[HN Gopher] Blender 4.5 LTS
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Blender 4.5 LTS
        
       Author : obdev
       Score  : 254 points
       Date   : 2025-07-15 15:06 UTC (7 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.blender.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.blender.org)
        
       | obdev wrote:
       | Blender 4.5 LTS Release Notes:
       | 
       | https://developer.blender.org/docs/release_notes/4.5/
        
       | marcodiego wrote:
       | I don't know if it supports HDR on MacOS but, AFAIK, it doesn't
       | on windows and in Linux it is only supported with Wayland.
       | 
       | Though I don't like the Wayland x X11 flamewar, I'm happy to see
       | some modern features are only supported on Wayland.
       | 
       | That may please the crowd that will be able to say "sorry, I
       | can't use x11 because it doesn't support a feature I need"
       | bringing some symmetry to the discussion.
       | 
       | Edit: correction: it is about the development 5.0 version:
       | https://devtalk.blender.org/t/vulkan-wayland-hdr-support/412...
        
         | Buxato wrote:
         | I really wish to could use Wayland, but there is too much
         | problems or bugs related to the software I use for work and
         | also play. I will test it again with this new version Blender
         | (that was one of that software with problems).
        
           | Joel_Mckay wrote:
           | In general, most repositories use old stable versions of
           | Blender. And often folks are reduced to using snap to
           | maintain version specific Compatibility with add-ons etc.
           | 
           | Also, getting the most out of Intel+RTX CUDA card render
           | machines sometimes means booting into windows for proper
           | driver support. Sad but true... =3
        
         | Joel_Mckay wrote:
         | The reality is most commercial software and users are on
         | Windows machines. It is fundamentally a Blender
         | interoperability, and 3rd party platform license compatibility
         | issue. We all wish it wasn't so, as many artists find the
         | Windows file systems and color-calibration concepts
         | bewildering.
         | 
         | Making a feature platform specific to a negligible fraction of
         | the users is inefficient, as many applications will never be
         | ported to Linux platforms.
         | 
         | Blender should be looking at its add-on ecosystem data, and
         | evaluate where users find value. It is a very versatile
         | program, but probably should be focused on media and game
         | workflow interfaces rather than gimmicks.
         | 
         | Best of luck =3
        
           | johnnyanmac wrote:
           | I agree with you, but I think this limitation is for much
           | simpler reasons, like "the contributor only knew how to make
           | this feature in Linux, and only in Wayland". cross
           | compatibility for stuff a base as color grading can be a
           | thorny issue.
           | 
           | If nothing else, it's better to have some implementation to
           | reference for future platforms than none.
        
             | Joel_Mckay wrote:
             | We've all seen too many plugins become version specific or
             | indeterminately broken
             | 
             | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFZUB1eJb34
             | 
             | Someone needs to write a Blender color calibration solution
             | next vacation =3
        
           | MrScruff wrote:
           | The significant majority of the film and animation industry
           | uses Linux.
        
             | Joel_Mckay wrote:
             | Linux RTX CUDA drivers are getting better, but really
             | depends on the use-case. For a Flamenco render farm it
             | makes sense for sure.
             | 
             | Creatives on wacom tablets and Adobe products etc. will
             | exclude the Linux Desktop option. =3
        
               | MrScruff wrote:
               | Not just for the farm, the large majority of the movie
               | and tv vfx and animation you see is done by artists using
               | Linux workstations.
        
               | Joel_Mckay wrote:
               | Not the artists I meet, they love their wacom tablets and
               | pressure responsive painting programs... i.e. most of the
               | other software is windows only.
               | 
               | I like Linux (use it everyday), but many CAD, Media,
               | Animation, and Mocap application vendors simply don't
               | publish ports outside Windows.
               | 
               | Most studios have proprietary workflows with custom
               | software. =3
        
               | MrScruff wrote:
               | Indeed but this is a discussion about Blender and you
               | posted originally:
               | 
               | > Making a feature platform specific to a negligible
               | fraction of the users is inefficient, as many
               | applications will never be ported to Linux platforms.
               | 
               | All the large studios use Linux, that's why all the third
               | party software that is used in feature animation and vfx
               | is supported on Linux. So I'm just saying 'negligible
               | fraction of users' in the case of Blender (which as a
               | project would like to increase adoption in professional
               | feature animation and vfx) isn't really true.
        
