Blender 3.5, Wuhu!

In future, Blender will rely on three instead of four updates per year

The Blender Foundation, the brains behind our favourite open source tool, is planning a change in the release of new versions. The Blender Foundation has announced that in future it will focus on three releases per year instead of four. The change is being made based on the experiences of developers and users in recent years. The plan is to leave the software longer in the Bcon1 and Bcon2 phases – the aim is to give users more time to test the latest version of Blender. The developers hope that this will give developers more time to write code, users more time to test, and Studio TDs and add-on developers more time to maintain tools. With these changes, Blender hopes to optimise the development of Blender and make work easier for users and developers. But now to Blender 3.5 !

Upgrades for Hair and more

If you want to save time, check out Blender 3.5’s new library of hair assets. It’s a set of 26 pre-built Geometry Nodes setups that you can easily insert into your scene. These will help you simplify tasks like creating hair curves on a scalp surface, creating clumps and styling hair.

The new and improved Geometry Nodes-based curved hair system is one of the most notable new features of Blender 3.5. With this upgrade, you can quickly and easily create any type of hair, fur or grass. Best of all, you can load a library of hair assets directly into the software for easy drag-and-drop use.

New nodes for procedural modelling and image processing

With the new Geometry Nodes in Blender 3.5, you can now also use Edges to Face Groups to find groups of faces surrounded by selected edges. In addition, there are now Blur Attributes, with which you can mix the attribute values of neighbouring elements. The new Image Input and Image Info Nodes also expand your creative options for processing images.

Reduce noise in cycle rendering with the new Light Tree

Blender 3.5 introduces the Light Tree, which helps Cycles to sample scenes with many lights more effectively. The result: less noise and faster rendering times. Unfortunately, this function is not yet available on AMD GPUs.

Facial modelling made easy with vector displacement maps

Support for Vector Displacement Map (VDM) brushes in Blender 3.5 is one of the latest features for digital sculptors and character artists. With just one click, you can now create complex shapes for noses, ears, horns and tails on your model. VDM brushes are not included in traditional displacement maps as they can move the surface of the model in all three dimensions. Discover the possibilities!

Support for Vector Displacement Maps

Thanks to support for vector displacement maps, you can now create complex shapes with overhangs in just one brush dab using the Draw Brush in Sculpt mode.

Revamped 3D viewport and improvements for Blender Cycles and Pose Library

The 3D viewport has been polished and has been given a GPU-based compositor backend. The overlays are now displayed on the compositing result so you can see and interact with your mesh and other objects. Blender Cycles has been updated and can now also use a light tree to sample scenes with many lights more effectively. The Pose Library has also been improved with new options and shortcuts.

Upgrade for Grease Pencil

For all Grease Pencil fans, there is now a new Natural Drawing Speed Timing mode in the build modifier that renders strokes at the speed of the pencil used to create them.

And even more!

And that’s not all! Other new features in Blender 3.5 include a new timing mode for the build modifier, a new ease operator in the graph editor and much, much, much more. If you want to know more, you can find the latest release here and we’ll take a closer look at all the details in the next issue of DP!