Archive notice: This article was originally published on November 28, 2012. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Several bugs are still intended to be fixed during testing over the coming weeks. One new feature of Blender 2.65 is said to be that fire simulation has been added to the smoke simulation function. In this version, smoke is then supposed to be emitted from the mesh surface without requiring a particle system. A smoke flow force field is also said to have been added to improve interaction with other simulations. According to Blender, coloured smoke simulation and the interaction of smoke with collision objects are now also possible.
Self-written shaders are now intended to be supported with this release; support for motion-blur rendering has likewise been added to make moving objects appear blurred. In the area of mesh modelling, the Bevel Tool is said to have been greatly improved and a new symmetry tool has been added to make it easier to design mesh topology symmetrically.
According to Blender, the Decimator Modifier has been rewritten and is now intended to preserve UVs and vertex colours; the new Laplacian Smooth Modifier is also said to reduce disturbances and smooth the mesh while preserving edges and volume.
Here you can find the link to the Blender 2.65 test build
You can find more information here: http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Dev:Ref/Release_Notes/2.65
