Blender 2.58 Released Review

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A new Blender version is out. Like any upgrade this one is loaded with bug fixes. It also has new features added from the To Do List. You can find the well written Release Log here: Blender 2.58 update log. I’m not going to write about all the fixes and additions, there are too many and I have no idea what a number of them actually do. I’ll touch on a few of the things that are interesting to me as a person interested in Second Life.

Blender 2.58
New Blender 2.58 Release

Collada

Collada is the file format used by Second Life to import 3D models. Those of us working on rigged mesh, used for replacement avatars and clothes, have been using Blender 2.49b to export them. The Collada export in 2.57b has problems with rigged mesh.

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Something New Coming

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The Lindens have been dropping hints that new features and wonderful things are coming. Hamlet at New World Notes (NWN) is curious about the idea in an article today. See: What’s Linden Lab Working on Beyond Its Peaceful Foyer? Unfortunately he has no hard information for what the new and wonderful coming changes may be.

Second Life Browser Based
Second Life Browser Based Viewer

However, his readers do have ideas and they are posting them in the comments. Of course everything written is speculation. The speculation ranges from horrible doom to creative. Some of the suggestions, I think are interesting, for what may be coming are;

 

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KirstenLee GPU Awards

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I think most Second Life residents have some interest in graphic cards for their computer. I see and hear of people with various graphics problems in #SL. Problems are related to various cards and driver versions. There are so many variables it is hard to know which card would be a good one to upgrade to. Tuesday morning I saw that KirstenLee had published information on which cards were doing well with S21 viewer.

Check out: Kirstens GPU Awards 2011 !

Video Card
Video Card

Other Ratings

There are other sources of good information on video cards. Only Kirsten’s is specifically targeted at Second Life. Others are more about the geeky pure performance factors. If you are interested in knowing the muscle a card has, check these sources;

Tom’s Hardware – This site reviews computer hardware. There are sections on the individual components, like graphics cards. For those that need single slot cards (space limited) see: Single-Slot Graphics: Whose Card Is Fastest? Most high performance graphics cards plug into one slot but are so thick they use up two slots. For the best overall see: Best Graphics Cards For The Money: May 2011. Of course this article will become out dated. So, check down the left side of the home page for the latest reviews.

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Mesh Tutorial

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Gaia Clary makes sculpty and mesh tutorials. I’ve linked to several in previous articles. I think they are very well explained tutorials. Gaia has a revised tutorial out about mesh. Revised may be unfair, but I’ve seen an earlier version so… but you may find this a Finished Version of the tutorial. This is a very complete first walk through about SL Mesh. It is not about how to use Blender or 3DS.

The tutorial is made for those frailer with making sculpties in Blender, 3DS, or Maya. It is not a noob’s tutorial. I think it is worth a read by newbies. It covers all the things one is going to need to be able to do with their modeling program. It is somewhat a list of things to learn. Plus it is a good foundation for terms used with SL.

Check it out: The Kettle Quest