I am still somewhat new to blender, so I may be wrong; but blender seems to be needing the following:
Critical Features:
1.Relational modeling (aka: history, procedural modeling) (operators, modifiers, etc..)
2.UI command feedback line (prints the script commands for each UI action) (Listener window in 3dsMax)
3.Can not inspect and change properties in Oops window. If the Oops window is not meant for this, then we need a good schematic view like Maya or Softimage has.
4.Expressions
5.Arbitrary sliders (not scripted sliders), just simple sliders that can be created within their own node; expressions must be able to attach to these sliders like any other object.
6.Context sensitive command bar. Blender is heavily driven with hot keys, and if you don't know the hot keys, your out of luck. We need to have something for new users, just a simple tool bar on the side that displays all available commands for the current mode the user is in.
7.Floating windows. As blender grows all the features are not going to fit within the Button View. We need to start moving some of these object properties into a object sensitive window that can: refresh automatically, stay pinned, refresh only on similar options. XSI's property editing floater is a good example.
8.By each object, or any property that can be animated should be a “key icon” that allows you to set and delete new key frames, or drag and drop from other “key icons” to create new expressions or links. XSI has a great implementation of this that is also color coded, so just by looking at the color you can tell if it is animated, if there is a key frame at the current frame, etc...
9.View translation icon: We need a gizmo that is displayed on top of the object that allows for move, rotation, scaling; and has axis picking. But don't kill the gestures of blender, that is a great feature. Maybe have an option for the move gesture, to gesture the direction to pick a different axis.
Needed Features:
1.Spline deform operator
2.Better documentation of scripting features
3.Polygons: edge mode, we need a mode for working with edges
4.Proportional modeling within the UV editor
5.Type-in-boxes for UV editor to enter exact values for UV points
6.We need a simple bar along the bottom that displays what the left, middle, and right mouse button do in the current context. Might as well add a time slider to that bar to.
7.Lasso select tool. It would be nice if blender automatically went into this mode when the mouse draws a selection for longer than two seconds. If it longer than two seconds then it is obvious that I am not gesturing the scale tool and that I would like a lasso selection. A button for lasso selection mode will also be needed.
8.Force openGL bitmaps to lower resolutions. If someone did not have much graphics ram, and loaded a scene with very large texture maps, they could be in trouble. There needs to be a way to set the absolute max texture size to 64, 128, 256, and 512.
Character Animation:
It's all about good character setup, we need more constraints; so far we have: position, rotation, and look-at (direction). We need the following constraints: two points, n-point, up-vector, path (curve), cluster (to vertex).
-brett
http://www.initialprairiedog.com