Over the past couple weeks I've been working on some simple animation for a project. I've come to some conclusions. 2.5 NEEDS a few things...
- Simplified keyframing, especially for materials. Why can you only set keys, without using the IPO, for certain aspects? Heck, why doesn't the automatic keyframing function for all animatable parameters work on materials too?
- The ability to shift timeline. Ideally, shifting keyframes. It would be wonderful if you could simply hit A and G in the timeline window to shift the animation.
- The ability to change the start time of the animation into the negative area could negate the need for the above.
- Buffered shadows on ALL light types. Perhaps with GSOC and the project to speed up raytracing this won't be as critical, but it sure as heck would be nice.
- Not necessarily a need, but something that I'd love to see. A material mask like the Zmask. Would make adding fake glow easier and probably help in other aspects too.
- Again, not a need, but volumetics on other lights. Even notice that lightbulbs are roundish?
- A fully documented help system that is searchable, covers EVERY aspect and function, and includes pictures to show what effect it has. Yes, I'm one of those visual learners. Sure, it'd be huge, but imagine how useful it would be. When a new version the changed features can be added via a "what's new or changed" addition that could be downloaded. Sadly, were it not sure a huge job I would have already begun myself. With all the DVDs that come out, or the books, why can't one be made like that?
I will personally commit to undertaking such a task, in book form, if I were able to get some help so it, like everything else Blender related, isn't at least 3 versions behind. That is another maddening aspect of the existing documentation. With the coming release of 2.5 this would be a wonderful opportunity to tackle this issue.
Don't take this to be Blender bashing. For the price it's a wonderful, feature rich program. With 2.5 and the Durian improvements (technical targets), when they get integrated, it should take another huge step towards "mainstream" usage. I'm thrilled to see Colin Levy on board. He's been working with Blender since he was at least 13, about 7 years, so he should do a wonderful job.
I don't know if I've mentioned it here, and I'm not really in the mood to go looking right now, but about 10 years ago I first heard of Blender while I was at school on the Like-a-story message boards. Yes, they are back online, but only as archives. I believe it was around the 1.7ish version as I have 1.73 on an old computer. At the time the only 3D program I had ever used was the one bundled in with corel draw 7,Bryce 2 and a little later on a watermarking version of truespace 2 or 3 I think. About 30 minutes after installation I threw up my hands and really never touched it again. I hated it. Well, a year later I had a class that required me to use studio max. I also had friends who were there to become animators so I got to spend time on their computer playing with max, and the school computers. It made much more sense to me, and I could do quite a bit more, the biggest thing that helped was documentation! Help files, books, a teacher who knew the program. Yes, those things really DO matter. 10 years later after the user base has drastically expanded, video tutorials, and even simple pdfs, not to mention the books, DVDs, and other "official" documentation such as the wiki are fairly common. Things have changed. I've learned much, the program has improved exponentially and has become a very welcome addition to my toolbox and borrowed access to max. I'm happy Blender is out there and ever growing. I may have possibly converted someone else to become a blenderhead.
I just wish its documentation was more in synch with the development of the program itself.
2 comments:
Hi there Tom,
Just stopped by your blog and glad to see another Blender user doing good things!
I agree 100% about the slightly dodgey learning material for Blender.
Its often a trail and error approach to learning the program.
The forums are good and you get feedback pretty quickly with answers, etc.
But it would be nice to have a one-stop shop manual available that is up to date with the currant features and full of helpful/useful advice and training.
I don't think the Blender basic download should be cluttered with tutorials but a well-ordered online directory of easily accessible tutorials would be fantastic. The wiki is good but some times it refers to out of date
versions of Blender of is not particularly in-depth.
I've often thought about doing a learning book/DVD myself but its hard to cover everything in-depth to suit everyones needs.
PS: liked your entry for the splash screen comp much more than the eventual winner.
Thanks for stopping by and for the comments about the splash entry.
The way I see it, we could have an awesome manual in just about any format and more importantly an up to date manual for the current version if we had two things going on.
1) someone working with the developer of any certain feature who could document the features as the develop or are integrated. Just as sections of code are maintained by individuals sections of the manual could be as well.
2) we get caught up to the current version (2.5 with the radical redesign and recode present a perfect opportunity) so that future changes, relocations, and additions are just a matter of an addition to the manual, like adding a sub-chapter.
I agree about the download, but an optional additional download of a pdf or something along those lines, or any kind of fully cross platform type files would aid in migration to a new (and complex) program. It could be hosted elsewhere, like scribd, for "up time" issues that the official blender site occasionally has issues with.
I've been playing with 2.5 builds and trying to adjust.
As for the splash, my problems with it are mostly compositional.
For anyone reading this, be sure to check out Shane's site. Great stuff over there and if you catch any of the films in a festival the sections dealing with Blender will give more insight into what goes into the movies.
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