Blender 2.5 Overview Video

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25Jonathan Williamson has just posted a overview video of 2.5 so far, demonstrating some of the changes we’re seeing coming to the next big release and redesign of Blender.

Jonathan explains:

I just sat down and recorded a brief overview video of some of the changes and additions to Blender 2.5. Keep in mind, 2.5 is still under heavy development and many things will be added/changed. That being said, what has been done so far is incredible!

You can watch it on the Montage Blog or on CG-Cookie here.

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    • Jahmaica

      Great review! Blender 2.5 looks very well organized, compared with < 2.5;
      About the “Last step, history panel”, it would be nice to have a hotkey to
      repeat the last step (I remember back in the days, using F2 in Cool Edit
      Pro, to repeat the last step I’ve done, I miss that tool in every software);

      Another thing, I’ve got a bunch of friends whom whose diferent types of
      3d platforms, like 3dsmax, maya, xsi, c4d, lightwave, modo, etc. They’re
      renders are really good (using mentalray etc), and really fast. Do 2.5 means,
      we’ll have oportunity to test other type of render engines, such as mentalray
      etc?

      Is Blender 2.5 coming out this year ? or after Durian project ? =)

      Thanks for your time

    • Hedge

      “Jonathan Williamson has just posted a overview video…”
      Are you kidding? it’s been posted for about 2 weeks and you say “just posted” ???

    • aleksandera

      Thank you :)

    • Jahmaica

      Hedge: Nowadays people use CMS (Content managment systems), that can actually manage when a post is coming up, etc. Many times, the author doesnt even know if the post will come up just straight away. Sometimes, there’re important news coming first, etc.

    • http://www.robo3d.com Robo3Dguy

      That was very nicely presented. Wow 2.5 looks sweet!

    • Nik

      It’s much better and more extensive than the mfoxdogg one where the guy keeps going “eeeh…tftftftf…chchch…pfpfpf what now… tstststs f-f-f-f-oh yeah, this was added”.

    • Gryphon

      When Jonathan pointed out the missing “Edit Buttons” button, I couldn’t help noticing the “Game Logic Buttons” button also seems to be missing… What could that mean? (or did I just miss it?)

    • http://www.animator.co.nr Lancer

      Jahmaica: “I remember back in the days, using F2 in Cool Edit Pro, to repeat the last step I’ve done, I miss that tool in every software”
      In Maya, the [G] key repeats the main action.

      The one feature I would like to see above any other is a rework of the bevel tools. I’ve been told to shut up about this many times and it’s on hold until after 2.5 (if at all) because it would require complete recoding if done before then. So I wait eagerly. I would be a lot happier if the bevel tools did not introduce triangles to a mesh.

    • BlenderLovingPandaBear

      @Hedge

      In geological time ‘just’ is a bit of an UNDERstatement. It basically has just occured simultaneosly!

    • Reaction

      I’m hoping that importing/appending will be sorted. At the moment, if you append (import) a model that has exactly the same materials as your open blend file, Blender just duplicates all the materials. It would be much nicer if it recognised the dupicates and asked which one you want to keep/use (Current / Imported /Both). The current system also stuffs the idea of using a consistent material library across all your models.

      Still, the 2.5 interface is looking amazing! With that and built in GI as standard (please!) I can’t wait….

    • tyrant monkey

      @lancer not a fan of the bevel tool as well. Though its a step up from the previous version which used to bevel every single edge in a mesh if I remember correctly. Edit mesh is been replaced by bmesh which should led to a better bevel and knife tools and dissolving verts and edges without deleting faces. No ngons equals sucky mesh editing tools IMHO especially if you are a box modeler. But bmesh seems it be coming along nicely. There is even a donation drive to support the dev who is currently coding it if I had a credit card I would have donated some money because this is something I want.

    • http://freshsurge.com RH2

      Old news… :\
      I enjoyed mfoxdogg’s as well as Venom’s screen casts.

