Hall of Shame 2: Autodesk Maya in relation to Blender
With great power apparently comes a steep learning curve
With great power apparently comes a steep learning curve
When designers and developers create any type of software, there are always choices being made between what functionality to include coupled with how to display that functionality to the user (affordance). The more features a program has, the more difficult it may be to properly convey all of these affordances to the user, and this is where clever design can be key. Autodesk Maya is the the video game and for many studios, computer generated movie standard for creating 3d models. With a hefty price tag for the average consumer (upwards of $3000), it is clear that the target audience is more so professional modelers and students, who can receive a limited version of the product for free. With this in mind it is clear that the actual layout and control options of Maya may reflect this apparent barrier to entry for use of the product. The two main aspects in which Maya could be more user friendly mostly lie in the controls and the visual layout of the program. While no one can question the raw power of Maya, the control scheme and menu system may be a turn off to many people, especially when there are alternative programs such as Blender that soften this learning curve.
Controls
In my personal time with Maya, I use the program in bursts; That is I will use it heavily for a week, and then not touch it for a month, and then come back and every single time I forget how to move around in the 3d space. To move around freely in the 3d space, you must hold "Alt" and left mouse button to rotate, "Alt" and right mouse button to zoom in and out of the window, and "Alt" middle mouse button to pan left and right, up and down, or zoom (redundant control). Moving through 3d space via rotation and zoom are probably the most used spacial navigation tools, and personally having the users left hand essentially glued to alt during this time possibly impedes workflow. Comparatively, free 3d modeling program Blender handles navigation in a completely different way. To move the camera in 3d space, you hold the middle mouse button and move the mouse around, to zoom in and out, and to pan left and right or up and down. Compared to Maya, only one of these function requires the user to have both hands occupied for navigation, allowing for them to use the keyboard for other things.
Possible Decision Influences
In Maya, the developers may have been pigeon holed into the idea that the left mouse button needs to be held in order to move around, as it's the most dominant button on the mouse, but that second input is easily forgettable, as the "Alt" key is not the most obvious choice of modifier. Shift, or even Control may have been a better choice, as to me, a student, these keys are more heavily used. With Blender, while the middle mouse button is an unorthodox button to use, it is the only one that the user has to remember, and use of the "Shift" key is a more logical second step for many users than the use of the "Alt" key.
Possible Solutions
A possible mid-way solution to this problem may be to have the "Alt" key function as a "state switcher", so in essence, the user would tap the alt key once to enter a navigation mode where they can then use the left mouse button to move around and the other buttons in their respective fashions, and once the user wishes to enter an edit mode, they can tap alt again. A small compass icon or some such device could indicate what mode the user is in at any given time. This way, the left mouse button is used for the most common function, and the users' hands aren't tied up during motion. The trade off of this would just be that a toggle function requires a press for every state switch, whereas holding a button in technically just one press to enter and exit a mode.
Layout
Maya may be your sandbox, but initially you may feel paralyzed.
Blender's UI Feels much more like it's saying "You only have to be as complicated as you want to be"
The UI of Maya is very robust, but intimidatingly so. There is no question as to whether the program can do a lot, but knowing exactly what icon carries what action isn't readily obvious. To compare it again to free alternative Blender, more buttons doesn't always mean easier functionality. Blender really has the feeling of step by step complexity. Maya's multiple toolbars on top of toolbars may overload the user, not to mention the mutliple tabs with multiple options and icons. There is the option to create a custom toolbar with only your most used icons present, but the initial clutter almost obscures this functionality. To further complicate things, a whole new set of menus are accessed by holding down the space bar in the 3d space, and then using your mouse to select options from a circular wheel menu that appears while holding the left mouse button. If this sounds over complicated, that's because it is.
Possible Decision Influences
While many of these spacebar options are available through the typical toolbar menus, it is obvious that the maker of Maya intended for this space bar menu to keep the user in the 3d viewspace near their work and out of crawling through menus. Blender relies more heavily on menu navigation, and manipulation within the 3d space as opposed to rows of icons and unorthodox selection methods, but in short it just "feels" better. In an opposite approach form Maya, Blender feels as if it's workflow is split into menu navigation and modeling. Fewer options in this case also means fewer complex motions and shortcuts to memorize and, as mentioned before, this makes the controls easier to remember over the course of months without use. As seems to be the trend with Blender also, there is little redundancy of functionality. While you may have one long menu path to get to one option, it is the only way, thus cutting down on confusion. The length of the path also has the side effect of causing the user to potentially exert effort into remembering the shortcuts if they exist, as opposed to Maya where having absolutely everything in front of you at once diminishes this pressure, which actually in turn may end up leading to even more time spent in menus.
Possible Solutions
Maya's spacebar menu contains most of the frequently used functions, and many of them are also available in the various toolbars. To reduce the on-screen clutter, the redundant options could be deleted from the toolbars (by default with options to potentially change the layout) and exist primarily in the spacebar menu. As with Blender, this singular path may help reduce initial confusion and prompt the learning of shortcuts. By default, the custom toolbar that is currently nested as the very last toolbar in a tab of toolbars should be persistent and separate from the other toolbars, and as the user performs various functions, it would automatically update, creating an association of the icon with the most used functions.
The trade off in this case would be isolation of an audience that potentially prefers having a large set of on-screen icons and does not want to learn shortcuts, but speaking from a purely time sensitive perspective, using shortcuts reduces the time spent moving the mouse from your work area to your menus and back. As with any program though, choosing one design option denies you the benefits of the other, and picking a choice must be coupled with decent instruction, especially with software that will be very alien to most first time users.
