bforartists Blender and Hexagon

Retro Lad

Thanks to a post by Diomede I just discovered the bforartists modeling program that is a user friendly version of Blender. I would like to read your comments on what you think of the bforartists program. https://www.bforartists.de/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1XpDPF1kqrOM3XZIdjSl8Q

Also, any comments you may have of a comparison between Blender's modeling options and Hexagon's modeling options. I am just asking about the modeling features because I know Hexagon doesn't have the extended features that Blender has.

I attached a youtube file about making a folding paper airplane that is for Blender, but I don't think it could be duplicated in Hexagon because of "pivoting alterations" that Hexagon lacks, unless I have missed something in Hexagon  .https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPBuPI284Zg

ShawnDriscoll

Blender is all about "cool niche features."  

Paintbox

Blender 2.8 , arriving later this year, will have a Blender 101 workspace and several UI improvements, which is good news if you struggled with the interface before.

The key to Blender is learning the hotkeys as early as possible, like TAB for edit mode, and switching between vertice , edge or face mode. E for extrude and so on. Furthermore lookup hard surface and organic modeling on youtube. Both programs can get you good results I am sure, Blender is being updated continuously and Hexagon has only recently started development again. There is a Hexagon beta on the daz shop if you’re interested.

Retro Lad

Paintbox,

My memory is getting worse as I age, so remembering two dozen, or three dozen, shorycut keys doesn't work. The bforartists Blender interface dumps most of the shortcut keys and uses ICONS instead which helps me a lot in navigating and modeling.

ShawnDriscoll

FlashGarcia said:

Paintbox,

My memory is getting worse as I age, so remembering two dozen, or three dozen, shorycut keys doesn't work. The bforartists Blender interface dumps most of the shortcut keys and uses ICONS instead which helps me a lot in navigating and modeling.

They're making Blender do what Hexagon (Eovia) has done with its GUI. I would use Silo if it had a nice GUI like Hexagon. Not a fan of shortcuts for everything.

SickleYield

ShawnDriscoll said:

Blender is all about "cool niche features."  

It has all of the regular modeling features that any major 3d suite has, plus cloth, hair, fluid, particle and soft body sims.  It just has an incredibly unintuitive interface.

Roman_K2

I wish there was a quick chart that provided examples of all of these "cloth, hair, fluid, particle and soft body" features.

 

FWIW (I'm thinking here of the "soft body" portion of Blender) there are things in the Play Store that, if I'm not mistaken, let you "push" and "pull" a bit on a "ball of clay" (similar to Sculptris???) on your touch screen, on a cell phone. Always a sucker for an easy way out I downloaded one or two of these things for Android but -- wait for it!!! -- there appears to be a massive, possibly insurmountable doc set and attendant learning curve. Urrrgh.

Another thing that interests me greatly is the Apple Pencil which is a pointing device with some extra sensors in the tip. Currently it is used to similate different brush strokes (for flat art, and only on the Ipad Pro) but it seems to me to be wonderfully close to advanced haptics for the masses.

Retro Lad

Roman_K2.

I feel that way too, about the "easy way out" for doing some things. I don't want push button art, but I also don't want an absurdly over-complicated method for doing something. Gary Miller, in one of his videos, says the same thing.

Having skimmed through the new revisied Blender manual from https://www.bforartists.de/ and blurted things out like, "oh my God" and "forget it" I am avoiding it except for some minor modeling features and options it has that Hexagon doesn't have. Even with Blender's new Icon based interface it's too geeky and cold for me.

 

Paintbox

FlashGarcia said:

Roman_K2.

I feel that way too, about the "easy way out" for doing some things. I don't want push button art, but I also don't want an absurdly over-complicated method for doing something. Gary Miller, in one of his videos, says the same thing.

Having skimmed through the new revisied Blender manual from https://www.bforartists.de/ and blurted things out like, "oh my God" and "forget it" I am avoiding it except for some minor modeling features and options it has that Hexagon doesn't have. Even with Blender's new Icon based interface it's too geeky and cold for me.

 

Yeah it has a steep learning curve, Blender used to have *only* keyboard shortcuts before version 2, so it has gone some way. FlashGarcia, have you tried packages like Maya , C4D or 3D studio? Did you find them better?

 

 

Paintbox

Roman_K2 said:

 

Another thing that interests me greatly is the Apple Pencil which is a pointing device with some extra sensors in the tip. Currently it is used to similate different brush strokes (for flat art, and only on the Ipad Pro) but it seems to me to be wonderfully close to advanced haptics for the masses.

The Apple Pencil also works on the iPad 2018 (so almost third of the price!) and I have it, its great! Together with Procreate, Artrage or Affinity Photo its amazing for drawing or tweaking your images on the go or at home without the need for a full desktop. You could also render to iCloud and refine your art on the iPad.

 

kyoto kid

...the major difference is Blender is an "all in one" programme like 3DS Max, Maya, or Carrara (and therefore more complex) whereas Hexagon is a dedicated polygon modelling programne that includes some limited sculpting features and UV mapping tools. If you have the resources, software like C4D, Modo, or Lightwave are good. If not, Hexagon, Silo, or Blender are your best choices.

Roman_K2

FWIW, I have gone through *a few* of the Blender tutorials and it didn't seem too bad!

So for me, Hexagon has generated more trouble spots in the early going as it were.

Just sayin'...