7 ms·

Blender 4.5 LTS

328 points by obdev 1y ago

obdev 1y ago
Blender 4.5 LTS Release Notes: https://developer.blender.org/docs/release_notes/4.5/ https://developer.blender.org/docs/release_notes/4.5/
marcodiego 1y ago
I don't know if it supports HDR on MacOS but, AFAIK, it doesn't on windows and in Linux it is only supported with Wayland. Though I don't like the Wayland x X11 flamewar, I'm happy to see some modern features are only supported on Wayland. That may please the crowd that will be able to say "sorry, I can't use x11 because it doesn't support a feature I need" bringing some symmetry to the discussion. Edit: correction: it is about the development 5.0 version: https://devtalk.blender.org/t/vulkan-wayland-hdr-support/41214 https://devtalk.blender.org/t/vulkan-wayland-hdr-support/412...
- Buxato 1y ago
  I really wish to could use Wayland, but there is too much problems or bugs related to the software I use for work and also play. I will test it again with this new version Blender (that was one of that software with problems).
  - Joel_Mckay 1y ago
    In general, most repositories use old stable versions of Blender. And often folks are reduced to using snap to maintain version specific Compatibility with add-ons etc. Also, getting the most out of Intel+RTX CUDA card render machines sometimes means booting into windows for proper driver support. Sad but true... =3
- Joel_Mckay 1y ago
  The reality is most commercial software and users are on Windows machines. It is fundamentally a Blender interoperability, and 3rd party platform license compatibility issue. We all wish it wasn't so, as many artists find the Windows file systems and color-calibration concepts bewildering. Making a feature platform specific to a negligible fraction of the users is inefficient, as many applications will never be ported to Linux platforms. Blender should be looking at its add-on ecosystem data, and evaluate where users find value. It is a very versatile program, but probably should be focused on media and game workflow interfaces rather than gimmicks. Best of luck =3
  - johnnyanmac 1y ago
    I agree with you, but I think this limitation is for much simpler reasons, like "the contributor only knew how to make this feature in Linux, and only in Wayland". cross compatibility for stuff a base as color grading can be a thorny issue. If nothing else, it's better to have some implementation to reference for future platforms than none.
    - Joel_Mckay 1y ago
      We've all seen too many plugins become version specific or indeterminately broken https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFZUB1eJb34 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFZUB1eJb34 Someone needs to write a Blender color calibration solution next vacation =3
  - MrScruff 1y ago
    The significant majority of the film and animation industry uses Linux.
    - Joel_Mckay 1y ago
      Linux RTX CUDA drivers are getting better, but really depends on the use-case. For a Flamenco render farm it makes sense for sure. Creatives on wacom tablets and Adobe products etc. will exclude the Linux Desktop option. =3
      - MrScruff 1y ago
        Not just for the farm, the large majority of the movie and tv vfx and animation you see is done by artists using Linux workstations.
        Joel_Mckay 1y ago
        Not the artists I meet, they love their wacom tablets and pressure responsive painting programs... i.e. most of the other software is windows only. I like Linux (use it everyday), but many CAD, Media, Animation, and Mocap application vendors simply don't publish ports outside Windows. Most studios have proprietary workflows with custom software. =3
- doublerabbit 1y ago
  > I'm happy to see some modern features are only supported on Wayland. Why? If anything that's a reason to why I wouldn't fully jump to blender. I have been working on my own hobby game engine for the past 15 years and have been excited to introduce Blender to the workflow. If this is the case I don't like it. Wayland has never work for me the same way as X has.
  - OsrsNeedsf2P 1y ago
    What else are you going to use on Linux?
    - doublerabbit 1y ago
      Nuke, Maya?
    - johnnyanmac 1y ago
      If they spent 15 years on the engine as is, what's another few more years rolling a proprietary modeling system? On a serious note, I do wonder if this Wayland only limitation is something a fork could work around.
      - tapoxi 1y ago
        I don't think there's an X11 HDR standard, one would need to be created and implemented.
- yjftsjthsd-h 1y ago
  If the starting point is that Wayland is missing features that X has, the good outcome is not getting to a point where neither option has all the features, the good outcome is that either one has all the features.
  - bzzzt 1y ago
    That's at the cost of lots of duplicated work by the already sparse number of people capable of implementing a graphics server. There's also a third option where Wayland is foundational and the X11 network protocol is implemented on top of that for people who need it. Why should a network GUI service implement a driver to talk to a specific model of video card?
    - yjftsjthsd-h 1y ago
      > That's at the cost of lots of duplicated work by the already sparse number of people capable of implementing a graphics server. Yeah, it kinda sucks but this is where we are. > There's also a third option where Wayland is foundational and the X11 network protocol is implemented on top of that for people who need it. Why should a network GUI service implement a driver to talk to a specific model of video card? Agreed; I have long argued that it would have been far better to transition to everything on the same backend with effectively rootful XWayland being the only (bare) X server, and then after that try to deal with the rest of the stack (if you really must). And maybe in 2026 we'll finally start to see movement in that direction with https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/wayback/wayback https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/wayback/wayback
- _bent 1y ago
