Bforartists

Bforartists
Release date:
Made by:	Open-Source
Runs on:	Linux Mac OS Windows
Imports:
Exports:

Bforartists is a fork of the popular open-source 3-D modelling software Blender, with lots of changes to make the UI more friendly for people not familiar or fond of Blender's defaults.

A list of changes / differences quoted from their Github repository:

• A brand new Keymap with Left Click select, which is reduced to just the necessary hotkeys.
• Cleaned up User Interface. More than 400 not necessary double menu entries removed.
• Extended User Interface. Close to 100 formerly hotkey only tools have a menu entry now.
• Rearranged User Interface. Some things are better accessible now, some are not so much in the way anymore.
• 700 new native icons.
• Icon Buttons in the Tool Shelf to reduce the scrolling.
• A configurable Toolbar with icon buttons.
• Improved Layouts.
• Better Tooltips.
• Better readable standard theme.
• Some neat new addons to improve usability, like the reset 3D View addon or the Important Hotkey addon.
• And lots more small details like hidable 3D Cursor or Wireframe Colors. Or that you can now delete objects and selections without the delete menu quiz.

[...]

• The Bforartists usage is centered around the graphical menu, not hotkeys. Bforartists relies at an intuitive and self explaining graphical UI in the first place. And then the hotkeys.
• The target audience for Bforartists are hobbyists and indie developers. Blender tries to target professionals. But most of them don't care for various reasons.
• A better manual. The Blender manual is in big parts unsearchable, has an odd structure, and relies heavily at the Blender keymap to name just a few flaws, making it unusable for users. That's why we rewrite it, piece by piece.
• Official learning videos. No need to spend days with searching for the one tutorial that is understandable, for the actual version and is not a spelling lesson. This is also an ongoing project.
• Bforartists is not bound to the Blender bubble. It has its own independant eco system.

— README.md

Compatibility

As, at its core, it's still Blender, most Blender plug-ins work just fine! For more info. check out the Plugin Database page on their wiki.

Installing

On Windows installing Bforartists is easy, but currently on Linux and Macs you'll need to build it from source. They advise following the build guide for Blender, which you can find on their wiki. There's also a guide for building on Ubuntu which should also help for Linux people: https://www.bforartists.de/data/tuts/Building_with_Ubuntu17.pdf

Arch Linux

Here are some notes from building for Arch Linux. (TODO)

Guides

• Bforartists Youtube channel, with good instructional videos.

See Also

• bforartists.de
• Bforartists on Github.
• Bforartists Wiki.
• Blender
  • Guide:Blender