Hexagon Vs. Blender

Hexagon Vs. Blender?  

I have been in and out of the "hobbyist" render world for a while and I have attempted to embrace modeling in the past and gave up, but more and more I am realising to create the things I want, I will need some modeling skills. I'm looking at these two because they are both free and for me, "free" is a good place to start.

But, I don't know enough about the capablities of each or the learning curve/support each one has to make a good decision about which one I should dig into.

What are the pros and cons of each? Do either have limitations that would help me make a choice? Thanks in advance.

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Comments

  • FSMCDesignsFSMCDesigns Posts: 12,518

    Both apps can do the modeling part, but Blender has a ton more features than Hexagon, but it is also much harder to grasp for many. best to try both and see which one makes more sense to you as the UI is the defining part of any modelling app.

  • dreamfarmerdreamfarmer Posts: 2,128

    Hexagon seems like a good place to start learning the basics of modeling without getting bogged down by the interface. It's also trivial to pass existing models from Daz to Hexagon, tweak them, and pass them back again.

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,026
    edited December 2017

    On the one hand,

    1)  Blender is much more of a full 3D suite than Hexagon.  Hexagon is a dedicated modeler.  Blender has rigging, rendering, and other capabilities in addition to modeling.  You may find that you not only prefer Blender's modeling to Hexagon, but that you prefer Blender's other features to Studio.   

    2)  Blender has ongoing active development so expect Blender to get more features and capabilities at a faster rate than Hexagon.

    On the other hand,

    3)  Hexagon has a bridge to Daz Studio so it is more convenient to make morphs, make small adjustments to objects to match poses, etc. in Hexagon than Blender.  

    4)  Reactions to user interface is a personal thing.  For me, Hexagon's UI is more intuitive so is easier to learn.  Once you become an expert in Blender, you will be able to customize its UI, but that doesn't do you much good when you are a beginner.  However, this is a known issue, and there is a Blender initiative called Blender for Artists, which superimposes a more userfriendly interface.  There is probably a better word than superimposes.  Anyway, you might be one of the people for whom Blender makes more sense than Hexagon.  They are both free, give each a try.

     

    EDIT: site for Blender for Artists   https://www.bforartists.de/

    EDIT 2:  I was typing at the same time as FSMDesigns and dreamfarmer.  Did not intend to be repetitive.

    Post edited by Diomede on
  • Thanks for the feedback everyone! smiley You may have convinced me to take on the challenge of Blender, Diomede! I don't want to encounter limitations that would require me to have to learn two or three different programs at once to acomplish the work needed.

    Anything else I should know about both of them? Thanks again! 

  • Blender is unintuative and more difficult to get used to. 

    That said there are WAY more resources available to help you learn. It's probably worth getting a course and working your way through it. 

    blender has almost every feature that you'd ever want, from sculpting to water and cloth simulations, so you'll definitely be able to go a lot further with it. 

  • Good to know, bradrg! Thank you.smiley

    Also...thanks for the link, Diomede! smiley 

    OK!! Wish me luck and endurance... I'm off to download Blender. surprise

  • For Blender it really helps to do a few tutorials and get used to the keyboard shortcuts.  Once you do that, it's easy enough to use.  It's just a case of investing the time (if you've got it ;) )

    For things like uv-mapping, Blender is awesome and makes it easier (not really easy, just easier) IMO.

    Hexagon's nice too though - so maybe give both a go and see which you like.

  • FSMCDesignsFSMCDesigns Posts: 12,518

    For Blender it really helps to do a few tutorials and get used to the keyboard shortcuts.  Once you do that, it's easy enough to use.  It's just a case of investing the time (if you've got it ;) )

    For things like uv-mapping, Blender is awesome and makes it easier (not really easy, just easier) IMO.

    Hexagon's nice too though - so maybe give both a go and see which you like.

    yeah, the keyboard part is what gets me everytime I try it. I wsh I could grasp Blender, but I always go running back to Max since it is what I know. Maybe one day

  • nonesuch00nonesuch00 Posts: 17,890

    The keyboard part of Blender is what I like. What I don't like is my box models are not that good.

