
Blender 2.79 released - Tomte
https://www.blender.org/features/releases/2-79/
======
npolet
Yet again I'm amazed by blenders progress. I've been a 'hobby 3d artist' for
the past decade and find it incredibly useful in my full time job (front end
dev). Blender to me is a shining example of an open source project that seems
to constantly improve and give the proprietary apps like 3ds max and maya a
run for their money.

While the learning curve for blender can be fairly steep, once you get over
that hump, it's an absolute joy to use. A lot of people struggle with the UI,
but once you 'get it', it becomes an incredibly fluid and well thought out
interface. It still has it's quirks, but as far as 3D packages go, the UI is
actually really great.

This update adds lots of things that I have been waiting for. Shadow catchers
with cycles has always been possible, but it required a fairly obtuse method
to get there. The denoiser for cycles as well in an incredibly nice feature
and works incredibly well. The PBR shader is also a real joy to use. Coupled
with a decent set of textures, PBR shaders make shading a seriously fun
activity. Although it's nothing new (in the industry) it's really nice to have
it in blender.

A real asset to any designers toolkit.

~~~
codebeaker
I still don't "Get" it, but once someone told me it was a "modal gui" (as a
vim user) it clicked a bit more for me, that helps, but I don't have an
artistic bone in my body, and fail to pick up blender once a year. (that said,
I have no reason to use it, save maybe toying with 3d printing meshes)

~~~
neves
Aren't "modes" in UI a recognized bad practice? See:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mode_(computer_interface)#Mode...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mode_\(computer_interface\)#Mode_errors)
or read Jef Raskin writings.

How can a modal interface be "better" than a modeless one?

~~~
dwringer
Modal interfaces are bad practice for software that will be used by people
with minimal training, in a "pick up and go" fashion, but they are not
necessarily counterproductive for skilled experienced users. Douglas Engelbart
was a strong proponent of modal UI's and IIRC did extensive studies showing
that although disadvantageous for "newbies", such interfaces could eventually
yield higher productivity. I don't know how much of this was simply due to his
having such a small and biased sample. It is also important to point out that
his conceptualization involved using a 5-key chording keyboard in one hand and
a 3-button mouse in the other for most routine operations, so the modes helped
extend the number of operations that could be encoded. Anyway, as someone who
uses emacs instead of vim, on a regular old keyboard, I really can't say
personally.

EDIT: I suppose many people use a program like Blender with one hand on a
mouse/trackball and the other on a 3d mouse, so the point about having
different modes to get more versatility out of the same few buttons is still
relevant. With that approach I use the radial menus plugin for Blender which
makes changing modes pretty painless IMHO.

~~~
cr0sh
> It is also important to point out that his conceptualization involved using
> a 5-key chording keyboard in one hand and a 3-button mouse

Don't forget the foot pedals!

------
acidburnNSA
I just started fiddling around with Blender the other day for fun. There's an
official 25-video YouTube list of tutorials that really gets your feet wet
nicely, and it can be done on a lazy weekend morning. I loved it and have
enjoyed how far you can get with just a few hours of tutorials.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLa1F2ddGya_8V90Kd5eC5PeB...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLa1F2ddGya_8V90Kd5eC5PeBjySbXWGK1&v=kes2qmijy7w)

~~~
Tomte
Also this: [https://www.blenderguru.com/tutorials/blender-beginner-
tutor...](https://www.blenderguru.com/tutorials/blender-beginner-tutorial-
series)

~~~
kbody
Is there something specialized for 3D/CAD design for creating models for 3D
printing? Thanks

~~~
Nullabillity
I like OpenSCAD for printing, since it encourages you to use precise
measurements, and makes it fairly simple to create reusable components.

That said, I've mostly used it for "I need to create something that will fit
these inside of it", I could imagine your priorities are different if the
print is the "driving" component of whatever you're making.

~~~
kbody
Thanks, I tried Blender but had to do research to learn to use it properly or
"get it". On the other hand I used OpenSCAD and being used to code it really
fit my mindset, thank you! In a few hours I had what I had in mind in a STL
model :) Thanks

------
AsyncAwait
Just a remainder, if you find Blender useful, consider donating -
[https://www.blender.org/foundation/donation-
payment](https://www.blender.org/foundation/donation-payment) -

~~~
unsignedint
Another way to support the project is by subscribing Blender Cloud. Gives you
access to tutorials, etc.

[https://cloud.blender.org/](https://cloud.blender.org/)

------
a1371
Let's give some love to MakeHuman now that we are on this topic. I was
astonished to find this gem when I was trying to model characters. It exports
human 3D models to blender with rigging etc.

and of course it is open-source and free

[http://www.makehuman.org](http://www.makehuman.org)

~~~
unmole
I feel Manuel Bastoni Lab creates far more realistic models:
[http://www.manuelbastioni.com/manuellab.php](http://www.manuelbastioni.com/manuellab.php)

Opensoure and directly integrates into Blender as a plug-in.

~~~
j_s
The similarity between the technologies use to build those two web sites
immediately caused me to believe the two projects are very closely related.
Can you share any additional details regarding the relationship between the
two?

