[Bf-marketing] Press Inquiry regarding Blender

[Tom M]

Andy if Ton has already sent you a response then that version is the
official version - otherwise you can use this version.

> On 29 Dec, 2005, at 12:50, Andy Channelle wrote:
>
> > Hi
> >
> > I'm putting together a news report on the release of Blender 2.40 for
> > Linux Format in the UK. Would you be able to answer a couple of
> > questions for me? My deadline is January 3rd.

Andy,

thank you for your enquiry, I'd be happy to answer any questions that
you might have.

> >
> > 1. How has the open sourcing of Blender changed the rate and/or method
> > of development?

There have been a number of significant changes to both the rate of
development under open source, as well as the methodolgy.  Some
notable changes are that development choices are much less influenced
by marketing decisions.  In a closed source application there is a
great deal of pressure to focus development on what marketing tells
you is most important.  With open source there isn't a marketing
department that gets to 'tell you what to do' - instead what is
important to do is determined by direct communication with artists and
other users; but also by patches and proposals provided by developers.
 If an individual has a strong enough desire for a feature that they
are motivated to code it themselves - then clearly it is something
that is needed or desired - and generally such patches will meet the
needs of the broader user base as well.  A recent example of this
would be the particle guides patch by Janne Karhu, which became a
significant tool for the styling of hair.  Another significant
difference is that large features can be quickly added from the pool
of existing open source code.  An example of this would be Nils
Thuerey who had done fluid simulation research which he was then able
to integrate with Blender for the Google Summer of Code project.

An open source methodology also brings some challenges.  For instance
if some particular development work or adminstrative work needs to be
done there is no garuntee that you will have someone available who is
willing and able to take up the task during the time frame that you
would like it done.

> > 2. What are the key advances in the latest version of the software?

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

and the wiki release logs

http://mediawiki.blender.org/index.php/Release_Notes

We have additional images that might be of interest to you that were
not included in the release logs.

Thank you for your interest, and please let me know if there is
anything else that I can do to be of assistance to you.

Tom Musgrove