      I guess it depends on whether or not you want to hear a review of the interface as compared to functionality tests….
      I cant get enough of the functionality :P

      thank you Jonathan Williamson, nice job

    • http://?? scotty

      i dont gt it?

    • mauro

      coreldraw => Ctrl+R to repeat, very easy.

    • http://mfoxdogg.goglepages.com mfoxdogg

      nice overview there is alot missed , to join areas drag from one area to another, your problem is you have a T intersection, there are not handled yet.

      my tours are things added from the previous tour if i was to do a full overview it would last an hour atleast

      game logic buttons are back, just not in the build he is using

      and my oooh’s and ahhh’s are because i don’t plan my tours i make them up as i go

      anyway once again great overview :)

    • oxigen

      mfoxdogg’s presentations are much better, this one ain’t bad either, but mfoxdogg rulez! :)

    • XeroWolf

      Holy flying pancakes. Blender 2.5 will be magic!

    • pixel master

      mfoxdogg, I always enjoy your videos and appreciate you keeping us informed.

    • blndrusr

      This vid is very well done… thanks Jonathan!

      I wish it was the one first posted on cgtalk… not the other one that caused the crappy debate.

      This one explains 2.5′s features, shows its user friendliness and industry chaning power.

      Offtopic – REAL – WORKING – STREAMING GAMES and APP’s!!!!!!!!!!! :D
      —————————
      (Someone please start another news article on this – Bart? I don’t know how.)
      —————————————————————————————

      http://www.dperry.com/archives/news/dp_blog/gaikai_-_video/

      http://www.gaikai.com/

      At end of demo Perry shows Photoshop running – streamed.

      I guess, using their VM/server setup, it would be possible for BLENDER TO BE STREAMED.

      And what cooler than hooking up Blender online via someone like David Perry?!!!?

      Yo Frankie! and other Blender games could be streamed this way too. (And I imagine Gaikai will eventually include animations/video too.)

      If you read the first link, he says he is trying to make gaming accessible.

      Sure someone has to pay the bills for the servers, streaming, SLAs, or whatever – but – free games and apps are likely to be part of the eco-system he is building.

      **********************************************************

      It would be worth Ton/Bart/etc emailing David ([email protected]) and asking how/when 2.5, Blender user developed games, and Blender Foundation games, can be hosted and streamed via Gaikai. And, I’d imagine, there is potential for Blender to be piped to future commercial game editors, that no doubt, will be hosted and streamed this way too.

      **********************************************************

      There’s potential here for Blender to make this jump before a lot of the big commercial 3D editors etc, though I imagine Perry may have a few lined up already.

      No harm in asking David, eh?!! :D

      ————————————————————–

      PS
      —
      2.5 developers, please consider using the Blender logo as a button icon in Blender for switching, for example, between modes – for some feature that is unlikely to be customised out by future users. This way, any demo’s that surface online of Blender, whether the interface is customised or not, would still have the Blender logo in it, and the logo’s meaning – ‘blendering’ would be apparent.

      PPS
      —-
      Or the Blender Foundation could do a tribute video/game project after Durian and 2.5 launch, that users Suzanne or some other Blender ‘mascot’ as the main character, and shows them evolving over a storyline – ‘Coming of Age’, as Blender ‘grows-up’ – this way, hopefully, replacing BBB in ‘sightings’ online (when used to demo other companies products eg PC screens as sighted), and thus better advertising Blender at the same time (each demo screenshot may have the Blender character/mascot in it). Sorry – idea overload – please contact David re the Gaikai opportunity – it seems very fitting to Blender!

    • Rob Hays

      In the video, when he was previewing the animation, a new button appeared at the top of the window called “Animation Player.” Does anyone know or would anyone like to hazard a guess as to what that is? I’m hoping it opens up a window that plays the animation while you can edit your scene and the animation updates in real-time.

      I love the new UI and the search function. I’m excited. :)

    • http://www.carrara3dexpo.com As

      aww… Blender 2.5 is so cool and sexy. I so want it….

    • b333rt

      @Gryphon
      Logic has its own space now since the button space defaults to a vertical layout.