               | Joel_Mckay wrote:
               | I am sure Studios account for a small portion of the 4.5
               | million unique downloads each release. Note that less the
               | 20% of users ever touch film or animation projects, 73%
               | are single users, and most related user applications are
               | Adobe products.
               | 
               | Stats are available from the published 2024 feedback
               | data:
               | 
               | https://survey.blender.org/feedback/2024/
               | 
               | Best of luck, =3
               | 
               | Recommended reading:
               | 
               | https://www.poetry.com/poem/101535/the-blind-men-and-the-
               | ele...
        
         | doublerabbit wrote:
         | > I'm happy to see some modern features are only supported on
         | Wayland.
         | 
         | Why?
         | 
         | If anything that's a reason to why I wouldn't fully jump to
         | blender.
         | 
         | I have been working on my own hobby game engine for the past 15
         | years and have been excited to introduce Blender to the
         | workflow. If this is the case I don't like it. Wayland has
         | never work for me the same way as X has.
        
           | OsrsNeedsf2P wrote:
           | What else are you going to use on Linux?
        
             | doublerabbit wrote:
             | Nuke, Maya?
        
             | johnnyanmac wrote:
             | If they spent 15 years on the engine as is, what's another
             | few more years rolling a proprietary modeling system?
             | 
             | On a serious note, I do wonder if this Wayland only
             | limitation is something a fork could work around.
        
               | tapoxi wrote:
               | I don't think there's an X11 HDR standard, one would need
               | to be created and implemented.
        
         | yjftsjthsd-h wrote:
         | If the starting point is that Wayland is missing features that
         | X has, the good outcome is not getting to a point where
         | _neither_ option has all the features, the good outcome is that
         | either one has all the features.
        
         | _bent wrote:
         | It definitely does on macOS and I think also on Windows. You
         | have to set the color management for the viewport to Display
         | P3. In older versions this precluded you from using AGX or
         | Filmic, but I think you can actually use AGX with Display P3
         | now.
        
       | JKCalhoun wrote:
       | A wonderful app that, I find, benefits from LLMs to help you
       | figure out how to use it. That or you more or less have to dive
       | in for months and months. The people on YouTube that make Blender
       | look so easy ... Blender is really all they do. ;-)
       | 
       | At some point I see an LLM more or less integrated into the UI.
       | 
       | At some point I see whole apps written so complexly that an LLM
       | is the required interface.
        
         | unshavedyak wrote:
         | Huh, TIL https://github.com/ahujasid/blender-mcp - do you use
         | this?
        
           | JKCalhoun wrote:
           | Thanks for pointing that out.
           | 
           | I have not tried it. Instead I have been asking Claude (etc.)
           | "How do I create a repeating triangular truss..." or what-
           | have-you. And then I follow the steps they list.
        
           | pram wrote:
           | I tried it and it's really not very good. It "works" but
           | models can't seem to do anything complicated. Claude 4 Opus
           | btw
        
         | weregiraffe wrote:
         | Oh boy. Giving Blender instructions in English, on every level
         | of detail, could be quite a workflow. Like, have it generate a
         | range of chairs, pick the mesh you like, then start asking it
         | to tweak parts of it until you are satisfied. Add finishing
         | touches manually.
        
           | Joel_Mckay wrote:
           | In general, model re-topology almost always requires a manual
           | editing process post sculpting and texturing. There have been
           | countless attempts to automate the process, but it usually
           | requires working through an obscure book about rigging with
           | secondary transforms etc.
           | 
           | Could check out https://extensions.blender.org/add-ons/mpfb/
           | for low-poly character mesh generation tools. =3
        
