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Blender 2.5 Release Pushed to Tomorrow, Splash Revealed

98

Blender 2.5 Alpha 0 SplashA few hours ago I talked to Ton Roosendaal about the expected release time of the Blender 2.5 Alpha 0. He said: "we're starting the builds now, and there are still mountains of work to be done on the website - it'll probably be tomorrow". So stay tuned! In the mean time, you can take a peak at the new 2.5 Alpha 0 splash screen (via @graphicall).

About the Author

Avatar image for Bart Veldhuizen
Bart Veldhuizen

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.

98 Comments

  1. Nice, but i feel slightly sad about the splash...
    I mean isnt it meant to be made in blender...
    That image was almost entirely made in Gimp
    with only the greyscale background being painted over....

    Gimps good dont get me wrong, but...
    This is, incase you hadn't noted.. blender... not Gimp

  2. Nowherebrain/JustinBarrett on

    Thomas Dinges(dingto) has also posted a "non-official" build on graphical(win32). It seems pretty stable, and has the splash screen.

  3. @Calumk: Aw, come on, it's Sintel. I'm glad it's a pretty image that has to do with the Durian Project.

    I thought the 'made in Blender' stricture was for the contests for user-made splash images, anyway.

  4. This is not likely to be the splash for the final version, since we'll have durian by that time.

    BTW the girl looks a little weird to me. Maybe not after I see her in action :)

  5. I liked the colour stripes splash from the nightly builds. I thought that for a change it really addressed that everyone has different needs, backgrounds and aims with Blender. I completely agree with Calumk, that image being from GIMP gives the feeling of being out of place as Blender's splash.

  6. Personally, I think the splash image is awesome, but then I'm a bit biased toward the anime style. Anyway, I'm looking forward to playing with this new release. Can't wait till tomorrow!

  7. I think Colibrì is the best image to fit in the splashscreen!!
    Yes, durian is always durian, but that image(Sintel) doesn't represent blender's users!!
    Maybe if the team release a only-blender image of sintel i'll agree to put it in the splash screen, but until that, i prefer Colibrì as splash!

  8. I like the splash, it's symbolic of what 2.5 is, both Blender and Sintel are still in their early stages. It would be cool if they used more and more complete Sintel images as the alpha and beta versions progressed.

  9. Swami G, there have never been colored stripes in nightly builds. I think you've seen the mockup instead.

    I love this splash and don't care if it's made in another package. It's about the art man, it's about the art.

    (and by the way, it's probably not even made in the gimp.. the author seems to like MyPaint :)

  10. I kinda like the new Splash screen. Lot of love went into making it. It shows. I can't wait for tomorrow though. Jippy! And it's my birthday too :)

    To everyone who worked on this version of Blender: It looks like it's going to be the best blender yet!

  11. @ijstaart

    One of the first builds I downloaded from graphicall.org for 2.50 had a really colorful splash image. It was bars of colours spilling down. I can't find the exact build because they keep updating and I really don't have time to find the build but if you browse the builds (and it was an OS X build at that) I'm sure you can find it.

  12. Is texture baking in it yet ? That is a sorely missed feature for me in the 2.5 to date.
    Great work Blender team look forward to testing !

  13. Using a PAINTOVER made in GIMP/or whatever other paint program for a BLENDER splash?

    Please at least show something that was made in blender (Personally not durian related)

  14. ok few small bugs I noticed

    1. Camera Display Name still does not work properly - theres something half there but its not readable..

    2. a change to the 3d window background colour is not saved when use 'save as default' in preferences

    keep up the good work coders!
    its great that after such a massive overhaul its nearly all back together

  15. Uh, a term like "Release Logs" as the most prominent splash screen function? Yikes! What's wrong with "What's New?" or something a little more friendly?

    Anyway, I'm looking forward to 2.5. :-)

  16. Cmon guys :) What's wrong with that splash ??? Blender is open source, GIMP is open source too... Durian is Blender movie project in cooperation with other great open source tools. Personally I think this splash is great. It's a great start as Blender and Durian will evolve both in the next half year.

  17. it's looking awesome!
    For those who go into the "it's not made in blender" whining, maybe you forget this is just an alpha version?! could have had no splash at all at this stage..

