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Blender Developers Meeting Notes: 20 April 2020

21

2.83

2.90

  • Master is open, merge big features early.
  • If one needs to break backwards compatibility in some areas then a major release like 2.90 is a good time. But try to avoid it when possible.

Google Summer of Code

  • Deadline to send slots requests is tomorrow, April 21. All main decisions should be made today.
  • Mentors please click on “Want To Mentor” for the proposals you would consider mentoring.
  • A reminder that mentors are to only publicly talk about the accepted projects if we get any accepted and only then.

Google Season of Documentation

  • This year Blender Foundation will apply for the GSoD program.
  • Dalai Felinto will create a basic ideas page and share the link. More details coming on the mailing-list .

Others

  • Antonio Vazquez asked about the state of LANPR. The project is realistically not going to be ready for 2.90 due to the main developer unavailability. Antonio proposes to see if this could be tackled as a side project by contributors.
  • Sebastian Parborg brought up a topic of discussion regarding the User Interface team communication process. The meetings are not for discussions though, so the topic was to be addressed after the meeting.

New Features and Changes

Blender 2.83

These are the last changes for the 2.83 release.

  • Undo: the faster object mode undo system is now enabled by default. ( Bastien Montagne )
  • Fluids: improve Replay cache method and set it as the default, so fluid simulation automatically shows in the viewport. ( Sebastián Barschkis , Aaron Carlisle )
  • Splash: minor visual improvements. ( Yevgeny Makarov , Harley Acheson , Julian Eisel )

Blender 2.90

Development for the next release has started, these features will not be in 2.83.

Mesh Modeling

  • Extrude, Dissolve and Intersect: new tool to automatically split and remove adjacent faces when extruding inwards. ( Germano Cavalcante )

User Interface

  • Operator search will now search through menu entries, to better show relevant operators and where to find them in menus. For developers that need more low level search, Developer Extras can be enabled after which the old operator search will be available in the Edit menu. ( Campbell Barton )
  • User interface layout for checkboxes was improved, to make it easier to group related settings and make the interface more compact by avoiding subpanels in some cases. ( William Reynish, Julian Eisel )
  • Shader node in the material properties editor now show socket colors matching the shader editor, and are positioned on the left side. ( Julian Eisel )
  • Pie menus support for A-Z accelerator keys, for quickly selecting items with the keyboard. ( Campbell Barton )

Python API

Add-ons that expose operators only through search or that user checkboxes in layouts may need to be updated to follow new conventions.

Weekly Reports

About the Author

Avatar image for Bart Veldhuizen
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.

21 Comments

  1. Have no render queue manager. Have no proxy system like Redsgift with the precached textures and geaometry.
    Have no handy curves. Have no Takes system like in Cinema 4D and overrides for render layers cameras and timeline. Have no handy render manager for playing render frames. Have no distributed rendering. Have no real work Fracture modifier. Have no handy Rigid Body simulation system (stupid solution to separate all objects to simulate). Have no handy solution like other 3D apps to bring button on shelfs with your code with drag and drop. Have no drag and drop importing files like obj or fbx.

    • Also: have (sic) no $3000 price tag, have no restrictive licensing, have no limitations on your freedom, have no unresponsive 'support'... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

      • Why are You like so? He's right. Blender also lacks much more in VFX area. We can't make good cloth simulation with good collision, rigid body simulation is a joke, We can't normally make grass simulation where objects bends like hair particles, and many more limitations. Blender is GREAT overall, but when it comes to real stuff, well don't even try.
        I'm now working on such a project, where I can't do things mentioned above. We want Blender see in small, medium studios, but how? Nothing is working in the VFX area. I solve problem with animated realistically grass, with Animation Nodes.

        So please don't answer that Blender haven't 3000$ price tag. Because We all want to see Blender in good projects, good studios, but it's not going to happen. Particle effects, rigid body, cloth, fluids, all of that is just a toy, not real production thing. Regards

        • lol Cinema 4D..... the only thing worse then C4D is Redshift. Which is also just barley usable for production VFX. lol doesn't even support support LPE or multi scatter in Volumes.

          Use Houdini if you don't like free... at least that's a real DCC.

        • Ignorance is bliss sekiro all what you talk about is available either internally or via plug-ins. Just do your homework.

          • Nothing is working, so You do homework. I was testing everything. Why are You people like this? It's just not working, nor with any addons, because the solvers are not good.
            Please list the addons, or make some tests and show me.