             | dragontamer wrote:
             | Why is this being down voted?
             | 
             | If you are pushing vertices around to make a model, you
             | eventually have to think of topology issues if you ever
             | want to make a good animation.
             | 
             | And then when you have a good topology... Then You need to
             | rework the UV Maps, Normals and other such data so that
             | it's all consistent.
             | 
             | LLMs are not the right tool for this. I'm sure some AI
             | retopology tool can come around but there is a HUGE
             | difference between a model designed for stills, a model
             | designed for animation and finally, a model designed for
             | close up facial animations.
             | 
             | The topology differences alone are insane.
             | 
             | ---------
             | 
             | Now maybe in the future an Ubermesh (like the Uber shader /
             | principled shader) can be made to make these processes
             | consistent. And then tooling can be made over the
             | hypothetical Ubermesh. But today it's a lot of manual
             | retopology that requires deep thinking about animation
             | details.
             | 
             | Ex: an anime style mouth doesn't usually move the jawline
             | (Think Sonics mouth: its basically a moving hole that jumps
             | around his face). Meanwhile, western 3D animation (Baldurs
             | Gate and the like) obviously have fully made lip sync
             | including phhfff, eeee and ahhh sounds.
             | 
             | The 'Kind' of animation you want leads to different mesh
             | topologies. It's just the nature of this work.
             | 
             | And people get ANGRY when you ex: animate Sonic with
             | traditional teeth and jawline (see 'Ugly Sonic'). You can't
             | just willy nilly pick one style randomly. You need
             | purposeful decisions.
             | 
             | --------
             | 
             | I guess if you are a pure sculptor / stills then you don't
             | have to worry about this. But many 3d projects are
             | animated, if not most of them. The retopology steps are
             | well known.
             | 
             | LowPoly look will almost certainly require manual effort
             | (these topology problems tend to disappear with more
             | triangles).
        
               | Joel_Mckay wrote:
               | Blender is often used to project the high-granularity
               | sculpted detail onto a low-poly (rigged and clean topo)
               | Normal map. i.e. you can get great looking assets that
               | won't hit your poly budget as hard. When it works its
               | great...
               | 
               | People have feelings, and sometimes may misinterpret
               | others intent. I am happy we've met if we both learned
               | something. =3
        
               | dragontamer wrote:
               | Oh yeah, I was agreeing with you. Just providing context
               | for others if they didn't understand what was going on.
        
         | MisterTea wrote:
         | > That or you more or less have to dive in for months and
         | months.
         | 
         | Waaaaay back in the Quake 3 days I had a pirated copy of 3D
         | Studio Max and decided to try and make a Quake (or maybe it was
         | Half-Life) character model. Found an on-line tutorial that step
         | by step showed you how to setup Max with a background image
         | that you "traced" over. So I grabbed the images of front, back
         | and side views of a human, loaded them into the various view
         | ports, then drew a rectangle from which you extrude a head,
         | arms and legs. Then you manipulate the block headed human mesh
         | to fit the human background image - extruding more detail from
         | the mesh as you go along. In one day I had a VERY crude model
         | of a person. I also found out I dont like 3D modelling. Though
         | I'd say a person who really enjoys it would pick it up in a
         | week or two with good tutorials.
         | 
         | LLM's just cut out the learning part leaving you helpless to
         | create anything beyond prompts. I am still very mixed on LLM's
         | but due to greed and profit driven momentum, they will eat the
         | world.
        
           | qiller wrote:
           | One problem I find is that a lot educational content has
           | moved into YouTube and videos (monetization be damned). I
           | have no time to watch 10mins of rambling and ads for a quick
           | tip, LLMs are great at distilling the info. Otherwise, I
           | agree, deep knowledge building only happens through doing
           | stuff...
        
       | robertoandred wrote:
       | For all their talk about performance, that webpage is incredibly
       | slow/stuttery.
        
         | wahnfrieden wrote:
         | Luckily Blender is not a webpage
        
           | daef wrote:
           | imagine blender as electron app... ^^
        
       | unshavedyak wrote:
       | If you get value out of Blender they could use your support:
       | https://fund.blender.org/
       | 
       | Even just a coffee a month will help immensely. Please consider
       | supporting :)
        
         | agumonkey wrote:
         | I could tip them even without using it, the value of such a
         | successful creative project is a pleasure in itself.
        
