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Blender 3.4

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Re: Blender 3.4

#91

Post by kuboa »

CyanBird wrote: post #89
kuboa wrote: post #62

This is a relatively tame update, but the roadmap for the near future is really exciting, with stuff like Simulation Nodes (which already has a usable experimental branch) and Blender Apps ( https://code.blender.org/2022/11/blender-apps ) I'm not a programmer so I struggled with the fundamental concepts a bit when learning Geometry Nodes, but it's been the best new addition to my life in a long time. I think I haven'…

As a houdini user the blender nodes make me quite jealous, things like the coupling of the nodes with real time rendering in eevee and basically instant rendering with cycles is something I could only dream of even after spending some good cash on redshift Do the blender nodes have got an equivalent of vex in houdini? Or variables? Does blender just use raw-ish Python instead?

As I said I'm not a programmer and I'm only familiar with GN so take anything I say with a grain of salt but: Google/YouTube is telling me that VEX is an expression language. We don't have that in GN yet. No scripting of any kind, actually. Everything is done visually, on the nodes themselves, there's no "properties" window for nodes where you do the actual work, everything's sockets and noodles. Shape and color of the sockets tell you the data type (geometry, float, vector...). Scripting support is a common request, but devs usually respond with "it'll come but we need to nail the fundamentals first". It's still a very young system.

There's no Python (like the add-ons), all nodes are C/C++.

I looked into what "variables" are, it says stuff like "position", "current animation frame" etc. Those would be called "input fields" in GN. In addition to default attributes like position, normal, rotation etc you can also capture, store and recall custom attributes, either anonymously or as named ones (always written on geometry in a particular domain--point, edge, face corner etc).

Taking a look at an Entagma video on GN would be much more helpful I'm sure (they also have a course).

Re: Blender 3.4

#92

Post by kuboa »

chmod775 wrote: post #63
kuboa wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on what you're doing with it. I'm an architect who have been using SketchUp professionally for 20 years now, and I use Blender for hobby (Geometry Nodes stuff). For architecture work, Blender absolutely can NOT replace SketchUp, unfortunately (it doesn't even have a universal Section tool, for example), even though it's an incomparably more powerful program in every other area.

> universal Section tool Can't you get the same thing with a boolean modifier? Illustration: https://i.stack.imgur.com/FlM1E.png

Technically, but you need to copy and maintain that modifier for all objects. Even if you did that, usability is non-existent. Just to turn it off for a moment you'd have to select the objects with the right modifier and disable them using an obscure shortcut (holding Alt) and even then it's notoriously slow and finicky anyways--not even in the same universe as SketchUp's section tool.

Re: Blender 3.4

#93

Post by syntheweave »

capableweb wrote: post #86
keepquestioning wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nah, GPT will eventually learn how to 3d model.

That's great (except probably Stable Diffusion and similar approaches are better than GPT). What about the bazillion other features that Blender has as well? You think AI/ML/magic will replace that too in the future?

A dose of AI would help clean up the interface of every 3D software package, and especially Blender since Blender does everything, and what's really needed is a workflow that lets you start with a prompt like:

"I want to model a realistic humanoid character, using these references"

And then the AI works through the process of setting up the workspace and putting the tools you need front and center.

Right now that setup process is a lot of boilerplate-by-way-of-GUI that gets in the way of using any specific technique.

Re: Blender 3.4

#94

Post by whatswrong »

kuboa wrote: post #91
CyanBird wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a houdini user the blender nodes make me quite jealous, things like the coupling of the nodes with real time rendering in eevee and basically instant rendering with cycles is something I could only dream of even after spending some good cash on redshift Do the blender nodes have got an equivalent of vex in houdini? Or variables? Does blender just use raw-ish Python instead?

As I said I'm not a programmer and I'm only familiar with GN so take anything I say with a grain of salt but: Google/YouTube is telling me that VEX is an expression language. We don't have that in GN yet. No scripting of any kind, actually. Everything is done visually, on the nodes themselves, there's no "properties" window for nodes where you do the actual work, everything's sockets and noodles. Shape and color of t…

It's been a while since I played with GN, but aren't "drivers" merely python scripts that outputs values that can been used as input fields?

