Well I’m not trying to stir up an argument as to the inclusion of Blender but rather to point out there is more involved as to choices as to inclusion as part of a much bigger asset and content pipeline.
Blender is well suited for small teams, or a team of one, to knock off the first game and then reinvest the profits into more advanced productivity tools.
To give you a different perspective I’m the asset and content manager of a fair size development team, large enough where we need an A&C manager, where what goes into the front end of the pipeline has to conform to the specifications and requirements to maintain the continuity of the asset inhand using 3ds Max as the cornerstone app where if continuity can be maintained there are no surprises on the back end when exporting the asset to Unreal 4.
With out going into details I’m the guy on the team that takes the time and puts the effort into testing applications like Blender and as tested it’s export abilities are lacking to the point that it simply does not play nice with preferred applications like 3ds Max.
Our decision to exclude the use of Blender was not based on assumption but on weeks of regressive testing in parallel with our current pipeline design and due to flaws added at the content level ultimately excluded Blender as to inclusion as a preferred application list due to the required post processing of simple mesh detail necessary to complete a fit to finish result.
Now it goes with out saying that Blender could be a valuable and productive application if they resolved the problems with the FBX exporter, and is the number one reason Epic “invested” ten thousand bucks in FBX export feature improvements, but in it’s current state Blender refuses to scale up as to the demands of DCC connectivity with in a much more complex pipeline design.
P.S.
Overall though there are low cost or even free alternatives if one takes the time to look for the duck, as in if it looks like walks like and quacks like a duck it’s a duck, there are a lot more suitable options that would scale as demands increase .
For example
With a Platinum account your wholesale price will be $105
With a Platinum account your wholesale price will be $14 but Daz3D has been know to toss this simple to use tool up for a freebie from time to time.
So the better solution is to be the guy on the team who window shops for the solution rather than settling for something because it’s free.
Will I reviset Blender in the future? Of course when the rumor is they have sorted out their FBX export/import issues and can scale from small to much larger projects and pipeline requirements.