[Bf-marketing] Re: Blender Press Release

[Rui Campos]

Changes below.


> Some notes - I leave the mention of the Blender name out of the title
> till after cool features have been mentioned - the reason is that lots
> of people have tried past releases and found Blender so frustrating to
> use that seeing Blender in the title might leave them to skip the 
> article entirely (this has been a big problem at CGTalk for instance,
> where 95% of page views and comments are from current blender users
> for recent release annoucements and other news).  It can be added back
> though if desired.
Agree on this, it is a true issue when it comes to CGTalk and other
professional forums.

I think we need to do a cool video outlining the Blender Interface,
showing it is cool. But make it something like a 15 minute video that
would give the user the knowledge to intuitively understand where
everything is in Blender.
It isn't hard to do, but needs some brain storming I think.

> We will probably have a few images embedded - our total target size is
> about 50k to maybe 100k.  Probably a sample hair; fluid; and morph
> targets, or other animation related pic.

Yes, an image is worth a 1000 words !
Having some images that load as fast as possibly is the best. But also,
we need things that make people drool, not things that they will say, ok
this is old school, Maya has it since blah, blah, blah ...

> Feel free to point out things you think should be changed and to make
> other suggestions.
> 
> Those of you in the CC list are encouraged to join the bf-marketing list
> 
> *******************************************
> Title: new animation system - another dimension set free
> 

I still think the title could be better, but since I have no other
suggestion this should do fine.

> While the main focus of this release was animation tools improvements,
> there have been a number of big improvements throughout our 3D suite.
> 
> Animation system :
>  - Arm yourself - new fast and easy Armature and rigging system
- Arm yourself with the the new and easy Armature and Rigging system,
you won't get any faster than this.

>  - Get Moving - completely retooled Inverse Kinematics. with instant
> IK transforms
- Get it Moving on the completely retooled Inverse Kinematics and save
yourself time with instant IK transforms.

>  - Freedom - all IK joints can now have degree of freedom limits
This perhaps could be dropped out, make an highlight of the stronger
points.

>  - You're in the Driver seat - The new Driver system allows things
> like a bones rotation to effect a muscles bulge
- Take the Driver seat and do the unthinkable, with Drivers you can make
a bone rotation affect a muscle bulge, think of the possibilities...

>  - Things are beginning to take Shape - reworked Shape keys allow
> intuitive blend shape creation and storage
- Get in Shape, use the new Shape keys for intuitive Blend shapes
creation and storage.

>  - Bad to the BBones - Bones that can curve and twist giving natural
> feeling spines
- Bend and Bow with BBones, you can twist and turn, you can give Spines
a natural feeling.

>  - Pushing the Envelope - Envelope based skin weighting, and new
> armature and constraint visualization capabilities
Perhaps something more catching.

>  - Take it in Stride - new stride bone system let you create
> walkcycles in a simple and fast way
- Take it in Stride with the new stride bone system, create walk-cycles
in a breeze.

>  - Get into the action - Non linear action editor was fully revised
Should we state this ? Dunno if it is catchy enough ?

> Particle System and Simulation :
>  - You're all wet - you can now easily create realistic water and
> other fluid simulations.
- Get wet with the built-in fluid simulation engine, create realistic
water and other fluid simulations.

>  - Now your stylin - with new particle hair and particle guide tools
> you can create realistic hair.
- Hairy issues can now be solved with the new hair particles and
particle guides, getting a haircut never been easier and more realistic.

> Other improvements:
>  - Modify this! - new Modifier stack lets you experiment with
> decimation, booleans without long term commitment.
Seems fine.

>  - Watch the knife - subdivide tools have been greatly expanded, new mesh tools
Should we mention this ? Is it catchy enough to make it in here ?

>  - Make a Difference - we now have high quality boolean based editing
- Make a Difference with the new high quality Boolean based editing,
don't get scared with the results no more.

>  - Bouncy Balls - softbody objects can now can collide with other objects.
This should have been on SB since beginning, so I think we should leave
this out.

>  - Bullet time - the new physic library let you bake game engine
> results to your animation
Seems fine

>  - Looking Sharp - new oversampling options means higher quality
> rendering results
- Looking Sharp with the new oversampling options, featuring
Catmull-Rom, Mitch, Gauss and more.

>  - Get Unwrapped - LSCM unwrapping now has interactive updating
- Get Unwrapped faster then you can imagine, now with LSCM Live
Unwrapping you can fully control your UV Maps and unwrap your objects in
seconds.

> 
>   Oh, we didn't change the name, it is still blender !
> 
>   so, follow the monkey <link>
> 
>   The inverse kinematic improvements, fluid dynamics, and the high
> quality booleans work was done with the sponsorship of the Google
> Summer of Code program.  We greatly appreciate their support, and the
> wonderful results achieved by the hard work of Brecht, Niels, and
> Marc.  You can look forward to other great Summer of Code projects
> being released with the next version of Blender such as a greatly
> improved NURBS code base, and real time collaboration.