  • kyoto kidkyoto kid Posts: 40,514
    edited December 2017

    ...oh boy here we go again.

    I tried Blender a number of times each time after I was told the UI was improved.  Every time I'd install the latest version, fire it up, I saw that same clunky display that required using the keyboard just to move about the workspace. That alone made me ask each time "where's the improvement?" as it looked the same as version as 2.46 nine years ago.  Meanwhile with Hexagon moving around the workspace is simple and elegant. That right there to me says "intuitive" particularly since I come from a traditional art and physical modelling background (imagine painting in oils using a keyboard instead of a brush in the hand or assembling a detailed scale model of a sailing ship without being able hold the parts your hand and fit them together).  Hexagon's toolset is also easy to use, so I can spend more time focusing on the aspects of learning polygon modelling rather than struggling with a cumbersome UI that (for myself) seems to require my undivided attention.

    Hexagon does have keyboard shortcuts (even Daz does), but you are not compelled to use them. The other part, I actually appreciate a more focused programme for something as involved as modelling because there aren't a lot of other distractions and clutter to deal with.  Keep in mind that there will be further development of Hexagon over the next several months, including bringing it into the 64 bit world which will eliminate the memory barrier it was required to work under.  This means the ability to create larger more complex models and quite likely better stability as you will no longer have that tight memory cap to deal with.

    Post edited by kyoto kid on
  • Midnight_storiesMidnight_stories Posts: 4,112
    edited December 2017

    1. User interface

    I've used blender for a few months and unless you have a huge memory of what the hotkey's are, it's just not going to fly! great tools but too hard to use.

    Hexagon no training could use it straight away.

    Post edited by Midnight_stories on
  • j cadej cade Posts: 2,310
    The hotkey thing *always* get overstated. While knowing a bunch will help speed things up, there are vanishingly few things that cannot also be accessed through menus.

    I know more of them now but my first *two* years using blender I knew less than 10. For making morphs you only need 3: g for grab, r for rotate, s for scale.
  • InkuboInkubo Posts: 734
    edited December 2017

    All these things are matters of opinion. I was intimidated by Blender and sought (and continue to seek) easier programs. But I know this is purely psychological: part of me thinks if a program costs hundreds of dollars, surely it will justify its price by making retopo and UV layout a joy instead of a chore. Otherwise, why wouldn't everyone just give up and use Blender? So far that part of me has been proven wrong with other packages I've tried, but it still continues to hope. From the spec list, 3D-Coat should be everything I want, but I struggled with it for a full day just to model a small rock and felt it was like working with a hand tied behind my back. Using it was so unpleasant that I probably won't work up the enthusiasm to give it another go before my 30-day trial expires.

    Hexagon certainly will be easier for pure navigation when the icons at the bottom of the screen get fixed, but so far I've found that lo and behold, I have to learn peculiarities of how to use mouse buttons with SHIFT or ALT or CTRL for navigation in any 3D modeling program. And as for non-navigation purposes, I don't think you have to learn any hotkeys for Blender, because you can use the menus or the icons or in the 3D View tap the space bar and select the function you want by name. If you do choose to learn the hotkeys, you'll get stuff done much faster, but again that's true for any modeling program. As an extreme example, adjusting vertex points in 3D-Coat is unbelievably painful because you have to click a button to enter Selection mode, select a vertex, scroll the stack of buttons down to find the one that lets you move the vertex, possibly mess with gizmo orientation (which I think is another three steps I'll omit here), actually move the vertex, then scroll the button stack back up to find the Selection button again to re-enter selection mode so you can select the next vertex. It's ridiculous when it works as designed. To do this without wasting tons of time, you end up having to--guess what!--assign hotkeys to the Select and Transate functions, and maybe others.

    My experience with Hexagon (I'm learning it since it went free) is generally very, very good, much more pleasant than 3D-Coat, but there are some instances where it clears your selections for you when that's not what you want. If I remember correctly, I needed to be in one view to select the points or faces I wanted to move, but another view to move them as I wanted. Hex would clear my selections when I attempted to change the view using the onscreen widget. After painstakingly selecting just the right parts of my model, I have never had Blender just throw the selections away.

