July 16th, 2024

Blender 4.2

Blender 4.2 LTS, released on July 16th, 2024, brings significant updates to EEVEE and Cycles rendering engines. It includes global illumination, Ray Portal BSDF, improved SSS, and a unified Extensions system. The release emphasizes community involvement and offers improved performance.

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Blender 4.2 LTS was released on July 16th, 2024, introducing significant updates to both EEVEE and Cycles rendering engines. EEVEE now features global illumination, displacement, improved SSS, and viewport motion blur. Cycles received enhancements for faster and better-looking renders, including Ray Portal BSDF and thin film interference effects. The release also includes improvements in extensions management, with a unified Extensions system for add-ons and themes, making updates easier. Additionally, the update brings enhancements to the Video Sequencer, I/O capabilities, and industry alignment with VFX Reference Platform 2024. Blender 4.2 LTS offers improved performance, new features like the Matrix socket for transformations, and interactive Node Tools. The release emphasizes community involvement, with over 200 free extensions available on the Blender Extensions Platform. Blender remains free and community-supported, with donations crucial for its development and sustainability.

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7 comments

By @talldayo - 10 months

The other day someone asked me "why do we expect all software to be free?", and I think Blender is responsible for keeping my expectations so high. I love using Blender; I love reading about its new updates and learning how new features work. Trying the Eevee renderer for the first time, compositing multiple scenes with audio, tuning my render settings for the first big animation... all of these experiences were so life-affirming to me. Truly hard to believe that I've felt so much joy from a little exe installer I got from the internet for free.

Go use Blender. It's a recommendation I can make without reservation or concern about Cloud-connected Launchers or subscription service deals later down the line. It's software so good that not paying for it is a surreal human experience.

By @Flex247A - 10 months

I would like to thank the developers for keeping the codebase maintainable!

It was very approachable for me to fix a few UI bugs a couple of months back.

For me, contributing to a large project feels great, knowing that people will get to run my code (even though the changes are minor).

By @mikenew - 10 months

Okay that live preview of ray traced "sun" lighting is impressive. Trying to get a well lit scene is not a trivial thing, and if it's that easy going forward that's going to be awesome.

By @adamredwoods - 10 months

3D modeling/rendering software used to be a high-bar skill set because the software was expensive. Maya, 3DS Max, to even get to know the interface was a hefty buy-in, especially as a college student. The Blender Foundation has changed all that, and for the better. Incredible work.

By @bradgranath - 10 months

Now, if they could do something about the ancient texture editor that's essentially the same since v1.

Blender 4.2

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