GraphicAll.org

Hello everyone. Need a bit of advise.

How do you guys know which blender build to download?

Is it better to download blender from blender.org?

Is there a set rule that you guys follow when downloading stable versions of blender?

Which render engine should I be using?

That is all for now. Thank you in advance.

If you’re brand new to Blender, then the build from blender.org is usually the best bet. If you’re familiar with blender development, there may be features in alternate versions of blender (work from the google summer of code, for instance), or more recent builds of blender that you’re interested in, which are easily obtained on graphicall.org.

If you want the most updated official builds of blender (as opposed to official releases, which are on blender.org – currently 2.58.1), then go to graphicall.org, click the button for your OS (bottom row of images on the right side), click the blender icon (top row of images on the right), then click the tree icon (middle row of images on the right side). This last button denotes “trunk” builds, which are typically the most stable (and least experimental) of the lot.

If you just want the latest ‘official’ version get it from http://builder.blender.org/download/

Thank you both. Much appreciated.

Is it better to install blender or use the zip archive?

I recommend the executable, much easier and also a smaller download than the zip archive.