Tracking in Blender is currently in active development. The workflow is still limited and complicated, but already allows popular 2D tracking tasks like image stabilization and a four-corner-pin. Three tutorials by Sebastian König and Francois Tarlier show how to achieve them.

At the moment, a number of brave students are working on the Google Summer of Code program for 2011 to improve key areas of Blender. A map and a wiki page give information on the current progress.

A few days ago I started playing with fire in Blender once again. This time I wanted to create a style usefull for advert-like backgrounds. But since the result looked pretty cool, I ended up rendering an entire animation of slow-motion fire, anyways:

Wow - my mailbox was rather crowded today. All three issues of Linux Pro Magazine that feature my introduction to Blender 2.5! Check out the Blender logo on the bottom left and how the call it "Killer 3D Design".

The Blender DVDs with exclusive beginner tutorials that have been given out at FMX are now available for the public as digital download! If you want to recommend Blender to a friend or colleage, give them one of these!