    • Ianvdl

      Just watched the video, it looks awesome. Well done to the development team.

      And thanks to all those involved in the new theme as well, it looks very modern.

    • Loy

      Wow, blender 2.5 just looks amazing, so well organized and much more user-friendly than before.
      The smile I had on my face was destroyed by a few jaw-drops…

    • Olaf

      I don’t share the favorable review since the reviewer ASSUMES a lot of things to be ‘obvious’ when they really aren’t. The splitting of the view doesn’t seem intiuitive at all to me. Same holds for closing the view or adding / removing the headers. Why not just add a small ‘X’ button somewhere which is the UNIVERSAL way of closing a window and either add File->Open View in New Window or right-click->Open View in New Window.

      The timeline in the default view doesn’t strike me as user-friendly either. It would be better to have a 4-way split view by default plus the buttons on the right side.

      The organization of the buttons has improved markedly, no question about it, but let’s put in some constructive criticism too.

      I personally think the biggest problems lie in modelling where booleans often produce unexpected results. I also feel there should be a more intuitive way to select faces / edges / vertices closest to the camera since I always select the wrong items by accident.

    • joeri67

      What a BAD review.

      “No wait lets, no… wait,… euh… well this should work… euh… No wait..”
      Geezzz…..

      Totally inconsistent!
      ” In blender the 2.49 the logic thing is to look onder view, but hee! no 4 split ”
      ” In 2.5 thats much better: Just move your mouse to a corner and start shift-dragging it… ”
      HUH??? What happend to looking in view for 4-spit?

      “You shouldn’t need to read on forums how it works….”
      LOL…. RIGHT! Just like a boeing747: Who needs a manual, the cockpit will explain itself to you.

      Snazzy your ass.

      The First thing I noticed was that the render buttons are the same mess they are now except on a different location on the screen and in another color…

    • http://blendermaniacs.blogspot.com/ tioilmo

      Hi friends,

      I’ve been testing the 2.50 builds and really it is very nice comparing to old ones.

      Although the current 2.50 version are only WIP one funny thing is happening in my tests.

      I bought a Notebook that have a keyboard configuration problem when I use previous versions but it works fine with 2.50. (Its is not related to FN emulation)

      Believe or not the hotkey “B” to select part of meshes are not working with previous versions like 2.49, but with 2.50 it is ok. Many other hotkeys work fine, like “A”, but it is almost impossible modeling without hotkey “B”.

      Does anyone know why it is happening? If I use my desktop everything works fine in both versions, but when I use the notebook only 2.50 works fine. Can you understand that?

      If anybody knows the solution, please let me know.

      Tio Ilmo

    • http://blender-dev.blogspot.com/ hishnash

      nice, for all those testing blender 2.5 here is a list of keyboard shortcuts
      blender-dev.blogspot.com

    • tidbit

      “It would be better to have a 4-way split view by default plus the buttons on the right side.”
      awful idea. the 4-view system is old and out-dated. We do not need to mimic the 3DS layout as you described above. I myself find the blender interface perfectly fine and dandy. Nothing bad about it, IMO.

    • http://www.funkboxing.com teldredge

      Good review – a little harsh on 2.49 occasionally though. I really love 2.49.
      Looking forward to 2.5 though. Should make scripting a whole new experience.
      Thanks for the good review – keep ‘em coming.

    • Tlaz

      Will it be possible in blender 2.50 to make an animation NOT play in one window while it plays in another? This would make the ability to model while animating far more useful as you could model a stationary object in one window while watching it in motion in another. Otherwise trying to model an object as it moves is going to just be something you can do as a stunt but which has little practical use: You’d still be on square one having to pause it in order to make changes with any accuracy.

      When he shift-clicks a portion of the window to make a separate overlapping window, which he mentions might be useful in a multiple monitors situation, presumably the portions of those second windows update at the same time as the portions of the original window?

    • Olaf

      @Tidbit: has nothing to do with 3DS, it’s the most intuitive for beginners and most pro’s also often work with multiple views. Besides, you can always change the default later.

