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Blender 2.46 Released

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the lots-of-new-toys dept.

The Penguin Man writes to mention the latest release of Blender, the popular open-source 3D graphics suite was officially launched today. You can download it from Blender.org. The culmination of half a year's work has resulted in many new features including a new particle system, approximate AO, the new cloth simulation system, and much more!

53 of 182 comments (clear)

  1. But... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Will it blend?

    firstpost!

    1. Re:But... by halivar · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's posts like these that make we wish we had a (-1, Funny) option.

    2. Re:But... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      It's posts like these that made me wish we had a (-1, Curmudgeon) option.

    3. Re:But... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      It's posts like these that make me wish we had a (-1, Redundant) option.

    4. Re:But... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      It's posts like these that make me wish we had a (-1, Redundant) option.

    5. Re:But... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      It is posts like these that make me wish we had a (-1, Redundant) option.

    6. Re:But... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      +1 relevant sig

    7. Re:But... by TeknoHog · · Score: 4, Funny

      Blending is my middle name. My full name is Blender Blending Rodriguez.

      --
      Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
    8. Re:But... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      He doesn't get it.

    9. Re:But... by bh_doc · · Score: 3, Informative

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_it_blend

  2. Looks like they've made some improvements. by Mordok-DestroyerOfWo · · Score: 4, Informative

    Looking at the screencaps I'd say they've done a lot to improve the interface. For my amateur work I started with Blender about 2 years ago and quickly switched to Maya. If these improvements are as significant as they look, I may consider installing Blender on all of my lab machines.

    --
    "Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right" - Salvor Hardin
    1. Re:Looks like they've made some improvements. by KDR_11k · · Score: 4, Informative

      The interface is a hurdle to learning but not much for work. It has almost no click-dragging (instead you click twice), I've read comments (about another program with little dragging) that that reduces strain on the fingers or hand.

      --
      Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
    2. Re:Looks like they've made some improvements. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      If you want, you could wait for Blender 2.50. They plan to completely rewrite the interface which will allow users the power to create their own if needed.

      Honestly, I've never found the interface too much of a problem. Sure, it's different but it has been designed well (mainly for speed). A 3D suite isn't something that's really meant to simple anyway.

    3. Re:Looks like they've made some improvements. by Mordok-DestroyerOfWo · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Major complaints were that the interface was very non-intuitive compared to Maya and Max. The main reason I'd switch over is I have about 20 spare machines I can build into a render farm. It would be substantially cheaper using Blender to render than it would using Maya or Mental Ray.

      --
      "Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right" - Salvor Hardin
    4. Re:Looks like they've made some improvements. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Anybody complaining about the interface of Blender I instantly put in the same basket as the idiots who complain about GIMP's interface. Just because neither of them are 3DS/Maya/modo or Photoshop/PSP, they get bitched at because they don't follow the "in crowd" of proprietary apps.

      Blender is way easier to use than any other 3D app if you know what you're doing, you're simply used to proprietary apps and their demonstrably bad existing interfaces. You need to unlearn that.

    5. Re:Looks like they've made some improvements. by Tychon · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I can't argue whether or not it's effective from the perspective of a person that "knows what they're doing", not being an artist myself.

      I can argue though that I managed to pick up 3D Studio Max, install it, and punch out a relatively simple spaceship model for a game I was working on. I'd even say it was slightly better than typical programmer art, but that's me. I did this in about an hour. I did this without tutorials or having really touched 3DSM prior to that point. I had the option to try it and I did. I won't say the interface is brilliant, but it was at the very least obvious for basic things.

      It took me a good part of that same hour just to figure out how I would achieve this in Blender because Blender's way is not obvious. I have to say I like Blender for what it is, I like the push to try something new, but not being an artist, I don't want to spend more time becoming familiar with something than the amount of time I'm actually going to spend using it.

      It may be stupid, but there's something to be said for a program that's so dumb that even a person completely unfamiliar with the field can use it to do what they want without training.

    6. Re:Looks like they've made some improvements. by Darkness404 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      A 3D suite isn't something that's really meant to simple anyway.

      While that is true for "real" use of it, if say a kid wanted to make a quick 3-D model of, say the solar system for a school project, they won't have time to learn all the interface commands. A "simple" view which lets someone create things, manage them, recolor them, and move them would be nice and an "advanced" view which would be the same or similar to the current layout which would allow you to do much more advanced things.
      --
      Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
    7. Re:Looks like they've made some improvements. by bishiraver · · Score: 2, Interesting

      A 3D suite isn't something that's really meant to simple anyway
      Tell that to the folks over at Silo3D! http://nevercenter.com/videos/?vidclip=silo_for_high_poly.mov
    8. Re:Looks like they've made some improvements. by mabinogi · · Score: 5, Insightful

      maybe, just maybe, Blender isn't for kids that just want to make a quick model of the Solar system for a school project.

