[Bf-marketing] Fwd: PR Interview 3d-test

[Tom M]

Hi,

thank you for your interest in the latest Blender release, please let
me know if there are any further questions I can help you with.  Also
let me know if you need any images or other additional materials.

Tom Musgrove

> > =======INTERVIEW 3D-TEST=========
> >
> > Q1. Version 2.4 is now available, what are the main new features?

All aspects of the animation system were completely refactored greatly
improving the power , flexibility, and ease of use of the entire
animation process including rigging, constraints, weight painting,
morph targets, and animation cycles.  The addition of a fluid dynamics
was tremendously well recieved by the animation community, with
dedicated users of more traditional animation packages such as
Lightwave and Cinema4D adding Blender to their workflow and pipeline.
Another area of keen interest has been the particle based hair system
which has allowed users to create realistic fur and hair.  There has
also been the addition of a modifier stack, which greatly improves the
power of the modeling system.  Additionally the bullet physics library
has been better exposed so that physics simulations can be easily
baked to animation curves, for usage in the animation system.

There have been a number of other significant improvements including
improvements in the mesh editing tools such as improved loop and
subdivide tools, and 'organic extrusion'.  'Live LSCM unwrapping'
which greatly improves the ease of use and speed of unwrapping a mesh.
Greatly improved text editing and creation tools, a number of
interface improvements, as well as a large improvements in the Python
API such as the addition of the fast Mesh module.

For complete details you are encouraged to see the release notes

http://www.blender3d.org/cms/Blender_2_40.598.0.html

> > Q2. Is Blender easy to learn?
Blender has historically had a steep learning curve - even more so
than other 3D applications.  With the addition of a quick start guide
to help new users get over the 'first five minutes' and standard
features such as a 3d manipulator, the Blender learning curve is much
easier to climb.  By reading the quick start guide, and then following
a few tutorials and reading through the manual a user should be able
to learn Blender at a comparable rate to other full featured 3D
software.  Users of other 3D software should be able to learn Blender
fairly quickly provided they read the quickstart guide first.

> Q3. A quick look to Blender's gallery show that Blender is capable to produce very nice
> images. Is Blender as productive as other competitive commercial products?

Blender has an extremely fast work flow 'one hand on the keyboard, one
hand on the mouse' and makes extensive use of keybindings.  However
users used to programs such as 3ds Max which have a rich modeling
toolset will find some things they are missing in Blender.  A user who
can adapt themselves to the Blender workflow can likely be as
productive or moreso than they can in other 3d applications.

> > Q4. Is Blender capable of managing big scenes with millions of
> > polygons?

The renderer can handle millions of polygons.  For managing large
scenes you can use bounding box display if you are on a machine with
limited ram.  To render large scenes it is recommended that the user
'render by parts'.

> Q5. Blender seems to be a great tool for realtime 3d,
what are the export formats supplied by blender?

Blender has exporters for Collada, 3DS, OBJ, LWO, x3d, md2, vrml,
Cal3d, and XSI bundled.  Potential users are encouraged to check the
website to ensure that the format they are interested in using
supports all of the features they need.

there are also external exporters for Ogre 3D and a number of other formats

Currently the exporters and importers have not caught up with the changes in
the Blender python API.  Those individuals who have immediate need for animation
export should either use 2.37a or wait till the exporter they need has caught up
(probably within a few months).

> > Q6. Do you plan to add a backing texture command?

Is that a typo - and you meant texture baking?  If so, there are currently two
scripts that do texture baking.  texbaker which is bundled with Blender, and
BRayBaker 3
http://www.alienhelpdesk.com/index.php?id=22
which will likely be bundled with the next release.  Currently both scripts
are fairly time consuming, and it is likely that the script will be
reimplemented
in C in the future, but it is not an immediate plan in the short term.

> > Q7. In the field of animation, Blender introduces key features in the 2.4 release.
 Is it possible to export in realtime animations like bones, fluids, physics?

I'm not quite sure what you mean by 'export in realtime' fluids and
physics animation can be 'baked' and then imported to a different
package and rendered - for instance lightwave and Cinema4d users have
exported fluid dynamics in order to render in their prefered environment.

> > Q8. Is it possible to customize UI (shortcuts, toolbars, layout...)?

The layout of the viewports is highly customizable - shortcuts and
toolbars are currently only customizable via the sourcecode - which
for the average user means 'not customizable'.  A refactor of the code
to allow fully customized keybindings, menus, toolbars, panels, etc.
is planned for after the Orange project finishes.  (In 3 months time or so).

> > Q9. What is the status of Blender plugin for realtime 3D?

If you are refering to the browser plugins, they are currently not maintained.
There have been some mentions of programmers working on the code, but nothing
has yet been made public.

> > Q10. Blender is free and open. How is it possible to keep a software
> > free and maintain it's developpement?

The Blender Foundation is supported by donations
http://www.blender3d.org/cms/Payment_methods.517.0.html
as well as income via the 'Blender Store'
http://www.blender3d.org/e-shop/ which sells Blender manuals, game
engine kits, and some merchandise.
Ton keeps the overhead extremely low, with himself
as the only full time employee.  Ton is the only individual funded by
the Foundation to code on Blender.  Other coders are either pure
volunteers who have a love of 3D and programming, individuals who
make use of Blender in a production environment and contribute back
changes that they make that were needed or useful for their own work,
or academics who use Blender as a platform for their research projects.