  18. I looked at the source of some ui script. I really would like to know the reason why the ui is still made in this strange way, where you have to overload a DRAW method and do all the logic (layout, display settings, etc.) on each and every redraw. On each redraw the displayed input "widgets" have to be recreated! I don't know of any other ui api that works in such a strange way. The trend goes to *declarative* UIs [1]. This is as procedural as you can get.

    Maybe it's just a name issue and the method shouldn't be called "draw" but instead "setup" or similar and in reallity it is only evaluated once (or when some setting it depends on changes).

    [1] http://labs.trolltech.com/blogs/2009/05/13/qt-declarative-ui/

  19. @Bart: what is this title?????

    Blender 2.5 Released?

    First it's not 2.5, it is 2.5 alpha 0. Secondly it's not "released".
    I hope you let Kernon edit the news.

  20. Pour changer les habitudes et rendre hommage à tout les participants, il
    aurait été sympathique pour le splash screen de placer une photo de toute
    l'équipe ayant participé à l'élaboration de blender 250!
    - - -
    For a change, and pay tribute to all the participants, it would been
    sympathetic to the splash screen to place a photo of the team who
    participated in the development of blender 250!

  21. Well, my post seems to have caused some contraversy...

    @ibkanat
    yes the image was made with blender as a starting point, but as you can clearly see it is very different from the blender greyscale render... all the hair is gimp, not blender particles, the skin is painted on, not a texture.. etc...

    @ everyone else

    yes, i like the idea of a durian splash, but i expected something new, or, at least 80% blender... not 10% blender 90% gimp...

    saying that, Blender is amazing and lets face it, the splash is not, the most important, nor significant thing to be focusing on...

    Blender, you rock. My little CG socks.
    Calumk

  22. I dont like Sintel at all, even the name I don't like, but hey, it's just my opinion. Nevertheless, the image is 2D and not representative of the software. why using it when there are renders of the city in durian made in 3d? I think they are forcing us to love Sintel! :P
    That's just a small "con" for a million "pros", the new blender is unbelievable, great, amazing, awesome, (and here comes de Durian word) EPIC!.
    Great effort from the blender fundation, comunity, Ton, etc.
    This will mark a new begining in 3d graphics.
    Congratulations. (but change that Sintel drawing and put the city instead!!)

  23. What's wrong with splash screen? I love that image and it looks great even it not 100% blender

    the only thing I don't like is why you don't use the "anti-industry" image?
    the one with cigar I mean

  24. Chill about the splash, guys! I personally am psyched about the new release! I hope the server doesn't get jammed tomorrow! LOL. I can't wait! It's gonna be like Christmas!

  25. I think guys here are a bit too much thinking about blender and not about the team behind.
    Don't you think they are busy and under pressure when reading all the comments on the upcomming version?
    Don't you think making a movie takes way long time and it's still at the beginning?
    That means they don't have the time to render a 100% Sintel pic because of the charge of work they have ahead.
    They did it to show us the advance of the project and it's really nice of them, they could not if they wanted...

    They are all doing a great job and yes the 2.5 is an important release.
    Even if it's open source, don't forget that its first owned but the team, then by us poor end users.
    Let's let them work at their pace, the final product will be even better.

    Blender Team and Durian Project Team, you have all my support.

  26. Campbell Barton (ideasman42) on

    @panzi, blender draw scripts running a lot worried me too, to think that as you move your mouse over a button and it highlights, that every button is re-created via python again.... the mind boggles!

    But Id not worry...
    1) we can make the python UI persistent and run significantly less often - eg, not on redraw, only when it needs updating.
    2) python scripts somehow run incredible fast, I was worried about this so I set a banchmark prints. On my system with a debug, unoptimized build, (unoptimized python too), scripts take on average around 0.00001 sec each :D

  27. i just hope it will have all the hotkeys i've known and loved for years. (i kind of rely on those since i usually can't find the button for them :(

  28. @forcotton
    Nov 23rd, 2009 at 8:56 pm
    BTW the girl looks a little weird to me.

    Maybe itz cause ur used to looking at girls from the neck down. ;)

  29. well, i love the splash screen! hahaha! what's important is what 2.5 can offer!
    anyways, very excited here for tomorrow's release! thanks for all the people who did a great job!

  30. I remember seeing a splash screen proposition which had presets of different applications (Maya, 3DSMaX etc) where the dropdown list could be used to specify "themes" of feel-alike customisations. Is that not to happen? No biggie if not (I would likely choose "blender" preset) though I thought it would be a good excuse for broadcasting the new Blender release to the Maya crowd, along with reasons they ought to try it out.

