Blender

This release includes all the work done on the Blender Game Engine and the Apricot Open Game "Yo Frankie!", with much better functioning game logic editing, character animation, and Blender Material based real-time shaders. There is a Bullet physics update with Softbody support, Windows 64-bit support, Grease Pencil for sketching annotations, Sun/Sky/Atmosphere rendering, new modifiers, and an improved text editor with Python API support. Many open bug reports were handled.

This release adds subsurface scattering, improved sculpting tools, ffmpeg support for additional platforms, a number of animation tool improvements, and a huge number of Python scripts and API enhancements.

This release features sculpting meshes that work as if they were clay, render passes, retopology painting, multi-resolution meshes, texture map and light map baking, support for multiple uv sets, fast 3D painting, defocus blur node, multi-layer image read/write, painting in video sequences, matte, key, and difference composite nodes, a number of improved 3D animation tools such as proxy objects, walk cycles, simulation tool improvements for fluid dynamics, hard body dynamics, and cloth and softbody dynamics. There were also additional compositing and video editing improvements.

This release is the result of work done for the Elephants Dream short film. It includes major feature additions such as node based materials, node based compositing, a renderer rewrite, improved UV tools, improved character tools, an array modifier, and a host of other improvements.

The focus of this release is the Game Engine, which has added a number of nice new features such as GLSL shaders, the capability of using multiple materials and UV maps, and multiple viewports, as well as a number of important fixes such as the return of the armature system. The core tools also have been improved, with subsurf-aware UV mapping, the addition of a live sculpting tool, set chaining, a number of Python script additions and improvements, and the addition of the Python Pose module, along with other Python improvements and fixes.