I know this is the classic eye-roll question, but is support planned for linux/desktop devices? I imagine the future android app could be used via waydroid but seeing how VLC could bridge the gap, perhaps?
This is excellent news. So many artists are now using procreate on iPad Pros as their primary platform. I do not miss the days of using puppet to juggle the configs of various overly expensive and user hostile dcc software. The barrier to entry used to be so high for designers.
I'm building my own polygon modeling app for iOS as a side-project [0], so I feel a bit conflicted.
Getting fully featured Blender on the iPad will be amazing for things like Grease Pencil (drawing in 3D) or texture painting, but on the other hand my side-project just became a little bit less relevant.
I'll have to take a look at whether I can make some contributions to Blender.
Having been in the app development game for a long time, I know the feeling but have also learned to realize that this is actually not a negative; it means there's a strong signal that there's a desire for 3D apps on these touch devices. Competition can be really good. And your app has the ability to be more focused vs a legacy app that has to please a very large user-base who've come to expect it to behave a certain way.
Speaking of interfaces, when will we have one that works just by thinking—something less intrusive than Neuralink—that lets us control not just Blender, but the entire computer? I think my productivity would increase a lot...
> The initial platform where this idea will be tested is the Apple iPad Pro with Apple Pencil, followed by Android and other graphic tablets in the future.
Asus has been releasing year after year two performance beast, with a very portable form factor, multi-touch support and top of the line mobile CPUs and GPUs: the X13 and Z13
Considering the Surface Pro line also gets the newest Rizen AI chips with up to 32Gb of RAM, having them as second class citizen is kinda sad.
PS: blender already runs fine as-is on these machines. But getting a new touch paradigm would be extremely nice, and would be a better test best than a new platform IMHO.
I used some build of blender on windows mobile, crazy how efficiently it worked on 400Mhz HTC Niki, just the screen size, so the performance part seems to be done since forever :D
I haven't done much designing. Starting with a cube and sculpting, transforming seems the Blender's approach. Are there any other approaches for designing 3-D shapes and assembling them?
Basically, Blender says "start with a cube". I want to ask why and what are the other options.
There are many approaches. For example, constructive solid geometry, where you use boolean operations on simple 3D shapes to create a more complex object. Another one is the extrusion of 2D shapes, which adds volume to 2D shapes.
My main tool is OpenSCAD, as I am a programmer and I model for 3D printing, which support both CSG and extrusion, but not the mesh manipulation like Blender.
One paradigm is not better than the other. Blender is nice for modelling, for example, characters, but it's really painful for doing precise shapes. For modelling multi-part action figures for 3D printing you'll need both things, sometimes modelling something in a tool and finishing it in other
Having a UI/UX for tablets is awesome, especially for sculpting (zBrush launched their iPad version last year - but since Maxon bought it, all is subscription only).
I joined the Blender development fund last year, they do pretty awesome stuff.
Replying mainly to the title - but I'm surprised VR based 3D modeling never took off. I've only dabbled with blender, I know it's a powerful tool, but the learning curve just to navigate the interface is steep - compared to some creativity VR programs which felt instantly intuitive for 3D modeling. I guess for a professional digital artist, having fine technical control of your program is more important.
I really want to be able to pencil write on the coding apps on the go, now that handwritting reckognition has gotten good enough, but so far most of them provide a very lame experience.
It is like people don't really think out of the box on how to take advantage of new mediums.
Same applies to all those AI chat boxes, I don't want to type even more, I want to plain talk with my computer, or have AI based workflows integrated into tooling that feel like natural interactions.
I think it just depends on preferences. For me typing is significantly more "natural" than writing with a pen/pencil, which I've probably resorted to less than once a month over the last few years.
Maybe the problem is just impossible or maybe AI assistance will solve it but it's crazy to me how complex 3d software like Blender/Maya/3DSMax/Houdini etc still are. There are 1000s and 1000s and 1000s of settings, Deep hierarchies of complexity. And mostly to build things that people built without computers and only a couple a few tools in the past. I had hoped VR (or AR) might some how magically make this all more approachable but no, it's not much easier in VR/AR. The only tool I've seen in the last 30 years that was semi easy was the Spore Creature creator though of course it had super limits.
