Nice formatted version (pictures soon):
http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Dev:Ref/Release_Notes/2.66/Usability
Short list of main changes:
- Transparent region option (over main region), added code to blend in/out such panels.
- Min size window now 640 x 480
- Fixed DPI for ui - lots of cleanup and changes everywhere. Icon image need correct size still, layer-in-use icon needs remake.
- Macbook retina support, use command line --no-native-pixels to disable it
- Timeline Marker label was drawing wrong
- Trackpad and magic mouse: supports zoom (hold ctrl)
- Fix for splash position: removed ghost function and made window size update after creation immediate
- Fast undo buffer save now adds UI as well. Could be checked for regular file save even...
Quit.blend and temp file saving use this now.
- Dixed filename in window on reading quit.blend or temp saves, and they now add a warning in window title: "(Recovered)"
- New Userpref option "Keep Session" - this always saves quit.blend, and loads on start.
This allows keeping UI and data without actual saves, until you actually save.
When you load startup.blend and quit, it recognises the quit.blend as a startup (no file name in header)
- Added 3D view copy/paste buffers (selected objects). Shortcuts ctrl-c, ctrl-v (OSX, cmd-c, cmd-v).
Coded partial file saving for it. Could be used for other purposes. Todo: use OS clipboards.
- User preferences (themes, keymaps, user settings) now can be saved as a separate file.
Old option is called "Save Startup File" the new one "Save User Settings".
To visualise this difference, the 'save startup file' button has been removed from user preferences window. That option is available as CTRL+U and in File menu still.
- OSX: fixed bug that stopped giving mouse events outside window.
This also fixes "Continuous Grab" for OSX. (error since 2009)
adding meshes were scaling the user input values so the distance on the button didnt relate to the scale of the object added.
Now use an invoke function that scales unset default values.
Was own regression when was solving conflict between sequencer preview
and compositor jobs. Made it so now only compositor jobs are being
killed from sequencer preview.
When blending shape key, opening the popup didnt execute anything - making it so pressing a button would update the result even if the value didnt change.
Fluid sim would stop or crash with node editor.
Bug was a real bad one - the code for giving out WM jobs was messed up for long.
It was giving a running fluid job to the compositer even... tsk!
I will go over jobs code carefully next days to see if it all behaves. Now it
allows per owner multiple jobs, provided it has different job_type set.
Also fixed: preview renders (material) were deadslow once a while - caused
by icon render setting miniature tile render sizes. Now it's fast again,
but there are still 3 icon jobs running per UI change... need to check what.
comparing keymaps was too sloppy or too strict, now sloppy keymap comparison works by setting all the operator
properties to their default values if they are not already set, then compare this with the keymap item (ignoring values missing from either one).
... this way any non default keymap setting wont match with an operator menu item which doesnt set this operator at all (a problem sighted in this bug report).
developer notes:
- IDP_EqualsProperties_ex() function adds an argument to treat missing members of either group to act as if there is a match.
- WM_operator_properties_default() function to reset RNA values to their defaults.
- add IDP_spit(), debug only function to print out ID properties.
Screencast recording stopped on a undo/redo. This was because all thread jobs
were killed then. Now it leaves screen jobs (screen cast) running, that's
data that doesn't change on undos.
Also renamed jobs_stop_all() to jobs_kill_all() - it terminates threads.
Add an optional ghost argument to set the new mouse location when un-grabbing. - without this the mouse would flicker at the old location before moving to the new location - when using the color picker for eg.
Change operator previous settings initialization not to use the redo stack since this gets cleared and it means only redo operators can re-use last settings.
now this works for import/export as well.
added some missing functions too - which are not used yep but should be there for api completeness.
* CDDM_set_mloop
* CDDM_set_mpoly
* BLI_mempool_count
Added option display_type to WM_operator_properties_filesel which defines which file
display type (short/list/icons/default) should be used for file browser.
All current operators are using FILE_DEFAULTDISPLAY display type which means display
type will still be calculated based on type of opening file and user preferences
settings. Recover Auto Save operator is now using long display type so file date can
easily be checked now.
Reviewed by Andrea, thanks!
details
- uses redo stack to get recent settings from.
- adds a flag to IDProperties so RNA_property_is_set() can return false even if the property is exists.
- PROP_SKIP_SAVE option skips these settings from getting reset (as with presets).
changes
* undo now checks screen jobs only, was checking all jobs before so a material preview could make an undo fail.
now this is only limiteds for render/fluid bake/bake.
* the redo UI is now disabled when screen operators run.
- remove redundant casts
- replace strcmp's with "" to just check first char.
- added WM_event_print(), debug mode only to print events since the structs values are not that meaningful.
- added warnings if locale/font dirs cant be found.
This patch adds:
* support for proxy building again (missing feature from Blender 2.49)
additionally to the way, Blender 2.49 worked, you can select several
strips at once and make Blender build proxies in the background (using
the job system)
Also a new thing: movie proxies are now build into AVI files, and
the proxy system is moved into ImBuf-library, so that other parts
of blender can also benefit from it.
* Timecode support: to fix seeking issues with files, that have
a) varying frame rates
b) very large GOP lengths
c) are broken inbetween
d) use different time code tracks
the proxy builder can now also build timecode indices, which are
used (optionally) for seeking.
For the first time, it is possible, to do frame exact seeking on
all file types.
* Support for different video-streams in one video file (can be
selected in sequencer, other parts of blender can also use it,
but UI has to be added accordingly)
* IMPORTANT: this patch *requires* ffmpeg 0.7 or newer, since
older versions don't support the pkt_pts field, that is essential
for building timecode indices.
Windows and Mac libs are already updated, Linux-users have to build
their own ffmpeg verions until distros keep up.
Diff Keymaps
User edited keymaps now no longer override the builtin keymaps entirely, but
rather save only the difference and reapply those changes. This means they can
stay better in sync when the builtin keymaps change. The diff/patch algorithm
is not perfect, but better for the common case where only a few items are changed
rather than entire keymaps The main weakness is that if a builtin keymap item
changes, user modification of that item may need to be redone in some cases.
Keymap Editor
The most noticeable change here is that there is no longer an "Edit" button for
keymaps, all are editable immediately, but a "Restore" buttons shows for keymaps
and items that have been edited. Shortcuts for addons can also be edited in the
keymap editor.
Addons
Addons now should only modify the new addon keyconfiguration, the keymap items
there will be added to the builtin ones for handling events, and not get lost
when starting new files. Example code of register/unregister:
km = wm.keyconfigs.addon.keymaps.new("3D View", space_type="VIEW_3D")
km.keymap_items.new('my.operator', 'ESC', 'PRESS')
km = wm.keyconfigs.addon.keymaps["3D View"]
km.keymap_items.remove(km.keymap_items["my.operator"])
Compatibility
The changes made are not forward compatible, i.e. if you save user preferences
with newer versions, older versions will not have key configuration changes that
were made.