BForArtists - Blender for Mere Mortals

[@gamefromscratch]

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[@jej_x]

just give the link so i don't have to go through extra steps

[@theartworkhub]

OBS is free though.

[@UnidayStudio]

You realize you're old when the "old" version of Blender that Mike uses as an example in the video is actually newer than the one you started with.

[@dimasanggayuda3966]

I started with 2.68 so I guess I'm still young 😁

[@imhigh1591]

I was thinking the exact thing man

[@raulzilla]

Same with me, I started in 2.3 I think it was the first open source version of it.

[@mattj2217]

I was a kid and I think I got my dad to donate $25 to the Free Blender fund :)

[@triple-oe4hw]

2.49b gang

[@GugureSux]

Been following and praising BforArtists for a few years now. As an ooold Autodesk refugee, this fork's absolutely the way I've gotten more comfortable with "Blender". I used to describe using Blender being like playing piano. Every other Blender tutorial just goes "Press A, B, X, Y, followed by Left, Right, Down and Right!", which goes against my visual brain + more hand crafty approact to visual design. Plus, the BforArtists definitely is easier to teach to younger people, who do often understand things in more visual matter.

[@trinumedia]

ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS BUILD. Thanks for showcasing the project! This build has over 4000 changes to Blender, including a 3D Sequencer for unreal engine sequencer like workflows, scene management in the outliner, and much more! The tabbed toolshelves and topbar is so nice. I used Blender a while, but then used this version and it really unlocked my Blender game. I now help maintain it. For the record, the Bforaritsts hotkeys only has around 2500ish keys, Blender has 4500+ hotkeys, so it's minimal and of those, half are original Blender hotkeys. Not too different + less clash when using other software - and mouse only controls for the viewport. Thanks for sharing the love!! 💙

[@rubenpereira2556]

wow, I didn't know it had so many hotkeys, I'm going to give it a try. One question as a person who uses blender as a hobby. Do you recommend to start with trying to use its hotkeys? or would it be better to play around with the traditional shortcuts first? If in the end I'm going to switch I'm going to have to spend a lot of time re-downloading the plugins I have in blender XD

[@trinumedia]

@@rubenpereira2556 Ideally you could get up and running without many hotkeys other than transform, selection and viewport keys - and the rest can be GUI - specially in Bforartists. You can always use Blender hotkeys if you're used to them though, but then you'd loose the edge of compatibility with other software or one handed viewport navigation. If anything, you can show important hotkeys directly in the viewport to see them as you learn by going to the View tab on the side, and toggle Show Important Hotkeys.

[@trinumedia]

@@rubenpereira2556 if you are used to blender Hotkeys, it comes with the blender hotkeys - but a little unlearning can go a long way if you switch between other software often.

[@Juso3D]

Fellow Bforartists dev here, worked on a few things 😁

[@zanolsena]

I'm not even an artist, but this UI makes so much more sense and seems to much more accessible right off the bat than basic Blender. Gonna try this out for sure.

[@hardwire666too]

It's important to note that the BForArtists design philosophy comes from a time when people were begging the Blender development team to make it more user friendly. We're talking Pre-Left Click select, which many may not know is a very recent thing for blender.

[@Zarnagel]

Deleting the default cube is the only thing I'm able to do in Blender, how could they take that away?

[@JohnnyThund3r]

Just stick with it... at one point in my life I thought I would never be a talented enough 3d Artist to do what I wanted in Blender, yet now I can make anything in Blender! Only took 15-20 years!!! 😂 With enough persistence and determination you can move mountains!

[@Tomy_Yon]

They won't, it's a hoax.

[@Tomy_Yon]

​@@JohnnyThund3rI still want to delete the default cube. 😊

[@vxpdx]

I know right? It's a right of passage, how dare they remove this step. Just... unbelievable

[@Tomy_Yon]

@@vxpdx you know what? We just act like it never happened...🫣🤗🫣🤗🫣🤗

[@avp2501]

Camtasia is now a super rip off since switching to a subscription model like Adobe. Guess it's all downhill from here for them

[@coinopanimator]

Use OBS. It’s great and free.

[@theARDISAN]

Man, I love this channel. I keep seeing so much cool new tools I wish I've known about earlier. Easily became my favorite channel I've tuned into for the past year.

