Reviews 3D suite

Blender 2.42a
Is it worth writing a review for a version that is only different by 0.01? If the
software in question is Blender, then it certainly is. Ben Harling explains why.
In brief...
Model, animate
and render 3D
graphics, edit video
and more. A
competent free
alternative to 3ds
Max or Maya, with
bells on.

ne of the undisputed kings of open

sourcery, Blender3D (now known
simply as Blender) has seen some
gargantuan revisions since its early days as
an in-house 3D tool. After the collapse of its
creator, NaN Technologies, the Blender
source code was bought by charitable
donations from its already substantial user
community, and made publicly available for
free. The results far outstripped what was
originally intended for the program, and
nowadays it is a truly viable alternative to
full-priced 3D applications.
So whats new? Quite a lot actually.
Certainly enough to warrant a much higher
version number, but according to the
Blender communitys conservative release
scheduling, it has officially only advanced
from 2.41 to 2.42. Many of the new features
were driven by the recent Orange movie

Linux render times are

quickest, far outpacing
Windows and OS X.
project (Newsdesk, LXF84), whose goal
was not only to create an animated film but
also to add many new film-production
features to Blender.
First and foremost among these is the
new node-based material designer and
compositor. Users of Maya and Cinema 4D
are already familiar with the concept of
using interconnected input, filter and
output icons to define materials in a visual
manner, and it is something the Blender
community has been crying out for. The

Features at a glance

Its not the best short film ever produced, but Elephants Dream (here within Blender)
is technically impressive, visually exciting and a huge factor in the projects progress.

node editor is amazing, allowing users

immense freedom when designing visuals.
Clean and efficient, it features a reliable
real-time preview, which can be
customised with your own meshes. What it
is not (like most of Blender) is simple to
use: the depth of possibilities that the node
editor creates could be the subject of many
a thesis for years to come.
Blender goes one step further with its
node system, though, by using it to
customise the render output as well. Again,
this feature is well executed, and grants the
truly artistic freedom of manipulating each
frame that the renderer produces. Need to
do chroma keying? No problem. Build a
simple nodes setup in Blender, and youre
ready to composite blue-screen live action
with your scene, all without using any other
application something youd be hardpressed to do with a commercial tool.

Curvaceous rendering

Fluid simulation

Node materials

Make a pleasingly realistic

splash with the improved
fluid simulator.

Use nodes to simplify

video compositing and
material creation.

Blenders entire rendering engine has been

rewritten, and can now take advantage of
threading and automatic compositing of
separate render layers. The render
component is properly incorporated with
the rest of the application, enabling a user
to embed render windows in the standard
3D views for a quickly customisable
preview capability. The results of Blenders

standard scanline renderer have improved

greatly, and now verge on what can be
achieved using CPU-intensive ray tracing.
If photo realism is your goal, you can
turn to the Yafray renderer, which has been
fully integrated into the UI and produces
stunningly accurate visuals, albeit with a
significant increase in render time. There
are also export scripts for other ray tracers
such as Sunflow, the superb Indigo system
and even the de facto industry standard
ray tracer, Mental Ray. The developers have
also improved the inbuilt ray tracing
algorithm to give better results for glass
and other reflective surfaces, implementing
proper transmissivity and internal
reflection. Whats nice for us is that Linux
render times are quickest, far outpacing
Windows and OS X.

A model citizen
As you would expect, there are plenty of
improvements to gape at on the modelling
side (certainly one of Blenders strongest
features) and it still offers one of the fastest
ways to generate a mesh. First up are new
controls for rigging characters, including
bone layers. This equates to several
armatures influencing the same mesh,
which can be turned on and off at will,
depending on the animation requirements
of a particular scene.

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3D suite Reviews
What else is new?
UV unwrapping Not new, but vastly improved, with a
simplified approach to seam marking and a groovy automatic
unwrap feature.
Python API Version 2.42 includes more improvements to the
BPython scripting language including PyDrivers driving
animation from Python expressions.
Libraries Reuse elements from other files with library linking
and embedding. Rewritten to improve stability and add features.
Python scripts Hundreds of third-party BPython scripts now
exist, covering everything from swarming bees to cross-platform
game-executable deployment (literally one click for Linux,
Windows and Mac).
Video sequence editor Integrating the FFMPEG library (a
Linux exclusive) gives a much more responsive experience and,
theoretically, greater capacity to edit footage in real time.
And the rest Weve just touched the surface of the 3,000 or
so changes and fixes to have been applied since the last release.

