Hi all,
I’m in the process of learning Blender and running version 2.73. As a newbie I’m still finding my way round.
My question is, should I consider learning v2.73 or upgrade to a newer version.
Would the extra functions in later versions be advantageous to a newbie ?
Thank you.
TURK
Why do you want to use an old version ?
Use the current standard version from https://www.blender.org/download/
Many thanks for the quick response Richard.
I guess the point I was making was, as I’m still at a very basic stage of the learning process, maybe there would be no advantage to me by upgrading to a newer version. I don’t know what’s involved in upgrading yet as I haven’t researched it as yet, but if I upgrade … and I can see that you’re recommending me to, would the upgrade over-write everything I’ve already done ?
Does the downloaded v2.78c replace my existing version ?
I’m running Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
TURK
There is no disadvantage to upgrading. Nothing will be overwritten, all your old files will still work perfectly, and you’ll get the latest and greatest version of Blender. I recommend downloading the zip version, which doesn’t need to be “installed”… you just unzip it and run the .exe. It will work independently from all previous versions so if you have problems, you can just run the old version (which, you will find, will most likely be unnecessary). Not only that, any addons you added will automatically be brought over as well, but some may need to be upgraded to work with the latest version of Blender.
Always update unless you have a reason not to (ex: being too lazy to update some custom script).
It’s free and it takes 5 minutes to upgrade at most. There is absolutely no reason for using an older version in your case. Especially if you are learning. The software is evolving all the time so are workflows and tools and you should keep up with newest technologies and newest functionality. Newer versions often make it easier to work and eliminate complex tasks. For example, your version does not allow you to view procedural Cycles textures in the viewport, however, the newest one does making it a lot easier for you to learn what they do and how you can use them. And there are hundreds of little details and changes that make life easier.
Many thanks for the pointers guys.
I usually work on the condition that ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’, that was the main reason for my original query. I understand where you’re coming from though, we should all be running the very latest stable releases of any program. After a little research I did discover that some people did have issues upgrading to 2.78, issues with the MSI installer … whereby their preferences weren’t being imported, but as I only currently have one ‘preference’ saved ( left click ! ) that wasn’t a problem for me. Also, the installer would sometimes freeze !
Also, as recommended by Safetyman I couldn’t find the ZIP version of Blender 2.78c … and eventually realised that it’s the ‘portable’ version that has the option of the ZIP download.
But as I had already downloaded the Windows 64bit MSI installer, I installed that … works great ! and as stated … all my previous work is still there :yes:
A very important reason ( to me anyway ) and pointed out by MartinZ is the availability of viewing the procedural Cycles textures in the viewport that I couldn’t do in my version 2.73 … a new function that’ll undoubtedly come in very handy once I begin learning about texturing and using the nodes editor.
Any other newbies wondering whether they should upgrade to the very latest Blender release … I would highly recommend it 
TURK