Hello, 2.66! :)
Ton Roosendaal writes:
Here is a brand new release!
Blender 2.66 has Dynamic Topology sculpt, Cycles Hair render, Rigid Body Dynamics, HiDPI screen support, and especially a lot of attention for usability and fixes.
What do YOU consider the most important change or new feature?
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I have a LONG history with Blender - I wrote some of the earliest Blender tutorials, worked for Not a Number and helped run the crowdfunding campaign that open sourced Blender (the first one on the internet!). I founded BlenderNation in 2006 and have been editing it every single day since then ;-) I also run the Blender Artists forum and I'm Head of Community at Sketchfab.
57 Comments
Bullet integration is by far the best feature added imo. It will aid so many vfx shots, oh I can't wait!
Hi, not tested yet. I just discover the topic, and hace few time currently. I just noticed yesterday evening a possible bug in the Test buid 1, and I don't know yet if it is present in the 2.66 official :
When clicking in front view in the 3D windows onto a location (a vertex for example, or an empty), you get the 3D cursor at a normal location. Then if you click in top view or side view on the same object and come back to front view, the cursor location is wrong.
In fact it is not possible to get the 3D cursor on a precise location that way. The only working method seems to select an object and bring the cursor on it by Shift S and select Cursor at location.
I tried to replicate what you said but it works fine for me. I'm using the 64-bit OSX build.
I am using Windows 64 build. As said in an answer below, I confirmed the malfunction in Ortho and Perspective mode.
There is an option for it in preferences: Interface -> View Manipulation -> Cursor Depth
Thank you for the information. I am surprised, because I loaded my own config system, but I know that there have been some changes on the preset side, so it could explain that this parameter has changed onmy system.
Weirdly, the box has to be unchecked to get 3 Axis correct. I would have expected the opposite. So, good news, it works !
Thank you !
Every new release , I go on searching ... I know I should not say a word , If I dont have something nice to say , yeah I go on searching how to edit splash screen . The Girl is fantastic ,but she reminds me that white trash chick from shameless . I cannot go on , I am sorry .
Well, if you're compiling Blender from source, it isn't too hard to do. But if you're downloading the (precompiled) installer or program, I don't know of any way to change it.
Something that I think would be cool is to have multiple splash images, with a random one shown each time you start Blender, similar to Art of Illusion (another open-source 3d program).
In Blender 2.65 i was able to zoom with my magic mouse by scrolling. When i scroll in 2.66 it is rotating the view in the 3D-viewport and paning in 2D image viewer.. how can i fix that? I was using the magic mouse under OSX Lion without any issues for a couple of years... for zooming i just had to scroll, for rotating the view i hold down 1 and move the mouse and for panning i hold down shift + 1 while moving the mouse... i compared the whole User preferences of 2.65 and 2.66 and they are exactly the same. !
I think Hair and Bullet Integration are both the best features!
Not to thrilled about the splash screen. :/ I'd rather it be the cooky-looking bird...
I agree 100% about the splash screen, the bird would have been much much better. (No offence to the creator of this image; it is technically impressive, just not my style.)
For me, it's the little things that I love. Like when you press G twice you automatically go into edge or vertex slide mode. This will definitely speed up modeling!
holy crap, YES... not only that but the slide functionality has vastly improved from the last time i used it.
Wow, thanks for telling me about that feature!
oh, that's epic, i never knew about this. :)
wow that's a great tip! I wish these things were more publicized, like on the front page of blender.org. These are awesome little things that will be missed otherwise.
Great release! ... and I'd have to say Rigid body tools are my favourite:)
Oh! I've been using subsurf a lot recently to round off edges of hard objects - so been sliding around a lot of 'helper' edges recently - GG is goint to be very useful!
Hooray!!! )
And the splash is fantastic! :)
hair is absolutely the best addition.
Not if we can get the collision working......
I like the splash screen.
It certainly represents what I try to accomplish with Blender more than most others we have had.
So what is the developers focusing on next ?.
Particles nodes ?
Fluid particles to mesh ?
More modeling tools ?
Faster cycles ?
http://stevenshearingslife.blogspot.co.uk/
This page on the Blender wiki: http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Dev:Doc/Projects
contains a list of the upcoming projects to be included in 2.67. Looks like some more really cool stuff coming to Blender in the next couple months!
just downloaded it, anyone know how to fix the icons, for some reason theyre all blurry ? should be an easy fix i just have no idea how to fix it!
Damned ! I have just found some time to install the 2.66 and tested in default scene : I can confirm now the position of 3D cursor is wrong when you click from several points of view. The 3D cursor coordinates are set in2D !The third axis used by clicking breaks the two previous, and you can't center the cursor on a point ! 2.63a was my previous usual version and works fine.
Are you in ortho or perspective view. In perspective, I would expect the behaviour you describe.
I have just tested in Ortho and Perspective modes. Same bad behaviour with both. Tested in 2.63a as well : Good in both modes. I think that 2.66 has actually a problem with the 3D cursor location.
In that case, file a bug report as soon as possible. Don't forget to mention what os you are using,: Win/mac/linux, 32/64.
I would suggest reporting to the bugtracker - http://www.blender.org/development/report-a-bug/
I rerender some old scenes in blender internal, and for some reason stars glass and some textures now appear ugly. Stars now are sharp and rectangular, glass edge shimmering, and in some texture too match white. But i don't try earlier version, so i don't know which version ruined my old scenes (latest or on version before).
Best ever!!
I'm getting visual glitches in the dynamic sculpt that were not present in the RC posted previously on Feb 14th.
1) Faces on my mesh are temporarily disappearing.