         | tester457 wrote:
         | Always support open source when you can, even if you use
         | proprietary software instead of Blender.
         | 
         | Supporting open source creates competition for your paid
         | alternative, so they're forced to give you a better product or
         | a better deal.
        
         | StableAlkyne wrote:
         | Especially software like Blender.
         | 
         | It's easily one of the most well-made FOSS projects out there!
        
         | modernerd wrote:
         | You can also/alternatively subscribe to Blender Studio:
         | 
         | https://studio.blender.org/
         | 
         | You get access to training, assets, source and production logs
         | like the recent Dog Walk update while also supporting Blender:
         | 
         | https://studio.blender.org/projects/dogwalk/production-logs/
        
         | lvl155 wrote:
         | This is the only project I support year in year out. What they
         | did is amazing. Simply amazing.
        
       | raincole wrote:
       | It does feel like Blender is eating the world of 3D content
       | creation.*
       | 
       | I know the industry standard of animation is still Maya, and
       | geometry node isn't as powerful as Houdini, but Blender has made
       | such great progress so far... I wonder if there any
       | hobbyist/student who learns 3Dsmax or 3DCoat as their first DCC
       | anymore?
       | 
       | *: Assuming genAI won't deliver and make that world disappear
       | entirely, ofc.
        
         | minimaxir wrote:
         | Due to Blender being OSS and scriptable with Python
         | (https://docs.blender.org/api/current/info_quickstart.html), it
         | wouldn't surprise me if a future iteration of genAI/agents
         | works with Blender directly.
        
           | homarp wrote:
           | There is a Blender MCP server https://blender-mcp.com/
        
         | cultofmetatron wrote:
         | blender is the python of 3d animation. Its the second best tool
         | for everything. Which btw is not a digg. its really hard to be
         | that level of reliable accross an entire workflow.
        
         | Joel_Mckay wrote:
         | Maya hasn't changed much in a decade, and that is a wise choice
         | for training/documentation. They focused on the content part
         | which is its value proposition.
         | 
         | Blender has always had the perpetual Beta problem, as many
         | boring core design issues were never really given priority.
         | Fine for developers, but a liability in commercial settings.
         | 
         | Houdini is interesting, but with Blender Geometry-nodes now
         | working it is unclear how another proprietary ecosystem will
         | improve workflows. =3
         | 
         | The Entagma channel covers a lot of Houdini and Blender
         | bleeding-edge features with short lab tutorials:
         | 
         | https://www.youtube.com/@Entagma/videos
        
           | raincole wrote:
           | Geometry node is not Houdini (yet) though. The main reason
           | people use Houdini is it's easy to transfer data between
           | modeling (SOP) and physical simulation (DOP) contexts. And
           | they're working on integrating rigging/animation too.
           | 
           | Geometry node is quite a separate thing from what Blender
           | already has. Last time I checked one couldn't even create
           | vertex groups in geometry node, and there was no way to
           | create an armature there either. (Not sure if it changed
           | since I checked though)
        
             | Joel_Mckay wrote:
             | Indeed, Geometry nodes is new, and I have also found
             | documentation on many operations sparse. That being said,
             | it has proven itself very capable.
             | 
             | The mini labs on Entagma's channel were very helpful for
             | parametric surface operations =3
             | 
             | https://www.youtube.com/@Entagma/videos
        
             | 2944015603 wrote:
             | I think you should've be able to access vertex groups from
             | the initial version of geometry nodes. Certainly, at this
             | point, you can dynamically access (and set) arbitrary
             | vertex groups, including loading the names of the vertex
             | groups you want to access from a csv file, or otherwise
             | synthesizing the names using string operations.
        
               | Joel_Mckay wrote:
               | Indeed, but it is non-obvious how to handle it...
               | 
               | I found the Entagma lab videos very helpful in
               | understanding how to parse geometry with nodes. It is not
               | obvious (unless you already get CLI pipes), but so worth
               | it when things finally work... =3
        
           | johnnyanmac wrote:
           | That's often a problem with Open Source. Lots of people
           | steering the ship, and it's hard for any de facto captain to
           | really demand a direction. If they do, they may not have the
           | contributors needed to really see it through.
           | 
           | This can be solved with paid contributors, but FOSS
           | organization don't have the most funding out there. So it can
           | be challenging when trying to attract specialized talent.
        
