Yeah, I have been using blender for quite some time now
Blender does have the align tools in the uv but it requires more manual input than the 3ds max one.
And talking about stuff like that, I miss the align to edge 3ds max had, where you could select a uv edge and it would rotate it so the uv island was straight.
My reason for asking here, is I hope someone might make a addon for it once(can it be done with python?)
New features include initial support for volumetrics in Cycles, and faster rendering of hair and textures. The motion tracker now supports weighted tracks and has improved planar tracking. For mesh modeling there are new Laplacian deform and wireframe modifiers, along with more control in the bevel tool. The game engine now supports object levels of detail.
The first results from the new user interface project are also in this release, with dozens of changes to make the interface more consistent and powerful. This is also the first release of the multithreaded dependency graph, which makes modifier and constraint evaluation faster in scenes with multiple objects. Cycles Rendering
Cycles now has initial support for volume rendering including emission, absorption and scattering. Volume rendering can be used to render effects like fire, smoke, mist, absorption in glass, and many other effects that can't be represented by surface meshes alone.
CPU rendering performance was improved, particularly for hair, textures and Open Shading Language.
Trackers can now be weighted, to keep the result stable as feature disappear or become difficult to track. The plane track workflow was improved to be easier to control. Automatic feature detection was made more robust using a new detector algorithm.
The toolbar now has tabs to organize tools in categories. Multiple buttons can now be edited at once, for example for XYZ axes or color channels. Transform tools now have a mode to enter expressions and units. Other changes were done to improve lists, header menus, tooltips, buttons, menus and more.
The Laplacian Deform modifier was added to pose a mesh while preserving geometric details of the surface, and a new wireframe modifier allows you transform your mesh into a wireframe representation. The boolean modifier now supports ngons, and there are improvements to the bevel, screw and triangulate modifiers.
The bevel tool now offers more control over the bevel profile and results, and the knife tool was improved as well.
An important change that happened under the hood is the threaded dependency graph. This means that object modifiers and constraints, among other things, can now be computed with multiple threads taking advantage of multicore processors. This will be most noticeable with scenes that have many objects, or multiple objects with heavy modifiers. This is the first step in making the dependency graph in Blender more powerful.
The Blender game engine now supports discrete level of detail for meshes. For game developers, support for working with Photoshop PSD files has been added.
A new view navigation walk mode has been added, which has a control scheme as typically found in first person shooter games. This can be useful for game developers to navigate levels as if in a game.
Mongrelman: Does not really help me, since it's to random with me painting over I need it to be uniform.
And not being able to relax the borders makes it almost useless.
Hi, i'm just registered here so maybe I'm late for the party but @ Stromberg90 : there is a box to uncheck in UVsculpt mode in order to smooth the border of the island. Then, if you increase the size of the brush (or dezoom the view), you'll be able to do the relax on all the UV island in one click (use the strength of the brush to adjust the effect). I don't know if that resolve your problem but if it's not, please consider reporting your issue to a dedicaced Blender forum like BlenderArtist, they are more competent to help you (and very friendly by the way but you probably know them )
Would be nice if they worked on improving the performance on sub-d modeling.
This is mostly a viewport performance problem. They have had GSoC projects to fix it over the last two years but I haven't seen any substantive improvements, unfortunately.
This is mostly a viewport performance problem. They have had GSoC projects to fix it over the last two years but I haven't seen any substantive improvements, unfortunately.
Well you haven't seen any improvements since those projects haven't made it in trunk yet, they need code review and clean up:\
Blender still needs you ! The Gooseberry project (the trailer is already posted here, on the previous page) is in a crowfunding (only 20 days left). The purpose of this crowdfunding is to make a movie but mainly to improve Blender, make awesome new features who fits in a production environnement . Blender will be improved also in the "game asset creation" part.
For Blender users, suscribing to the the Cloud gives you access to a place where you can find all the DVD of the Bender Fundation and all the ressources of the Open Movies. For the others, you can support an alternative totally new way of doing films !