~~~
HelloNurse
Same main author, one is integrated into Blender and the other is standalone.

------
bayesian_horse
Lesser known fact: Blender switched to Python 3 in 2008. I guess they thought
the rest of the Python community would leave them behind if they wouldn't ...

~~~
andrepd
What does this have to do with anything? And why shouldn't they have? Did it
bring any problems?

~~~
singhrac
I think the parent was just trying to say that this is neat - it was much
earlier than most other projects did, considering Python 3 was only released
in December 08. Kudos! Though I think Blender made the switch with version
2.5, in 2009.

~~~
andrepd
Alright then, I read it as a criticism. My bad, I seem to be traumatised by
seeing Python 3 being constantly bashed x)

------
fsloth
Finally the ubershader! If anyone visually inclined wants some serious head
candy I warmly recommend buying 3DCoat and using that for texturing and
Blender for rendering (and modeling) Once you know how to model it's
astounding how fast you can turn shit from your imagination into something
photorealistic. It's almost like magic nowadays... You need a beefy GPU to
thoroughly enjoy it or lots of cores, though, to tune the lighting in real
time.

It's sculpting and miniature painting and photographing and it's such fun!

~~~
fractallyte
3DCoat is a specialized voxel sculpting application, quite unlike Blender -
it's a waste to use it for mere texturing!

Once you get the hang of it, voxel modeling (3DCoat's version) is really
intuitive and provides certain results _much_ more efficiently than NURBS
(non-uniform rational b-splines), SDS (subdivision surfaces) or SCG (solid
constructive geometry).

I'm not putting down Blender at all - these two packages greatly complement
each other!

~~~
fsloth
Ah, so true. But, given an existing unwrapped Blender model the superb
texturing capabilities are astounding. I don't _have_ to think about specular
maps, bump maps, diffuse maps etc as distinctive assets anymore. I can just
paint with friggin _stone_ , _metal_ and _dirt_ and _scratches_ with data that
is transferable to several rendering packages.

Other packages do offer this but the affordable price of 3DCoat make it an
exceptional option for hobbyists (IMO).

------
verytrivial
[https://www.blender.org/foundation/history/](https://www.blender.org/foundation/history/)

Ton Roosendaal has been the utter backbone of this project since before it was
a thing. I wonder if having an opinionated and mildly grumpy leader is
mandatory for an Open Source project to survive and thrive as Blender clearly
has?

~~~
SXX
Not that you have to be grumpy, but It's require certain personality to work
on single project for years while avoiding complete burnout. I think it's true
not just for open source.

Also in the beginning it's extremely important to have someone to keep project
together and that is also require some dedication. Though most of projects
become more self sustainable once community grow big enough.

------
blauditore
The image of that camera under "PBR Shader": Is that a photo or a rendering?
Caption and context imply it's a rendering, but it looks too realistic for me
to believe, with all those wear marks and fine textures.

~~~
Joeboy
Those wear marks and fine textures probably _are_ photos, kind of. It turns
out one of the ways photorealism is achieved is by mapping textures onto 3d
objects, and those textures usually originate from photos.

~~~
jordache
Even the dents on the lens? Texture wouldn't be able to generate actual
geometric deformities can it?

~~~
snailmailman
Textures can create the illusion that certain small deformities exist. This is
often used for scratches and things that are not always modeled.
[https://www.marmoset.co/wp-
content/uploads/2014/01/lenstextu...](https://www.marmoset.co/wp-
content/uploads/2014/01/lenstextures01.jpg)

Scratches like these could sometimes be painted directly onto the texture - or
maybe sculpted onto a higher-resolution model and then "baked" down to the
lower-resolution model. In this step lots of data from how light bounces off
the high-resolution model can be imprinted to a texture and re-used in a
lower-resolution model.

If you want to learn more the terms to be googling are "normal mapping" and
"bump mapping"

In this article - If i was to guess; all the pictured spheres are perfectly
spherical, and just textured differently.
[https://www.marmoset.co/posts/physically-based-rendering-
and...](https://www.marmoset.co/posts/physically-based-rendering-and-you-can-
too/)

Also - heres an interactive model of the lens:
[https://www.artstation.com/artwork/kl0A6](https://www.artstation.com/artwork/kl0A6)
The "Layers View" button in top right gives you a neat view of the model
with/without certain texture layers

~~~
jordache
not talking about bump mapping.

Talking about the dents on the lens' filter silver filter ring. I doubt it was
modeled.

[https://www.blender.org/wp-
content/uploads/2017/08/camera_pb...](https://www.blender.org/wp-
content/uploads/2017/08/camera_pbr_demo_cycles.jpg)

~~~
Zelizz
That can be done pretty easily with adaptive subdivision and displacement
mapping. You could also just create a super high-poly mesh manually and paint
in the dents.

------
imaginenore
For those who are new to Blender, the absolutely coolest part of Blender is
that it's fully programmable. Anything you can do through the UI, you can do
with Python method calls.

You can create, modify and render scenes from the command line only, no GUI
needed.

------
klakier
Guys, please support Blender finiancially. This is most awesome open project,
so polished!