  It definitely does on macOS and I think also on Windows. You have to set the color management for the viewport to Display P3. In older versions this precluded you from using AGX or Filmic, but I think you can actually use AGX with Display P3 now.
JKCalhoun 1y ago
A wonderful app that, I find, benefits from LLMs to help you figure out how to use it. That or you more or less have to dive in for months and months. The people on YouTube that make Blender look so easy … Blender is really all they do. ;-) At some point I see an LLM more or less integrated into the UI. At some point I see whole apps written so complexly that an LLM is the required interface.
- unshavedyak 1y ago
  Huh, TIL https://github.com/ahujasid/blender-mcp https://github.com/ahujasid/blender-mcp - do you use this?
  - JKCalhoun 1y ago
    Thanks for pointing that out. I have not tried it. Instead I have been asking Claude (etc.) "How do I create a repeating triangular truss..." or what-have-you. And then I follow the steps they list.
  - pram 1y ago
    I tried it and it's really not very good. It "works" but models can't seem to do anything complicated. Claude 4 Opus btw
- weregiraffe 1y ago
  Oh boy. Giving Blender instructions in English, on every level of detail, could be quite a workflow. Like, have it generate a range of chairs, pick the mesh you like, then start asking it to tweak parts of it until you are satisfied. Add finishing touches manually.
  - Joel_Mckay 1y ago
    In general, model re-topology almost always requires a manual editing process post sculpting and texturing. There have been countless attempts to automate the process, but it usually requires working through an obscure book about rigging with secondary transforms etc. Could check out https://extensions.blender.org/add-ons/mpfb/ https://extensions.blender.org/add-ons/mpfb/ for low-poly character mesh generation tools. =3
robertoandred 1y ago
For all their talk about performance, that webpage is incredibly slow/stuttery.
- wahnfrieden 1y ago
  Luckily Blender is not a webpage
  - daef 1y ago
    imagine blender as electron app... ^^
unshavedyak 1y ago
If you get value out of Blender they could use your support: https://fund.blender.org/ https://fund.blender.org/ Even just a coffee a month will help immensely. Please consider supporting :)
- dheera 1y ago
  [flagged]
  - 2944015603 1y ago
    FWIW, Blender, like other open source projects has been dealing with large bandwidth bills due to AI companies repeatedly crawling them. They've been adding additional checks to try to figure out how to stop spending their limited donations on server infrastructure to support bots.
    - arp242 1y ago
      I believe they were also outright ddos'd last year, by someone who apparently has a beef with Blender.
  - babypuncher 1y ago
    Counter-point: Stop subsidizing AI companies by giving them free training data.
    - Zambyte 1y ago
      Counter-counter-point: I like running free models on my computer that were trained on freely accessible data.
      - babypuncher 1y ago
        We all want free stuff, but somebody still has to pay for that stuff
raincole 1y ago
It does feel like Blender is eating the world of 3D content creation.* I know the industry standard of animation is still Maya, and geometry node isn't as powerful as Houdini, but Blender has made such great progress so far... I wonder if there any hobbyist/student who learns 3Dsmax or 3DCoat as their first DCC anymore? *: Assuming genAI won't deliver and make that world disappear entirely, ofc.
- minimaxir 1y ago
  Due to Blender being OSS and scriptable with Python (https://docs.blender.org/api/current/info_quickstart.html https://docs.blender.org/api/current/info_quickstart.html), it wouldn't surprise me if a future iteration of genAI/agents works with Blender directly.
  - homarp 1y ago
    There is a Blender MCP server https://blender-mcp.com/ https://blender-mcp.com/
    - homarp 1y ago
      and now there is a second one https://blender-mcp-psi.vercel.app/ https://blender-mcp-psi.vercel.app/ and https://github.com/pranav-deshmukh/blender-mcp https://github.com/pranav-deshmukh/blender-mcp discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44622374 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44622374
- cultofmetatron 1y ago
  blender is the python of 3d animation. Its the second best tool for everything. Which btw is not a digg. its really hard to be that level of reliable accross an entire workflow.
- Joel_Mckay 1y ago
  Maya hasn't changed much in a decade, and that is a wise choice for training/documentation. They focused on the content part which is its value proposition. Blender has always had the perpetual Beta problem, as many boring core design issues were never really given priority. Fine for developers, but a liability in commercial settings. Houdini is interesting, but with Blender Geometry-nodes now working it is unclear how another proprietary ecosystem will improve workflows. =3 The Entagma channel covers a lot of Houdini and Blender bleeding-edge features with short lab tutorials: https://www.youtube.com/@Entagma/videos https://www.youtube.com/@Entagma/videos
_bent 1y ago
Custom mesh normals is huge, because this used to be a PITA. Tugged away at the end is defining custom cameras through OSL, which is a very very interesting feature, because it allows more physically accurate lens emulation, with dramatically more interesting bokeh than the standard perspective camera model: https://www.reddit.com/r/blender/comments/1kehtse/new_camera_type_coming_to_blender/ https://www.reddit.com/r/blender/comments/1kehtse/new_camera...
- deadfoxygrandpa 1y ago
  yeah man i was faking it by creating custom materials and setting vertex attributes containing the distance to a specific other object, then in my material using the attribute and the other objects info to blend between the normals at the material level this is way nicer
fatih-erikli-cg 1y ago
[dead]
brcmthrowaway 1y ago
If only Blender had an unreal engine tier real time capability!
- mempko 1y ago
  Blender used to have a game engine. Which version was it removed?
- pyinstallwoes 1y ago
  Just use unreal ?
stefantalpalaru 1y ago
[dead]