[@Code_Machine]

Damn i remember when bforartists first came out. It wasn't long before certain blender fanboys tried to paint the dev as a cradle snatcher because they didn't like that someone actually listened to their mockery of "if you don't like blender's UI then fork it and make your own" and made it happen

[@bforartists]

Long forgiven. Just live your dream :)

[@Code_Machine]

@@bforartists I'm glad you managed to power through it. Good luck my guy

[@Wishdream]

It's actually wild that I was able to move to this build of Blender from my typical. It's just more accessible and faster for me to use! It also forced me of moving to some of the other shortcut keys since I use Blender hotkeys

[@domi_dreams]

Although I am not a fan of Camtasia, while there is OBS and similar stuff out there, I still watch it till the end, as I cheer you Mike for your effort and finally getting some sponsorship deals ❤ Hope to see more of them for your (and our) own good! 😄

[@gamefromscratch]

Appreciated. Honestly it's more the NLE side of the equation that draws me to Camtasia over the video capture. It does make life easier but it's on the video editing side of the equation that it shines for what I do. I actually get a ton of sponsorship opportunities but I don't want to push crap on you, so I only take stuff I fully agree with.

[@button9]

Looks like a fusion of Cinema4D with a bit of Maya. I always found C4D had some of the best UI

[@fucku2b]

agreed

[@fablewalls]

00:35 I "bounced off" Blender for years until the major interface changes around 2.5 onwards but it still took me a year to become comfortable with it. I appreciate the efforts the team made but I would say to anyone like me that struggled with changing over from Softimage / Maya 3DS etc etc is not to swap the interface to make it feel familiar to what you are used to as the shortcuts and other things didn't work in those modes. It's still a long journey for me but mainly because I have to work in a world where I need to use a wide range of other software and I don't have the time I once had to dedicate to working with Blender.

[@InvasionAnimation]

Personally I think just using blender is easier, especially for tutorials. but I only know e for extrude and s for scale. It is all I need.

[@riidom]

I read the "e for extrude and s for scale" part in imphenzias voice:)

[@InvasionAnimation]

@@riidom That's where I learned it from. That guy is great.

[@rgsmess]

I agree. I'm not a person that can just jump right in and do stuff without tutorials. All the tutorials I know of are for Blender not BForartists. I'm having enough trouble as it is.

[@Erynsent00]

​@@rgsmess You can choose to use usual Blender shortcuts in Bforartists

[@GugureSux]

It really depends on your background, and how much you've tortured yourself with Blender's stock modes and keyboard shortcut chants. As an old 3DS Max user, stock Blender's been a nightmare to try and use. Super clunky, and as if it'd try to hide functions from me.

[@BillyTheCat128]

I actually do love the fact that BforArtists has more 'common' shortcut keys as used by other more professional programs, making the switch easier. I also love how it condenses for example: the location parameters being in the same spot instead of having the locations of the vertexes displayed in a different menu, that absolutely drove me wild when first trying to use Blender. I just hope that the people at Blender one day realize that artists just want to use their programs without having to think (or unlearn others). Even Krita and Gimp are pretty similar to Photoshop and that's for a good reason. Mentioning that: Even Davinci Resolve has options to style the interface exactly like other video editors, which is why it's so popular.

[@TackerTacker]

Reminds me of Cinema4D which is a huge plus in my book 👍

[@ExpensivePizza]

The thing about Blender is that once you actually take the time to learn it every other 3D application feels slow and cumbersome.

[@theARDISAN]

Yep! Have you tried to learn Zbrush? The sculpting is way more performant but, yeeesh that UI. I had a easier time learning Blender 3 as a kid than Zbrush as a adult.

[@ExpensivePizza]

@@theARDISAN To be fair, Blender is great at some things but when it comes to painting and texturing it falls short. So it's still understandable why other tools like Zbrush exist.

[@theARDISAN]

@@ExpensivePizza Thats why I use Zbrush still despite the UI problems. Sculpting is just way better.

[@elmorePOW]

Blender 2.4x stuff already started the revolution and I personally dropped 3D Studio Max in 2007-2008 for Blender (commercial game artist work). It was great for low-poly 3D art even then! Some of the revolutionary good UV unwrapping tools were already there back in the day and blender 2.5 was a significant upgrade. I'm extremely happy about where blender is now. I have zero sympathy for 3D Studio Max or Maya that are eating the dust now. Unlike what the power users there are saying, these software has been holding the industry back. Blender is doing the opposite.

[@Le5sterleCheMiDevi]

They just implemented the LSCM algorithm from the SIGGRAPH paper, the UV tools in Blender are left mostly as they were implemented 20 years ago. Most people used Unforld3D (now RizomUV), which came integrated in XSI and Maya, TexTools (sounds familiar?) on 3ds Max or the expensive, but still formidable UVLayout.

