REACTING to 'Maya Animator Tries Blender'

👉 Master Blender, animate like a pro and bring your ideas to life with our Ultimate Animation Course TOAnimate: toanimate.ca/?...
Video description: Last month viewers from the "Maya animator tries Blender" video came to my video and left a bunch of negative comments about Blender's capabilities (some just left insults because I animate in Blender), so I wanted to make a video reviewing the Maya animator's experience with Blender and my opinions on the "issues" he ran into. Please be kind and enjoy this educational video!
Full "Maya Animator tries Blender" video: • Maya Animator Tries Bl...
0:00 - Intro
0:55 - How to quickly change modes in Blender (for Animators)
4:37 - Best way to move your character in Blender (Gizmos)
8:42 - Only show selected curve in the graph editor
10:46 - Navigating in the graph editor and using the 2D Cursor
13:00 - How to use Normalize in Blender
14:08 - Selecting what type of key to set
15:48 - Blender's Channel box
#b3d #animationtips #animation

[@BrianKouhi]

Hope you enjoyed the video! If you're considering taking your animation skills to the next level, and master Blender's animation tools at the same time, check out our Ultimate Animation Course: toanimate.ca/?

[@IvoDanielBrito]

The fact that people are leaving insults on videos of people that animate with a different software is just baffling! I wouldn't want to work in a studio with some of this people. Animation is animation. Be kind to each other, there's already a tone of hate and negativity in the world.

[@BrianKouhi]

Very true. I had to delete most of the comments since they were just insults. Animation is animation regardless of software 💪🏼

[@ADreamCalledeternity]

Agreed. It's as they say: the industry is small, and word gets around. It's better to not knock each other like that. Also speaking of, hi! You probably don't recognize me, but we attended animation classes together. My name is Jackie, if that rings a bell. Hope you're doing well!

[@IvoDanielBrito]

@@ADreamCalledeternity Hi Jackie, yeah I remember you! All good with me, hope you are doing well too and animating. 🙂

[@IvoDanielBrito]

@@BrianKouhi sorry to hear that. I'm sure you are used to poor behaviour on-line, but it's never good. Great video as always. Keep on keeping on teaching animation and Blender.🙌

[@ihatetomatoees]

Womp womp

[@afrotron]

Its funny that people think they can just dive into a software they've never used before and expect it to work immediately

[@ZeeJohansen]

It has the same energy as a builder saying: “This screwdriver doesn't work like the drill I always use!” 😂

[@nenoman3855]

Yeah. Kinda baffling. Especially if you try to use it in a relatively advance (or at least intermediate) and very specific workflow. When i jumped from premiere to Davinci for video editing, i spent at least a week familiarising myself with the hotkeys and interface.

[@joojosart7772]

Who thinks that?^^

[@rano12321]

@@joojosart7772 the guy who made that video and also thinking particle ceo because he made a similar video like this criticizing blender for not being the same as 3ds max lol.

[@DeGrey]

It's lazy content designed solely to get both sides to argue and create "engagement".

[@ADreamCalledeternity]

For those wanting to know some helpful Blender shortcuts for animation, I'll share some I know of that were also mentioned in the video: Graph Editor L : Link similar. Select a key, and hit L to select all of the keys in that spline. . (decimal numpad): Focus/isolate. Hit A to grab all your keys, and hit . to focus. Same as Maya's F shortcut. . (period): Change pivot point. Tiny arrow button: Only show selected. Helpful for when you want to only see one rig's curves, and useful unselected. ALT + H : Show hidden curves. W: Mini menu for general animation tools. T: Interpolation tools. P: Crop frames in a timeline/graph editor/dope sheet. 3D Space 1-0: Viewing controls in Persp/Otho if you have Emulate Numpad enabled in Edit>Preferences>Input. SUPER useful, even if you have a mouse. ` : Circle menu for views. Alternative to Emulate Numpad. . (Numpad) : Focus/Isolate. . (Keyboard): Pivot point. N: Mini menu. Grease pencil, transformations, rig UI etc can be found here. CTRL + TAB: Switch modes. LMB click on almost any button and you can assign it to Quick Favorites. I use it to import models, render playblasts, update motion paths, change handle type, etc. List is different for each menu you use it in. Render > Lock Interface: Stay in one selected mode. There's probably more, but that's all I can come up with. On top of that, there's a ton of free addons for animation that Blender uses. A ton more resources than Maya, I assume.

[@fleezy2008]

Great tips! Setting the preview range (P) & clearing the preview range (alt P) are new to me and a big time saver!

[@oskbarrero]

I think that's the principal problem of other software users. They think blender is wrong just because is not like what they use. First you need to understand the program before jump on conclusions

[@1989johno]

no matter the software , you will always favour the one you work fluently with .

[@AnimatorBlender]

In addition to that part of switching btw objects only accessible in Object mode from the rig in Pose mode, the person can deselect the 'Lock Object Transform' in the preferences, and they wouldn't even have to use CTRL +TAB Blender is really good if one sticks with it.