328 points by obdev 1y ago

Blender 4.5 LTS Release Notes: https://developer.blender.org/docs/release_notes/4.5/ https://developer.blender.org/docs/release_notes/4.5/

marcodiego 1y ago

I don't know if it supports HDR on MacOS but, AFAIK, it doesn't on windows and in Linux it is only supported with Wayland. Though I don't like the Wayland x X11 flamewar, I'm happy to see some modern features are only supported on Wayland. That may please the crowd that will be able to say "sorry, I can't use x11 because it doesn't support a feature I need" bringing some symmetry to the discussion. Edit: correction: it is about the development 5.0 version: https://devtalk.blender.org/t/vulkan-wayland-hdr-support/41214 https://devtalk.blender.org/t/vulkan-wayland-hdr-support/412...

Buxato 1y ago
I really wish to could use Wayland, but there is too much problems or bugs related to the software I use for work and also play. I will test it again with this new version Blender (that was one of that software with problems).
- Joel_Mckay 1y ago
  In general, most repositories use old stable versions of Blender. And often folks are reduced to using snap to maintain version specific Compatibility with add-ons etc. Also, getting the most out of Intel+RTX CUDA card render machines sometimes means booting into windows for proper driver support. Sad but true... =3
Joel_Mckay 1y ago
The reality is most commercial software and users are on Windows machines. It is fundamentally a Blender interoperability, and 3rd party platform license compatibility issue. We all wish it wasn't so, as many artists find the Windows file systems and color-calibration concepts bewildering. Making a feature platform specific to a negligible fraction of the users is inefficient, as many applications will never be ported to Linux platforms. Blender should be looking at its add-on ecosystem data, and evaluate where users find value. It is a very versatile program, but probably should be focused on media and game workflow interfaces rather than gimmicks. Best of luck =3
- johnnyanmac 1y ago
  I agree with you, but I think this limitation is for much simpler reasons, like "the contributor only knew how to make this feature in Linux, and only in Wayland". cross compatibility for stuff a base as color grading can be a thorny issue. If nothing else, it's better to have some implementation to reference for future platforms than none.
  - Joel_Mckay 1y ago
    We've all seen too many plugins become version specific or indeterminately broken https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFZUB1eJb34 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFZUB1eJb34 Someone needs to write a Blender color calibration solution next vacation =3
- MrScruff 1y ago
  The significant majority of the film and animation industry uses Linux.
  - Joel_Mckay 1y ago
    Linux RTX CUDA drivers are getting better, but really depends on the use-case. For a Flamenco render farm it makes sense for sure. Creatives on wacom tablets and Adobe products etc. will exclude the Linux Desktop option. =3
    - MrScruff 1y ago
      Not just for the farm, the large majority of the movie and tv vfx and animation you see is done by artists using Linux workstations.
      - Joel_Mckay 1y ago
        Not the artists I meet, they love their wacom tablets and pressure responsive painting programs... i.e. most of the other software is windows only. I like Linux (use it everyday), but many CAD, Media, Animation, and Mocap application vendors simply don't publish ports outside Windows. Most studios have proprietary workflows with custom software. =3
doublerabbit 1y ago
> I'm happy to see some modern features are only supported on Wayland. Why? If anything that's a reason to why I wouldn't fully jump to blender. I have been working on my own hobby game engine for the past 15 years and have been excited to introduce Blender to the workflow. If this is the case I don't like it. Wayland has never work for me the same way as X has.
