Came across this document speaking on the new interface changes proposed for Blender 2.8. Of particular interest are the new Workspace and Template systems. Templates are said to essentially allow specialized "versions" of Blender for texturing or animation and/or a simplified version for newbies. Seems not everybody is thrilled by this development. I think it would be a positive move. Thoughts?

https://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Dev:2.8/UI/Workshop_Writeup

I had a thread about this a while back as well. Seems there are a few dramatic changes coming.

https://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/?thread_id=2908545

Thanks you both for sharing this information not sure how I missed this information will be reviewing myself to get back up to speed

Seems like a bold move, yet problematic if not implemented well. I can't wait.

Well 2.5 was a bold move and complete rewrite of the Blender UI from previous versions and even with a bit of a rocky start it made Blender more intuitive that I was able to learn it much easier than previous versions and I am still no expert but wa comfortable with today's Blender than 2.4 series so Will wait and see and even if new changes are messy at least you can still always run previous versions and continue to work till bugs and kinks are worked out.

Yeah, I'm sure I wouldn't have picked up Blender if it still was the old UI. I hope these upgrades have the same effect on others who are put off by the current UI.

The only thing I don't care for with Blender as it is right now is that there are so many features which do not have representation in the UI at all, and you woulnd't even know they exist if you don't know the hotkey. I mean, there's a lot of stuff like that for some reason. How would anyone even know to look for a particular feature in the manual for the hotkey if they don't know it exists? Honestly, I found out about a lot of Blender's modelling features by watching some of Luxxeon's videos here in the forums, and some other tuts I found on Youtube. There was no other way to know they existed before that, unless I found them by mistake!

So I guess I hope this new UI changes and viewport enhancements take into account a few of those obscure features, and find a way to make them more obvious. That's one of the biggest reasons people turn away from Blender, assuming they can not do something which it actually can do if you know the hotkeys for it. Andy Price pointed out some of these things years ago, but was almost hung for his dissent in the forums on other websites. LOL

Your are right there are allot of hidden features that are not represented in the UI and recently I found several again by watching the video tutorials and contributions of made by LuxXeon and many others many do stand out LuxXeon being one of them. I think and this my personal opinion that if you start to learn Blender as you go and build a good knowledge base you will be motivated to seek out more how to get this done or that done I look forward to seeing the new UI but I will also keep in mind that all the hidden gems can not be all lumped into the UI. Not to long ago another member was having issue with Blender when they had every single add-on turned on as default when Blender loads and could not understand why it slowed Blender to a crawl on a older mid range system. Documentation for Blender needs to be improved it has gotten better but not there yet more information even in a glossary would be helpful on tracking down hidden functions features and their hotkey settings and the fact that Blender is an open community that is where sharing such information with as many as you can I think and believe will make more new comers to Blender to stick with it and really learn the software

Yeah, I guess it would be near impossible to include ALL the hotkey features into the UI, but then again it has been done in other software. Maya is a good example of a VERY complicated software that has a visual UI for almost everything. If not a button, then at least a menu system where every single feature can be accessed without knowing the specific hotkey. Basically everything you need to access in Maya (or 3dsmax or cinema4d) can be accessed somewhere in the UI. There has to be a way to do that in Blender. Let's take Blender's Poke Face tool for example. That's a really useful modelling feature that I didn't know existed until I saw someone use it in a video, and that is because its mapped exclusively to the ALT P hotkey, and can not be found anywhere else in the UI that I know of. I know old time users of Blender like that idea of exclusivity, but new users are immediately limited by this.

I just got Maya LT to give myself something new to learn and use and I see that there are allot of options available from the UI and from using the space bar to bring up menus like the Pie Menu in Blender but it is a bit overwhelming so I am hoping to be able to integrate both into my workflow

I'm in the middle of a 3-year educational license for Maya, and I downloaded a 5-pack of Intro to Maya videos which exclusively talk about the UI, and how features are accessed. There were also 3 videos that are a tutorial for creating a stop watch. I know I started it but didn't finish it. Unfortunately, I don't recall where I downloaded the videos from. It may have been Autodesk, or it could've been somewhere else I found when searching.

