It's changed considerably over the past decade, especially at 2.5 and 2.8. A lot of the weird stuff like right-click to select is gone (or not on by default anyway). If it's been a while since your last attempt you may have a better time.
My breakthrough was memorizing hotkeys. Was more efficient and helped me more easily map the UI landscape.
It's been a few years so I've forgotten them, but should I need to learn Blender again that will be my go-to.
As the other comment mentioned, the UI is much better nowadays, especially with 2.8. I actually find it more intuitive than others like Cinema4D, Maya, and Houdini, whereas it was the opposite previously.
Re:Blender Conference 2020
by reader_mode on Tuesday October 27, 2020 @07:04PM
(#24913085)
I used blender a bunch in 2.5 era and then coming back to it in 2.8 - can't say I'm a fan - old UI sucked discovery wise but it was streamlined, new UI is too clicky - but I've only did a few basic things
Re:Blender Conference 2020
by moron4hire on Tuesday October 27, 2020 @07:32PM
(#24913279)
Spacebar -> type command name -> do anything from the keyboard
By default, spacebar now play/pauses the timeline, and search moved to f3
I found a bit of a learning curve with 2.8's input too, but I'm kind of okay with the tradeoff for newfound enthusiasm the program has with professional users.
Its UI never agreed with me that much, but watching experienced users, it reminds me of VI. As in, it appears to be optimized for power users, rather than ease of use, or discovery. It does seem to have been steadly improving. I'll try again.