[@Darklugia0]

im gonna be honest ive been looking for this and have not been able to find it

[@hoverBOXcreative]

I remember when I finally switched from Maya to Blender. I think it was Blender 2.61. I wrote down everything I did in Maya, and then Googled each one. I was pretty fluent within a couple hours. I think that Blender is a lot easier than Maya, after you learn the software. I never use gizmos to move anything. Most of the time I just orbit the view port and move or rotate from view. I also recommend that people get keyboards with customizable keys and a mouse with keys as well. You can work extremely fast with tools like that. Thanks for the fun video.

[@katrinshtorm4727]

agree, I did the same, I even have maya config addon lol

[@csiguszfoxoup]

So glad you made this video. Many beginners will see his video and be like: "oh no! Now I have to buy maya because it is clearly better and easier!" when that really is not the case.

[@BrianKouhi]

Yep, usually it's a knowledge problem not a software problem.

[@BillieCake]

I'm often confused about the point these sort of videos are trying to make. As a Blender-only user, recently I had to watch some Maya tutorials while learning rigging. And it looked awful, and complicated, and confusing as hell. Simply because I'm not used to it. Surely, if I were to switch, I'd be expected to learn the workflow, UI and hotkeys all over again. Why is it always so surprising that going from Maya to Blender requires basic research?

[@SymbolCymbals2356]

Because the original video's poster seems to be intentionally trying to make an outrage bait-y "hey Blender users I don't like the software you like" video to rake in the views and comments. And I don't mean to particularly disparage him or anything, the sad thing is people click on that type of video whether because they're outraged Blender users who are mad someone doesn't like the thing they like or Maya users who want to reaffirm their own biases about "other program bad, Maya good"

[@soirema]

9:15 I HAVE BEEN ANIMATING IN BLENDER FOR YEARS AND DIDNT KNOW THIS EXISTS THANK YOU BRO

[@fleezy2008]

right?! why isn't this on by default?

[@sera359]

The issue I've noticed is that when people switch from another software to blender, they tend to think they're proficient enough to not need tutorials or manuals. I mean, come on, guys! It's a new software for you, so stop comparing it to your previous software. Jeez! 🤦

[@rano12321]

the arrogance

[@SymbolCymbals2356]

Interesting to see someone using the transform tool, I quite like just using G S & R along with X Y & Z for specific axis (like is in the video) and Shift for two axis and not having any gizmo in the way Edit: How am I only just now finding out about the "Only show selected F-curves keyframes"??? This entire time I've been hitting shift-H to solo the visibility of a channel and alt-H to unhide all after

[@TrueXiarno]

@@MrDjTilo Yup. Same here.

[@tento3555]

I had two jobs where I had to animate in blender. I had all the issues he was mentioning, I asked in the blender discord. I asked my coworkers, and watched a ton of KZbin videos. This is the first time I am seeing these things.

[@BrianKouhi]

Happy to help!

[@rano12321]

Oh boy, this new software works differently to get the same job done as if it's made by completely different people with different goals and ideas.

[@BrianKouhi]

😅😅

[@LongyTV]

I have been learning modelling and sculpting in Blender for past couple of years but never jumped into the animation workflow. I am currently learning how to animate in Maya. These videos will be useful when I jump into animating in Blender. Thanks for putting these out.

[@the_shortski6053]

As someone learning Blender after using Maya for 5 years, the thing with Blender is that it's just different with Maya. Maya is very free, simple, but you do have to do some work to get it to the right spot. Whereas Blender puts a bit more emphasis on the menus to do the same thing, but you make adjustments in the menus. A key example would be rigging. I spent a while trying to figure out how to make a basic rig like Maya. You have to make each controller and can't animate the bones and that sort of jazz. But with Blender, you do animate the bones, and you can add controllers just by selecting the bones and changing the display. Constraints were also very weird to get accustomed to. In Maya, I mostly just parent constrained everything and other constraints being situational. But in Blender you can make a rig with Squash and Stretch using bone constraints. There's more overall options. Whereas Maya, you'd probably need to spend half of the time in Node Editor. The worst part of Blender is trying to remember all the menu's and where things are. I wouldn't recommend trying to learn Blender without tutorials. Its really dependent on you knowing how to navigate the menus and adjusting things whereas Maya, you could just do everything without having to look out of the viewport.

[@SymbolCymbals2356]

(Just gonna preface this with: I have no clue where your at in learning Blender so apologies if this is too basic) F3, the search function, is definitely vary handy starting out while trying to remember all the shortcuts and menus. Also try to take note of what it shows the hot key to be and/or the path to navigate to it through the menus because an over reliance on F3 can end up getting in the way of learning Blender. Oh and yeah obviously I understand remembering the names may still be an issue but at least names are easier to learn or guess when starting out Also temporarily adding things to the Quick Favorites hotkey menu is handy in avoiding navigating to buttons repeatedly, you can do this by right clicking nearly any button (menu, search result, object property button, modifier/constraint visibility, etc)

[@FishBoyBlue]

As someone who has to bounce between different softwares for work, personal projects, and where the project is at, I'm so happy with Blender + Industry compatible hotkeys. Sure its a little slower, but when I have to wrangle the strengths and weaknesses of different animation suites, I have found Blender to be very good at character rigging and animation work, outpacing Maya in my workflow. Yeah it was a struggle to get my head into the blenderspace, but it was totally worth it and I approached it without bias. Doing so really helped me get deadlines met and produce work smoothly.

