Before you ask about the SubSurf Button, look here!!!!!!!!!

I have notaced lately that we have had a flood of questions about interface changes between blender 2.37a and blender 2.40

I will try to adress some of the most common questions here, for anything else, or a more detailed example go here:
http://www.blender.org/cms/Blender_2_40.598.0.html

Where did subsurf go?
Blender recently implamented a beutiful feature called the modifier stack. The modifier stack is a new way of handling things that modify the mesh in some way. Some of the things that are now in the modifier stack are:
Subsurfacing
Boolian operations
Armatures
Softbodies
Lattace

There are several other things that fall under mesh modifiers. How you get to the mesh modifiers section is by going to the Editing Buttons (F9) and under the Modifiers tab, you click Add Modifier, and select the modifier you want to use. When you click the “Apply” button in the modifier it is the same as Make Real. More information on Mesh Modifiers can be found here:
http://www.blender.org/cms/Modifier_System.681.0.html

Where did the Particles go?
In order to keep things a little better organized, the Object Buttons (F7) have been split into two sections, one is called Object Buttons, and it contains the “Anim Settings” “Draw” and “Constraints” tabs. The other section is called the Physics Buttons, and it contains tabs for softbodies, particles, deflection, and fluid simulation.

Feel free to add a question that you see occouring often due to the version switch, and please provide the answer.

Note: Would one of the mods please sticky this![/b]

I posted this once before, and for that I appologize because I can’t remember where I posted it. But it is fantastic news:

http://orange.blender.org/blog/new-year-mini-progress-report

"…

  1. Bassam said on 4 Jan, 2006:


Also planned is training materials. Bear with us! we try to get this little movie done as quickly as we can :slight_smile: "

So, soon there will be training materials available. I interpret “Training matierials” a little different than, let’s say, documentation. Training materials would probably have examples and excersizes as well as step by step “spoon-feeding”(I like spoon-feeding. :slight_smile: mmmm, gerber…lol)

This is great news, because I think the new Node Editor is the latest mind blower from orange Team’s many mind-blowing features that beg to be documented for the masses.

[edit]Duh…I found where I posted this. In the Documentation Sticky. Sorry 'bout that[/edit]

bump
could one of the mods plase sticky this, I’m getting tired of this question.

Edit/Delete this post Delete this post
I sympathize with my fellow newbees friends. If we had better documentaion/tutorials it would elimniate most of these questions.

UNTIL THEN THERE IS NO STUPID QUESTION (as far as i am concerned)

http://mediawiki.blender.org/index.php/Manual/PartII/Subsurfaces

I AM STILL AWITING FOR DOCUMENTATION/TUTORIAL FOR THE ARMATURE SYSTEM.

I HAVE READ ALL THE (OFFICAL) DOCUMENTATION/TUTORIAl ITS GREAT to THIS POINT BUT THERE IS STILL ALOT MISSING for it to be usefull to a newbie.

if i understood it i would voluntere to make a tute.

I never said that it was a stupid question, and its not. there have been a LOT of people who have been thrown off by the subsurf thing, not just newbies. if I implied that, then I apologize. The only thing that bothers me is the fact that no one has just answered this question once, it keeps getting asked again and again. and I was just looking for a thread to answer it, and a couple other questions once, instead of having to answer the question over and over again.

as far as the documentation goes, I fully realize that it is out of date. blender changes fast, unfortunently, the documentation does not change as fast. there is a project in the works to update the documentation, but it takes time. so for the time being:

and as far as the armature system is concerned, it was just totaly rewritten, and so it needs some new documentation.

The subsurf button is now a mesh modifier, to get to it you need to “Add Modifier” under the Edit(f9) buttons.

Documentation is actually very challenging if you are going to do it right. Blender has always had high standards sence I’ve heard about it, and the quality of the tips/tutorials/docs from the community have been great so far, just a little short of them. I know a few simple things in Blender that are pretty solid to me, but when I try and write them down, it’s like “Duh…This don’t make sense” or “I can’t belive I wrote 5 paragraphs to explain this and I still don’t think it’s clear”. I belive the people here in the community who have the techwritting skills are already pushed to their limits, so I think Elysiun’s search function, even though it takes more time, is a valuable asset to Blender beginners and “How to’s” in the application.
I have posted a few times and I think I am quickly building a rep of being a babbler/rambler, and for that I am sorry, I guess this is proof of concept that I couldn’t write a comprehensive article on any feature in Blender besides “Delete the default cube…uh…but first, you need to double click on the Blender icon on your desktop…uh…if it is on your desktop…uh…yeah” lol.
The new features are spilling out fast and I think that makes everyone want to know everything about them. The new training materials will be available soon after the Orange Movie is complete, I bet.