    To respond to the OP's question, Hexagon is free and it may be very convenient to use because of the bridge to DS. It is certainly more limited than Blender, but that is its charm for some--possibly many--users. Since both are free, why not try them both. Unfortunately the question of which modeling program is best for a person is totally subjective, and the only way to pick among multiple ones is to actually invest the time to learn the basics of each of the programs you want to compare.

    Post edited by Inkubo on
  • nonesuch00nonesuch00 Posts: 17,890

    If you have tried Blender recently you know the hotkeys have been improved so that you don't need an encyclopedic for many of them - many hotkeys in Blender now actually brings up a UI menu of choices, which for those menu entries you are given the hotkey to that function so if you pay a bit of attention to what you are doing you can't help but learn the hotkeys to the functions you use most often. You still might box model like I do but you'll know enough hot keys to get faster a making poor box models until you are decent at that too...LOL, one day, likely after your smart phone has the tech so that can take a 3D picture & convert and texture it and add morphs to it to whether it be a person, animal, plant, or objrct of another sort.

  • ebergerlyebergerly Posts: 3,255
    edited December 2017

    If you have tried Blender recently you know the hotkeys have been improved so that you don't need an encyclopedic for many of them -

    Yeah, I definitely think the hotkey thing is from the past, and in recent versions it's almost a non-issue. And this is from someone who HATES hotkeys, mainly because I use a lot of apps and can never remember them. I'd say 95% of most things the average user needs to do are quickly done via existing buttons or menu items. 

    Where Blender falls, in my opinion, is that it throws tons of functions together and front-and-center to the user, when in fact they should make only the most often used features visible, and the less used features under menus. The left hand menu is great, but it has far too many functions that I never use. 

    Because of that I've made my own tool bar using Python, with my most often used functions. For example, it has a single button which loads a base G3 character OBJ into the scene, with the correct scale, for when I make clothing. Press a button and G3 is there, posed and ready. The other critical thing to do is to set up preferences to make, for example, a left mouse button select instead of RMB. There are a handful of others that will help immensely. 

    Another great option is the free addon called Blender Sensei, which has basically re-vamped the functions and interface to make it DRASTICALLY more intuitive.  

    Post edited by ebergerly on
  • "Blender Sensei" yes that's the one I use, makes it a lot easier to use !

  • Oso3DOso3D Posts: 14,878

    As an aside, I found Mudbox EXTREMELY easy to grasp, and it’s $10/month.

    Modo Indie license through Steam is $15/mo, and also fairly easy to understand (not as easy as Mudbox, but can do way more)

     

  • JasmineSkunkJasmineSkunk Posts: 1,862
    edited December 2017

    HEY!!! Thanks everyone for all of the feedback!!! smiley You may have noticed that I have been somewhat MIA...

    I have been playing with Blender!! smileysmileysmiley

    Little back story:

    I mentioned I tried to learn before and had given up. Well, this was a few years ago, and back then Blender was a way bigger pain in the patootie than it is now. I would find myself clicking when I should drag or left clicking when I needed to right click and I just couldn't break myself from these left-clicking habits I had developed using various windows based software my whole life and to make matters even more maddening... there was no undo button. So, frustrated, I had completely given up on ever trying to learn Blender, knowing that I am clumsy and prone to rush to try to go as quickly as I'm thinking. It was just an incompatible software for me.

    But, back then, Hexagon wasn't any easier to figure out how to use because there was ABSOLUTELY NO documentation that was helpful in any way and all of the tutorials that I could find wanted $$$ to have access to them. I struggled for awhile with the few things I could find to help and I asked alot of questions... but, in the end, like I said, gave up.

    BUT

    Blender is better now!!! smiley It doesn't hate me anymore. I could switch it so it will let me left click to select!! And there's an Undo button!!

    Yea!! smileysmileysmiley 

    I'm actually having fun with it. I don't mind the shortcuts at all. The ones I've been introduced to are REALLY simple and easy to remember. "H" for hide. "B" for box, etc. Shift+click to select multiple "whatevers"...AND the commands are ALL THE SAME for every tool. I find it very easy to remember them (for some reason I don't even understand). 

