[Blender] 2.56betha released

The blender version 2.56 betha is now downloadable!

http://www.blender.org/download/get-256-beta/

there is a 2.56a release now since there were some crash bugs (with undo + some physics systems or something like that).

ton has just posted the further roadmap:

i am so looking forward to bmesh. then blender is complete for me. of course the global illumination features of the render branch will be nice too but actually i don't need the renderer that often.

hi,

@ventilator:

downloaded the new version yesterday.

I tried to export an blender model to fbx to get it in MED.
But the whole model was deformed and with no skin.

So its nice to meet the right guy here.
Will be an updatet version of your mdl7 python exporter in next future?

regards,
maik

i don't know yet. depends on if i will start to use gamestudio again for my own projects in the next months.

but actually everyone who knows some python could do the port.

I also have exprienced a problem with FBX.
It was some 2.5 version also
I had to re install Blender 2.49 to be able to export to FBX 3DGS without problems.

That's strange but i don't find the new version of BLender really simplified !
Why they don't have put icons for each things like in Maya ?
I find the interface have too much menus !
Why they don't make interface things like in Silo or other great tools ?
Simplified and clear ?

I find more clear to work with the 2.49 version, perhaps beacause
i use it for log time ago ?

why they don't do this and that? maybe one reason is that they have limited resources. a lot of areas still need some polishing and they know it but overall the new gui already is much better than the old one. i really like it. once there are some stable releases they probably also will start to experiment with new gui ideas again.



i don't think there are too many menus. icon overkill can be very confusing too. icons often are harder to read than text. it could be a bit more like modo though which uses both in good doses.

one thing i don't like is that header borders can be dragged. i often accidentally drag them instead of screen borders.

what i really like a lot is the new animation system. it's much easier to use than the old one.

i say it again and again I LOVE BLENDER WITH MY HOLE HEART

Blender is an easy to use software

@vent, actually the brain processes images faster than text and icons are faster, but take a bit longer to learn as if learning a new alphabet.....I used to love trueSpace just for this reason...but to each his own I guess....I actually like the old layout more still....just because the new one seems to take up more screen realestate. The monsterous menus on the left and right of the screens(t, and n respectively) seem a lot worse than floating panels....again that is my POV....but it is free and vastly powerfull so....

Although the brain might process images faster, I am not sure that they guide me better through a 3d software. I think you are saving maps in your brain after a while and those texts or images are just landmarks for orientation. So it is way more important to have simple paths to get there with some reasonable branches. The complete structure is important at the beginning.

I personally prefer texts in the beginning, it is easier to understand initially. After that I prefer shortcuts, so an image icon really makes not much sense for me. I used to work in Truespace but was much faster in Lightwave and Modo in the end.

Any improvement also in the rigging system ?

Is it possible to import and attach .bvh animations to existing skeleton
if so, can Blender handle different names and number of bones ?
I mean something like Fragmotion

Is there any keyboard shortcuts to quickly switch between move/rotate/scale in edit mode in blender?

G/R/S - as long the old ones are still valid.

EDIT:
muffel made a good point. You can restrict the move/rotate/scale by x,y,z. You can move by number as well.

F.i. "G" -> "Y" -> "-100" - this moves the marked part of the object in edit mode by the value 100 to the minus direction of y.

I believe
G:move
R:Rotate
S:scale
Press X,Y or Z to align the action to one axis
If you scale something try pressing shift or strg( unsure ) and then choose the axis and you'll have radial scaling

muffel

nice i am really loving the idea of mapping shortcuts to whole keyborad now

as far as i know not much has changed with rigging. i don't know about bvh since i never was interested in using pre-made motion capture data. i always prefered hand made animations but with the recent kinect developments i might become interested in motion capturing aswell.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nr8vgCnb9_0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Jc0mENG8Vs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCu8KTrC4sc

i just don't know how you would easily get nicely looping cyclic animations like walk cycles out of it but for some other things kinect could be awesome.



the brain needs visual hierarchies since it can't process too many items at the same time. way too many icons get crammed into a tight space in many applications. it also can be very hard to come up with descriptive images for a lot of 3d tools and functions.

this doesn't mean that blender couldn't make more use of icons where it makes sense (like in the tool shelf) but please not like truespace but more like modo.

I am afraid that Blender does not support bvh files
I mean , you can import a bvh file but you have to rig your model again rather than simply copying it to an exsiting skeleton
If so in my opinion it is a serious drawback for many hobbyest game developers
You save so much time thanks to bvh files
Anyawy I am not so familiar with Blender, I would be happy to be wrong
The new edition is definitely more user friendly

From bvh-files this is quite simple in bvhacker.

yes, and blender is quite adept at handling anything you throw at it, including BVH(with BVH hacker), on a sidde note some good hot keys for some of you
. = 3d cursor coordinate(as in rotate around 3Dcursor)
, = selection center coordinate
g = move selection
s = scale
r = rotate

now add the following
shift+z = constrains to x,y try x and y, whatever your needs

pressing (x,y,z)once constrains it to that axis in world coord...
pressing again constrains it in local coordinate

type in the required value e.g.....
press r(rotate) z(z axis) z again(local z axis) 45, press enter....

that should rotate your selection around it's local z axis 45 degrees....

another good hot key is shift+s, this is more about cursor functions....and a somewhat advanced topic. for now I will leave this post as is, if someone has a blender related question feel free to send me a PM, I have been using Blender for a long time, as well as ventilator and pappenheimer.

okay one more question so i made the model but while modeling i duplicated and mirrored it because the model is symmetrical, a character model, now i want to join left and right side together. I joined the objects, now i need to merge vertices, any better way then merging them two by two?

with "remove doubles" you can merge vertices that are closer than the set threshold.

the mirror modifier can automatically merge vertices at the mirror axis though.

Thanks, did not see that remove doubles had a treshold.

edit: switched to mirror modifier

here is my very first blender model and render:


no face, no hands and no hair yet

still, that is a pretty nice model.

http://www.fxguide.com/article672.html

i think it's interesting that erwin coumans works for amd now. he was the original author of blender's game engine (and i think also its first physics engine called sumo) back when blender still was closed source and he still occasionally helps out with bullet integration.

it's nice to see how the others follow blender again. like with uv-mapping.

http://www.blendernation.com/2011/01/10/project-gooseberry-announced

I tried Blender back in the early days and could not get accustomed to the interface no matter how hard I tried. I saw a lot of potential in the program though.

Someone in another forum (music) mentioned the new beta and it's improved (subjective) interface. I downloaded it and several Youtube tutorials (not available to me in the old days because of slow dialup) and I think I can finally use it.

Kudos to all that have contributed to make it a little more understandable (at least to me).

Hiya.

Yeah, this new push for "GUI Customizability" is probably the BEST thing they could have done. Me? I'm waiting for someone to put out a complete "GUI/Interface/Keymapping Layout" for the prominent programs out there like Maya, MAX, Lightwave, XSI and Cinema4D. I just don't have the time/drive to do it all myself.

yes, it's awesome. the first thing i did was changing cursor placement to ctrl+shift+left mouse button instead of just left mouse. no accidental cursor placement anymore.

http://code.blender.org/index.php/2011/01/importers-and-exporters/

bvh seems to be supported in 2.56a and better than in previous blender versions. but i think there still are no retargeting tools.

The remaining problem is: Blender only exports FBX, but does not import. So it is still better to use tools like Ultimate Unwrap 3d, Fragmotion or Milkshape for importing, editing and exporting animated models.