  31. Campbell Barton (ideasman42) on

    @Lancer, patiance, we dont even have one working keymap :)
    that said, you can make your own and save them as python scripts which could be accessed from the menu.

  32. Oh wow it is actually a surprise for me. This coming out sooner than I expected. I was fine a few minuted ago but after seeing the new splash I'm a fidgety. XP

  33. the splash screen is a lovely image... But I agree that it isn't true to the point of splash screens... I think of them as, whenever someone opens up blender they see an image that says look, this is what you can do in blender!!! But when the image is not even made in blender it just doesn't have the same effect. If his is just an alpha version and the newer version splash screens are made with blender then maybe that's ok, but let's keep blender bleder!

  34. To all upset about the splash screen all I have to say is,
    Really? The First Official Release of Blender 2.5 (albeit in alpha) and your still not happy?
    I am sorry to tell you that I don't think that there is much blender can do to make you happy.
    It is not even out yet and your already ripping it apart.
    I'm pretty sure that Sintel (the character) has not been unwrapped, textured then rendered so
    there wouldn't be an all blender version of her. And since this is 2.5 putting any Big Buck Bunny
    images not only seems backwards but also might confuse a lot of people. The splash screen is great, can't wait for the build!

  35. This is so cool! And I love the splash screen picture, right now it kinda represents how one can combine multiple softwares in a workflow to get a great result. And of course the new window-style is more modern than the current one in Blender.
    Love it!

  36. dude, I can't believe anyone is making such a big deal about the splash screen. I mean we have great product being made for us for free in every way imaginable with a smart as hell guy like Ton in charge of making everybody work together, once again, for free and people are pissed about the splash screen? puhlllleeeeeze.

    Yo, check this out, I hear everyone getting all hot and bothered about the new Ubuntu like it's the open source operating system messiah and it doesn't work on my system (neither has any other Ubuntu release yet, nd not on the system I had before that one either)... I can't even get it to connect to the net... in fact when I try to get grub on my system to do a dual boot after getting the drivers I need from online the thing erases the boot sector of my windows disk and I have to get my Sabayon livedisk to read my windows disk and save it all to an external drive (which Ubuntu also doesn't recognize).

    Now I'm all for Linux... Sabayon is treating me like a king... but when I see someone yacking about how he or she loves this or that little app they added to Ubuntu after spending an hour or two trying to learn how to install it from shell I get disgusted and thank the gods for my old Win XP disk and the fact that there are other distros out there.

    So here we are with a new fine ass piece of programming that actually works, that is in alpha and does everything that we need for professional CGI work and you guys are really squawking about the splash? Get your heads out of your lower intestines and be happy if you don't have to pay thousands of dollars for a commercial nightmare of software that you can't even try without dropping serious features or thousands of dollars, yen, pounds, euros, francs, pesos, whatever. don't you get this?

    you people are nuts, yeah, just ignore all the work these people are putting into this program and pretend they will keep up the hard work for you, the guys who didn't care about volumetrics, the new UI, the sculpting speedup with the new tools...

    I for one am grateful for the work these peeps are putting out because it has opened new realms of possibility for me. I'm poor as hell and helping my wife go through college which doesn't help with the money situation. I've been an artist for over 20 years but I don't have the money or the jobs to rent a studio and buy a kiln , chemicals, tools, etc. in order to make the images I want to make. But what I do have is Blender, and it's free and I really could care less if there was a picture of a piece of dog crap on the screen at launch as long as I get to make art. This way all I need is electricity, time and my computer.

    To the developers of Blender, thank you for producing just about the only thing that's keeping me sane half the time. I really can't afford to paint, sculpt, hell, I can't even afford to draw thanks to the way the economy has been affecting my little family. Blender has honestly given me a way to let me visually express myself at a time that I wouldn't be able to otherwise and that is as important to me as religion.

  37. full ack on the Masked Lurker :-)

    for the other ppl:
    you have 2 choices:

    a) an (almost) fully working blender version even without a SPLASH
    b) a piece of software which is halfbaken, not well sorted out and only runs on a few computers, BUT with a shiny 3d rotating ass kicking fullscreen splash with magic buttons...

    you have only one choice, so think well about it....
    i did already...

    just my 1 cent (im poor as well) :-P

    p.s. i dont care about how it looks, but how it works, as long as it works, and this version DOES! :-)

  38. @ Masked Lurker
    Agree with you, although you're making it sound terribly dramatic :).
    Still, don't pick on Ubuntu - for some people it's almost as much of a lifesaver as Blender is for you ;)

    I like the splash screen, who said it has to be made in Blender? It's just a pleasant startup image.
    I also love the look of the new UI.

