Blender vs. TS

[RAYMAN]

That's why I'm looking for other software now. I'd like everything good but if have to choose I'll take good tools and a lousy UI.

What are several of the non-Blender free, or really cheap, programs? Ones that are a jack-of-all-trades like TS or Blender. That is, they have most of the 3D tools and aren't only specialists.

No you dont have to choose ! And you dont need the mega bucks .......
As modelers Silo for 150 $ plus Moi3d for 200 $ and Sketchup for free and 3d Coat for painting and sculpting and voxels those together kickass Maya for lots less bucks.
All you need then is a) something to render where Kerky does a good job for free (but you have lots of options from unbiased Maxwell, Fryrender to Vray or Thea
but its all optional... you could even use the carrara 6 pro from the cd cover edition which has a very good renderer...(for mag price)
and b) for animation you also have good and free options with daz studio and animate plus and animeeple.... lots of easy to use programs that together cost you less then Maya or Max and are MUCH easier to use....
You have to invest some money to get easy to use but the you have to do that for photography too !

[moogaloonie]

"Questions:
- Does the EULA allow commercial use?
- Does it have particles?
- Are there many plugins available and what is the typical quality of them?
- What are some known bugs or problems with it?"

Yes, blender can be and is used commercially.
Yes, it has particles and they will be improved in the next version.
There are many user created scripts available, and as should be expected their level of quality varies according to how active the author is, severity of problems and frequency of use.
Mostly the UI being non-standard, some exported formats not working in specific programs. Comparable to most any application.

[compPanda]

There is a lot of discussion about a "better" interface in Blender 2.5 but I still haven't seen any real prof of how this "better" interface would look. There is sketches and suggestion and mockups but no one seams to know exactly how it will look - which is very strange since you can download test builds easily on Blenders site. But last time I did that, for about 6 month ago, the UI was exactly the same as in the current official release - no change at all.
The developers of Blender will not change it to much because that would annoy their current userbase who knows the current interface. So even if it becomes a bit better it will not be Truespace..

Sorry, apparently they have recently made the new UI public at Siggraph. Sorry for not reading up....

Honestly, what I am hoping for is a new startup 3D project in the open source world. Unfortunaley there isn't really any such project as far as I know. However, lets hope for something. We all know how much better both KDE and Gnome have become because of the competition. Of course, Blender has a lot of payware competitor but the befefit of open source is of course that it can't be bought and killed of like Truespace was.

[Steinie]

So you can read about the announcement

http://www.blendernation.com/blender-2- ... announced/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[compPanda]

So you can read about the announcement

http://www.blendernation.com/blender-2- ... announced/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Yep, I noticed that. Lets hope that the new UI is better.
It still looks a bit overwhelming but I want to try it to make a better opinion about what I think.

[RAYMAN]

Yes no one ........ LOL !
OOOOOOO whats that that must have sneaked into my puter
USED it ... like it !but its not finished !

[compPanda]

Yes no one ........ LOL !
OOOOOOO whats that that must have sneaked into my puter
USED it ... like it !but its not finished !

Well, the result seams very good at least...

[RAYMAN]

Want to look at some work in progress ?
lot of functionality not in there but its coming along pretty well !
http://www.graphicall.org/builds/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;