[@JTMC93]

IIRC BforArtists also has mouse only 3d navigation which helps when using a pen display or pen computer and potentially not wanting a keyboard or the like.

[@LupusGr3y]

OMG it has intuitive mouse movement!! Finally! Now I just need a plugin for Godot to do the same and I'm good to go.

[@KingKrouch]

I'd love it if someone could recreate the Autodesk 3DS Max interface in Blender. I'm just used to the modifiers and the ribbon menu way of working with things rather than everything being tucked away and hard to find in a hamburger menu.

[@3dsmaxrocks699]

Same. Been using max for 22 years and the times I try switching to Blender I end up exiting it as soon as I see that clunky UI. I wanna like Blender but just can't with that horrible interface Same with Unreal and Unity. I use Unity cuz Unreal just looks too busy.

[@TheNjordy]

"doesn't make sense" but "I got used to is" is still no good. Blender's shortcuts are insane, especially for the program what is so focused on using them so much.

[@askeladden450]

Blenders shortcuts are the best i have ever used. Now the first thing i try in every DCC software i use is to get the shortcuts working like Blender. And its not even like Blender was the first thing i used. I had been using Maya and Unity before, but blenders shorcut system was just miles more efficient than theirs.

[@TheNjordy]

@@askeladden450 well, you probably the right click select person :) Whoever came up with that (and 3D cursor on left click) earned his place in me(n)tal institution INHO :)

[@askeladden450]

@@TheNjordy nah i hated that, that, along with poor UI was why i abandoned blender when i first started using it and kept with Maya. But after 2.8 update, it has been a different story. UI is good enough to find stuff I don't know the shortcut of, while shortcut system itself is amazing. Not sure why people find it confusing since its pretty intuitive. G for grab, r for rotate, s for scale, e for extrude, k for knife, p for parenting, j to join, n for normals, m for merging, h to hide, f for faces, x to delete stuff, a for selection (like in all other software). Really can't get more intuitive than this.

[@TheNjordy]

@@askeladden450 I wouldn’t say 2.8 gave that much more intuitive. Good looking, yes. Anyway. And nobody uses the word grab in terms of “move” or “translate”. But that not about the word. (Q)WER is an industry standard not because it is super intuitive (W for move?), but because select-move-rotate-scale are the most important operations and they are in one single line. I barely need to move a finger, instead of looking for G three buttons away. Same with navigation, alt + mouse works great.

[@askeladden450]

@@TheNjordy apart from the well known fact that you can just select the predefined 'industry compatible' keymap in blender for QWER, I will take hotkeys that i dont have to memorize over 'industry standard' any day. Apart from QWER, all these other software have different shortcuts for other commonly used stuff, which dont even align with the correct letter on the keyboard. If you shift between multiple, or come back after not using them for some time, good luck not confusing the shortcuts. This never happens with blender. I can always come back from zbrush or substance and still know exactly what to press. Want to change normals? Try n. Cant figure out how to join something? Try j. And thats all ignoring the most powerful feature of blender: the amazing modal chaining of shorcuts, and the fact that the bottom bar shows you all the options for shortcuts in the current mode.

[@WCCXtra]

I'm going to check and see if I can just adopt the UI. It looks more appealing and cleaner than vanilla Blender imo. Thanks, Mike!

[@Erynsen01]

Plus, you can choose to use regular Blender shortcut if you want to keep up with tutorials!

[@F00dstamp96]

BForArtist is soooooo much better than blender. I primarily worked in Unity and the b4a key binds match up really well.

[@coinopanimator]

This looks very maya / cinema4d I can’t say I object. I will have to play with.

[@woshianima]

2:31 Ok this part killed me

[@joschemd]

My biggest gripe with blender was always the hot keys, user interface etc..

[@RCoryCollins]

Thanks! Gonna give it a try. I have made my own Maya keyboard set, but I am really keen to see what they have done. I've seen this, but never really tried to use it. At some point, I thought I had read that B for Artists would remove some useful features. I have a terrible memory now, so that may be just a brain fart. Thanks again!

[@ugurkupelimusic]

now we need bforprogrammers

[@aaudrie]

bforartists 1.0.0 is the best way to use 2.7 IMO

[@ltsecondincomand]

While I don't pine for 2.4, I really wish they could bring back mouse gestures to grab, scale and rotate.

[@Robot257onlinehue]

I currently use 2.79 because of the design and I like it better, but also because the viewport in 2.8+ runs terribly with my gpu 😔 I wished there was a fork that updated 2.79 with the latest features which I desperately need

[@st3v4nt]

Nice of you to update the bforartist progress.