- OsrsNeedsf2P 1y ago
  What else are you going to use on Linux?
  - doublerabbit 1y ago
    Nuke, Maya?
  - johnnyanmac 1y ago
    If they spent 15 years on the engine as is, what's another few more years rolling a proprietary modeling system? On a serious note, I do wonder if this Wayland only limitation is something a fork could work around.
    - tapoxi 1y ago
      I don't think there's an X11 HDR standard, one would need to be created and implemented.
yjftsjthsd-h 1y ago
If the starting point is that Wayland is missing features that X has, the good outcome is not getting to a point where neither option has all the features, the good outcome is that either one has all the features.
- bzzzt 1y ago
  That's at the cost of lots of duplicated work by the already sparse number of people capable of implementing a graphics server. There's also a third option where Wayland is foundational and the X11 network protocol is implemented on top of that for people who need it. Why should a network GUI service implement a driver to talk to a specific model of video card?
  - yjftsjthsd-h 1y ago
    > That's at the cost of lots of duplicated work by the already sparse number of people capable of implementing a graphics server. Yeah, it kinda sucks but this is where we are. > There's also a third option where Wayland is foundational and the X11 network protocol is implemented on top of that for people who need it. Why should a network GUI service implement a driver to talk to a specific model of video card? Agreed; I have long argued that it would have been far better to transition to everything on the same backend with effectively rootful XWayland being the only (bare) X server, and then after that try to deal with the rest of the stack (if you really must). And maybe in 2026 we'll finally start to see movement in that direction with https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/wayback/wayback https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/wayback/wayback
_bent 1y ago
It definitely does on macOS and I think also on Windows. You have to set the color management for the viewport to Display P3. In older versions this precluded you from using AGX or Filmic, but I think you can actually use AGX with Display P3 now.

JKCalhoun 1y ago

A wonderful app that, I find, benefits from LLMs to help you figure out how to use it. That or you more or less have to dive in for months and months. The people on YouTube that make Blender look so easy … Blender is really all they do. ;-) At some point I see an LLM more or less integrated into the UI. At some point I see whole apps written so complexly that an LLM is the required interface.

unshavedyak 1y ago
Huh, TIL https://github.com/ahujasid/blender-mcp https://github.com/ahujasid/blender-mcp - do you use this?
- JKCalhoun 1y ago
  Thanks for pointing that out. I have not tried it. Instead I have been asking Claude (etc.) "How do I create a repeating triangular truss..." or what-have-you. And then I follow the steps they list.
- pram 1y ago
  I tried it and it's really not very good. It "works" but models can't seem to do anything complicated. Claude 4 Opus btw
weregiraffe 1y ago
Oh boy. Giving Blender instructions in English, on every level of detail, could be quite a workflow. Like, have it generate a range of chairs, pick the mesh you like, then start asking it to tweak parts of it until you are satisfied. Add finishing touches manually.
- Joel_Mckay 1y ago
  In general, model re-topology almost always requires a manual editing process post sculpting and texturing. There have been countless attempts to automate the process, but it usually requires working through an obscure book about rigging with secondary transforms etc. Could check out https://extensions.blender.org/add-ons/mpfb/ https://extensions.blender.org/add-ons/mpfb/ for low-poly character mesh generation tools. =3

robertoandred 1y ago

For all their talk about performance, that webpage is incredibly slow/stuttery.

