Bforartists 1.0.0 RC 1
Release candidate: nearly three years of work come together.
Blender 2.79b
Convert rotation mode for animation
Convert keyframes between rotation modes with Ctrl R.
Geometry Nodes for volumes and curves
Rasterize Points, Poisson Solver and Construct Curves.
EEVEE lighting nodes and panoramic cameras
Toon shading and lighting effects, plus equirectangular, fisheye and mirror ball cameras.
Compositor effects stack and Bundle nodes
Effects organised as a stack, with grouped data handling.
Smarter scene strips
Scene strips update their length on their own, and many datablocks drop straight onto the timeline.
OpenTimelineIO
Import and export edits to and from other editing software.
Ripple editing in the Sequencer
Ripple, Shuffle and Overwrite overlap modes (R, S, V), Ripple Trim and Ripple Delete.
Comment node
Annotate node trees, with Markdown formatting.
Custom Outliner sorting
Arrange objects anywhere in the Outliner.
Sidebar Search
Find any property or operator in any editor's sidebar, add-on tabs included.
Easier extensions
Legacy pre-downloaded extensions install and uninstall in fewer clicks, and the Asset Libraries filter has an icon.
Clearer themes
Node highlights stand out more, and curve handle colours are easier to read.
Cleaner menus
Double entries are gone (Import FBX, Link to Scene, Snap, Implicit Conversion). Pose and Weight Paint get Show/Hide submenus, and tool shelves follow the Add menu order.
30+ new node icons
New Geometry Nodes, Shader light nodes and Compositor nodes get icons and tool shelf entries: Comment, XPBD Solver, Construct Curves, Rasterize Points, Grid Solve Poisson, Combine List and the Bundle nodes.
Ripple Delete, lasso select and tidy footers
- Ripple Delete closes the gap when a strip goes.
- Lasso select uses the same hotkeys as the other editors.
- Keyframing tools sit together in the Timeline footers, with matching frame range icons.
Edit scene strips right in the Dopesheet
Scene strips get gizmos in the Dopesheet: drag their edges to change the frame range, without opening the Sequencer.
Roll the view from the navigation gizmo
Drag left or right on the navigation gizmo to roll the view. An angle readout follows the drag, so a tilt is easy to undo.
Roll buttons and a hotkey sit in the 3D View sidebar too.
This version is a release candidate for the upcoming version 1.0.0. It marks the end of the initial development cycle. Nearly three years of work comes to an end. And most of the initial goals are fulfilled.
The download can as usual be found in the download section at the Bforartists page. We have as usual first the Windows binaries ready. Please be patient. https://www.bforartists.de/content/download
The release notes are located here: https://www.bforartists.de/wiki/bforartistsreleasenotev100rc1
There aren't this much changes in this release. Just around 40, and most of them small ones. The Bforartists 1.0.0 RC1 release is mainly cleanup work and last fixes to prepare the final version. We have catched a few bugs, extended the material library vx by more materials, added some last icons, and did some last changes. There were for example still two "are you really want to delete" dialogs around.
A note to Cuda in the 32 bit Windows version. GPU rendering may or may not work for you. Cuda 9 doesn't support the outdated 32 bit architecture anymore. I have compiled the 32 Bit version with Cuda 8 now. But it throws still an error with my Nvidia 1060. So expect GPU rendering not to work in the 32 Bit version. Please upgrade to a 64 Bit Windows in this case. It is more than time!
The further road map is to wait until the Blender 2.8 development at the UI is finished. Makes no sense to change something that is under a permanent change anyways. A first incarnation of Blender 2.8 should arrive at the next Siggraph. And then we can have a look at it, and will continue the development. But we don't run out of work. We need a new homepage since Drupal 7 is now EOL. And at the documentation front there is years of work waiting.
As usual, a big thanks to the team!
Reiner