[Bf-funboard] Mouse versus hot keys

Roger hovergo at net-tech.com.au
Tue Feb 17 07:34:37 CET 2009


- Response from Roger's  daughter...

What we are all striving for, with Blender, are ways to make it much more 
intuitive and easy to use.  Everyone that uses it, does so for their own
purposes, and everyone has different perspectives on what will make it easier 
and faster to use.
We are all entitled to our opinions, yet we are all stuck in the same boat and 
wanting to achieve the highest standard program with world-first ideas and a 
usability currently unknown.

I use Blender on a laptop  and I have to hit 3 separate buttons to get into 
camera view (Fn>Ctrl>0), this alone could be trimmed down to a single mouse 
click. With a fast paced, dynamic program like Blender we should endeavour to 
make it faster and easier.

The mouse should be embraced and accepted as another way of achieving the same 
results as the hot keys. But on that note, most programs rely too heavily on the 
mouse and I agree that Blender is 'one-up' on those. Hot keys are dire, but for 
some functions, key presses can be trimmed back to a single mouse click making 
the entire "world" of Blender a stand-out and dynamic program.
I have used Flash for over 10 years, and it wasn't until I began using Blender 
that I realised how fast hot keys actually are. Now I use the hot keys in Flash 
and my classmates at Uni say "You use Flash exactly the same as you use the 3D 
one." So the fast-pace use of hot keys definitely stands out to people who 
haven't considered using them, now they have begun using programs' hot keys and 
have realised how productive they are.

I am studying my final year of my Games course at University this year, and I 
have been told that I won't get a job in the games industry if I can't use a 
"industry standard" 3D modeling program like 3D Max or Maya.
What makes them "industry standard" is questionable. After using 3D Max for some 
time, I now refuse to use it due to it's clunky-ness. Blender, on the other 
hand, is streamlined and neat. I know that games companies will have trouble 
recognising Blender until it is a popular alternative, so I am stuck, against my 
will, putting 3D Max on my CV.

Like games companies, people get scared to learn something new unless it is all 
in front of them on the interface. At uni, I was classed as a weirdo when I used 
Blender instead of 3D Max, I have lost count of how many times people have said 
things like "Oh your using MS Paint 3D," or "That s*** program, you can't do 
anything with it." I'm stubborn enough to not listen and I have the projects 
done in quarter of the time it takes them to do it.  Many of my lecturers scoff 
at Blender, and were surprised that it had a built in 3D games engine, but I was 
forced, against my will, to use Unreal Tournament 3 "because it's an industry 
standard and no-one uses Blender."

The one thing that will make Blender become the popular alternative is ease.
As proficient computer users, we absorb information and it becomes 
second-knowledge, like hot keys, we all know that if we press r x 180 we're 
rotating an object 180 degrees on the x axis. That's simple, and once we've 
figured that out, it sticks and we don't need to think about it. But people are 
scared off by the lack of on-screen information and look for menus and icons to 
solve their problems. People don't use the keyboard unless it's a word 
processor, so it's a huge leap for them to realise that a 3D program uses SPACE 
for the main menu.
Mouse clicking will confirm in their mind that something useful is happening, 
even if it is something that two or more key strokes can do.

~ Sonia


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