      For what it's worth, my daughter (10) tried blender just recently, and it wasn't the interface that made her give up, it was a lack of tutorials that matched the current version.

      --
      Advanced users are users too!
    9. Re:Looks like they've made some improvements. by Darkness404 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      maybe, just maybe, Blender isn't for kids that just want to make a quick model of the Solar system for a school project.

      But there are very few F/OSS programs that would fill that gap (if there are any at all) and by implementing a "simple" mode which wouldn't take too long and wouldn't bloat the binary, it could fill that need, and it wouldn't just be limited to kids, adults who want to make simple 3-D models without spending hours reading tutorials and dealing with an unfamiliar interface would also help make it be popular.
      --
      Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
    10. Re:Looks like they've made some improvements. by mabinogi · · Score: 4, Insightful

      what the hell are you talking about?
      For a start - what's a "buggy whip"? I know that Buggy is an americanism for Carriage, but what does the whip have to do with it, and what makes it a useful analogy for anything?

      Also, using blender is easy. very easy, because the interface has been carefully designed to be productive. But if you've got a preconceived idea about how it should work, then maybe it might take reading a tutorial to get started. But if you're an experienced user, then you'll understand that every tool does things differently, and learn how Blender does things, or if you're not, then you'd need a tutorial anyway, so what's the problem?

      Why should they cripple a productive interface so that the first five minutes are a little easier for someone who doesn't want to RTFM?

      --
      Advanced users are users too!
    11. Re:Looks like they've made some improvements. by TheModelEskimo · · Score: 5, Interesting

      And yet, not too many people have heard of the very intuitive software package Art of Illusion. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_of_Illusion

    12. Re:Looks like they've made some improvements. by pugugly · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I'd like to see the interface get to a point where you can actually jump in and do something with it. Everytime I've tried to learn Blender, it has felt like High school Art class all over again - "Oh, after loads of work and effort, I have created . . a cup. An ugly cup. Crap. I *hate* this fucking class!"

      Gimp, whatever other peoples complaints about the interface, I can at least do things and come back with a product that, if not professional quality, I can look at with some pride and pleasure, and try to do something slightly more sophisticated using new features each time I work with it it. Am I good - Probably not. But I can *do* things with it.

      Blender has never gotten to that point with me.

      "Oh, look I made a cup in Blender!" - {G}

      Pug

      --
      An Invisible Entity of Vast Power whose existence must be taken on faith alone: Liberal Media
    13. Re:Looks like they've made some improvements. by argent · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Anybody complaining about the interface of Blender I instantly put in the same basket as the idiots who complain about GIMP's interface.

      Complaining now, or complaining five years ago?

      Gimp's interface used to be pretty dodgy. Not because it wasn't Photoshop, but because it was simply crude. It's improved a lot. People complaining about the Gimp's interface now haven't used it recently.

      Blender's not in the same category at all.

    14. Re:Looks like they've made some improvements. by im_thatoneguy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Speaking as someone who uses more than 3 different 3D apps and 3+ 2D apps on a regular basis. And speaking as someone who is familiar and able to work in dozens more (some with exceedingly unusual interfaces) I can say that's a load of bull.

      It's not about "in crowd" it's about responding to the ACTUAL demands of someone who uses the program day in and day out.

      I'm not going to say any program has a fantasic interface but that's partly because when people talk about "interface" they aren't talking about the button layout-- they're talking about the workflow. How the user moves from one task to another, how the program responds to actions you take, how a user can review and revise multiple versions, how a user can arrange data to their particular needs. These questions and solutions extend far beyond where you put a button or how a button is pressed. These are solutions that are largely determined by people who UNDERSTAND how the application is supposed to be used.

      How you 'use' the application is the interface and that is why people complain about Gimp and Blender. The interfaces seem to be designed by people who don't understand how their program is used to create greate art.

    15. Re:Looks like they've made some improvements. by kripkenstein · · Score: 2, Interesting

      And yet, not too many people have heard of the very intuitive software package Art of Illusion. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_of_Illusion Which, I'd just like to add, is open-source, just like Blender.

      Definitely worthy trying out.
    16. Re:Looks like they've made some improvements. by Melbourne+Pete · · Score: 2, Informative

      I recently finished watching the six hours of Blender Basics tutorials at http://blenderunderground.com/video-tutorials/ and now I'm a convert. I absolutely hated the interface before (and by extension, the whole program), but now I'm confident, productive and actually enjoying the process of modelling in Blender. I can't recommend those tutorials highly enough.