Re: Blender 3.4

#95

Post by kuboa »

whatswrong wrote: post #94
kuboa wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As I said I'm not a programmer and I'm only familiar with GN so take anything I say with a grain of salt but: Google/YouTube is telling me that VEX is an expression language. We don't have that in GN yet. No scripting of any kind, actually. Everything is done visually, on the nodes themselves, there's no "properties" window for nodes where you do the actual work, everything's sockets and noodles. Shape and color of t…

It's been a while since I played with GN, but aren't "drivers" merely python scripts that outputs values that can been used as input fields?

You can use scripted expressions in drivers, and if the expression is complex it uses the Python interpreter, but drivers are an entirely separate system than GN. They always (afaik) put out a single value, so while you can use them to control a value of a socket or channel inside GN, they wouldn't be evaluated dynamically for every element of a geometry so they wouldn't be a "field".

Re: Blender 3.4

#96

Post by capableweb »

syntheweave wrote: post #93
capableweb wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's great (except probably Stable Diffusion and similar approaches are better than GPT). What about the bazillion other features that Blender has as well? You think AI/ML/magic will replace that too in the future?

A dose of AI would help clean up the interface of every 3D software package, and especially Blender since Blender does everything, and what's really needed is a workflow that lets you start with a prompt like: "I want to model a realistic humanoid character, using these references" And then the AI works through the process of setting up the workspace and putting the tools you need front and center. Right now that set…

I'm not sure what level of experience you have with 3D software/animation/creative stuff in general, but that stuff is already there, without having to rely on any AI.

Most 3D packages have something similar, but for Blender specifically, it asks you want area you want to work in when you create a new project, to tailor the UI for that specific task (splash screen screenshot: https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/latest/_images/interface_...). The UI is also highly customizable, basically everything is movable to anywhere, so if you have your own preference (or want to use others from online somewhere), that's trivial to achieve as well.

What you're suggesting doesn't actually contribute anything to speeding up that workflow, as it stands right now.

> Right now that setup process is a lot of boilerplate-by-way-of-GUI that gets in the way of using any specific technique.

What boilerplate are you talking about here? You have specific examples? It sounds to me you're assuming 3D creation is similar to software, somehow. While it's fairly common in the industry to have templates/boilerplate "starters" for various things you want to do.

Re: Blender 3.4

#97

Post by pinkwinds »

kuboa wrote: post #79
pinkwinds wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any recommendations as for whom to follow on Twitter?

@erindale_xyz (probably the most well known member of the GN community, fantastic YouTube channel as well) @JacquesLucke (creator of Animation nodes, who was then hired by Blender) @FreyaHolmer (not necessarily Blender stuff, but great game-dev geometry/math content) Tinkerers: @higgsasxyz @cmzw_ @artofriaz3d @WannesMalfait @JesseMiettinen @Bbbn192 @Mrdodobird @cgonfire @Sanctus_Art

Thanks!

Re: Blender 3.4

#98

Post by follower »

capableweb wrote: post #86
keepquestioning wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nah, GPT will eventually learn how to 3d model.

That's great (except probably Stable Diffusion and similar approaches are better than GPT). What about the bazillion other features that Blender has as well? You think AI/ML/magic will replace that too in the future?

As an aside, for anyone interested in AI as it relates to Blender, there was a recent Blender Conference talk "Integrating AI tools with Blender" I found thoughtful & informative:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8gsuuA8V94

Re: Blender 3.4

#99

Post by follower »

jabiko wrote: post #24
bodge5000 wrote: post #14

In case anyone prefers the more flashy release notes https://www.blender.org/download/releases/3-4/

I'm wondering if this might be the better submission URL. It might be a bit lower on details but at the same time it conveys a richer overview of what the release is about.

Worth noting (as it's easy to miss) but all the bullet list items at the end of each section of the "flashy" release notes are actually links to related dev details.

e.g. "Added Sobol-Burley sampling pattern" links to https://developer.blender.org/rBa06c9b5

Re: Blender 3.4

#100

Post by follower »

pkaye wrote: post #66

Blender is the one program where features are added faster than one can learn them.

Can very much identify with this! I only just downloaded 3.3.1 the other day. :)

While frequent release cycles are great, keeping up with the changes between Blender, Rust language, Bevy game engine and Godot 4 betas seems like a full time job these days!

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