Well i'm maybe not convincing enough so you can listen to Ton who's explaining why you should support this project : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5CAAY-unN4
I think its important to note that steam workshop donations that came in for Blender has been hijacked/redirected, onto the gooseberry project. I honestly dont see how its aiding in any field other than film, as usual. Its probably worth supporting if you think the blender movies are worth it, but im not entirely sold on that anymore. I think the game artist and those in fields outside of film need to send the message that just pushing film isnt going to fly, and that Blender shouldnt be the last to react to the latest changes to the indie market, of which the demand for tools has been skyrocketing.
Can you give a link to the source of this information ?
If this is true, then really screw them,
if I'm not mistaken though, it was seperate from the funding Valve sponsored for the gamedev features.
I understand why they're trying to make those open movies, but I'm not really sure the results in terms of promotion are there.
In terms of tools maybe there are some improvements, but really I can't see how say video tracking is a huge benefit for majority of the users.
I think they should try making smaller movies or other showcase projects with a huge focus on concrete tools or workflows,
but they want to 'make film history' - good luck with that.
In terms of improvements there have been more than just the motion tracking. The next update will include the improved texture painting stuff that you can already use test builds for. They also may be adding the Cycles baking officially in as well as preliminary cage baking. I believe importing custom normals was also added not too long ago. And there is some basic support for editing normals, just no way as far as I know to export them.
Those alone are pretty big steps in the right direction. Once they get the ability of exporting custom normals I think it puts it pretty good for game development.
Can you give a link to the source of this information ?
If this is true, then really screw them,
if I'm not mistaken though, it was seperate from the funding Valve sponsored for the gamedev features.
Let's take a look around first and not be rude for nothing :
Valve agreed on having "Steam Workshop / Valve Corporation" being credited as Gooseberry Sponsor. Having their name and positive support associated with our film project means a lot. In practice it meant that the last Steam Workshop donation was marked as a Gooseberry contribution.
That money - and much more - is going to be spent on awesome tools for Blender. I'll personally look after that.
Ton
I think they should try making smaller movies or other showcase projects with a huge focus on concrete tools or workflows
The Blender Fundation has already produce several short open movies with Blender (Big Buck Bunny, Sinte, Caminandes,...) The tools produced during the open movies truly improved Blender. But those projects are limited, games and movies take now more than several years to be done : workflows are different and technical problems too.
but they want to 'make film history' - good luck with that.
Well, more than luck, they needs support ! I think that's our role, as spectators, to support the diversity of films and in wich conditions they are made.
. The next update will include the improved texture painting stuff that you can already use test builds for.
Yes, in fact the gooseberry project allows Psy-Fi, the paint tool developer, to work on full time, that's quite exciting for him and for us !
I'm well aware of all the open movies and new features beeing included,
my point is that there are some really substantial issues with Blender right now, for me it's mainly viewport performance and import/export, though the latter's been improved a bit in the last year or so, I don't think there's enough of an emphasis on those.
I'm not saying there haven't been vast improvements in other areas, like Cycles which is an example of a feature that benefits most users, and even more so with baking.
Motion tracking is an example of a gimmicky feature, not a lot of people benefited from, but was developed for the movie.
Lastly, I don't think making even the best movie will help Blender all that much in terms of people's awareness of it.
I only care about the tools.
If they raise money for a specific project I'm interested in or think is beneficial as it's been the case with split normals, I'll gladly donate.
That's just my opinion though, if you like it, donate by all means and make it happen!
From the Gooseberry faq.
Where does the money go?
About 70% of the money goes to Blender artists (the Gooseberry movie, tutorials), 20% goes to the coders to support these artists, and 10% is overhead (internet services mainly).
When Gooseberry starts, you will have about 60-80 full-timers work here for you!
Here are some numbers to think about in terms of tools development.
Can you give a link to the source of this information ?
If this is true, then really screw them,
if I'm not mistaken though, it was seperate from the funding Valve sponsored for the gamedev features.
Its been confirmed in various parts of the blender artist forums and via an irc conversation. Its why the gooseberry sponsor page put down steam workshop as part of the name of the donor.
