Originally Posted by
Geoff
Blender is easier than you think, perhaps you approached it in the wrong way? i.e did you have a clear goal of a model you wanted to make or were you just mucking around? Find a youtube tutorial on making something simple like a hammer, or screwdriver in blender, it teaches a good deal of techniques.
I went from 3DsMax to blender, so the interface was as complicated for me as you found it, but honestly a few days of youtube tutorials I found it good.. then after a couple of years, I would swear by it. I have never had to pay for it, although I have donated because I want to see it continue on and improve, because they have always done such a good job with updates.
The hot-keys are the trick in blender, once those are burned into your brain, your workflow becomes accelerated at a monumental pace because you are doing 3-4 functions in a split second rather than manually mousing to all the icons etc.