Hacker News Reader

Comment by micmil | Hacker News Reader

Bullshit. This is like saying someone that trained in Java will struggle learning Python, or someone that learned with C will have a hard time picking up Rust. With a few exceptions (Houdini probably being the prime example) all 3d graphics tools work in the same fashion. The concepts and techniques are universal, the only difference is the implementation.

If you have even a modicum of experience with one thing, you can pick the other up in an afternoon and be up to speed within a week.

View on HN

> The concepts and techniques are universal, the only difference is the implementation.

only someone who hasn't really used the tool in anger and mastered it would claim this. I can't even switch to eclipse from intellij and not have a huge productivity hit for several months. and that's just typing code! A real 3D modeller would have so much muscle memory for their modelling app of choice it't not funny.

I've been trying to learn SolidWorks, coming from Autodesm Inventor, and I can confirm- it's really hard to switch- SolidWorks is more powerful, even, and is better at what I want to do- and I've only been using Inventor off and on for around 4 years.

I can only imagine what it would be like to switch from something that you've used a flavor of for your whole career to something entirely new, and 3D modelling for animations is way more complex than what I've ever dealt with.

That's a little bit different. A LOT of CAD software is built on decades-old legacy ways of doing things because old people won't retire and can't be bothered to learn new and better ways of operating. It's much less focused on artistic creation and more on engineering. As a result CAD software wants you to work in a specific way with it. Order of operations is extremely important and can be different from one package to another.

Keeping it in a programming paradigm, CAD is more like assembly. It's different from platform to platform and even if you know one there's no guarantee you can make another work. Contrast that with 3d modeling packages which mostly use the same concepts, and order of operations rarely matters.

Ohhhhhhh. That makes a lot of sense- and now I'm frustrated because it probably won't ever change that much because there will always be an older generation.

I understand why people use Blender as a CAD package a lot more now, thanks!

Yes, exactly this.

As someone who had a prior career in VFX using mostly Autodesk and Adobe software, there are people who spend their whole career in one of these packages and have a lot of difficulty becoming fluent in a second one.

They are designed with completely different metaphors and workflows and yes, the end result is always pixels, but learning multiple high end creative software is nothing like learning different programming languages.

If those people ever actually put in the effort they'd find all the same tools just under different names. While it may take a while to get the nuances down at the end of the day they all do the same things. It's simply a matter of adapting your existing skill to a new workflow.

Just like a programming language.

We need to compare Apples with apples here. VFX is like programming languages,while the software(Maya, SOLIDWORKS, Blender) are like IDEs ( Eclipse, Intellij). The principles behind VFX software are universal, however one should be able to get going by simply reading a decent book about the package.

Companies don't really put too much emphasis on tools that someone has used when hiring. It's nice if they have expertise in some areas but mostly people are hired for the quality of their work and they will learn new software depending on what the company uses.

Well shit I guess my 20+ years of professional experience means I'm not a "real" 3d modeller because some twat on the internet has never actually used a 3d modeling application in their life and has no clue how they actually function.

I'm sorry you're so shit at your job that switching IDEs screws you up. Not all of us are so incompetent.

>If you have even a modicum of experience with one thing, you can pick the other up in an afternoon and be up to speed within a week.

Have you found this to be true in your experience?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com