[@megapicsxl9232]

Another great video! I can definitely relate to the difficulty of learning different software. I started learning blender on my own, and the ToAnimate course helped me grasp it way more, making it my favorite 3d software! Now I am learning Maya in school, and dealing with the reverse of the guy from the video, trying to figure out how Maya does all the stuff I know how to do in blender. But it is important to keep in mind that they are different software, and they both have their pros and cons. I still like blender more, but it is good to know how to use both!

[@BrianKouhi]

Well said! Also, I'm really happy to hear that you enjoyed the course!

[@SHA3DOW_]

Going through the same situation. I still feel modelling feels way more fun in blender, no matter how much I use Maya.

[@megapicsxl9232]

@@SHA3DOW_ yeah I think blender has an easier/more advanced modeling workflow. I can make models in maya, but it just takes longer lol!

[@tooninja]

for me it was a life changer when a change shortcut from G to alt + LMB, because G it is still very important hotkey and you use it every time. Also I use script for view port scrub and it assigned to alt + MMB so it is very intuitive.

[@andrewbrianis]

To me, it sort of feels like the person in the Maya video was purposely trying to play ignorance. I've used blender now for 15 years, but I have never tried Maya. I'm sure I would get frustrated if I opened a random Maya project and started trying to do random things.

[@bnernganmont]

ex maya guy.... blender saved my sanity.... not kidding .....i also had similar bs complaints at first...very patient explanation. blender forever. would NEVER EVER go back. made so much cash thanks to the B

[@RiggingDojo]

Great work Brian, a helpful and much better response than the continued predictable reaction of "hey person trying to learn Blender, you should LEARN Blender before complaining" because that is super helpful of the community to shame someone struggling to learn the tools and try it instead of, you know, helping them.

[@hookflash699]

He didn't just "struggle to learn the tools." He put almost no effort into learning Blender, and then posted a video complaining about the result. I don't see why that sort of behavior (which seems all-too-common amongst Maya users) should be rewarded, or why the Blender community should want to bring those sorts of people into the fold.

[@RiggingDojo]

We will have to disagree@@hookflash699

[@Kuuribro]

@@hookflash699 Because the people making these are sharing their opinions with thousands of others who feel the same struggles, who get their opinion reinforced, who then go into comments and see blender users being holier-than-thou assholes saying "LEARN it before anybody will help you" and this just repeatedly turns more people off. I have tried to learn blender, multiple times, and I have lost count of the amount of attitude and snide that has turned me off of ever wanting to, coming from blender users. You are reinforcing that, RIGHT HERE. "I dont see why we should help people who complain" - BECAUSE THEY ARE COMPLAINING, they are struggling, they are shouting it into the void, and others are listening! THAT is why you should want to help them! How to use this software and how to wrap your head around it as somebody that doesn't already use it, is the number one hurdle keeping people out. Usually people who learned something else or are coming from industry standard (where blender just isn't in circulation for a variety of reasons not relating to its UI, don't attack me for this, this is not the point being discussed)

[@ninjadodovideos]

@@hookflash699And your reaction is *exactly* what Rigging Dojo was talking about with unhelpful gatekeeping responses. This kind of unwelcoming "why should we want 'these sorts of people' in the community" bullshit attitude needs to go away. You're _hurting_ the Blender community by acting this way, not helping it.

[@hookflash699]

@@ninjadodovideos I know my reaction is what RiggingDojo was referring to, and I believe it was 100% appropriate. I believe people like you are the ones harming the community by tolerating toxic behaviour.

[@noahbanana7526]

Now for a Maya Animator to react to A Blender Animator reacts to a Maya Animator tries blender

[@BrianKouhi]

Can't wait to make Blender animator reacts to Maya animator reacts to Blender animator reacts to Maya animator tries Blender.

[@O_lucasmelo]

Hello, Maya guy here and i feel like the guy tried to jump in the blender animation without doing any tutorial to learn how to actually do it.

[@toffotin]

A fun video. Thank you for making it! The graph editor was the biggest hurdle for me too (although coming from XSI, I never actually liked Maya's graph editor either). It felt really clunky and feature poor. I guess it has more to do with bad default settings than anything else. Feels much better after a while.

[@fabianogama39]

I remember that day, it was funny how some people get upset for no reason just because some people use both softwares and prefer Blender tools and the funnier part is that most of them have never tried Blender, but still have a strong opinion that Blender sucks. Most of people who hate blender never tried it or tried it just once and gave up because it's not like Maya, while the best thing about Blender are the differences it has from Maya and the advantages that those differences bring. You can even be a better Maya animator if you give yourself a chance to see animation from a different perspective through the lenses of another tool.

[@BrianKouhi]

😅 You were deep into one of the threads in that video

[@fabianogama39]

@@BrianKouhi hahhaha yes. I was curious about how the minds of haters work.Not all of them was haters, but there was one guy who had a really hard time dealing with his frustrations.

[@NachoSPena]

Hey Brian! First of all, thanks for all the useful tips you are delivering all the time, not only regarding on Blender also on animation. I think Software is just a vehicle. I can say that because I´ve been animating almost 26 years.. profesionally, first, as traditional animator, later with 3dsmax, Maya, Softimage XSI, also as a hobby have learnt some of lightwave3D and the forgotten Hash Animation Master. And now, i'm learning Blender! :). Coming from Maya..It's a bit tough, but as any other software is just a tool. We all have to find the way to learn to walk again..Let's not compare softwares between them in a negative way.. all have weakness and strenghts.. Is like compare why italian might be better than portuguese... does not have any sense. Happy animating everybody!

