[Bf-committers] Preliminary version of Blender Digest

Mon Apr 4 05:41:59 CEST 2005

Tom M wrote:

>This is a preliminary version of the next Blender Digest.  It isn't
>quite complete, and I'd appreciate people pointing out anything that
>I've overlooked.  Basically it is meant to cover all significant
>development since the last release.  Intrr you might want to provide a
>list of stuff that is unique to your tree.
>
>******************
>
>Welcome to the latest Blender Digest,
>
>improvements have been happening at a blazingly fast pace in Blender
>land, with both significant improvements in functionality and code
>quality.
>
>We will look at improvements in the two official blender trees
>(Bf-Blender from which releases are made, and Tuhopuu - the
>experimental tree where new ideas are tested out before migrating them
>to the main tree), a prominent external tree provided by intrr
>(Instinctive Blender), and then we will have a look at the numerous
>scripts and plugins that have been created.
>  
>To start off we'll have a look at the Bf-Blender Core,
>
>[B]Tranform Refactor[/B]
>
>Martin Poirier (Theeth) has completely refactored the transform code
>(code that allows things like moving, scaling and rotating and
>object).  From a user view, big changes are Planar Constraints, better
>constraint handling in general, improved PET (Proportional Editing -
>editing with a 'fall off distance'), and the refactor also made it
>possible for Ton Rosendal to add Manipulators making Blender
>significantly more accessible to new and novice users.
>
>[B]Dependency Graphs[/B]
>
>JLuc Peuriere (lukep) has been hard at work on a dependency graphs. 
>This is mostly behind the scenes work that will make certain tasks
>easier and faster.  The big area of help is that it will make Tons
>planned refactor of the Animation system much easier.
>
>[B]Half-Edge Mesh[/B]
>
>Joeedh has implemented an additional mesh structure for Blender, the
>half edge mesh.  Half Edges make implementing some mesh editing tools
>much easier.  Joe has also implemented a modifier stack, mouse over
>highlighting, and a tool macro system that work with his new half edge
>structure.
>
>[B]CCGSubSurf[/B]
>
>zr has created a replacement for Blenders current catmul-clark subsurf
>code.  The biggest change is that it is far faster than the original
>subsurf code, especially when editing a highly subsurfed mesh.  His
>work has also 'paved the way' for a modifier stack, and has simplified
>the code and API.
>
>[B]MetaMesh[/B]
>
>JiriHnidek as part of his thesis work has been improving Blenders
>MetaBalls and 'MetaElms' functionlity.  Some improvements include the
>ability to rotate meta objects, and converting of arbitrary meshes to
>metaelms.
>
>[B]Softbody Dynamics[/B]
>
>Bjornmose has implemented soft body (gelatin and jiggle effects) for
>Blender.  Ton has recently integrated the code into the Bf-Blender
>tree.
>
>[B]CommandLine[/B]
>
>?? has given full access to python scripting and blender commands via
>the command line
> 
>[B]Ocean Simulator[/B]
>
>Simon Harvey has been working on greatly improving Blender
>capabilities to simulate an waves and oceans.  Implementing a shader
>and mesh modifier tool.
>
>[B]Python Scripts and Plugins[/B]
>The next section is on scripts that have been created or improved for
>usage with Blender.
>
>
>Mesh Tools
>
>Tom Musgroves (LetterRip) and Michael Schardts sculpt mesh has seen
>substantial improvements in speed and a modest increase in
>functionality.  It can now be used on fairly dense mesh (zooming in
>increases the density it is useful on), and has an 'Undo Mode' which
>will return a vertex to its original unsculpted location.  Michael has
>also developed a plugin that allows usage of Pen tablets with the
>script.
>http://www.elysiun.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=31732&start=180
>
>paleajed has implemented KnifePro0.7 an improvement over Blenders
>current knife tool.
>http://users.telenet.be/EWOCprojects/edgeslide.html
>
>jms has improved his Mesh Explosion script which does a simple explosion effect.
>http://jmsoler.free.fr/didacticiel/blender/tutor/cpl_meshexplosion.htm#explosionspatterns
>
>seredipiti has written Geodesic which generates Geodesic structures.
>http://members.aol.com/demalion2/index.html
>
>cambo has created UVs -> Mesh and Mesh ->UVs (not sure what it does?)
>http://members.iinet.net.au/~cpbarton/ideasman/
>
>rherman has written Photoclinometry which creates a mesh based on
>shading information from an image.
>http://www.elysiun.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=36528&start=0
>http://www.treehouse-productions.com/Scripts/clinotest.py
>
>paleajed has written TranspRef which creates trasparent image plane
>for reference images when modeling.
>http://users.telenet.be/EWOCprojects/edgeslide.html
>
>S68 has created Blender Rope Works (BRW) which allows for animation of
>a rope and pulley system
>http://www.elysiun.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=39693
>http://projects.blender.org/viewcvs/viewcvs.cgi/bstar/BRW/?cvsroot=bstar
>
>SpookyElectric has been working on an improved Boolean tool to replace
>Blenders current Boolean tool.
>http://www.elysiun.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=29200&start=0
