hello ton

it's really over ambitious for me to try to reach you but anyway i hope so.and if you come to read it .i hope that i will not waste your time for nothing.

i recently tried to learn blender and actually was always trying to do so.but there is always something that blocks my way into it.

we all see incredible blender features on youtube.but when we open blender i and i think a lot of other people can't break the glass.

and there is a reason...andrew price stated that there is no communication between the user and the developper regarding usabilty and workflow of the UI.

you quickly replied as everything was added for the artist and was programed for the artist and even for the best users you can have hired during a long beta testing programe

wich is the openmovie project.wich is an incredebly clever idea so ,along side the artists gaining experience , you see what's the real production needs for the artists ,and how the artists

want it to be.to help them do that task or resolve the issue the easist possible and as fast as possible.you are right.

But there is one *Big issue with that...first of all before highliting this issue...let's step back a second.and ask our self...what is blender?...what is it intended for?

what's the ambtion of blender?...do you want blender to be a tool integrated on the most prestigious VFX and animations studios? or is it a toy for beginners that can't afford Maya

or Max or what ever other package, until they realize that they should learn another software to get a job? what i'm pretty sure off is youve done a phenomenal job on core features.

i will assume that for you sucess for blender is taking off 50% of the market share of multi billion VFX studios.so you get atleast a fraction of 3K per license donation when replacing

completly autodesks products.and be the famous most beloved 3d software over the world.blender have the potential for that...and that's one thing i'm completly sure off.

So now let's highlight the *Big issue i was talking about...it's the "TARGET OF THE PRODUCT"...you were having "the best blender users you can find" and building for them.

and around them...so you built a "PRODUCT FOR SOME DECENT BLENDER USERS"...now with all the respect to their artistc ablities and conception of a fast workflow.

the best animation/VFX studios in the world hire the best artists in the world to make the best movies in the world .now if i wanted to let the best artists in the world adopt blender.wich are certainly using max maya or softimage

or some inhouse tools.we should listen to what do they expect from a 3D package to be.what are the tools they already use.what do they like about it and what they don't .

1/after gathering all the information about your new "TARGET" (best artists on the market)...you will have an idea about their habits and workflow.you will be able

to tell with 1000% confidence to your beloved blender decent artists.that's a better way for doing things.and that's how things work on the highest end of the 3D world.

and we will improve it.and we need those guys who are at the tip of the 3D world to be confortable using blender

2/make a clear plan of how much will cost the inevitable complete rewrite of the UI and hotkeys deisgn (because trust me it will be needed).

you will very easily find fundings from those studios.(they all hate autodesk).

3/say sorry to the people who used blender as is for decades.and say you just made a product for a very small portion of the 3D world artists

and now blender wants to move forward.

.ok now to prove you that maybe i'm right on some points...after watching alot of video conferences about the UI. i saw one guy talking about the "absolutly no pop up window

allowed on blender"and mentioned as "things that MUST stay"..and "a great Feature"of blender.and as a proof of concept.he mentioned the ability to have a window for animation.

a window for modeling a window for uvs and window for sculpting.all in the same frame.so as an artist i can tweak what ever aspect of my project right in front me.and switch right in

the same frame from animation to texturing tweak some modeling ,come back to animation ect...this guy never worked on a production pipeline before.or is suffering some mental diseas.

MODELING---Finished----TEXTURING----finished---RIGGING---Fnished---ANIMATION---finished---SIMULATION----finished----LIGHTNING/RENDERING----Finished---COMPOSITING---fininished----EDITING.

these are the main steps of a production pipline...from the start to the end..they are usually done by different specialised artists who have mastered that task.and are hired

for doing that task exclusively.on the other hand 3D generalist or lone wolfs like me.follow the same steps to finishing a project.they just do each task by them selfs.exemple

1/i Finish modeling first for a character as an exemple.2/then i texture it shade it.3/i rig it 4/make my animation5/test render and .render the shot.6/composite my stuff.

durring each task...i don't even need any tool from any other task. of course there is comon commands.but if i'm into modeling i don't need a fcurve window .

3D software UI is the most complicated ones to design.why because there is alot of things that it needs to cover.but if you are aware of the multiple task oriented workflow.

you will understand that the only solution to that is a task oriented interchangeable UI....but this is another topic...wich all the good to the tremendous work you've done on the

core of blender...and hope that it will evolve and make the 3D world evolve with it...you have a 5 stars french restaurant dish presented on a dirty plate.or a ferrari F1 car with

accelerating pedals at the back and 1,5m long seat.beacause it fits your first pilots.

you know if the best artists are conviced about your software then everybody will be convinced to use your software.it's a chess game strategy.take the king and you win the game.

best of luck. and thanks for your time.