im lookin at it myself. caint figer it out either.

Can't click the object, that'll move the circle. Can't right-click, that'll move the object. Middle-click makes the camera go loopy.

I mean, I don't expect it to be -exactly- Max, but I think making a few steps towards user-friendliness would be nice :P

Have you tried reading the instruction manual :o

it's easy once you've got the umm...ahem. it's easy once you learn everything...but not really till then XD

right click to select, and to move your selection you pull on any one of the arrows for the x,y,z axes. you can also select all with keystroke A...NOT CTRL A!!...or select a box selection with B or select using a brush system with pressing B a second time.

can't see the arrows to move your selection? the toolbar within the 3D window has a series of 3 buttons. make sure all of those 3 are pressed down for easy editing...translate, scale, and rotate, in whatever order.

Sure ! XD I'll get you the best link I've found for blender beginners.

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blende.....D:_Noob_to_Pro

Ok, te second best one, the best is written in Spanish so I don't know if it'll be helpful.

more gooood links:
http://otothecleaner.free.fr/tutori.....tutorials.html (advanced)
http://www.cdschools.org/5422304523.....=0&C=55205 ( E-book, blender basics. Very useful)

If you run into any trouble send me a note, I'll be happy to help :3
Oh, and if you have a laptop, don't even open blender if you don't have a 3btn mouse XD. I've never used 3DS so I don't know if its similar. But I can tell you shortcuts for Maya and Blender are very similar.

Oh and there's this guy with awesome blender tuts on youtube. -gets the link- http://www.youtube.com/user/super3boy

it's a very young guy but FUCK his tutorials are useful XD

Good luck with blender ^.^!

Oh and you might want to check out a short film called "Big Buck Bunny" Fully developed in blender and with a great quality ^^

There are a bunch of links to Blender tutorials at this thread on 3dbuzz.com: http://www.3dbuzz.com/vbforum/showt.....d.php?t=165411

damn, others beat me to the punch. I've taught myself blender for 3 years, BEST DAMN PROGRAM OUT THERE in my opinion. But yea, the interface is screwy at first but once it get the basics down, like everything you know about another 3D program is wrong or different in blender, then you'll be fine and as a matter of fact, you'll find the interface alot more useful and less restricting.

(but yea, might have been said, but right click selects and drags while left just moves the life savor (as I call it) which is just the marker in 3D space for adding stuff, positioning stuff etc.

Blender is an extremely powerful tool. I'd go to their website and get the manual for it. It's insane how it's free for such an amazing program x.x

Try Maya... you can get a free version called the Personal Learning Edition (PLE) from their website :) No piracy! It is a full version of the previous Maya, in other words its like Maya 6 whereas the current is Maya 2008. Bleh-nder... Ive found has always taken a huge learning curve. There are books and DVDs out there for it so, if you really want to use it it is a great one to use, but it will require time to learn just the basics... Im with other users of it, all I know how to do is rotate the viewports >.>

Another good one, and a lil cheaper than Maya and 3DS, is Lightwave, very easy to use and just awesome :3

I'm already using MotionBuilder's PLE. I'd prefer a workspace that isn't slathered in watermarks :P

Blender is very HARD to understand when you're used to other 3d programs.

I learned some Maya bascis at school, and I'm still struggling with Blender.

But when you are at ease with the interface (which can take some time), it SO MUCH better :) It's very well made, and everything is there to help you work more easily. Plus there is so much cool features, and everything is free (and legal ;) )

And it's FLOSS :)