In practice, as Ton mentioned, the donations coming in from game artist via the steam workshop was put on project gooseberry despite the claims that such funds would be put towards further game asset based development in Blender. Since then theres been a bit of damage control, but mostly though, at first insults at certain members of the community followed by promises or claims that such development will happen regardless.
At this point I remain skeptical about that. One has to wait and see I suppose, but its worth sharing that if you are also someone who donates via steam workshop, that your donations are potentially furthering causes that are tied to open movies and not necessarily game development. I dont think its morally right to have pet film projects take priority on resources over everything. That is, of course, just my opinion.
I've only discovered the thread on BA after writing that post above and it's good to know that I'm not the only one here 'smelling a rat' so to speak.
Its unfortunate too, since I generally have been active in supporting Blender as an alternative 3d asset creation tool, but if those in charge care more about their pet projects and not actually listening to their userbase or the market, well its a bit of a slap in the face.
There is a whole list compiled by the community on which areas need work on for the game asset pipeline, and for the most part its been ignored.
It's a shame how it's going, with the engines shifting towards indies recently, there was a good chance to get new users and ones that could donate, but I guess all the better for Maya LT and Modo.
There will be improvements, but I don't believe Blender will ever be where I was hoping it would be not so long ago.
Theres a huge demand in the market for certain tools, and its amazing how few are actually reacting to it just yet. Accessibility is a major factor in this current market, Allegorithic sees it, I think autodesk is trying to see it with Maya LT, The foundry is playing with it with the steam edition... all based on knowing the massive boom that is coming which is indie development for interactive media. Even VR plays a huge role in this.
Hi Guys I´m just quoting what Ton Roosendahl had written originally on Blenderartists concerning the valve/workshop donations and a bit more about the funding for the development of Blender
Apparently some don't like it that I asked Steam Workshop to become a sponsor for Gooseberry - which Valve happily accepted. What started as a positive support statement, suddenly was turned into a negative debate of 'taking away money' from game related development topics.
That will not happen of course. The money is just tagged differently here, in a different pot, but it will be spent on the same topics - the one that specifically benefit game makers yes.
I promised already that I will oversee that. And I will give Campbell Barton (ideasman42) full insight in the finances and how things get spent (he coordinates these developers).
Just for your interest: here are the devs who were on the payroll last year, or who will be involved soon:
Antonis Ryakiotakis, Brecht van Lommel, Bastien Montagne, Campbell Barton, Dalai Felinto, Francesco Siddi, Jeroen Bakker, Lukas Toenne, Monique Dewanchand, Sergey Sharybin, Stuart Broadfoot, Tamito Kajiyama, and myself.
Not counting google summer of code. Not counting who's going to be added for Gooseberry later. Not counting web support, administration, etc.
Of the last year's combined Foundation/Institute revenue, about 3% came from Valve. We have a whole lot of other income sources. Sponsors, donations, development fund, subsidies, the e-shop, and so on.
When Gooseberry works out, we'll be able to hire more developers even, freeing up funds to do more developer support, code reviewing, and especially work on non-animation film topics such as VFX, game engine & tools, architecture modeling, etc.
So: instead of detailed nitpicking where every individual contribution goes to - let's judge the situation based on actual results first. And if the results don't satisfy, talk about how to improve these results.
In many ways - for outsiders especially - Blender's open source project is flagship example of how successful a community can raise funds and become more professional.
what you can already read/see in the mailing lists/developer targets for 2.71 is, that the baking functionality is planned and on github for the reviewing process. reviewing usually takes a while and the release for 2.71 is not yet set in stone. the developer working on the fbx part was/is currently struggling with fbx bone animation stuff. http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Dev:Doc/Projects
Dalai and Bastien are still working on game related features (Cycles baking and FBX - check the commit logs), in fact Bastien is now working full time. While I don't know the details - Steam funding continues, which is why they are still able to work on these features.
Regarding Dalai working on cycles baking, I dont know if thats still a priority but according to the development fund... his work is targeting stereoscopic rendering.