[@jensenraylight8011]

Blender is fine, if you use industry compatible keymap, because using Original blender keymap will make you harder to adapt to other program. current blender is very good for experienced professional, you spent less time finding and clicking on icon, and just do stuff with hotkey, and i don't want blender to introduce bloat icons either. i think their UI overhaul paid off big time because now all other 3d Program although is packing punch, is a bit too rigid when it come to speed of accessing tools but, i understand why some people want a crutch like this, to make it more like maya. tbh, Maya is great, but after tasting Blender workflow, i just like the fast and snappy way of doing thing in blender

[@korblborp]

important question: if i select a couple of vertices, does the information widget box thing tell me how big they are, in measurement unuts, and let me change that by inputting a different number?

[@Volt-Eye.]

Why did not they contribute in Blender UI than making a new fork of it ?

[@gamefromscratch]

I do beleive they have made upstream contributions. As to why fork, a different design goal than the project they forked.

[@trinumedia]

Incompatible vision and majority of Blender userbase expecting and used to something else.

[@fucku2b]

Blender has no obligation to accept their changes.

[@GugureSux]

Funfact: they TRIED TO contribute, but Blender's authors ignored, outright objected back in the day. Ironic, because afterwards, many BforArtitsts' designs have been integreated into stock Blender. Not all of it though. And it's not JUST the UI that has changed, mind you. If you check out some of the B4A's showcases, they've also eliminated a lot of duplicate options, reduced "menus within menus" jungles, given things action buttons and context-menu options, introduced a lot of pop-up help text, and THEN also improved the UIX, from the use of color to just aligning texts uniformly across the appl.

[@adim101-b9l]

Tbh blender 2.4 looks cool, if it was dark mode then i would use it as theme

[@PurpleKnightmare]

I get rid of the default cube first thing each new install/update, it is easy to do, to remove it from the default scene.

[@Kaanu-vm7vc]

Holy Shit this literally for meeeeee !!!

[@trinumedia]

Hope you like it! I loooove this version and flavour of Blender.

[@LihimSidhe]

The only UX/UI I've ever seen in these type of programs that is actually friendly towards the non technical minded is Bryce. Yeah I know I know... how DARE I mention Bryce in today's day and age?! I'm not speaking of Bryce's potential of functions... I'm only speaking of when I first started using Bryce it's simple UX/UI was welcoming and I didn't feel overwhelmed at all. It's almost like I was invited to dig deeper. But whehter it be base Blender, this just as confusing 'BForArtists' fork, Unreal, etc., the ux/ui of all these softwares is just f--king overwhelming. It's just a glut of information that kills my spirit.

[@PRIMARYATIAS]

Houdini is even crazier but their software is top notch

[@UODZU-P]

Fully agree. I thing BFA is even worse than vanilla blender UI because it has so much visual clutter with the emoji icons being so small I can't tell what anything is.

[@crouton-mt]

Sketchup UI 🤤 I wish more software used the design rules of MacOS since programmes on there are made to the same standard and are "discoverable" instead of requiring a 23 hour course and deciphering hieroglyphics just to export a rigged mesh EDIT: there's also metasequoia which is paid but very lovely UI

[@isaac-fps]

2:37 🤣🤣

[@MajatekYT]

Finally, Blender that doesn't require you to spread your already-thin time of learning various hobbies and workflows with having to also learn Blender (too much, that is)

[@undeadkitty334]

I was just thinking that, I agree with that.

[@spacewhalemilk]

You will still have a lot of learning to do.

[@flow1194]

so you tell me about this after I've learned blender?

[@SlayerDUDE1993]

what's your problem?

[@gamefromscratch]

If you've learned Blender, congratulations, you don't need Bforartists! ;) In the long run, if you didnt hate the user experience, learning vanilla Blender is probably the way to go. If you did though, its nice this project exists.

[@mrtegs]

Its a joke ​@SlayerDUDE1993

[@bogoid]

but does it wsad?

[@user-ev6fj5up9w]

Blender 🔥

[@somedude5951]

They have a WIKI 😮😋

[@vvvorlds]

B for Maya artists 😂 Blender is Blender, just learn it one time. I’m learning box cutter right now and it feels like learning a whole new program. Fluent is simpler but much more intuitive. Addons people are so creative! Hard Ops people… Blender needs to define some standards and work day and night about UX! 3d is one of most complex tasks for UX.

[@FuwakamiMana]

You say it's blender 4.2.1 but the splash screen you showed said: Bforartists 4.2.2 is based on Blender 4.3.0 Alpha So I'm not sure but?