    • Why you compare Blender to other paid softwares that have more money to spend in development.
      If more people and companies will donating to Blender, then we goona see more features.
      https://fund.blender.org/

      Is good however that you want more from Blender, and we all want Blender to become the greatest :)

      • Wrong, money doesn't always mean better, Blender's development pace was pretty much the same if not faster when they didn't even have 1/4 of the funds they currently do. Cycles is dead, performance keep regressing, no new tools, modifiers are dead, particles are dead, animation development is dead too. And everything nodes is nowhere near. All we have seen has been Eevee and a better UI (and some sculpting improvements), the latter being more of a design work than development.

        Also the likes of Autodesk are no better, basically stalled development ever since subscription model, but that doesn't mean Blender should just become the same.

        • Totally agree. The development focuses on UI and fireworks too much, better UX at the expense of performance. Also they increase codebase with some fancy things like VR (fancy for Blender; I am also AR/VR developer so I know how normally important this is; but there are other tools for that). What for? Maintenance will be more costly. The most important stuff (libraries/overrides/usable proxies) is nowhere near. It will be even more difficult to implement with growing codebase and dependency hell.

    • I agree. Blender is great and getting greater every second, but still not production ready for mid-huge projects. I would put more dev time on scene assembly and pipeline and not in the UI area tweaks or some VR stuff. Not everything at once, guys. Still, hats down to hard work.

  2. Right as noname stated it out : its all there in blender the limit is your imagination - just do your homework first!

    • When will you people stop being fanboys... Not recognizing limitations means no progress.
      Just try to edit a relatively high-poly mesh and you would see how far your imagination can go!

  3. Stop being fanboys. Blender is GREAT, I'm using Blender since 2.42a version. But this will not change My mind. Recently I'm on heavy stuff, and sadly need to learn Houdini for VFX. Effects like cloth simulation, rigid bodies, destruction. Blender can't handle it at all, AND I'M NOT writing about stuff for Hollywood blockbusters! Normal things which whole production can be handle by v.good Generalist.
    I was in need to make cloth simulation, with no luck. Simulation like trousers, or a body like cloth. No WAY! Collisions are killing it, performance is horrible. I was also in need of making rope simulation as a part of Samurai armor, no luck, but much better with curves and softbody sim. Mantaflow fluids even on a high-end machine is a pain. Proxies also are a bit ancient now. And particles, well, no particles at all. Please don't write it's possible, because it's not. We need tools designed for specific things. New physcis solvers etc. And much better performance, Blender is choking all the time, on not that heavy stuff. Developers please consider real things, stop a bit with Grease Pencil, and sculpting toys, because We need tools in Blender which will allow to make v.good effects. Now the tools in Blender are only toys, for fun tests and nothing really serious. And I'm not even talking about production. Blender need to level up, and to level up fast.

    • If you're feeling not comfortable with blender .. there is a lot of alternative software out there - who has decided that blender should serve as a free substitution of paid software solely? One of bl advantages is beeing a playground for new ideas

      • Another Fanboy which doesn't UNDERSTAND what it is about.

        Only great projects can lift Blender, but now we don't have the tools to finish them. End of the story.
        I'm talking about cinematics like The Witcher, Sekiro Shadows die Twice, Tomb Raider etc, You aren't CAPABLE to finish that type of project in Blender. You can do great visuals, animations, tracking if You need, but You will fail when it comes to simulation. Real simulation, not some basic stuff. This is the ONLY thing which Blender is weak, and this is the only thing which stops good, and even great studios to work on Blender entirely. And if it will be so, also funding will be MUCH HIGHER. So cut Your story, and think sometimes. Regards.

        • This is your opinion and your wishes only boy thanks your are not in the dev group other opinions are still counting too ! End if discussion

    • Adrian,
      Blender is not a VFX package and will never be. Houdini is your answer, I have been using it for 8 years. You need to reserve about 2 years to get a basic grip on Houdini (basic for me is being able to code as well what you need there). To be let's say a mid-user I would say 4-5 years. Gurus have 20 years and still learning. Blender is a generalist DCC, and let it stay that way. Some basic sims - ok. Blender desperately needs better scene management tools - proxies/libraries/scatterers. Generally it was conceived as a package for small projects and this is visible. Great for modeling and rendering (less so for animation), especially for characters. Great for pre-viz, viz, stills.

      • Blender developers are great, they can make Blender a VFX package, to be something more than a software for previz etc. I hope that.

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