[@BrianKouhi]

I 100% agree. I use both software professionally and they both have their pros and cons :) This video was more about educating rather than comparing. Cheers!

[@NachoSPena]

yeah man! ..i have just changed the prefs regarding "Only show selected F-curve keyframes" :D thanks!! @@BrianKouhi

[@NachoSPena]

Yeah man! I have just changed my blender prefs regarding "Only Show Selected F-Curves Keyframes" ..thanks! @@BrianKouhi

[@weeliano]

I teach both Maya and Blender, I never change the shortcuts in Blender to match Maya. Blender is far more logical in terms of usage. In terms of animation capabilities, it is getting better and matching Maya animation capabilities in future releases with animation layers.

[@rodeobot]

his podcast is really good! big fan of the both of you

[@SnivyO.O]

I'm currently learning both software at the same time, this is going to be interesting 💀

[@BrianKouhi]

Oo good luck!

[@firespexstudios]

Good Luck!

[@SnivyO.O]

@@BrianKouhi Thank you 🥰, I have to say that you guys did an fantastic job on your Courses, it is very informative and insightful. I had a blast learning, currently on my way to Advance Lessons now. Hoping to see if you guys decide to do Rigging or Modeling Courses in the future as well 🔥

[@SnivyO.O]

@@firespexstudios Thanks! 🤗

[@BrianKouhi]

@@SnivyO.O Glad to hear you're enjoying the course. We definitely are working on creating a character creation and rigging course, but it will take some time before it's fully developed. We've gotten an insane amount of requests for those two courses from our animation students.

[@lennybunny93]

06:08 The MOST baffling things... Is that you HAVE that gizmo in Maya and it's a damn godsend. But a Maya user usually it's fixed in the workflow:"Change gizmo with q/w/e" and don't even understand the utility of something like this. Like a Blender user it's usually fixed in the g/r/s shortcut for moving/rotate/scale the objects. (Btw if you activate the pie menu addon with alt+spacebar you have a pie menu for switching gizmo without changing the used tool)

[@MaheshPagar0]

I am usually going back and forth between Maya and Blender. I learned the hard way that learning Blender hot keys is going to help a lot in the long run instead of assigning them to Maya equivalents specially if you are doing more than just animation in Blender. The hotkeys stay the same no matter what part of blender production you are working on. The only thing I think would be better like "training wheels" for Maya animators who transitioning is having a some kind of preferences, hot keys,the viewport arrangement and mouse settings predefined PROFILE for Maya animators who are just there for animation initially. Like the tick you showed to isolate curve which is by default in Maya. Little things like that. So when you are transitioning from Maya to Blender for animation, you would select that profile and it would set most those Blender setting closer to the Maya one's. I know it sounds, wanting Blender be like Maya when it's own thing but all I am saying just having a profile that would make things bit simpler for who is transitioning from maya. Somewhat like we have Easy mode in games or predefined accessibility settings in games.

[@sargeanthawk4108]

I started as an animator for two years using only maya. After two years i switched to blender. At first it was confusing to learn the software but now that I know the software i would never want to go back to maya because in my opinion blender is so much better.

[@ronitrajput3934]

I am new to animation in Blender, I literally spent two hours up until now 😅😅. This video has helped a lot. I have done some basic animations, But Now I think I can follow through and make something more complex. Thanks a Lot to both of you for having this back and forth.

[@BrianKouhi]

love to hear it!

[@billypodol9006]

Nice that you clarify all his issues. I was already putting blender in a shadow for animation

[@ADreamCalledeternity]

As someone who uses Blender (several years, taught it in college) and Maya(learned 3 years ago), both software have their own great capabilities. There are some tools in Maya I prefer to Blender, and vice versa. Blender is a very shortcut oriented program, and I guess since Blender users are so used to it, we don't really notice it until someone points out their grievances. Tbh, Blender's transform shortcuts makes more sense than Maya's. I think there's a lot both programs can do to improve for animators. For one, I wish we didn't have to use AnimBot for tools Blender has natively. But I also wish Blender had the ability to customize windows for certain modes (It's minor, but I'd really like for timeline buttons to be native to the Graph Editor, too, but I don't know much abt programming to say if it can be done). But I think Blender is meant to be a more optimal experience for any type of creative, as you eloquently put in your video.

[@ADreamCalledeternity]

@@MrDjTilo Oh my gosh, you're the best!! Thank you so much!

[@RiggingDojo]

The Focus on selection (period) key isn't an equivalent for the zoom around the mouse in the graph editor though and that isn't a match because that requires a selection change. Core Blender does have a zoom around mouse for the 3d view but the 2d view doesn't seem to respect that setting.

[@Arjjacks]

You sure? I just tried it now in the graph editor and it worked fine. It literally did what the original Maya guy complained that he couldn't do. You're talking about having the Zoom to Mouse Position ticked on the preferences, right?

