Blender 5 Released Today

I may be jumping the gun here, but today is the scheduled day for Blender 5's release. It's a big deal! I have already pointed out that, in the thirteen years I've been using Blender, I've only witnessed versions 3.0 and 4.0. That's a slow climb! I guess the big 3D app players have long dropped traditional version numbering in favour of year-based names, so they can iterate without flying through all the numbers, or having people dwell too long on whether a release is full-fat, or a modest top-up.

Egg House 5

I could have changed and improved twenty things, but I just ran out of time. 

1. Composition and lighting tweaks, although they're not too bad, there is a lot of room for improvement.
2. My added dirt is subtle, which I am happy with, but the dirt maps could have better matched the shape of the egg house. Maybe streak lines coming down from the top and drop stains from some of the ports.
3. Some more clutter around the egg. I rendered with ivy, which looked fun and cool, but also broke up the egg shape a bit too much and wasn't at all plausible. Given that the full render took 5 hours, I only re-rendered the region with the ivy and placed it over a copy of the original render. This is a quick way to do spot fixes on mistakes in a still with a long render time.

Second ivy. The original was too sparse and just distracting.

I'll do another update later today about the status, so if Blender 5.0 isn't released, I'll issue a correction and look like a goober.

Also, there's another celebration. Addon developer True-VFX have its 7th birthday and will be releasing TrueSKY3. I will be having a play with it.

Dreaded return to the dentist

 Just as my mouth is starting to recover, I return for the serious work, which I think is code for an extraction. Bugger. I am treating myself to treats. I'm going to get Arborea Nature Addon, and I just picked up another environmental design course, this time from Cov Phillips, who has shown off some fantastic work on YouTube.

Celebration Crit

I made good progress on the celebration scene. Enough to require a critique

The dramatic depth of field makes for nice framing, except the egg house is a bit lost in the composition. I should cut out some of the top and bottom and get it closer to the rule of thirds.

I may redo the ivy or expand it across the other side of the egg. There needs to be a bit more grime on the egg, and also some more decals to add the look of a space vehicle.

The portal ring needs some breakup. Maybe even some tiny lights or a regular pattern.

Deadline is probably Tuesday, so I'm down to the final polishing.

Celebration rendering progress

Tooth pain has subsided, mostly. Next week I need to get the service road changes completed. For now... 

Celebration Scene

All being well, Blender 5.0 goes into full release by next Tuesday, so just a couple more days left in which to finish my celebration scene. Better get cracking!!

Yesterday I set up an environment scene. I took the brave and weird step of changing the scene's aspect ratio to portrait. It really grates because I love wide landscape views, the constraint is counter to what I most like in landscape scenes. However, it really helps if you want a lot of dense foliage in your scene. 

Starting terrain with a stream running through it

Tall view on the rocks

Egg house added.

Now I was going to complete the construction of the egg house before importing it into the terrain, but time is running out. I can't afford to be too fussy. I won't be massively expanding the model. I want a water pipe and some surrounding scatter. I am experimenting with the idea of using cloth physics for an awning. 

But who lives in the egg? It's Leo!

What next?

• A background layer with some hills and more trees. 
• More trees and bushes
• Tidy up / thin out the foreground rocks
• Add some small plants/bushes/flowers.
• Add a Blender 5.0 label or motif.  I might do an embossed Blender logo on the egg shell?
• Polish and refine

Dentist = Ouch

 This morning's dental surgery has left me in some considerable pain. My ability to output anything worthwhile is being curtailed. 

Luckily I did some more cool things on Monday.


Egg House progress

The weird egg-happed lifepod-turned-emergency-shelter thing is progressing. I started to play with materials as I thought about what else it needs.

All the materials are from the Sanctus Library, which remains a brilliant resource, but you may need to go deeper for true "hero" materials. The outer shell should be really realistic, with additional layers of grime and some graffiti. To be developed further! I should get the interior modelling done first. 

I also want the egg to be dressed with cables and rough, crafted elements, such as an awning and a washing line. This pod appears to have floated down from the sky and been stuck here for years, gathering moss and becoming the centre of a primitive habitation.

Release day

I placed a hex on today's release by talking about Blender 5.0 in yesterday's post. The foundation just pushed the release back a week, so the release candidate is now due on the 12th and the full release is now due on the 18th of November. Oh hum! These things happen. I suppose the remaining bugs and issues appear too serious to be resolved with a few quick updates over a few days.

I'm still working towards a release celebration render.

Work-in-progress:

Test shot