[@trinumedia]

Yeah, it's based off Blender 4.3.0 alpha, with 4.2.1 code merged in - but it has an asynchronized point release for stability.

[@anonym0us-ok3ek]

In my computer bforartists runs slower than blender's official build!

[@axistiltproductions]

Sounds like a puzzle.

[@3dchick]

Wait! There's no default cube to kill?!? What's even the point then? 😂 In all reality, I find Blender baffling, but this seems a lot less intimidating. For someone like me, this us brilliant.

[@safebox36]

"A version of Blender for artists." So...Blender?

[@gamefromscratch]

Yeah... playing around with the title a bit... that one did sound a bit... odd.

[@trinumedia]

"Be" for Artists, ei, an ethos for development.

[@יובלהרמן-ח2ד]

Yeah I don't really get what's up with that

[@GugureSux]

Blender is a fucking nightmare for an actual traditional artist to use. It feels like something a GNU-Linux coding hobbyist would've cooked up while high on mshrooms.

[@satsubatsu347]

I've been using BFA for a while and it is the ONLY way I will interact with Blender. Having been in graphic design for over 35 years makes jumping into Blender nearly impossible with it's strange desire to use voodoo key mapping when multiple industries are standardized and have been for... about 35 years. Quick version: Blender can go to hell!

[@tofast4ya]

Of course this was made by the germans XD

[@chaosmachines934]

such a underrated version

[@SlayerDUDE1993]

what exactly is underrated in it?

[@chaosmachines934]

@@SlayerDUDE1993 how many ppl can you name me who use it

[@occularmalice]

I'm still trying to get used to Blender as the shortcuts are pretty wonky. However the problem with this tool is a) how will it keep in step with Blender updates and b) any tutorial out there in Blender will have gaps between this tool and the og Blender. Better to just learn Blender.

[@trinumedia]

The good thing with this build is.. it IS Blender, so you learn Blender, you learn Bforaritsts, and viceversa. The arquitecture is the same. About relevance, it's usually releasing a build ahead of Blender (based off main) so it's as current if not future orientated than official Blender releases (ei, what's coming to Blender, like the Brush assets in this version). So, any tutorial works in Bforartists with a little bit of translation, and you're good to go. What makes this nice is it exposes common operators away from hidden menus and requirement to assign or memorize hotkeys with now visual queue to use them.

[@azzart979]

But I can't do the donut tutorial this way. Sigh. 🥺

[@HalValla01]

sooo....they facelifted blender?

[@SlayerDUDE1993]

"facelifted"

[@trinumedia]

Much more! Over 4000 GUI and UX changes under the hood.

[@s00n62]

2:35 Classic 😂😂

[@BLUEBLY487]

can you please make videos about Gdevelop updates

[@JohnnyThund3r]

Gotta say I don't see the point to a project like this all that much... In my mind, Blender is already the most Pro-Artist 3d Modeling software out there, and if you're just learning Blender for the first time and you use this instead, you're probably going to get extra-confused watching tutorials. But alas maybe I'm just bias after mastering Blenders user interface after all these years... 🤷

[@JohnSatan]

BforAutodeskUsers

[@artmanstudios7037]

One thing you don't do is mess with the keyboard settings why mess with something that you have been using for years since the beginning there's no changing or updating that to anything once you have your keyboard style and the way that you have had it for years there's no changing that! That's like playing your favorite video games with different control settings how terrible that idea really is I always prefer to do things at the default state simply because of all the installation and updating that you have to do constantly although you could save your key maps but it's important to leave it at the default because of the upgrades I mean what is something change where you needed to know what he does what but you don't really know what he does what because you change all the keys from the default settings and you don't know if that is going to be a problem where you won't be able to work with that as in my conflict with your settings so the idea here is to leave it at the default and just learn how to use the default and whatever else come it's just going to be part of the default!

[@anth5189]

I remember 2.4. I personally get a little tired of the whingers. The same ones no doubt whinge about the choices you get in Linux. Oh no I can pick a GUI, I can customise it the way I want, I can have the software "I" pick. I would rather have Microsoft tell me what to do and think with my PC while stealing all my data. Yea, nothing is perfect. If you have an application that does as much as Blender does it is never going to have a dumbed down interface.

[@brodriguez11000]

Discoverable, not "dumbed down". There's a difference.

