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Blender 2.61 is out!
The first official version with the new Cycles render engine is now available at Blender.org I haven't had a lot of time to play with it just yet but it seems much more stable now than some of the earlier testing builds I tried. Dynamic paint and the Ocean simulator look to be very interesting too.
So has anyone else grabbed this new version? What are your thoughts?
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Re: Blender 2.61 is out!
I haven't yet, Frances. Probably somewhere next week. I'm still struggling with 2.60...
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Re: Blender 2.61 is out!
Hello Frances
It's good news!
I did download it and start some "tests". As yet, there seems to be an easy way to set up displacement maps, but they haven't implemented normal maps (for Cycles). I am assuming it's because the internal renderer is a scanline renderer and it takes more to put the hooks into it so that it functions with Cycles.
One annoying thing that I have noticed is that several times when going to do a save as, it hasn't remembered the original filename, so have to put it all in again. It didn't happen often, but it happened a couple of times, so there is some issue.
All in all though...from first looks, it looks great... one can use either renderer, though realize that there are some changes to the scene that will be necessary in going from one to the other. Cycles tends to make "better" looking renders... the internal renderer is easier to use in terms of setting up scenes with applied materials.
I think it will go one of two ways, they will either make the applications of textures for bump maps, specular maps, etc. easier to do OR there will be some node set-ups that become standard which do the same thing albeit in a different manner.
Right now, I am just going in and creating simple scenes and seeing what hoops I have to jump through. ;)
It does appear stable... haven't (yet) had one crash or problem other than some settings issue relating to my newness with Cycles.
I'd say check it out. There's nothing to lose, since the Blender Internal renderer is still there and all the old scenes should pull in just right.
None of us here, yet are using the tracker feature, but that looks cool. It gives a way to integrate Blender objects into a video-taped scene, even if the camera is erratic in its motion.
It just gets better and better...and again, for the same low price... NOTHING!
Peace
James
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Re: Blender 2.61 is out!
I like the shiny, reflective, glossy textures. They're (depending on settings) a little bit satiny as well.
Since the setting up of textures is totally different (Cycles vs. Blender Internal), it takes some experimenting to understand...
This is my first real play/study with Cycles...
Attachment 86047
...a long way to go. ;)
Peace
James
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Re: Blender 2.61 is out!
Made with the new Blender, but without Cycles...
http://www.jamesalexander.de/MerryChristmas.gif
Peace
James
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Re: Blender 2.61 is out!
Nice work James. It won't be until after Christmas that will get a chance to dig into it again. MERRY CHRISTMAS!
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Re: Blender 2.61 is out!
Thanks, Larry
Re: Blender
It will be something to look forward to... ;)
Merry Christmas... and I hope you have some nice Christmas weather in Missouri.
Peace
James
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Re: Blender 2.61 is out!
I've been experimenting with Cycles I had a bit of playtime with some materials and image textures. One thing though I noticed that Cycles doesn't seem to work with pngs with alpha at least not yet. There is a workaround though on BlenderNerd to apply alpha transparency to an object using the nodes. So far though I haven't found a way to render a transparent back ground, the RGBA setting is there but it doesn't work yet. Maybe in 2.62 ?
Here's my first test render with Cycles
Attachment 86066
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Re: Blender 2.61 is out!
Nice job, Frances
Cycles seems to look more photographic, but it's a hard distinction to put into words. As you get closer to objects, Cycles seems to look more natural in terms of lighting, etc.
It is a bit frustrating that there are two different set-up methods depending on which renderer you want to use. I liked the old method of applying textures... it was very intuitive. With the node system, it's often NOT intuitive. Still, I am sure things will continue improving and all these concerns will be put to rest.
Very frustrating is the lack of Normal Map support. Using Normal maps, we can get very 3D looking textures without much overhead at all. With Displacement maps, we have to sub-divide the object(s) quite extensively and this increases render times significantly.
Peace and Merry Christmas
James
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Re: Blender 2.61 is out!
Here is the same test render from Cycles with a little compositing done in Xara. some depth of focus and a vector frame and a bit of text. I find it so much easier to do the compositing in Xara.
Attachment 86069