I guess my hope now is that rather than select all the individual tools I just want AI to help me. At one level it might be it trying to recognize jestures as shapes. You draw a near circle, it makes it a perfect circle. Lots of apps have tried this. unfortunately they are so finicky and then you still need options to turn it off when you actually don't want a perfect circle. Add more features like that and you're back to an impenetrable app. That said, maybe if I could speak it. I draw a circle like sketch and say "make it a circle"?
But it's not just that, trying to model almost anything just takes soooooooooo long. You've got learn face selection, vertex selection, edge selection, extrusion options, chamfer options, bevel options, mirroring options, and on and on, and that's just the geometry for geometric based things (furniture, vehicles, buildings, appliances). Then you have to setup UVs, etc.....
And it gets worse for characters and organic things.
The process hasn't changed significantly since the mid-90s AFAICT. I leared 3ds in 95. I learned Maya in 2000. They're still basically the same apps 25-30 years later. And Blender fits right in in being just as giant and complex. Certain things have changed, sculpting like z-brush. Node geometry like Houdini. And lots of generators for buildings, furniture, plants, trees. But the basics are still the same, still tedious, still need 1000s of options.
Couldn't this be said for any creative software, e.g., After Effects, IDEs, DAWs, NLEs, Photoshop, Illustrator, etc... and even a few non-creative applications like Word and Excel? (To your point, I do think 3D modeling software is the most complicated of all of these, but I think as a general rule, the complexity is more similar between these software categories versus other categories like Mail, Notes, etc...)
For my part, I think this is because to do good creative work you need minute control, and minute control essentially just means adding lots of controls to software. Sure you can mediate this with AI, the learning curve especially, but that only really helps unskilled workers and hinders skilled workers (e.g., a slider is a more efficient way for a skilled user to get an exact exposure, rather than trying to communicate that with an AI). And I don't really think there's a need for software where unskilled users have a high-degree of control (i.e., skill and control are practically synonyms).
> It's begging for disruption to something easier.
This assumes the complexity is incidental rather than inherent. I think the problem is similar to how Reality has a surprising amount of detail[1]. AI will likely eventually make a dent in this, but I think as an artist you tend to want a lot of granular control over the final result, and 3D modeling+texturing+animation+rendering (which is still only a subset of what Blender does) really does have a whole lot of details you can, and want to, control.
Anyone else having issues with the videos playback? They don’t play at all on iPhone. Interaction design part is the most interesting for me, I’m curious to see what the team has come up with.
This is a little bit folly IMO. A mouse and keyboard provide a less fatiguing and more precise mechanism for the type of 3D that Blender can do. What I imagine they will find is that the act of "tabletizing" Blender will force it to simplify its workflows. You can already see it in the screens. This will downgrade the power that Blender has, confuse the existing users, and generally serve nobody best.
If they insist on doing it, it would be a good idea to rebrand it so expectations are in line with what a tablet interface enables/prevents.
It's like saying "People with their mouths full of food couldn't perform Shakespeare so we translated Hamlet to a maximum of 2 syllable words. Now everyone can perform Shakespeare."
I'm not sure exactly what that means, intuitively I agree with your comment, but I guess the ZBrush port acts as a data point that's at least a partial counterargument (only partial because, e.g., Maxon hasn't ported Cinema 4D, which is more directly analogous to Blender).
I'm really curious about the ZBrush port, e.g., is that really because customers were asking for it (or usage data from Maxon's own iPad-only [acquired] app Forger indicated there was interest)? Or is it a defensive move trying prevent an Innovator's Dilemma-style disruption from the bottom from an app like Nomad Sculpt https://nomadsculpt.com?
