Well, I downloaded the release candidate build. And guess what… there’s a whole bunch of new stuff in there. At first I was impressed, because hey, its hard to write quality code as fast as the Blender community cranks it out. Then my joy turned bitter and I started getting angry.
Do you know how long it took me to learn what all the buttons and sliders do… did? I was pretty proud of myself when I could use over 95% of the features in Blender. Well guess what - now I’m back down to about 50%. Thank you very much developers. I’m chomping at the bit to use all this great new stuff, but I can’t. I don’t know how. <Captain Kirk> I just … can’t … … keep … up.</Captain Kirk>
I dont have a problem firguring out what all the features do. I just pick one, write the user manual section for it, and by the time I’m done, I’ve got it figured out. To see just how big a job that is, see http://mediawiki.blender.org/index.php/Release_Notes/Manual243.
LOL! Those devious developers add those features just to make us dance:D. They are so mean they even made blender better in the progress, making the insult even worse:rolleyes:.
Seriously you’ve got to look at this from a whole new perspective. Gone are the days when you can sit down in front of a program, read the manual and know it. You’ve got to get used to swimming in an ever-changing tide and resolve yourself to the position of having a small bubble of knowledge around you as you move.
Not even the developers themselves know everything about Blender as the community keeps throwing their own patches into the mix. But if you get used to the flexibility - get used to being in a constant state of unknowing - you’ll find it’s preferrable to the old ways for many reasons. It’s actually liberating.
I know where you are coming from, War. I am glad, though, that I haven’t conquered everything that is Blender. It wouldn’t be a challenge then. Plus, at the rate that I start to understand one new feature, a newer version comes out that introduces 20 more new features. There’s always something new!
Well I am going to be unpopular again in saying this but I agree with War.
Blender needs discipline in its development -
-the numerous parts of the code already identified as being messy need to be tidied up.
-the interface needs some rework and refining
-the appropriate notes should be complete before a feature is incorporated into an official release
-people should follow the protocol for the stages of development
-and most importantly people should be looking ahead to see where its all going and what legal and financial problems that might generate
I confess that I have kinda become a blender junky. Everyday new features. Keeps me coming back for more. Its like Christmas everyday. In fact its getting so bad I want to make new stuff myself… when will it stop;)
Hopefully not
-the numerous parts of the code already identified as being messy need to be tidied up.
Why is it better to ‘do it now’ as opposed to when it needs to be cleaned up when someone refactors the area? Also the ‘numerous parts’ aren’t that numerous. Mesh tools are being cleaned up now; UI and event code is being cleaned up by ton after 2.43; and the animation code that is still ugly is being worked on by Aligorith as time goes on.
-the interface needs some rework and refining
Interface and event related work already targeted for the next release.
the appropriate notes should be complete before a feature is incorporated into an official release
Why? You are no worse off as a user if a new feature is added without docs - you can pretty much treat things exactly as before. Also what is ‘appropriate notes’ every commit has a commit log which explains the features usage.
-people should follow the protocol for the stages of development
They do - Ton just clarified BCON3/4 a few days ago and commits have pretty much followed that prior to that.
and most importantly people should be looking ahead to see where its all going and what legal and financial problems that might generate
well already I see I get a bad reaction …<sigh>…I need to stop commenting on things
letterip I am not going to talk about any vulnerability for fear it hastens its arrival
you guys are all smart cookies i leave it to you as a puzzle
I think that the way Blender develops is beautiful.
Blender is growing so fast. Compare Blenders growth speed with other software… Slowing down gives others the advantage. And really we don’t have to compete to stay in business. The danger is to be left behind. Who still uses word perfect?
I trust the developer team to keep it all sorted out. Would love to see another project Orange, help things along. I think that its great all the work on the manual and the video tutorials. I’m glad there are organized people to sort it out but its great to have lots of different projects happening all at once. I say more not less. When its mature it will make it in the CVS.
Personally, I get frustrated every day by some of the features that are missing from Blender that make my life more difficult by their absence. As new features are added, I get less and less frustrated. It’s nice
Uh… dude… I think this was just a sarcastic self deprecatory manner in which he is thanking the developers for all their work.
Which I will second, as we can’t thank them often enough.
