Blender 2.62 is creeping up, the new Carve Boolean library and Cycles importance sampling are now in trunk and Cycles Renderlayer/passes are almost done. BMesh is progressing well and is scheduled for 2.64 or maybe 2.63!
Ton Roosendaal writes:
Hi all,
Here's the summary of today's topics:
1) Blender 2.62 progress
- Project progress page.
- Sergey Sharybin: The Carve boolean library is now in Blender. Reports are in general very positive! Although it's not 100% compatible, at least it is predictable and in maintenance. Tobias Sargeant (Carve coder) has given great support, thanks! See the documentation on the wiki.
- Brecht van Lommel: Cycles Renderlayer/passes are nearly done now, will go to svn in few days.
- Mike Farnsworth's importance sampling - noise reduction for Cycles - is in svn trunk now
- We move to BCon3 (only fixing) when Brecht adds his stuff, then add 2 weeks for BCon4 (test builds).
- Bastien Montagne: VertexGroup modifier could get option to show weight changes by modifiers. Needs further work, not for 2.62 though.
- Collada discussion: conclusion is we don't do anything yet, but after the release we will check on it again. Campbel Barton likes to see Juan Linietsky's script to be officially committed to our 'contrib' script repository.
2) Other projects
- BMesh: in 3 weeks it will have the main targets complete (like particle support). Lots of smaller todos left still, actual release target might move to 2.64 then. With some luck 2.63!
- Mike Erwin: working on new 3dconnexion device now, he's available to fix ndof bugs in the tracker, and move pending tablet fixes from his branch to trunk.
- Meeting ended with long discussion on Android porting and tablets in general (fondle slabs). Should get a branch, once one or two developers claim maintenance and ownership for it.
Thanks,
-Ton-
28 Comments
It's impressive whta blender foundation did in the last two years and what is about to do in the next six months!
Thanks masters!
I cannot thank these guys enough. Great work, really.
Indeed. God bless them!
Is it possible to read the irc log somewhere?
I am intrested what the discussion of the android port was about...! I hope the Blenderplayer gets ported! :)
2012 will be a good year for blender ;)
2012 will rock for me: awesome Blender developments, the Avengers movie, 2 Pixar films, a Studio Ghibli film and Wii U.
I'm very happy with whats to come, I didn't think I see the importance sampling for ages, looks like it's not far away - I've avoided test builds of BMesh, but I'm really looking forward to it, hope there's gona finally be some recursive bevel oprions too. Love it!
Nice additions to the trunk, but will Dynamic Topology Sculpting ever get in, once it's stable & all that? I'd love to see it integrated into Blender, as it is an invaluable tool for sculpting.
That remember me the Unlimited Clay project !! :'(
Which is waiting for BMesh last time I heard.
Yes, it is waiting for BMesh, but if Farthsay (sp?) can do with Blender what he has done with 3D Coat, then sculpting will be VASTLY improved!!
Amazing! All the best from Barcelona!!!
when you think it can't get better, they turn around and make it better, thanks to all the devs.
"when you think it can't get better, they turn around and make it better, thanks to all the devs."
EXACTLY!!!
The Android and Tablet developing make me dream a lot :)
2012 rocks! (End of the World my e... XD )
Bmesh will be an asome change in the way we model right now :')
I hope this years the amazing Add-on Bsurfaces finally be free for the masses:
http://www.bsurfaces.info/
Greetings
I wouldn't rely on having Bsurface free any time soon. I don't believe that he intends to give it up. Don't get me wrong.. he has all the rights to sell it as long as he likes. The reason of my thinking is that First: we don't know when those 5 to 9 months began. Second: there is no goal of how much he want to accumulate before giving it up for free and last we never know how much he has received to this day. So this could go on for a loooong time.
If you want it... you should buy it.
By the way... no I do not know him. :)
The 5-9 months period began when it was realeased (end of July/2011). And the plan remains the same as in the beginning.
Thanks for the update I truly didn't know when the period began. I hope you didn't interpret me wrong here. You obviously have spent many many hours of coding into this add-on and i do understand your thinking.
Android port would be great with a nice simple touch UI.
I feel the need to thank and congratulate Sergey,Tobias as well as,anybody else who contributed into developing Carve Booleans.A much needed improvement,no doubt!The new algorithms seem to work remarkably well and fast,giving a smooth topology,at least according to my own tests
BMesh,of course is another incredibly significant target,as we all know.
If I could only wish for a tool,that would greatly help into making artist's life easier -when working especially with high res,complex models- ( I am not a coder myself) ,that would be an "unused vertices removal" tool,in the style of "mesh optimization" tools/utilities some other 3d apps have.Again,I have no clue about how difficult this would be to get accomplished,all I'm sure about is the importance of such a tool in a "real world" working environment.
Something that would greatly help ,though,into Blender being considered as a truly integrated solution by some -still hesitating perhaps- studios,is the rigid body dynamics integration with the rest of modifiers' functionality.Please do not underestimate the importance of this not only as a "polishing" factor but as a productivity/functionality boost-giving factor as well! Already the first graphicall.org related experimental builds made their appearance and look truly promising!
Need to mention,really,the importance of "Importance sampling" as well as,the addition of a render layers/passes functionality for Cycles?...
A big Thank You to all of you developers >>> you make all of us happy!!!
Is there anything I could possibly add? Totally awesome news. Kudos all around.
Really big big thanks to the Ton and the Devs. With the new functions that are coming, Blender is just going to get better an better. Cycle is just so awesome and is gonna get even more better. Big thanks again.
Just a little point that maybe someone could help me with. I have a little problem when smoothing objects with Cycle. In 2.49 I resolve this with auto smooth but it seem that this feature is not there anymore. Anyone have an idea if there is another way to do it, or is this a feature thats coming back?
..render layers, .importance sampling noise reduct, ..Bmesh in 2.64 -really great:)
i just wonder who "really" needs blender on adroid..
You wrote: ...i just wonder who "really" needs blender on adroid..
If I read you correctly you think in the sense of porting blender to android OS. I think they mean to create game for android with blender. Maybe I'm the one who is wrong though. If this is the case, I'm with you there. Although I would be curious to see how they would do that specially on touch devices. ( like the iPad 3, window 8 Tablets and android sandwitch.) I mean the tablets are getting more powerful (4 cores) every year. And some say that the tablet is / will be the future PC.
ok if you need a blender which runs on android to create games running on android, strange but give it a go.
This "fancy" multitouch stuff is not efficent for a program like blender and atm i would prefer focusing on bringing back old 2.49 functionality or improve other stuff like the outliner. just my opinion.
PLEASE consider addressing Open-CL rendering in Cycles! Haven't heard anything new about it in awhile
very much agree.
“Fondleslabs” is a term used mainly on The Register. I see it is leaking out...