  3. Don't fall for MS trickery by G3ckoG33k · · Score: 3, Interesting

    From Groklaw (http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20080511115151164): "Microsoft has just approached the Blender guys, and I would assume have or will approach other FOSS projects since we learn that Microsoft has assigned a guy to work with Open Source projects, with a request for information on how to make Blender run better on Windows." I hope all Blender developers read the rest.

  4. Speed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    One thing that always amazed me about Blender is how freakin fast it is. The load time for the interface is almost nonexistent. It's not exactly easy to use but you sure don't have to wait on it.

    1. Re:Speed by Farmer+Tim · · Score: 5, Funny

      It's not exactly easy to use but you sure don't have to wait on it.

      True, there's nothing worse than having to wait ten seconds before being flummoxed.

      --
      Blank until /. makes another boneheaded UI decision.
  5. Blender... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    I have a new slogan for it

    Blender: Once you get to know how it works, it's super intuitive!

    1. Re:Blender... by MrCoke · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You mean, like typing?

    2. Re:Blender... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      You mean, like typing? Intuition is not the same thing as "easy to use". Read "The psychology of everyday things" for a good study on intuition.

      The catchphrase is a play on meanings: If something is intuitive, one should not have to "get to know how it works". Classical examples of intuitive devices are:

      Hammers: There's a handle, a smashy end.

      My play on this is that, however easy blender may be... It's not easy to use right after opening it up, as compared to say a hammer.
    3. Re:Blender... by IgnoramusMaximus · · Score: 5, Funny

      Hammers: There's a handle, a smashy end.

      If only they made the metal handle easier to grasp and that wooden smashy end less prone to breaking ....

    4. Re:Blender... by ChameleonDave · · Score: 2, Insightful

      But they're not misusing it. The very point is that "easy" and "intuitive" are not the same thing. A hammer is indeed intuitive. Its use it totally obvious and anyone can use it. Now, it may take some experience to use it with great precision, but that's not an issue of intuitiveness.

    5. Re:Blender... by funwithBSD · · Score: 2, Funny

      Nipples.

      Nipples are intuitive. Best user interface ever!

      If anyone ever invented a nipple user interface for computers, they would not suck.

      Wait...

      --
      Never answer an anonymous letter. - Yogi Berra
  6. Re:Sorry, but I gotta ask ... by Maxo-Texas · · Score: 5, Funny

    Only 8 minutes sooner and you would have been modded funny, bolstering your self confidence, getting you that new job that lead to a fabulous career, a beautiful wife and being selected for the first L5 station in space 20 years from now as someone recognized your screen name and remembered laughing at your post years ago....

    Only... 8... minutes..

    Instead, Anonymous got it this time. And now anonymous will get all the glory.. again.

    --
    She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
  7. Blender Devs Said No by MrMista_B · · Score: 5, Informative

    Subject says it all.

  8. Slow Down! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I wish this program development would slow down. I've had the Essential Blender Guidebook since it has been released (about five months ago) and it feels like half the book is outdated due to the programs additions and rewrites.

  9. Don't forget to support Blender by LetterRip · · Score: 4, Informative

    Please consider picking up a copy of the Big Buck Bunny DVD it supported a lot of the development that was done for this release. You can see the trailer here.

    Or consider preordering Apricot the game that is currently in development that is based on the Big Buck Bunny movie. You can see the development reports here.

    Or you can donate here.

    Thanks for your support and we hope you enjoy the latest release,

    LetterRip

    1. Re:Don't forget to support Blender by LetterRip · · Score: 4, Informative

      Hmm for some reason the link to Big Buck Bunny, didn't show up. Also I should mention the blog that showed the development of Big Buck Bunny as it was being created.

  10. rendering could use gpgpu / cell support by ch-chuck · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Maybe it already exists, but Blender would be sweet with an interface into a rendering engine that runs on gpu's via cuda or a ps3 cell BE. I think rendering / raytracing is a good candidate for cheaply available massive parallelism.

    Maybe, I dunno.

    --
    try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
    1. Re:rendering could use gpgpu / cell support by 77Punker · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I'm pretty sure that's what OpenGL (or maybe the driver itself) does. The GPU is designed for graphics, and graphics problems just happen to be massively data parallel. GPGPU is all about using the GPU for things that are NOT graphics, because OpenGL already exposes it as a graphics device, whereas CUDA exposes the GPU as a truly generic computing platform.

      What I mean is, I just finished my senior seminar on CUDA a little less than a month ago and it's meant for doing what GPU's don't already do easily; they're already very good at graphics. Multiplying huge matrices on a Core 2 Duo can take 10 minutes whereas the same operation on a Quadro 5700 with my (not very good) CUDA kernel takes 30 seconds. That's some serious horsepower when applied properly, it's just that it's not the right thing to use very often. Also, CUDA kicks Cell's ass all day long on SIMD, especially on very large datasets.