[@darth1864]

tried it, its the exact same as normal blender just with a color palette change, some swapped icons, and some changes to hotkeys and keybinds. even still has the same 40 miles worth of menus to dig through using the exact same terminology for everything. i dont understand why people are saying the UI is more user friendly either, after you stare at it long enough you'll realize its the exact same just rearranged slightly. its still just as convoluted and unintuitive as normal blender, has the same issues and difficulties. you'll have all the same problems doing simple task in bforartist as you do in normal blender, so dont get all excited thinking its going to solve all your problems or make it any easier

[@bforartists]

Well, we promise to deliver the same functionality than Blender. So it better has :) Of course we have the same menus with the same operators. But the menus then have colored icons, are in a better consistent order if possible, and doubles are removed. And the most important changes are the ones that you didn't even notice. Left aligned text to name one, which is simply better to read. Or the toolbar at the top. Or the tabs in the toolshelf, which saves you the time to dive into these long text menus at all if you want. And so on. The changes goes into the thousands nowadays. As much as we would love to, we cannot turn Blender into Houdini, Maya or Cinema4D. This was never the goal. It's not about the one big change. It's about the thousands of small tweaks that sums up, some this small that you don't even notice it. We improve at the UI and UX what can be improved :)

[@SlayerDUDE1993]

I used to use 3ds max, i've used Maya and I still don't know how bforartists can be better choice for anyone. It's just like someone, who couldn't handle transition from other packages decided to make a separate blender version for people with same "unhandleable" problem instead of just learn blender the correct way

[@SlayerDUDE1993]

and the name... blender IS for artists as is

[@lquens6668]

Bforartist: Hotkeys can be good but you dont need to remember Blender: Remember each single hotkey or dont use Got it? So i dont like hotkeys and i dont wanna remember each key therefore bforartist is way to go.

[@trinumedia]

I help develop it, and used Blender 3-4 years before this build - I gotta say it unlocked my Blender game thanks to the details.

[@uzugijin]

put everything to quick menu and change shortcuts to something more intuitive. BforYourself

[@SlayerDUDE1993]

@@lquens6668 since 2.8 you don't have to memorize shortcuts, you can use favorites menu to put all the functions you often use in one list that opens under your cursor. Like yes, as an old user that started from 2.74 I can understand the trauma that newbies got just trying to do basic stuff using only GUI, but 1. using GUI is unreliable. You always depend on the functions that visible in the interface today, but may be moved somewhere else tomorrow 2. using GUI is slow and lazy. Instead of just learn to use both of your hands balaned while working, you prefer to waste time on finding a function in menus with a cursor and click, while a professional at the same time would make a dozen of changes. Avoid learning shortcuts is just lazy and unproductive. And it's not about Blender, it's about ANY software that was designed with shortcuts in mind. But if it works for you, who am I to lecture you, right?

[@kaysta_dev]

11:24 mike is mick

[@XD-iy4hh]

shelfs give me maya ptsd

[@igorgiuseppe1862]

2:39 LOL

[@SuperPuperCode]

Он умудрился рассказать про blender, хотя речь шла о bforartist. (но мы все очень этому рады!))) )

[@nahoj.2569]

Literally HOW does making move, rotate and scale use the W, E and R keys respectively make any more sense than blender's hotkeys? G for grab, R for rotate and S for scale; easy.

[@Arjjacks]

The idea is that the most common functions, namely moving, rotating and scaling, are all grouped together in a natural spot under the three most dominant fingers of your left hand, with your pinkie reserved for the 'q' key for quitting any active tool. That's why most other software do it that way. I personally don't much care for it, since your hand moves around so much anyway, making it a bit redundant, but that's the philosophy.

[@weirdshit]

You need to use other programs to make sense that blender keys placement dont make sense. You will need a lot of muscle memory to relearn blender if you went hiatus from it.

[@Le5sterleCheMiDevi]

Just look at your keyboard, and tell me which one of the keys are easier to locate (especially when switching through the various modes), W E R or G R S? For instance, XSI used X C V, and Cinema 4D E R T, same philosophy.

[@GugureSux]

Because they're Autodesk and C4D defaults. Also the problem with Blender is that it has too many plain text menus within menus within menus, with some options having NO clickable option whatsoever. A typical artist is not only a visually minded individual, but also loves to create with his HANDS. Just because people have NOW gotten used to the Blender's clunky, sloggish way of doing things doesn't mean it'd be intuitive or even a common style. 10 years ago, literally no one used Blender professionally.

[@artmanstudios7037]

I need a game engine 3D none programming or coding that would allow me to make simulation type games or virtually any game in 3D that is simple easy to do and doable also not a subscription base and that is also on a budget and or budget friendly what do you know about something like that and where can I find it and or what you recommend?

