Friday, September 27th, 2013 Posted by Jim Thacker

Video: why Blender’s interface is ‘broken’

Blender Guru’s Andrew Price has recorded a video saying what, for many Blender users, will be the unsayable – and what, for many non-Blender-users, will be obvious – that the software isn’t always user-friendly.

“In the past, I dismissed the critics of Blender’s user interface as just ignorant,” says Price. “But recently, I’ve found myself becoming more and more confused and lost in Blender, unsure of what half the buttons do.”

Constructive criticism, thoroughly researched
Prompted by the realisation – and by feedback from former subscribers to his mailing list who have switched to other 3D software – Price produced 30-minute video explaining how Blender’s UI and workflow could be improved.

Throughout, he emphasises that he intends his comments as constructive criticism, and that it is as much the responsibility of the user to report workflow issues as it is of the developers to resolve them.

Rather than a torrent of abuse, the feedback on Blender community sites has been largely positive: a testament to how thoroughly researched the video is, and how persuasively Price makes his points.

Have your say
You can read a full transcript of the video on the Blender Guru site via the link below, along with a user survey addressing questions raised in the video.

Even if you don’t use Blender, it’s well worth skimming through: there are a lot of interesting points about usability and user interface design that apply equally to any 3D application.

Read a transcript of the video and fill in the user survey on Blender Guru