Installing Blender software

[scadger]

Ubuntu is driving me nuts. Im a newbie, and just installed v13.10 64 bit, which generally appears to have installed ok and work ok.

I want to install Blender (from Blender.org) v1.7 (the latest release).

I followed all the online help about installing software but I'm having problems:

1. I tried the Ubuntu Software Centre, found Blender, but its an older version (2.66) so can't install that
2. I went to the Blender.org website and it lets me download the software (.tar.bz2). I extract it to a folder. I read the Readme.html file which says to extract it then run the Blender executable.
I can see the Blender executable, but when I right click and choose Run, nothing happens. No errors, just does nothing. I'm definitely using the extracted file, not the unextracted tar.bz2 version. If I double-click, nothing happens.
If I double click the readme.html file (in the same folder) it opens correctly.
I definitely downloaded the 64 bit Linux version of Blender.

I have no idea what to do next. When does the Ubuntu Software Centre get updated? It would be good to have a button which says "Check for latest version" or something like that.

???

[su:bhatta]

Is it absolutely necessary for you to run the latest Blender build?
If not, then it is suggested to use the version of Blender that is available in the Ubuntu Software Center, coz that has been tested by Ubuntu and is a stable version.

If you are trying to run the Executable from the tar.gz you have downloaded then right click on the File and see under properties if the permission is set right i.e. it is marked as executable.

See if that helps.
But using a latest buils for someone new to Linux is not advisable as you can run into errors that you may not be able to fix.
Hence, again I mention, use the version of Blender available in Ubuntu Software Center.

P.S.: blender.org says that latest version 2.70 requires glibc 2.11, if that is not installed in 13.10, you will not be able to run it.

[scadger]

Thanks for the quick reply. Yes I'm running Blender 2.7 on several other Windows machines with projects created in that version. I was hoping to install Ubuntu on a few machines to let them churn through the same projects but it looks like I'll have to revert to Windows or wait for the software to be Ubuntu approved.

[su:bhatta]

Well, did you see if the 'Is Executable' is checked under Properties-->Permissions?
glibc 2.11 should be there in 13.10, if I remember correctly.

I am running the UbuntuStudio 14.04 Beta release and I am having Blender 2.69, and that should be the final version in the final 14.04 release.
So, yes you may have to wait till 14.10 maybe to get blender version 2.7.

Also, there is no harm in seeing if the stuff you created with Blender 2.7 will run succesfully with Blender 2.66. Maybe all that is there in Blender 2.7 are bugfixes?

Have a look here : http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/De...ase_Notes/2.70
If you can live without those extra features give Blender 2.66 a try.

[scadger]

Thanks, yes Execute is checked. And all the permissions are set to "read and write". What I'm surprised about is that it does nothing. I would have thought there would be error messages or warnings but nothing happens. I can try the project in an older version to see as you suggest but would be good to get everything compatible.

Thanks

[23dornot23d]

There should not be a reason why you can run Blender 2.7 in Windows and not in Ubuntu 13.10 ..........

other than possibly the graphics not being set up to do so ........

What spec is the machine you are currently running it on - and what is installed in the Linux version you have.

Just out of interest what does the following show you when cut and pasted into a terminal window. ( then press return )

date && lsb_release -sd || cat /etc/*release &&  uname     -s -r && unity --version &&     /usr/lib/nux/unity_support_test -p && dpkg -s mesa-utils

__________________________________

....... is the idea to give Windows a head start ........ let them run Blender v 2.7 and get them into the routine
of always being first with Linux Software and running the latest version ........

I do not think so ...........

Lets run the new version of Linux software here - waiting for 14.10 ........ lols

But here is a screen shot of it working in Ubuntu 12.04 I think that was what I was using at the time of this .......



all the dependencies are in the file
that you unzipped ....

The problem you cannot run it may be to do with what you have installed .......

There is no harm in installing v2.66 ......... just to make sure you can run 3d ok in your
current setup ......... v2.70 will still run from its folder.

[scadger]

I tried v2.66 previously. It installed and ran fine from the software centre. I uninstalled it but will try it again.

Thks

[scadger]

It looks like you're using some sort of package manager there. Should I be using that?

[23dornot23d]

No the synaptic package manager was just showing that I had the latest version on that system from the repository at its latest
version ... which in my case was 2.68a .......

But I use Blender a lot and got so used to having to keep installing different versions on the different platforms of Linux - then
I realized it does not have to be that way ......

All the files are there in the folder you download ... so it seems odd that the new version did not run for you and yet the old one
does .... as that seems to point to another problem ...... are you sure you are running the 64 bit version.

Try downloading the other (i686) 32 bit and see if that runs .... just to be sure ......

Usually you can run Blender from in a terminal and it will give you back any errors if there are any ........

which folder is it in ........ and we can run it directly from there in a terminal to see what if any errors it gives you back.

I have 2.69 running now 11.04 so I know later releases of Blender work ok in older versions ....

[scadger]

Its all in my "Documents" folder. It is extracted to its own folder "blender-2.70-linux-glibc211-x86_64" so I think its the correct version