March 2014 April 2014
Grant for Dalai Felinto: finishing work on MultiView (stereo render)
All developers that get paid from the developer fund, need to post weekly updates on what they worked on. I find it a better source of information on what's being worked on.
what you can already read/see in the mailing lists/developer targets for 2.71 is, that the baking functionality is planned and on github for the reviewing process. reviewing usually takes a while and the release for 2.71 is not yet set in stone. the developer working on the fbx part was/is currently struggling with fbx bone animation stuff. http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Dev:Doc/Projects
Haven't tested it myself yet but it seems to be a step in the right direction. But I really don't think that Gooseberry seems to focus on anything that helps me when it comes to game art unless you consider getting things I don't need out of the way so they can develope the stuff I need after.
Ton did a couple AMA's that might clarify goals both software side and project side for some of you in doubt. Sculpting and Texture Painting are two big planned improvements I can see helping in game asset creation.
Ok cool so the blender roadmap has it set to replace zbrush and mari down the road. That will help people create games now.
My english is not good enough to see if its sarcasm or not.:\
I did take a look about Blender sculpting (since I remember it be very hard und uneasy for artists) and the new features changes a lot of things : with Constant detail we don't care any longer with the topology and we can add or substract any object we want (primtives, poly-edited meshes, objects with modifiers)... I and the people I know who already tested it fell instantly in love ! The goal is not to replace Zbrush but to provide a new tool for modeling purpose (very high poly and fine-details still needs Zbrush). Here's some quick examples (the feature is really new so the possibilities are still unclear, but it seems that they are nearly endless):
Not trying to do a hard sell here, but I think the continued growth and success of Blender is important and thus I would encourage anyone with even a passing interest and a bit of disposable cash to support the Gooseberry project.
Doesn't take much and every little bit helps. Having a robust, stable and powerful 3D tool that is completely open-source and outside the realm of corporate interests makes sense (to me, at least). Even if the movie aspects of Gooseberry aren't all that appealing, my guess is the ongoing development of Blender will still be very valuable to game devs.
I put that the wrong way. I'm more wondering what 'Unreal Modding' means. Does it mean UDK import/export? Or UE4? Or Unreal engine 1? Blender has a bit of a history of not understanding what game artists need outside of the BGE. I hope it means UE4, because I'm not sure a lot of people will use UDK going forward.
On the Blender Artist forums I think there was also talk about trying to make an addon that is like the UE4 character animation/rigging tools plugin that's in maya. So that might have something to do with it as well?
Could be for ways to automate the naming of bones to fit the setup for UE4.
I put that the wrong way. I'm more wondering what 'Unreal Modding' means. Does it mean UDK import/export? Or UE4? Or Unreal engine 1? Blender has a bit of a history of not understanding what game artists need outside of the BGE. I hope it means UE4, because I'm not sure a lot of people will use UDK going forward.
It's probably mainly for legacy support for older iterations of the engine tech (and other that use the format/engine) - as passerby mentioned people seem to prefer FBX these days, certainly for UDK et al..
It's probably mainly for legacy support for older iterations of the engine tech (and other that use the format/engine) - as passerby mentioned people seem to prefer FBX these days, certainly for UDK et al..
It's frustrating that you have so many GSoC resources and the people who make games on actually useful engines don't get any support. I would really like to be able to edit vertex normals or have a decent FBX exporter that actually works.
Dashiva: They're working on exactly those two things for the/a next thread. I'm right there when it comes to complaining about slow support for game artists, but it feels wrong for you to blast them for it after they're finally focusing on our needs.
Just a quick post to share the amazing tutorial by Xrg about hand painting on Blender. The really cool thing is that he really explains colors, values.... so if you are not a Blender user, check it, I'm sure you'll learn something ^^ :
Dalai Felinto: Cage Baking now has a better implementation: https://developer.blender.org/D547
Meeting agreed this should go to 'master' as soon as possible, but it also would require thorough testing. Any baking fans out there who can help? Connect with Dalai!
Replies
Blender does have the align tools in the uv but it requires more manual input than the 3ds max one.
And talking about stuff like that, I miss the align to edge 3ds max had, where you could select a uv edge and it would rotate it so the uv island was straight.
My reason for asking here, is I hope someone might make a addon for it once(can it be done with python?)
http://www.blender.org/download/
Release Notes:
https://developer.blender.org/D132
It's being worked on (by a pixar dev in his spare time) just might take a while...