I think with this news about Blender, I'm going to have to go back and play with Maya to get more comfortable with it.

Hi Mi8ss B always great to see you popping in. I got Maya LT but thru Autodesk cheaper than the steam version for a year plus they also raised the export poly count which is much more than Modo indie I am hopping to incorporate it into my workflow since taking on some ambitious goals this year and I know most of what I can think of can be done in Blender but there are a few things that just seem easier and better done with in Maya so I can reach the goals I have set. Plus I always like learning new stuff

Yes, I like learning new stuff too. My motto has always been, a day I learn something new, is a good day.

As far as Maya LT, I looked at that too, but wasn't sure if I really wanted to "keep" Maya past the 3 years I have the educational license for. I basically wanted to try it because, well it's top-of-the-line software, and something I could never afford otherwise. I've always liked Blender once I got comfortable with it, though I've used other modeling software too, it's still my go-to software, especially for UV mapping, even if I model something in another modeling app.

I know, if you get comfortable with a workflow, that's what you stick with, but if Blender's new UI is going to be more like Maya's, which is what it sounds like they're going for, then I think I need to get comfortable with playing in Maya so my transition into the new Blender UI won't hurt as much as it did when I first downloaded 2.5x after using the old 2.4x UI for so long.

Hi Miss B, A guy by the name of Todd Palamar wrote some excellent stuff for Maya2016. Not that cheap though from what I know, but also has all the files available for each part layed out in a step by step set out way. Mastering Autodesk Maya I think its called.

Incantrix

Thanks for that tidbit incantrix. I'll check into it, as all the help I can get will be rewarded in the end.

No Worries Miss B your welcome. There are subtle diffs between 2016 and 2017student (which I have here atm). Nothing that would upset the tutorials which I think there around 16 or more of them in the pdf,

Incantrix

Strictly speaking only of the modeling aspect of CG, I find Maya's tools are very good for dealing with the average subd organic builds, like character workflows. However, I had some trouble adapting to the tools in Maya to suit a more procedural strategy for modeling things like jewelry, complex architectural builds, and hard surface organic objects. Anything is possible in any modeling software with some effort, of course, but I found Maya still didn't have many of the tools I'd grown accustomed to in 3dsMax, and the workarounds were lengthy in some respects. Blender seems to match up more closely to 3dsMax when it comes to certain specific, but complex, modeling requirements. Although Blender doesn't have a 1 to 1 feature comparison either, it seemed the workarounds were several degrees more efficient than the equal task in Maya. I think Maya's strength in the industry is still the integration with powerful VFX tools like Houdini, and its industry-leading animation and rigging capabilities.

LuxXeon posted at 12:58PM Sat, 25 February 2017 - #4298209

I think Maya's strength in the industry is still the integration with powerful VFX tools like Houdini, and its industry-leading animation and rigging capabilities.

I pretty much agree with you LuxXeon. I'm more like the kid with a new toy that wants to try it at least once, even if it's just to see what it's all about.

When I was working with Maya it was just basic structural stuff and only really scratched the surface of what it can do. After that it went on to the kids ( I call anyone under 35 a kid lol) who had skill with Maya I couldn't fathom half the time I didn't really get the chance to expore into it deeply until I got my student liscence for which also gave me 3Dsmax and mudbox. Max I just couldn't into for some reason. And Mudbox I have a play around with quite a bit but nothing serious. I do love the Maya animation but after watching some utube blender animations am very keen to get to it when I have less time constraints. And also when I can get my rigging techniques above crappy level they are at now lol. There are probably a lot of better programs out there than Maya to do what it does. Problem being most will never see the light of day as maya or autodesk managed to cemment themselves in a time when others were standing idle. Once you become the standard on what everyone needs to use you can also dictate on to some degree on how the industry moves.