Re: blender

["Frederic A. Martinelli" <aerios@free.fr>]

Anarky wrote:
[...]
> like to ask you how do you feel Blender compares to those comercial 
> software in terms of:
> -productivity
> -features
Really, Ingo Ruhnke gave you a very correct reply.

I'll just add a couple of things.
The booleans do miss if you're planning on doing simple objects pretty 
quickly. For complex ones (like organics) you just don't need them 
because they are useless then (well i mean a human body that looks more 
to a human than to a stack of boxes). Even for symmetric objects like a 
glass of water you don't need them as you just have to do the same as in 
AMAPI(just another 3D modeler): duplication/translation/scale and so on 
and this can even be done automaticaly with a path.
If you plan on using that soft seriously, the 1.5 manual (paper) is a 
must have (maybe you can download it now, search their site, also search 
for a newer version of course) as it lists all the keybindings and will 
explain (just like any manual i guess :) ) you the most interesting 
thing in Blender: it's object oriented way of think: a curve (the 
object) can also become a path in a motion, a duplication path or a 
surface creator path (even in several dimensions)... and so on... 
Blender can be pretty powerful indeed as long as you learn its way, all 
in all it's just another way to work, AMAPI was also another one btw 
(you can download it from a few places on the Net it works under Linux, 
just that the port is unfinnished and have some bugs left) with another 
different way of getting things done... and we can go that way up to the 
famous pov. Differents... Ok, ok if you manage to render with pov the 
main ship of Babylon V or the metal-liquid guy of Terminator... :)

Really, it's a free software and you're free to use it so download it, 
test it, make your own mind. But even if it fits you, you should test 
the others softs around, as i said to make your own mind: remember that 
it's _you_ who will use the soft at the end. :)

Have fun learning,
Fred.
P.S.: When you want to discuss more in depth about a specific software 
it's usually better to go to the specific discussion place for that soft 
being an irc or anything else. I just remind it to you.