Looking to Learn About Blender? Here Are 9 Things You Should Know!

[@WarrenMarshallBiz]

Have you tried to get into Blender recently? What helped you? What do you wish you would have known earlier?

[@steppyhen]

There's a great free addon call Machin3tools - especially good for Modo users I think as the author came from Modo - video docs on Gumroad page - gumroad.com/l/MACHIN3tools

[@atas0channel]

modals for bevel! I wonder if it possible to set modals for every tool

[@WarrenMarshallBiz]

@@atas0channel They have them for a few tools. Bevel and Knife, for sure.

[@danylbekhoucha6180]

I use it since many years. :)

[@dylaninthemovies]

I think anyone who wants to use live booleans but can't afford modo should check out blender's Bevel Shader (hint hint...)

[@lillyalillya]

Wow, I've been using Blender for years and I still learned some good tips from this video! The shift + R hotkey to repeat the merge action is something that I never thought of and would've saved me so much time...

[@WarrenMarshallBiz]

Nice! And let me ask ... since you're experienced, if you see me doing something dumb, please point it out. I'm always open to learning!

[@nxgentech]

For things like quick merge verts, alignments, changing viewport display settings, MACHIN3tools is a must. Since you can cherry pick the features you want, it doesn't bloat Blender or override shortcuts you would like to keep. For me, merging verts is now as simple as selecting as many as I want and pressing 1, huge time saver ! Setting the 3D cursor or the origing and align faces exactly how I want them to be is now a breeze.

[@lillyalillya]

@@nxgentech Yeah, I use MACHIN3tools too and I definitely recommend it. I disabled some of the features that I didn't wanted to use, but I'll try the merging shortcuts now that you mentioned it.

[@pixelpusha]

@@WarrenMarshallBiz I never thought about adding hotkeys for modifiers. Thanks for the tip. :) For subsurf modifier there's hotkey ctrl + number. Number defines how many levels of subdivision you want. In sculpting it's same but for multires modifier. Don't recommend using multires at this time since it's currently broken.

[@MetalGearMk3]

love to see more Blender videos!

[@leopnogueira]

I would love if you expand on the blender vs modo topic, like what one lacks compared to the other etc...

[@WarrenMarshallBiz]

Good idea!

[@massivetree7937]

Warren I'd just say keep a lookout for different options on some tools. Like the add loop tool, hitting E will switch you between the new loop matching one side of the cut or the other (easier if you just try it yourself to see what I mean). Also, forget the key at the moment but you can set the knife tool to cut through blackfacing polys

[@A5ht0n450]

Quick tip for the navigation keys, you can continue with the emulate 3 mouse buttons. Though in the keymapping drop down 3D view > 3D view (globe) look for pan view set to ALT + Middle Mouse, and Zoom view to ALT + Right Click is all you really need. That should be the most accurate to Modo/Maya setup as possible with only the navigations without conflicting other shortcuts for tutorial purposes.

[@laurynaskeleras]

You just made my day by releasing a Blender video :) it's cool to see great artists coming from different software to Blender. I think it's what Blender needs, people with different workflows and slightly different perspective, all 3D packages has something we all love about, and with Blender being so approachable, it's not that hard to transfer or customize it to mimic these features. I recently found out that Arrimus 3D ( sick 3ds Max hard-surface modeling guy) is also messing with Blender, I wonder what will he bring to the table.

[@WarrenMarshallBiz]

Arrimus's Blender videos really helped me get going with the app, so definitely watch those if you haven't. He has a nice teaching style.

[@finnspenc170]

thanks for the video Warren

[@3DKiwi]

Thanks Warren. As for Navigation, rather than using the emulate 3 button mouse option I prefer changing the keymapping to "Industry Standard". This then makes the navigation the same as Maya. I use Maya navigation in Modo as it seems the most intuitive.

[@danylbekhoucha6180]

While you are trying the open source software Blender, you could also try the open source game engine Godot, they work well together. With the glb file format you can export in one click your model, materials and textures in one binary file and it is still editable. The version 4.0 will have Vulkan and be visually close to UE4.

[@tommywright]

Yes! Emulate 3-button mouse is for Lightwave folks also. Just change your zoom to Horizontal and it's Lightwave exact. We have to push them to fix Deselect Edge Loop when using 3-button mouse!

[@oliverm.s.9923]

Wow! you just saved me with that 'emulate 3 button mouse' thing. I'll try out that

[@WarrenMarshallBiz]

It absolutely saved Blender for me. Being able to use my MODO navigation controls let me focus on other things.