~~~
beobab
You can do that here: [https://www.blender.org/foundation/donation-
payment/](https://www.blender.org/foundation/donation-payment/)

------
mholt
Wow, their website has improved a lot since I last visited too.

And I like how they make User Interface improvements notable additions to
their change log / announcements. Such an important part of software.

------
kensai
Blender is a staple application if you are into 3D Printers nowadays. Keep up
the good work, team! :)

------
bayesian_horse
The "Application Template" feature is an indication that the developers have
caught on to the idea that Blender has become an application framework. I hope
they will embrace this more, in the future.

I wrote a couple of command line "apps", which are basically blender running
with a particular script, a particular Python Path and a particular blender
file, then with some command line arguments.

------
ge96
Damn, amazing that bathroom render, hard to tell it's not real (photo)

~~~
mholt
Yeah. I think I like the sRGB version of it more though...

~~~
nothis
It's not about "realism" or even style, it's more about preserving detail in
extreme contrast. All pixels brighter than a certain threshold become white
and since there's nothing whiter than white, they're all the same with
information lost. This is basically HDR (no idea why the "Filmic Color
Management" phrase is necessary), as it has been common, even in real-time
rendering and digital photography for years. I suppose they implemented it in
a smarter way? The basic idea is to expose at different levels and combine the
parts that preserve the most detail.

~~~
jacobush
I think it's called Filmic Color Management because of this:

"... imitate an effect that's unique to film: as exposure increases, colors
will become more and more desaturated."

[https://www.blenderguru.com/tutorials/secret-ingredient-
phot...](https://www.blenderguru.com/tutorials/secret-ingredient-photorealism)

Whereas in many HDR algorithms, there is no such thing going on.

------
MaikuMori
The most important change - HiDPI scaling on Linux for high resolution
screens. Hopefully Gimp will follow the lead.

------
j_s
Video editing, 3D part packing -- anything other off-label uses for Blender?

[http://amosdudley.com/weblog/Stochastic-Part-
Packing](http://amosdudley.com/weblog/Stochastic-Part-Packing) |
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15187108](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15187108)

> _We used Blender’s physics engine to pour parts into a virtual volume, then
> exploited its collision-avoidance behavior to re-sort them into a tight 3D
> packing optimized for overlapping concavity._

------
dylan-m
I really admire Blender's release notes. They're detailed and informative yet
also fun and easy to read (thanks to pretty pictures!), and full of real
working examples if you want them. It's nice to see more projects doing them
these days (GNOME's have been great as well), but Blender's are definitely the
coolest. They always make me excited about the project itself :)

------
santaclaus
The improved tone mapping and uber shader look awesome!

Anyone know whats up with the surface deformer? I'm curious how they are doing
this warp.

The denoiser looks cool, but without temporal coherence won't be terribly
useful out of the box... for a single freeze frame just let the render
converge.

~~~
antientropic
I've found the denoiser to be a game-changer for still renders. I can now get
a decent-looking render in a fraction of the time. Remember, "just let the
render converge" can take hours or days.

------
rackforms
Blenders such a great tool! Just donated and created a quick-start video for
anyone interested:
[https://youtu.be/q0PMNISK0KY](https://youtu.be/q0PMNISK0KY)

[Edit, somehow dropped h from [h]ttps in link)

------
mempko
Been using blender causally for 18 years. It is my favorite free software
project.

------
rcarmo
No updates on distributed network rendering, or am I missing something?

~~~
swerner
Network rendering is being worked on:
[https://developer.blender.org/D2808](https://developer.blender.org/D2808)

------
tetraodonpuffer
if I am reading things right the radeon vega 56 is always faster (sometimes
significantly more, like in koro) than an nvidia 1080 for rendering, that is
quite surprising.

------
jordache
I've been out of the 3D scene for years now. I have never used Blender but
have used 3DsMax, Lightwave.

How does Blender compare against contemporary 3D suites? Is it the whole GIMP
vs Photoshop non-debate? (I can't stand GIMP BTW)

~~~
darkwinx
> Is it the whole GIMP vs Photoshop non-debate?

I think it is not. I would say Blender is at professional level.

It is not like GIMP or Inkscape that I can hardly call them professional.

Many Blender users coming from other 3D sofware often said that Blender UI is
weird and stop them from using it further. I guess it is a matter of habit.

~~~
jordache
>Many Blender users coming from other 3D sofware often said that Blender UI is
weird and stop them from using it further. I guess it is a matter of habit.

That's the same feeling I had of Blender, hence I put them into the category
of GIMP.

~~~
Doxin
The problem with blenders UI isn't that it's bad as such, it just does
everything different to other programs.

It's worth the effort to learn though, it's a hugely productive UI once you
get used to it.

------
fulafel
Cycles is the only significant OpenCL application in open source that I know
of.

------
jenkijo
Keep up the good work, team! :)

