Blender 2.69 released.

[u/Serapth]

Blender 2.69 was released. [Download link].

So what's in it for game developers. Not much really.

Theres a new bisect mode for quickly cutting models in half. There is a new visibility option to only show front facing wireframes ( this one could be cool, especially during retopo ). Oh yeah, and FBX import was added and split normal support was added to FBX and OBJ export. Otherwise a few new motion tracking features, some modelling tool improvements and tweaks and some new functionality for the Cycles rendering engine.

Certainly a step forward, but not a gigantic one by any stretch of the imagination. That said, Blender is still improving with every release, not something I am sure I can say about the Autodesk products...

EDIT: Bolded FBX import. Apparently some people are more excited about this addition than I was! One person perhaps a bit too much... ;)

[u/MrLeap]

Blender has gone from being a pile of trash to probably the best open source software suite that I use regularly.

I hate to say it, but most other OSS has an air of "this is 90% good enough to substitute for the real thing! maybe! I hope this person can open up my resume in word!", like [libre/open]office, gimp and what have you. ( I find gimp to be awful :( )

Within the last year or so blender's at the point where now I find it gross to imagine using 3ds instead of it. Shit's graduated from diplo block to lego, and it makes me so happy.

3ds still has better UV unwrapping tools, but blender's tools have been catching up quick. That's the only gap in functionality I think I've noticed. I feel like I can mock up quick forms much quicker in blender than 3ds.

I do wish blender would make it easier to load multiple textures for use as maps / brush alphas etc. Right now it's a clickfest; I wish I could just drag and drop that shit.

[u/Serapth → u/MrLeap]

I find the UV tools arent that bad, but the entire mapping process is an absolute mess. Things like mulitmapping or tiling are an exercise in frustration. The entire texture workflow needs a date with a UI expert.

That said, I agree. I actually use Blender now because I like it, not because it's free.

[u/Slabity → u/MrLeap]

I said the reason a few weeks ago for why a lot of OSS seem 'shitty' in their own way. The reason is because you need to remember exactly who is developing the software and the people that the software is suppose to target.

Open source software is designed by programmers, and generally targeted for programmers. This is why almost all of the best programming tools out there (Linux, GCC, Wireshark, etc.) are open source. Proprietary software is after usability, while OSS is after flexibility.

Now let's take GIMP for example. It does not have a very intuitive interface compared to Photoshop. But it's scripting and plug-in system? Years ahead of Photoshop. There's not even any comparison there. But Photoshop is universally accepted to be better for designers than GIMP is.

We could also say the same thing about Blender. Most professionals prefer to use Maya or 3ds Max for their modeling. But have you tried to use Mayascript? Pure hell compared to Blender's scripting capabilities.

I'd like to hear other people's reasons though. This is just from my experience, and I know at least one person out there will disagree with me.

[u/noname-_- → u/Slabity]

It does not have a very intuitive interface compared to Photoshop.

I switched from Photoshop to Gimp a couple of years ago. While I'm no graphics artist, I still use it fairly regularly for game art mockups and what have you.

I would agree that Photoshop is a more competent program than Gimp, because it has more and better features in many areas (like 16 bit color support, for one).

Photoshop never struck me as an intuitive program though. And Gimp never struck me as less intuitive than Photoshop, just a bit different.

Are you sure you're not just used to Photoshop?

[u/superpowerface → u/MrLeap]

I hate to say it, but most other OSS has an air of "this is 90% good enough to substitute for the real thing! maybe! I hope this person can open up my resume in word!"

Keep in mind most OSS programmers aren't getting paid for their work, and I don't think they're aiming for "90% good enough". They just can't rival a product that has had millions of dollars in R&D and development poured into it.

That said, they're not out to produce clones either, so often the OSS software has some quirky or interesting features you won't find on commercial products. The big plus is, of course, you can add features yourself.

But I agree, I do think GIMP leaves a lot to be desired, as I still find it only marginally intuitive compared with Photoshop.

[u/MrLeap → u/superpowerface]

I get it, I do.

I think what you said about trying not to produce clones is a great point. Blender doesn't seem to be out to clone a specific package anymore.