I don't know about this. Compare Blender 2.8 to 2.7. A big part of the ui revamp was exposing formally menu/hotkey only stuff into the viewport UI. Things like selecting which orthographic view angle needed the numpad before, you can still do that but they added a nice minimal GUI for doing it too. Things in general got easier with the mouse, but it didn't take away from the powerful vim-like keyboard controls.
> To support Blender’s mission of making 3D technology accessible to everyone
If accessibility is a priority for Blender, then they should absolutely be trying this. This isn’t going to be taking away the keyboard/mouse control that currently exists. The point is to give people, who (for whatever reason) can’t use a keyboard and mouse, a tool that they don’t currently have access to. There is also a large segment of the younger user base whose primary interface to computing is a tablet. This has the potential to open a whole new market of users for Blender.
Give them a little credit… I don’t think Blender is going to “downgrade” their existing workflows. For this tablet/pen project, who knows what kind of UI/UX they will have - it could be great. Plus, it is important for a project like Blender to have the freedom to experiment, otherwise you end up with a static ecosystem.
But, honestly, why wouldn’t you want Blender to make 3D work available to others who prefer to work with a different set of input devices? If that tool ends up as a “Blender Lite”, who cares? It may not be useful to you, but it will be useful to someone else. And maybe they find a new feature that will be useful to you in the process.
Based on the title I expected Blender to present their own programming language, something like OpenSCAD. But then they started talking about multi-touch interfaces..
40 comments
[ 2.8 ms ] story [ 62.7 ms ] threadGetting fully featured Blender on the iPad will be amazing for things like Grease Pencil (drawing in 3D) or texture painting, but on the other hand my side-project just became a little bit less relevant.
I'll have to take a look at whether I can make some contributions to Blender.
[0] https://apps.apple.com/nl/app/shapereality-3d-modeling/id674...
Blender has a pretty big learning curve. Since your app has a much narrower focus, you can still make something a lot of people will use.
Asus has been releasing year after year two performance beast, with a very portable form factor, multi-touch support and top of the line mobile CPUs and GPUs: the X13 and Z13
https://rog.asus.com/laptops/rog-flow-series/?items=20392
Considering the Surface Pro line also gets the newest Rizen AI chips with up to 32Gb of RAM, having them as second class citizen is kinda sad.
PS: blender already runs fine as-is on these machines. But getting a new touch paradigm would be extremely nice, and would be a better test best than a new platform IMHO.
I got a Lenovo Yoga precisely because it has a good drawing experience and the Lunar Lake Intel SoCs that have GPU acceleration in Blender.
It makes navigating 3D spaces so much easier with keyboard and mouse.
Basically, Blender says "start with a cube". I want to ask why and what are the other options.
My main tool is OpenSCAD, as I am a programmer and I model for 3D printing, which support both CSG and extrusion, but not the mesh manipulation like Blender.
One paradigm is not better than the other. Blender is nice for modelling, for example, characters, but it's really painful for doing precise shapes. For modelling multi-part action figures for 3D printing you'll need both things, sometimes modelling something in a tool and finishing it in other
Having a UI/UX for tablets is awesome, especially for sculpting (zBrush launched their iPad version last year - but since Maxon bought it, all is subscription only).
I joined the Blender development fund last year, they do pretty awesome stuff.
I really want to be able to pencil write on the coding apps on the go, now that handwritting reckognition has gotten good enough, but so far most of them provide a very lame experience.
It is like people don't really think out of the box on how to take advantage of new mediums.
Same applies to all those AI chat boxes, I don't want to type even more, I want to plain talk with my computer, or have AI based workflows integrated into tooling that feel like natural interactions.
I guess my hope now is that rather than select all the individual tools I just want AI to help me. At one level it might be it trying to recognize jestures as shapes. You draw a near circle, it makes it a perfect circle. Lots of apps have tried this. unfortunately they are so finicky and then you still need options to turn it off when you actually don't want a perfect circle. Add more features like that and you're back to an impenetrable app. That said, maybe if I could speak it. I draw a circle like sketch and say "make it a circle"?
