Blender 2.78 released!
A new Blender release is out! And it’s big!
Here are some of the most important changes. Be sure to check out the full release log (I LOVE the new format with the animated gifs!)
- Spherical Stereo images rendering support for VR
- Grease Pencil is now a full 2D drawing & animation tool!
- Viewport Rendering improvements
- New Freehand curves drawing over surfaces!
- Bendy Bones, powerful new options for B-Bones
- Alembic support: import/export basic operators
- Cloth Physics: new Dynamic Base Mesh and Simulation Speed option
- New Add-ons, individual preferences, Python APIs changes, and a lot of new & updated add-ons!
- Many more features, improvements and the usual huge bug-fixes list
hahaha that images keeps reminding me of the guy from “Honey i shrunk the kids”.
GReat new features
the “Spherical Stereo VR” image is giving me nausea… even without a headset… 8-P
no really, those moving images distract from reading, imho…
It’s a big release, anyway, tons of features, enough to keep people busy until 2.8 overhaul!
Congratulations!
Am I the only one excited about the SubSurf for sharper objects with rounded corners? Also, I think I did it once, but can’t seem to do it again, not sure how it actually works. Adding a crease acts like it did before, and when I got it to work the one time it actually put the extra geometry in the corners so you don’t have to manually loopcut or bevel.
Adjust the edge crease on the properties shelf (press n to see it)
Sorry but edge crease has been there quite a while, whats different or new then?
Only one detail is missing in Blender. The software should have the simplest tools to be suitable for user beginners and which is also missing are the menus to click the right mouse button because it is difficult to decorate all keyboard shortcuts and this detail is what is missing urgently . Developers should see this detail.
Developers are very aware of that as reflected in Ton’s statement:
Ideally you make tools to be simple to understand, tools that are self-explaining, that work fast and pleasant also when you”ve mastered them well.
In practice this isn”t always true – and certainly not for 3D technology and tools. If you choose to develop 3D tools to be easy to learn, you will make decisions to sacrifice speed and ease of use for frequent users. You will have to narrow down to a UI that”s optimal for generic (beginner) use cases more than for users who want to handle complexity and who have time for quality.
Read more here:
https://code.blender.org/2013/10/redefining-blender/
I will not read it because I think another reason for me to accept a software that is made just for professional users. First, I want you to know that all software has to serve the user, not the other way and secondly, developers have an obligation to review all the functions of the software and I know that does not have a context menu via righ- click, forcing the user to memorize all the shortcuts without esquacer that has sketching options and tips are hidden. If you are a veteran to me it does not matter, but you have to obirggação to remember that you were new and that every beginner has to be heard. I saw a Blender 2.78 the conference video that says the software has to be intuitive, but where is the “intuitive” word in it? I think only you and veteran users is that it should work, but not for novice users.
This reply is ridiculous. Devs have no obligation to make software easy to use and beginner friendly, unless used as a selling point, major feature, etc. Intuitive does not mean easy for beginners to learn/use, intuitive UI has things like the “G” key is used to move not only objects but also material nodes.
I am a beginner user and have no real problems with anything, I find Blender to have an intuitive interface. The many hotkeys is fine, crazy nested menu’s to include every parameter are not. Blender may not be for you, use something else(and complain about how hard xyz is). lulz
Trust me–human-computer interaction design and user interface design are complicated things to balance.
Sorry, this is not a software or program for the simplest users which dont understand anything. Better start with sketchup or anything particular. If you do want to try start reading reading manuals and watch tons of videos.
This app doesn’t working like a “regular windows right click fix all”. You want to learn 3d then take your time. Sorry for being so harse, but your asking for something which isnt possible.
Have you ever seen a application which can be used by both professionals and beginner with simple clicks?
Have you seen how blender progressed from the early version with the totally bad UI design. I think it was before version 2.5, if you then wrote this article i would say okay. But these days the UI and design is so much easier
Try the wonderful Addon called Blender Sensei – (from blendersensei.com). Its amazing! It makes Blender a lot easier for new and advanced users. It enhances the interface and a lot of settings including Left-Mouse selection and a lot more! Better still, it operates just like an Addon which you can activate and deactivate without loosing your former or default settings. And more interestingly, It has a feature that can update Blender frequently to the latest versions without loosing your settings and preferences too! And so much more!
FYI on Windows 10 Anniversary edition I had issues with the new version on three different computers.
you install it and it tells you that a .dll is missing upon launch, but then run the installer a second time, choose repair and then all is well.
I had the same issue.
The guy on the splash screen is a tribute to San ku kai???!!!… Mouaaahhh!!!! San Ku Kai 2016 Bravo!!! LOL.
A major new release is always fantastic news. I was really looking forward to using the ArchiMesh add-on to design a new shed / summerhouse for my garden, but it’s a real disappointment and shouldn’t have been included until it was ready. If you Shift+D to duplicate a room (so you can try different looks/variants), the add-on gets into a mess with toggling dimensions display using the ‘All’ tools button + ‘Advance’ properties buttons. If I add a roof it doesn’t have any properties in the Properties panel (like walls do) and there seems to be no way to make the generated room into a normal mesh so you can add small details (Alt+C doesn’t work?). I spent two hours trying to build a simple shed with a mono-pitched roof, then gave up and started with a default cube ;-(
If you find a bug report it at http://developer.blender.org/
I was so happy to get this new release. But I can’t install it I have download the .msi 64 bit file and so two times and during the installation an error message says me : “The cabinet file ‘media1.cab’ required for this installation is corrupt and can not be used”. This error appears several times on 2 computers running Windows 8.1 64 bits.
try the .zip windows version: simply unzip in a folder, double click on blender.exe. This also allows you to keep multiple versions (or easily try RC or beta versions), if needed.