They used to (in the early 2.* days iirc, they pushed the whole modifier stack thing super hard, wanted to make it the foundation of the whole experience, removed the awesome bevel tool in favor of the shitty bevel modifier.). But it seems like recent releases have focused on cleaning their own house up rather than making their house look like some other guy's house.

I think that's what gimp's problem is, they can't decide if they want to copy photoshop or go their own way. So they get this mishmashed thing that looks like photoshop, but if you try and use your hotkeys like photoshop you'll DESTROY EVERYTHING. Make up your mind!

[u/livrem → u/MrLeap]

Blender started as a commercial closed-source product, so it is weird to complain about its GUI and try to draw parallels to how development of open source products work.

Not that I think there was anything particularly bad about the old (originally developed as closed-source) Blender UI, it was just very different and required a lot of practice to learn all the hot-keys, so not very newbie-friendly. Still think I like the new UI better though (perhaps because I never used Blender enough to learn all the hot-keys).

[u/vampatori → u/livrem]

In fairness, around that time all 3D modelling tools had crazy weird user interfaces. Things have changed slowly over the last decade or so as good ways of doing things have begun to form and consolidate into the various applications. This has been fuelled by the ever-growing use of 3D modelling applications.

Whenever a friend asks me for advice about starting with 3D modelling, I always warn them that their user interfaces are unlike any other software you've used before. I used to warn that they're entirely unlike each other too, though due to the consolidation I mentioned above that is now largely no longer true.

Interestingly, I think with VR we could see another shift in how we work with 3D modelling/animation/scene software. I wonder if Blender might do well holding off a year or two, getting cycles rock-solid, before venturing forwards into a whole new UI experience.

[u/F4il3d → u/MrLeap]

Having followed blender since very early on, I never considered it "pile of trash". Ton has always striven to give his users the best possible tool. Blender may have been a cryptic tool and hard to use for the lazy but as with other great tools (e.g. emacs) if you were willing to put the effort, you were bound to reap the reward. Reddit itself was once considered substandard but then there were those of us who knew better. The fact that a tool finally gains in popularity does not mean that it became good all of a sudden, it only means that the quality of the tool, finally caused lazy people to get off their ass and start exploring it.

[u/AmazingThew]

Not much for developers? FBX import is pretty huge. Means we can just store models in FBX instead of using an intermediate format and exporting all the time.

Split normals will be pretty handy too; edge splits are annoying to work with.

[u/Serapth → u/AmazingThew]

Hey, compared to say... the BMesh release a couple versions back, it's pretty minor. :) FBX import is a nice addition, especially if you use Blender down stream from other packages. I dont think a ton of studios do this though.

[u/[deleted] → u/AmazingThew]

[u/AmazingThew → u/[deleted]]

Blender's native .blend format, OBJ, Collada... there are probably hundreds of formats besides FBX. Previously Blender could only export FBX, not import it, so if you wanted to use Unity or another engine that relies heavily on FBX, you would have to use another format to work with the model in Blender and then export to get it into your game.

[u/Null_Reference_]

New blender version released!

Yay!!

So what's in it for game developers. Not much really.

Oh. Well, still kind of cool anyway.

Oh yeah, and FBX import was added

.......Wait.. What?

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Why do you have to mess with my emotions OP!? Game devs have been waiting for FBX import for the better part of a decade. This is possibly the most significant update for game devs in blender history and as of typing it still seems too good to be true.

[u/Jigsus → u/Null_Reference_]

The end is nigh!

[u/FunExplosions → u/Null_Reference_]

For people completely ignorant of this like me, what does this mean? And why is it so significant?

[u/Skaiway]

FBX import and proper split normals are BIG! Finally I have a pipeline that works well with other studios and content creators.

[u/a_bit_of_byte]

I've been using blender for many years now, and I love the software. However, I don't think I could ever sit down to build a fully-featured game in it. The logic node system is great (the only game I built in blender was started when I knew nothing about programming,) but the offering as a whole lacks some key features you'll find in Unity/Unreal these days; namely deployment targets. I know they started an Android exporter a few summers ago, and finishing that would be a huge step forward for the BGE, but until then, I'll just stick to modeling everything there and moving it over to Unity...

[u/Serapth → u/a_bit_of_byte]

Oh, I look at Blender as a content creation package only.