             | Joel_Mckay wrote:
             | Donated to most projects we find useful, and also tried a
             | few Blender paid plugins.
             | 
             | The other problem is people Cowing anyone that may not
             | agree with their personal opinions how projects should
             | mature. QED: Our karma scores... lol =3
             | 
             | These plugins made Blender usable for a few projects, and I
             | have personally found value in supporting for asset
             | creation:
             | 
             | https://tinynocky.gumroad.com/l/tinyeye
             | 
             | https://sanctus.gumroad.com/l/SLibrary
             | 
             | https://polyhaven.com/plugins/blender
             | 
             | https://artell.gumroad.com/l/auto-rig-pro
             | 
             | https://fbra.gumroad.com/l/Faceit (for Unreal face mocap
             | app with iPhone Pro Lidar)
        
           | MrScruff wrote:
           | I've only dabbled with Blender but from what I saw of
           | geometry nodes it's quite a long way away from competing in
           | the same space as Houdini. Houdini's biggest single feature
           | and the thing that allows film studios to use it at
           | complexity and scale is the HDA system and there's no real
           | competition for that.
        
             | Joel_Mckay wrote:
             | Blender has solved several key challenges, but the learning
             | curve is steep given many tutorials are version specific.
             | 
             | I usually recommend these courses to users when the under
             | $20 sale is active.
             | 
             | They cover a lot of Blenders non-intuitive workflows :3
             | 
             | "Complete Blender Creator: Learn 3D Modelling for
             | Beginners"
             | 
             | https://www.udemy.com/course/blendertutorial/
             | 
             | * Basics of low-poly design in blender
             | 
             | "Blender Animation & Rigging: Bring Your Creations To Life"
             | 
             | https://www.udemy.com/course/blender-animation-rigging/
             | 
             | * Some more practice rigging
             | 
             | "The Ultimate Blender 3D Sculpting Course"
             | 
             | https://www.udemy.com/course/blender-3d-sculpting-course/
             | 
             | * Sculpting, Retopology, and VDM brushes
             | 
             | * basic anatomy
             | 
             | "The Ultimate Blender 3D Simulations, Physics & Particles"
             | 
             | https://www.udemy.com/course/blender-simulations-physics-
             | par...
             | 
             | * Shader/Texture basics
             | 
             | * Geometry node basics
             | 
             | * Boid sprites
             | 
             | * Hair and physics simulation
             | 
             | * Camera FX, and post-render filters
             | 
             | * Instructions on how to export your assets to Unity 3D and
             | Unreal game engines
        
             | const_cast wrote:
             | I think the main difference between OSS like Blender and
             | the competition is it seems like OSS only gets better. Each
             | version is a little bit better, so projects that were once
             | not competitive catch up. Blender is an obvious example,
             | but also look at Krita, or the entire KDE project. These
             | pieces of software age like fine wine: they get more
             | features, they get faster, and they get more stable.
             | 
             | Closed-source software seems to get... stuck. In the best
             | case. Often, they regress: becoming buggier from version to
             | version with less features. I think of Windows and the
             | entire Microsoft suite of applications.
             | 
             | I think one exception is Gnome. Gnome loves removing
             | features more than they love not implementing popular
             | Wayland protocols.
        
               | Joel_Mckay wrote:
               | With OSS, unless every add-on is part of the build tree
               | or package repo testing... it quickly becomes broken as
               | the ecosystem constantly evolves.
               | 
               | i.e. of the $3k of community Blender plugins/add-ons we
               | evaluated last year, only around 60% are still functional
               | in stable blender releases. Additionally, many built-in
               | core features like Fracture became broken in 4.x due to
               | API permutations, and getting split into its own module.
               | 
               | In a production environment one must version lock Blender
               | for the project. =3
        
               | const_cast wrote:
               | IMO it's always a good idea to vendor software. But yes,
               | OSS typically moves fast. It's a tradeoff.
        