    But I have encountered a little thing following the tutorial I've been using, that I am hoping someone can help me with.

    In the tutorial, I'm supposed to be able to go into the proportional editing mode and select the "random" setting to make the edge of my model, well... random. I've done the tutorial form beginning to end, following along EXACTLY about 6 times and my model looks just like his until I try to randomize. In mine it barely makes any random change at all. It only seems to be affecting the few points next to the point I click. In his it seems to make the whole object random. I'm not sure what I could be doing wrong.

    I've included the tutorial link I'm using... the part I'm stuck at begins around 33:00. Any help or suggestion would be greatly appreciated.

    And thanks again, everyone! 

    Post edited by JasmineSkunk on
  • ^Can't see the tut right now but are you sure your sphere of influence encompasses the whole object?  Scroll your mouse-wheel and you'll see the proportional editing circle get bigger/smaller.  (If you can't see it at all, then it's either tiny or bigger than your FOV at the moment.

    Proportional editing is a great tool (whether you want it random or not).

  • JasmineSkunkJasmineSkunk Posts: 1,862
    edited December 2017

    This is what happens when I do it:

     

    random.JPG
    1357 x 731 - 146K
    Post edited by JasmineSkunk on
  • Actually, that's the wrong one.. Here's what I wanted to send

    random2.JPG
    1363 x 766 - 159K
  • nonesuch00nonesuch00 Posts: 17,890
    edited December 2017

    HEY!!! Thanks everyone for all of the feedback!!! smiley You may have noticed that I have been somewhat MIA...

    I have been playing with Blender!! smileysmileysmiley

    Little back story:

    I mentioned I tried to learn before and had given up. Well, this was a few years ago, and back then Blender was a way bigger pain in the patootie than it is now. I would find myself clicking when I should drag or left clicking when I needed to right click and I just couldn't break myself from these left-clicking habits I had developed using various windows based software my whole life and to make matters even more maddening... there was no undo button. So, frustrated, I had completely given up on ever trying to learn Blender, knowing that I am clumsy and prone to rush to try to go as quickly as I'm thinking, it was just an incompatible software for me.

    But, back then, Hexagon wasn't any easier to figure out how to use because there was ABSOLUTELY NO documentation that was helpful in any way and all of the tutorials that I could find wanted $$$ to have access to them. I struggled for awhile with the few things I could find to help and I asked alot of questions... but, in the end, like I said, gave up.

    BUT

    Blender is better now!!! smiley It doesn't hate me anymore. I could switch it so it will let me left click to select!! And there's an Undo button.

    Yea!! smileysmileysmiley 

    I'm actually having fun with it. I don't mind the shortcuts at all. The ones I've been introduced to are REALLY simple and easy to remember. "H" for hide. "B" for box, etc. Shift+click to select multiple "whatevers"...AND the commands are ALL THE SAME for every tool. I find it very easy to remember them (for some reason I don't even understand). 

    But I have encountered a little thing following the tutorial I've been using, that I am hoping someone can help me with.

    In the tutorial, I'm supposed to be able to go into the proportional editing mode and select the "random" setting to make the edge of my model, well... random. I've done the tutorial form beginning to end, following along EXACTLY about 6 times and my model looks just like his until I try to randomize. In mine it barely makes any random change at all. It only seems to be affecting the few points next to the point I click. In his it seems to make the whole object random. I'm not sure what I could be doing wrong.

    I've included the tutorial link I'm using... the part I'm stuck at begins around 33:00. Any help or suggestion would be greatly appreciated.

    And thanks again, everyone! 

    I also prefer the way Blender does the shortcuts by default. They are clever for reducing accidental mouse confusion and I'm left handed so maybe they seem more natural although I mouse with my right hand.

    As far as your problem at minute 33 he didn't say he did it & I only watched the video in small screen embedded on the DAZ website but it looks like he must of selected an edge loop select (alt-RMB) before he did O (proportional-edit)-R (Random Mode) G (move) Z (on Z axis). So since proportial and random were active from the entire list is vertices in the edge loop it moved them on the Z axis random amounts.

