I learnt Blender using the following 2 resources:
1. Book: Beginning Blender [1]. Using this book I learnt enough Blender to make stand-in models and animations for prototyping my game.
2. This video resource: Mastering Blender Vol 1 & 2 [2], is a brilliant resource if anyone really wants to master the Blender fundamentals.<p>I am pretty sure just learning from the Blender video resource [2] will also suffice, but just listing my journey. The thing is just like Vim (as most are referring to it here) and I am a Vim user, Blender has a learning curve but sticking to it and gradually advancing to doing more complex stuff makes sense. But I don't know if this curve is true of other modeling software as well.<p>Plus the fact that python scripting lets you do your own stuff is even more fun. In the course of my game, and using Blender's rigify, I had more weight influences which would cause SceneKit to animate on the CPU. Just writing a simple python script [3] did the trick.<p>I think like other proprietary tools in the industry, which have deep roots in the asset pipelines, probably makes Blender a non-starter. But if someone is an indie developer and wants to use a 3D software; Blender is a great choice. For the game I am working on [4], even if it succeeds, we will stick to the Blender asset pipeline. In fact we have made the rigs such that it is also compatible with Unity's MecAnim.<p>The only downside is if you are planning to become a 3D artist, Blender may not be the right choice. Heck, even wanting to work as a 3D graphics engineer in the games/movie industry requires you have to knowledge of the proprietary tools, at least as per my current job search results. If someone has a similar experience vis a vis Blender and the 3D software engineer requirements, or even better if is part of the industry and can throw some light on this, will be great.<p>Overall, I believe Blender is very powerful and worth learning.<p>[1]<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Beginning-Blender-Source-Modeling-Animation/dp/1430231262" rel="nofollow">https://www.amazon.com/Beginning-Blender-Source-Modeling-Ani...</a>
[2]<a href="http://www.cgmasters.net/training-dvds/master-it/" rel="nofollow">http://www.cgmasters.net/training-dvds/master-it/</a>
[3]<a href="https://gist.github.com/dmsurti/aa3411a82e12aaaee564a17bb493f162" rel="nofollow">https://gist.github.com/dmsurti/aa3411a82e12aaaee564a17bb493...</a>
[4]<a href="http://www.isongames.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.isongames.com</a>