[Bf-funboard] Blender and Yafray in German magazine LINUX MAGAZIN

[bürgi]

In the current (11/05) "Linux Magazin" (http://www.linux-magazin.de) 
includes a report about Blender and Yafray and other opensource 3d-software.
Blender summary:
+ Blender covers all steps needed in a 3d-production-process 
(modelling,texturing,anim,render)
+ postpro-possibilities
+ gameengine
+ outstanding advantage blenders speed, even topping commercial products 
(above all: Catmull-Clark-Subsurf)
+ fast and easy to use anim-features
+ GUI (OpenGL + hardware acceleration, scaleable, transparency without 
speed-reduction)
+ very stable
+ one of the most efficient open-source apps
+ huge community: many 3d-graphics, extensive doc, good support
- User Interface too cluttered + unorthodox (e.g. windows cluttered with 
many buttons and sliders instead of menus or dialogs) -> just for pros, 
deters common users
- missing consistence in user interface e.g. ALT+C / ALT+V instead of 
CTRL+C / CTRL+V for copy / paste
  (anybody knows what they mean with this? probably in text editor, but 
CTRL works here too)

Reason for UI: proprietary history of Blender: thought as a in-house 
product of Neo Geo.

But if you be patient you can learn the advantages of this excellent 
software

Yafray summary:
+ currently the best free renderer
+ extremely realistic and stylized images
+ yafray works noticeable more accurate than other apps: soft shadows, 
reflection, refraction according to Fresnel-algorithm
+ raytraces scattered and refracted light (Caustics)
+ Plugin-API
+ very good rendering quality, could match with software costing 
thousands dollars
+ the only open-source-raytracer, which is suitability for daily use
- like all raytracers: long rendering-times -> developers try to 
integrate the GPU (processor of the graphic-card) in the rendering-process.


I hope this summaries might be interesting, and the magazine includes 
more interesting articles about open-source 3D with Linux.
Even if i think the main disadvantage from Blender the "cluttered and 
unorthodox UI" isn't justified, Blenders UI is great, excellent, it's 
almost perfect.
It allows super fast and efficient work, and that's the only thing that 
matters.
<http://dict.tu-chemnitz.de/dings.cgi?o=7003;style=;iservice=en-de;query=procedure>