[@roswarmth]

both of these videos have such a fulfilling information that one can encounter while shifting from maya to blender i think if I watched these two videos most of my problems would have been solved without so much trouble, keep going both of you love you Lucas love you Brian also expecting a collab 😉that would be the ultimate beginner course for animation in blender

[@BrianKouhi]

Haha thank you for the kind words. I let Lucas know about this before releasing the video and he was cool with it :)

[@firespexstudios]

Great video! Gives me both perspective to understand the differences.

[@firespexstudios]

Also, I found some good settings that you mentioned that i never use before.

[@BrianKouhi]

@@firespexstudios 😁😁

[@heckensteiner4713]

Pose mode used to bug the heck out of me, but now I like it because I can choose only one character and not worry about selecting other characters or objects things when I do a box select. It is still a pain to switch back and forth between modes when you're animating things (like a camera), but there are pros and cons with both systems and with both programs in general.

[@legendboyAni]

Well you can desellect the lock object modes in edit button and after that if you switch rig to pose mode you can sellect the cherecter or camera the mode automaticly switches.

[@DenerWitt]

I mean, it really sounds like he is trying to use Blender like he uses Maya. Sounds like he is looking for reasons to NOT use Blender.

[@RW_CreativeMedia]

I understand the frustration of this guy, but if you got used to a software from the beginning and learned all the tools and shortcuts, you will feel frustrated thinking that the new software is the same one you already used and it is not. The new user will misjudge any new software because it is not configured as they are used to. It happened to me with *Lightwave 3D* when I was already in *3DS Max* so I left *Lightwave 3D* but now I use *3DS Max and Blender*

[@amartyamukherji6314]

Recently I have switched form maya to blender. Can anyone tell me how to select multiple controllers and rotate all of them together while setting up a pose.. for example select all the spine controls and rotate together OR all the finger controllers and rotate together. I tried that in blender but its rotating only the last selected control.. Eagerly waiting for a response. Thanks.

[@IndianCitizen04]

I have a same problem with Maya being Blender user. Try to model a simple wall with Boolean and I struggled a lot and then realized how it would be easy in Blender. Modelling and Texturing with realtime Eevee is far easier than one can think. It is perspective of long-time user. Remind Blender is going through total overhauling animation process (bone layer, animation layer, nle revamping, action as asset in asset browser etc etc.) which hopefully will be completed within 2025.

[@BrianKouhi]

It's going to be an exciting 2 years for Blender!

[@TripTilt]

at 2:36 you really wrote PAUSE MODE instead of POSE MODE! That is a brilliant idea, we need more work software that has a pause mode!

[@BrianKouhi]

Haha I was hoping no one would catch that. Noticed it after upload 😅

[@gcharb2d]

The guy tries Blender on a regular basis, and he can't get his head around it, he's not the only one, Blender has a unique way of doing things, which doesn't agree with a lot of people!

[@Stu-32]

Apparently one of the big pluses blender has is the speed of using the dope sheet.

[@GemGames3]

I use Blender and even I'm learning new things, that's the first time I've heard of the 'transform gizmo' I was animating like the Maya Animator.

[@zbop220]

I started telling friends, blender doesn't have a learning curve, it has a learning curb. And it trips people up when they think it's going to be easy or just like ( ). With a few tips on which settings to change or where to look for things, it really smooths out into a more normal learning experience.

[@aronseptianto8142]

while i kind of understand that some of his complains are kind of valid in the way that it's not exactly intuitive where things are etc, given how much settings you can adjust to your own preference, i feel like 90% of his problem is solvable by cursory googling or youtube tutorial? I'm not sure how people learn maya but at least that's how i learnt blender, if there's some repetitive annoying action that i feel is unoptimal, there's probably a setting for it either in addon form or in preference form

[@eddieandersson5570]

That was awesome Brian❤

[@BrianKouhi]

Thank you, glad you enjoyed it!

[@zedeon6299]

people loves slandering blender, without even trying to learning it

[@Amelia_PC]

I can't wait until Blender devs implement animation layers, like the ones in MotionBuilder and Maya. When this day comes, I'll be the happiest potato in the world.

[@BrianKouhi]

They do have plans to implement it, but until then, there's the Animation Layers add-on you can buy which is fantastic. I have a video on it

[@Amelia_PC]

​@@BrianKouhi Good to know this! Thanks!

[@Amelia_PC]

@@TatianaGorbatenko@TatianaGorbatenko I'll check it out. Thanks!

[@zinAab79]

I think that before any software change you must invest some time in getting used to the UI and the logic behind some areas, only after that you should try to do things, because if not you will be hitting walls each 5 seconds.

[@jitumoto]

Well handled

[@ragingpoop8658]

Should I know anything before taking the basics course? Like modeling? or can i take it without any prior 3d knowledge?

[@BrianKouhi]

As an animator you won't be modeling, so no, you should be good :) In the Blender Basics we go through all of the animation tools and how they can be applied, then in the Ultimate Animation Course we actually use those tools to create animations.

[@cgstuff87]

thanks for the graph editor selection tip Brian I have been using blender for 5 years and I've never seen it lol, I have been hiding and unhiding f curves, I feel dumb

[@BrianKouhi]

Haha no shame. I learned a lot of tricks near the end of the production of "Maya and the three". 1-1.5 years into animating with Blender for 10+ hrs a day

[@soirema]

15:12 WHAAAAT !! OMG this is brilliant

[@RAYROD]

Although I’m not a Maya head, I am a Blender noob. I learned a lot from this vid. Glad I stuck around. His mistakes were my gain! Thx!