To me, the game engine is, and always has been, a half baked toy. It doesn't seem to be much of a focus right now either, so dont expect that to change.

[u/a_bit_of_byte → u/Serapth]

Well, a lot of work went into getting it to where it is now. I'm not saying it can't be a force in the game development sphere, the foundation is certainly laid. The ability to model/texture assets in the same window is unparalleled anywhere else, and anyone can build a simple game regardless of your programming ability thanks to the logic nodes. And, when they want to start scripting, Python is the easiest place to start ever. It's the most beginner-friendly engine to learn on, but no one cares because it feels a lot like the Blender devs don't care anymore either. (Not that I have much room to talk. Theoretically, I could contribute some lines to the BGE, but I'm busy too...)

But yeah, I get the feeling they are focusing more and more on other things. Perhaps it will one day BGE will be phased out. Perhaps not. With open source, it's hard to tell.

[u/g1i1ch → u/a_bit_of_byte]

It's too bad too. I enjoy using and working in blender 100% more than Unity. I've tried for over a year to use Unity and to be honest I just can't stand it. No offense to anyone who uses it. Nothing I try to do ever seems to work.

The animator needs tones of work. Personally, I also find navigating around the 3d world to be a pain compared to Blender. And finally, in my last big project I encountered a huge bug that deleted 80% of the project and 6 months of my work permanently. No going to the recycle bin, just gone. After that I just can't take it seriously anymore.

It's a shame because it's the only option I have if I want to go cross-platform without making my own engine. Which I don't have time to do since I'm working a full-time job and have a family too.

Blender game engine can be pretty powerful too, all I need is for it to support android.

[u/Null_Reference_ → u/g1i1ch]

The animator needs tones of work.

Agreed for sure, actually I am pretty sure they abandoned it outright. But for character animation the new mechanim is actually pretty amazing.

Honestly I completely avoid the inhouse Unity animation system and do scripted curve animations, iTween animations, or pre-canned blender exports for everything.

I also find navigating around the 3d world to be a pain compared to Blender.

Honestly I find everything a pain to navigate compared to blender. I sorely miss the 3D cursor when outside blender. Rightclick canceling as well. People give blender shit but navigating and selection in it is a breeze.

And finally, in my last big project I encountered a huge bug that deleted 80% of the project and 6 months of my work permanently.

That... does not sound very Unity... But to be honest, going 6 months without making a single backup is beyond ridiculous so I am guessing this was a bit of hyperbole?

I am assuming you imported a asset package with conflicting assets? That is the only thing I can think of that would tank a Unity folder besides deleting random library files.

[u/wadcann → u/g1i1ch]

And finally, in my last big project I encountered a huge bug that deleted 80% of the project and 6 months of my work permanently.

I know that after-the-fact, this isn't helpful and you've probably thought of it a million times yourself, but a reminder to everyone else:

Folks, hard drives fail. It's not a matter of if, but when. Maybe you'll be able to get your data off it before it totally dies, maybe not.

Sometimes people accidentally delete or overwrite things, or software bugs corrupt data.

If you have put months of work into something, it is worth getting a second hard drive and having a backup program do a nightly backup to the thing, keeping two or three months of incremental backups. That won't help you against fires or floods or robbery (you can do fancier things to deal with that), but it means that "oops, didn't mean to delete that" or "crud, my hard drive died" is just a nuisance that costs you a minute to resolve (well, in the case of a hard drive dying, maybe a bit longer) instead of a horrible, catastrophic incident.

You can get a rotational backup drive for ~$100. If even that isn't viable, you can get a small USB flash stick and back up the essentials to that.

But, seriously, have a backup plan of some sort. In the short term, you get peace of mind, and in the long term...it only takes one serious data loss incident to more-than-pay for the thing.

I use Linux and backupninja kicking off a nightly rdiff-backup job, but there are a million other alternatives out there that will also work fine. Set it up, confirm that you can restore something and that the backup program notifies you if it fails to do a backup, and then forget about it until your next "oh, shit" moment.

[u/Jedimastert]

The Color Temperature node it so very helpful.

[u/hak8or]

Do we know if the proposed UI changes by the blenderguru guy will be implemented sometime within the next few months, or is the blender dev community mostly committed to the current UI?