Blender 2.76


The Blender Foundation and online developer community are proud to present Blender 2.76, released Sep X 2015! Main highlights for this release:

  • Initial support for Pixar’s OpenSubdiv geometry subdivision technology.
  • A huge view-port performance boost.
  • Big file browser performance boost and arrow keys navigation support.
  • Node auto-offset feature that helps organizing node layouts.
  • Absolute grid snapping in the 3D view.
  • Sculpting with tiled strokes.
  • Text effect strips for the sequencer, supporting subtitle export
  • As usual, hundreds of bugs fixed and other improvements!


Wow that was a really short test period

not so sure about the splash screen though

It’s only the release candidate though, not the final binary (in case there’s some notable issues that need to be fixed yet).

like the opensubdiv not working with Uv maps for some reason?

Well that’s what release candidates are for I guess

That’s a limitation, not a bug. Pixar has not yet included UV support in version 3 the library (but will be in a release later this year).

So, apparently all of my models rigged with rigify in blender 2.75 are broken in 2.76. I noticed that the bone setup has been restructured slightly. Now all my characters’ arm and leg bones have vanished when I open an old project. I really hope these compatibility issues can and will be fixed.

Edit: Nope, no bug. Just me being stupid enough to forget to turn on “Auto Run Python Scripts” after setup. There really should be an option to keep your existing user preferences from earlier versions.

Ensure you report it to bug tracker (link in blend er help menu)

One big problem for me with OpenSubDiv is edge seems
i like to make edges sharper with giving them a higher weight in edit mode, otherwise i would need to add new geometry but the subdive normally changes the pattern to make these edges sharper, but in opensubdiv it doesnt work, the mesh looses therefore its nifty details that can be created at low poly counts, now, if i should use opensubdiv in its current state i would need to add lots more detail and geoemtry to come to the same affect

I’m getting an error when I try to render GPU from a MAC Pro with Dual AMD FirePro D300’s. This is the error.

Device init success
Device init success
Compiling OpenCL kernel …
Build flags:
OpenCL error (AMD Radeon HD - FirePro D300 Compute Engine): [CL_DEVICE_NOT_AVAILABLE] : OpenCL Error : Error: Build Program driver returned (517)
OpenCL error (AMD Radeon HD - FirePro D300 Compute Engine): OpenCL Warning : clBuildProgram failed: could not build program for 0x1021c00 (AMD Radeon HD - FirePro D300 Compute Engine) (err:-2)
OpenCL error (AMD Radeon HD - FirePro D300 Compute Engine): [CL_BUILD_ERROR] : OpenCL Build Error : Compiler build log:
Error returned by cvms_element_build_from_source

OpenCL kernel build output:
Error returned by cvms_element_build_from_source
OpenCL build failed: errors in console
Error: OpenCL build failed: errors in console

Anyone know whats up?

Not sure if this is a bug or something but “save user settings” doesn’t appear to do anything any more.

Could be this from the releasae notes

Support for AMD GPUs

OSX

This release brings support of AMD GPUs on Apple OSX platform. Main work was done by the OpenCL driver team who significantly improved quality of the driver, making it possible to run existing Cycles kernel.
The major requirement is it’s crucial to update all the way to OSX El Capitan, which is the only platform so far which includes crucial fixes from AMD
.

Damn that could be it. Is it likely AMD will bring the fixes to Yosemite?

Highly doubtful.

Well at least the upgrade to El Capitan is free.

I believe it’s actually Apple itself that takes care of the OpenGL/OpenCL drivers on their systems (due to them wanting to control absolutely every aspect of their ecosystem).

So if Apple wants people to upgrade, they can require it (though their is the positive point that they often offer it for free like mentioned).

Who do I owe a beer to?

I’m a 13 year Maya veteran who started learning Blender a few months ago. BTW, so far I’m blissing out on this software. Considering that my focus is rigging… well… proper weight painting tools is pretty critical. I’ve prided myself on my weight painting workflows and this blending/smoothing weights area spooked me out the most. I mean, I’m one of the few people that actually likes (dare I say, “loves”) weight painting… when I have the proper tools.

As I worked through Blender’s rigging tools, I’ve have kept an open mind, but without the ability to simply “smooth weights on selected” I was kinda screwed. I was even starting to set aside time to see if I could develop a tool myself (oh lawd, help me).

Then I saw a Tweet today about a 2.76 feature. “2.76???”, I thought. So I checked out the feature list and saw the glorious image of a new smooth tool.

download
installed
tested

It’s a little different than what I’m used to, but I can work with this. Oh yes I can. In combo with the “Normalize All”, I think I’m in good shape. Will find out soon enough.

BTW… I know who’s responsible. Campbell Barton. You YOU!! Thank you!!

Best recent news since Unity’s game editor was released on Linux.


Smooth Weighting on Selected !!!

Very nice news indeed, can’t wait to test it, thank you Campbell!!

Now, if only the Smooth brush would perform smoothing instead than ‘smudging’ as it does now it would be perfect.

paolo

List of new features please.

It’s linked in the OP.

To your credit, however, the original poster should have given more context in the post rather than just link-dropping.

@raziel_henzo - You’ve been warned about contextless link dropping in the past. Please stop. If you’re going to post a new thread, include some additional context for the members of this forum. This isn’t Twitter. A link and an image or video are not enough.

!!!done!!!