    @ skulpter
    Not everybody is so well versed in porn ;)

  39. @Pawel the fact that a splash has to be made in Blender and rendered with the Internal Render is a rule that has been around and is used on all Splash screen contests for Blender. In essence the foundation is bending one of its own rules with this current splash screen.

    I think they should have used the pic of the humming bird that was posted months ago on BlenderArtists that was a stunner of an image and fit well, infact mockups of the splash screen used that image.

    I am skeptical that this gimp painting was actually made for the splash screen its the same painting that was posted on the Durain as a paint over to Angela's model. Which leds me to think that noone really had the time to make a splash screen and the next best thing was grabbed a bit of a bummer really with so much awesome renders about.

    I am sure the Durain guys will make something awesome eventually but using a concept art paintover as a splash is a bit halfbaked IMHO.

  40. Masked Lurker,

    Parfois,Il arrive par malheur que des personnes Vivre 10 ans
    dans la forêt sans l'avoir choisi, sans eaux ni électricité,
    la peaux sur les os, coupant du bois, abattant des arbres,
    prendre l'eau croupie à la fontaine, les maladies du froid de
    l'hiver, les railleries des gens de la ville, toute l'horreur
    de la folie d'être seul, mon ami la liste est trop longue
    pour être entière, mais à présent avec un minimum de vie
    décente on peut demander une image!... courage!
    - - -
    Sometimes, it happens unfortunately that people live 10 years
    in the forest without choosing, without water or electricity,
    the skins and bones, cutting wood, felling trees,
    take the foul water from the fountain, diseases of the cold
    winter, the jeers of the townspeople, the horror
    the madness of being alone, my friend list is too long
    to be full, but now with a minimum life
    decent can request an image!... courage!

  41. I'm happy that version 2.5 is now really coming soon. Already tested some builds and the new UI is very nice, much more intuitive and logical. And there is also bmesh and all the other good new things. Thanks to all those people who make this possible.
    I hope though, that before the release things get more stable, until now the blender builds I tried liked to crash happily very often.

    There is so much talking about the splash, well I don't like that manga style at all, but well I don't care so much about that. Suggestion: from now on just put an b/w or greyscale blender logo there. I imagine it would look cool and no more complaining. heh. :)

  42. Well, I agree that using a render that was painted over for the splash is a bit weird but this is just an alpha release so why not? For the final release I'm sure they'll use something 100% rendered

  43. Splash Screen is following that internation propaganda stuff thing.
    Blender developer maybe are payd for to supply this.

    Else its nice only to have a nice Blender 3D logo,change it now!!

    Remember that its the software.

  44. Love the splash! :)

    I can't believe all this bithching over it. Man, people, this is Sintel, Durian project, which is first and foremost for developing and testing Blender in a real live situation, making it better for all of us. So this is the first alpha version of Blender 2.5 with the first version of Sintel, which fits perfectly.

    And besides, Angela modeled it and David did great work with the paintover. Don't you think he should feel welcome and part of the Blender family too by welcoming his work into the splash of an official build?

    Anyway, thanks to everybody involved!

  45. I'm with Sanne, the splash looks pretty damn cool to me, and I think it's fitting to have it on the front. So only half of it was made in Blender? No worries! The geometry and lighting was made in Blender, and the colour in Gimp, sounds right doesn't it? Basically they did the normal process of making textures for the 3D models in image editors, except in reverse.

    I just tried an alpha build of Blender 2.5, and I must say, while I'm not over the moon right now, I think it's going to be good once it's out of alpha and beta testing. There's a lot of bugs in it and little glitches or features that I think it needs, or elements of the old GUI system that would be nice. Making new windows for instance, is a lot easier in the old system I think, and a lot easier to get rid of them too. And I noticed a odd clicking noise each time I dragged something or moved the cursor in Blender while listening to music. These bugs and other issues will be probably ironed out though.

    I think with the features that Blender has now, combined with the new GUI, and the resources that are becoming available for Blender, such as books and online guides, and tutorials etc. I think before the end of 2010, Blender will be PAST the stage of being a competitor for 3ds Max and Maya, and will be better than both of them!