[@BrianKouhi]

Haha glad to hear it.

[@AdamMadejAnim]

Hey, as someone who worked both with Maya and blender and is currently "stuck" in blender pipeline - do you have solutions for things like: * smart(er) euler filter - possibly without adding rotations over 360 * some kind of selection sets * combining the channelbox between item and tool? Some rigs (especially ARP ones) have their controls like IKFK switch back in item and it's kinda tedious to open and close them one by one.

[@BrianKouhi]

Hey, I've actually had the same experience with Blender's Euler filter as Maya's, both in effectiveness and ineffectiveness 😅 Regarding selection sets, you can use Blender's build in Asset browser both as a Pose Library and as a selection set Library. You can change poses or right-click the pose and select keyed controllers. Give my video on 'Blender 4's animation features' a watch. Not sure I quite understand your last question. If the rig is made right translate, rotate, scale AND any customer properties should be in 'item'. Some rigs (like TOAnimate's) also have a UI tab you can open where you have a lot cleaner control over additional controllers, hiding mesh, resolution of mesh, special features, etc. Hope this helps.

[@AdamMadejAnim]

@@BrianKouhi I mostly use Morgan Loomus tools for euler filtering and I have to say - I miss that in blender a lot. I'll have to take a look at TOAnimate's rigs then, but I guess it generally helps a lot - your whole content did help me when I had to change my whole pipeline to be blender based for my current job last year :D

[@jerry76152]

im new user... Blender is awesome 👍 He should try to know the interface and tools first 🥇

[@phoenix2gaming346]

Use whatever you want I use maya because it's comfortable to me ❤

[@bliiiiiiip]

I still haven't found in Blender a way like in Maya, where you go to the channel box or Transform in Blender where you select a certain channel for example rotation X and you see only your rotation X curves. You either you have to go your graph editor and do type it manually or select it manually. I simply want to do this for one or multiple objects. Is this actually possible in Blender?

[@ninjadodovideos]

Enable "Only Show Selected F-Curve Keyframes" in Preferences > Animation.

[@bliiiiiiip]

@@ninjadodovideos Thanks for the reply, but that is not it. That shows only one single f-curve instead of all the curves. In Maya you can go to your "channel box" which is like a Transform panel in Blender and you can select one single attribute and it shows you that specific curve in the graph editor.

[@HermanvanBoeijen]

I’m an interface designer, and one of my mantra’s is to “stay angry” about interface errors. Yes, learn a new program. But discontent about features is needed for improvements. I still see a lot of room for improvement in how blender communicates it’s modal states, and it somehow always manages to start with the *wrong* defaults. You just taught me a ton of stuff, thank you! Hmmm… is anyone interested in helping me make a blender addon that shows the current “mode” in a hard to miss way? 😅

[@JSAbbott]

I've used Blender for many years but I'm learning Maya because it is "industry standard". However, one of my biggest problems with Maya is the need to use menus most of the time. I love using hotkeys and really don't like how slow it is to use menus all the time. The video you are responding to reminds me of another video I saw about Blender. The guy thought that since he had years of experience in 3ds Max he could just jump into Blender and work. He then went of to complain about Blender without even taking a couple minutes to learn the basics.

[@RiggingDojo]

Marking menus and hotkeys are all over Maya, and middle mouse button memory over last used tool and anything you use a lot you can put on a shelf as well.

[@JSAbbott]

@@RiggingDojo I know there are these tricks but they still take more time and require menus. This just isn't the case with most of what I can do in Blender.

[@RiggingDojo]

Sure because you are just starting to learn Maya, as we have learned on all the Maya/Blender videos, don't compare the software and don't complain about it until you learn the tools. Those are not tricks those are how the software works. Blender requires a huge amount of menus or shortcuts, Maya does as well. :) Cheers.

[@RiggingDojo]

Here what you said about the Max guy... but adjusted...."The guy thought that since he had years of experience in "Blender" he could just jump into "Maya" and work. He then went of to complain about "Maya" without even taking a couple minutes to learn the basics.😜 Mostly kidding, but if there is something you feel you have to MENU more than you think you should, happy to hear and give you an answer if I can.

[@ProjectAtlasmodling]

​@@RiggingDojoI mean he does have a point the more time spent in a menu the worse the user experience. The ux should try to keep the user focused on their work as much as possible within it's default workflow. You need to have a reason to slow them down with a menu before doing so. Blender does this with hot keys and raidle menus to keep you focused. Maya not so much unless you customize it to do that. I shouldn't have to set things up to be efficient. It's one thing for the work space but another for the workflow.

[@carlosmu]

hahaha, good job!! It's a great way to learn about differences between animation softwares. In fact, if someone tries to change from maya to 3dsmax, he will be found similar problems, because every program has its own way to do things.

[@BrianKouhi]

It's very true. Unless a program is a copy of the other, you can't just jump in and expect it to work the same.

[@gokuturkey]

could there be an option to switch mode when you select the related object? for example select object and boom, you are in pose mode?

