[Bf-committers] Developer meeting notes October 7, 2019

[Nathan 'jesterKing' Letwory]

Here are the notes from todays developer meeting. The
next meeting is on October 14, 18:00 CEST (16:00 UTC) in
#blender-coders on blender.chat.

Notes
=====

2.81 Tasks and Work
-------------------

* The stabilizing branch `blender-v2.81-release` will be created
  on October 10th in blender.git and add-ons repositories. An
  email with details on committing and merging for this branch
  will be sent to bf-committers. (Nathan Letwory)
* Remaining tasks and bugs are on the Blender 2.81 workboard [1].
* The manual still needs attention, developers are asked to
  document new features they worked on if they are still missing.
* There is now a system to display a one-time warning to users
  when their graphics card is unsupported or drivers need to be
  updated. Soon we'll start displaying warnings like this, when
  the list of graphics cards is completed. Help is needed with
  completing supported GPU/driver list for task T70520 [2].
  (Jeroen Bakker)
* Help is needed to review the local collections patch D5992 [3].
  (Dalai Felinto)
* A patch for code signing on buildbots will be posted soon.
  (Nathan Letwory)


2.82 and Beyond
---------------

* Brecht Van Lommel asks developers to help/take over reviews of
  bigger projects like mantaflow, LANPR, particle nodes, texture
  painting. For 2.81 most of the review work was done by Campbell
  Barton and Brecht Van Lommel, but this can be divided better.
  * LANPR will be taken over by Sebastian Parborg.
  * Module owners/developers please step up and comment in the
    relevant code reviews when you plan to help.
* Once `blender-v2.81-release` is created the `master` branch is
  again open for new work.
* Note that priority for code work is on bug fixing for 2.81.

New Features and Changes
========================

Sculpt & Paint
--------------

* Multires sculpting now supports the new 3D cursor, mesh filter,
  mask filter and dirty mask. (Brecht Van Lommel, Sergey Sharybin)
* Fine tuning of various brushes and sculpt features. (Pablo
  Dobarro)
* Texture painting: revamped undo system for images, resolving
  various bugs. (Campbell Barton)
* Paint and sculpt cursor redesign. (Harley Acheson, William
  Reynish)


Editors
-------

* File browser: the dialog now display always on top of other
  Blender Windows. (Julian Eisel)
* File browser: remember display options across Blender sessions.
  (Julian Eisel)
* Dopesheet and sequencer editors: move all selected items when
  clicking and dragging on a selected item. (Julian Eisel)
* Shader editor: the material slots popover now has buttons to
  assign materials in edit mode. (Hans Goudey)
* Image editor: new Resize operator. (Campbell Barton)
* Image and clip editor: new Center View to Cursor operators.
  (Alessio Monti di Sopra)
* Clip editor: plane track corners can now be easily dragged with
  left mouse button. (Sebastian Koenig)


Other
-----

* Preference to set the default smoothing mode for f-curve auto
  handles. (Alexander Gavrilov)
* Preference to use OS-key instead of alt-key for middle mouse
  button emulation. Supported only on Linux and macOS. (Campbell
  Barton)
* Python API: new functions and properties for editing cursor and
  selection in `Text` data-blocks. (Kai Jægersen)

Links to the weekly progress reports can be found on the devtalk
post for todays meeting:
https://devtalk.blender.org/t/7-october-2019/9845

/Nathan Letwory


[1] https://developer.blender.org/project/board/88/
[2] https://developer.blender.org/T70520
[3] https://developer.blender.org/D5992