These improvements give Blender the

most extensive rigging options of all 3D
packages good news for animation
studios wishing to use it in production. An
understanding of character-rigging has
traditionally been the telling point between
a 3D pro and an amateur learning bits and
pieces here and there. The large majority of
Blender users fall into the latter camp. Part
of the reason for this slow adoption of
Blender as a professional tool is its lack of
the supporting resources that you get with
the big-name packages: examples,
tutorials, customer support and so on.
However, Blender fights back by
offering even more improvements in its
already cutting-edge modelling tool set. A
new object-grouping feature allows the
management of large amounts of mesh
and animation data quickly and easily,
independent of the normal parentchild
approach to object relation. The modifier
stack has been treated to some nice
updates including a powerful array
modifier, which offers an excellent
alternative to the rather clumsy dupliverts
system of previous versions. Sadly,
Blenders modifier stack is still not truly
non-linear, and it can sometimes be
frustrating having to bake a mesh before
more edits can be applied.
Things have gone more swimmingly
with the wonderful fluid dynamics system,
which remains one of the better
implementations of this effect. Thanks to
2.42 updates, users can now add moving
objects, flows and obstacles to a water
body, and watch them all splash around in
the simulation very pleasingly.

true shaders, enabling the programming of

complex visual effects such as real-time
HDRI (high dynamic range imaging). The
Bullet physics engine has been adopted as
standard, and it is usable both for real-time
interactive applications and for performing
physics simulations, which can be baked
for inclusion in a fully rendered scene. All in
all, Bullet performs very well and can
handle lots of on-screen interactions with
little or no slowdown.
The integration of this new engine is still
ongoing, though, and this means there are
some major incompatibilities between this
and the previous Sumo physics engine.
Also, the associated scripting API, while
developing fast, still falls short when trying
to fully manipulate a games mechanics.
When viewed as part of the whole package,
Blenders game engine seems to lack the
cohesion and direction that is evident
elsewhere in the software.

The trade-off
Nick
says...
A phenomenal
amount of work
has been done.
For me, the
improvements to
the Python
support make it
much easier to
integrate with
other tools.

A lot of people give up on Blender within

minutes of trying it, simply because the
interface is so difficult for new users to get
their head round. Bad news for those
people (or good news for others): the
interface remains the same as it has
always been. Blender only really works well
if you know the UI, and especially the
hotkeys, inside out. If you do know these, it
is a joy to use; if not, youll be tearing your
hair out. Admittedly, once youre
comfortable with the rather quirky
interface, it can be ruthlessly customised
to look and work however you want, and
different screen layouts can be saved in the
same file for quickly switching between
editing styles.
These qualms could be rectified by a
decent set of tutorial resources bundled
with the application, but unfortunately you
are left to fend for yourself if you want to
learn the software. Blenders website and
wiki are useful, but the best information is

On the horizon
We cant say when (or even if) the
developers are going to fix the UI, but the
pace at which Blender is developing is
quite breathtaking (the previous release
was less than seven months ago), and
there is still a lot to look forward to.
Rumours abound that the next release will
nudge the version up to 2.5, which, if you
extrapolate the differences between 2.42
and 2.41, should mean some truly
astounding innovations. One project thats
definitely in the pipeline is a rewrite of that
problematic game engine, with a view to its
becoming a more modular beast that gives
users the freedom to choose which physics
or rendering engine you use on a projectby-project basis.
Something that has really got the
Blender game engine community drooling
is the prospect of integrating the fantastic
Ogre 3D engine as the primary renderer for
Blenders interactive output (testing builds
featuring this new technology have already
appeared). Ogre integration would
undoubtedly propel Blender to the
forefront of 3D interactive design, by
combining an easy-to-use game design
architecture with one of the most powerful
real-time rendering engines ever devised.
The possibilities are putting Blender-heads
in a spin the world over. LXF

Verdict
Blender 2.42a
Developer: Blender Foundation
Web: www.blender3d.org
Licence: Free under GPL

Features
Performance
Ease of use
Documentation

10/10
10/10
5/10
8/10

This release catapaults Blender into

the realm of serious 3D packages, only let
down by a lack of immediate tutorials.

High calibre
And still the results of the Blender elves
hard work keep rolling off the production
line. The inbuilt game engine has been
much enhanced and can now cope with

often only found by trawling third-party

sites and forums for tips, which is
painstaking and not always productive.
Also, because of the nature of the average
Blender user, there is a lack of high-quality,
inspirational work produced using the
software, which is a shame when you
consider all its capabilities. A great example
is the water simulation we mentioned an
experienced user will be able to set one up
in seconds, but a newbie could be bashing
the keyboard for years before getting it to
work. We should expect this to improve as
more experienced 3D artists turn to the
software, but for now, a lot of its potential
remains shrouded in mystery.

Blenders nodes system allows for total control over the visual
output, and negates the need for any external post-processing.

Rating 9/10
November 2006 Linux Format 31

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