Which do you prefer: Blender 2.49 or Blender 2.56?

General Forums Blender and CG Discussions
1

My two cents:

I used Blender 2.49 excessively. I liked it the best…

… but 2.56 has blown me away. The older versions had annoyed me with everything from workspace annoyances to the errors in the logic bricks.
However, 2.56 seems to have fixed almost everything I hated, and I love it.

While model editing still needs a little bit work done, it seems much more natural than 2.49.
And then comes the Game Engine, which is a completely different level at 2.56 than 2.49.

What about you? So far, which do you prefer?

2

I still use 2.49 because there is no frameChange event in the 2.5 series. Without that, managed objects are not possible in 2.5 but they are possible in 2.49.

I prefer all other things about 2.5 and encourage the developers to simply lock down the API and finish the event system.

3

I actually have problems when I try to use 2.49 now, can’t find buttons and the lot :stuck_out_tongue:

4

I think some new poll options needed:

  1. I am a newbie
  2. I am a professional

So we will see when thousands of newbies checks “2.5 as best” and 4-5 of professionals checks “2.49 as stable and production-ready” version.

5

No 2.49 for me. Nevermore!

6

Ditto… and pressing C gets me lost… 2.56 is way more intuitive, but it is a “tough” transition from 2.49b… worth it though.

7

I still think that 2.56 is not stable enough for me because of the bugs. I’m still stuck on 2.49b.

8

2.56 is much more artist friendly. Of course it has some bugs for now, but it’s only matter of time.

9

modeling 249
I have some very good modeling scripts that dont work in 256 and the frame change their is a work around.

10

I use 2.5 exclusively and very much enjoy all the new features and improvement that have been implemented since Blender 2.5.

11

2.5, this being just one example, being able to have an external render addon like Luxblend25 replace all the buttons in the properties panels for the Internal Renderer and just use the UI with Luxrender’s options is smooth, seamless, and a dream, I didn’t even try to use exporters for 2.49b because they were supposedly harder to get running and you had to use the special scripts window.

Also on the BGE side of things, very nice to have .ogg files for background game music, and the RNA’ified Logic Brick interface eliminates having to check back and forth to see if a scene, property, or object name is spelled correctly.

There are those and a number of other things, 2.5 simply gives a better environment for many things.

12

2.56 has less bugs than 2.49 did, but then again I was running 2.49 under Windows and am running 2.56 on Linux. I think the OS has a lot to do with how many “bugs” you experience.

13

I prefer 2.56. I started using blender right after version 2.48 was released (so not terribly long, I guess), but I’ve still been using 2.4x a lot longer than I have 2.5. I think the interface is much smoother and easier to work with, even though there are some bugs that are rather annoying at times. I didn’t start using the 2.5 version until about when 2.53 beta was released. That’s when I started my blog, and I figured that there were a lot more people who wanted to learn more about 2.5 than 2.49 (it’s just a guess, though), so I forced myself to adjust to it and leave 2.49. So far, I’m not regretting it :smiley:

14

I love 249b. Its best. Instead of creating new version, they should create add more menus.
and this is shown on www.blender.org
Everyone keeps their best product on top
You will see this Image on Top
http://www.blender.org/typo3temp/GB/01ec28eb7a.jpg

15

2.56 has my vote. :slight_smile:
2.49b or c if you can get it :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: is still great.

For windows users, try the 2.49b version in my sig.
You can append most scenes in the build to 2.5 for testing.

16

Everyone keeps their best product on top

Everyone keeps their best non-beta product on top.

A comparison between the 2 will not mean victory for 2.56 on every area, but on a total 2.56 is far more superior.

17

I got used to 2.5x .

18

…That is, if that was actually true and you could associate the answers to different questions like that.

And of course, there’s nothing in between a newbie or a professional. It’s just one or the other.

19

2.56a is definitely miles ahead of 2.49, even if it is lacking a couple of things (but the gap is shrinking rapidly), and I havent had any issues at all with the latest version, even with the game engine which was lacking in the alpha versions.
I cant even go back to the 2.4x series, its so clunky and slow. The transition is tough at first, but after a day or so I was quite comfortable and became natural.

Theres no way the BF would have a beta version of Blender advertised as their most stable release (regardless of wether its just as stable or not atm) Thats the only reason why 2.49 is still on the main page. And creating more add on menus wouldnt bring any of the advantages of 2.5x to 2.49 at all… That’d be completely pointless and counter-productive.

Take the time to learn the 2.5x series. It will pay off in the long run because the 2.4x series will no longer be advanced at all, support and new development for Blender moves onto the newer versions.

20

I think it is time for everyone to face it. By the end of the year the defacto Blender version will be 2.6. Software development is about change, and though 2.5x might not be perfect yet, you have to understand that you are comparing a Beta version and a Released version, despite the fact that it is in beta, it is still considered almost on par with 2.49 (and better then in it many ways).