[@MinisterSandman]

two that come to mind for me are coppercube and gdevelop (if you use the ThreeJS extension by pandako for gdevelop). tbh, to do simulation types of games, you're probably gonna *have* to learn programming regardless. but if you just want something to tinker with and/or make a rudimentary prototype with, the engines that i mentioned *might* help you flesh out your ideas if nothing else.

[@galotta8475]

Thanks for the vid... I wasn`t aware that Blender exists in two ways. Still, I would have liked to see Blender move more in the direction of 3ds Max when it comes to modeling, whether it’s about adding modifiers or adjusting the pivot point.

[@WCCXtra]

3DS Max is my first love. It's been a decade since I've touched it (used Maya for awhile due to the amount tuts available for it), but working in Max is such an oxygenating experience for me.

[@Arjjacks]

The pivot point in Blender is easier to adjust than you might know of. You can just hit ctrl > period/full stop to unlock the pivot and then move, rotate, and scale (if you like) it however you want. I've come across quite a few people who think the only way to move the pivot is via the 3D cursor, but that's not actually the case.

[@SteveMacSticky]

Don't lie. I know you use Unregistered Hypercam 1.

[@isfunart]

blender default cube exist just to delete 🤣

[@artes2664]

BForArtists make Blender's interface look like Autodesk (shit) 🤔

[@GugureSux]

Autodesk's tools are literally far superior to the amateurish clusterfuck that is Blender. Plus it allows doing a lot more things without having to use a single KB shortcut. If you don't understand the beauty of that alone, you're not the target audience.

[@Huguillon]

I tried this build... you must learn every shortcut because they change every one of them... no thanks, I keep with normal Blender that is really great at it is FOR ARTISTS

[@trinumedia]

You can always you Blender hotkeys in it. It's about GUI, not hotkeys.

[@GugureSux]

The thing with BforArtist is, that you should NOT NEED TO use as many shortcuts. A lot of functions are now found on clickable buttons on the screen, or in a context-sensitive wheel menu. Which is how MOST other 3D applications have done it for decades now, while the Blender still insists on forcing people to memorize a thousand key combos for default stuff.

[@Huguillon]

@@GugureSux "Which is how MOST other 3D applications have done it for decades now, while the Blender still insists... " That's why I keep using Blender and not this aberration of BforArtist or another 3D software, a shortcut is ALWAYS faster and more confortable than clicking icons on screen... I tried this build because I though there was something specific for artist, well, guess what, not, is just a new skin

[@_elix22]

Compared to Blender it looks horrible

[@Tertion]

As for the asset shelf, its basically what is in Blender 4.3 right now...

[@trinumedia]

Blender 4.3 won't come with 3D asset shelves or nodegroup asset shelves, only brush assets. Those are Bforartists exclusive.

[@pixelsymbols]

So basically they did 3d maya out of blender...meh...

[@mikebrave-makesgames5365]

blender's keyboard map is the worst, it should be changed

[@PixPunxel]

Pointless project. Blender is very hard to learn as it is. But if you try using some offshoot UI version of Blender, then any tutorial on web will not work for you. Making this only actually useful to someone who already knows Blender very well, but wants lighter UI. But then again people prefer using UI they are accustomed to, even if its less good. So, after all this, I really don't see who this thing is actually for ?

[@trinumedia]

It's for users who don't like the default Blender GUI coming in from other software. About workflow: it's identical to Blender so all tutorials, addons and workflows are compatible, with some extra efficiencies baked in. 😉

[@PixPunxel]

@@trinumedia Are they really? If a tutorial points towards a menu located at one place, it will be located at exactly same place in Bfa? And if its so, then aswell, what is the point? Colorful icons?

[@trinumedia]

@@PixPunxel If a tutorial is not teaching the right operator and what it does - would the shown hotkey or menu location be relevant if you both have an alternative operator search, similar location, and added exposure of the same operator in toolshelves as an opt-in/out addition in BFA - is it a good tutorial? The build is about accessibility. 1. Mouse over 2. Click vs 1. Press hotkey 2. Mouse over floating menu 3. Click Ei, 30% more efficient as a GUI. Other than that, header menus are usually the same or similar, operators are named the same. Also, there are more features that Blender doesn't have (scene management, 3d sequencer, asset shelves, etc) that also stand alone as a case to use Bforartists. It's the sum of many small details that make the QOL nicer. I used Blender many years, then this - and for sure felt freed with this build. It a bit like.. a linux desktop environment build, each to their flavour.

