Download Blender 2.54 beta

The Blender Foundation has released the second 2.5 series beta release of the open source and cross platform 3d program Blender. The application is intended for 3d modeling, animation, rendering, post-production, interactive creation and playback. More information about the extensive possibilities of Blender can be found on this page are being found. This program includes the open source animation films Elephant’s Dream, Big Buck Bunny and the coming soon cinder created. The release notes for version 2.54 beta are listed below for you.

Blender 2.54 Beta

The Blender Foundation and online developer community is proud to present Blender 2.54 Beta. This release is the second official beta release of the Blender 2.5 series, representing the culmination of many years of redesign and development work.

This version is called a “Beta” because it’s now for the most part feature complete. The Python API has had some extensive changes, most notably in naming conventions and in creation and access of properties.

IMPORTANT: Between 2.53 and 2.54 an extensive renaming operation has changed the scripting API a lot, with repercussions also for loading 2.53 .blends with animation into 2.54. Make sure you try the FCurve/Driver 2.54 fix entry from the Help menu.

What to Expect

• Big improvements – This software has been used extensively in production of the Durian open movie project “Ember”.
• Feature complete – Although some of the 2.5 targets have been postponed, such as multi-window support showing multiple scenes, a full RNA data level dependency graph, or radial menus.
• Exciting improvements in Sculpting – Faster, much more stable and better brushes.
• Missing/Incomplete Features – Although really most of it is there, not all functionality from 2.4x has been restored yet. Some functionality may work in a different way. Some features are still slower to use than before.
• Bugs – We’ve fixed a lot lately, but there are still quite a few bugs. For this second beta around 200 bugs were fixed.
• Changes – If you’re used to the old Blenders, Blender 2.5 may seem quite different at first. Be prepared to read a bit about this, how to reconfigure things, and learn to use the new built-in 2.5 search functionality!

Blender screenshot, click on the image for a larger version.