Blender 2.72a, the bug fix release for 2.72, is now available for download. See the list of bug fixes for full details of this release.
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About the Author
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.
19 Comments
The one thing I do wish Blender had was an internal update thing, so you didn't have to go and download the new versions from the site. It'd be nice to just click the thing that says "Check for updates" and have it download the newest version.
It's Blender, there are updates every day actually https://builder.blender.org/download/
Why yes, it's blender and there are updates every day, but not sure what that has to do with the idea of adding a 'check for update' button.
I'd assume there is a good reason for not adding such a common feature, but I'm certain it's not because 'there are updates every day'.
Not to speak about there are these big releases that would be far enough to update anyway, as most of us do that with the download method too.
An update system would be really cool. I think they do not do it because it would need a lot of code in Blender and in the server too. It would be fine with a built in downloader that starts the downloaded update executable AND after install it would keep all my previous settings, favs, starting file etc. by default (I hate I have to click the "load older settings" or whatever button on splash screen at first start... it is easy to forget)
Mostly it's not to break compatibility. Many people have different versions installed because sometimes updating breaks things.
Yeah, and the "load older settings" button sometimes fails to work, for me at least.
Afaik all that button does is copy your config folder for the one version to the new one. On windows, if you're using 2.72 for the first time for example, it'd copy: "C:UsersGregAppDataRoamingBlender FoundationBlender2.71" to "C:UsersGregAppDataRoamingBlender FoundationBlender2.72".
The reason this has failed for me before is simply because of the many GB of BVH cache from cycles, causing it to take several minutes and possibly run out of disk space.
Auto Update is something that is planned for the Blender Cloud (iirc).
Updating under linux is completely different thing for example. You may download binary (like windows) or through package manager. The latter actually does exactly that - checks for updates and downloads for you.
Do you know what happened to irie repository?
The last update was 2.71RC.
Is there (any) a good alternative to irie?
Unfortunately no. The last activity from him was on blender's ppa actually, I hope everything is ok.
This is a problem with ubuntu, which doesn't have the most up-to-date packages. The solution might be using a distro that has a rolling release cycle, like Manjaro (arch linux), where you can find most up to date software.
Why don't the BF makes it's own repository?
It would make sense.
I read that Canonical was looking to make the non-core applications to be updated in a rolling-release like way
Too bad it isn't updating. I hope it's fixed soon
It would be nice. Though, I get the feeling it's much easier said than done.
Something I personally would love to see someday in addition to a "Check for updates" function is a way to install Blender to replace your current version with the latest version, while seamlessly transferring all your applicable add-ons, your preference settings and your Recently Opened history to the next version.
Maybe someday.
Yeah, because sometimes the "load old settings" button doesn't always work for me, which is very annoying.
True though, Blendernation updates are good for now! :)
1) Click Blender Help menu
2) Select "Blender Website"
3) If there is a new official update, it shows on the front webpage.
4) What, you want it to know your preferred settings and download it for you too? :)
To answer #4, that would be a nice option. Yes. lol
It's probably just my PC but windows 8.1 just came up with the blue modal bar across the screen and a potentially unsafe software warning for this version. Meaning I had to click on the more info link and then proceed anyway. I don't remember having that before for blender 64 bit installs.
I hope it's not a scheme cooked up by the evil empires of Micro$oft and Autodesk to put potential new users off. :-)