               | MrScruff wrote:
               | Blender is definitely getting better compared to things
               | like Maya but I don't think this argument holds for
               | Houdini & Sidefx.
        
             | brcmthrowaway wrote:
             | What is HDA?
        
               | Joel_Mckay wrote:
               | Probably means a Houdini Digital Asset which is similar
               | to a maya reference.
               | 
               | At one time there was a Houdini-Engine Open Mesh Effect
               | plugin, but no idea if that project survived.
               | 
               | Cheers =3
        
         | mrandish wrote:
         | > Assuming genAI won't deliver and make that world disappear
         | entirely, ofc.
         | 
         | I get the concern and the reasoning behind it but having spent
         | most my adult life and career in digital content creative
         | tooling (2D, 3D and video), I believe AI will be short-term
         | disruptive but also a long-term net positive. It should make
         | skilled pros faster and more productive while helping non-pros
         | achieve more of their creative vision on their own.
         | 
         | For over 30 years progress in tools has been about giving
         | creative people the power to realize their visions. To create
         | more and do it faster, cheaper and at higher quality. Of
         | course, they don't always choose to use that power well but the
         | concern that "these new tools are just enabling bottom feeders
         | to create more bad content" has remained a pretty constant
         | refrain since I started in 1989. Even back in the 90s I said
         | "Sure, these new tools will enable 95% more crap but they'll
         | also unleash 5% that's great which wouldn't have existed
         | before." I think that's just as true today as it's always been.
        
           | bee_rider wrote:
           | I don't see much risk to creatives and workers (hold the
           | number of workers constant and have them all get more
           | productive, and the world is a better place).
           | 
           | But, I do wonder about smaller teams accomplishing more,
           | which the unit of work-doing-people can be much smaller. The
           | org tree can shrink, probably knock out some levels. Maybe a
           | team of 4 that does the work previously done by 10 finds it
           | easier to just have someone directly interface with the
           | customer, rather than needing a layer of project managers and
           | customer service to receive customers messages and distribute
           | them.
           | 
           | I'd be worried if I was... anywhere above an IC really.
        
             | mrandish wrote:
             | > Maybe a team of 4 that does the work previously done by
             | 10
             | 
             | Interestingly, I heard similar ratios were being discussed
             | (or feared/lamented) in the mid-90s as computer-based non-
             | linear video editing swept the post-production industry and
             | in live TV production as computer-based all-in-one
             | production switcher, effects, titler systems like the
             | Amiga-based Video Toaster disrupted everything. I still
             | remember hearing about how the Toaster was giving unionized
             | TV stations problems because union rules said the switcher
             | guy wasn't allowed to touch the graphics/titling system or
             | the editing system. So three guys would be standing around
             | one chair depending which tab was up on the Video Toaster
             | screen :-).
             | 
             | Having been around the content creation tooling business
             | for so long has given me perspective. Since at least the
             | late 80s it's been one never-ending disruption. And,
             | despite the constant predictions of jobs lost, today there
             | are far more jobs in content creation than there were then.
             | Of course, the job descriptions, types, skills required,
             | divisions of labor and which roles were more or less
             | valuable have never stopped changing and probably won't.
             | Yes, this ends up displacing some people in some roles.
             | Back in the 90s highly-paid senior video engineers with
             | deep expertise in how to wire up and synchronize analog
             | video systems initially laughed at us "young kids" with our
             | "toy" digital video systems. Then they resented needing to
             | call us in to get computer-based gear installed, interfaced
             | and working. Then they resented that us "new kids" were
             | paid less due to being less senior but becoming
             | increasingly essential. Some of them learned the
             | 'newfangled' digital systems while others didn't and opted
             | to retire or do something else.
             | 
             | Over thirty years later, I'm now the highly-compensated
             | "old guy" with once-invaluable expertise that's
             | depreciating by the minute and proven skills at doing
             | increasingly irrelevant things. The particulars change but
             | the theme remains the same, which is why I don't think the
             | shift to integrating AI in content creation will be
             | significantly different. There will be skills that become
             | less valuable and job types that go away and entire
             | industry sectors which get disintermediated but at the same
             | time new kinds of work, industry sectors and business
             | opportunities will emerge in different places and ways. As
             | always, the new job types won't be 1:1 replacements for the
             | old, and this will cause as much angst as it always has.
             | They'll not only look different and have different kinds of
             | trade-offs, they may even have different business and
             | compensation models.
             | 
             | It's Schumpeter's process of "Creative Destruction" and
             | renewal
             | (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_destruction). The
             | destruction part is fast, loud and shocking as what exists
             | today combusts in flame. The creative renewal part tends to
             | be more gradual, unfamiliar and at first may not even seem
             | related. From time to time, even the definition of "the
             | industry" ends up changing along with the jobs and roles.
             | I'm pretty sure the old-school TV station engineers I
             | learned from wouldn't consider a digital nomad working
             | full-time editing 30 second clips on a mobile device for
             | YouTube, Instagram and TikTok influencers as even being "in
             | the TV business."
        
