Linux for Designers

Dennis Ippel has created a script which export scenes of Blender as Flash ActionScript 3.0 objects for various Flash 3D engines like Papervision3D. That is a real cool addon to bring 3D into the web using Flash.
For details visit the official exporter webpage.

The first release candidate of Blender 2.49 is available for download. Blender 2.49 brings you:
* Video Textures in Game Engine
* Logic API cleanup for Game Engine
* Texture node editing
* Etch-a-ton, armature sketching preview
* Dome rendering for Game Engine
* Projection texture painting
* Jpeg2000 support in sequencer
* New GE actuators

All details about this release can be found here.

I'm a little bit late with it: InnerWorld, a landscape generator running inside the 3d suite Blender and uses internal noise functions and external height fields, is now available as alpha 0.0.6:
* Procedural object placement.
* User defined objects can be duplicated to populate the generated mesh.
* For calculating locations different strategies can be selected. Supported are grids, Poisson disk sampling and spirals.
* Random generators can add variations in size, locations and rotation of duplicated objects.

A tutorial about procedural object placement is available too.

InnerWorld, a landscape generator running inside the 3d suite Blender and uses internal noise functions and external height fields, is now available as alpha 0.0.4. New are:
* Multiple meshes can be handled in one scene
* The material of a mesh is preserved during recalculation of the meshes geometry...
* You can add a simple coloring schema to generated meshes...

Whoo-Hoo - Blender 2.48 is available and it comes with a lot of amazing features. Again a stunning release of the open source 3d suite. Check out the release logs of Blender 2.48:
* Improved real-time GLSL materials
* Grease pencil (sketch annotations)
* Better animation tools
* Improved Game Logic (thanx to the Apricot Opengame Project)
* Updated Bullet physics library
* Sun, sky & atmosphere renderer
* Colored shadows
* Great additions to the builtin Python editor
* Fluid simulation can be controlled using particles
and much, much more...
Hopefully the Blender Nurbs Project can collect enough donations so we get nice NURBS in Blender soon too.
Besides that the GI renderer Yafray is back from death and released as Yaf(a)ray 0.1.0 (which is the successor of Yafray 0.0.9). This version is rewritten from scratch. After two years of development, it already features a complete set of lighting and rendering options. Yaf(a)Ray 0.1.0 is a perfect addition to Blender.
UPDATE:
You can grab an DEB archive of Blender 2.48 for Ubuntu at GetDeb.net.

The Blender Nurbs Project looking for donations to finish the integration of the libNurbana (From Emmanuel Stone's GSoC project, based on Justin Shumaker's Nurbana application).
You can support it via Paypal or the Blender Foundation fund raising tools.

With a lot of influences of the Apricot-Project the first release candidate of Blender 2.47 is available:
* a lot of BGE improvements
* GLSL-Shader in Viewport
* Improved snapping tool
* bugfixes to stabilize the 2.46 "Bunny release"

...will come in August 2008. After so many new features Blender 2.47 will be mostly a bugfix release with some nice enhancements:
* Sound system recode (GSOC project 2007)
* Better snapping tools
* Sky rendering
* Water displacement shader
* And maybe some of the Apricot Blender

What? New Blender features? Yes you get it, Big Buck Bunny aka Peach Project and the release of Blender 2.46 were just the half way. Besides the open movie project the Blender Foundation started an open game project too: Apricot. The first new developed features are shown in the video below:

I get it! Today my DVD copy of the Blender Open Movie Big Buck Bunny arrived! Whoohoo, i'm so happy about it. This evening i will celebrate the first view of the movie at home with my girlfriend and chips!