Release Notes:  www.blender.org/development/release-logs/blender-248/
Download:  www.blender.org/download/get-blender/

woo hhoooo downloading right now :)

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Toolset: Blender, GIMP, Indigo Render, LuxRender, TopMod, Knotplot, Ivy Gen, Plant Studio.

looks like we finally have object deformations :)

 And a 64bit windows version...........

Wow, and sky, and real-time shaders, real-time lights, better fluids, better wind, and more ....

Amazing. I wonder if 3D paint will work for me with the new real-time shader system. I will try to test it tonight.

The fall off on sculpt tools is fantastic, never new it was missing until I played with it, makes sculpt somehow feel more natural.

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Toolset: Blender, GIMP, Indigo Render, LuxRender, TopMod, Knotplot, Ivy Gen, Plant Studio.

I am having no joy with sculpt in 2.48, it hits the wall at approx. 200k polys and is slow at half that amount.

I can take the same mesh up to 1.5M polys in 2.47 before performance drops, nearly 1.8M polys before it stalls.

I was looking forward to the sculpting "improvements" in version 2.48 :crying:

I've noticed no difference but don't think I tend to hit such high poly counts

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Toolset: Blender, GIMP, Indigo Render, LuxRender, TopMod, Knotplot, Ivy Gen, Plant Studio.

I am pushing it in the attempt to achieve results equivalent to ZBrush for geometry based displacement map generation as opposed to photo reference generated displacement maps.

It just bugs me that I can work on the model in 2.47 at a high level but not in 2.48, not really a show stopper  just an annoyance.:biggrin:

Hello this is my first post here and I haven't downloaded a new version of Blender for awhile but it seems to me like it used to be able to export in a lot more formats. When I open the file, export menu I only get a choice of  VRML, DXF and STL. Is there something else I need to download to get more functions or is this the way it's supposed to be? BTW this is with nothing in the scene. TIA.

You need to have at least Python 2.5.2 installed on your system to have full import/export availability. You can download the release appropriate for your OS on the Python website.

I haven't really played around with it yet, but I'm really looking forward to the Grease Pencil, sun/sky, Bullet updates, and GLSL features, although the Deform Modifier has to be the best part of the new version, imho

It is better to do one thing well, than to do many things and excel at nothing.

a 2.48a patch has been released details here:-

http://www.blender.org/development/release-logs/blender-248/blender-248a/

download here :-

http://www.blender.org/download/get-blender/

summary of patch-

• GE: Sensors could access removed objects via Scenegraph, causing crashes
• GLSL: ATI drivers crashed on "show pivot" for rigid body constraints
• GE: using Bullet could cause memory leaking
• UI: Panel cleanup in Constraints.
• Python: Additions and cleanup for missing python api docs (Joystick and RenderLayers api's)
• Python: better compatibility with Python 2.3 for some scripts.
• Python: on script errors, Blender objects didn't get correct cleared memory, causing  crashes in the Game Engine and with BPy Scripts.
• Import: PLY files didn't read vertex colors
• Import: Wavefront OBJ Import and Export have new user interfaces to make options less confusing.
• Export: VRML script didn't export with images.
• Added X3D and VRML importer script.
• Armature editmode: "Switch Direction" could cause infinite loop (hanging blender)
• SSS render: with render option SSS disabled, textures didn't show up
• Added undo events for Vertex Group operations
• New option for pressing NumPad-0 didn't work properly in all cases
• Animation: Pressing I-key (insert key) crashed when no Object was active

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Toolset: Blender, GIMP, Indigo Render, LuxRender, TopMod, Knotplot, Ivy Gen, Plant Studio.