Preparations for 2.5 beta 1 have started.
2.5 project, next release targets
- We still need a good list of release targets for the next release (2.5 beta 1). Ton will ask Matt to add that on his todo for this week.
- Targets should be related to the 2.5 project in general. That's for example specs for keymaps, keymaps themselves, themes, final button layouts, properties and tools naming, toolbar configurations, installation procedures, and parts of the python API (for UI, import/export).
- Official module maintainer list has to be refreshed. Thomas Dinges volunteers, will do this in wiki during the next week, and comes back next meeting.
- Andrea will work on file/image browser, and do Sequencer fixes. (Campbell declared Sequencer "prohibitively broken" after seeing Colin use it here :).
- Campbell mentions other topics that need decisions or work: Pything class caching for faster startup, what to do with TexFace.
- Martin works further on proper methods to use Macros in 2.5
Other current projects
- BMesh progresses, but slowly at the moment. Joe thinks it's at 90% now, but "last 10% is hardest and will involve other developers like Brecht and/or Matt". He is also looking into a rubust Mesh Node system.
- New sculpt with disk-cached multires is being tested now. It performs great, needs some bugfixing still. Brecht will work on it soon.
- Joe does a warm but urgent request to seriously evaluate his DSM (deep shadow map) code, especially for the hair shadow case.
29 Comments
Finish BMesh please, make it a priority for the foundation! Blender has come so far, and this might be something rather boring to work on, but it's an essential for many kinds of projects.
Edit: First!
Awesime !!!
Each week i think "whaoooo, i want to test those great developments", and i make my own built from blender SVN... but after few minutes, i feel the new UI hard to read because of the new AA font...
Would it be possible to have the old bitmap font back, as an option ? Anti-aliased fonts do cause me a lot of eye strain. It would be great if we could switch antialiasing off AND choose the font for the interface.
@Afief the keyword in your statement and perharps the achilles heel of BMESH is in the word 'essential'. Though flawed in some ways the current mesh structure gets the job and done many can live with it. and that in itself is the problem it relegates BMESH to the periphery of blender developemnt.
If it was urgent or esstential it would have been done a long time ago.
I hope am not sounding too negative I also want to see BMESH done and in Blender but frankly am taking an extremely long term view on this post 2.60.
Go BMesh GO, I'm sure that Joe will make it to end this project. I'm waiting for new and upgraded Modifiers :>
Just get the basic done and bugs fix - the goodies can be added later release.
can a developer design a rendering filters for smoke and fire and etc.
I mean using cage as domain is kind of stone age stuff.what I'm refereeing it call "layers effects".
if blender was to have this feature it will make blender interesting and friendly to use.
can some one do a splash of a caveman chiseling a blender logo on a cave wall.
I know you still working on the alpha.
For beta1 please specify the parameters of the Python commands and implement it.
example:
Console-Report delivers:
bpy.ops.view3d.cursor3d()
missing:x,y,z
copy to texteditor and run script delivers error
similar:
bpy.ops.view3d.cursor3d()
missing:x,y,z
problem:
bpy.ops.view3d.border_select()
not recorded in report
documentation: xmin,xmax,ymin,ymax
missing: zmin,zmax and orientation of coordinatesystem
suggestion for frontview: xmin,xmax,ymin,ymax, zmin=-10,zmax=+10 , x_coordinate=1, y_coordinate=1, z_coordinate=0
maybe objects with view3d should have two commands:
1. orientation of coordinatesystem
2. operation
anyway: great job that Console Report delivers python commands
It would be great to add Real Time Lighting. So it could be possible to see the effects of lights and other speculations in real time. I don't know about others but for me it would be most important update ever of Blender.
You doing a great job guys, cu around.
Vladimir,
That is what GLSL already does.
3D Connexion support!! please!
would be amazing to be implemented in Blender something like the ZSpheres to make the base of sculpt quickly, I personally think that are amazing:) and I like to have this tool in Blender http://www.pixologic.com/zbrush/features/03_ZSpheres/
Or any other of its amazing features! and yes ... I love Blender, is why I always check what other programs offer, to see if I can do the same whit actuals tools or implement in Blender.
Greetings
2.5 at its current stage crashes way too much for me during rendering, not good! If they can fix that it would be amazing.
Hi all,
first I wish to thank all of the developers for the time and effort they are putting into Blender. Second, IMHO, (beneath the respect I feel for Open Source developers, and the Blender ones above all) I think the interface is coming out really bad (excuse my rude words). I write on this, because this point isn't mentioned in the todo tasks.
It seems to me that the old interface was something to polish and make clearer, but the actual one is going straight in the opposite direction.. Anyone agreeing?