2) Occasionally I see huge planes appear and disappear as I sculpt.
I'm using windows 64 bit.
I would suggest reporting to the bugtracker – http://www.blender.org/development/report-a-bug/
I got a reassuring info from a post above : There is a Cursor depth Check Box in the User Preferences/Interface panel.
Weirdly, the box has to be unchecked to get 3 Axis correct. i would have expected the opposite. So, good news, it works !
A splash screen that looks like a white trash chick [sic],
as opposed to a cartoon character, is IMO something to celebrate:
Blender has enormous potential, but has rarely been used to make
realistic human figures.
The sooner the world-at-large sees convincing human figures
made with Blender, the faster this exceptional endeavor will go mainstream!
Agree entirely. I'm sick to death of the fluffy-animal-with-giant-eyes cliche for every single cartoon character. This 'chick' actually looks quite sassy! It's almost 12 years since the attempted realism of Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, a technology that was obviously stamped on by the film industry to preserve their grossly overpaid 'star' culture. Instead we still get endless cartoony trash with 'star' voice-overs instead! The Blender Foundation would be the perfect place to shake things up and create a complete film with 'real' looking actors...
Agreed, Once the Ability to create realism in blender is achieved, then the artist is free to create anything his heart desires, Real or Unreal.
Thus, the need for further devlopment of Hair and Cloth as a critical foundation.
Awesome! Dyntopo is finally made public :D
This is easily one of the best Blender releases to date. Blender just keeps getting better, it's amazing. Great work developers! Now if only Arch would update their repos so I don't have to launch from a folder :-P
Congrats on Blender release! (But I'm sorry to say I don't like the splash screen.)
wow, finally vertex slide and powerful bevel tools!
Thanks a lot!
Is it just me, or is N no longer showing the properties panel in 3D View? I checked the preferences and it is listed there correctly under 3D View > 3D View Generic... but doesn't work in 3D View!
It doesn't show when selecting it from the 3D View's header menu either.
It's just you, it works fine here!
Again a fantastic release! At this rate blender will become very difficult to overlook for any kind of production studio by the time we reach 2.8! Thanks you devs! :)
Also, I like the splash screen. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that it's way more difficult to convey moods and expressions in semi-realistic and realistic styles, compared to caricatures.Too bad some of us are dismissing it as 'mainstream'. There needs to be work of every kind in blender, not just something to cater certain tastes.
You 're given excellent features and for free...still all some people can think about is they don't like the splash screen. WTH! Talk about shallowness and misplace priorities.
Anyway, Congrats to the Devs and BlenderFoundation. Thank you for this release!
for the people moaning about the splash screen..u can uncheck 'Prompt Splash' in the user preferences!
yes, or if it is too painful to them, they can downgrade to blender 2.64, :D
It would be very usefull the texture baking with cycles!
Have you tried toggling the `cursor depth` option in the interface panel of the preferences? That might work.
freezing... freezing... freezing...
blender is nearly unusable for work...
Wait for 2.66a it's usually released a few days after official release and contains plenty of bugfixes
All you devs have made Blender an incredibly capable piece of software. With this version, I'd say that Blender is the Poster-Child of FOSS... it keeps getting better and better, fuelled by enthusiasm and positive energy and brilliant coding and the limitless imagination of all who use and contribute to it.
Truly, the richness of this program is so profound, one could easily spend *months* getting ones head around just one feature. Like OSL... or dynamic-topology... or hair in cycles... how amazing is *this*!
I don't think that's really the case. Robert Zemeckis has been making many "realistic" CG films, like Beowulf and Mars Needs Moms, that have been moderately successful. I think the problem is that "realistic" CG characters tend to look a bit like zombies when animated, even when really well done. They simply lack the appeal of fluffy bunnies. :)
That said, the latest Blender release is great. Dynatopo, hair in cycles and bullet integration, all great stuff.
Interesting that the bevel creases are stored differently now.
I'm wondering - will it ever be possible to change creases with shape keys?
Me too! Has this been reported yet in the bug tracker? I'm confused by your comments below which suggest it can be fixed by changing a setting.
Me too! Has this been reported yet in the bug tracker? I’m confused by your comments below which suggest it can be fixed by changing a setting.
I realized that I forgot to leave a post yesterday to thank the Blender developers for all the hard work. So thank you! Each of the developers puts in so much hard work to make Blender the great piece of software that it is, thank you all so very much for your work!
One thing I wanted in blender cycles was A) hair and B) SSS. There have been several excellent tutorials on how to fake SSS with cycles, but working with hair has always been problematic for me. I know, its a skill and you either have it or you don't, but I'm hoping that the hair render being in Cycles will improve a few things for me and make what I want to do a bit better. So as soon as I have some time to play with it I'll see how much it helps. Just being able to see the results of alteration to the hair in cycles will be a boon.
When I first heard about Blender many, many moons ago, I tried it. It was difficult and painful to use, things that others said "should work" didn't, and things that did work weren't precisely what I expected. I took a deep breath, stepped away for a while, and then watched the development. Then somewhere around 8 years ago, I saw it reached a pretty good point, and I picked it up again. This time it felt far more intuitive. Things I had tried and failed to do before simply worked out of the box. I remember using Blender on an old cobbled-together laptop and sculpting a head and rendering it and a test scene in BI. What I remember taking days and days trying to do just a few years earlier took a few hours while I was waiting for laundry.
And the software has improved with every release since. So, from a person who doesn't really matter and only does art as a hobby, thanks for providing a tool that people like me can use to satisfy that creative muse that sits inside our heads and annoys us until we bring what it wants to life.
what graphics card would work best with this release?