[@BrianKouhi]

I'm not sure, but there is a way to actually get rid of the modes restricting your selection. Some of the people in the comments have explained how.

[@erik_james]

In Russian segment of youtube there's channel called Jcenters, which is making a news content about CGI world (like software, events, etc). And the author of that channel constantly "softly" insults Blender community. He knows that there is a lot of viewers who loves Blender (like the vast majority of his audience) watching his content but he keeps doing that. Can't understand what is going on inside of the head of people who commiting that kind of BS.

[@afrotron]

If you uncheck lock object modes you can quickly jump from pose mode to object mode without ctrl+tab

[@BrianKouhi]

BOOM! thank you! haha I knew it was possible but I couldn't remember where the option was when making the video.

[@eddieandersson5570]

Also when working on more than one rig in a scene you can swap between them without going out of pose mode, in to object mode, select the other rig, go to pose mode again. You just hover the other rig and press Alt +q if I recall right now?

[@z_tiger311]

How did you get thick gizmo axes without scaling up the whole UI? 6:48

[@BrianKouhi]

Go to Preferences -> Interface & change "Line Width" to Thicccc

[@z_tiger311]

@@BrianKouhi Thanks

[@eddieandersson5570]

​@@BrianKouhiAbout the gizmos though is there a way to see all axis move as I rotate like it works in Maya? I find seeing all at the same time as I rotate prevents Gimbal lock easier.

[@fjsv_omg321]

Yeah clearly he tried it for a few weeks and called it a day while animating in maya for several years.

[@akayuki94]

I learnt blender on my own, and in the university we are learning maya. I prefer blender 100%, i don't understand maya at all 😭

[@simipapi]

How come Maya and the Three wasn't animated in Maya? Doesn't make any sense...

[@BrianKouhi]

The name isn't "Maya" because of the software 😂 That being said, it was a very confusing few weeks of production in the beginning. I kept hearing "Maya" thinking the software, not the main character of the film.

[@francescocalvi7096]

Unless they've set up shortcuts themselves overtime, most maya users get baffled when they go to a shortcut-based workflow rather than a menu-based one that inevitably much much slower. Many vets run out of patience with doing tutorials as they are no longer feeling "at home" with a new piece of software. Any slightly different thing can drive those sort of people nuts. That being said I suspect this maya person in particular just wanted some controversy for the views/clicks

[@kushrathod7745]

my advice would be if you are shifting to a different software i would suggest to reply on google and chat gpt to ask if is possible to do the action you wanna do in the new software and chat gpt has given me proper answers about how to do it and where to find the exact button most of the time, am a blender user and wanna learn maya too so yeah

[@bhoototiger3366]

3:25 maya has geometry/display layers you can put your objects in there and just set it to refference and your objects wont be selectable anymore. Not trying to be rude but if you are in production it's a pretty basic information to keep in mind.

[@s3ij4s]

Yo migré de Maya y si fue confuso y frustrante el primer mes, luego ya no, había cosas que faltaban, pero creo que ya esta bastante acoplado.

[@cameronedwards751]

Just got a job animating in blender, but I've only animated in maya before. This video is a god send

[@BrianKouhi]

Eyy happy to hear it! Not to be selly, but we created the Blender Basics course for that exact situation (because we were in the same boat). We created it so that Maya animators can gain professional knowledge of Blender's animation tools in a week of learning!

[@cameronedwards751]

You've sold me lol@@BrianKouhi

[@BrianKouhi]

@@cameronedwards751 Haha, depending on the studio you may actually be able to get them to pay for you. Getting Blender animators is hard and they know it, so they're incentivised to want to educate their animators with Blender since it will speed up production a ton 👀

[@mercurysmith563]

You handled that with class.

[@howiem]

The Maya guy would likely have similar difficulties if trying to use, say, 3DSMax (or any other DCC) after only a short time of getting to know it. I bounce between Blender and Houdini, and both apps drive me completely up the wall at times: oh why can't Blender let me drop nodes as quickly as Houdini, or why can't Houdini's viewport nav work more like Blender's (etc etc). None of these apps are perfect. But they're all wonderful tools. The absolute best thing we can all do is stop being religious about apps. So - thanks Brian: calm and non-antagonistic response. Thank god we have so many options, thank god we have competition in this space, driving innovation; thank god we have Blender: whether it works for you or you prefer a diff DCC, Blender's very presence on the scene benefits the whole industry, just like Maya and Houdini.

[@BrianKouhi]

Couldn't agree more!

[@jsunsherman72]

all the things that he was having issues with he could have easily figured out using the internet but nope he had to make a video about how inept he is at learning something that is outside his general knowledge. srry but he is working for Maya or is just very resentful Blender users don"t have to pay out the butt. I wish him good luck. thanks for a good chuckle.

[@david_danuja]

What theme are you using for Blender? Can I get it?

[@BrianKouhi]

Just the default? 👀

[@david_danuja]

@@BrianKouhi Well, that's not how the default looks to me. Is it new to Blender 4.1 or something?

[@BrianKouhi]

@@david_danuja lol nop just Blender 4.0 I'm in the animation workspace (tab on top) and have my line width set to thick. Go to Preferences -> Interface & change "Line Width" to Thicccc

[@iceseic]

​@@BrianKouhi your UI is bluish, maybe you have some kind of screen filter setting turned on?

