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Comment by mungoid | Hacker News Reader

Before 2.5 I hated the UI. But after 2.5, I realized I could work so much faster once I learned the keys and layout. I have used 3ds Max for years and even knowing a lot about that software, I still find myself exporting to blender so I can do something. Usually I can do something in blender with only a couple key presses where in other software I have to click a few different buttons in various popup windows, etc.

I do think some of the UI needs to be a little more logical, but aside from that I honestly want to see their UI in more.

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it's basically the vi of 3d modellers (:

I wouldn't call it vi. I'd call it the Windows API of 3d modelers.

vi is easy. Type vi file.txt

1. To delete, type x. 2. To insert, type a. 3. To save and quit, type ZZ. 4. To move up, down, right left (in "classic" vi), use "KJLH"

There. You can be productive.

Not fully, but enough to get basics done.

To use blender's relatively basic tools, say to draw a glass wall, you need a step by step guide, using quite obscure commands.

Reminds me of Windows API (or GIMP, by the way)

It is very close to vi/vim's philosophy - different modes for different task, key bindings are mnemonics, you combine basic commands to more complex tasks. Even window manipulation is the same with the hierarchy of content->splits as viewports->layouts.

It is harder to do work without understanding these concepts in blender because editing text is simpler, though.

> To save and quit, type ZZ

I've been a 100% Vim user for ... man, 6 years? Including partial vim usage for another few years before that? And `ZZ` is entirely new to me haha.

This is a weird problem for me with Vim. I love it, but it's an issue of "i don't know what i don't know".

I really need to setup a Vim "key combo of the day" or something. Preferably something that has a JSON API so that i can pipe it into my vim-startify.

Main problem is that buttons are reallly all over the place, without some logical consistency. Maybe menus or even a command line would make more sense

They are all broken down into nice tabs and subcategories, if you can't find something use the spacebar menu to search all commands.

A commandline is also available using the python console.

Yeah I remember the big switch from 2.49 to 2.5 with the UI redesign. Took some getting used to but honestly it's quite well thought out, pretty good looking, and productive. The modal aspect is a little weird especially if you're not used to vim, but it's definitely one of the better designed UIs IMO.

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