[@Kevin32001]

I would love for more videos from you! Blender is going to be my next step.

[@plumfun6750]

Thanks for the update and insight! I've been "with" Blender since it was still owned by NeoGeo/NaN around the mid to late 90's. I have *never* been able to "get it". When they started hinting that they were thinking about a serious interface/workflow/base do-over, I was overjoyed! :) I haven't used Blender since 2.8beta was released, but your two tips convinced me: One, the "Emulate 3button mouse" and the "Bevel/amount" work around. Those two things were HUGE on my "annoyances" side of Blender. .. Blender is starting to feel more like a "normal" 3D app than one that was written by a Dutch guy, commented by a German guy, interface designed by a French guy, hotkey'ed by an English guy, and collated into one big mess by an Amazonian jungle shaman. ;) At least all of Blender is speaking the same language now, so to say. :)

[@WarrenMarshallBiz]

"one that was written by a Dutch guy, commented by a German guy, interface designed by a French guy, hotkey'ed by an English guy, and collated into one big mess by an Amazonian jungle shaman." Haha, omg, that's perfect...

[@Toskyval]

I'v left a like just for the sniffing progress performance.

[@gtgamewizard]

i was wondering if you found some features lacking compared to 3ds max or modo and how you solved those shortcomings. Great video btw!

[@WarrenMarshallBiz]

Frankly, there's been nothing that I've really missed. I use Blender now, day in and day out, and I'm perfectly content. I don't see anything major missing!

[@fretstain]

this was great, thank you!

[@canarikal]

Hi and thanks for the video, which hardware setup do you suggest for Blender (tablet/mouse) what kind of setup you are using?

[@WarrenMarshallBiz]

Same set up as MODO ... I'm using my tablet for everything, and finding work arounds for the mouse wheel whenever possible. :)

[@jonathanxdoe]

Welcome to the family! [The Godafather theme plays in the background]. For navigation I suggest: rotate with RMB+drag (RMB click will still work as contextual menu), MMB to drag (rotating with MMB on the long run can stress your finger), and LMB to select ect. It works great for me and no more Alt+BS

[@WarrenMarshallBiz]

I can't. I just can't! Too many years of muscle memory to turn back now. :)

[@herberttubera6996]

HI Warren I was looking on the auto subdivide like in modo the TAB and SHIFT TAB. coz I don't want to pile up so much subdivision

[@A-n-t-o-n-y]

Nice tut Warren. Thank you! I'd like to ask - is there a way in Blender to navigate (rotate, zoom, pan) while an instrument is active? Like it works in Modo. I couldn't find a way to do that and it looks extremely strange for me...

[@WarrenMarshallBiz]

Not that I've seen and, yes, I agree. That is super frustrating when you're used to being able to do it in MODO.

[@kendarr]

I started with Maya but hated every minute i spend on it, found out about a much smaller file size that was free (back then my internet was crap), and it was SO MUCH MORE CONTENT around the web that i just fall in love with it, just after going to 2.8 that i noticed how clunky was 2.79

[@kevinm3751]

Fantastic talk! MORE please...;)

[@modular9]

I'm interested in your thoughts on bringing blender into your production work. Also have you checked out bforartists it's a blender fork that for me works more like modo/max. They make some "sane" changes to inputs and layouts. Oh and long time modo user and also interested in your thoughts on the semi stagnation of modo development. It's one of the reasons I'm looking at blender. Thanks for your time.

[@WarrenMarshallBiz]

I have done some production work in Blender, and it's going into a shipping game so it's totally viable IMO. I have to bake in Painter at the moment because setting it up in Blender is kind of painful, but once they fix that ... man, watch out. As for MODO's development, I really can't say. I still love MODO and I use it as my main workhorse. Development does seem to have slowed on it but I wouldn't read too much into that. They are still in the process of birthing their procedural stack and things like that. It feels like it's in a transitional phase.

[@modular9]

Thank you for the comment. I'm thinking of adding blender to my workflow so am very interested in workflow and tips you may have from a modo user point of view. I suspect my thinking over modo's development speed is tainted by the meteoric pace and large leaps the software had during the 401 -901 stage... Rose tinted glasses perhaps. Thanks again

[@LoserHands]

Nice. Any Blender tips you'd throw in for a bicurious artist?

[@WarrenMarshallBiz]

Not sure what I can offer there ... Other than Blender and MODO don't care about your sexual preferences. They are polygonal-amorous.

[@asdazok]

Haha. Who is next? Tor Frick?

[@WarrenMarshallBiz]

Tor has become one with MODO and I imagine at this point has become a being of pure energy. It would be too much to ask for him to regain human form just to learn Blender...

