[Bf-committers] Blender developers meeting notes - 2018-11-26

[Brecht Van Lommel]

Hi all,

Here are the notes from today's developer meeting. Next meeting is Monday,
3 December 10:00 CET (9:00 UTC).

1) Blender 2.8 Beta

We are aiming for a Beta release this week. Still waiting for:
* New splash screen
* Release notes on blender.org
* Renaming of some features
* Possible changes to default preferences

Note that we will not make a specific build for this, we will continue to
use daily builds on builder.blender.org so that everyone tests with the
latest fixes and changes.

2) New Features and Changes

* OpenSubdiv is now enabled for subdivision surfaces and multires:
https://wiki.blender.org/wiki/Reference/Release_Notes/2.80/Modeling#Subdivision_Surfaces_and_Multires
* The Khronos GLTF 2.0 addon is now bundled with Blender.
https://wiki.blender.org/wiki/Reference/Release_Notes/2.80/Import_Export#glTF
* COLLADA import/export got many, many improvements:
https://wiki.blender.org/wiki/Reference/Release_Notes/2.80/Import_Export#COLLADA

* Grease pencil layers gained blend modes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g22uK29pr2E&feature=youtu.be
* New Curvature shading option for visualizing high-frequency detail, based
on this proposal:
https://blender.community/c/rightclickselect/J9bbbc/
* Local View in the 3D viewport is back again.
* Initial EEVEE reference manual is here:
https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/dev/render/eevee/index.html

* User Preferences now have tabs on the left side:
https://developer.blender.org/F5715337
* New user preferences to control max tablet pressure and pressure softness.
* Add > Image submenu to quickly add a reference image, background image or
mesh with image texture.
* Combined pose + weight paint can now be entered immediately when both
objects are selected.
* New color ramp command to evenly distribute colors.
* New Jump to Target command for object/bone properties.
* Many UI and keymap improvements.

* Performance improvement for armatures that deform multiple separate
objects.
* Much improved Grease Pencil drawing performance.
* Faster OBJ import by 33%.

3) Other Projects

* Proposal for new wiki content structure and landing page:
https://developer.blender.org/T57987
* The old wiki is being migrated to static HTML.

4) Weekly Reports

* Bastien:
https://wiki.blender.org/wiki/User:Mont29/Foundation/2018#Week_271_-_11.2F17_to_11.2F23
<https://wiki.blender.org/wiki/User:Mont29/Foundation/2018#Week_270_-_11.2F10_to_11.2F16>
* Campbell:
https://download.blender.org/ftp/ideasman42/donelist/2018.html#week-301-november-19
<https://download.blender.org/ftp/ideasman42/donelist/2018.html#week-300-november-12>
* Clément:
https://wiki.blender.org/wiki/User:Hypersomniac/Foundation/2018#Week_98_:_19th_-_25th_Nov
<https://wiki.blender.org/wiki/User:Hypersomniac/Foundation/2018#Week_96_:_5th_-_11th_Nov>
* Dalai:
https://wiki.blender.org/wiki/User:Dfelinto/Reports/2018#November_19_-_23
<https://wiki.blender.org/wiki/User:Dfelinto/Reports/2018#November_12_-_16>
* Jacques:
https://wiki.blender.org/wiki/User:JacquesLucke/Reports/2018#Week_10:_November_19-23
<https://wiki.blender.org/wiki/User:JacquesLucke/Reports/2018#Week_9:_November_12-16>
* Philipp:
https://wiki.blender.org/wiki/User:PhilippOeser/Foundation/2018#Calendar_Week_47_.28Nov_19th_-_Nov_23rd.29
<https://wiki.blender.org/wiki/User:PhilippOeser/Foundation/2018#Week_46_.28Nov_12th_-_Nov_16th.29>
* Sergey:
https://wiki.blender.org/wiki/User:Sergey/Foundation/2018#Week_362:_19th_-_25th_November
<https://wiki.blender.org/wiki/User:Sergey/Foundation/2018#Week_361:_12th_-_18th_November>