All right, here I am again. You guys have been real good about helping out in the past, and I hope this question doesn''t pose any stumbling blocks this time around. Basically, it''s "How the heck do I use the Blender interface?" I''ve searched the forums and found directions leading to the Blender website, but, uh, it''s down. That''s right--I can''t get there! So, if you know of another place that has tutorials INCLUDING HOW TO USE THE INTERFACE, WHICH MAKES NO SENSE AT ALL TO ME, please lend a hand. Thanks in advance. I''m a Greek advocating the resurrection of the Byzantine Empire. Join me.

There are millions of links around, but since NaN went bankrupt, most of them are non-existent. Here''s one tutorial site that remains up:
http://www.flyingsnail.com/blender.html
You can also probably find the official documentation for Blender lying around somewhere (you should already have it anyway). Otherwise, there''s not really much specifically to help you learn the interface; it just comes with practice.

Later,
ZE.

//email me.//zealouselixir software.//msdn.//n00biez.//
miscellaneous links

[if you have a link proposal, email me.]

Okay, well, first of all, thanks. Secondly, your reply brings up an interesting question: is Blender dead? I mean, I know the people who make it are bankrupt, but--if tutorials are down, and websites are collapsing into heaps of nothingness--is there any point in learning how to use it? I assumed there would still be support for the thing, but if not, I don''t want to bother.

I''m a Greek advocating the resurrection of the Byzantine Empire. Join me.

The Blender Book from No Starch Press is very good. It explains all the buttons and keys. Here's a good shortcut: click in the edit region (the main area with the graph) and press the spacebar. The menu will come up with all everything you need. Look at your local library for the book I recommended.

[edited by - JNewt on April 10, 2002 8:52:24 PM]

If you want to get qualifications to get a job in the industry then Blender aint much help. Quite often you will see ads for 3DSM. Maya, Lightwave, Softimage and maybey Cinema 4D artists. The above mentioned software have all got similar concepts and sometimes methods for creating most things so if you learn one of these programs you should be able to adapt to the others. That said I use a student version of MAX.

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"640K ought to be enough for anybody." -Bill Gates 1981

To Antonis Demetrios:

Although the creators of NaN are currently reorganizing under bankruptcy protection, the user community for Blender continues to thrive. Visit www.elysiun.com.

I have been using Blender for a while now and continue to use it, but if I were you, I would have consider long and hard about investing a lot of time (it takes time to learn Blender''s interface) into Blender at this point.

If you a just curious about 3d in general then I would say use Blender. If you seriously considering a career in 3d modeling and/or animation, try something else, like Animation Master or Rhino 3d.

Blender is good in that you can learn techniques that apply to to other packages: mesh modeling, subsurface modeling, key frame animation, etc. Anything you can do with Blender, can most likely be applied when switching to the higher end packages.

Just to elaborate a little on yspotua''s post. I agree with everything said. You can learn alot of techniques from using Blender (some say it''s aas powerful as 3DSMax). I still use Blender as my primary modeler. Also if you''re going through tutorials for Blender, you''ll pick it up quick and learn terminology used for most all programs.