Blender 2.56 Beta Released is a free 3D graphics application

Blender is a free 3D graphics application that can be used for modeling, UV unwrapping, texturing, rigging, water and smoke simulations, skinning, animating, rendering, particle and other simulations, non-linear editing, compositing, and creating interactive 3D applications, including video games, animated film, or visual effects.

Blender's features include advanced simulation tools such as rigid, realistic body, fluid, cloth and softbody dynamics, modifier-based modeling tools, powerful character animation tools, a node-based material and compositing system and Python for embedded scripting.

Released as free software under the GNU General Public License, Blender is available for a number of operating systems, including GNU/Linux, Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows.

Blender 2.56 Beta

The Blender Foundation and online developer community is proud to present Blender 2.56 Beta. This release is the fourth official beta release of the Blender 2.5 series, representing the culmination of many years of redesign and development work.

This version is called a "Beta" because it's now for the most part feature complete. The Python API has had some extensive changes, most notably in naming conventions and in creation and access of properties.

Since Blender 2.55 beta over 440 bugs were fixed!

IMPORTANT: Between 2.53 and 2.56 an extensive renaming operation has changed the scripting API a lot, with repercussions also for loading 2.53 .blends with animation into 2.56. Make sure you try the FCurve/Driver 2.54 fix entry from the Help menu.

IMPORTANT 2: The day after release, a very bad bug in "undo" for using Cloth/Fluid sim has been solved. We'll probably release a 2.56a update soon.

Type	3D computer graphics
License	GNU General Public License v2 or later

Website	www.blender.org

Links

• Blender 2.56 Announcement
• Download Blender 2.56