2021-03-15 Blender 2.93 Targets

Notes for Blender 2.93 targets meeting on Monday, 15 March 2021. 11:00 CET / UTC 10:00 on #blender-coders on blender.chat.

Animation & Rigging

All changes are either done on in review. However the asset browser and the new pose libraries won’t be available in 2.93.

  • Weight Painting symmetry options improvement & cleanup.
  • Updated UI for FCurve Modifiers (in FCurve and NLA editors).

Core

Nothing blocking. The pending issues can be tackled in bcon2. It includes user interface potential change for the outliner that would need to be in the documentation as well. Need to involve Francesco and Ton for final decision.

  • Wrap up of first Library Override project (improvements of Resync process, address some technical debts, documentation, and planning for future features).
  • Address several Undo system issues, improve general code organization.
  • Finish the Blendloader Decentralization project.
  • General on-going improvements aiming at better modularization of the code.

Grease Pencil

Some of the unmerged features (D10482, D10588, D10502) are pending review by the User Interface team, who will look at them. Bezier improvements are 95% ready, to be finished/merged soon.

LineArt needs final cleanup and UI changes approval - The grease pencil team is reviewing it together with Sebastian Parborg, who will present it to Ton Roosendaal today.

  • Improves in Fill Tool
  • Added support for multiframe in Drawing mode
  • Improves in Interpolation Tools.
  • New layer transform parameters.
  • Changes to use Autokey button.
  • Import/Export for SVG and PDF (D10482).
  • Changes in Dopesheet block drawing (D10588)
  • Changes in Dopesheet context menu (D10502).
  • LineArt Modifier (D8758).

Modeling

No release targets for 2.93. The module will soon meet to discuss module management and planning.

Nodes & Physics

All the targets are on track. The primitive nodes will be reviewed today. The new workspace can happen after bcon1.

  • Texture pipeline and other new geometry nodes already merged.
  • Primitive geometry nodes yet to be implemented (cube, cylinder).
  • Spreadsheet editor
    • Initial implementation sent for review.
    • Expect more datasets, context data and filters before final release.
  • Attribute search
    • Initial implementation already in master.
    • Waiting for its final UI to have an image in the release notes.
  • New Geometry Nodes workspace.

Pipeline, Assets & I/O

Asset browser was discussed already as part of the Animation module topic - it will be postponed.

USD is a bit late to the party. Sybren Stüvel will look at the patch today to see if it can get in or if it needs to be postponed.

Platforms, Builds, Tests & Devices

All the libraries are updated already, Dalai Felinto will update the Attribution Document. The new package with the libraries is aimed at bcon3.

  • Dependencies library update (T85365)
  • Self-hosting libraries (T86124).

Python & Add-ons

All done and handled. The Python version is 3.9.2, but Blender is already future proof for 3.10.

  • Python 3.10 compatibility.
  • Temporary library data loading API.

Rendering

For geometry nodes the EEVEE geometry attributes support is still important, but it can be done in bcon2. Brecht Van Lommel will check if Clément Foucault has time for that.

Point cloud rendering may not make it, but it is not blocking for bcon2. Point clouds are still not rendering.

  • Eevee
    • New depth of field
    • New ambient occlusion
    • Geometry attributes support (not done yet, not blocking)
  • Cycles
    • Subsurface scattering
    • Geometry attributes support
    • Point cloud rendering (unfinished, not blocking)
    • Light spread (under review, minor feature that could be in bcon2)
  • Pipeline
    • OpenColorIO 2.0 (additional polishing planned)
    • New cryptomatte workflow (D3959) .

Sculpt, Paint & Texture

The new tools are missing icons, and the user interface team wasn’t aware of them. The scene project brush will be merged as experimental tools until it get its icon.

  • Expand operator.
  • Mask init.
  • New interactive mask filter (merged soon as filter, later as tool with icon).
  • Scene project brush (merged soon as experimental, needs icon).
  • Missing icons task.

User Interface

No specific release targets. The team is working on the Asset Browser & geometry nodes projects. Small patches may still make it in.

VFX & Video

VSE proxy performance improvements are not ready, but usability improvements will be in 2.93.

  • Video Sequence Editor
    • Proxy system:
      • Usability patches to be merged soon (D10362, D10363)
      • Performance patch has remaining issues - will be postponed (D10630).
    • Community patches:
      • Some are straightforward and can be approved by Richard Antalík.
      • Other either lack a design or needs UI improvements change.
      • They are not blocking for bcon2 though, so Richard will handle this.
  • Compositor
    • Add Anti-Aliasing node (D2411).
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Just a note that Dependencies library update https://developer.blender.org/T85365 broke MacOs buid for MacOs 10.13 and 10.14, see Compiling latest branch on MacOS fails (undefined symbol). This is fixed by https://developer.blender.org/rBL62615.

Is Apple Silicon support still a target for 2.93?