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MSFS Moving from 3DS Max to Blender

T

toprob

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1,103
Since I retired, I've been budgeting to continue my 3DS Max subscription, which is a lot more reasonable now that they offer the indie license, but now that it's up for renewal I've decided to move to blender. I'll miss Max, it was a logical upgrade from GMAX all those years ago, but now I'm on a fixed income I need to toughen up. I've tried blender before, but never managed to make it do anything useful. However now that I've decided to switch, I've finally started to make some progress.
This week I've managed to build and export two MSFS models, which is a huge improvement over my earlier experiments. I'm just wondering if anyone has done this exercise, moving from Max to Blender, and knows where all the good resources are, or has some advice on what they wished they knew when they started. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the Asobo-sanctioned version is available as a Windows app, which made installation a breeze. Some things still drive me balmy, and I can't figure out how to make the export options stick, but at least most of the tools I used in Max have comparable functions in Blender, some things are a lot more annoying, but others are easier.
So any advice to keep me on track would be appreciated, plus I'd like to give a plug to the 3DS Max indie license, which is a great choice for those of us who still do this for money.
 
I use the Blender zip files. The latest Blender 3.6.14 zip. It works well with Asobo's latest exporter. YouTube is very helpful for specific tips and tutorials. I find some of the older version video's are actually better (Blender 2.8 to 3.1). Not sure why... Asobo advises you avoid using the shader tab. You can mess up the materials settings and cause problems. Lots of Blender users here now. Ask for help if you get stuck.

I attached the Blender Guru Cheatsheet for version 3. These are keyboard shortcuts. Page 1 is probably most important. The keyboard is the key to getting around Blender quickly. Then get used to the edit mode modeling tools ( loop cuts, knife cuts, insets, bevels....)
Blender Guru Donut Tutorial for version 3
 

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