wahnfrieden 1y ago
Luckily Blender is not a webpage
- daef 1y ago
  imagine blender as electron app... ^^

unshavedyak 1y ago

If you get value out of Blender they could use your support: https://fund.blender.org/ https://fund.blender.org/ Even just a coffee a month will help immensely. Please consider supporting :)

dheera 1y ago
[flagged]
- 2944015603 1y ago
  FWIW, Blender, like other open source projects has been dealing with large bandwidth bills due to AI companies repeatedly crawling them. They've been adding additional checks to try to figure out how to stop spending their limited donations on server infrastructure to support bots.
  - arp242 1y ago
    I believe they were also outright ddos'd last year, by someone who apparently has a beef with Blender.
- babypuncher 1y ago
  Counter-point: Stop subsidizing AI companies by giving them free training data.
  - Zambyte 1y ago
    Counter-counter-point: I like running free models on my computer that were trained on freely accessible data.
    - babypuncher 1y ago
      We all want free stuff, but somebody still has to pay for that stuff

raincole 1y ago

It does feel like Blender is eating the world of 3D content creation.* I know the industry standard of animation is still Maya, and geometry node isn't as powerful as Houdini, but Blender has made such great progress so far... I wonder if there any hobbyist/student who learns 3Dsmax or 3DCoat as their first DCC anymore? *: Assuming genAI won't deliver and make that world disappear entirely, ofc.

minimaxir 1y ago
Due to Blender being OSS and scriptable with Python (https://docs.blender.org/api/current/info_quickstart.html https://docs.blender.org/api/current/info_quickstart.html), it wouldn't surprise me if a future iteration of genAI/agents works with Blender directly.
- homarp 1y ago
  There is a Blender MCP server https://blender-mcp.com/ https://blender-mcp.com/
  - homarp 1y ago
    and now there is a second one https://blender-mcp-psi.vercel.app/ https://blender-mcp-psi.vercel.app/ and https://github.com/pranav-deshmukh/blender-mcp https://github.com/pranav-deshmukh/blender-mcp discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44622374 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44622374
cultofmetatron 1y ago
blender is the python of 3d animation. Its the second best tool for everything. Which btw is not a digg. its really hard to be that level of reliable accross an entire workflow.
Joel_Mckay 1y ago
Maya hasn't changed much in a decade, and that is a wise choice for training/documentation. They focused on the content part which is its value proposition. Blender has always had the perpetual Beta problem, as many boring core design issues were never really given priority. Fine for developers, but a liability in commercial settings. Houdini is interesting, but with Blender Geometry-nodes now working it is unclear how another proprietary ecosystem will improve workflows. =3 The Entagma channel covers a lot of Houdini and Blender bleeding-edge features with short lab tutorials: https://www.youtube.com/@Entagma/videos https://www.youtube.com/@Entagma/videos

_bent 1y ago

Custom mesh normals is huge, because this used to be a PITA. Tugged away at the end is defining custom cameras through OSL, which is a very very interesting feature, because it allows more physically accurate lens emulation, with dramatically more interesting bokeh than the standard perspective camera model: https://www.reddit.com/r/blender/comments/1kehtse/new_camera_type_coming_to_blender/ https://www.reddit.com/r/blender/comments/1kehtse/new_camera...

deadfoxygrandpa 1y ago
yeah man i was faking it by creating custom materials and setting vertex attributes containing the distance to a specific other object, then in my material using the attribute and the other objects info to blend between the normals at the material level this is way nicer

fatih-erikli-cg 1y ago

[dead]

brcmthrowaway 1y ago

If only Blender had an unreal engine tier real time capability!

mempko 1y ago
Blender used to have a game engine. Which version was it removed?
pyinstallwoes 1y ago
Just use unreal ?

stefantalpalaru 1y ago

[dead]