    And I'll have to do his tutorials too he sounds like he enjoys it & that certainly helps the people trying to learn fom him.

    Post edited by nonesuch00 on
  • JasmineSkunkJasmineSkunk Posts: 1,862
    edited December 2017

    HEY!!! Thanks everyone for all of the feedback!!! smiley You may have noticed that I have been somewhat MIA...

    I have been playing with Blender!! smileysmileysmiley

    Little back story:

    I mentioned I tried to learn before and had given up. Well, this was a few years ago, and back then Blender was a way bigger pain in the patootie than it is now. I would find myself clicking when I should drag or left clicking when I needed to right click and I just couldn't break myself from these left-clicking habits I had developed using various windows based software my whole life and to make matters even more maddening... there was no undo button. So, frustrated, I had completely given up on ever trying to learn Blender, knowing that I am clumsy and prone to rush to try to go as quickly as I'm thinking, it was just an incompatible software for me.

    But, back then, Hexagon wasn't any easier to figure out how to use because there was ABSOLUTELY NO documentation that was helpful in any way and all of the tutorials that I could find wanted $$$ to have access to them. I struggled for awhile with the few things I could find to help and I asked alot of questions... but, in the end, like I said, gave up.

    BUT

    Blender is better now!!! smiley It doesn't hate me anymore. I could switch it so it will let me left click to select!! And there's an Undo button.

    Yea!! smileysmileysmiley 

    I'm actually having fun with it. I don't mind the shortcuts at all. The ones I've been introduced to are REALLY simple and easy to remember. "H" for hide. "B" for box, etc. Shift+click to select multiple "whatevers"...AND the commands are ALL THE SAME for every tool. I find it very easy to remember them (for some reason I don't even understand). 

    But I have encountered a little thing following the tutorial I've been using, that I am hoping someone can help me with.

    In the tutorial, I'm supposed to be able to go into the proportional editing mode and select the "random" setting to make the edge of my model, well... random. I've done the tutorial form beginning to end, following along EXACTLY about 6 times and my model looks just like his until I try to randomize. In mine it barely makes any random change at all. It only seems to be affecting the few points next to the point I click. In his it seems to make the whole object random. I'm not sure what I could be doing wrong.

    I've included the tutorial link I'm using... the part I'm stuck at begins around 33:00. Any help or suggestion would be greatly appreciated.

    And thanks again, everyone! 

    I also prefer the way Blender does the shortcuts by default. They are clever for reducing accidental mouse confusion and I'm left handed so maybe they seem more natural although I mouse with my right hand.

    As far as your problem at minute 33 he didn't say he did it & I only watched the video in small screen embedded on the DAZ website but it looks like he must of selected an edge loop select (alt-RMB) before he did O (proportional-edit)-R (Random Mode) G (move) Z (on Z axis)

    And I'll have to do his tutorials too he sounds like he enjoys it & that certainly helps the people trying to learn fom him.

    I thought that too and I tried to select the entire loop edge, but that results in no affect at all.

    And I'm left handed, too... and I mouse about right handed, too! LOL

    Post edited by JasmineSkunk on
  • nonesuch00nonesuch00 Posts: 17,890

    HEY!!! Thanks everyone for all of the feedback!!! smiley You may have noticed that I have been somewhat MIA...

    I have been playing with Blender!! smileysmileysmiley

    Little back story:

    I mentioned I tried to learn before and had given up. Well, this was a few years ago, and back then Blender was a way bigger pain in the patootie than it is now. I would find myself clicking when I should drag or left clicking when I needed to right click and I just couldn't break myself from these left-clicking habits I had developed using various windows based software my whole life and to make matters even more maddening... there was no undo button. So, frustrated, I had completely given up on ever trying to learn Blender, knowing that I am clumsy and prone to rush to try to go as quickly as I'm thinking, it was just an incompatible software for me.

    But, back then, Hexagon wasn't any easier to figure out how to use because there was ABSOLUTELY NO documentation that was helpful in any way and all of the tutorials that I could find wanted $$$ to have access to them. I struggled for awhile with the few things I could find to help and I asked alot of questions... but, in the end, like I said, gave up.