    So 3 cheers, my hat off, a bow, a hug and a kiss for the blender team, you're all hero's in my book!

  46. >skulpter
    >Nov 24th, 2009 at 3:05 am
    >We should have named her Duria, like Lydia. Sintel sounds like a pornstar.

    Duria sounds similar to russian word 'Dura', wich means 'stupid woman'... :)
    I think the Durian makers should think about the meaning of the 'Durian' word in other countries. In russian the words based on 'dur' means something stupid or cheating =)
    But Sintel sounds ok! Like something blue...

  47. Well I was trying to think of the hot keys that are currently changed, Only one comes to mine and that is the :
    B,B Circle select tool is now C.

    ON the Splash Page topic: This splash page is probably not going to stay past the alpha phase.

    Some cool Changes from 2.49 to 2.50, from the top of my head for people not keeping up with the builds are:

    -Proportional editing works in object mode
    -Tools / operators are now easy to get to in left side panel (T hotkey)
    -Superior work flow in changing textures/Materials/Particles etc
    -Multiple windows are possible
    -Animate properties of anything now (you should take a look at mfoxdogg's blender 2.5 tours if you haven't)
    -plus more particle settings

    It's still the blender we all know and are familiar with, more or less.

    Hobbyists, Artists, Professionals Should all take a few moments to play in blender 2.5.

    Some Issues are already known, but some aren't please make sure when running across a bug to go here and read what to do.

  48. hah can't believe all the talk about the splash thingie, come on you are getting a brand new Blender to test and improve! :)

    The Blender 2.5x Series will be Durian releases (at first is the big change, but in coming releases there will be Smoke, Fire, and so on), what's wrong with having images from that project in our beloved Blender?

    After all Durian is the current project that is giving food and a roof to the Blender Foundation and they are the ones doing the heavy testing by making an epic movie, and for free!

    geez..

  49. I'm excited. I've been a die hard max user and fan for years but yesterday I switched to blender. Whoever is behind the creation of this software, I thank you. Awaiting release.

  50. I love Blender. It's my favorite program and has replaced 3dsMax for me, but as I said above, I don't like Sintel, her name nor the Splash, so what? I am not supposed to say that? this section is for comments and that's what I'm doing. It is my personal opinion on the splash screen and it doesn't mean anything except I'd prefer another one, the one with the city in Durian, which AFAIK is entirely done in 3d.
    I'm as happy and grateful for 2.5 as anyone else, just don't like a painted splash wich I think is more appropriate for Gimp or Mypaint.

  51. Almost here, and I can even afford it hehehe! Time for a gargantuan monitor (can't get those under GPL!!!) And maybe a 2nd GPU.

    That sclash spreen would need a finer skin texture (looks mippy) and some attitude to be official. Maybe an 'Oh yeah, why don't you just TRY to come get it?' type expression, even just in one eye.

    Is the Alpha going to be noticeably improved over the latest Graphicall builds? They rock, but there are still some lossy bugs crawling around.

    @Joel - Die hard Max user? Prepare to die... hard. They should kidnap Blender coders and force them to accept payment for what they've done!

    Dave Heinemann, 4th year noob

  52. I've read (almost) all opinions above and I have to agree with the fact that this 2D image is not at all representative for a 3D program...

    HOWEVER:
    - this is only Alpha 0
    - Sintel is just in the early stage of her development (same as blender 2.5)

    I have a string feeling that the splash will change towards Alpha 1,2 etc , Beta 1,2,etc , RC1,2,etc and WILL followup Sindel development as well until we'll have a 3D image of her in the final release.

    At least this is my hope (hope you're listening to this Ton ;) hehehe)

    Keep up the good job!

  53. Oh yeah, no server problems. Only took a couple of minutes to download.
    Time to play :)

    Ok, I'm totally lost. Where's the middle mouse click to split the screen? I've got a lot to re-learn.

  54. @wolfmanyoda, to split the windows click the mouse in the corner of the window you want to split and drag inward to the inside of the window. To unite windows click the corner of the window and drag outward to the window you want to unite with.

    @SomeOtherFellow, that's an option. Check the user preferences and set smooth transitions (I think that's the name of the field) to 0. I think the default is 250ms. I don't have it in front of me so you'll have to poke around a little.

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