The first Blender 2.69 test build will be available by the end of this week!
Ton Roosendaal writes:
Here's the notes from today's meeting in irc.freenode.net, #blendercoders
1) Blender 2.69 release
- Release planning stays, we move to "BCon4" (bug fixes only) in a couple of days.
- Stuart Broadfoot will add a new Cycles hair shader still, today or tomorrow.
- Invited for next splash: Pratik Solanki and his Naughty5 team.
- Everyone's focus remains on bug tracker for rest of month!
- Release coordination will be handled by Brecht van Lommel and Campbell Barton.
- Release schedule reminder: the first official 2.69 RC will be a full release, with new splash and release number. This then is also a branch where bug fixes will happen in.
- By end of this week, we'll make an official test build available based on trunk checkout.
2) Other projects
- Getting users involved in the module teams as stakeholders remains important. Read the doc outlining this system, and how to get connected.
- UI discussions online (like blenderartists.org and twitter) deserve more attention from developers. Every developer who could work on UI topics is just fully occupied still... Brecht proposes to at least add this as a Blender Conference topic. We then can discuss follow-ups or actions too.
- A Blender 2.7x planning hasn't been proposed yet, a lot depends on the outcome of GSoC, which is wrapping up this and next week.
3) Google Summer of Code
- Next week is 'soft pencil down' - means students wrap up their work and make docs and presentations for their work. The week after final reviews have to be handed over to Google.
15 Comments
Yes! UI discussion should be during BConf!!
Firstly, thanks to BF. You guys are doing such a great job.
Then just a personal demand for 2.7. Please add as soon as possible the awesome Moar texture paint tool. Seen what it can do and was really impressed.
Thanks Ton, Bretch, et al.
UI experience is really one thing that could be improved to bring Blender closer to more people in a short time.
We're here (or wherever) to help!
p.s. please follow the discussions on:
http://www.blendernation.com/2013/09/09/developer-meeting-notes-september-8-2013/
and
http://www.blenderguru.com/podcast-a-change-of-plan/
I would be very careful when changing the Blender UI. In the thread you point to, people say that Blender over uses hotkeys. I think the current user interface of blender is great. Sure, it takes some getting used to, but once you get the hang of it, it makes for an extremely fast workflow. I can only speak for myself, but if there would have been an easy way out of learning the hotkeys, I would have taken it and I wouldn't be as fast as I am right now with Blender.
To make a comparison, for me it's kind of like using a wysiwyg interface for LaTeX. Sure, it helps get you started, but it makes no sense.
i agree , was reading some posts about this in BA and it all seemed like change just for the sake of change, dont get me wrong i like how blender is always updating . but its already a very good workflow , and your always gonna have artists with different prefs , you cant make everybody happy . even though you would like to . .UI is good now .
nobody usually want to change things for no reason.
perhaps the reasons that drive those requests don't apply to your case, or you don't see them as convenient ones.
I think the main reason Blender needs to change some of its UI behaviour is to standarize it a bit more, so it could be a better pipeline application that it is now and to have more appeal to migrating users.
But of course everything is open to debate.
like i said , everyone's got there own pref's .
Try coping with 3.46 again and this whole UI issue is moot.
But one point Andrew touches on is take-up of Blender, both of professionals and businesses. For that, and he mentions it, Blender needs better compatibility with other industry-ubiquitous applications. For my money, that means the COLLADA exchange. But the problem here, as ever, is the ol' "shape key" issue ("it's not a bug, it's a feature!"), which negates any chance of Blender properly translating mesh deformations from ANY other file formats.
I believe it to be so significant, that either Blender re-tools its shape key methodology, or it continues to languish in its present relative obscurity. Maybe it's the Python that makes it impossible to do any other way, ida know. I do know that until it's easier for the Poser noobs to move, Blender's numbers will never be as impressive as Ton wants.
Are there any plans for a Long Term Support version of Blender in the near future?, is inpractical for longer proyects (like a movie) to have a new version every 2 months or so
As for as I understand, the plan will be to make several bugfix version of 2.69 (see the blender 2.7 & 2.8 roadmap on the blender code blog).
So in some way, you can consider this a long time support version then.
Ofcourse, the question is how popular it will be to work on bugfixing that branch. Most devs will probably be more excited about working on the active development branch. On the other hand, it's obvious from the activity on the bug tracker that the devs also take great pride in fixing bugs.
What? Did the Pie Menus get pushed back AGAIN? When did this happen?
What's the deal with the Pie Menus? I really don't get the point...
what " is " the deal with pie menu's is exactly my point also , dont like 'em at all . not in any application . even before i got into blender thought they just got in the way . let them be as they are now . you can get them if you want them from BA . released script's and theme's thread . still there just checked . some like them some dont .
Can't wait for the Laplacian Deform tools to be implemented after GSoC is finished. They're really going to push modeling and animating in Blender.
I'm extremely happy to hear UI is being considered for discussion. I know I started a contentious discussion last week. People have strong feelings on how the program should work, and I understand and respect that. The only points that I hope to drive are the two I posited before.
Are there common conventions that might make Blender easier and faster to learn?
Are there multiple ways to access each function to fit different personality types?
I look forward to seeing discussion on this. Please post links as the channels for discussion open.