[@icedriver2207]

Just curious have you left Modo or are you just looking in to Blender.

[@WarrenMarshallBiz]

At this point, I'm fully Blender. I just really like working in it ...

[@icedriver2207]

@@WarrenMarshallBiz Its cool. I was curious I got tired of paying for upgrades every year. Add ons for blender are so much cheaper than Modo. I really wish it had some better UV tools though.

[@WarrenMarshallBiz]

@@icedriver2207 You're in luck ... a new addon was released recently called "UV Toolkit" ... that, combined with "UVPackmaster2", does literally everything I need!

[@icedriver2207]

@@WarrenMarshallBiz Thanks for letting me know.

[@rufus8800]

I've been looking at Blender as a tool for rendering using Evee and Octane. Also as a tool for adding FX in place of Houdini. I think Blender is becoming a game changer as well as the Tool everyone should use in conjunction with their main pipeline.

[@WarrenMarshallBiz]

Yep, I think it's a super disruptive force and anyone working in 3D needs to at least have a passing knowledge of it.

[@leopnogueira]

holy s*** , im a modo user and i started learning blender today! Like 2 hours ago to be more precise.

[@WarrenMarshallBiz]

Haha, nice! My timing is impeccable.

[@icedriver2207]

I've used Modo and Blender both for modeling. I would much rather texture in blender than modo. Also mirroring is so much easier in blender. You need good booleans in blender just buy an add on for it. There are two really good ones. Hard Ops and Fluent. If you bought both of them it would be cheaper than Mop Booleans in Modo. You want toon shading its easier blender too and even buying an add on for it is cheaper.

[@herberttubera6996]

I want to transfer to blender but when u use modo for longest time its so hard

[@danylbekhoucha6180]

About the extrusion along the normal(s), after typing E for the extrude tool, you can type Alt + S and press s to activate even thickness. You can do alt + left click to select an edge loop and use shift + alt + left click to add edge loops. With Ctrl + left click you can select all the intermediate faces. Also you did a tip on medium poly modeling, it's possible in Blender since one year: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hqrUlGiXqNdoj6s I suggest you to follow Pablo Dobarro on Twitter, he is adding a lot of new sculpting tool, like the cloth brush, voxel remeshing, etc.

[@WarrenMarshallBiz]

All good info, thanks for sharing! And I saw the bevel/smoothing stuff in there, yeah ... looks solid! I'm looking forward to trying to build something for real and see how that feels.

[@RobotJeeg]

I started learning Blender 2-3 months ago. Now I can use it without big issues. But I choose to not costomize it for the first weeks. It was easy to make it more "Modo" but then I couldn't follow the tutorials. I still hate something of Blender! I hate that you cannot access everything from menus! 50% of the application is accessible only using shortcuts! That's ridicolous! Newbie users have to learn all the piemenus shortcuts since the first day (or print them on paper) because they are not accessible in menus or panels. Blender menus are so small...just the basic, all the rest is hidden! Weird idea imho. PS I love that you can work on any instance! I want that on Modo too! It's such a pleasure to just select a random instance and modify it. PPS: Modo has a "repeat last command" too. I just always forget to use it.

[@WarrenMarshallBiz]

"It was easy to make it more "Modo" but then I couldn't follow the tutorials. " Yep, exactly. I like keeping things as pure as possible during the learning phases. "Modo has a "repeat last command" too. I just always forget to use it." Does it? I know you can record a macro and play it back to simulate the effect but it's not quite as slick. Altho, arguably more powerful since you can do many things at once in a macro.

[@RobotJeeg]

@@WarrenMarshallBiz Ctrl+R repeat the last command used....but it doesn't remember the settings and it doesn't apply the command. It's not as good as Blender. Basically is useful only if you forget the shortcut of the last command or if you don't want to click the button again. But you have to change all the settings again...sadly.

[@Krasov92]

What is your hair product?

[@WarrenMarshallBiz]

Well, if you've seen the movie There's Something About Mary...

[@khellstr]

Are you moving to Blender? Abandon Modo?

[@WarrenMarshallBiz]

I pretty much have at this point, yeah. Blender works better for me!

[@ernstryan1]

I've been trying blender too, I love how snappy it is, the sculpting is great, and so is the viewport/rendering. I even found a great free config that makes it more like Modo! gumroad.com/procgstudios#ymCim

[@carlosrivadulla8903]

I was sure u were switch to houdini

[@WarrenMarshallBiz]

I don't think my brain is large enough for that. You have to be able to smell colors or something...