    2. Re:rendering could use gpgpu / cell support by pavon · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Actually, nVidia released a free version lately. It doesn't allow multiprocessor or networked rendering, but is nice for individuals. Also, it looks like blender includes a plugin for Gelato now.

  11. Re:Sorry, but I gotta ask ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's awesome being me.

  12. Re:People always complain about UIs by ChameleonDave · · Score: 2, Informative

    is it because you guys are instinctively comparing it to what you are familiar with? Photoshop-GIMP, Maya-Blender, etc.

    Nope. I'm not experienced in 3D.

    I recently tried Sketchup on Windows. I immediately got creating 3D scenes, very easily.

    I have Blender open on Linux right now. I have no idea how to achieve anything at all in it. Even the save dialogue is weird and non-standard. What's wrong with a standard GTK or QT save dialogue? Why am I seeing all the hidden files in my home directory? Do they think I'm likely to want to save the file in ~/.klamav? Why does it assume I want to save in JPEG rather than PNG?

    It's putting me off making the effort to learn it.

  13. Learning Blender by Thangalin · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Learning Blender can be slow; so I took notes along the way and wrote them up here:
    http://www.davidjarvis.ca/blender/

    An animated short using Blender:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvQbYXPmqiA

  14. Re:Ugh by NullProg · · Score: 4, Informative

    The Blender team, unfortunately, is driven exclusively by the concerns of users who are experts in the field, not beginners.
    My twelve year old learned to use it.

    Its a good thing someone did some beginners tutorials.
    http://www.blender.org/education-help/tutorials/

    Enjoy,

    --
    It's just the normal noises in here.
  15. Those who say Blender is hard by Daishiman · · Score: 3, Interesting

    have evidently never tried Maya either.
    I mean, at least I found tutorials on blender and in 2 minutes I was navigating the screen with easy. Once I learned that it was frustrating as hell to do the equivalent with Maya, at which point I got up and did something else.

    1. Re:Those who say Blender is hard by kaizokuace · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Finally someone sees that Maya isn't so simple! I kind of hate maya's UI. To me it feels like someone made the UI haphazardly while working on a project and just put things anywhere that was convenient at the moment! Great for that original user bad for everyone else. Atleast in 3dsmax the command panel is essentially context sensitive and easy to visually understand at a glance. In maya they just had to make a picture icon for EVERYTHING. And some of them are hard to understand so you gotta mouse over for the tool tip. Waste of time. I seriously don't get why people still put up with it. 3dsmax is pretty straight forward. Blender on the other hand is not straight forward but it is thought out, unlike maya. The tools are designed for usage not just for the ability to figure out where everything is. Car analogy: 3dsmax is like a Honda NSX where blender is an old Toyota MR2. They both offer a similar drive layout but the NSX has nice things like traction control, leather seats, a sexy look and a lot more forgiving to the driver. THe MR2 doesn't offer the driver anything. You just gotta be good. But when you are good you can go just as fast as the nsx in a corner. OMG I have gone too far for a /. post. Oh yea and maya is probably a smart car or something gay or an ugly prius.

      --
      Balderdash!
    2. Re:Those who say Blender is hard by JohnBailey · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It seems you do not understand how the Maya UI works. Try checking out the quick intro that pops up the first time Maya starts up. Wouldn't that make Maya's UI non intuitive then? Or does it get more intuitive when you get to know it?
      --
      It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his job depends on not understanding it.
  16. 3D tools and weird custom interfaces by Augusto · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Why do so many 3D tools use custom controls and weird windowing that often doesn't match at all the look and feel of the operating system they run on? So many 3D tools can't even feature normal buttons, for some reason they feel the need to have their own widget components, which makes the usability of already complex tools ... well ... more complex.

    I always thought this had to with the history of some of these tools in X-windows and the lack of standard widget toolkits, and maybe also because this makes porting the tools to other platforms? I'm curious why this is so prevalent in so many of these tools ...

    --

    - sigs are for wimps.
  17. The f*sking interface argument again by Eth1csGrad1ent · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ..this is what will eventually KILL blender. Any time Blender is mentioned mainstream it quickly turns into a crap-fest argument about the interface - and any and all other discussion topics disappear into dust.

    There are two camps:
    1. People who want 3DS MAX/Maya/Lighwave for FREE and Blender happens to be the closest thing... so take that an MAKE IT MAYA.

    2. People who have been using Blender for many, many years and have come to either appreciate or at least get used to the speed that the interface allows... ONCE YOU KNOW IT!

    Given that the interface HASNT changed much in all this time... perhaps its time for the GIVE ME MAYA FOR FREE crowd to go and write their own FOSS 3D app.

    PS. For all those Blenderheads out there who haven't already seen it... check out www.indigorenderer.com for photorealism.