New to Blender

[Metra322]

How easy is it to use Blender? I would like to give blender a shot on making custom scenery objects.

[pwillard]

https://github.com/pwillard/ebook-ORTSBCCN/blob/main/ORTS-CC-Notebook.pdf

Try starting with this

[superheatedsteam]

Learning Blender is as easy as learning a guitar. The more time you spend doing it the better you get.

Also do not be overwhelmed by all the options in Blender, you only need to learn a handful of tools in Blender in order to make any scenery object you want.

Have you looked at any Blender Absolute Beginners cources on youtube? Once you know the basics there are many beginner tutorials on how to make low poly buildings in Blender.

If you have any questions, just post and someone is sure to answer.

Cheers,

Marek.

[TrainGuy6550]

But it is isn't that bland...

[yellowdog]

Looks like spellcheck has blinders

[eric]

and that's fixed now....

Blender's got a learning curve to it but you can make up for some of that with scripting.

[LuFeDuTi]

I enjoy modeling and would like to learn how to use Blender. I currently use Trimble's SketchUp because it's easier for modeling, but I'd like to know if Blender can be made more like SketchUp for easier use. I'm going to show an image of something I'm working on that's not for OpenRails or MSTS, but for another Simulator. It's a fictional Chicago train called CTCR or Chicago Transportation Commuter Rai
CTCR.pngI have Illinois, which is my favorite state for ATS, and I didn't like seeing the city of Chicago with trains that weren't real. I saw a freight train stopped, as well as a fictional Amtrak passenger train stopped at LaSalle Street Station. Not to mention that this same fictional Amtrak train goes through Van Buren Street, which looks nothing like the Chicago commuter rail. Seeing that left me perplexed. I know it's a truck simulator, but it doesn't look like Chicago.

[pwillard]

Blender and SketchUp share many core concepts, but they ultimately serve different audiences and functions. To me, it's not worth the effort to make Blender behave more SketchUp-like, as comfort can be gained by 1) just using Blender and getting familiar with the tools, 2) ignoring most of the Blender "cockpit" and focusing on the "Layout", "Shading," and "UV Layout" tabs. Like any complex thing, it requires practice and perseverance, and then, after a while, you realize you no longer feel compelled to open SketchUp.

The thing is, Blender can be used "plain vanilla" or can be augmented with convenient add-ons that make complex or time-consuming tasks a breeze, so you can focus on what you want to do... modeling and texturing. Blender is extremely configurable, and you *could* attempt to make it more like SketchUp. I just don't recommend that route.

Others have tried to make the transition easier by making Blender more SketchUp-like, but that was ages ago, and it looks like that Blender solution was abandoned for reasons I explained.

Still, you can import SketchUp files into Blender and use them as a starting point for new projects.

And I get it, opening up Blender is more like walking into a Boeing 747 Cockpit than the more simplified SketchUp user interface, but Blender is designed to do way more things and it shows.

Best to just learn Blender through regular usage, though.