Archive notice: This article was originally published on October 4, 2012. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
The stated aim of the new Blender version 2.64 was to create a complete VFX pipeline for the open-source software. This pipeline was developed around the Mango Open Movie Project "Tears of Steel" and adapted to the film’s requirements. Here you can find an article and the complete film.
Tracking
The tracking function is said to have been improved by adding planar tracking, while according to Blender the existing trackers have been combined into a hybrid tracker that can be controlled more precisely. With support for Tripod Solving, movements are now intended to be trackable without changing the camera’s position, merely by rotating it.
Green Screen
Two new compositing nodes were developed for green-screen footage and are intended to make green-screen keying easier. The new Keying Node combines various features of existing nodes with a new keying algorithm so that setups can be created faster.
Compositing
Blender 2.64 is said to have a completely new compositing nodes backend. This tile-system-based compositor provides faster feedback during editing and is intended to use less memory while high-resolution material is being processed. New nodes are said to have been added for Bokeh Blur, masks and colour correction.
Further Features
The Blender renderer Cycles is also said to have been improved with this release. According to Blender, OpenColorIO has been integrated for the colour area and the colour management system has been redesigned overall, so that more colour spaces are now supported. A masking function is now said to have been added to the sculpting tool, allowing control over which areas of a mesh are affected during sculpting. Textures are also said to be more controllable with the new brushes.
With the revised Collada exporter, refined options are intended to make it easier to control which files are exported when exporting to game engines. Overall, lights and shadows are said to be more controllable in the current Game Engine, and compressed textures can be loaded faster.
Blender version 2.64 is available for Windows 32-bit and 64-bit, Linux x86-32 and x86-64, and Mac OS X.
You can find more information about the new version and the download here: http://www.blender.org/development/release-logs/blender-264/
