Blender 2.49 RC1

Blender 2.49 RC1 is a useful product which functions as an open source software for 3D modeling, rendering, animation, post-production, interactive creation and playback. Available for Windows, Linux, Irix, Sun Solaris, FreeBSD or Mac OS X.

Major Features:

1. Modeling
   
   • A range of 3D object types including polygon meshes, NURBS surfaces, bezier and B-spline curves, metaballs, vector fonts (TrueType, PostScript, OpenType)
   • Smooth proxy style catmull-clark subdivision surfaces
   • Boolean mesh functions
   • Editing functions such as extrude, bevel, cut, spin, screw, warp, subdivide, noise, smooth Soft selection editing tools for organic modeling
   • Python scripting access for custom tools
2. Animation
   
   • Armature (skeleton) deformation with forward/inverse kinematics with pole target support
   • Auto IK allows posing FK chains easily
   • Non-linear animation editor for mixing individual actions created in Action editor
   • Automated walkcycles along paths
   • Animated constraint system
   • Vertex key framing for morphing, with controlling sliders
   • Edit and create new blendshapes from existing targets
   • Character animation pose editor
   • 'Ipo' system integrates both motion curve and traditional key-frame editing
   • Audio playback, mixing and editing support for sound synchronisation
   • Timeline offers fast acces to many playback functions, autokey, help markers
   • Python scripting access for custom and procedural animation effects
3. Realtime 3D/game creation
   
   • Graphical editor for defining interactive behavior without programming
   • Collision detection and dynamics simulation
   • Python scripting API for sophisticated control and AI, fully defined advanced game logic
   • Supports all OpenGL lighting modes, including transparencies, Animated and reflection-mapped textures
   • Playback of games and interactive 3D content without compiling or preprocessing
   • Audio, using the fmod toolkit
   • Multi-layering of Scenes for overlay interfaces
4. Rendering
   
   • Very fast inbuilt raytracer
   • Integral support for the famous Yafray render engine
   • Oversampling, motion blur, post-production effects, fields, non-square pixels
   • Environment maps, halos, lens flares, fog
   • Various surface shaders such as Lambert, Phong, Oren-nayar, Blinn, Toon
   • Edge rendering for toon shading
   • Procedural Textures
   • Ambient Occlusion
   • Radiosity solver
   • Export scripts available for external renderers such as Renderman (RIB), Povray, Virtualight
   • UV texture editor with various mesh unwrap modes
5. Interface
   
   • Flexible user configurable window layout
   • Powerful object-oriented data system
   • Anti-aliased fonts with international translation support
   • Windows for animation curves/keys, schematic scene diagram, non-linear video sequence editing, character animation action editor, non-linear animation mixer, image/UV editing, file/image selection and file management
   • Inbuilt text editor for annotations and editing Python scripts
   • Consistent interface across multiple platforms
6. Files
   
   • Save all scene data in a single .blend file
   • .blend format supports compression, digital signatures, encryption, forwards/backwards compatibility and can be used as a library to link to from other .blend files
   • Read / Write TGA, JPG, PNG, Iris, SGI Movie, IFF, AVI and Quicktime GIF, TIFF, PSD, MOV (Windows and Mac OS X)
   • Native import and export for DXF, Inventor and VRML files, with python scripts available for many other 3D formats
   • Create stand-alone executables containing interactive 3D content or play back with the 3d web browser plugin
7. Rigging
   
   • Fast skeleton creation mode
   • Interactive 3D paint for vertex weighting
   • Fast envelope based skinning
   • Automatic Skinning that really works (heat equilibrium based)
   • Mirror editing (bone creation and weight painting)
   • Double Quaternions reduce shrinking and other bone deformation errors
   • Volume deformer uses a mesh cage to deform complex meshes with great results
   • Bone layers and colored groups for better rig organization
   • B-spline interpolated bones; forget about elbow twists
   • Constraint stack for IK solver setup and other constraints
   • PyConstraints; if you need something not yet implemented code it in python with real time feed back, no compiling needed
8. UV Unwrapping
   
   • Conformal and Angle Based unwrapping methods
   • Interactive transform of UV maps by vertex pinning
   • Proportional falloff editing of UV maps for smooth transformations
   • Seam based unwrapping
   • Cube, Cylinder, Sphere, View projections
   • Catmull-Clark subdivition of UVs for less distortion
   • Minimize stretch tool allows to reduce area distortion
   • Multiple UV layers
9. Shading
   
   • Diffuse shaders such as Lambert, Minnaert, Toon, Oren-Nayar, Lambert
   • Specular shaders such as WardIso, Toon, Blinn, Phong, CookTorr
   • Node editor for creating and mixing complex materials
   • PyNodes: write your own Python shaders with realtime feedback, no need to compile
   • Material previews rendered by main render engine
   • Fast, realistic subsurface scattering
   • Blurry reflections and refractions
   • Tangent shading to give any shader an anisotropic effect
   • Versatile procedural textures system
   • Reflection maps
   • Normal, displacement and bump maps
10. Physics and Particles
    
    • Particle system can be attached to any mesh object. Control methods include weight painting, textures, curve guides, wind and vortex effects. Particles can be deflected by moving geometry
    • Hair strands can be created by a static particle system, supporting all particle control methods
    • Fluid simulator with fully animated inflow, outflow, obstacle and fluid objects. Gravity and viscosity settings can also be animated. Supports vector blur and is integrated with the particle system
    • Realtime soft body solver integrated in mesh, lattice, curve and text objects. Supports collision detection and particle field effects like Wind or Vortex, soft bodies can also be baked for faster playback/rendering
    • Game engine rigid body physics can be easily baked into animation curves
11. Imaging and Compositing
    
    • Compositor tightly integrated and aligned with the rendering pipeline
    • MultiLayer OpenEXR files allow to store and reuse raw renderlayer and passes data
    • Complete list of composite node filters, convertors, color and vector operators and mixers including Chroma Key, Blur, RGB Curves, Z Combine, Color Ramp, Gamma Correct
    • Preview panel to define the portion of interest. A composite then only happens on this part
    • Threaded and memory efficient (up to 8 processors)
    • Near realtime sequencer can edit hours of video
    • Waveform and U/V scatter plots
    • Open and write many audio & video file formats using ffmpeg
    • Can render using frameserver-support directly into foreign applications
    • Supports float images as well as regular 8 bits images
    • Curves tool allows you to create a mapping from the float range to a displayable result (for HDR images)

Requirements:

• Windows 2000, XP, Vista
• Mac OS X (PPC and Intel)
• Linux (i386)
• Linux (PPC)
• FreeBSD 5.4 (i386)
• SGI Irix 6.5
• Sun Solaris 2.8 (sparc)

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