AvaStar is updating. This is the last set of fixes and improvements for AvaStar targeting Blender 2.79. The next release will target Blender 2.8. This is significant because Blender is undergoing a radical change. Those of us with work-in-progress are likely to stay with 2.79 for some time. I probably won’t change over until my current projects are complete. So, I want as good a version of AvaStar as possible.
Blender 2.8 Pre-Alpha Splash Screen
Also, I will keep 2.79 on my computer for a long time in case I have to make a change in a project made with 2.79.
Machinimatrix made this announcement.
We are at the junction point!
The plan for the near future is:
– Release Avastar 2.6 around 13-july-2019.
– Plan for Avastar 2.6 to be the last release for blender 2.79.
– Start the final migration from Avastar 2.6 to Avastar-2.8 for Blender 2.80 around 15-july-2019.Since Avastar is a huge Addon we currently can not tell when the migration will be done. We try our best.
cheers, Gaia
On July 2nd the Blender 2.80 Alpha version was released. From 80 Level the word is…
We’ve finally learned about the release date of Blender 2.8. The update will be released in several steps. First, the Alpha on July 2nd, the Beta on August 12th, September 19 will finalize the Python API of Blender 2.8 and on October 20th you’ll get your hands on the first release candidate of Blender 2.8.
Update: Gaia Clary pointed out that my Blender release dates are wrong. I was a bit shallow in my research. Better information is now available here, July: 2.80 Release Plan – April 2019. The page they say they will keep updated with release information is 2.8 Releases. Checking Blender.org the Blender 2.80 Beta is out. (Information at that link will change over time.) The latest Beta build is currently dated 7/10. (Experimental builds)
Of course many are using the nightly builds to make the various tutorials appearing all over the place. Example: YouTube Blender 2.8.
It has been almost a year (August 2018) since I’ve had anything to write about Blender. We have many changes coming in the remainder of this year. Update: Blender updates are planned to roll out every third month. These will be new features, fixes, and MINOR UI changes.
Blender is changing the User Interface (UI) and the software interface… you usually hear it referred to as the API. The first change means we have to relearn Blender and change our workflow… well… where we click and how we accomplish various tasks and likely what some tasks are labeled. My understanding from reading and the little I have seen shows Blender changing to be more like other products. Changing to make the UI more like other programs, like selecting with the left-mouse rather than the current right-mouse, which has caused me SO MUCH wasted time because sooner or later muscle memory will have me left-click in Blender when I should have right-clicked.
The render speed and general performance are improving too. There is a new Eevee render engine. It allows a hybrid render using both GPU and CPU. Render Street did some comparison testing in January 2019 and made a nice graphic. See it here. Blender 2.8 is a good bit faster rendering on either GPU or CPU. Adding CPU help did reduce render time a bit. The graphic does show the GPU+CPU isn’t always better. We will need to do more testing as this testing was done on an early Blender 2.8 pre-alpha. With a 2:30 minute 2.79b render 2.80 got it done in 0:59 shaving 1 minute 32 off the time. Nice.
I am trying to stay positive about the change. But, I expect to scorch my monitor when I try to change over. (SoCal is a US Navy and Marine community – of course, it is only sailors that cuss.)
The second change means all the software add-ons and plug-ins have to change. Thus AvaStar has to change.
If you have ever done any scripting in Second Life’s LSL and used a Listen function, you were writing an API. One script talks to another script to give the ‘listener’ orders or information. If the listener changes, the talker has to adapt. AvaStar is the talker and Blender the listener is changing.