[Bf-funboard] Mouse versus hot keys

[Karl Kühberger]

What your daughter says is true: Blender could be much more intuitive.
My students (Blender beginners) come to the same conclusio.
Blender could give much more feedback to the user. In many cases
it should be easier to achieve what you are looking for, even if you
don't know millions of hotkeys and without searching in menues and
submenues.

The example about activating a camera is just one. I give another
little example:

If you have made a rendering, Blender doesn't give any help to the
user about what to do with the rendered image. The beginner even
cannot know, that Blender does not save the last rendered image,
but probably this is not so important. But Blender could offer a  frame
around the render image with a "Save" button and some additional
information like render format, size, ...

Karl



2009/2/17 Roger <hovergo at net-tech.com.au>:
> - 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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