If Bmesh is important to you, put some money down on it. $300 a month isn't enough for Joe to make a living off of.
http://bmeshblender.wordpress.com/
@ROBI :i agree
@raphael
please stop mentioning this everywhere on the internet.. there is nothing in this news article that talked about fonts..
whine about them in the appropriate place
thanks
everywhere on the internet ?
are you the master of this board, to tell what should be or not be said ?
the subject is blender 2.5 developement. Read.
cool, 2.5 beta 1 :-D any info on when it might come out? :-DDD
speaking of 2.5, I've done my first complete project in it, and it works pretty well :-D most of the Editing functions I normally use (or needed to use for this project) work very well, though manually entering a crease value is a bit slower, but I heard that the Keyboard shortcut (Shift-E) hasn't been implemented yet, so I won't complain about it :-D
@ccherrett Well it only works in game mode. Would be great if it did work without activating it. Thus real time, not gametime. Which means that in real time by changing the values of lights i can see the immidiate effect it creates without going into game mode.
GLSL is possible in the viewport, press N key go down until you see the display mode (forgot the name) It'll be either TexFace, Multi texture or GLSL, select GLSL and then in the viewport change the display to "textured" Add a lamp (Only buffer shadowing works with spot) to a scene and you have real-time lighting, trying change colours and you'll see it change in the scene. Again the shadowing only works when spot is selected with buffer shadows.
To everyone else, it's an Alpha so if thing's don't work submit a bug and don't complain.
All I could say right now is to just keep up the great work and to have that passion burning, always! Blender has gone through a lot of obstacles and development already that probably voicing out my opinion on feature requests would seem futile. I'll just wait until Blender surprises the hell out of me. ^_^
-Reyn
The new interface is wonderful. I'm so very sick of people complaining when they fix something as important as the UI. It is clear, fast, well-thought-out and a pleasure to work in compared to the old interface and most other 3D programs I've used.
@robi, The new UI was necessary for Blender to grow. Watch a few tutorials, play for an hour or two and move on. The old interface was confusing and cluttered. It didn't need "polish", it needed to be dumped and redone. That's what they did and thank god for that.
Blender finally revamped the UI, GIMP is getting a new UI (finally!) soon ... open source is actually paying attention to the design community for once and they'll see amazing things come from it. If the linux community in general would listen to/respect the design community we would see a renaissance of users adopting open source tools, more commercial interests would back open source development and the quantity and quality of OSS would skyrocket.
To all new developers i wish you all the best of luck, and don't be scared to ask questions :) we developers don't bite....much ;)
@robi
100% agree. If I'll be stuck with the new interface can someone tell me if there's a way to stop everything from changing to fill the space? Between trying to finish jobs with the old blender and doing the full time work I don't have any time to sit and relearn a program's interface right now.
Also, is it something that can be changed, but I liked being able to middle click to open files, one less wasted click on the way to carpal tunnel syndrome.
@Daniel Wray Thanks alot for explaining - I'll try that!!! :)
Regarding the interface, it appears that part of Blender 2.5's goals is to allow almost everything to be scripted by Python, including the interface. Some of this has already been demonstrated in the early demo videos. Once 2.5 is final, it's not unreasonable to expect that someone will have a script to mimic the old layout or to mimic other 3D packages. Everyone kept complaining about the UI as a barrier to Blender adoption. Now people are complaining that it's being changed? Sorry, can't please everyone. The better option is to have a UI that can be customized so that if someone is unhappy, they are free to tweak it.
I have a proposition of adding simple controls like other programs:
Ctrl+C - copy
Ctrl+V paste and so on (its really annoying that Blender has it all completely different) getting used to it is a tough one :)
Right now I didn't use blender for two months and i can't remember how to copy paste :)
You just knew people were going to complain about the interface ... particularly those who insisted that it was fine just the way it was. I remember way back when the company I work for switched from the DOS version of WordPerfect to the Windows version. There were people ready to quit in protest. Of course they could work more quickly in the DOS version ... they'd memorized a library full of keyboard commands and could move like lightning. But they didn't do that overnight ... they did it over time. They were perfectly willing to sacrifice the miracle of WYSIWYG computing to hold onto their comfortable habits. Many Blender veterans have been with the program for a long time, and I think they forget how much has been added on to the interface over the years ... changes that they've been able to digest in bite-sized chunks over time. However, new users - particularly those who are used to being able to carry over standard UI conventions from one program to another in order to quickly learn a new software - can find many examples of inconsistency and cryptic nomenclature that can make learning Blender challenging. (Notice I didn't say "impossible" or "not worth it" ... just particularly, and I think unnecessarily challenging.) I think it's great that they're addressing this, and I also think it's important to point out that they probably waited to do this mainly because of the enormity of the task - not because it wasn't seen as necessary. I also think it's going to be the final straw that finally pulls many artists over to Blender from other closed-source packages. I'm not a "power user" by any stretch, but I do use Blender in my everyday workflow and I'd say it took me about a day to get used to the changes. If you learned Blender in the first place, you can learn the new interface ... easily.
Also would be great to have simple things added such as (ive taken pictures from: Solidworks, Torque constructor):
http://i780.photobucket.com/albums/yy86/vanvirts/blenderadvise.jpg