    BUT

    Blender is better now!!! smiley It doesn't hate me anymore. I could switch it so it will let me left click to select!! And there's an Undo button.

    Yea!! smileysmileysmiley 

    I'm actually having fun with it. I don't mind the shortcuts at all. The ones I've been introduced to are REALLY simple and easy to remember. "H" for hide. "B" for box, etc. Shift+click to select multiple "whatevers"...AND the commands are ALL THE SAME for every tool. I find it very easy to remember them (for some reason I don't even understand). 

    But I have encountered a little thing following the tutorial I've been using, that I am hoping someone can help me with.

    In the tutorial, I'm supposed to be able to go into the proportional editing mode and select the "random" setting to make the edge of my model, well... random. I've done the tutorial form beginning to end, following along EXACTLY about 6 times and my model looks just like his until I try to randomize. In mine it barely makes any random change at all. It only seems to be affecting the few points next to the point I click. In his it seems to make the whole object random. I'm not sure what I could be doing wrong.

    I've included the tutorial link I'm using... the part I'm stuck at begins around 33:00. Any help or suggestion would be greatly appreciated.

    And thanks again, everyone! 

    I also prefer the way Blender does the shortcuts by default. They are clever for reducing accidental mouse confusion and I'm left handed so maybe they seem more natural although I mouse with my right hand.

    As far as your problem at minute 33 he didn't say he did it & I only watched the video in small screen embedded on the DAZ website but it looks like he must of selected an edge loop select (alt-RMB) before he did O (proportional-edit)-R (Random Mode) G (move) Z (on Z axis)

    And I'll have to do his tutorials too he sounds like he enjoys it & that certainly helps the people trying to learn fom him.

    I thought that too and I tried to select the entire loop edge, but that results in no affect at all

    I will do tutorial tomorrow & see if I have your problem & post back here. Sorry but it won't be til tomorrow evening Eastern Standard Time.

  • HEY!!! Thanks everyone for all of the feedback!!! smiley You may have noticed that I have been somewhat MIA...

    I have been playing with Blender!! smileysmileysmiley

    Little back story:

    I mentioned I tried to learn before and had given up. Well, this was a few years ago, and back then Blender was a way bigger pain in the patootie than it is now. I would find myself clicking when I should drag or left clicking when I needed to right click and I just couldn't break myself from these left-clicking habits I had developed using various windows based software my whole life and to make matters even more maddening... there was no undo button. So, frustrated, I had completely given up on ever trying to learn Blender, knowing that I am clumsy and prone to rush to try to go as quickly as I'm thinking, it was just an incompatible software for me.

    But, back then, Hexagon wasn't any easier to figure out how to use because there was ABSOLUTELY NO documentation that was helpful in any way and all of the tutorials that I could find wanted $$$ to have access to them. I struggled for awhile with the few things I could find to help and I asked alot of questions... but, in the end, like I said, gave up.

    BUT

    Blender is better now!!! smiley It doesn't hate me anymore. I could switch it so it will let me left click to select!! And there's an Undo button.

    Yea!! smileysmileysmiley 

    I'm actually having fun with it. I don't mind the shortcuts at all. The ones I've been introduced to are REALLY simple and easy to remember. "H" for hide. "B" for box, etc. Shift+click to select multiple "whatevers"...AND the commands are ALL THE SAME for every tool. I find it very easy to remember them (for some reason I don't even understand). 

    But I have encountered a little thing following the tutorial I've been using, that I am hoping someone can help me with.

    In the tutorial, I'm supposed to be able to go into the proportional editing mode and select the "random" setting to make the edge of my model, well... random. I've done the tutorial form beginning to end, following along EXACTLY about 6 times and my model looks just like his until I try to randomize. In mine it barely makes any random change at all. It only seems to be affecting the few points next to the point I click. In his it seems to make the whole object random. I'm not sure what I could be doing wrong.

    I've included the tutorial link I'm using... the part I'm stuck at begins around 33:00. Any help or suggestion would be greatly appreciated.

    And thanks again, everyone! 

