Quote - If you have your workflow designed a specific way, the new install will detect it and in the first splash dialogue you can choose to import those settings. Otherwise, there is no significant difference in how Blender looks and acts, except that if your graphics card supports it, you now have access to a new internal render engine Cycles and also BMesh.

I suggest you get on to BlenderArtists.org and have a wee sticky-beak there about these new features. I personally love them. Some don't. But they are now a part of Blender (more BMesh than Cycles) so it's a force to contend with. If that doesn't float your boat, you can always stay with a version that works for you.

So what about the upcoming release? Do you think it will be worth a wait? They are already offering a test version for us to try if we want. I figure if it has all the new features you mentioned 2.63 having, it couldn't hurt to go for it. But as it is a test version, certain features may still be inaccessible. They are expecting to release the actual 2.64 version in September, and at any rate I don't think that is too long to wait.

It seems that because Blender is an open source program, (which can be and is constantly improved by people all over the world), it is the fastest advancing digital art software available. New releases have already come three or four, (maybe even 5 or six), times since I downloaded my version not even a year ago. I can't think of any other software program of any type that has advanced that fast. It just goes to show how the freedom for anybody to contribute to the improvement of something can work far better than keeping the right to do the same thing confined to a select few.

Please excuse my excitement over such an awesome concept.

Stay awesome!

Agent 0013.