And not being able to relax the borders makes it almost useless.
Well, since I'm here : the GSOC "Texture Painting" will be fully integrated in the next release of Blender (or already there for custom build). Here is some of the new features you can expect :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCC665Ugx9U
Take a look at the documentation of the toolset here :
http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/User:Psy-Fi/Moar_texture_Paint/UserDoc
This is mostly a viewport performance problem. They have had GSoC projects to fix it over the last two years but I haven't seen any substantive improvements, unfortunately.
For Blender users, suscribing to the the Cloud gives you access to a place where you can find all the DVD of the Bender Fundation and all the ressources of the Open Movies. For the others, you can support an alternative totally new way of doing films !
Well i'm maybe not convincing enough so you can listen to Ton who's explaining why you should support this project :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5CAAY-unN4
Here's the link for suscribing to the BlenderCloud or pledge for the Gooseberry project : https://cloud.blender.org/gooseberry/
Can you give a link to the source of this information ?
If this is true, then really screw them,
if I'm not mistaken though, it was seperate from the funding Valve sponsored for the gamedev features.
I understand why they're trying to make those open movies, but I'm not really sure the results in terms of promotion are there.
In terms of tools maybe there are some improvements, but really I can't see how say video tracking is a huge benefit for majority of the users.
I think they should try making smaller movies or other showcase projects with a huge focus on concrete tools or workflows,
but they want to 'make film history' - good luck with that.
Those alone are pretty big steps in the right direction. Once they get the ability of exporting custom normals I think it puts it pretty good for game development.
Well, more than luck, they needs support ! I think that's our role, as spectators, to support the diversity of films and in wich conditions they are made.
Yes, in fact the gooseberry project allows Psy-Fi, the paint tool developer, to work on full time, that's quite exciting for him and for us !
my point is that there are some really substantial issues with Blender right now, for me it's mainly viewport performance and import/export, though the latter's been improved a bit in the last year or so, I don't think there's enough of an emphasis on those.
I'm not saying there haven't been vast improvements in other areas, like Cycles which is an example of a feature that benefits most users, and even more so with baking.
Motion tracking is an example of a gimmicky feature, not a lot of people benefited from, but was developed for the movie.
The bottomline to me is, I didn't like ToS on any level (though I supported it by buing a DVD), I don't like the targets of the current one.
http://gooseberry.blender.org/open-source-targets/
Lastly, I don't think making even the best movie will help Blender all that much in terms of people's awareness of it.
I only care about the tools.
If they raise money for a specific project I'm interested in or think is beneficial as it's been the case with split normals, I'll gladly donate.
That's just my opinion though, if you like it, donate by all means and make it happen!
From the Gooseberry faq.
Here are some numbers to think about in terms of tools development.
Its been confirmed in various parts of the blender artist forums and via an irc conversation. Its why the gooseberry sponsor page put down steam workshop as part of the name of the donor.
In practice, as Ton mentioned, the donations coming in from game artist via the steam workshop was put on project gooseberry despite the claims that such funds would be put towards further game asset based development in Blender. Since then theres been a bit of damage control, but mostly though, at first insults at certain members of the community followed by promises or claims that such development will happen regardless.
At this point I remain skeptical about that. One has to wait and see I suppose, but its worth sharing that if you are also someone who donates via steam workshop, that your donations are potentially furthering causes that are tied to open movies and not necessarily game development. I dont think its morally right to have pet film projects take priority on resources over everything. That is, of course, just my opinion.
I've only discovered the thread on BA after writing that post above and it's good to know that I'm not the only one here 'smelling a rat' so to speak.
Its unfortunate too, since I generally have been active in supporting Blender as an alternative 3d asset creation tool, but if those in charge care more about their pet projects and not actually listening to their userbase or the market, well its a bit of a slap in the face.
There is a whole list compiled by the community on which areas need work on for the game asset pipeline, and for the most part its been ignored.
There will be improvements, but I don't believe Blender will ever be where I was hoping it would be not so long ago.
