Improving Blender

 

The Blender 2.5 Project

While the current version of Blender is highly functional, developers continue to perfect the coding of Blender, making tools easier to use and creating a decrease of errors. The Blender Foundation invites Blender users to help in this process and point out errors in code or in the program that could be improved. The plans for Blender 2.5 include


1.Redesign of internal window manager and event/tool/data handling system.

2.Porting over old code to clean-up and match the new design.

3.Bringing tools and editors back using new event system and 'operators'.

4.Redesign and implement UI context, workflow and visual representation.

5.Design and implement the new Python API.


According to the Blender Developers, the first two phases are nearly complete, the third phase is about 70% done. March-July will be mostly devoted to steps 4 and 5.

More information can be found here, as well as the following two video tour updates on new features.

May 2009: Guided tour through all new 2.5 features. (Made by Micheal Fox)
June 2009: Guided tour through latest 2.5 features. (Made by Pablo Vazquez)


Google Summer of Code Projects

These projects are created for Students and Mentors to improve very specific aspects of Blender and are also intended to be training experiences. These six Google Summer of Code projects include:

  1. •    Raytrace speedup

  2. •    New NLA system

  3. •    Full Collada support

  4. •    Porting import/export to 2.5 api

  5. •    Light Painting

  6. •    Mesh drawing speedup




Other Improvement Projects

Currently, the following projects are in the development stage:

  1. •Volumetric rendering

  2. •New mesh system, supporting ngons

  3. •NPR rendering, using FreeStyle

  4. •New dynamics based IK controllers

  5. •Sculpting speedup, support for animated multiresolution meshes



Blender Education

Due to the unique nature of Blender as an open source kind of freeware, the Blender Foundation offers a variety of courses, seminars, and conferences to educate others on using Blender. Anyone interested in these educational tools may use the Blender Education and Help website to explore these options.