I'll give you 3 reasons I don't like 2.5

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#1

They are:

1, Space bar brings up a weird spotlight-type search box instead of the menu to add etc.

2, The render window takes over the whole program so I can’t alt-tab back to the editor with it open.
edit: (ok, turns out F11 switches between program and render window. I like it)

3, I had to scale a 2.49 project down by a factor of ten to make it fit with 2.5’s supposed metric units of measurement.
edit: (under scene settings/units there’s an option to scale the Blender Unit to match metric or imperial, so that’s sorted.)

Oh and 4: There’s no cameras listed on the cameras menu even though I have about 8 in scene.

Can anyone give me 3 reasons why 2.5 is worth switching to, and if you can, would you also recommend a good build. Currently I have the build closest to the one recommended in the Stylized Dragon tutorial at CG Cookie.

#2

Press Esc or just change the render display to Image Editor or New Window.

Why you should change to 2.5? You don’t have to, you can still use 2.49 just fine and nobody needs to give you any reasons to change, that’t 100% up to what you want to do, but any further developments will be for 2.5 going forward, not with 2.49 whether you like that or not.

#3

Hi Richard.

So is 2.49 dead in the water? As I understood it it’s a different development team behind 2.5., kinda like an unofficial spin-off. That’s the only reason I was holding out really. I’m just getting a case of old-dog new tricks-itis. I don’t mind changing if there’s a good build you can recommend. I’m all for keeping it current.

I’m just bummed that I’m gonna have a slew of new keyboard commands to learn which’ll slow me down a little bit in the short term.

#4

I do like the look of 2.5, so there’s one reason to change already. The vertical panels are a much more sensible layout.

Future development’s stopped on 2.49… there’s a big reason to upgrade.

And I guess the units of measurement display in the 3D view are really helpful…

There’s just too much weird stuff going on for my liking.

#5

I’m happy with 2.49 & unlike other $$ 3D apps, there’s no force to upgrade. Technically, there’s nothing stopping anyone from keeping bringing out new versions based on 2.49. But do with what you need: I need md2, md5 export/import, 2.5 doesn’t have that so I’m not switching, no matter how great it is.

#6

While this is perfectly true, now in the real world what developer is going to take the time and effort to update what is in reality a redundant version of blender.,
The developers who worked on 2.49 are all now concentrated on 2.5 so why should they go back to 2.49.

#7

I’m gonna stick with 2.49 for the time being. I like how it’s plugged as “Stable” in big letters :slight_smile:

#8

You’re assuming the goal is what 2.5 is. I’d like Blender to be a plugin to Vegas. 2.49 would be the idea starting point because it’s more stable & functional.

#9

Well the code is there available for other developers to pick up and do who knows what with.

#10
  1. 49 forever :smiley:
#11

with space bar thing theirs the dynamic space bar addon that turns blender’s space bar back into something similar to what 249 had actually its kinda like taking maya’s or c4d’s hotbox and eating it.

i can’t say i’ve entirely happy with changes either, the developers seriously need to bring back the bevel tool or make a chamfer tool like what 3dmax has

#12

Man, I’ve gotta say I’m have been so happy with 2.5, it’s been such a huge improvement, and for me I dont think I could ever go back to 2.49. The new tools that you have available in 2.5 (environmental lighting, indirect lighting, solidify, better particle system, better hair control, the changes to the graph system, and many many others) just make it such an improvement. Not to mention the vastly improved layout. Tools are in places that make sense! However I will say that at first the spacebar thing through me off, but it only took me a day or so of using it to switch to Alt+A, and really the search box is extremely handy if you forget a keyboard shortcut or just can’t find a tool. My only issue with 2.5 at the moment is the lack of external renderer options, and that’s just because the export scripts haven’t been finished yet, and those will be along soon.

#13

I am quite new to Blender in general and coming from that point of view I have to say that working the tiny bit I did with 2.49 and now becoming really acquainted with 2.5, I would choose 2.5 anyday!
Wow! It is so much cleaner and sleeker than the previous version. I will highly recommend it to anyone just getting started in Blender.
I can not imagine why anyone would miss that rather clunky old version. Just my $ .02.

#14

regarding the spacebar issue:

you can go to user preferences and change any or all of the hotkeys to your liking. space bar is default for search, but you can configure it to bring up the add menu like in 2.49.