    • Kater

      @Olaf: How about YOU change the default to 4-split for yourself then, and leave it as it is for the rest of us.

    • Mike Payne

      WOW and I thought blender was awesome enough already….

    • slukas

      hymm… the only thing I’m missing is to have colored buttons in menus. It was a way easier to find yourself in previous versions. Now everything is gray and booooring!

      And I really don’t like new transform window. Trying to look like max? Flooding everything with windows? Bad thing. Those floating windows were better because they contained only informations/properties that were needed at the moment. Now I have a HUGE new window looking ugly with tons of unnecessary things.

      that’s my only crit for now. Other than that – great work guys!

    • http://www.carrara3dexpo.com As

      @ slukas

      I dare to disagree with you on this one. Max is ugly, this is true. However to have floating windows… bad thing. nice and clean interface – key to success. Blender is doing good now. yet buttons could have some better shapes.

      There is bigger percentage of people who really don’t like floating windows and this is the main reason why many people don’t use software with floating windows. they are disorganization usually. But the good solution would be to have shells that can be minimized to the frame of interface, extended to be like a popping nice window in the frame of interface and could be separated from the interface frame and could be floating window. then everyone are happy. To have only floating windows is a huge mess. so it is rather better to have clean and clear interface.

      my two cents to in regards.

    • slukas

      @As

      I just like to have my transformation info up in sight with maximum of working space(what always was great about blender). Solution with option of separating those menus would be great.

      Anyway. I found this ‘n’ window very useful in the image editor.

    • salvaman

      Something I wonder is why the presets for the render dimensions are took out? I loved to have them because I don’t know which the aspect ratio is for each one. I hope they take them back in.

    • marijn

      @Olaf: the red cross idea would work, because what window would replace the one you closed? you always have to choose something to join it with.

      @Tlaz: in 2.49 there is a lock icon in the 3d window which does kinda what you mean. something like that will probably be in 2.50 too, i guess.

    • ghrtghrt

      It’s a shame they waste their time on all those bells and whistles. The current interface is customizable enough to keep it as it is. They would better work on all that missing tools that makes Blender still so much behind Maya ,3d Max, Houdini : true n-gons editing, vertex normals editing, more complex nodes, quick multithreaded render preview, true GI render, etc. There is so many things that are still impossible to do in Blender only with no workarounds.

    • Holygrillz

      great stuff, now i cant wait to try it out my self

    • Olaf

      @Marijn: you could always ask the user when they press the Close button. Or you could just expand the adjecent window.

    • bitcarpenter

      The overview video mentions that any changable value will be keyable. Does anyone know if 2.5 will allow keyframing for values in compositing nodes? I downloaded the latest build from graphicall and tried to key some values in compositing nodes and couldn’t figure out how. The usual “I” command does not work here.

    • Salvaman

      I didn’t find the set smooth/set solid buttons in the latest build where are them?

    • http://garagegames.com/ MostlyToad

      Woohoo! Been waiting for 2.5 for so long it seems like. Downloaded the dev build.. Man, the blender team really did a great job with it so far. Can’t wait to see the rest!

    • EageWing

      I’m so thankful that they have finally re-written the whole Blender Engine! The list of positive changes are endless!
      I especially like the global search function! Being able to edit settings while watching the animation is going to be very valuable was well.

      BTW: those who don’t like the shade of grey (I like it) that the UI has don’t have to worry…people can change it if they like that’s the power of open source.

    • http://www.agmlabs.com blenderguy2008

      I think the tutorial should be more focused to the layout changes, navigating thorough panels rather than animating Alt-A and do multitasking things that we rarely will use. Cool to know it but no practical for a tutorial.

      I agree the new layout is much better than previous versions of Blender, however about splitting the windows is now even harder for a newbie to find. Now you must move the cursor to the left-bottom corner and see the cross-hair to appear ? What makes it easier from the old method of a menu popping up when crossing windows?
      I disagree on that one. Anyways any 3D software is always overwhelming to learn.