in comparison to other high end 3d suites for functions you mention. C4D strengths are in other areas, its basically mandatory to have if you do motion graphics. Maxon do not bother trying to develop areas of C4D that are well behind other programs, which is smart. Their development resources are better spent keeping their lead in the market they have, rather than potentially sacraficing that lead trying to tempt users away from already established pipelines using other programs.
Blender is nice BUT...Nothing beats workflow of Daz to Zbrush Via GoZ and send back changes as a morph or correction and go back again back and forth etc etc.
fanboys...ugh!, never understand that people, if they are experts in any software good, but nobody cares how many programs they know or how many dollars had them invest into, ridiculous.
if you are good, really good, then even modelling in Moi or Rhino or Formz or Metaseq4 you could rivalize Blender or Maya or C4D or whatever else.
Blender is good, like any other software, but Blender is not the Holy Grail or the ultimate discovery of the XXI Century as many want to claim.
...I'm getting along pretty well with the pointer and icon based tools and menus. Maybe not as fast but I don't have to keep scratching my head trying to remember key combinations, and can actually focus on improving my modelling skills.
I recently accidentally discovered Moi. It surprised me very much due to how comfortable it is (though it's kinda simple feature-wise). Also it has something that i was looking in 3d editors for years and years - "guides" (like in photoshop or illustrator)! But, well, that's because it is CAD software. It is best for hard surface, machinery, product viz etc. And not very optimal for organics. Also it is not "polygonal modelling", it's curves... Not only it's different workflow (and relies much more on booleans and procedurals), but also it could be tricky if you want to export your model into polygonal 3d environments. I'd say, if your destination doesn't like ngons, you will have to do a retopology of your model if want to have good topo for subdiv.
@PerttiA
It depends on what you actually do with your software.
for a highly visual acitivity like animation&VFX
written books/manuals are are beyond useless
and generally people do not write books just to teach how to build a Holographic Shader for your current project in Blender or how to Reverse an aniblock in DS ANimate2 however a quick 7 minute video that shows you something this specific this is extemely helpful
And if you are just doing things for "entertainment"
or to just burn up your time
then no ..you do not need to be productive
But thankfully
Blender is at least free and you can waste your time at Zero monetary cost
unlike Subscription based program Like Maxon C4D.
Also I agree with Zev0
that Most Daz PA's likely use Zbrush and if you check the Blender forum here most people are only using it as alternative render engine for stills not creating Daz content .
No need to take others' views personally. We're talking about software pros and cons. I'm certainly not jamming software down someone's throat. I couldn't care less what software someone chooses. As you say, all software has pros and cons. I'm one of those who is better with a mouse, and as I mentioned it's one of my challenges with Blender, which is why I make sticky notes and develop scripts. I'm sorry if some are offended at my comments about Zbrush, but from a software developer's perspective, and in many peoples' views, the UI design is horrendous. But if someone likes Zbrush then merely choose to disagree and move on.
No.
I use professional 3D design engineering software for my work that doesn't need me to learn hotkeys, and needing to do so for fun.. No. Just no. The software I use at work enables 3 of us to produce the same output as a manual design office of 24, and a 2D design office of 12, so hotkeys are not a prerequisite for productivity with well designed software. I don't dispute they are a pre-requisite with Blender.
The BForArtists looks like a good attempt to turn Blender into a more user friendly package and I may spend some effort in getting to know it.
Regards,
Richard.
I Shall clarify: if you are a builder/producer of original models
and build your own shaders
and if you animate and create VFX simulations( Fluid& smoke
as Blender is designed to do), then knowing the keyboard
shortcut will speed up your production.
I know this because I do most of these things Daily
and if you watch any video tutorial on these Blender features the artist is always using keyboard shortcuts.
If you only import Daz figures/props via the various methods (Diffeo/D2B)
then yes you only need to perhaps load an HDRi and render your still portraits and that is a fine alternative for those who wish to use cycles instead being forced to worship at the altar of NVIDIA in Daz studio.
Hold that thought a while ... we have a forum user who is right now writing something for Blender to do what GoZ does for Zbrush - at least for use with DAZ Studio. I tested an early version and it is looking promising.
I still just dabble in Blender for fun but I agree learning the shortcut keys is key to reasonaby quick productivity. Before Blender 2.8 you pretty much were forced to learn the shortcut keys to follow the tutorials and had no access to some features without using the keyboard shortcuts. I always resisted using those shortcut keys in Photoshop, DOS, Windows, osX, Unix program GUIs, whatever, before Blender, after all what's a GUI for?
I did buy an actual written book on learning the basics of Blender but even though the book was a competant as a competent Blender video tutorial series I found myself frustrated with needing room on my computer desk and having to flip back and forth between pages to see something I just read and forgot. It's much easier for me to have dual monitors and play the tutorial video on one screen while doing the Blender activities on the others screen. I can scrub back and forth on the video easier than in a printed book. The thing is though 15 minute videos easily become 30 minute, even 1 hour and longer videos for me when I try to do a good job of what they are doing in the video.
That would be great.