This is a relatively tame update, but the roadmap for the near future is really exciting, with stuff like Simulation Nodes (which already has a usable experimental branch) and Blender Apps (<a href="https://code.blender.org/2022/11/blender-apps" rel="nofollow">https://code.blender.org/2022/11/blender-apps</a>)<p>I'm not a programmer so I struggled with the fundamental concepts a bit when learning Geometry Nodes, but it's been the best new addition to my life in a long time. I think I haven't watched any TV show in a year or two because I prefer to spend my time fiddling with GN and answering people's questions about it on Blender Stack Exchange (found out that it's a fantastic way to learn—they're like little prompts leading you to discover areas you hadn't even realized existed). Blender community is so big, creative, enthusiastic, and helpful—you go on Blender-Twitter and it's people making playful/interesting stuff all day and sharing how they did it. I can't stop gushing about it to anyone who'd listen.
In case anyone prefers the more flashy release notes<p><a href="https://www.blender.org/download/releases/3-4/" rel="nofollow">https://www.blender.org/download/releases/3-4/</a>
Early in the year I made the switch from Modo (by The Foundary) to Blender 3.x, and I've been enjoying it. Since I use 3D software for my video games business it's quite daunting to switch a significant part of your workflow over, because the muscle-memory of all the shortcuts is all there, and you've learnt the Way To Do Things™ in that particular piece of software.<p>As much as I liked Modo, I was paying a monthly subscription, and now with Blender I don't and it's got this enormous open-source community that provides a lot of long-term confidence, which I wasn't quite getting with Modo. The UI changes going from 2.x to 3.x was pretty important in my decision to switch.<p>One thing I found helpful when moving 3d modelling softwares was to setup all the keyboard shortcuts to your previous software's bindings, and then you can tackle figuring out the UI, the different object modes and the Blender Way To Do Things™. There's plenty of preference files around on the web that you can plug them in and get going quite quickly
Reminder, if you'd like to support Blender financially you can at: <a href="https://fund.blender.org/" rel="nofollow">https://fund.blender.org/</a><p>I've been getting into Blender for the last few months. Previously i was used to paying ZBrush, Modo and etc 500+ dollars for Licensing, and it's kinda shocking how much functionality you get in Blender for free.<p>I just signed up for the lowest tier. Not sure how much i want to spare a month, but i can definitely spare a coffee and month and it is well, well worth it. Much thanks to the entire team on Blender, you folks rock :)
I am pretty convinced Blender will be one the most important tools over the next decade. They should teach kids how to use it in middle/high school. Also a great gateway to learn coding with geometry node.
I love blender.
Software developers on hackernews HAVE to try out the blender python api.<p>It's just an integral part of my workflow especially for modding games.
The wiki still claims 3.4 hasn't released, although the download page has been updated. What's weirder is that past releases have had a easy-to-consume release notes[0], but 3.4 doesn't? Maybe posting it here now is jumping the gun a little?<p>[0]: <a href="https://www.blender.org/download/releases/3-3/" rel="nofollow">https://www.blender.org/download/releases/3-3/</a>
I listened to an interesting interview[1] this week with Blender’s creator (and current foundation chairman) Ton Roosendaal.<p>He thought that one of Blender’s major challenges was recent developments in the real-time rendering space - notably Unreal Engine.<p>They’re not direct competitors, of course (and Epic has donated to the foundation) but it does speak to how impressive UE’s render pipeline is.<p>Again, it’s not a direct comparison, but it’s remarkable what UE5 can do at 60fps on a mid-range Nvidia 30 series card (even without DLSS) versus how long it takes Cycles to render a single frame.<p>I’ve no doubt Blender will be a future innovator in this space too.<p>[1] <a href="https://overcast.fm/+mSOZes2FM" rel="nofollow">https://overcast.fm/+mSOZes2FM</a>
Any idea on what happened with Apple becoming a sponsor? Apple Silicon compatibility is achieved but I don't see Apple in the sponsor list: <a href="https://fund.blender.org" rel="nofollow">https://fund.blender.org</a>
I want them to support a textual shading language for all render engines. Instead, they cultivate graphical programming. From a programmer's point of view, this is a significant drawback.
I really love Blender! Now I just need to get back into it now that they've made it so fast on M1. It can be really fun if you have the time for it
> bpy 3.4.0 is available on PyPi, and can be installed through pip install bpy.<p>Does this mean you can run Blender from Python without the command line?<p><a href="https://docs.blender.org/api/3.4/info_advanced_blender_as_bpy.html" rel="nofollow">https://docs.blender.org/api/3.4/info_advanced_blender_as_bp...</a>
> Blender as a Python Module<p><a href="https://xkcd.com/353/" rel="nofollow">https://xkcd.com/353/</a> draws nearer and nearer.