[@BrianKouhi]

@@iceseic That's just color correction on the video edit, not Blender.

[@ravanin]

2d cursor video sounds like a great idea

[@BrianKouhi]

Noted!

[@loremipsum3147]

Maya is not feature complete as Blender and it is understandable that Blender overwhelms Maya users with so many features and quirks. Lots of shortcuts, customization settings and features are kinda too much for newcomers

[@BrianKouhi]

They both have their pros and cons, but one is not "bounds" better than the other. It's good to know both software for the best chance in the industry.

[@ShatterBrainz]

I use Both Maya and Blender, among many programs..many many programs

[@BrianKouhi]

Everyone should be software agnostic :)

[@MikeHayesDesign]

Hahaha. It's a poor craftsperson that blames the tools. I've used Max, Maya and Blender. They're just tools that we need to learn how to use. I saw that video and laughed. The BEST 3D software: The one that I get paid to use. (He complains about different modes, but Maya has a sub-object switch for modeling, etc.)

[@dirunfx577]

There is lock object mode on edit; just turn that off.

[@BrianKouhi]

🔥🔥🔥

[@waseyrahimy6886]

Ex Maya user here (and happily animating in Blender for years) and I want to say this, when it comes to character animation, Maya is still way better

[@user-qi2tz6pw9x]

do the one from Mussey 3D next

[@BrianKouhi]

I have no idea who you're referring you. Could you share the link to the video?

[@AshT8524]

This is perfect video for Maya animators who want to animate in Blender (Me). These basic things will annoy the hell out of anyone.

[@xypher83]

As 3ds max user, (witch is the most hated software of all times) seeing this feels very familiar 😂😂😂

[@idoblenderstuffs]

im a blender animator and ive literally never used the graph editor because i migrated from SFM ages ago and the timeline was the most similar one.

[@MaxChe]

I don't know where is the best place to learn animation, society confuses and dismorals me a lot.... i like blender, i also worked at maya for a couple of years (by the way i don't like it very much), so far all its trump cards are just that it's the industry standard and the "old guys" shout that it's better than everything else

[@soirema]

i wishh what maya animator would see this T-T did you tag him ??

[@BrianKouhi]

I let him know I was posting this a few days prior, so he may have!

[@s3ij4s]

The most remarkable thing is that this animator says in his video that he works in Blender Studio as an animator, is a beta tester of Blender, and has even tutorials, works for Blender exploring its capabilities and of course has years of experience in the industry with Maya and what he does is to show how he struggles and what solutions he can find. The commentators did not see the video. Lo más destacable es que este animador dice en su video que trabaja en Blender Studio como animador, es beta tester de Blender, y tiene hasta tutoriales, trabaja para Blender explorando sus capacidades y por supuesto tiene años de experiencia en la industria con Maya y lo que hace es mostrar como lucha y que soluciones puede encontrar. Los que hacen los comentarios no vieron el video.

[@fadepanther6224]

I know you were trying to hide it, but man, you were just as frustrated as this Maya pro with Blender while watching him. Sorry for the poor sentence structure. After all, the bottom line of almost everything you had to point out was, "Just look up what you need to do to do what you want, instread of smashing your keyboard making things you don't want happen, happen." The biggest point, the TRUEST point, is that Blender isn't Maya. It's a program that was made to do just about everything a 3d program could do. As such the options for someone goes far beyond just simple, or even complex, animation. Thus, it needs more options than what someone just doing animation would need. Watching the video this one is reacting too, felt like someone complaining about 3d drawing vs drawing with a pen and paper. Both have their points, styles, and drawbacks. If you aren't willing to put forth the effort to learn those points, then all you'll do is see the flaws as it isn't what you're used to. Another channel pointed this out to me, but learning other programs for understanding how Blender does, and doesn't, do things better often leads to learning new tricks you can use or understanding when you can't do something in Blender easily and either do it the hard way or find a way to "fake" it. How calm you were through most of this was fully respectful and I learned a few things I so wanted to know but never thought to ask if it could be done. (Selecting F curves and full transforms come to mind). Those who like Maya? Good! You found a program that fits your style, but don't cast shade on another program just because it is free or not how you are used to. More options can be confusing but just like learning animation as a whole, if you don't take the time to learn, it doesn't make the thing bad, it makes you lazy. >.>

[@morbid1.]

Honestly I think blender for animation is behind, every improvement Blender makes is for modelling, rendering, sculpting, etc and animating is somewhere there in background. I used 3ds max, maya, motiobuilder and going between those programs was not that hard but blender is like I have zero experience... I select controls, press "r" for rotation I want a gizmo, I don't want to rotate it for some reason in all directions base on mouse movement, wtf, so you have to google shit, change options, keybinds... entry to blender is very unfriendly. My friend who is a 3D modeler that switched to blender told me it took him literally MONTH of customisation and adjustment to start.

[@BrianKouhi]

Did you watch the video 👀

[@morbid1.]

@@BrianKouhi yes, I described my experience. I have love/hate relationship with Blender... ironic part I use blender for video editing tutorials for motionbuilder 🤣

[@phoenix2gaming346]

yeah not matter the software i use maya

[@GandRaya]

software its just a tool to animate