    I also prefer the way Blender does the shortcuts by default. They are clever for reducing accidental mouse confusion and I'm left handed so maybe they seem more natural although I mouse with my right hand.

    As far as your problem at minute 33 he didn't say he did it & I only watched the video in small screen embedded on the DAZ website but it looks like he must of selected an edge loop select (alt-RMB) before he did O (proportional-edit)-R (Random Mode) G (move) Z (on Z axis)

    And I'll have to do his tutorials too he sounds like he enjoys it & that certainly helps the people trying to learn fom him.

    I thought that too and I tried to select the entire loop edge, but that results in no affect at all

    I will do tutorial tomorrow & see if I have your problem & post back here. Sorry but it won't be til tomorrow evening Eastern Standard Time.

    That would be great!! That's fine. I appreciate it. Thanks. smiley

  • nonesuch00nonesuch00 Posts: 17,890

    HEY!!! Thanks everyone for all of the feedback!!! smiley You may have noticed that I have been somewhat MIA...

    I have been playing with Blender!! smileysmileysmiley

    Little back story:

    I mentioned I tried to learn before and had given up. Well, this was a few years ago, and back then Blender was a way bigger pain in the patootie than it is now. I would find myself clicking when I should drag or left clicking when I needed to right click and I just couldn't break myself from these left-clicking habits I had developed using various windows based software my whole life and to make matters even more maddening... there was no undo button. So, frustrated, I had completely given up on ever trying to learn Blender, knowing that I am clumsy and prone to rush to try to go as quickly as I'm thinking, it was just an incompatible software for me.

    But, back then, Hexagon wasn't any easier to figure out how to use because there was ABSOLUTELY NO documentation that was helpful in any way and all of the tutorials that I could find wanted $$$ to have access to them. I struggled for awhile with the few things I could find to help and I asked alot of questions... but, in the end, like I said, gave up.

    BUT

    Blender is better now!!! smiley It doesn't hate me anymore. I could switch it so it will let me left click to select!! And there's an Undo button.

    Yea!! smileysmileysmiley 

    I'm actually having fun with it. I don't mind the shortcuts at all. The ones I've been introduced to are REALLY simple and easy to remember. "H" for hide. "B" for box, etc. Shift+click to select multiple "whatevers"...AND the commands are ALL THE SAME for every tool. I find it very easy to remember them (for some reason I don't even understand). 

    But I have encountered a little thing following the tutorial I've been using, that I am hoping someone can help me with.

    In the tutorial, I'm supposed to be able to go into the proportional editing mode and select the "random" setting to make the edge of my model, well... random. I've done the tutorial form beginning to end, following along EXACTLY about 6 times and my model looks just like his until I try to randomize. In mine it barely makes any random change at all. It only seems to be affecting the few points next to the point I click. In his it seems to make the whole object random. I'm not sure what I could be doing wrong.

    I've included the tutorial link I'm using... the part I'm stuck at begins around 33:00. Any help or suggestion would be greatly appreciated.

    And thanks again, everyone! 

    I also prefer the way Blender does the shortcuts by default. They are clever for reducing accidental mouse confusion and I'm left handed so maybe they seem more natural although I mouse with my right hand.

    As far as your problem at minute 33 he didn't say he did it & I only watched the video in small screen embedded on the DAZ website but it looks like he must of selected an edge loop select (alt-RMB) before he did O (proportional-edit)-R (Random Mode) G (move) Z (on Z axis)

    And I'll have to do his tutorials too he sounds like he enjoys it & that certainly helps the people trying to learn fom him.

    I thought that too and I tried to select the entire loop edge, but that results in no affect at all

    I will do tutorial tomorrow & see if I have your problem & post back here. Sorry but it won't be til tomorrow evening Eastern Standard Time.

    That would be great!! That's fine. I appreciate it. Thanks. smiley

    I forgot to remind you that the 'strength' or 'size' of the proportial edit influence can be made larger or smaller by scrolling the MMB if I remember correctly so scroll MMB up (away from your palm) and see if that increases the influence of your random G-Z vertex moves.

  • HEY!!! Thanks everyone for all of the feedback!!! smiley You may have noticed that I have been somewhat MIA...