Theres a huge demand in the market for certain tools, and its amazing how few are actually reacting to it just yet. Accessibility is a major factor in this current market, Allegorithic sees it, I think autodesk is trying to see it with Maya LT, The foundry is playing with it with the steam edition... all based on knowing the massive boom that is coming which is indie development for interactive media. Even VR plays a huge role in this.
* http://gooseberry.blender.org/sponsor/ btw the donations form the Steam Workshop / Valve Corporation are as agreed upon in the Sponsor list under Platinum Sponsors. http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?332018-Gooseberry-Discussion-about-the-discussion&p=2612906&viewfull=1#post2612906
This would somehow imply that, but the rest seems to imply otherwise.
what you can already read/see in the mailing lists/developer targets for 2.71 is, that the baking functionality is planned and on github for the reviewing process. reviewing usually takes a while and the release for 2.71 is not yet set in stone. the developer working on the fbx part was/is currently struggling with fbx bone animation stuff. http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Dev:Doc/Projects
http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?332018-Gooseberry-Discussion-about-the-discussion&p=2612553&highlight=mont29#post2612553 * quote from Campbell Barton (aka) Ideasman42 a fulltime developer for Blender
March 2014 April 2014
- Grant for Dalai Felinto: finishing work on MultiView (stereo render)
Curious to see what hes working on after this...Dalai (Dfelinto)
http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/User:Dfelinto/Foundation
Bastien (mont29)
http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/User:Mont29/Foundation/2014
http://youtu.be/wxsV37GY1IU
http://gooseberry.blender.org/
For the FBX stuff I know someone has been working on updating the exporter to be more UE4 friendly. Here is the github for that.
https://github.com/mont29/blender-io-fbx
Haven't tested it myself yet but it seems to be a step in the right direction. But I really don't think that Gooseberry seems to focus on anything that helps me when it comes to game art unless you consider getting things I don't need out of the way so they can develope the stuff I need after.
AMA links:
Reddit (for general CG community) - http://goo.gl/4VJyjc
BlenderNation (for Blenderheads) - http://goo.gl/lqca4e
I did take a look about Blender sculpting (since I remember it be very hard und uneasy for artists) and the new features changes a lot of things : with Constant detail we don't care any longer with the topology and we can add or substract any object we want (primtives, poly-edited meshes, objects with modifiers)... I and the people I know who already tested it fell instantly in love ! The goal is not to replace Zbrush but to provide a new tool for modeling purpose (very high poly and fine-details still needs Zbrush). Here's some quick examples (the feature is really new so the possibilities are still unclear, but it seems that they are nearly endless):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OC-oI6VxjqA#t=129 final image from C
jup that is one of the developers on the FBX area.
I found a few postings about what is happening or happend recently in Blender development regarding the FBX export.
exciting times for game asset creators since FBX animation support + baked animations are going to be available.:)
Not trying to do a hard sell here, but I think the continued growth and success of Blender is important and thus I would encourage anyone with even a passing interest and a bit of disposable cash to support the Gooseberry project.
http://gooseberry.blender.org/
Doesn't take much and every little bit helps. Having a robust, stable and powerful 3D tool that is completely open-source and outside the realm of corporate interests makes sense (to me, at least). Even if the movie aspects of Gooseberry aren't all that appealing, my guess is the ongoing development of Blender will still be very valuable to game devs.
Sorry...just had to say all that. Thanks.
I put that the wrong way. I'm more wondering what 'Unreal Modding' means. Does it mean UDK import/export? Or UE4? Or Unreal engine 1? Blender has a bit of a history of not understanding what game artists need outside of the BGE. I hope it means UE4, because I'm not sure a lot of people will use UDK going forward.
Could be for ways to automate the naming of bones to fit the setup for UE4.
My new workflow is just import it into my student version of max and do it that way
It's frustrating that you have so many GSoC resources and the people who make games on actually useful engines don't get any support. I would really like to be able to edit vertex normals or have a decent FBX exporter that actually works.
http://mikepan.com/cubes.html
Interesting exercise with modifiers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzIl_S-qHIQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7ALfRw6I5I#t=2683
He also shows several problems about the current interface, I hope they will be resolved soon !