Thanks for te idea. But I Can’t unzip the file. Errors again. It’s maybe due to the strike at our national telecommunication agency since a week now. Internet connexion is now very very bad. So I think that I must wait till I get a good internet connexion to download no corrupt files.
Tons of new features, but i still need to do 4-5 steps just for selecting-deselecting objects. And right clicking mouse button is headache. Yes, there is option to switch to left click button, but then shortcuts doesn’t work. Blender has some awesome features such as sculpting, but lacks of some basic stuff !!!
De-select is simple A? what do you mean by 4-5 clicks?
Selecting, right click on a object. De-selecting, press A. Edit mode, selecting vertices, press B and select. De-select press A. Select everything press A again – it’s selecting object in edit mode. Select everything in the scene, go to object mode and press A again. If i press B i have to select something even if i change my mind and then press A etc.
In maya – select an object, just press left click on it. De-select press on an empty space. Select vertices in edit mode, just press left click on a vertice you want to select or hold and left click to select multiple vertices. De-select just press left click on an empty space. Simple, clear, easy to understand just by trying, no need to search on inetrnet, UI that is actually serve the users.
I love Blender and it’s community. I love to see it’s development. I decided to leave Blender on my desktop after releasing some great features such as sculpting, but before that i installed and uninstalled the program few times because of frustrations of unnecessarily complications of basic operations. Is it so complicated to simplify some of the operations? I think that many users think like me, so why does Ton not listening our voices?
first: set up mouse and keys correctly
second:
LMB click select = 1 step
A to deselect ALL = 1 step
= 2 steps
LMB click select = 1 step
LMB anywhere to deselect = 1 step
= 2 steps
unlike Maya Blender has many many ways to select and deselect
LMB select
Shift LMB deselect
B LMB select area
B MMB deselect area
C LMB select brush
C MMB deselect brush
A select all
A deselect all
I am really not sure what you are complaining about and why this is complicated. It works very good and is a great time saver.
It is not complicated for me, but it is for a beginner. Tools should be simple. If i switch to lmb i still have to use hotkeys, and if i switch to Maya interaction, many Blender hotkeys doesn’t work. Even Maya’s basic hotkeys doesn’t work properly, for example, if i want to change perspective view to let’s say front, normally i press space, move cursor to front view and press space again. In Blender, i get four views and i can’t select front view and press space to select the desirable view.
I mean, the software is very good, it can do anything what other commercial programs can, but it is not the best friend with the BEGINNERS. Wouldn’t it be great if we would have Blender like this
https://www.blenderguru.com/articles/new-blender-ui-proposal/
But, ok , i get it. It is too much to ask right now. But some things can and should be changed, like simplify some things.
When you’r in “Box Select” mode it’s not mandatory to select something. Like when using brush select or add loops. A simple hit of ESC exit’s this mode. No node to really select or do anything to exit.
Nenad: I agree Blender is very unfriendly for the beginner. At the very least the splash screen should provide big buttons to access a 5 page beginners’ PDF manual (explaining Shift+A, right-click to select, tab to edit, etc.) and a link to the ‘Blender Noob to Pro’ WikiBook! For virtually no effort, 50% more new users would persevere instead of uninstalling Blender after the first 30 minutes.
I would NEVER want the ribbon interface shown in your BlenderGuru link! Since ribbons were introduced in Microsoft Offfice (and more recently in Adobe RoboHelp) I still watch experts clicking through every ribbon, failing to find the control they used only the day before. The ribbon concept is a spectacular fail as it doesn’t provide instant muscle-memory recall of a command – it always demands multiple mouse movements and clicks to reach a control. Blender’s ‘E for Extrude’ and ‘G for Grab’, once learnt, require no conscious thought, and the instant space-bar search reaches any commands you did forget.
I am having a problem with the new “draw curve” in the Add Menu and Create tab. It is grayed out and I can’t select it. Is there some option that I need to turn on first? I am on Windows 10
Help. I’ve downloaded the zip 2.78a blender version and am in hopes that I do not have to delete the 2.78 release as I did when I upgraded to it from my previous version. …..
All that said This is one of the many great sites for all the wonderful and most helpful people who have put so much effort into making Blender a Top 5 open source program. Thank you
If at all possible can someone direct me to making the upgrade from 2.78 to 2.78a? Thank you again and thank you in advance for any help you can offer. I spent my yesterday trying to find info and am rather lost as to what method to upgrade to the newest Blender version.
Im not sure how you install it on Windows. But on OSX i just unzip it and draag it to applicaitons folder. Does blender on Windows come with a installer? If not just make a second folder with this blender if you want to keep the other as well
On windows and linux you can simply download the zip, unzip it anywhere and run the blender.exe (windows) or blender (linux) file. You can have as many blender folders as you wish… it also works on usb sticks, sd cards, anywhere.
Yes, Thank you. I did forget to say I am using widows 10. I thank you both this is very helpful. wish I could use an install or an upgrade install run file. I have the space to have both blenders going and so I shall do just that.
Thank you both again. I am still a newby and have been enjoying the learning process with Blender.
Blender feels to have become a cult-Like-community. I look forward to becoming more fluid in my understanding and ability to use Blender for all it offers. As well as becoming a funding supporter of this well organized and supportive community based software development org.
Sorry, that’s sounding to sappy.
Thanks again