>http://astro.scu.edu/~ted/oss/blender/boolean/megabool_r08.py
>
>syrux has written Discombobulator which creates surface 'detail' on
>the surface of an object.
>http://www.elysiun.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=36561&start=0
>
>Jimmy Haze has improved his A.N.T. Landscape creator tool which uses
>noise to create a simulated mountains valleys and other landscape.
>http://www.elysiun.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=35882&start=0
>
>palejed has written EgdeTune which allows you to slide verts along an edge.
>http://users.telenet.be/EWOCprojects/edgeslide.html
>
>panzi has written TerryNoise which can distort a mes through noise generation
>http://www.elysiun.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=38458&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
>
>neil has developered a script for creating 'Gothic Vaults'
>http://www.elysiun.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8086&start=0
>
>
>[B]Animation[/B]
>
>guitargeek has implemented IPOBurner Script which bakes game object
>motion to Blender animation system IPOs.
>http://www.elysiun.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=40091
>
>lancelot has written Camera Calibration for Blender which is used for
>aligning the camera to the 3d space of a photograph.
>http://www.warpax.com/pytsai/index.html 
>
>Wizards
>
>MakeHuman team has made a number of improvements to makehuman, a
>script for parametrically modeling a human, including an easy to use
>interface and greatly improved model.
>http://www.dedalo-3d.com/
>
>
>[B]Rendering and Post processing[/B]
>
>Makehuman team has created a script for a subsurface scattering effect.
>http://www.dedalo-3d.com/public/forum/index.php?a=topic&topic=1111837542.23
>
>[B]Importers and Exporters[/B]
>
>phlip - premul plugin
>http://www.elysiun.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=40114&start=0
>
>paprmh - Z-screen/zutilz 
>http://www.elysiun.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=35355&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
>
>S68 - Blender Go Cubic
>http://projects.blender.org/viewcvs/viewcvs.cgi/bstar/BGC/?cvsroot=bstar
>http://www.alienhelpdesk.com/index.php?id=16
>
>jms - level of detail-matic
>http://www.elysiun.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=38948
>http://jmsoler.free.fr/didacticiel/blender/tutor/cpl_LOD_en.htm
>
>flippyneck - G Buffer Extractor
>http://www.flippyneck.com/wip/g_buffer_extractor_a05.py 
>http://www.elysiun.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=26189&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
>
>qwe - lightsaber plugin
>http://www.elysiun.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=29973&start=60
>
>[B]Importers and exporters[/B]
>Brandano - Netimmerse (Morrowind, Freedom Force format) importer
>http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/NIFLA/
>
>hopperrr - YADEMI - Yet Another Digital Elevation Metadata Importer
>http://www.elysiun.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=38108
>
>Bart - improved VRML exporter
>http://www.neeneenee.de/blender/x3d/changes.txt
>http://www.neeneenee.de/blender/x3d/vrml97_export150.py.txt 
>
>bob_holcomb - assorted importer and exporter scripts
>http://67.22.114.230:8082/programming/blender/
>
>Skunk - bvh to armature
>http://www.elysiun.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=40203
>http://members.fortunecity.de/arm
>http://www.websamba.com/Armature
>
>jms - curves importer
>http://jmsoler.free.fr/didacticiel/blender/tutor/cpl_curvesimport_en.htm
>http://jmsoler.free.fr/didacticiel/blender/tutor/cpl_paths_import_en.htm
>http://jmsoler.free.fr/didacticiel/blender/tutor/cpl_import_ai_en.htm
>
>svenom Milkshape exporter
>
>Sutabi - BlenderMan 0.1 Beta 9c
>http://sutabi.tk/files/blenderman0.1beta9.0c.zip 
>
>hobBIT - new renderman approach
>http://www.elysiun.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=39007
>
>nfz - ATI nmf format exporter
>http://www.blender.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=phpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=5842
>
>rompel - CRYSTALISER
>http://www.elysiun.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=38996
>
>[B]Misc[/B]
>
>SamAdam - BpyMan Script Repository Package Manager - automatically
>updates Blender scripts
>http://www.toxicx.toxicengine.org/scripts/scripts2.php
>
>raphael - Gimp palettes import Script
>http://dwarf.free.fr/dwarf/blender/python/transpal/transpalExpress.zip 
>
>jms - Tessalate script
>http://jmsoler.free.fr/didacticiel/blender/tutor/python_wireshadows_en.htm
>_______________________________________________
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>
>  
>
The tool macro/construction history system has been disabled and is on 
hold pending refactor of all 3d objects to use a global construction 
history system.

Also, I'm not sure if advertising HE mesh is a good idea. . .lukep had 
concerns about that, and he has this annoying tendancy to be right :)  
Seriously though, HE mesh is so much a work-in-progress that as it is 
now isn't even a close-to-finalized design, so announcing it like that 
may or may not be a good idea.  The DNA structures are likely to change, 
too, so it's important that people don't make anything important with it 
for, oh, two weeks.

joeedh