But it's not just that, trying to model almost anything just takes soooooooooo long. You've got learn face selection, vertex selection, edge selection, extrusion options, chamfer options, bevel options, mirroring options, and on and on, and that's just the geometry for geometric based things (furniture, vehicles, buildings, appliances). Then you have to setup UVs, etc.....
And it gets worse for characters and organic things.
The process hasn't changed significantly since the mid-90s AFAICT. I leared 3ds in 95. I learned Maya in 2000. They're still basically the same apps 25-30 years later. And Blender fits right in in being just as giant and complex. Certain things have changed, sculpting like z-brush. Node geometry like Houdini. And lots of generators for buildings, furniture, plants, trees. But the basics are still the same, still tedious, still need 1000s of options.
It's begging for disruption to something easier.
For my part, I think this is because to do good creative work you need minute control, and minute control essentially just means adding lots of controls to software. Sure you can mediate this with AI, the learning curve especially, but that only really helps unskilled workers and hinders skilled workers (e.g., a slider is a more efficient way for a skilled user to get an exact exposure, rather than trying to communicate that with an AI). And I don't really think there's a need for software where unskilled users have a high-degree of control (i.e., skill and control are practically synonyms).
This assumes the complexity is incidental rather than inherent. I think the problem is similar to how Reality has a surprising amount of detail[1]. AI will likely eventually make a dent in this, but I think as an artist you tend to want a lot of granular control over the final result, and 3D modeling+texturing+animation+rendering (which is still only a subset of what Blender does) really does have a whole lot of details you can, and want to, control.
[1] http://johnsalvatier.org/blog/2017/reality-has-a-surprising-...
And there are also add-ons around that: https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/latest/addons/3d_view/vr_...
https://openbrush.app/
If they insist on doing it, it would be a good idea to rebrand it so expectations are in line with what a tablet interface enables/prevents.
It's like saying "People with their mouths full of food couldn't perform Shakespeare so we translated Hamlet to a maximum of 2 syllable words. Now everyone can perform Shakespeare."
https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/latest/advanced/app_templ...
So touchscreen support will be like a mode you can switch on. I don't think desktop users will be affected.
I think it’s really cool for Blender to be experimenting with UX given its incredible stature as an OSS project.
If Blender does this well it could change the landscape and culture of OSS.
Of course there are risks but fortune favors the bold.
As long as they are honest with themselves and the users about what it is capable of, great.
But it feels like some UX people got the steering wheel and are taking everyone on a joyride.
I'm not sure exactly what that means, intuitively I agree with your comment, but I guess the ZBrush port acts as a data point that's at least a partial counterargument (only partial because, e.g., Maxon hasn't ported Cinema 4D, which is more directly analogous to Blender).
I'm really curious about the ZBrush port, e.g., is that really because customers were asking for it (or usage data from Maxon's own iPad-only [acquired] app Forger indicated there was interest)? Or is it a defensive move trying prevent an Innovator's Dilemma-style disruption from the bottom from an app like Nomad Sculpt https://nomadsculpt.com?
If accessibility is a priority for Blender, then they should absolutely be trying this. This isn’t going to be taking away the keyboard/mouse control that currently exists. The point is to give people, who (for whatever reason) can’t use a keyboard and mouse, a tool that they don’t currently have access to. There is also a large segment of the younger user base whose primary interface to computing is a tablet. This has the potential to open a whole new market of users for Blender.
Give them a little credit… I don’t think Blender is going to “downgrade” their existing workflows. For this tablet/pen project, who knows what kind of UI/UX they will have - it could be great. Plus, it is important for a project like Blender to have the freedom to experiment, otherwise you end up with a static ecosystem.
But, honestly, why wouldn’t you want Blender to make 3D work available to others who prefer to work with a different set of input devices? If that tool ends up as a “Blender Lite”, who cares? It may not be useful to you, but it will be useful to someone else. And maybe they find a new feature that will be useful to you in the process.
But they gave the impression it would be Blender.
could be really powerful in conjunction with blender being supported on iPad (and possibly iphone).