           | mschuster91 wrote:
           | > It should make skilled pros faster and more productive
           | while helping non-pros achieve more of their creative vision
           | on their own.
           | 
           | The problem is, AI is good enough to replace juniors. That
           | means companies are already cutting positions at that level
           | and some are just itching to ditch intermediates as well once
           | quality improves.
           | 
           | But when juniors and intermediates are all gone... how are
           | the beancounters expecting to get new seniors when the old
           | ones go to retirement or hand in their 2 week notice because
           | they are fed up cleaning up after crap AI?
        
             | mrandish wrote:
             | Disruption is disruptive and can suck. But it's also not
             | new. Some companies and people will do short-sighted things
             | in response and pay the price. Other job types and roles
             | will simply be disintermediated and those individuals will
             | need to learn new skills and find different kinds of jobs
             | in the evolving landscape - same as always.
             | 
             | I just wrote a longer reply to a sibling comment addressing
             | exactly this:
             | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44574895.
        
             | echelon wrote:
             | > The problem is, AI is good enough to replace juniors.
             | That means companies are already cutting positions at that
             | level and some are just itching to ditch intermediates as
             | well once quality improves.
             | 
             | Who needs companies? Those sounds like an unnecessary
             | middleman to me.
        
         | spookie wrote:
         | > *: Assuming genAI won't deliver and make that world disappear
         | entirely, ofc.
         | 
         | The current state of things leaves a lot to be desired. I have
         | yet to see a model, or technique that actually tackles real 3D
         | content creation problems, aside from animation of course.
         | 
         | Most solutions are trying to solve things completely orthogonal
         | to what you really need in the real world. They produce bad
         | meshes, if meshes at all, have bad topology or inconsistent
         | point sampling, and are extremely prone to parroting their
         | training data.
         | 
         | It's kind of incredible how far we have come but seriously, to
         | understand a problem space you need to try to use the existing
         | tools. Only then, do new, and useful ideas pop up that solve
         | real issues. But man, nobody in the space seems to have a clue.
         | 
         | Believe me, 3D modelling software is REALLY good at what it
         | does, it is really hard to try and dethrone human and machine
         | working together in these really well thought out pieces of
         | software.
        
         | egeres wrote:
         | > Assuming genAI won't deliver and make that world disappear
         | entirely, ofc.
         | 
         | Even if genAI were to kill the cinema/animation back-end
         | industry, I still think 3D software would be needed to continue
         | videogame development, and godot is far behind in
         | modelling/animation capabilities compared to blender. Hopefully
         | they can latch on this in the long term if it happens that AI
         | keeps eating artists lunch.
        
       | _bent wrote:
       | Custom mesh normals is huge, because this used to be a PITA.
       | 
       | Tugged away at the end is defining custom cameras through OSL,
       | which is a very very interesting feature, because it allows more
       | physically accurate lens emulation, with dramatically more
       | interesting bokeh than the standard perspective camera model:
       | https://www.reddit.com/r/blender/comments/1kehtse/new_camera...
        
       | brcmthrowaway wrote:
       | If only Blender had an unreal engine tier real time capability!
        
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