Cummulative Refinement Release ⚒️
This is a point release with much work on performance, stability and polish.
This is part of the latest from Blender 5.2.0 and 5.3.0 to the date – with 56 new features from us.
⚠️ Mac builds coming soon
✨What’s new in this release:
- Improved default size for the Node Minimap
- Geometry Nodes Mesh Bevel Node, Sort Lists node, Grease Pencil Read nodes, Closure to Lists node, and NURBS Order and Weight nodes
- Library operators to open preferences tab, open and clear download Cache
- Other refinements to Sequencer, Properties Editor, Outliner, Smart Delete, Compositor, and more
🧡 Top Usability Features from Blender 5.2 and 5.3:
From 5.2.0:
- Node-Based Physics (XPBD Solver) — Brand new procedural hair & cloth simulations with customizable constraints
- Mesh Bevel Node — Long-awaited procedural edge/vertex bevel control in Geometry Nodes
- Online Asset Libraries — Dozens of materials, HDRs, and node groups downloadable on demand
- EEVEE Screen Space Raytracing Overhaul — Backface tracing, reduced banding, faster GI, and major stability fixes
- Cycles Texture Cache — Automatic optimized textures, drastically reducing memory usage
- Grease Pencil Delaunay Fill — Exact geometry fill with gap detection, inverse filling, and faster performance
- Playback Loop Modes — Infinite, Stop at End/Start, Bounce, and Restore Frame modes
- Sculpt Add Primitive Tool — Drop cubes, cones, spheres directly into sculpts
- Compositor Gizmo Auto Keying — Transform gizmos auto-insert keyframes in backdrop & Image Editor
- Thin Wall Mode (Principled BSDF) — Physically accurate thin materials (paper, leaves, glass)
From 5.3.0 (Alpha):
- Vulkan Default Renderer — Vulkan backend now default on Windows & Linux; hardware ray traced shadows in Workbench
- Compositor Playback Caching — Interactive compositor caches playback; up to 2x faster GPU performance
- Sequencer Ripple Delete — Auto-close gaps when deleting strips (Shift+X)
- Sequencer Strip Thumbnails — Scene, Text, Mask and MovieClip strips now show thumbnails in timeline
- Sculpt Automasking in Vertex/Weight Paint — Topology, boundary, cavity, and normal masking support
- Animation Scrubbing Pauses Playback — Scrubbing now pauses playback, resumes on release
- Node Editor Link Highlighting — Highlight links through reroute nodes for clearer node trees
- Sculpt Transform Only Pivot — Control pivot placement with transform gizmo without affecting geometry
- Outliner Scroll to New Collection — Auto-scroll and auto-rename newly added collections
- Improved Brushes & Weight Paint Defaults — Updated essential brushes, better defaults, and Cut Curves hair brush
And many more bug fixes and more!
Downloads available from both Github, the official Website, Windows store and Blender Launcher v2
📥 Downloads:
www.bforartists.de/download/
🪟 Windows App
Windows App Store
🧡 Blender Launcher
Github Release
For Arch
📝 Release Notes:
www.bforartists.de/release-notes/
🗒️ Blender Release notes now merged and updated into Bforartists:
www.blender.org/download/releases/
Splashscreen is kindly provided by Belzunze, the latest winner of the Splashscreen submissions competition hosted in the Discord server! Thank you!
Thank you for using Bforartists while making art – and for sharing to this art community.
Draise, Reiner, Blenux (Juso), Znight (Trung Pham), Quackers, Eyad, Shaley, Sean and all you arty people
💜 Join the official Discord server for weekly art challenges and live artist QnA interviews every now and then! And share your art.