[@PixPunxel]

@@trinumedia I can understand that someone who used Blender for many years can maybe like to use better UI version ( although as I said (( and I am UX designer by profession )) most people tend to stick to UI they know rather than UI that is better. But a student, just learning is far better served learning on actual application than its alternative UI version.

[@adventurousdrake4071]

I think It's mostly for people like me that uses Unreal, or for people that are using several other industry standard 3D software. Going to Blender is absolutely painful as I constantly press the wrong keyboard shortcuts (I also prefer a more mouse oriented workflow), especially since I rarely use it due to mostly bought game assets, so I never really remember the workflow or shortcuts properly. But I am going to try BforArtists in the near future and see if my workflow can improve.

[@EricBarthDev]

Bandi Cam is so much better than Camtasia . FYI (Screen markers, text, UI for keys pressed.. )

[@Crugerq]

And what is the meaning of this??? it's the same Blender!🤦🏻‍♂️

[@GugureSux]

BforArtists started off as an UIX improvement proposal, that was shot down by the snobby Blenderfags. Thus, a fork was born. It reduces the menu browsing and KB shortcut memorization, moving things to mouse clicks and visual buttons on the screen. The standard grab and move functions on the mouse alone are god-sent to anyone who's used 3DS max or C4D. After quite some many years, Blender has slooowly started to realize its mistake & implement some of B4A's features into the main build.

[@monskov]

Completely useless

[@GugureSux]

Not to me and many, many other people, who struggle to learn Blender even after DECADES of working with 3D applications.

[@Halfbit_0]

I don't see how it's helpful. The shortcuts aren't really a problem in blender. Maybe they're different from Maya or whatever, but I never found the shortcuts particularly hard to learn. The real issue is the cumbersome workflow of texture painting, sculpting, weight painting, and animation. Low poly modelling is a breeze.

[@bforartists]

We also have the one or another solution to the real issues that you mention here. Bforartists is not only hotkeys and icons :) We are of course a bit limited in what we can change. Since we promised to stay compatible with Blender, and to offer the same feature set. But we do our best to cover also other areas. And every help is welcome. Best is to ask Draise. He does a lot of animation, and has contributed a ton of workflow improvements to BFA alone in this area.

[@GugureSux]

The thing with BforArtist is, that you should NOT NEED TO use as many shortcuts. A lot of functions are now found on clickable buttons on the screen, or in a context-sensitive wheel menu. Which is how MOST other 3D applications have done it for decades now, while the Blender still insists on forcing people to memorize a thousand key combos for default stuff. Which is GOD SENT for us visual-minded, handcrafty people, who've used software like 3DS Max for decades. tl;dr: if you're already brainwashed by the stock Blender community, you do not need B4A. Nor will you prolly even understand its beauty.

[@NicCrimson]

The UI is even worse...

[@GugureSux]

On the contrary. It's a MASSIVE improvement. And it's not just UI changes; you can now actually do most of the basic functions with your mouse alone, instead of having to memorize hundreds of KB shortcuts to get anything done.

[@NicCrimson]

@@GugureSux KB hotkeys are a life saver.

[@philosoaper]

while bforartists is better.. the foundation they're working on is kinda.. bad, unfortunately.. so there's a big limit on what they can actually do to improve blender

[@spacewhalemilk]

What do you mean, exactly?

[@philosoaper]

@@spacewhalemilk bluntly put.. it's still way too much like the usual blender.. so people keep "bouncing off" the interface..

[@spacewhalemilk]

@@philosoaper Yes, but why do you think blender has a bad interface?

[@hipflipped]

Blender's already designed for artists and not that hard to learn. This spin off is... stupid. And BFA is frankly kind of shit definitely a step down.

[@GugureSux]

I strongly disagree. Been a 3D artist since the early 2000s. Blender's been a nightmare to learn and use. B4A is a massive step to right direction, and even the main Blender branch has slowly adopted their design choices. Just because we now have zoomers who've tortured themselves for a decade with stock Blender's way of doing things does not mean that they'd be good, intuitive, or in any way compatible with the industry's standards.

[@mrtjackson]

Maya user here. Wanted to learn Blender for some time now, but having a different interface to tools was blocking me. Especially if I'm going to be flipping between both. It's so tedious to have to access similar tools using different keys and what-not. Maybe this will make it easier?

[@GugureSux]

Absolutely. You can even opt for the "industry standard" controls to make it feel a bit more like 3DS Max / Maya. It'll still be a different animal though, so there'll be a learning curve. But just not having to memorize 1000+ KB shortcuts to do basic box modeling is a big improvement. The more icon-oriented UIX and mouse-centric actions is also massive step up from the stock Blender 2.x.