    I have been playing with Blender!! smileysmileysmiley

    Little back story:

    I mentioned I tried to learn before and had given up. Well, this was a few years ago, and back then Blender was a way bigger pain in the patootie than it is now. I would find myself clicking when I should drag or left clicking when I needed to right click and I just couldn't break myself from these left-clicking habits I had developed using various windows based software my whole life and to make matters even more maddening... there was no undo button. So, frustrated, I had completely given up on ever trying to learn Blender, knowing that I am clumsy and prone to rush to try to go as quickly as I'm thinking, it was just an incompatible software for me.

    But, back then, Hexagon wasn't any easier to figure out how to use because there was ABSOLUTELY NO documentation that was helpful in any way and all of the tutorials that I could find wanted $$$ to have access to them. I struggled for awhile with the few things I could find to help and I asked alot of questions... but, in the end, like I said, gave up.

    BUT

    Blender is better now!!! smiley It doesn't hate me anymore. I could switch it so it will let me left click to select!! And there's an Undo button.

    Yea!! smileysmileysmiley 

    I'm actually having fun with it. I don't mind the shortcuts at all. The ones I've been introduced to are REALLY simple and easy to remember. "H" for hide. "B" for box, etc. Shift+click to select multiple "whatevers"...AND the commands are ALL THE SAME for every tool. I find it very easy to remember them (for some reason I don't even understand). 

    But I have encountered a little thing following the tutorial I've been using, that I am hoping someone can help me with.

    In the tutorial, I'm supposed to be able to go into the proportional editing mode and select the "random" setting to make the edge of my model, well... random. I've done the tutorial form beginning to end, following along EXACTLY about 6 times and my model looks just like his until I try to randomize. In mine it barely makes any random change at all. It only seems to be affecting the few points next to the point I click. In his it seems to make the whole object random. I'm not sure what I could be doing wrong.

    I've included the tutorial link I'm using... the part I'm stuck at begins around 33:00. Any help or suggestion would be greatly appreciated.

    And thanks again, everyone! 

    I also prefer the way Blender does the shortcuts by default. They are clever for reducing accidental mouse confusion and I'm left handed so maybe they seem more natural although I mouse with my right hand.

    As far as your problem at minute 33 he didn't say he did it & I only watched the video in small screen embedded on the DAZ website but it looks like he must of selected an edge loop select (alt-RMB) before he did O (proportional-edit)-R (Random Mode) G (move) Z (on Z axis)

    And I'll have to do his tutorials too he sounds like he enjoys it & that certainly helps the people trying to learn fom him.

    I thought that too and I tried to select the entire loop edge, but that results in no affect at all

    I will do tutorial tomorrow & see if I have your problem & post back here. Sorry but it won't be til tomorrow evening Eastern Standard Time.

    That would be great!! That's fine. I appreciate it. Thanks. smiley

    I forgot to remind you that the 'strength' or 'size' of the proportial edit influence can be made larger or smaller by scrolling the MMB if I remember correctly so scroll MMB up (away from your palm) and see if that increases the influence of your random G-Z vertex moves.

    YES!!!!! That did it!!! Thank you sooooooooo much! It was driving me nuts!!! laughyes

  • Hey... I guess that's what you were trying to say, eh, Silent Winter? OK... I'm a dork. LOL smiley

  • Robert FreiseRobert Freise Posts: 4,247
    edited December 2017

    For Blender it really helps to do a few tutorials and get used to the keyboard shortcuts.  Once you do that, it's easy enough to use.  It's just a case of investing the time (if you've got it ;) )

    For things like uv-mapping, Blender is awesome and makes it easier (not really easy, just easier) IMO.

    Hexagon's nice too though - so maybe give both a go and see which you like.

    yeah, the keyboard part is what gets me everytime I try it. I wsh I could grasp Blender, but I always go running back to Max since it is what I know. Maybe one day

    I keep going back to C4D

    Post edited by Robert Freise on
  • Hey... I guess that's what you were trying to say, eh, Silent Winter? OK... I'm a dork. LOL smiley

    That's the one cheeky

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