Алексей Захарченко 

Thank you so much dear Mr_Cours for release <3
Today is the last release of Blender Next version 3.6.27 with a fully open source project in the CG Plugin group. Now this project belongs to people for the sake of future of indie gamedev. 
I hope that Blender developers will throw questions on the topic of why the skinning system is not fixed, and the bones of the system have not been changed for so many years. As you can see it's doable, but Blender developers simply don't want to do it.
https://t.me/cgplugin/13335

Blender Next development is complete. This is last release. I don't feel motivated to develop this program anymore at least for now, because I think that I spent my time for absolutely nothing. Also, I think I fixed this program as much as I can. Enjoy ^_^

Today I released Blender Next in CGPlugin Telegram channel. Thank you very much dear @mr_cors for release. 
Please visit this link and download first release version: https://t.me/cgplugin/9987
If you have any questions regarding this build, working progress of future development please visit my Telegram channel: https://t.me/BlenderNext

Also latest version of this build is available now here, with all latest bug fixes on my Boosty:

Hello everyone. New update for Blender Next now available. What is new:
1) FBX exporter now supports ZBrush vertex color during FBX import and export.2) FBX exporter now supports correctly Shape Key import / export. No need to use Autodesk FBX Converter anymore.3) Highpoly FBX files now imported and exported a lot faster then before.
Typical workflow that i usually use:
1) When I need to edit 3D assets (3D animation, 3D models) from Unity, Maya or Unreal Engine i use Blender Next to avoid scale and unit problems and problems with skeleton migration.
2) When I need to rig 3D characters i use standart Blender build, because Auto Rig Pro is crazy powerful thing for rigging.

Why? To be honest, I’ve been thinking about this decision for a long time. This version of the Blender for Unreal Engine turned out to be quite complex, especially for a novice users. Therefore, I decided to give users the opportunity to fully test this version of Blender first in their workflow before deciding whether to support the developer or not. Support the developer is you like the program - this is the rule of Creative Freedom.

Update is free ^_^ and available now in this post: https://boosty.to/luffythefox/posts/7102d639-56cb-4500-b249-55465b7ef1a7?share=post_link

Smart hole detection algorythm. Now ZCleanup fills all holes in your 3D mesh except the biggest one (which is the outer hull of the mesh). My
tool now knows which size each detected hole have in your geometry.
This can be very useful when you create two sided geometry via shell
modifier for 3D printing purposes.

New function is enabled by default in
this version, but you can disable it if you want and fill all holes
instead. Simply open config.txt file from ZCleanupData directory and change parameter hull=1 to hull=0. You can test both ZCleanup plugin modes on provided ZCleanup14-test-dragon.ztl - ZBrush 2022.0.5 ZTL flle.

Flipped normals detection. Now ZCleanup autodetects
flipped faces orientation for highpoly geometry and automatically fixes
it if possible. This can help to solve problems with highpoly geometry
self intersections.

Hello everyone. Thank you guys so much for supporting me on Boosty and ArtStation Marketplace. It keeps me motivated to develop 3D software for 3D artists. New update for ZCleanup now available in this post. What is new?

- Added support for latest ZBrush 2024

- Current plugin features remain untouched. I plan to add new features in future, but now my priority is geometry processing performance, because scanned geometry can be very dence (more than 2 millions of triangles).

Hello everyone. I finally finished development for skining system in Blender Next. This build will be used in upcoming tutorial series about skining on my YouTube channel in January 2024. Build with source available here: https://boosty.to/luffythefox/posts/6a5cddfb-a45c-4423-ae08-7876fc13e3c7?share=post_link . Enjoy ^_^

I finally fixed all discovered bugs and desided to share final source code for people. Blender Next for Unreal Engine is now yours forever. Feel free to modify and extend the functionality of this build. Who knows, may be this is first step to future of gamedev. "Aim to the moon, even if you miss you may hit a star..."

Source code and finished build available on this post:

1) I spend a lot of time on development. I want to earn something for a living.

2) I can sell my own version of Blender, according to this FAQ from developers website. https://www.blender.org/support/faq/

Improved skining quality. I found a way to increase skining quality for standart Mannequin mesh from Unreal Engine 4 especially with fingers. I desided to use standart Mannequin as startup point because i like to use Advanced Locomotion System in Unreal Engine 5 with UE4 skeleton.

Locked skining weights float precision to 0.01. By default Blender skin 3D meshes with float precision errors, as result - skining brushes don't work nicely. I fixed this problem without skining quality loose. Don't forget to use standart Normalize All function when you finished work.

With Hard Weights and With Soft Weights skining functions. I fixed vertex normal weight bug for my new With Soft Weights skining function. You will use With Soft Weights command for most cases, since it's universal, very beginner user friendly and topology independent (it depends from your mesh vertex normals and joint coordinate). Also With Soft Weights works great with any skeleton structure and works great with Normalize All and Limit Total - commands in Weight Paint tab. With Hard Weights have limited functionality and completely depends from your mesh structure (closed geometry)

Renamed With Empty Groups to With Empty Weights.

Renamed With Automatic Weights to With Hard Weights.

Renamed With Envelope Weights to With Soft Weights.

Fixed some bugs in FBX exporter.

When video tutorial will be available? Demo tutorial on English about Blender Next will be available on next working week, because I finally fixed skining system only today. I just want to make things work as perfect as possible before actual tutorial series release on my YouTube channel.